The Lord's Day
Looking Ahead by Faith unto Jesus the King
Zechariah 14:9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: IN THAT DAY shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
Zechariah 14:13 And it shall come to pass IN THAT DAY, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
Zechariah 14:20 IN THAT DAY shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’s house shall be like the bowl’s before the altar.
Zechariah 14:21 Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and IN THAT DAY there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.
Romans 11:15 For if the casting away of the Jews be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
Hebrews 8:11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
David was not a believer in the theory that the world will grow worse and worse, and that the dispensation will wind up with general darkness, and idolatry. Earth’s sun is to go down amid tenfold night if some of our prophetic brethren are to be believed. Not so do we expect, but we look for a day when the dwellers in all lands shall learn righteousness, shall trust in the Saviour, shall worship thee alone, 0 God, ‘and shall glorify thy name.’ The modern notion has greatly damped the zeal of the church for missions, and the sooner it is shown to be unscriptural the better for the cause of God. It neither consorts with prophecy, honours God, nor inspires the church with ardour. Far hence be it driven.
C. H. Spurgeon
From an exposition of Psalm 86.9, ‘All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, 0 Lord; and shall glorify thy name’. The Treasury of David, 1874
But our chief consolation is that this is the cause of God and that he will take it in hand to bring it to a happy issue. Even though all the princes of the earth were to unite for the maintenance of our Gospel, still we must not make that the foundation of our hope. So, likewise, whatever resistance we see today offered by almost all the world to the progress of the truth, we must not doubt that our Lord will come at last to break through all the undertakings of men and make a passage for his word. Let us hope boldly, then, more than we can understand; he will still surpass our opinion and our hope.
John Calvin
Quoted by J. H. Merle D’Aubigne’, History of the Reformation in Europe in the time of Calvin,1876, Vol 7, 49
Strong and certain was the conviction of the Christians that the church would come forth triumphant out of its conflicts, and, as it was its destination to be a world-transforming principle, would attain to dominion of the world.
J. A. W. Neander
History of the Christian Religion and Church translated by Joseph Torrey, vol 2, 1851, 395-6
Though our persons fall, our cause shall be as truly, certainly, and infallibly victorious, as that Christ sits at the right hand of God. The gospel shall be victorious. This greatly comforts and refreshes me.
John Owen
The Use of Faith, if Popery Should Return Upon Us, 1680 The Works of John Owen, 1851, vol 9, 507-508
There will come a time when the generality of mankind, both Jew and Gentile, shall come to Jesus Christ. He hath had but little takings of the world yet, but he will have before he hath done.
Thomas Goodwin, 1600-1679
Sermon XXXIV in An Exposition of the First Chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians, Complete Works, 1861, vol 1, 520
There will come a time when in this world holiness shall be more general, and more eminent, than ever it hath been since Adam fell in paradise.
Thomas Brooks
The Crown and Glory of Christianity, 1662, Complete Works, vol 4, 434
There have been great and glorious days of the gospel in this land; but they have been small in comparison of what shall be.
James Renwick, martyred February 1688
A Choice Collection of Prefaces, Lectures, and Sermons by James Renwick, 1777, 279
Plain it is, there is not a more stupifying, benumbing thing in all the world than mere despair. To look upon such a sad face and aspect of things through the world as we have before our eyes; to look upon it despairingly and with the apprehension that it never will, never can be better….. But hope is a kind of anticipated enjoyment and gives a present participation in the expected pleasantness of those days, how long soever they may yet be off from us…. Religion shall not be an inglorious thing in the world always.
John Howe
Sermons on The Prosperous State of the Christian Interest Before the End of Time, 1678, Works, 1837, 578-579
I had a strong hope, that God would ‘bow the heavens and come down’ and do some marvellous work among the Heathen.
David Brainerd
Life and Diary for 22 July 1744, Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol 2, 1840, 349
Hope is one of the principal springs that keep mankind in motion. It is vigorous, bold, and enterprising. It causes men to encounter dangers, endure hardships, and surmount difficulties innumerable, in order to accomplish the desired end. In religion it is of no less consequence. It makes a considerable part of the religion of those that truly fear God.
Andrew Fuller
First Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society, in a circular letter to the Churches of the Northamptonshire Association on The Excellency and Utility of the Grace of Hope, 1782, Complete Works, 1841, 714
I long to be engaged in the blessed work of saying to the heathen, ‘Behold your God’ Do not think that the future scenes cast me down. No! behold I go full of hope.
Robert Moffat
Pioneer missionary to South Africa,to his parents before departing, 1816. The Lives of Robert and Mary Moffat, J. S. Moffat, 1896, 23
‘We also rejoice in hope. We have many and express assurances in the Scriptures, which cannot be broken, of the general, the universal spread and reign of Christianity, which are not yet accomplished. Nothing has yet taken place in the history of Divine grace, wide enough in extent, durable enough in continuance, powerful enough in energy, blessed enough in enjoyment, magnificent enough in glory, to do anything like justice to these predictions and promises. Better days, therefore, are before us, notwithstanding the forebodings of many.
William Jay, 1769-1853
Nonconformist leader. The Autobiography and Reminiscences of the Rev. William Jay, 1855, 162
‘It may here be observed, that from the fall of man to our day, the work of redemption in its effect has mainly been carried on by remarkable communications of the Spirit of God. Though there be a more constant influence of God’s Spirit always in some degree attending his ordinances, yet the way in which the greatest things have been done towards carrying on this work, always have been by remarkable effusions, at special seasons of mercy, as may fully appear hereafter in our further prosecution of our subject.’
Jonathan Edwards
A History of the Work of Redemption, 1774, period 1, part 1 (Edwards’ Works, 1840, vol 1, 539)
‘What can be the reason of this sad observation, That when formerly a few lights raised up in the nation, did shine so as to scatter and dispel the darkness of popery in a little time; yet now when there are more, and more learned men amongst us, the darkness comes on apace? Is it not because they were men filled with the Holy Ghost, and with power; and many of us are only filled with light and knowledge, and inefficacious notions of God’s truth? Doth not always the spirit of the ministers propagate itself amongst the people? A lively ministry, and lively Christians.’
Robert Traill, 1642-1716
By What Means May Ministers Best Win Souls to Christ, 1682, Traill’s Works, 1810, vol 1, 250
‘That God in his appointed time will bring forth the kingdom of the Lord Christ unto more glory and power than in former days, I presume you are persuaded. Whatever will be more, these six things are clearly promised:
1. Fulness of peace unto the gospel and the professors thereof, Isa. 11.6, 7, 54.13, 33.20, 21; Rev. 21.15.
2. Purity and beauty of ordinances and gospel worship, Rev. 11.2, 21.3.
The tabernacle was wholly made by appointment, Mal. 3.3, 4; Zech. 14.16; Rev. 21.27; Zech. 14.20; Isa. 35.8.
3. Multitudes of converts, many persons, yea, nations, Isa. 60.7, 8, 66.8, 49.18-22; Rev. 7.9.
4. The full casting out and rejecting of all will-worship, and their attendant abominations, Rev. 11.2.
5. Professed subjection of the nations throughout the whole world unto the Lord Christ, Dan. 2.44, 7.26, 27; Isa. 60.6-9; – the kingdoms become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ (Rev. 11.15), amongst whom his appearance shall be so glorious, that David himself shall be said to reign.
6. A most glorious and dreadful breaking of all that rise in opposition unto him, Isa. 60.12 – never such desolations, Rev. 16.17-19.’
John Owen
‘The Advantage of the Kingdom of Christ in the Shaking of the Kingdoms of the World’, A sermon to the Commons assembled in Parliament, 1651
(Works,.vol 8, 334)
‘There awaits the Gentiles, in their distinctive identity as such, gospel blessing far surpassing anything experienced during the period of Israel’s apostasy, and this unprecedented enrichment will be occasioned by the conversion of Israel on a scale commensurate with that of their earlier disobedience.’
John Murray
The Epistle to the Romans, chapter 11, vv. 11-12
‘Seeing God hath given us such a treasure and so inestimable a thing as his word is, we must employ ourselves as much as we can that it may be kept safe and sound and not perish.… First of all let every man see he lock it up fast in his own heart. But yet it is not enough for us to have an eye to our own salvation, but the knowledge of God must shine generally throughout all the world and every one must be partaker of it, we must take pains to bring all them that wander out of the way to the way of salvation: and we must not only think upon it for our life time, but for after our death.’
John Calvin
Sermons on the Epistles of St. Paul to Timothy and Titus, 1579, 746-7
‘In Dr. Whyte’s opinion, at no time has any land for its size, save Palestine, produced “so many men and women of a profoundly spiritual experience, and of an adoring and heavenly mind, as Scotland possessed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries”. In his ecstasy he exclaims, “What minds and what hearts those men and women had! And how they gave up their whole mind and heart to the life of godliness in the land, and to the life of God in their own hearts! How thin and poor our religious life appears beside theirs!” To the causes which he suggests for this superiority — the persecution, the new Reformation doctrines, the masculine and Pauline preaching — other two at least may be added, the solid and serious books then in favour, and the place assigned to the inspired psalms, now too often usurped by frothy hymns.’
David Hay Fleming
‘Dr. Whyte and Samuel Rutherford’, Critical Reviews Relating Chiefly to Scotland, 1912, 350
‘Now, Christians, the more great and glorious things you expect from God, as the downfall of antichrist, the conversion of the Jews, the conquest of the nations to Christ, the breaking off of all yokes, the new Jerusalem’s coming down from above, the extraordinary pouring out of the Spirit, and a more general union among all saints, the more holy, yea, the more eminently holy in all your ways and actings it becomes you to be.’
Thomas Brooks
The Crown and Glory of Christianity, 1662 (Complete Works, 1867, 444)
‘I believe there is such a work begun, as neither we nor our fathers have heard of. The beginnings are amazing; how unspeakably glorious will the end be! In New England, the Lord takes poor sinners by hundreds, I may say by thousands. In Scotland, the fruits of my poor labours are abiding and apparent. In Wales, the word of the Lord runs and is glorified, as also in many places in England. In London, our Saviour is doing great things daily…
George Whitfield, April 6, 1742
‘That which was deemed visionary at first, soon came to be regarded in a very different light; one after another of the dissenting ministers began to perceive that the work of reformation begun, was of God, and must prevail; while others felt themselves constrained to abstain from all formal opposition to it, lest haply they should be found fighting against God. In England, Wales, Scotland, and America, the great work of conversion was proceeding with amazing rapidity, and devout lookers-on, of every class, began to feel something like awe in contemplating the wonderful effects produced upon persons in almost every rank in life, from the princes and nobles of the land to the obscurest and most profligate of the people.’
John Morrison
The Fathers and Founders of the London Missionary Society, 1839, vol I, 43
‘I well remember the late Rev. Andrew Fuller reporting, at my father’s house, in the year 1792, the impression which had been made upon an association meeting of his own denomination, by Mr. Carey’s sermon on the address to the church (Isaiah 54.2), Lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; from which Mr. C. pressed the two propositions, that we should expect great things, and attempt great things. Hence originated the Baptist Missionary Society. The London Missionary Society followed; then the Church Missionary Society; then the Bible Society; and, in succession, various other institutions, all, we trust, destined to contribute their share to that great and blessed consummation,
‘By prophecy’s unerring finger mark’d
To faith’s strong eye.’
John Scott
The Life of Thomas Scott, 1836, 115
‘If I should die, I shall be able to say to the rising generation, God will surely visit you. A work is begun that will not end till the world be subdued to the Saviour. We have done a little for him, accompanied with much evil; the Lord grant that that may not be laid to our charge in that day.’
Andrew Fuller
From a letter, May, 1812. Life of Andrew Fuller, John Ryland, 1816, 536
‘The missionary from Livingstonia tells us that Scotland is so diminutive that, were its surface divided into portions like the segments of a dissected map, it could be all packed within the limits of Lake Nyassa. That lake is so small, though 350 miles long, as almost to require to be searched for, as we scan the map of Africa. Yet see what God has already done by Scotland. Scotland, small as she is, has already told on the destinies of the world. Why should she not gird herself for a new enterprise on behalf of the noblest object that can engage the enthusiasm of man — the salvation of millions.’
Alexander N. Somerville, 1886
A Modern Apostle, A. N. Somerville, George Smith, 311
‘Oh, what promises are ours, if we had only faith to grasp them! What a promise is that in the great commission — Go and do so, and lo I am with you, even to the end of the world! We go forth amongst the hundreds of millions of the nations, we find gigantic systems of idolatry and superstition consolidated for 3,000 years, heaped up and multiplied for ages upon ages, until they tower as high mountains, mightier than the Himalaya.… But what does faith say? Believe and it shall be. And if any Church on earth can realize that faith, to that Church will the honour belong of evangelizing the nations, and bringing down the mountains.
Alexander Duff
Speech of the Dr. Duff on Foreign Missions and America, May 29, 1854
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