"And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son; and he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed."—Genesis 5:28,29
THIS is the utterance of faith; it is the voice of a believing man that we hear in Lamech's words. Lamech speaks because God had spoken to him. It is not mere parental yearning; it is not mere selfish weariness crying out under toil; it is not the expression of a dark and vague hope; it is faith speaking out the revelation which God had made to it regarding creation's deliverance; and it is the first intimation we have as to the removal of the "curse,"—as to the "rest" and "consolation."
It is a double prophecy. By this I do not mean a doubtful or a conditional prophecy. There is no such thing as a conditional prophecy. If it be prophecy, it is not conditional; and if it be conditional, it is not prophecy. A double prophecy is one that takes in two events, or persons, or places in one description; the near and the far; predicting both, while seeming to predict only one; as David, in the seventy-second Psalm, points both to Solomon and to a greater than Solomon; as Isaiah points to the Babylon of his day and Babylon the great. The prophet sketches a scene or person immediately before his eye, but in language which intimates that a far greater is coming. The near or miniature sketch is so drawn as to bring out the full features of the larger and more distant.
So is it here with Lamech. God reveals to him the future of two persons and two things: (1.) his own son, and a far greater, of whom his son was but the shadow; (2.) the alleviation or removal of earth's curse, partially under Noah, fully under the greater than Noah. There are two remarkable prophecies before the flood, first, that of Enoch, concerning Messiah's coming with his saints, to destroy the wicked; which was a double prophecy, relating both to the deluge and to the judgment at the Lord's coming; the second is that of Lamech concerning "the rest" of the saints (2 Thessalonians 1:7) and the removal of the curse. Let us look into this second prophecy.
I. The curse on the ground. When man sinned, the first stroke of the curse fell. It had now lasted about fifteen centuries, unabated. It was something real: its results were both barrenness in what was good, and fruitfulness in evil. The whole creation groaned; the blight and sadness were felt everywhere. It was a record of human sin; God's visible testimony to the greatness of the first sin—the one sin of primal disobedience—"Cursed is the ground for thy sake." It is not yet removed. Creation is still subject to vanity. Corruption, mortality, decay, death are here. It has been a long curse, yet it is the memorial of a single sin.
II. Man's toil and weariness. The whole verse readies weariness and heaviness of spirit—almost despair. The world was growing more wicked and more luxurious. It was increasing in population. Men were not allowed to eat flesh; nor to kill animals save for sacrifice. These animals, increasing rapidly, would require an immense pasturage. Man's toil would thus be greatly on the increase; it would become quite oppressive and overwhelming. He knew not what to do, nor which way to turn. Toil, toil, toil! This was his daily lot. In the sweat of his face he was made to eat his bread. The curse on the ground grew no lighter, and his labour grew heavier. What with barrenness in good and fruit-fullness in evil, it demanded of him endless labour and weariness. He groaned under it along with a groaning creation. He was compelled to sympathise with the groaning and travailing creature. Such ought to be our feeling. Our toil may not be quite so oppressive; we do not so wholly depend on our toil; the appliances of art and the permission to eat animal food have alleviated our labours. But still creation groans, and man eats his bread in the sweat of his face.
III. Man's longing for comfort. The words of the verse are those of the hireling looking for the shadow, and longing for repose. These patriarchs were aged men; some nearly a thousand years. One thousand years of toil! What a life! If three-score and ten be so wearisome to some, what would one thousand be? Lamech, when he uttered these words, was one hundred and eighty-two. Surely he had known toil and weariness beyond what we can do! Do we wonder that he longed for comfort, that he sighed for rest, and that he breathed out these deep longings for deliverance?
Are we not longing too? Is toil so sweet that we wish its continuance? Or is rest so terrible that we do not desire it: and say "how long"!
IV. Mans expectation of deliverance. He knew that the case of earth was not hopeless. He would gather from the first promise that God meant, some time or other, to undo the curse. And while he sympathised with the "groaning and travailing" of creation, he joined in its "earnest expectation." He sustained himself under his toil by the expectation of rest. He was not satisfied to remain forever toiling and sweating. It was part of his creed to look for rest; to grasp the coming consolation. Man laboured and was heavy laden; but he heard the voice of the true Noah saying, Come unto me, all ye that labour, and I will give you rest.
V. Man's expectation was connected with some one individual to be born in due time. Lamech had been taught of God to expect something in connection with his son, whom he named Noah, in consequence of this expectation. And in his time relief was granted, the alleviation, though not the removal, of the curse and the toil, (1.) Noah received a confirmation of the first blessing given to Adam before he fell; (2.) In his time man's life began to be shortened; (3.) Permission was granted to till animals and eat their flesh; (4.) Special attention was directed to husbandry, "Noah began to be a husbandman." These partial alleviations given in connection with Noah were figures of the complete deliverance of creation in connection with a greater than Noah; in the day of the Son of man, the day of the manifestation of the sons of God, of those of whom Enoch prophesied "the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints."
Thus we anticipate the deliverance of creation, the removal of the curse, in the day of the Son of man, when He shall say, Behold, I make all things new. The greater than Noah is at hand; and with Him the manifestation of the sons of God; and, with that, the rest which remaineth for the people of God; the times of the restitution of all things; when barrenness shall be exchanged for fruitfulness; and the wilderness rejoice and blossom as the rose: for we according to His promise look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Seeing, then, we look for such things, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness!
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Horatius Bonar (1808 - 1889)
Bonar has been called “the prince of Scottish hymn writers.” After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, he was ordained in 1838, and became pastor of the North Parish, Kelso. He joined the Free Church of Scotland after the “Disruption” of 1843, and for a while edited the church’s The Border Watch. Bonar remained in Kelso for 28 years, after which he moved to the Chalmers Memorial church in Edinburgh, where he served the rest of his life. Bonar wrote more than 600 hymns.He was a voluminous and highly popular author. He also served as the editor for "The Quarterly journal of Prophecy" from 1848 to 1873 and for the "Christian Treasury" from 1859 to 1879. In addition to many books and tracts wrote a number of hymns, many of which, e.g., "I heard the voice of Jesus say" and "Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power," became known all over the English-speaking world. A selection of these was published as Hymns of Faith and Hope (3 series). His last volume of poetry was My Old Letters. Bonar was also author of several biographies of ministers he had known, including "The Life of the Rev. John Milne of Perth" in 1869, - and in 1884 "The Life and Works of the Rev. G. T. Dodds", who had been married to Bonar's daughter and who had died in 1882 while serving as a missionary in France.
Horatius Bonar comes from a long line of ministers who have served a total of 364 years in the Church of Scotland.
He entered the Ministry of the Church of Scotland. At first he was put in charge of mission work at St. John's parish in Leith and settled at Kelso. He joined the Free Church at the time of the Disruption of 1843, and in 1867 was moved to Edinburgh to take over the Chalmers Memorial Church (named after his teacher at college, Dr. Thomas Chalmers). In 1883, he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
He was a voluminous and highly popular author. He also served as the editor for "The Quarterly journal of Prophecy" from 1848 to 1873 and for the "Christian Treasury" from 1859 to 1879. In addition to many books and tracts wrote a number of hymns, many of which, e.g., "I heard the voice of Jesus say" and "Blessing and Honor and Glory and Power," became known all over the English-speaking world.
Horatius Bonar, had a passionate heart for revival and was a friend and supporter of several revivalists, He was brother to the more well-known Andrew Bonar, and with him defended D. L. Moody's evangelistic ministry in Scotland. He authored a couple of excellent revival works, one including over a hundred biographical sketches and the other an addendum to Rev. John Gillies' 'Historical Collections...' bringing it up to date.
He was a powerful soul-winner and is well qualified to pen this brief, but illuminating study of the character of true revivalists.
Horatius was in fact one of eleven children, and of these an older brother, John James, and a younger, Andrew, also became ministers and were all closely involved, together with Thomas Chalmers, William C. Burns and Robert Murray M'Cheyne, in the important spiritual movements which affected many places in Scotland in the 1830s and 1840s.
In the controversy known as the "Great Disruption," Horatius stood firmly with the evangelical ministers and elders who left the Church of Scotland's General Assembly in May 1843 and formed the new Free Church of Scotland. By this time he had started to write hymns, some of which appeared in a collection he published in 1845, but typically, his compositions were not named. His gifts for expressing theological truths in fluent verse form are evident in all his best-known hymns, but in addition he was also blessed with a deep understanding of doctrinal principles.
Examples of the hymns he composed on the fundamental doctrines include, "Glory be to God the Father".....on the Trinity. "0 Love of God, how strong and true".....on Redemption. "Light of the world," - "Rejoice and be glad" - "Done is the work" on the Person and Work of Christ. "Come Lord and tarry not," on His Second Coming, while the hymn "Blessed be God, our God!" conveys a sweeping survey of Justification and Sanctification.
In all this activity, his pastoral work and preaching were never neglected and after almost twenty years labouring in the Scottish Borders at Kelso, Bonar moved back to Edinburgh in 1866 to be minister at the Chalmers Memorial Chapel (now renamed St. Catherine's Argyle Church). He continued his ministry for a further twenty years helping to arrange D.L. Moody's meetings in Edinburgh in 1873 and being appointed moderator of the Free Church ten years later. His health declined by 1887, but he was approaching the age of eighty when he preached in his church for the last time, and he died on 31 May 1889.