Till 1 come and rain Righteousness upon you

Till I come and rain Righteousness upon you.

The word that is here translated [Rain] it does sometime signifie to Teach, it is of the same root; and the Scripture makes use of that similitude of Rain, for Doctrine; because of the likeness of Doctrines distilling as the Rain, therefore one word in the Hebrew is used for both. And therefore I find divers in Interpreters go that way, Ply the work until he teaches Righteousness; and so it is a Prophesie of the Messias, do you Sow Righteousness, and plow up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till the Messias shall come and teach you the Righteousness of God. So they carry it. But take it is it is here.

Until he rain Righteousness. And then there is these things in it.

First, I'll open what is meant by Righteousness, and then Rain.

By Righteousness is meant, First, That God will deliver them from oppression, that though they have unrighteous dealing with men, yet they shall have righteous dealing with him. And this is a great mercy to a people that God shall undertake that there shall be nothing but righteous dealings between them and himself.

Secondly, By Righteousness is meant, the fruit of God's faithfulness in the fulfilling of all those promises of his for good to them, wherein the Lord does stile himself Righteous. (Says he) If you will now plow up your fallow ground, and seek the Lord, the Lord will deliver you from oppression, and the Lord will make good all his faithfulness to you, according to all that good word that he has promised.

And this Righteousness it shall be Rain, that is: First, to note that all their good and help it must come from Heaven as the Rain does, as if the Prophet should say, If you look to men, yes, to men in public place you have little hopes that there should be such righteous dealings, or to expect that the good Word of God in all his Promises to his People should be fulfilled, yes, but look to Heaven, says God, I'll rain, it shall come down from Heaven by ways that are above nature, that are above the power of man, I'll rain Righteousness; seek him therefore till he rain Righteousness, be not discouraged though you should see those in public place to carry things never so unrighteously, yet seek the Lord till he rain Righteousness.

Secondly, By raining Righteousness is meant, the plenty of Righteousness, that Righteousness shall come in abundance. It may be now, some men may meet with some righteous dealings and be encouraged when things are at the best among men, but this Righteousness comes but by drops, yes, but seek the Lord till He Rain Righteousness. What is it to have a few drops of water? You may go into your Garden, and with a little pot of Water, water the Herbs; yes, but when it rains down water, then the earth is refreshed. And so says the Lord here, Seek me till I come with a shower of Righteousness, and rain it down upon you.

Thirdly, Till he rain Righteousness. That is, Till I work so graciously in the works of my Righteousness to you, as shall make the seeds that you have sown to be fruitful, to grow up to the honor of my Name, and to your good. Now there are many godly among you, and they sow Righteousness, they do many good actions, but alas, it is kept down still by the scorching heat of the Oppressors; in places where Oppression prevails, many godly, truly godly men and women they sow much seed of Righteousness, but there is little good comes of it, and all is kept down: yes but says the Lord, Seek me till I rain Righteousness, I'll rain from Heaven such showers that shall be the fulfilling of my Promises to you, that shall make all your righteous actions grow up to the praise of my Name, and the good of your Brethren, Oh! what a blessed time is this, when there shall be nothing but righteous dealings, and all the faithfulness of God shall be fulfilled, and there shall be plenty.

The Notes are:

First, That God will come to sow Righteousness in time. Those that plow and sow in Righteousness God will come in way of grace and goodness to them (Proverbs 11:18). To him that sows Righteousness shall be a sure reward. Be not discouraged you that sow righteous seed; for it is not with the seed of Righteousness as with the seed that is sown in the earth, for if that do not come up in such a certain time, it will never come up; but you cannot say so of the seed of Righteousness, it will come up.

Secondly, God sometimes comes not presently in raining Righteousness upon his people that do sow Righteousness: Seek the Lord till he comes and rains Righteousness: As if the Prophet should say, You have hearts to seek the Lord, to be humbled, and reform, to sow in Righteousness; well, be not discouraged, continue seeking, stay till he does rain Righteousness. After the seed is sown, you would fain have a shower the next morning, but (may be) it will not be the next morning, stay till God's time; God does not always hear the prayers of his people so as to answer them when they would. It is very observable concerning Elijah, at one time when he cried for fire to come down upon the Sacrifice, it came down presently: but when he cried for rain, he was fain to send his servant seven times: Elijah did not get Rain from Heaven so soon as Fire from Heaven.

The Third Note is this, That those that seek aright will continue seeking God till he comes and rains Righteousness. There is an excellent Scripture in (Psalm 101:2), says David, I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way; O when will you come to me? I will walk in my house with a perfect heart. As if the Prophet should say, Why Lord, 'tis your presence I desire more than a thousand worlds, and I'll endeavor to behave myself in my house, in my family, not only in the presence of others, but in my family, in the most perfect way I can: Lord, when will you come? It seems God did not come and manifest Himself presently: though David did behave himself in a perfect way in his house, yet David professes he would wait still. There's many Scriptures may be given for this, and many arguments why a gracious heart will not leave over seeking till the Lord comes.

'Tis the Lord I seek, and he is a great God, and is fit to be waited on, though he does not come presently. We think it is a matter of state, because of the distance that there is between one and another to make them stay, why should we think much that we should wait upon the great and infinite God? And perhaps you pray, and find no benefit; it is fit for you to wait upon God. There is an infinite distance between God and you, seek till he comes. If you do not get that, that you seek for, yet you are doing your duty, and that is enough.

This is a very great evil among many, they are praying and seeking God, but they only have their eyes upon what they shall get by seeking God, and if nothing comes of it, then they are discontented; whereas merely the consideration of that, that you are doing your duty should be enough to quiet your heart.

And then further, you cannot be better certainly than seeking God. Whither will you go? If you leave seeking God you turn from your own mercy to vanity. And have you a temptation to leave off seeking God? Shall you get any thing by it? Certainly you cannot do better, and therefore seek the Lord, seek the Lord till he comes. (Isaiah 30:18) is a most excellent scripture to uphold the heart in seeking God though God does not seem to come. The Lord is a God of judgment; blessed are they that wait for him. You are not a man or woman of judgment, you know not when it is a fit time that things should be done; but God is a God of judgment, he knows how to do things in judgment; and therefore blessed are they that wait for him. Think of this, and deny your own judgments, and your own thoughts, and know that you are waiting upon God, that is a God of judgment, that is infinitely wise to come to his people in a fit season, and to come so that at last you would not wish that he had come sooner.

And know, that all the while you are waiting, God is working good. We are waiting upon men's doors, and they take no notice of it: but if we knew that all the time we are a waiting our petition were a reading and they in consultation about it, and we only waited for the issue of the consultation, it would satisfy us. And so a gracious heart may be assured of this, have you sought the Lord in the truth of your heart? The thing is not come yet, but ever since you have sought the Lord the heart of God has been thinking of that thing which you sought him for, and will not you be seeking God still till he does come?

And then, while you are seeking God, you are not altogether without some dews; indeed God does not come and rain in showers, that righteousness that he will hereafter, but surely you have dews, you have some encouragements, and do not slight those dews of God's grace that you have, for then you may stay the longer before the showers of righteousness come; prize the dews of God's grace and the showers of righteousness they will come the sooner. Many Christians though they have many dews of God's grace upon their hearts to refresh them, yet because they have not showers they think it is nothing; what have you no dews of grace? What is it that keeps your heart so tender as it is? You would not for a thousand worlds wilfully sin against God, certainly if your heart were hardened the truths of God would not get into your heart so as they do. Indeed the rain comes in a visible way; yes, but there are dews of grace that come in a secret way: you do not indeed see the comings in of those dews of grace upon your heart, yes, but others may see the effect of those dews.

And then lastly, seek the Lord till he comes; why? Because when he comes he will come more fully a great deal. It was a notable speech of Mr. Glover the Martyr, when he had been seeking God for the raining of righteousness, he was willing to give his life for God, and yet God had absented himself from him, oh! God was not come, he complained to his fellow Austin, that God was not come; well, but says his friend, he will come; and give me a sign before you die, if you feel the Spirit of God come to your heart: well, the poor man continued all night, when he was to be burnt the next day, and yet he was not come, yes, the Sheriff came to carry him to the stake, and yet his heart was dead. But he goes on till he came within the sight of the stake, and then the Holy Ghost came into his heart, and filled him with joy, so that he lifts up his hands and voice, and cries, He is come, he is come. Now there came a shower of righteousness upon his heart, he was content to seek the Lord till he came.

And that may be a fourth note, that those that are content to seek God till he comes, when he comes he will come with plentiful showers in raining righteousness. Oh! how many cursed apostates are there that will curse themselves one day for not continuing seeking of God till he comes? Perhaps there are some that have had some convictions of conscience, and because they have not had encouragement presently they were discouraged, and so you have basely gone back, and now God has left you, and you are become a base useless hypocrite, and are a dishonor, and disgrace to religion, and all because you would not stay till God came. Oh! but others stayed till God came, and God came at length so fully that now they bless his name that they did stay. I remember I have read of Columbus that was the first that found out the West Indies, and the story says of him, that his men were even weary, he was so long in sailing, and so they were resolved they would come back again, that they would, so that then all their labor had been lost. But Columbus he came to them with all entreaties to go on a little time, and at length prevailed with them to go on but three days longer. So they were content to venture three days, and within that three days they came to see land, and so discovered those parts of the world that were so little known to these parts. Now what a miserable thing had it been if they had come back and lost all their voyage? Thus it is with many a soul sailing towards Heaven and eternal life, you have been a long time tossed up and down in the waves of the sea, the waves of temptation, and of trouble, and you think it's best to come back again. Oh! stay a while, do not limit three days, but go on; yet it may be said of some that had they proceeded in their voyage but three days more, they might have come and seen, whereas now they have lost all. Oh! seek the Lord then till he comes and rains righteousness.

And then the fifth is this, the help of those that seek God it is from Heaven. Till he rain. They do not so much expect help from creatures as from Heaven, they look up to Heaven for their help; when all comforts in creatures fail they look upwards and there see their help.

And then the sixth note is this, that the fruit of God's coming to his people after seeking, it is, to make them fruitful, that's the end of God's coming, the end of the mercy of God in coming to people, it is, to make their seeds to grow up and be fruitful. It may be you would have God come, but therefore, to bring comfort to you? No, the end of God's coming to his saints, it is, to make them fruitful, and this would be an argument of the sincerity of your hearts in seeking God: when you are seeking him, what do you seek him for, only for comfort, and peace, and to ease you from troubles? Yes, but do you seek God that you may be fruitful? The hypocrites seek to have grace that they may have comfort, and the godly seeks comfort that they may have grace, so it is, that God may rain righteousness: I am as a dry ground, oh! that God would come with the influence of his grace to make me fruitful in the works of holiness. Many of you would have comfort, (as now in these days men's ears are altogether set upon comfort) but is your comfort the showers of God? Does it make the seeds of righteousness fructify in your hearts? Certainly you can have little comfort of that comfort that is not as rain from Heaven to bring up the fruits of righteousness in your hearts, and in your lives.

And then seventhly, God's coming with blessings upon those that seek him, it is, righteousness: that is, the good that they have as a fruit of seeking of him, it is, the fulfilling of God's Word, it is but God's faithfulness that was engaged for it. Jesus Christ had purchased it by his blood, and they had a bond for it before, whatever good they have from God.

It is an excellent note to help us both in our seeking God, and in the comforts that we have. When we are seeking God we are not seeking God merely as a gratuity. Though in reference to us it is only free grace, but to Christ it is righteousness, it is that which Christ has purchased, therefore says Saint John, If you confess your sins: he does not say, it is mercy for God to forgive them, but it is just with God. And so when you receive a mercy from God, you are not to look upon it as a mere alms, though in reference to your selves indeed it is so, but in reference to Christ your head it is righteousness, it is that which Christ has purchased, and that which God gives you as a fruit of his faithfulness, as well as of his free grace, when you are seeking of God let not only the eye of your faith be upon the grace and mercy of God, but upon the very righteousness of God.

And then another note may be, though the good we do is our own good, yet God rewards it as if he got by it: God makes promises to us that if we do thus and thus we shall enjoy such and such mercies.