Two visions

‘And they answered … We have walked to and fro through the earth, and behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.’ Zechariah 1:11

Suggested Further Reading: Colossians 1:1–6

‘We have walked to and fro through the earth, and behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.’ The mysterious agency of angels is at work together and in unison with the great work of providence. Whatever may be occurring, great or small, is certainly happening for the good of God’s church, and for the propagation of God’s truth. How singularly does God, in political events, prepare men’s minds for the particular phase which his church assumes! There was perfect peace over the whole world at the time when Christ was put to death. The whole world was subject to one dominion, so that the apostle Paul and his assistants could preach everywhere the unsearchable riches of Christ. I cannot go into the question now, but every Christian student of history knows that the circumstances of the outward world have ever been arranged by God so as to prepare the way for the advance of his great cause. How strangely providence works to spread the truth. They said of Martin Luther’s writings, that they were scattered by angels. No such distributors were employed; but still they were scattered so widely that it was a perfect mystery how it was done. There was scarcely a little pedlar who went about with jewels, who did not somewhere in his stock keep a copy of the Word of God or Luther’s Psalms. It was said that in England, out of every three persons you met with on the road, though they might be but peasants breaking stones, there would be one of the three a Wycliffite; for Wycliffe’s translation of the New Testament spread marvellously, though it was continually hunted after, and burnt when discovered. You will find that soon God will broadcast over all lands those testimonies which are most clear and most full of Christ.

For meditation: Do twentieth century inventions, like radio broadcasting, exist for a divine purpose? The apostle Paul used all legitimate means to spread the Gospel (1 Corinthians 9:22).

Sermon no. 598
6 November (1864)