There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last. Sermons
I. SIGNS OF WHAT? it will be asked. Of the presence, the power, the love of the Lord in our midst. This was what the signs in the first temple told of. II. WHAT ARE THESE SIGNS? 1. The attention of men around. 2. The work of conversion going on. 3. Witness of believers. 4. Their love to one another and to their fellow men, because of their love to God. 5. Their peace and joy in God. III. THE DIFFERENT RELATIONS BETWEEN THE SEEING AND THESE SIGNS. 1. There tray be neither. It is better there should be no fancied seeing, if the reality be not there. For: 2. There may be the seeing, and not the signs. 3. There may be the signs, and yet not the seeing. 4. There may be both. This is most blessed of all. - S.C.
We see not our signs. This psalm is clearly not one written by David. Vers. 6, 7 prove that; but it is one of the psalms of the Exile. The signs here meant, which the writer mourns that he did not see, were certain outward marks of God's special favour. It is said that there were five signs in the first temple which the second had not — the ark of the covenant; the fire from heaven; the Shechinah; the Urim and Thummim; the spirit of prophecy, for that spirit ceased with Malachi, and did not reappear until John the Baptist. Now, on this groundwork we may build up a spiritual interpretation. We may not always do this, but only where there is, as here, a real groundwork for it, and where there is a response to it in the heart. The Church of to-day often has to lament that she sees not her signs. In considering this, note —I. THE NATURE OF THEIR SIGNS. They are marks of God's favour, and there appear to be two classes of them. 1. Those which, if removed, would not remove the thing itself which they signify. The crown of a monarch, you may take that away, but he remains a monarch still. Remove the milestones on a road, but you do not remove the distances which they indicate. Banknotes also. But — 2. There are other signs which are constituent parts of the thing itself, so that the taking away of the sign is a taking away of the thing. For example, the lengthening days are a sign of spring; but if there be not this sign there is no spring. Now, of this sort of sign are those which the text tells of. Not, however, entirely. For good works may be absent, partly and for a time, but the life of grace may yet be present. And when good works are present they are not infallible signs of grace. 3. But for the most part the sign and the thing it indicates go together. As, the fear of the Lord; the spirit of grace and of supplication; repentance; faith in Christ; love to the Lord's people and to Christ; the witness of the Spirit; a life consistent with the Gospel. II. THE SEEING OF THESE SIGNS. What does this mean? It is implied that there are times when the signs can be seen, as well as when they cannot. Now, what is requisite to see them? Those that travel along the heavenward way have certain landmarks — Ebenezers, stones of help. But in order to see them there must be light, that told of in Psalm 36:9; not the pale moonlight of speculation, nor the frosty northern light of cold doctrine, nor the meteor light — the "ignis fatuus " of delusion; not the mere phosphoric light, which dimly gleams by rubbing together rotten evidences; not the sparks of their own kindling, elicited by the collision of flinty hearts and steeled consciences; we want no light such as we can make, but the Lord's light. III. WHY IT IS THAT WE SEE NOT OUR SIGNS. Some people say they can always see them. This is not true, and the belief of it full of evil. But the causes of our not seeing them are various: the smoke of infidelity; the fogs of unbelief; the valley of trouble; the sun may go down by the Lord's bidding. But all this will be a source of sorrow and lamentation, for such things are no signs of grace, though not inconsistent with it. But you must have seen the signs before you can lament that you see them not. (J. C. Philpot.) I. First, then, as to THE FACT — how far this description of the text answers to anything that exists in our own times. I have in view chiefly the bearings of this subject on religion, but it is not in religion only, but in all the spheres of our thought and life that I think this falling off of the greater order of minds can be detected. We had a series of great poets in the early part and middle of last century. Where is the poet of the present day whose works are likely to live like theirs? We have had a succession of great writers of fiction — their books are on every one's shelves — but where is the writer of to-day whose books we would put in the same rank? We have had great musicians — Mozart, Handel, Beethoven, Haydn, and the like. Their compositions live. Who are producing pieces of the same grandeur? We have had a century of great statesmen. It is no disparagement of the men of the younger generation to say that they are not men of the calibre of those who have led the country for the last fifty or eighty years. We had a generation or two of great preachers — men like Chalmers, Guthrie, MacLeod. Once more the piety and teaching of the past generation gave us Christians, whose weight of religious character it was a pleasure to acknowledge — men reverent, sober-minded, deeply instructed in God's Word, massive in Christian substance, matured and real in Christian experience; is the newer type of religious character — brighter and more attractive as it is in some of its aspects — characterized by anything like the same depth, solidity, and durableness? II. THE causes of this apparent absence, in all spheres of life, of the greater order of men in our midst, and what are the possible remedies. 1. One thing which should give us hope is the fact that after every great and creative epoch in history, there comes necessarily a period of pause. The human mind cannot always be at its highest stretch. History does not flow on evenly, but in great ebbs and flows — in grand creative epochs, followed by long-breathing spaces, in times when the strongest call is made for great men, and they are drawn out and developed by the very magnitude of the crisis that calls for them, and quieter times, when people rejoice in the possessions they have won, and do not feel impelled to great efforts. 2. Again, it is to be remembered that after every great creative period which men live through, there comes a time when the results of that creative activity have to be gathered up; and this very process puts of necessity a check, for the time being, on further production. This, indeed, is how history proceeds — there is first a great burst of creative genius under the influence of some new idea or impulse; then, when the wealth of that new movement has been poured into the lap of the age, men have the new task laid upon them of sitting down and looking carefully into the nature of their treasure, taking stock of it, as it were, seeing what it really amounts to; getting to understand it, and working it out to its practical results. This is the labour of industry more than of creation, but it is equally essential to the world's progress. There is another part of this task which is of great importance. With every great advance of thought or discovery — with every burst of new truth into the world — there is laid on those who receive it, the duty of adjusting it to the truth they already possess. 3. There are, however, special causes which do belong to the character of the present age which tend, I think, to explain more particularly the dearth of the greatest type of minds in our midst.(1) It is obvious that from the very multiplicity of its possessions our age tends to diffusion rather than to concentration.(2) Our age is critical rather than constructive.(3) The bent of the present age has been to material ends rather than spiritual. (James Orr, D. D.) (T. R. Williams.) People Asaph, PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Anyone, Ensigns, Knoweth, Longer, Miraculous, None, Prophet, Prophets, SignsOutline 1. The prophet complains of the desolation of the sanctuary10. He moves God to help in consideration of his power 18. Of his reproachful enemies, or his children and of his covenant. Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 74:9 4824 famine, spiritual Library The MeaningOf the Red Dragon with Seven Heads fighting with Michael about the new-born Child. The first vision of the little book, of which we treated in the eleventh chapter, ran through the whole Apocalyptical course, from the beginning to the end, and that, as we elsewhere observed, to point out its connexion with the seals and trumpets. Now to that vision the remaining prophecies of the same interval, and of the affairs of the Church are to be accommodated, in order to complete the system of the little … Joseph Mede—A Key to the Apocalypse The Prophet of the Highest. How those are to be Admonished who Abstain not from the Sins which they Bewail, and those Who, Abstaining from Them, Bewail them Not. The Wisdom of God Balaam's Prophecy. (Numb. xxiv. 17-19. ) Synagogues: their Origin, Structure and Outward Arrangements Jesus Makes a Preaching Tour through Galilee. The Sun Rising Upon a Dark World The Justice of God Psalms Links Psalm 74:9 NIVPsalm 74:9 NLT Psalm 74:9 ESV Psalm 74:9 NASB Psalm 74:9 KJV Psalm 74:9 Bible Apps Psalm 74:9 Parallel Psalm 74:9 Biblia Paralela Psalm 74:9 Chinese Bible Psalm 74:9 French Bible Psalm 74:9 German Bible Psalm 74:9 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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