Let us turn again to God's Word
in the chapter that we read, Isaiah chapter 60. Isaiah 60
and verse 8. Who are these that fly as a cloud
and as the doves to their windows? Isaiah 68. Who are these that
fly as a cloud and as the doves to their windows. Earlier we were considering those
words in Ezekiel chapter 7 and verse 16 concerning the mourning
doves. Those marks I said of the real
people of God, they mourn as doves. like doves of the valleys,
all of them, mourning everyone for his iniquity. So I want, in a sense, to continue
with that same theme, to think of how Scripture sets before
us something of the characteristics of believers under this figure
of the dove. And here, as I say in this 8th
verse in Isaiah 60, we have a cloud of doves. We read the chapter through and
it's apparent as to the subject matter that's being dealt with
is he not the great blessings that will come in the day of
grace with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, Isaiah speaking
these words, these words being recorded some 700 years before
the birth of Jesus of Nazareth and all that would follow as
the gospel was to go out to the ends of the earth with the calling
of the Gentiles and what dark days they were when Christ was
born into this sinful world. We read here in the opening verses,
arise shine for thy light is come the glory of the Lord is
risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall
cover the earth, and gross darkness the people. But the Lord shall
arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And
the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness
of thy rising." Oh, the light of the Gospel then! is what's
being proclaimed here by the Lord's servant, the Prophet Isaiah. And there we see sin as that
that really brings nothing but darkness and deadness and ignorance. We read in the Epistle of Paul
to the Ephesians of the condition of the Gentiles having the understanding
darkened. being alienated from the life
of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the
blindness of their hearts, who being past feeling. Oh, what awful gross darkness
they were in. And we have it here, of course,
with the emphasis placed upon it in the second verse. Behold,
the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the
people. And then Christ comes. and He
declares Himself. He is Emmanuel, God with us,
God manifest in the flesh and we have those tremendous statements
throughout John's Gospel, those I Am statements. He has come
to the image of the invisible God and He declares amongst many
other things, I am the light of the world. He that followeth
Me shall not walk in darkness. that shall have the light of
life. Oh, what darkness! There was
awful outward darkness. As we read here, Behold, the
darkness shall cover the earth. Do you know the force of that
word, Behold? Literally it means, look, guise,
consider, study this matter. give careful attention to these
things, the darkness that covers the earth. The whole world lies
in wickedness. All that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is
not of the Father but is of the world. And yet, it's in this
situation that the Gospel comes and then we have that calling
of sinners from amongst the Gentiles. The Gentiles shall come to thy
light, and kings to the brightness of thy coming." And these things
are fulfilled. We read much of these things
here in Isaiah, very much a gospel prophecy. Time and again he speaks
in of salvation for sinners of the Gentiles. Earlier in the
book there in the opening words of the ninth chapter, we find
something similar to what we have here in chapter 16. Nevertheless,
the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation when at
the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land
of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by
the way of the sea beyond Jordan in Galilee of the nations. The
people that walked in darkness have seen a great light, and
they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them
after light shines. And of course we have those words
referred to quite specifically there in Matthew chapter 4. As
the Lord Jesus is exercising his ministry in that region of
Galilee. The Gentile of the nations they
call it, on the borders of Israel. Or the calling of the Gentiles,
the coming of the Gentiles. And what remarkable rich symbolic
language is used to describe these things in the words that
follow, there at verse 4, right through to verse 8. It's highly
symbolic but it is speaking of a great increase as Gentiles
are converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then of course we
come to the words of our text. Who are these that fly as the
clouds and as the doves to their windows? There was great outward
darkness. But not only outward darkness.
What of the hearts of men? What of that inward darkness? The words that we have right
at the beginning arise shine, you might see in the margin of
your Bibles how that second word shine has the idea of being enlightened
literally arise, be enlightened for thy light cometh or we can
think of how God's people themselves with regards to their personal
experience are often in that great darkness, darkness of mind
Think of those words at the end of chapter 50. Who is among you
that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that
walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the
name of the Lord and stay upon his guard. Then he goes on to
speak of a different character. Behold all ye that kindle a light,
that compass yourselves about with sparks, that walk in the
light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled,
these shall ye have at mine hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow.
What a contrast between these characters, there in the 11th
verse, those who kindle their own fire. Imagine they can make
themselves to be something, even to become Christians by their
own endeavours. and then those in the 10th verse
who are God-fearers or they fear the Lord they desire to obey
the voice of his servants but they're walking in darkness and
they have no light or there is a darkness is there not which
is the sinner's natural condition that ignorance that he feels
in his mind and We see it in some measure, I suppose, in the
language of John Berridge in the hymn, In darkness born I
went astray and wandered from the gospel way. Is that not true
of us all by nature? Born in darkness, dead in trespasses
and in sins. Now the gospel must come. Oh
unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness. Light in the darkness. This is
the situation then in which we find the words of our text this
evening. So turning to consider this 8th
verse. Who are these that fly as a cloud
and as doves through their windows? And first of all to remind you
of something that we were saying this morning with regards to
the particular figure that is being used here, the figure of
the dove. And our believers are likened
to the dove. We said that we see it several
times in the Song of Solomon. But it's not just in the Song
of Solomon, it's in other parts of scripture. the words of the
prophet Hosea, and Hosea was a contemporary of Isaiah. They were ministering at much
the same time in the history of God's ancient covenant people.
And there in Hosea 7.11, as he addresses the northern kingdom,
remember the division of the kingdom after the death of King
Solomon and Rehoboam becomes king in the south in Judah and
Benjamin but the ten tribes of the north break away and make
choice of Jeroboam the son of Nabat to be their king because
Rehoboam had acted so foolishly and so there was that division
that came upon the kingdom and so we find prophets speaking
sometimes to Judah sometimes to Israel And the principal tribe
in the north was that tribe of Ephraim. And there we have Hosea
in chapter 7 and verse 11 speaking. Ephraim also, he says, is like
a silly dove. Like a silly dove without hearts. They go to Egypt, they go to
Assyria. What is he saying? Well, Here
is the kingdom of Israel in the north and when they feel themselves
to be under assault, when their enemies seem to be gaining advantage
over them, what do they do? They enter into league with the
Egyptians or they enter into league with the Assyrians because
they feel threatened by the nation of Syria. Ephraim is like a silly
dove without heart. Oh, how simple they were, how
foolish they were. They were so slow to look to
the Lord and to call upon the Lord. They would look to some
human resources whereby they might defend themselves. And
isn't that true of believers? So often we're just like that.
Simple souls, foolish souls. We fail to turn to the Lord God.
We turn anywhere else and everywhere else before ever we'll turn to
the Lord. It's just like Ephraim. Like
a silly dove. Not considering God and yet God
is the one who truly loves his people and cares for them. Oh
how he speaks to them there by the prophet Hosea. How shall
I give thee up, Ephraim? He cries. How shall I deliver
thee, Israel? God who is so good and we so
slow to turn to him and so foolish just like those silly doves of
Ephraim we remarked this morning looking
at those words in the prophecy of Ezekiel there in that 7th
chapter there to learn what it was to
mourn to mourn over their sins that's what it speaks of mourning
mourning over sins and we have it here the same sort of language
in the previous chapter look at the language that we find
here in in verse 11 of chapter 59 we roar all like bears and
mourn sore like doves We look for judgment, but there is none
for salvation, but it is far off from us. For our transgressions
are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us.
For our transgressions are with us, and that's for our iniquities,
we know them." Well, when the Lord brings His people to that
place and they know something of themselves, what do they do?
They must mourn. As we said this morning there
in that verse in in Ezekiel 7. They mourn over their iniquities. The images that are used many
times in scripture. Remember earlier in the book
we have those chapters that tell us much about that godly king
Hezekiah and all that came upon Judah in the days of his kingship. are the Assyrians who had taken
the northern kingdom of Israel then come south and they siege
to the cities of Judah and then they come to the very walls of
Jerusalem and Jerusalem is under tremendous threat and about to
fall and there is the good king and he takes those threatening
letters that have been sent by Sennacherib and he takes them into the temple
he spreads the matter before the Lord he fears that his kingdom
is going to fall Jerusalem is going to be destroyed and God
grants him a remarkable deliverance and then in chapter 38 and you
can read it I'm sure you're familiar with the chapter many of you
that remarkable prayer of thanksgiving it wasn't like you see those
Those people in the north, those silly doves in the north. But
how he uses the imagery of birdsong as it were. He says, like as
a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter. I did mourn as a dove,
my nights fail with looking upward. Oh Lord, I am oppressed. Undertake
for me. And the imagery, you see, he's
using, it's that Same imagery, the need to mourn, to mourn over
our sins. Just as the dove, that mournful
song of the doves. And the doves are those, as we
said this morning, find their safety in the clefts of the rock.
Isn't that the picture that we have in the song? And there in
the second chapter, Oh my dove, thou art in the clefts of the
rock. In that verse in Ezekiel 7, 16, they go to the mountains
and it's there that they find their safety when the calamity
comes upon the nation. Rock of ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. All God's people then, they are
likened to these doves. But then also we did say this
morning with regards to this figure, the figure of the dove,
it's not only representative of the people of God, it's also
a figure of the Holy Spirit. At the baptizing of the Lord
Jesus he saw the Spirit of God, we're told, descending upon him
in the form of a dove. And that language again in the
Song of Solomon. We said in the past that at times
it's difficult to know just who is speaking. It's a love song,
Song of Solomon. It's a man's love for his bride. But greater than that, there's
a spiritual significance. It speaks of Christ and the Church. and that mutual love that they
have one for the other, and at times it is difficult to know
just who is speaking in those various descriptions. Or we have
the church described there in the opening chapter. In verse
15, thou hast dove's eyes, it says. That's the church, thou
hast dove's eyes. But then in chapter 5, And verse 12, the church describes
the Lord Jesus, His eyes are as the eyes of doves. Oh, there's
a similarity. Are they not renewed in the knowledge
of Him that created them? Is there not the restoration
of that image of God in the souls of those who are born again of
the Spirit of God? They're new creatures in Christ
Jesus. They like Him. He has Dove's
eyes, they have Dove's eyes. But thinking as we said this
morning of those eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ, what are they? They are all seeing eyes. They
are in every direction just like the eyes of the birds. And they
are said to be like as a flame of fire, burning, searching,
seeing into the depths of our souls. well God's eyes behold
God's eyelids try the children of men and we said also that
as that is a truth and we do well to remember that his eyes
are running to and fro through the whole earth and he doesn't
look upon the outward appearance as men do he looks upon the heart
he sees us exactly as we are but then what of the believer
If the believer's eyes are as God's eyes, what does the Spirit
teach them? Does he not teach them to discern
truth from error, and that that is false from that that is real? How they can discern by their
eyes. And down here there's an exhortation
in the chapter to to lift up the eyes, lift up thine eyes
round about and see all they gather themselves together they
come to thee thy son shall come from far and thy daughter shall
be nursed at thy side then they shall see and flow together and
thine heart shall fear and be enlarged because the abundance
of the sea shall be converted unto thee the forces of the Gentiles
shall come unto thee." The word force is there in the margin.
His wealth, the wealth of the Gentiles. Oh, it's a great and
a blessed increase that is being spoken of. There's that look
of expectancy, you see. Lifting up of the eyes, the words
of the Lord Jesus surely. Lift up your eyes and look on
the fields, He says, for they are white unto harvest. Or are we those friends who have
that spirit of expectation that the Lord will appear yet, that
He will do the great work? Here in verse 5 surely we have
the heart swelling and overflowing in expectation. Then thou shalt
see and flow together and thine heart shall feel and be enlarged.
Or do we desire that large heartedness that large heartedness I'm not really a great reader
of the sermons of C.H. Spurgeon but what I do so much
admire about Mr. Spurgeon is his love of souls
what a love of souls that man had he desired to see sinners
being converted that's what he wanted he wanted to see the Lord
doing a great work in many hearts converting sinners to himself
And I think sometimes my own heart itself straightened. And
what is it? It's unbelief. Full of unbelief. Can the Lord really do that?
The day in which we live seems such a dark day. And there seems
very little gospel fruit to be witnessed in any places at all. Do we come to God with that spirit
of expectation? Oh, there's joy in the presence
of the angels of God, we're told, over one sinner that repented. It's a lovely picture, really,
that we have in this passage. As I said, from verse 4 right
through to 7, we have all this rich symbolic language that speaks
of an ingathering, a coming in, conversions. And then we come
to the words of our text, Who are these that fly as a cloud?
and there's doves to their windows. What do we see here? There's
movement. There's movement. They fly. It's a quick movement. And you
can think of the language of the Psalmist. Remember that lovely
verse in Psalm 55, Oh that I had wings like a dove. for then would
I fly away and be at rest. Do you ever feel like that? We
want to be like the doves, we want to fly away. We want to
fly to the Lord and rest in Him. The only place where we can find
peace and safety, that blessed abode. To fly away and to hide
ourselves in that cleft of the rock, that rock of ages, the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself. clouds, it says. They fly as a cloud and as the
doves to their windows. Oh, how at times God's people
find themselves in the midst of great troubles. There seem to be so many against
them. Clouds, heavy so foreboding God's judgments coming as it
were what are we to do? we're to look to the Lord, we're
to cry to the Lord himself we're to look as he were to the horizon
and really that's the the sort of imagery that we have here
in the opening verses and the strength of the language
that's used There in verses 1 and 2, arise, shine it says. Is it not speaking of the coming
of the day as it were? The looking for the rising of
the sun. The darkness is covering the
earth, gross darkness is covering the people. But the Lord shall
arise and His glory is going to come. Oh, it's the dawn of
the Gospel day. And you know they say that the
darkest hour is the hour before the dawning of the day. And we
have that great word, don't we, in the book of the Prophet Malachi.
There at the end of the Old Testament Scriptures, unto you that fear
my name shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings. Oh, isn't this, friends, what
we're to be looking for? and longing for. Or to have those wings you see,
the wings of the dove, flying away to the Lord, calling upon
Him, crying to Him that He would yet come and appear for us and
may bear His arm and that we might see the reality of those
healings, the healings of his wings, the healings of his beams
as the sun of righteousness arises. Again in the language of the
Psalmist, there in Psalm 68, Though ye have lion among the
pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver
and her feathers with yellow gold. This is rich imagery that
we find here in the Word of God but it's there in order to be
an encouragement to the people of God or to be those then who
feel that we have been lying amongst the pots and we just
want to have those wings that we might fly away and look to
the Lord and call upon Him and cry to Him. There's movement.
There's movement. These doves, they're flying,
they're flying to their windows, flying to their dovecotes. And
what else is there here? There's a multitude. Oh, there's
a multitude. Isn't that what the word cloud
really suggests? Many. In fact, all of the language
that we have in the context here clearly speaks of multitudes. In verse 5 we have the abundance
of the sea. The abundance of the sea shall
be converted unto thee. And we have the forces, or as
I said, the wealth of the Gentiles being spoken of there. And then
in the next verse it's the multitude of camels and the dromedaries
of Midian and of Ephod that are spoken of. In verse 7 it's flocks,
flocks of sheep, the sheep of Cedar shall be gathered together. And so it was really, when we
think of the beginning, the dawning of the Gospel day, on the day
of Pentecost after the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus after that
cruel death that he suffered and it seemed to be the end of
all things for those who were his disciples. But hope was there
now and then the Lord rising again from the dead and showing
himself to them over 40 days, giving many infallible proofs
of the reality of his resurrection from the dead. And then, of course,
at the beginning of Acts, in the opening chapter, we see how
he speaks to them, previous to his ascension. All they see is
alive, and there he is, and he's conversing with them, and suddenly
he's taken up into heaven. And they're assured by the angels
he's saying Jesus is going to come in like manner as you have
seen him ascend to the heaven. The promise of his coming again
but he has told them they must wait there in Jerusalem for the
fulfillment of the promise. The day of Pentecost and when
that day is fully come. Oh the day is fully come and
there they are. How many of them were there?
Why about 120. about 120, and yet, in many ways,
this is the gospel church in its pristine condition. These
are those who had been the followers of the Lord Jesus in all the
days of His temptations. Oh yes, they'd sinned, they'd
stumbled, and they'd fallen many times. But here they are now,
and the Spirit comes upon them in a remarkable fashion. And
who is it that speaks? Why, it's the one who had fallen
so grievously, that very one who had denied the Lord with
curses. Here is Simon Peter, you see,
when thou art converted, says the Lord, when thou art restored,
those words in Luke 22, where the Lord had spoken to him of
the assault of Satan, Satan hath desired to have you that he may
sift you as wheat. He spoke on it only recently.
He's speaking of all the disciples. It's you. It's in the plural.
He's desired to have you. That he might sift you. And here is the Lord. He's speaking
to Peter. But I have prayed for thee. It's a singular. Oh, I
prayed for you, Peter, in particular. We don't use that distinction
between the plural pronoun you and the singular pronoun thee
anymore. but it's here in the Word of
God and as I said those weeks ago now that's the beauty of
our authorised version it's so accurate and we have it in no
other version in the English tongue that I'm aware of but
it's maintained in our authorised version and here is this man
and the Lord says doesn't he when thou art converted always
going to fall so grievously and deny the Lord He's going to be
restored. And he's the one who is there,
you see, it's a remarkable scene that we witness on the day of
Pentecost. It's Peter who is preaching.
He's the mouthpiece, as it were, of the other apostles. He's the
mouthpiece of the 120. And what happens? Three thousand. Three thousand converted. added to the church. And that's not the end of it,
is it? Just a few chapters later, the beginning of chapter 4 in
Acts, we read of 5,000 men. That's men distinct from women. The Bible makes that distinction.
Doubtless there were many women as well as the 5,000 men. And it's the fulfillment, you
see, of the chapter that we have before us tonight. It's what
God is able to do. He calls sinners out of every
kindred, tongue, people, nation. He calls sinners to Himself. And it's ever been God's way.
I mean, even in the Old Testament, we sometimes make much of the
doctrine of the remnant and there is a remnant that's a truth but
there's also and it's no contradiction there's also a multitude who
are saved there in Hebrews 12 we read of
so great a cloud of witnesses so great a cloud of witnesses
and here they are and they liken to these doves or we're to be wise as serpents,
we're to be harmless as doves, these birds that set before us
something of the marks of those who are the true people of God.
Or that we might be in that blessed number. Who are these that fly
as a cloud, as the doves to their windows? Do you tonight desire
to fly? And to fly in particular to that
that cleft in the rock of ages to hide yourself in that place
of safety hide yourself in the person and the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ there is no other place of salvation all our salvation
is only found in Him oh God grant that we might be those then who
bear that blessed mark as I said this morning to be those who
are mourning over our sins and yet at the same time mourning
after the Lord Jesus Christ that we might know Him and know that
salvation that is laid up for sinners in His person and in
His work. Arise, shine, for thy light is
come. The glory of the Lord is risen
upon thee. Oh, we have the gospel or that we might be those then
who are as these blessed birds that we read of in the text,
who are these that fly as the clouds and as the doves to their
windows. The Lord bless to us his word.
Amen.