Micah 5:7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the middle of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers on the grass… We are imperfect judges of moral power, both as to what really constitutes moral power and as to its extent and influence. We are very prone to transfer the idea of largeness, mass, weight from the physical to the moral world; to place our trust in numbers, in wealth, in outward visible power, and are disposed to despond even of the very best cause when it has not these upon its side. In the management of public affairs men come to have implicit faith in majorities, rather than in truth and in righteousness. We are apt to think the Church strong and prosperous when it is popular with the crowd; when its coffers are filled with wealth; when it is surrounded with the bulwarks and appliances of secular power and favour. There is forgetfulness of that which constitutes the real strength and power of a moral system; which is the goodness of the cause; and the faith, earnestness, and zeal of those who are its advocates and its professors. One man, with God's truth in him, which he thoroughly believes and which he has the courage to speak out, has more real weight in him than a whole community that are ignorant of that truth, or opposed to it. The strength of God's Church lies in the truth of her doctrines, in the purity of her morality, in the piety and zeal of her members. By means of these she is leaven in the mass. Thus she becomes a great blessing to the nation. The higher meaning of our text has reference to the Church as such, to the spiritual Church of God in all times and ages. 1. We need not be surprised to find the Church of God existing as a small remnant. It has, indeed, never yet been otherwise. At no period has the Church ever been in a majority. At times the spiritual body has seemed to be almost lost to the eye of sense. Seen ever at her best estate, she is but a remnant in the midst of many people. 2. The proper place of this remnant is in the midst of the community. God has so placed His Church. Sometimes the Church, or individual members of the Church, would have it otherwise. Secluding themselves in coteries or cloisters. Whilst Christians keep themselves sedulously pure from the contamination of evil example or corrupt conversation, they are not to go out of the world. They are to abide in the calling in which they were when God called them. They are to be friendly, social, courteous, benevolent towards all men. 3. The Church possesses a mighty power tint benefiting a community. It is amongst them "as a dew from the Lord, and as showers that water the grass." Dew and rain came to be regarded as special gifts of God. And so they were taken in Scripture as symbols of what is directly and immediately God produced. They are thus a fitting emblem of the Church, in its position and its working in the world. God has formed the Church as an instrument in His hands for the accomplishment of His immediate purpose of grace and mercy to the world. 4. This working does not depend upon man's will or permission. It is not by our favour that the Church of God is in the midst of the nations as a dew from the Lord, exerting a conservative, vivifying, renovating, ameliorating power upon the world. God has ever been with His own cause. Neither from fear nor favour must the Church wait upon man, nor lean upon an arm of flesh. It is when God is with His Church that she is strong and powerful and good. Learn, then — (1) The importance and the responsibility of the Church's position in the midst of the nations. (2) The condition on which the Church's usefulness depends. It is that it be as a dew from the Lord. He must be in the midst of His Church, and His Church must be prayerfully dependent on Him. (W. L. Alexander, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. |
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