Let us turn to God's Word once
again in the book of the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 28 and
reading the end of the chapter from verse 23 Isaiah chapter
28 verse 23 give ye ear and hear my voice hearken and hear my
speech that the plowman plow all day to sow doth he open and
break the clods of his ground. When he hath made plain the face
thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the
cummin, and cast in the principal wheat, and the appointed barley,
and the rye in their place? For his God doth instruct him
to discretion, and doth teach him. For the fitches are not
threshed with a threshing instrument, Neither is a cart wheel turned
about upon the coming, but the fitches are beaten out with a
staff, and the coming with a rod. Red corn is bruised, because
he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel
of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. This also cometh
forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel
and excellent in working." I want us to consider then these verses. We might say it's a rather strange
portion of Scripture. We often remark that In Isaiah
we discern so much of the Gospel. There are those portions of this
long book that I'm sure are very familiar with each and all of
us. evident prophecies concerning
the Lord's servant, the Lord's suffering servant. But there
are also other parts of Isaiah that are somewhat dark and difficult. But with the Lord's help I want
us to consider this portion that we've just read for our text
this morning. And the theme is that of ploughing
and sowing and threshing. Ploughing and sowing and threshing. We've just come through that
period of the year as we observe the seasons. That's time of the
harvest. I'm sure many of you are familiar
with the name of Robert Hawker. In the last newsletter from the
Gospel Standard Library there was a short article on Robert
Hawker. He was a High Calvinist in the
Church of England. He was the vicar as Charles in
Plymouth, but a great friend also of many of those well-known
strict Baptist ministers of old, men like William Gadsby. And
it was the grandson, the grandson of that Robert Hawker by the
name of Robert Stephen Hawker, who was the originator of Harvest
Festivals. He was a very different man to
his grandfather, who was Robert Stephen, but he is said to be
the originator of Harvest Festivals. Now, we would not want to observe
such ceremonies as that. However, it is good to be observant
and it is certainly good for us to be those who would observe
God's providences. God is there in all the labors
of the husbandman or the labors of the arable farmer. Remember the words that we have
at the end of the 107th Psalm, who so is wise. says the psalmist,
and will observe these things. He's spoken of God's providences.
Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall
understand the loving kindness of the Lord. And here at the
end of this portion that we've read, We have this statement
in verse 29, this also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts
which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working. How it is good for us to be those
who would be observant then of all the works of the Lord. Now, in verses 24, 25, and 26,
we clearly have mention of that ploughing and that sowing of
the of the farmer. Verse 24, Doth the ploughman
plough all day to sow? Doth he open and break the clods
of his ground? He labours there in the fields There's a time when he is ploughing,
not always ploughing, there's other work also to attend to. The ploughing is done in order
that the ground might be prepared to receive the particular seed. So in verse 25, when he hath
made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches?
and scatter the cumming and cast in the principal wheat and the
appointed barley and the rye in their place. The margin says
that this word fritches is a reference to the fennel. The fennel and
the cumming, these would be used for the favoring of food, may
be used sometimes as condiments. It's interesting what we have
for the alternative reading in the margin at the end of this
25th verse. We read of wheat in the principal
place and barley in the appointed place. How the ground has been
prepared and the soil is made suitable to receive these particular
seeds. And then at verse 26 we are told,
for his God doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach
him. He labors, he works, he does
all this preparation, he casts in his seat. But then remember
the language that we have in the New Testament in the parables
of the Lord. There in Mark 27 Christ says,
the seed should spring up and grow, and he knoweth not how. Though the farmer has done all
this work, all this preparation, in his ploughing and in his sowing,
yet as the seed begins to germinate, it is evidently the work of God,
the hand of God, which is so wonderful in his counsel and
so excellent in his working. Well, having spoken in these
verses 24, 25 and 26 of the ploughing and the sowing, then in the following
three verses from verse 27 we have mention of the threshing. Verse 27, for the fitches, or
the fennel not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither
is a cartwheel turned about upon the coming, but the fitches are
beaten out with a staff and the coming with a rod. Obviously with these it is easier
to separate. that has grown from the husk
that it might be made use of. It doesn't need that severe treatment
that would be necessary when it comes to separating the chaff
from the grain. But then in verse 28 we're told
our bread corn is bruised. because he will not ever be threshing
it nor bruise it with the wheel of his cart nor bruise it with
his horsemen it's only threshed as it is necessary though the
treatment must be somewhat more severe yet how careful the farmer
is when he comes even to his threshing and again in verse
29 where reminded of God's wisdom in all of these things. This
also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts which is wonderful in
counsel and excellent in working. Now we observe in this passage
then how that the farmer is not always ploughing There are various
tasks that he has to perform in order that he might have his
crop, in order that he might be able to gather in his good
harvest, and then he has to prepare that that he has harvested. He's
not always ploughing. He sows, he harvests, and then
he threshes. And there is a truth here with
regards to God also. that the Lord God is not one
who simply gives his word of promise, but God also accomplishes
promises. Isaiah is a book that is full
of great promises as we've already said concerning the Christ. It's full of Christ. but it's
Christ in prophecy, and that prophecy is accomplished in God's
appointed time, in the fullness of the time, God sends forth
his son, made of a woman, made under the law. But also it is
a truth that as the farmer, as these various tasks, the ploughing,
and then eventually the threshing, so also with regards to God and
his threatenings, there are his threatenings, But then there
is also the time when God will fulfill his threats. He will
come and he will punish the sinner. And this is the context really
if we look at the whole of this particular chapter. If we look
back to the opening verses of this chapter we see how that
God is uttering words of threatenings to Ephraim. Ephraim associated
with the ten tribes in the north after the division of the kingdom
following the death of King Solomon that it is only those two tribes
of Judah and Benjamin that are faithful to the house of David
and of Rehoboam as their king, but those northern tribes, because
of the foolishness of Rehoboam, they rebel and they make choice
of a man called Jeroboam, son of Nebat, to be their king and
then we have that division. But the principal tribe there
in the north is that of Ephraim. And so sometimes we read of Ephraim
in reference to that kingdom of Israel in the north. And here,
see how God gives his threatenings. Woe to the crown of pride, to
the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower,
which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are
overcome with wine. Behold, The Lord hath a mighty
and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm,
as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth
with the hands the crown of pride. The drunkards of Ephraim shall
be trodden on their feet, and the glorious beauty which is
on the head of the fat valley shall be a fading flower, and
as a hasty fruit before the summer, which when he that looketh upon
it seeth what it is yet in his hand, he eateth it up." All God's
threatenings. He has a mighty one. Who is this
mighty one? It's the armies of the Assyrians
under Sennacherib who are going to come and the ten tribes in
the north are going to be scattered. Yes, as we see later, in the
reign of King Hezekiah, the little kingdom of Judah is spared Though
Sennacherib has overrun all the Northern Kingdom, though he comes
to the gate of Jerusalem, Jerusalem doesn't fall at that time. But
not so for Israel or Ephraim. God's Mighty One is being threatened
then, here in these opening verses. But then the threats will be
accomplished. As we see just previous to this
portion that I announced as our text at the end of the chapter
in verse 21 the Lord shall rise up it says the Lord shall rise
up as in Mount Perazim he shall be wroth as in the valley of
Gibeon that he may do his work his strange work and bring to
pass his acts his strange acts. Now therefore, be ye not mockers,
lest your bands be made strong, for I have heard from the Lord
God of hosts a consumption even determined upon the whole earth."
Oh, God will do it. God will do it. It is spoken
of here as his strange work. In other words, it's not a work
that God delights in, it's a work of judgment. It's a strange work,
a strange act. All but see it as the farmer
is so careful. and so selective in his threshing. So too is God in His works, even
as He comes to punish. It is not that that God delights
in. How careful God is, how God does
things by degrees. How we see this in what He said
previously. Always by degrees, precept must
be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line
upon line, here a little, there a little. And again in verse
13 we have a repetition of those words. The word of the Lord was
unto them, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon
line, line upon line, here a little and there a little, that they
might go and fall backward and be broken and snared and taken.
But God will act. God will act. And all that we
have in these words that I've read at the end of the chapter
is ultimately to bring us to this the words of verse 26 is
God doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him and the words
of verse 29 this also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts
which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working and
we should be those friends who are not only familiar with the
word of God but we should be observant of the works of God,
the providences of God. We should bring God's Word to
God's providences. In all of these things God speaks,
all of these things then have a voice. Well, let us turn this
morning to this portion at the end of the chapter. And first
of all, looking at verse 24 to 26 where we read of the ploughing
and the sowing and as we look at this passage I want us to
understand the spiritual significance of what is being spoken of it's
the work of God and I want us to consider this work of God
in terms of the dealings that God has with the sinner when
God comes to awaken the sinner when God comes to convert the
sinner Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, in John chapter
15, where he speaks of himself as the vine, and his people,
his church, as the branches, and he says, my father is the
husbandman. My father is the husbandman. Can we not from this portion
then, draw a lesson that tells and teaches us something concerning
God and the ways of God and the works of God with his people.
God is the husbandman. Again, the Lord Jesus says, every
plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted
up. Oh, the important thing is that
we know something of God's work and God's work in our own souls. Again, when the apostle is writing
to the church at Corinth, he reminds them, ye are God's husbandry,
he says. This imagery then is used in
reference to the works of God, the work of the arable farmer.
Paul can say to that church at Corinth, you are God's husbandry,
or as the margin says, you are God's tillage. You are God's
tillage. The ground that God is tilling,
ploughing, preparing. If we turn to the book of Proverbs,
we read again of tillage. In Proverbs 13, 23, We have that
statement, much food is in the tillage of the poor. Now, of
course, there's a literal meaning to that, the poor man. He might
only have a small plot of ground, but he seeks to make provision
for himself and his family from that little plot. He cultivates
it that he might be able to feed his own. much food is in the
tillage of the poor now it's interesting on at least two occasions
J.C. Philpott preached different sermons
from that particular text the tillage of the poor and he he
deals with the literal meaning but he goes on to spiritualize
it he speaks of who that poor man is it's that man who is poor
in spirit and all that is taking place in his soul, all that work
of God there's profit in it, there's food in it for him and
I don't think that that's an improper understanding of the
book of Proverbs I believe it's right that we should see Christ
in all the scriptures, Christ is there in the wisdom literature
as Christ is there in the prophetic scriptures and when we think
of the Lord Jesus Christ and his own ministry and certainly
the way in which the Lord employs parables. In that passage that
we read, Matthew chapter 13, it's a great chapter of course
on that parabolic nature of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We only read a part of the chapter. But now time and again we find
the Lord Jesus uttering those words, the kingdom of heaven
is like. The kingdom of heaven is like. The kingdom of heaven is like.
And then he goes on to speak the parable, and the parable
clearly has a spiritual interpretation. When the Lord speaks that familiar
parable that we read, the parable of the sower and his seed, What does the Lord say when he
comes to interpret it? He has to explain the significance
of what he has been saying to his own disciples. They don't
understand. They don't understand why it is that he is teaching
in parables and he explains that to them. It's in order that the
prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled. That these truths might be hidden
from some who will never understand the significance of the words
of the Lord Jesus, but these things will be revealed to His
disciples, He says. And then He goes on and says
to them, He therefore the parable of the sower, when anyone heareth
the word of the kingdom. All it has to do with the words,
this parable. It's not just the sowing of seed,
It's the ministry of the Word, it's the proclamation of the
Word. When anyone hear us, the Word of the Kingdom says the
Lord. In Luke's account, in Luke 8,
we have that expression, the seed is the Word of God. And so here, you see, when we
think of what he said in these verses, 24 and 25, concerning
the ploughing and the sowing, does it not remind us of the
Word of God, how God prepares the ground in order that that
Word might take roots and prove to be fruitful. Or when Peter
in the closing part of his first chapter in that first epistle
speaks of believers being born again. Remember what he says,
our born again, he says not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,
by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Now there,
when he speaks of that Word of God, it is evidently the Lord
Jesus Christ whom he is speaking of. In fact, it is the very word
Logos that we find in the beginning of John's Gospel. In the beginning
was the Word, the Logos. And the Word was with God and
the Word was God. And it's the same Word that Peter
uses there in verse 23 at the end of that opening chapter.
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, he says, but of incorruptible
by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever. But then
he goes on subsequently to say, and this is the Word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. But interestingly, it's not the
same word that we have there in verse 25. This is the word. And the particular word that
he uses there is not the word logos, but it has reference to
the spoken word. Isn't this how God works, you
see? the sower sows his seed whatever
that seed might be but the seed is the word of God and how that
word has to be proclaimed has to be broadcast that's what we
have with the with the sower in the parable he makes a broadcast
he casts his seed abroad and it falls in different types of
ground some by the wayside, some on the stony ground, some amongst
the thorns. But that that is fruitful is
that that falls in that ground that has been properly prepared.
How important is that word and the proclamation of that word?
Think of the language of the Apostle there in the 10th chapter
of Romans. where He speaks of the Word and
the preaching of the Word. Verse 14, He says, How then shall
they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things He goes on, Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God. All this is the means that God
himself has ordained to save sinners by, even the preaching
of the everlasting gospel. And that's how faith comes. That's
how faith comes. It comes by the hearing of that
Word of God. Before there can be real fruits there must be that
ploughing. Here we see quite clearly how
the ploughing is previous to the sowing. Not the ploughman
plough all day to sow but he open and break the clods of his
ground When he hath made ply in the face thereof, doth he
not cast abroad? He ploughs in order to sow. That is the point and the purpose
of the ploughing. It's preparatory. And so too
with regards to the Word of God and the sowing of the seed of
God's Word. We have those exhortations in
both Jeremiah's prophecy and again in the prophecy of Hosea. Break up your fallow ground for
it is time to seek the Lord says Hosea. Hosea chapter 10 and verse
12. Break up your fallow ground.
Oh, the ground that is the heart of the sinner has to be broken
up. that heart that is so desperately
wicked that heart that is so hard and so unfeeling with regard
to the things of God how the ground has to be broken up all
we see do we not in the ministry of the apostles when Peter is
preaching there on the on the day of Pentecost and the Spirit
has now been so mightily spread abroad What a day it was! That blessed unction of the Spirit
of God upon the ministry of the Apostles. And we're told, as
those that heard were pricked in their heart. Or they're cut
to the quick. There's conviction. There's conviction
in the soul. There's that law work. And how
necessary that law work is. This is the ministry of the Holy
Spirit. It's what the Lord Jesus Christ Himself speaks of. when
He tells His disciples there in John chapter 16 that the Spirit
will come, when He has come says Christ, when He has come He will
reprove or convince the world of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment, of sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness because I go
to my Father and you see me no more, of judgment. because the
Prince of this world is judged." Oh, this is the ministry of the
Holy Spirit, to convince the sinner of his sin, and to vindicate the Lord Jesus
Christ as that One who has been raised from the dead by the Father
and has now been received into the very heavens. who is evidently
the promised Messiah. And how those Jews and proselytes
on the day of Pentecost were so convinced by the Spirit under
the ministry of Peter, that Sermon of Peter. It is the great work. Ploughing is the preparation
for sowing. How the heart must, as it were,
be prepared, made suitable to receive that that word of God. Think again of the reading that
we have in the margin here at the end of this 25th verse. We read of wheat in the principal
place and barley in the appointed place. There's nothing haphazard
you see about the works of God. God is wonderful in counsel,
excellent in working. We know all have sinned, all
have come short of the glory of God, all are sinners. But though sin is of the creature,
sin is of man, God has to work in order that there might be
those sensible sinners. Those who are prepared for such
a Saviour as Jesus Christ is. He himself tells us that the
whole have no need of the physician but they that are sick. I came,
he says, I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. How many imagine all will be
right for them if there is a God. All the vain thoughts of men
trusting in themselves. How few there are who are really
sensible sinners. All sinners are high in His esteem,
and sinners highly value Him. Are we those who value the Lord
Jesus Christ? What a mercy it is, if that's
in our hearts today, that we have some desire towards the
Lord Jesus Christ. Some real sense of our needs.
You see, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, it's interesting
to observe the order there, as the Lord speaks of His coming
in John chapter 16. in verses 8 through to 11 he
speaks of him coming to reprove the world of seeing, of righteousness
and of judgment but then he goes on he goes on at verse 13 to
speak of him coming as that one who is very much the Spirit of
Christ. Thou be it verse 13, "...howbeit
when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into
all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he
shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to
come, he shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and
shall show it unto you." That's the ministry of the Spirit ultimately.
The ploughing up of the the fallow ground, the breaking up of the
hard heart of the sinner, that work of conviction in the soul,
making the sinner sad, shutting the man up to what he is as a
sinner, shutting him up to the awful truth of his total depravity
and his complete and utter impotence, all preparation that the Spirit
might come and reveal Christ to him. as that one who is the
only saviour of sinners. Oh, it is then, as we have it
here at the end of this 25th verse, wheat in the principal
place, barley in the appointed place. But having said something
with regards to that ploughing and that sowing, let us turn
in the second place to what he said in verses 27 to 29 concerning
the threshing. After the crop has grown and
the harvest has been gathered in, there's this other process
of threshing. And in this do we not see God's
dealings with his people, how God chastens the believer. God
chastens the believer. Here at the end of verse 27,
we're told how the Fitches are beaten out with a staff and they
come in with a rod. Doesn't that speak to us of God's
dealings? The Lord's voice cried out unto
the city, says the prophet, the man of wisdom shall see thy name,
hear ye the rods, and who hath appointed it." Micah chapter
6 and verse 9. Hear ye the rod and who hath
appointed it. Afflictions and chastenings,
these are God's threshing instruments. Concerning the Lord Jesus as
He comes to minister, John the Baptist says of Him whose fan
is in His hand, and he will truly purge his floor all but not the
least grain is going to fall to the ground how careful he
is how careful he is how he deals with his people Paul says we
are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with
the world God deals with these people.
He doesn't deal in the same way with those who are in the very
grip of Satan, those who are in the world. Oh, He deals with
all His creatures in His own way, but He has those dealings
with His children as one who is a father to them. Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening,
Paul says, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is
he whom the Father chasteneth not? Oh, the Lord, you see, He
deals with His people, He instructs His people. Verse 26 is, God
does instruct Him to discretion and does teach Him. And He teaches
His children not only from His Word, and not only in his works
in Providence but in those very personal dealings, those chastenings which sometimes are
so difficult to understand and to interpret how hard it is when
the child of God is in the midst of the trial when troubles come,
when temptations come but there is that promise There hath no
temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. God will
not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but with
the temptation shall make a way of escape, that ye may be able
to bear it." Well, this is the way of God. He deals with His
children in order to make them fruitful, in order that there
might be that bringing forth of all the fruits of righteousness. But He chastens. He corrects
them. But, says the Psalmist, He will
not always chide. Not always chiding them, reproving
them. Oh, He does that. God's Word
is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness. There is that. God will at times
also come and speak those gracious words, those comforting words,
those reassuring words. What do we read here concerning the corn? In verse 28, bread
corn it says, is bruised, because he will not ever be threshing
it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with
the horsemen. Oh, he's not forever, he's not
always dealing with his children in that way of chastisement,
that way of correction, that way of reproof. There is that
that is proportioned in the way in which the Lord deals with
his people, but deal with them he will. Deal with them he will
and there can be no escaping his dealings. But what does Paul say in that
twelfth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews? In verse 10 he
says, it's for our profit. Everything God does for his children
is profitable. No chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward he yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness. to them who are exercised thereby. Well, we need to be those who
are exercised, friends. And observant people, that's
what we said at the outset, we don't observe Harvest Festivals
and the like, but we're aware of the various seasons, we're
aware of the time of the year, we're aware of those things around
about us, our eyes are open. Are we those who are seeking
to discern and to interpret the ways of God and the works of
God and the Word of God? that the Lord deals with us.
And sometimes the Lord deals with us in ways that are so difficult
for us to understand. So we need to come to Him in
prayer, we need to come to His Word and pray over His Word and
ask the Lord to instruct us. Here then we see something of
God's dealings with His own children in the activity of the of the
husbandman, the arable farmer, in his ploughing, in his sowing,
his harvesting, in his threshing of that that he has brought in. But ultimately, and I want to
conclude on this note this morning, the Lord Jesus Christ himself
is to be discerned, is he not, in the imagery that we have set
before us in this whole passage from verse 23 to verse 29. How the Lord Jesus Christ himself,
according to the Messianic Psalm, he experienced ploughing. Look
at the words that we find in the 129th Psalm. In verse 3 he says, the ploughers
ploughed upon my back. they made long furrows." Or the
sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, you see. The sufferings of the Lord Jesus.
This figure is taken up of His back, as it were, being ploughed.
How they laid many stripes upon Him. Or when those soldiers at
that mock trial scourged him. That was all part
of his sufferings. All that's part and parcel of
the shedding of that precious blood, the pouring out of his
soul onto death. The Lord says it himself, the
flowers ploughed upon my back when the load of the sins of
his people were all placed upon him, how he suffered,
or how he suffered that punishment that was there just deserved.
He bore all that penalty in his own precious person. Why we read
here bread corn is bruised. Isn't that the Lord Jesus Christ
that he's being spoken of? He's not fanciful? I don't for
a moment believe that's fanciful to say that this speaks to us
of the Lord Jesus, bread corn, his brews. Christ is the bread
corn. Verily, verily, it says, except
a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. Oh, the Lord Jesus, He is that
corn of wheat. that dies in the ground. Or think of that seed germinating
and then the fruit. How the Lord Jesus Christ you
see, is here. He's in all the scriptures. Why, it was that man Robert Hawker
in his Poor Man's Commentary who saw Christ everywhere. Remember
the remarks of Mr Spurgeon in his book Commenting and Commentaries.
He says of Dr Hawker and his poor man's commentary, he sees
Christ where Christ isn't. Now, I stand more with Hawker
than with Spurgeon. I think Hawker is right. Christ
is everywhere. And Christ is here. He's the
bread corn, roast. He's that corn of wheat falling
into the ground and dying. What is the consequence of all
that we have in this strange passage of Scripture? It is that
there might be bread. Isn't that the great work of
the arable farmer? He might grow other crops, but
his principal crop, his principal crop, is wheat, as we see in
verse 25. The principal wheat. and the appointed barley and
the rye in their place. The principal crop is wheat in
order that with the winnowing and the threshing and the grinding
there might be bread flour, the staple of life, and doesn't that
speak to us of the Lord Jesus who is himself of course that
one who is truly the bread of life those I am passages that
we have in John and there in chapter 6 well you know the language
of the Lord Jesus verse 35 Jesus said unto them I am the bread
of life either cometh to me shall never hunger and either believeth
on me shall never Again, later, verse 48, he says,
I am that bread of life. Verse 51, I am the living bread
which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The
Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give
us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of
Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth
my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. And I will
raise him up at the last day, for my flesh is meat indeed.
and my blood is drink indeed. All friends, are we those who
as we come under God's Word have this one desire that we might
be feeding upon the Lord Jesus Christ. In that spiritual sense
as we come to the Word we want to eat the bread of life. All
we want to drink is blood. We want to know that real union
and communion with Him. Verse 29, This also cometh forth
from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel and excellent
in working. O God grant that God himself
might come and work all these gracious works in each of our
souls this day. For the Lord be pleasing to bless
his work to us. Amen.