Though we wait, God will perfonn whatsoever we wait for. And there- fore, ' Lo, we have waited for him.' As there is a time of promising, so there is a time of performing ; as there is a seedtime, so there is a time of harvest. There is a succession in nature, and a succession in grace ; as the dayfolloweth the night, and the Sabbath the. week, and the jubilee such a term of 3'ears ; and as the triumph foUoweth the war ; and as the consumma- tion of marriage foUoweth contract; so it is a happy and glorious condition, above all conditions here on earth. Therefore in this text you have not only the seedtime of the Christian (we may sow in tears, and in expecta- tion, as in sowing), but here is likewise the harvest of a Christian. As there is time of sowing, so there is time of reaping ; as time of waiting, so of enjoying. We have waited, and now, lo, we have what we waited for.
But why doth not the Holy Ghost set down a certain time, but leave th it indefinite, ' In that day.' God keeps times and seasons in his own power ; the point of time in general he leaveth it. There is a day ; but the point and moment of time he keepeth in his own power. It is enough to know there is a day, and a day that will come in the best season. God's time is the best time. When judgments were threatened upon the wicked, they say, * Let us eat, and drink, for to morrow we shall die,' 1 Cor. xv. 32. So Saul, * To-morrow thou shalt die,' 1 Sam. xxviii. 19, and was he the better? So where there is a certain time of God's coming in judgment, godly men
ISA. XXY. 8, 9.] BETWEEN CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH. 505
would not be the worse, and wicked men never the better. Therefore God reserveth it indefinite, ' In that day.'
There is a day, and it is a glorious day, a day of all days, a day that never will have night, a day that we should think of every day, ' That day,' by way of excellency. And before that day there be particular days in this world, wherein God sheweth himself, and fulfils the expectation of his chil- dren, to cherish the gi-and expectation of life everlasting. As in times of trouble they expect of God, and wait for deliverance in God's time, and they must be able to say, ' Lo, we have waited.' Because it is a beginning and pledge of the great performance that shall be consummate at that great day, and of all the miseries that shall then be removed ; so there is a day when the Jews shall be converted, and the fulness of the Gentiles brought in, and the man of sin discovered, and consumed by the breath of Christ. And when the church of God seeth them, they may say, ' Lo, we have waited for the Lord,' and lo, he is come ; that we looked for is now fulfilled. So that God reserveth not the fulfilling of all the promises to the great day of all days, but even in this hfe he will have a ' that day.'
And it were very good for Christians in the passages of their lives to see how God answereth their prayers, and deUvereth them. Let them do as the saints in the Old Testament, that gave names to places where they saw God, as Peniel, Gen. xxxii. 30, he shall see God, and Abraham, ' God will be seen in the mount,' Gen. xxii. 14. So Samson and others they gave names to places where they had deliverance, that they might be mDved to be thankful. A Christian taketh in all the comforts of this life to believe the things of the last great day. ' Lo, we have waited for him.'
That shall be a time of sight and fruition, of full power and full joy, which is reseiwed for heaven ; then we shall say, ' Lo ! behold, this is the Lord.' The more we see God here, the more we shall see him here- after. There be many ways of seeing, so as to say, ' Lo, this is the Lord ! ' We may say, fi'om the poorest creature, ' Lo, this is the Lord ! ' Here are beams of his majesty in the works of his justice and mercy, ' Lo, here is the Lord ! ' The Lord hath brought mighty things to pass, the Lord is marvellous loving to his children. ' Behold and see the salvation of the Lord ! ' We may say, ' Lo, here,' and see something of God in every creature. No creatm'e but hath something of God. The things that have but mere being have something of God ; but the things that have life have more of God. And so in some there is more, in some less of God.
But in the church of God specially, we may see his going in the sanc- tuary. Lo, this God hath done for his chiu-ch. And in the sacraments, we may say, I have seen the Lord, and felt the Lord in his ordinance by his Holy Spix'it. We do all this before we come to see him in heaven. But that is not meant specially.