Chapter 1: Promises, Trials, and Victory

The Preciousness of the Promises

The promises of God are to the believer an inexhaustible mine of wealth. Happy is the one who knows how to search out their secret veins and enrich himself with their hidden treasures. They are an armory, containing every kind of offensive and defensive weapon. Blessed is the one who has learned to enter that sacred arsenal, to put on the breastplate and the helmet, and to lay his hand to the spear and to the sword. They are a place of healing, in which the believer will find every kind of restorative and blessed remedy. There is an ointment for every wound, a tonic for every faintness, a cure for every disease. Blessed is the one who is well skilled in heavenly medicine and knows how to lay hold of the healing power of the promises of God.

The promises are to the Christian a storehouse of food. They are like the granaries that Joseph built in Egypt, or like the golden pot in which the manna was preserved. Blessed is the one who can take the five barley loaves and fish of promise and break them until his five thousand needs are all supplied, and he is able to gather up baskets full of fragments. The promises are the Christian's great charter of liberty; they are the title deeds of his heavenly estate. Happy is the one who knows how to read them well and call them all his own. Yes, they are the jewel room in which the Christian's crown treasures are preserved. The royal treasures are his, secretly to admire today, which he will openly wear in Paradise after this life. He is already privileged as a king with the silver key that unlocks the treasure room; he may even now grasp the scepter, wear the crown, and put upon his shoulders the imperial mantle.

Oh, how unutterably rich are the promises of our faithful, covenant-keeping God! If we had the tongue of the mightiest of orators, and if that tongue could be touched with a live coal from off the altar, still it could not express a tenth of the praises of the exceedingly great and precious promises of God. No — even those who have entered into rest, whose tongues are tuned to the lofty and rapturous eloquence of cherubim and seraphim, even they can never tell the height and depth, the length and breadth of the unsearchable riches of Christ, which are stored up in the treasure-house of God — the promises of the covenant of His grace.

Sorrow's Discipline

The Lord gets His best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction.

The Christian Warfare

It is a tough battle that the Christian is called to fight — not one that armchair warriors might win, no easy skirmish that could be gained by someone who dashed to battle on some sunny day, looked at the enemy, then turned his horse's reins and daintily dismounted at the door of his silken tent. It is not a campaign that will be won by the raw recruit of today who foolishly imagines that one week of service will secure a crown of glory. It is a lifelong war — a contest that will require all our strength if we are to be triumphant, a battle at which the stoutest heart might tremble, a fight from which the bravest would shrink if he did not remember that the Lord is on his side. Therefore, whom shall he fear? God is the strength of his life — of whom shall he be afraid? This fight is not one of brute force or physical might. If it were, we might win it sooner. But it is all the more dangerous because it is a battle of the mind, a contest of the heart, a struggle of the spirit — often an agony of the soul.

Do you wonder that the Christian is called to conflict? God never gives strong faith without fiery trial. He will not build a strong ship without subjecting it to very mighty storms. He will not make you a mighty warrior if He does not intend to test your skill in battle. The sword of the Lord must be used. The blades of heaven must be struck against the armor of the evil one, and yet they will not break, for they are of true Jerusalem metal, which will never snap. We will conquer, if we begin the battle in the right way. If we have sharpened our swords on the cross, we have nothing whatever to fear, for though we may sometimes be cast down and discouraged, we will assuredly at last put to flight all our adversaries, for we are the sons of God even now. Why, then, should we fear? Who shall bid us "stop" if God bids us advance?

The Privileges of Trial

It is said that when the stars cannot be seen during the day from the ordinary level of the earth, if you were to go down into a dark well, they would be visible at once. And certainly it is a fact that the best of God's promises are usually seen by His Church when she is in her darkest trials. As sure as ever God puts His children in the furnace, He will be in the furnace with them.

I do not read that Jacob saw the angel until he came into a position where he had to wrestle, and then the wrestling Jacob saw the wrestling angel. I do not know that Joshua ever saw the angel of God until he was by Jericho, and then Joshua saw the angelic warrior. I do not know that Abraham ever saw the Lord until he had become a stranger and a wanderer in the plains of Mamre, and then the Lord appeared to him as a traveling man. It is in our most desperate sorrows that we have our happiest experiences. You must go to Patmos to see the Revelation. It is only on the barren, storm-beaten rock, shut out from all the world's light, that we can find a fitting darkness in which we can view the light of heaven undistracted by the shadows of earth.

The Joy of Victory

The Christian's battlefield is here, but the triumphal procession is above. This is the land of the sword and the spear; that is the land of the wreath and the crown. This is the land of the garment rolled in blood and of the dust of the fight; that is the land of the trumpet's joyful sound, the place of the white robe and of the shout of conquest. Oh, what a thrill of joy will be felt by all the blessed when their conquests are complete in heaven — when death itself, the last of enemies, will be destroyed, when Satan will be dragged captive at the chariot wheels of Christ, when the great shout of universal victory will rise from the hearts of all the redeemed! What a moment of joy that will be!

Something of the joy of victory we know even here. Have you ever struggled against an evil heart and at last overcome it? Have you ever wrestled hard with a strong temptation and known what it was to sing with thankfulness, "If I say, 'My foot slips,' Your mercy, O LORD, will hold me up" (Psalm 94:18)? Have you, like Bunyan's Christian, fought with Apollyon, and after a fierce contest, put him to flight? Then you have had a foretaste of the heavenly triumph — just a glimpse of what the ultimate victory will be. God gives you these partial triumphs so they may be down payments on the future. Go on and conquer, and let each conquest, though harder and more fiercely contested, be to you a pledge of the victory of heaven.

Light in the Cloud

"The LORD restored Job's losses" (Job 42:10).¹ So then, our longest sorrows have an end, and there is a bottom to the deepest depths of our misery. Our winters will not frown forever — summer will soon smile. The tide will not ebb out eternally; the floods must retrace their course. The night will not hang its darkness forever over our souls; the sun will yet arise with healing beneath his wings.

"The LORD restored Job's losses." And so, our sorrows too will have an end when God has accomplished His purpose in them. The purposes in the case of Job were these: that Satan might be defeated, foiled with his own weapons, crushed in his hopes when he had everything his own way. God, at Satan's challenge, had stretched out His hand and touched Job in his bone and in his flesh, and yet the tempter could not prevail against him, but received his rebuke in those conquering words, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:15). When Satan is defeated, the battle ceases.

The Lord also aimed at the testing of Job's faith. Many weights were hung upon this palm tree, but it still grew upright. The fire had been fierce, yet the gold was undiminished — only the impurities were consumed. Another purpose the Lord had was His own glory. And truly He was glorified abundantly. God has gained for His great name and His wise counsels eternal renown through the grace by which He supported His poor afflicted servant under the heaviest troubles that ever fell to the lot of man.

God had another purpose as well, and that also was served. Job had been sanctified by his afflictions. His spirit was softened, and any self-justification that lurked within was thoroughly driven out. And now that God's gracious purposes are accomplished, He removes the rod. He takes the melted silver from the midst of the glowing coals. God does not afflict willingly or grieve the children of men for nothing, and He shows this by the fact that He never afflicts them longer than there is a need for it. He never allows them to be one moment longer in the furnace than is absolutely necessary to serve the purposes of His wisdom and of His love.

"The LORD restored Job's losses." Do not despair, then, afflicted believer. He who restored Job's losses can turn your captivity like the streams in the south. He will make your vineyard blossom again and your field yield its fruit. You will again come out with those who celebrate, and once more the song of gladness will be on your lips. Do not let Despair rivet its cruel chains around your soul. Hope still, for there is hope in this matter. Trust still, for there is ground for confidence. He will bring you up again, rejoicing, out of captivity, and you will yet sing to His praise, "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness" (Psalm 30:11).

Good Works

When once the human heart is put under the microscope of Scripture and we see it with a spiritual eye, we discover it to be so corrupt that we are quite sure it would be just as impossible to expect to find good works in an unrighteous, unconverted person as to hope to see fire burning in the middle of the ocean. The two things are incompatible. Our good works, if we have any, spring from a real conversion. More than that, they spring also from a constant spiritual influence exercised upon us from the time of conversion even until the hour of death. Christian, you would have no good works if you had no fresh grace day by day! You would not find the grace given at the first hour sufficient to produce fruit today. It is not like the planting of a tree in our hearts that naturally bears fruit on its own; the sap comes up from the root, Jesus Christ. We are not trees by ourselves, but branches fixed on the Living Vine.

Our good works spring from union with Christ. The more a person knows and feels himself to be one with Jesus, the more holy he will be. Why is a Christian's character like Christ's character? Only for this reason: he is joined and united to the Lord Jesus. Why does the branch bring forth grapes? Simply because it has been grafted into the vine and therefore shares in the nature of the stem. So, Christian, the only way you can bear fruit for God is by being grafted into Christ and united with Him. If you think you can walk in holiness without keeping up constant fellowship with Christ, you have made a great mistake. If you would be holy, you must live close to Jesus. Good works spring only from there. From this we draw the most powerful reasons against anything like trusting in works. Since works are only the gift of God, how utterly impossible it is for an unconverted person to produce any such good works in himself! And if they are God's gifts, how little of our merit can there be in them!

The Knowledge of Christ's Love

It is the distinguishing mark of God's people that they know the love of Christ. Without exception, all those who have passed from death to life — whatever they may not know — have learned this. And without exception, all those who are not saved — whatever they may know besides — know nothing of this. To know the love of Christ, to taste its sweetness, to experience it personally and vitally, as poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, is the privilege of the child of God alone. This is the protected enclosure into which the stranger cannot enter. This is the garden of the Lord, so well guarded by walls and hedges that no wild boar of the wood can break in. Only the redeemed of the Lord walk here. They, and only they, may pick the fruit and satisfy themselves with its delights.

How important, then, is the question: Do I know the love of Christ? Have I felt it? Do I understand it? Is it poured out in my heart? Do I know that Jesus loves me? Is my heart quickened, animated, warmed, and drawn toward Him through the great truth it recognizes and rejoices in — that Christ has truly loved me, chosen me, and set His heart upon me?

But while it is true that every child of God knows the love of Christ, it is equally true that all the children of God do not know this love to the same degree.

There are in Christ's family babes, young men, strong men, and fathers. And as they grow and progress in all other things, so they certainly advance here as well. Indeed, a deeper love — a more complete grasp of Christ's love — is one of the best and most reliable measures by which we may test whether we have grown in grace or not. If we have grown in grace, it is absolutely certain that we will have advanced in our knowledge and return of the love of Christ. Many have believed in Jesus and know a little of His love — but oh, it is little indeed they know compared with some others who have been brought into the inner chamber and made to drink of the rich wine of Christ's presence. Some have begun to climb the mountain, and the view that lies at their feet is lovely and surpassingly beautiful. But the landscape is not such as would greet their eyes if they could stand where mature saints are standing and could look to the east and to the west, to the north and to the south, and see all the lengths and breadths, depths and heights of the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.

Clear Shining after Rain

The reign of Christ as King, according to David's description, is like "clear shining after rain," by which the tender grass is made to spring out of the earth. So we have often seen it. After a heavy shower of rain, or after a prolonged rainy season, when the sun shines there is a delightful clearness and freshness in the air that we seldom notice at other times. Perhaps the brightest weather comes just when the rain has ceased, when the wind has carried the clouds away and the sun emerges from his chambers to gladden the earth with his warmth. And so it is with the Christian's tested heart. Sorrow does not last forever. After the beating rain of adversity comes, again and again, the clear shining.

Tried believer, consider this. After all your afflictions there remains a rest for the people of God. There is a clear shining coming to your soul when all this rain is past. When your time of hardship is over and gone, it will be for you as the earth when the storm has cried itself to sleep, when the clouds have torn themselves to shreds, and the sun appears once more like a bridegroom in his glorious array. To this end, sorrow works together with the joy that follows it, like rain and sunshine, to bring forth the tender blade. The suffering and the comfort work together for our good. "As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ" (2 Corinthians 1:5). The clear shining after rain produces an atmosphere that refreshes herbs and crops, and the joy of the Lord, after seasons of sorrow, makes the soul fruitful. In this way we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

A Quiet Heart

Unless the heart is kept peaceful, the life will not be happy. If calm does not reign over that inner lake within the soul — the one that feeds the rivers of our life — the rivers themselves will always be in a storm. Our outward actions will always show that they were born in turmoil, by being turbulent themselves. We all desire to lead a joyous life; a bright eye and a light step are things each of us wants. To carry about a contented mind is what most people are continually striving for. Let us remember that the only way to keep our life peaceful and happy is to keep the heart at rest, for whether poverty or wealth comes, honor or shame, plenty or scarcity — if the heart is quiet, there will be happiness anywhere. But whatever the sunshine and the brightness, if the heart is troubled, the whole life must be troubled too.

A Rich Life

When one of our kings returned from captivity, old historians tell us, there were fountains in the streets that flowed with wine. So generous was the king, and so glad the people, that instead of water they made wine flow freely to everyone. There is a way of making our life so rich, so full, so blessed to our fellow people that the comparison may be fitting — that our life flows with wine when other people's lives flow with water.

You have known such people. John Howard's life was not like our poor, ordinary lives: he was so generous, his care for others so self-denying, that the streams of his life were like fine wine. You may have personally known some remarkable saint, one who lived very near to Jesus. When he spoke, there was a warmth and depth about his words, a substance and strength about his expressions, which you could appreciate even if you could not match it. You have sometimes said, "I wish my words were as full, as sweet, as rich, and as heartfelt as the words of that person. Oh, I wish my actions were just as deep, had as vivid a color and as pure a quality as the deeds of someone I could name. All I can do seems so little and empty when compared with their high attainments. Oh, that I could send streams of pure gold into every house, instead of my poor imitation!"

Well, Christian, this should motivate you to keep your heart full of rich things. Never, never neglect the Word of God — that will make your heart rich with instruction, your mind rich with understanding, and your spirit rich with compassion. Then your conversation, when it flows from your mouth, will come from your soul, and like all that is within you, it will be rich, heartfelt, and nourishing. Above all, get Jesus to live in your heart, and then out of you will flow rivers of living water, more refreshing, purer, and more satisfying than the water of the well of Sychar, from which Jacob drank. Go out, Christian, to the great mine of unsearchable riches, and cry out to the Holy Spirit to make your heart rich for salvation. Then your life and conversation will be a gift to your neighbors, and when they see you, your face will shine like the face of an angel of God.

Footnotes

¹ The original text reads "The Lord turned the captivity of Job," following the KJV rendering of Job 42:10. The NKJV translates this as "the LORD restored Job's losses," which conveys the same meaning in modern English. The older phrasing carries a beautiful sense of reversal — of captivity itself being led captive — that the modern translation captures more directly.