May 8th, 1930

Last week we said we might write some more on this question, perhaps this week. So we will try to write a few more lines concerning the final preservation of the Saints. Last week we wrote about the covenant of God's peace, as mentioned in ((4:9) (Isaiah 54:9-10), in connection with God's covenant with Noah and all flesh, which is referred to in this text. In ((4:7) (Isaiah 54:7-8) we have this language: For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.”  Following this language is the language used in the beginning of our article last week, “For this is as the waters of Noah unto me,”  etc. Taking all these verses together it is very clear that the language in verses 7 and 8 and the sweet and sure promises contained therein are to the same persons embraced in ((4:9) (Isaiah 54:9-10), the same persons embraced in the covenant of His peace. Those persons are the Lord's little children, who are on their pilgrimage here below. “For a small moment have I forsaken thee.”  When the poor little child of God here in this world of trouble feels and realizes that he is forsaken of the Lord, all is dark and  gloomy then. They forsake the Lord's way sometimes, turn from His sweet service, forget His mercies and kindnesses; then “for a small moment”  the Lord forsakes them; “in a little wrath”  He hides His face from them for a moment. But it seems like a long time. When the Lord's face is hid, turned from the little child of grace, all is dark and gloomy then. It is a night season with him, and it is not a night of rest, either. There is no peace or rest enjoyed; but he is restless and disturbed, and it seems to him that day will never dawn again. He then begins to inquire, in deep sorrow and trouble, as David did, “Will the Lord cast off forever? and will He be favourable no more? Is His mercy clean gone forever? doth His promise fail forevermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath He in anger shut up His tender mercies?” -((7:7) (Psalms 77:7-8,9). In such dark seasons as this, which the Lord's dear children pass through in their journey here below, it seems to them that they are cast off forever; it seems that they can no more enjoy the Lord's divine favor; it appears to them that His mercy is clean gone forever. They feel then that the Lord's gracious and sure and glorious promise does not embrace them. They feel that theirs is an “outside case;”  that they are not embraced in the promise of God; that so far as they are concerned the whole matter is a failure. They feel that God will be gracious to them no more; that in His anger with them on account of their great sinfulness He has shut up His tender mercies. What despair! What distress is theirs during these dark hours! How dark is the night, and how long the night seems to be! But the night finally passes and the glorious day dawns again. “The darkest hour is just before day.”  That darkest hour finally passes, and the glorious and heavenly sunshine of the Lord's blessed manifest presence appears again in all the heavenly glory and sweetness of His sure promise, “but with great mercies will I gather thee;”  “but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.”  What joy then fills the soul! What peace! What content! What reconciliation! What trust in our Redeemer! Though the way is so rough and rugged here in this sinful world, yet here is God's promise, and that promise confirmed by an oath, in which oath He has sworn by Himself. To argue that this promise will not be fulfilled is to argue that the Lord of glory has not only told a lie but that He has perjured Himself by swearing falsely. If one of His little ones sinks down to eternal night, then God has sworn a lie. Would you rather believe that God swore a lie than to believe in the final preservation of the saints? If you sometimes pass through  these dark and gloomy nights, it is but a sure evidence of the fact that you are a child of grace-a child of God; you have the spiritual life. If you did not have that life, you could never feel and realize the darkness; neither could you feel or realize and enjoy the sweetness of the manifestation of the Lord's heavenly presence. In ((4:17) (Isaiah 54:17) we have this language: “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”  What a glorious promise and assurance for the Lord's poor little children here, where they are surrounded by so many temptations, and where the enemies are so thick and so numerous, and where Satan is continually near, and all his emissaries, with their fiery darts hurling at them. “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.'' The eternal God Himself will take care of the situation; and He will take care of you. “This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord.”  This is their heritage, and all the demons of the underworld cannot prevent them receiving that inheritance. The Lord Himself is pledged to see that they receive it. “Their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”  They have no righteousness of their own, and they realize that fact. They mourn and grieve on account of their unrighteousness, but when they are enabled to realize and to have the assurance that their righteousness is of the Lord, it gives them joy and comfort. “The Lord”  is “our righteousness.”  The Lord Jesus is made unto them “righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” -(I Corinthians 1:30). His righteousness is sufficient. Being clothed with His righteousness they shall be landed safely on the sunny shores of sweet deliverance, and shall dwell forever in the presence of God in glory. Blessed assurance. Hold up your bowed down heads; your sorrows will all end some day, and eternal peace is yours in a better world than this. We may write some more on this same question-perhaps again next week. Remember us in your prayers. C. H. C.