Chapter 13

The third general head: The ends for which God leaves his children to this darkness. First, such as are drawn from God and his faithfulness.

Now let us come to those ends which God may have in this his dealing with one who fears and obeys him, which are many and holy ones.

First, to show his power and faithfulness in upholding, raising up, and healing again a spirit that has been long and deadly wounded with inward terrors — which is as great an evidence of his power as any other. Therefore Heman says in Psalm 88:10-11: 'Will you show wonders to the dead? Shall your faithfulness be declared in destruction?' — that is, in raising my soul up again to joy and comfort, which is as much as raising up a dead man; no, more — as much as raising up a soul already in hell. For the same terrors, says he, that destroy them do in like manner seize on me. In Ephesians 1:19 it is said that the exceeding greatness of God's power was seen in raising Christ from death to life. And where lay principally the demonstration of that power? Not simply in raising his body up again — that was no more than he did for others — but in Acts 2:24 the power is said to be shown in this: that he, having loosed the pains of death whereby it was impossible he should be held, was raised up again. His soul was heavy to death with terrors, and those pains were in themselves deadly — though not to him, since being God as well as man it was impossible for him to sink under them. Now therefore, to raise up and glorify that soul of his that was so bruised, wounded, and pierced through and through — herein lay the wonder. And such a wonder God showed in recovering Heman. To show the greatness of this work, let us consider a little the depth and deadliness of this kind of distress. It is compared to the bruising of a reed — which when it is bruised, who can make it stand upright again? It is called 'the wounding of the spirit' (Proverbs 18), which no creature knows how to reach and heal — none but God who is the Father of spirits, who made them and knows how to mend them. It is not only called the sickness of the spirit (as in Isaiah 33:24, where the want of assurance of the forgiveness of sins makes poor souls say, 'I am sick,' and to heal which is made the prerogative of the Sun of Righteousness, arising with healing in his wings — Malachi 4:2), but also it is called death and destruction. For so Heman calls that distress he was in in Psalm 88. The reason is that God's favor is our life, by which we live and are upheld, and when it is withdrawn the soul is ready to fail and faint and come to nothing and sink into destruction (Isaiah 57:16). Again, the pains of those terrors are more violent and more powerful to hold us under than are the pangs of death. The wounds of the guilt of sin are as deadly and as strong as the lusts of its power, and it requires as great a power to dissolve and scatter them. For all the strength that the law and God's justice has, sin also has to back it — 'for the strength of sin is the law' (1 Corinthians 15:56).

Second, as to know the power of Christ's resurrection, so also the fellowship of his sufferings — that thereby the soul may be made more conformable to him, as it is in Philippians 3:10. As there are the sufferings for Christ, so there are the sufferings of Christ, and God makes his people partakers of both — persecutions without and terrors within. With these Christ's soul was filled when, as the text says, 'he was heard in what he feared' and 'his soul was heavy to death' and 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' And so in Isaiah 53: 'It pleased God to bruise and wound him.' Now then, to conform us to his image, we who are his brothers and the persons guilty must suffer somewhat in spirit as well as he, and have a portion therein also. Therefore as Christ suffered both inwardly and outwardly, so do many of his members. 'If we have suffered with him, we shall also be glorified with him.' The sons of Zebedee would have been glorified in Christ's kingdom more than the rest of the apostles. But Christ says in Matthew 20:22-23: 'Are you able to drink of the cup of which I shall drink?' — meaning that cup delivered to him at his crucifying ('Let this cup pass'), the bitter cup of God's anger. 'And are you able to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?' — namely, outward afflictions and persecutions for the name of God. Christ speaks of this baptism in the present tense because he was already baptized with outward persecutions. But the cup — which was inward affliction of his spirit — this he was to drink at his agony (spoken of in the future: 'which I shall drink'), the cup that cast him into that sweat before he came to the bottom. Though no creature was able to drink it to the bottom, yet taste they might, and he tells them they should: 'You shall drink of it' (verse 23) — that is, taste of inward affliction and desertion as well as of outward persecution, terrors within and without, and all to make us conformable to him and so come to know in part what he endured for us.

Third, to put the greater difference between the estate of God's children here and that hereafter in heaven. To this very purpose is that speech of the apostle in 2 Corinthians 5:7: 'Here we walk by faith, not by sight.' He had said before that the estate of believers in this life is an estate of absence from the Lord, in which we lack his presence and so do not enjoy the sight of him; and therefore are to exercise faith the more, which is peculiar to this estate and a grace given for us to walk by while we live here. And though sometimes here we have some light and glimpses of him and his presence, yet we do not always walk by sight — for we walk by faith, not by sight. We shall have enough of the sight of God hereafter, when we shall see him face to face as we are seen, and be ever more with the Lord, and in his light shall see light, and be satisfied with his image. We may therefore be content to lack it here sometimes. You may well endure over-cloudings here, and sometimes that all sight should be taken away, for in the world to come there will be not one cloud to all eternity. Light is your portion, but now is the seed time and light is sown (Psalm 97:11 — 'Light is sown for the righteous'). You must be content to let it lie under the ground the longer; the longer it does so, the greater crop and harvest will come up in the end. You must endure the alternation of day and night here — heaviness for the night and joy in the morning — for hereafter you shall have continual day and no night. This difference is put between earth and heaven to make heaven more desirable and to exercise faith. The estate in heaven is as a state of perfect and continual health; that we may have this, we are ever and anon sick here and qualms come over our consciences, fears that our sins are not forgiven. But when we come there, 'The inhabitants there shall be no more sick, but their sins shall be forgiven them' (Isaiah 33:24).

The fourth end is to let us see from where spiritual comforts and refreshings come — that God alone keeps the keys of that storehouse and alone dispenses them how and when he pleases. That we may know, as it is in Isaiah 45:6-7, that it is the Lord who forms the light and creates darkness, evil and peace; and that as affliction does not rise out of the dust (as Job speaks), so neither does comfort rise out of our hearts. If we continually enjoyed comfort we would be apt to think so. God will let us see that our hearts are nothing but darkness, and that to cause any spiritual comfort is as much as to create light at first. Therefore he says, 'I create the fruit of the lips, peace' (Isaiah 57:19), and that it is he who commands light to shine into our hearts, who commanded light at first to shine out of darkness (2 Corinthians 4:6). This can in no way be more fully manifested than by withdrawing that light sometimes and leaving us in darkness. Why does he sometimes assist us in prayer and fill our sails, and again at other times leave our hearts empty? Is it not that we may learn that lesson of Romans 8:26 — that it is the Spirit who helps our weaknesses and that we of ourselves know not what nor how to ask? In like manner, for the same end does he sometimes hide and then again sometimes reveal himself — to show that he is the immediate fountain of comfort, 'the God of all comfort' (2 Corinthians 1:4), that so we might know whom to thank, whom to depend on, whom to go to for comfort. It is as difficult a thing for us to go out of ourselves and from the creatures for comfort to God alone as to go out of ourselves to Christ alone for righteousness. Hereby also we see that though we have never so many outward comforts, yet the comforts of our spirits depend on God alone — for if he in the midst of them withdraws himself, they all prove but miserable comforters.

The third general head: The ends for which God leaves His children in darkness. First, ends drawn from God Himself and His faithfulness.

Now let us turn to the ends God may have in dealing this way with someone who fears and obeys Him. These ends are many and holy.

First, to display His power and faithfulness in upholding, raising up, and healing a spirit that has been long and severely wounded by inward terror — which is as great a demonstration of His power as any other. This is why Heman says in Psalm 88:10-11: 'Will You perform wonders for the dead? Will Your faithfulness be declared in the grave?' — meaning, raising my soul up again to joy and comfort is as great a work as raising a dead man; no, even greater — as great as raising a soul out of hell itself. The same terrors that destroy the dead, Heman says, seize on him in the same way. In Ephesians 1:19 it is said that the surpassing greatness of God's power was seen in raising Christ from death to life. Where did that power chiefly show itself? Not simply in raising His body — He had done that for others as well — but Acts 2:24 says the power was shown in this: that God loosed the pains of death, by which it was impossible that Christ should be held, and raised Him up. His soul was heavy with terror to the point of death, and those pains were deadly in themselves — though not to Him, since being God as well as man it was impossible for Him to sink under them. Therefore, to raise and glorify that soul of His which had been so bruised, wounded, and pierced through — therein lay the wonder. And God showed a similar wonder in recovering Heman. To grasp the greatness of this work, consider how deep and deadly this kind of distress really is. It is compared to the bruising of a reed — and when a reed is bruised, who can make it stand upright again? It is called 'the wounding of the spirit' (Proverbs 18), which no created being knows how to reach and heal — none but God, who is the Father of spirits, who made them and knows how to mend them. It is not only called sickness of the spirit — as in Isaiah 33:24, where the lack of assurance of forgiveness makes poor souls say 'I am sick,' and the healing of which is reserved for the Sun of Righteousness who rises with healing in His wings (Malachi 4:2) — but it is also called death and destruction. So Heman describes his distress in Psalm 88. The reason is that God's favor is our life, by which we live and are sustained, and when it is withdrawn the soul is ready to fail, faint, and sink into ruin (Isaiah 57:16). Furthermore, the pain of these terrors is more violent and more powerful to hold us under than even the pangs of death. The wounds of sin's guilt are as deadly and as strong as the power of sin's lusts, and it takes just as great a power to dissolve and scatter them. For all the strength that the law and God's justice possess, sin also has behind it — 'for the strength of sin is the law' (1 Corinthians 15:56).

Second, just as God's purpose is for us to know the power of Christ's resurrection, so it is also for us to share in the fellowship of His sufferings — so that the soul may be made more like Him, as Philippians 3:10 says. Just as there are sufferings for Christ, so there are sufferings of Christ, and God makes His people partakers of both — persecutions from without and terror from within. Christ's soul was filled with these when, as Scripture says, 'He was heard in what He feared,' and 'His soul was heavy with sorrow to the point of death,' and 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?' And in Isaiah 53: 'It pleased God to crush and wound Him.' So to conform us to His image, we who are His brothers and the guilty parties must suffer something in spirit as He did and share in that portion. Therefore just as Christ suffered both inwardly and outwardly, so do many of His people. 'If we have suffered with Him, we shall also be glorified with Him.' The sons of Zebedee wanted to be glorified in Christ's kingdom above the other apostles. But Christ says in Matthew 20:22-23: 'Are you able to drink the cup of which I am about to drink?' — meaning the cup given to Him at His crucifixion ('Let this cup pass'), the bitter cup of God's wrath. 'And are you able to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?' — referring to outward afflictions and persecutions in the name of God. Christ speaks of this baptism in the present tense because He was already immersed in outward persecution. But the cup — which was the inward affliction of His spirit — He was yet to drink at His agony (spoken of in the future: 'which I am about to drink'), the cup that cast Him into that sweat before He reached the bottom. Though no created being could drink it to the bottom, they could taste it, and He told the disciples they would: 'You shall drink of it' (verse 23) — that is, they would taste inward affliction and desertion as well as outward persecution, terrors within and without, all to make them more like Him and help them understand in part what He endured for them.

Third, God leaves His children in darkness to create a greater contrast between their condition here on earth and their condition in heaven. This is the very point of what the apostle says in 2 Corinthians 5:7: 'Here we walk by faith, not by sight.' He had said before that believers in this life live in a state of absence from the Lord — lacking His presence and therefore not enjoying the sight of Him — and so must exercise faith all the more, since faith is the grace given specifically for this present life. Though we sometimes have glimpses of His presence and light, we do not always walk by sight — for we walk by faith, not by sight. We will have all the sight of God we could want in heaven, when we shall see Him face to face as we are known, and be forever with the Lord, and in His light see light, and be satisfied with His image. We may therefore be content to do without it here sometimes. You can endure the clouds of this life, and even seasons where all light is taken away, because in the world to come there will be not one cloud for all eternity. Light is your portion, but now is the time of sowing, and light is sown (Psalm 97:11 — 'Light is sown for the righteous'). Be content to let it lie under the ground longer; the longer it does, the greater the harvest that will come up in the end. You must endure the alternation of day and night here — heaviness in the night and joy in the morning — because in heaven you will have unending day with no night. This difference between earth and heaven exists to make heaven more desirable and to exercise faith. The state of heaven is like a state of perfect and permanent health; so that we may fully appreciate it, we are repeatedly sick here, troubled by fears that our sins are not forgiven. But when we arrive there, 'The inhabitants shall never be sick, and their sins shall be forgiven them' (Isaiah 33:24).

The fourth end is to show us where spiritual comfort and refreshment actually come from — that God alone holds the keys to that storehouse and distributes them however and whenever He pleases. So we may know, as Isaiah 45:6-7 says, that it is the Lord who forms light and creates darkness, both calamity and peace. And just as affliction does not rise out of the dust on its own (as Job observes), neither does comfort rise out of our own hearts. If we enjoyed comfort without interruption, we would be tempted to think it did. God will show us that our hearts are nothing but darkness, and that producing any spiritual comfort is as great a work as creating light at the beginning of creation. Therefore He says, 'I create the fruit of the lips, peace' (Isaiah 57:19), and that it is He who commands light to shine into our hearts — the same God who commanded light to shine out of darkness at the first (2 Corinthians 4:6). Nothing demonstrates this more clearly than His withdrawing that light at times and leaving us in darkness. Why does He sometimes fill our sails in prayer and at other times leave our hearts empty? Is it not so we might learn the lesson of Romans 8:26 — that the Spirit helps us in our weakness, and that we ourselves do not know what or how to ask? In the same way and for the same end, He sometimes hides Himself and at other times reveals Himself — to show that He is the immediate fountain of comfort, 'the God of all comfort' (2 Corinthians 1:4), so that we might know whom to thank, whom to depend on, and whom to turn to for comfort. It is just as difficult for us to leave ourselves and the created world behind and go to God alone for comfort as it is to leave ourselves behind and go to Christ alone for righteousness. This also teaches us that however many outward comforts we possess, the comfort of our spirits depends on God alone — for if He withdraws Himself in the middle of those outward comforts, they all prove to be miserable comforters.