Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vols. 13–63

This was one of the greatest trials of David's life.

Verses 13, 14. And there came a messenger to David, saying, the hearts ofthe men ofIsraelare after Absalom. And David said unto all his servants that were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee; for we shall not else escape from Absalom: make speed to depart lest he overtake us suddenly, and brings evil upon us, and smites the city with the edge of the sword.There is much to admire in David's conduct when he fled from Absalom, but yet his courage would seem to have well near forsaken him. In his brighter days before his great sin had weakened him, he would have been master of the situation, but now he trembles in the presence of the great calamity.

15. And the king's servants said unto the king, Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord, the king, shall appoint.They were attached to him—ready to take his counsel at once. Can we say the same to King Jesus? Will every Christian here now say to his Master, "Behold, Your servants are ready to do whatever my Lord, the King, shall appoint"? There are many that pick and choose of Christ's commands. They do not obey all His will. There are known duties which are neglected—plain precepts which are willfully forgotten. I would to God we could all say from our heart to King Jesus, "Behold, Your servants are ready to do whatever my Lord, the King, shall appoint."

16-18. And the king went forth, and all his household after him. And the king left ten women, which were concubines, to keep the house. And the king went forth, and all the people after him and tarried in a place that was far off And all his servants passed on beside him. And all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men, who came after him from Gath, passed on before the king. These were his old guard, soldiers who he kept always around his person, deeply attached to him, upon whose loyalty he could rely. But what a come-down from the King of Israel to have an army of only 600 men—to be fleeing before his own rebellious people, led on by his more rebellious son!

19-23. Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Why do you, also, go with us? Return to your place and abide with the king: for you are a stranger, and also an exile. Whereas you came but yesterday, should I this day make you go up and down with us? Seeing I go where I may, you return and take back your brethren: mercy and truth be with you. And Ittai answered the king, and said, As the LORD lives, and as my lord, the king, lives, surely in what place my lord the king shall be whether in death, or life, even there also will your servant be. And David said to Ittai, Go and pass over And Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones that were with him and all the country wept with a loud voice. And all the people passed over The king, himself also passed over the Brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness.A fit type of that future passage of the Kidron by the great Son of David when, on that dark and doleful night, when all the powers of darkness met the Prince—the King, Himself—passed over that black and bitter brook into the Garden of Gethsemane. There were faithful ones that went with David—there were some faithful ones with Christ. Happy are they who shall be found to be with their Lord and Master in the day of His sorrow, for they shall be with Him in the day of His joy!

Verses 1, 2. The Spirit ofthe Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim the acceptable year ofthe LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn. How condescending and how kind are the objectives of our Savior's mission—to put an end to sorrow! He searches for the mourners—they are the special objects of His care—and all that He does has this for one of its grand objectives—to comfort all that mourn! Surely if there is any troubled heart here, it may claim an interest in such a Divine work as this! Jesus has come to comfort all that mourn. Shall He not comfort you?

3. To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion. To make an appointment—an ordinance—a decree concerning them. And it will be to this effect—

3. To give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness: that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting ofthe LORD, that He might be glorified. So it seems that God finds glory in the helping of His sad, sick, sorrowful creatures! He gets a glory out of making them. He gets higher glory out of making them new! Creation yields the moonlight glory—the new creation is a glory as of the sun shining in its strength! O you mourners, may God grant you Grace now to give glory to God by cheerfully accepting those wondrous blessings of Grace which Christ has come to bestow!

4. And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.When mourning souls find comfort, and captive souls get liberty, they are full of life and full of energy—and they begin to restore what had become wasted and desolate. I guarantee you that there is nothing for a Church by way of medicine at all equal to pouring new blood into her by new-saved souls! They come among us with their new songs, like the sweet birds in summer, and seem to wake the morning with their gladsome music. They come among us like the dewdrops from the womb of the morning, sparkling in beauty, bearing the dew of their youth. May God send to many old churches that have got to be like old wastes, and some communities that have come to be like desolations—may He send to them these builders—these earnest, loving hearts to build them up!

5. 6. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons ofthe alien shall be your plowmen and your vine dressers. But you shall be named the priests ofthe LORD. God's true Israel, His chosen, His elect—they may look upon all other men as their plowmen and their vine dressers. Kings and queens rule the world for you. For you the merchant, with his weights, divides the sea. For you, the plowman plows the soil. As for you, though you have a hand in these things, they are not your main employment. Your occupation is a higher one than theirs—the service of your God! You shall be named the priests of the Lord.

6. Men shall call you ministers of our God: you shall eat the riches ofthe Gentiles, andin their glory shall you boast yourselves. For all things are of God, and all things are yours through Jesus Christ. In that same day in which the Lord comforts mourners and binds up their broken hearts, He gives them to enter into a sacred priesthood in which they walk among the sons men as God's peculiar people—honored above all the rest of mankind. Oh, the distinctions which distinguishing Grace makes! How it lifts the poor from the dunghill and sits him among princes, even the princes of His people! Christ has done great things, indeed, for us, for though we were as beggars, behold He has made us kings and priests unto God—and we shall reign forever and ever!

7. For your shame you shall have double: and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. You may be persecuted. Your name may be cast out as evil, but when the Lord in mercy blesses and visits you, you shall have a wonderful recompense—more than you could have expected. "For your shame you shall have double."

7, 8. Therefore in their land they shall possess the double. Everlasting joy shall be unto them. For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an Everlasting Covenant with them. There are churches in the world that are not churches of God, and they supply their needs by forged demands from the people. But God hates robbery for a burnt offering. He accepts the willing gifts of His people and, with those who present them, He makes an Everlasting Covenant.

9. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD has blessed. Oh, to have such distinguishing marks of character about us that all who see us may see that the blessing of God is upon us! And this will be quite consistent with poverty, with sickness, for in the poverty there will be content, and in the sickness and depression of spirit there will yet be such Divine upholding that men shall be astonished that their fellow men shall be capable of such joy under such circumstances! They "shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord has blessed."

10. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. Brothers and Sisters, I wish we could all catch hold of the spirit of this verse that each one of us would now say, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord."

10. My soul shall be joyful in my God. What a precious sentence—"My soul shall be joyful in my God."

10. For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. On those festive occasions the Orientals are known to use all the wealth they have in decoration. The bridegroom decks himself with a crown—puts on a tiara. He is a king for once. And the bride herself brings out all the many jewels with which Eastern women deck themselves. Now all this, in a high spiritual sense, we find in Christ. He is not merely a covering to us, but ornament and beauty, adornment, exaltation, glory, honor! How beautiful a child of God looks in Christ, I cannot tell you, but I believe that next to His dear Son, the most engaging sight to the Divine Father is any one of His dear children whom He sees in Christ. You know we all think our children lovely—but God knows His children to be so when He has covered them with the robe of righteousness—and clothed them with the garments of salvation!

11. For as the earth brings forth her buds and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

Verse 22. And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them and said, Take, eat. This is My body. It was part of a meal. It was no celebration. It was no sacrifice, bloody or unbloody! It was simply a commemorative ceremony of which He would now give them a specimen even before it became commemorative. "As they did eat, Jesus took bread." No seeking for consecrated wafers or some special food, but such bread as they had been eating. "Blessed"—thanking God for it. "And broke it and gave it to them, and said, Take, eat. This is My body."

23, 24. And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And He said unto them, This is My blood, ofthe new testament, which is shed for many. There was no fear of their making the mistake, which has been made by Humanists, of taking these words literally, because Jesus Christ was sitting there! They could not imagine that as He took bread, He would say, literally, "This bread is My body." Why, there was His body sitting there before them! Had He two bodies? When He gave them the cup and said, "This is My blood of the new Covenant," they never dreamt of such a thing as the wine in the cup was really and literally His blood! His blood was in His veins. They saw Him living there, not bleeding! No, it is an extraordinary thing that men who have the life of God in them, and have some spiritual discernment, have, nevertheless, in some instances, been found driving their faith into the belief of the absurd fable of transubstantiation! Jesus Christ means, "This represents My body. This represents My blood"—the usual way of uttering such a sense both in the Old and New Testament, even as Christ said, "I am the door." Yet nobody thought that he was a door! "I am the way." Nobody thought He was a roadway! "I am the shepherd," and yet nobody supposed that he carried a crook and that He literally kept sheep! So He says, "This is My body, this is My blood" and they who sat there were in their senses—they were not superstitious. They knew what He meant.

25, 26. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more ofthe fruit ofthe vine until that day that I drink it new in the Kingdom of God. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out unto the Mount of Olives. I cannot resist repeating the remark I have often made about that singing of a hymn. It seems to me such a grand, brave thing for the Savior to sing a hymn after the last meal that he would eat with His disciples before His death—when He knew that He was going forth to all the torture of Pilate's Hall and to death at Calvary! Yet He says, "Let us sing a hymn." He chose a Psalm of David and, I dare say, He, Himself pitched a tune. "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out unto the Mount of Olives."

27. And Jesus said unto them—As they walked along.

27, 28. All you shall be offended because of Me this night: for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. But after I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. What sweet comfort was there—as much as to say, "Though you are scattered, I will gather you. Though you forsake Me, I will not forsake you. I will go before you into our old haunts, into that Galilee of the Gentiles where I was known to preach aforetime. I will go before you into Galilee."

29-30. But Peter said unto Him, Although allshall be offended, yet willnot I. And Jesus said unto him, Verily Isay unto you, that this day, even in this night—The day begins at sunset.

30, 31. Before the cock crows twice, you shall deny Me thrice. But he spoke the more vehemently, If I should die with You, I will not deny You in any wise. Likewise also said they all. So Peter was not alone in his intense, though rash expression of attachment. They did mean, all of them, to stand to their Master and to die with Him, as you and I mean to. But do you think that we shall carry it out better than they? Not if our resolve, like theirs, is made in our own strength!

32. And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane—The garden on the side of the hill of Olivet.

32. And He said to His disciples, Sit here while Ipray. Eight of you keep watching at the garden gate to let me know when My betrayer comes.

33. And He took with Him, Peter and James and John, and began to be sorely amazed, and to be very heavy. They had not seen Him in that state before. He seemed like one distracted, amazed—like one astonished out of all composure—unable to collect Himself or to contain Himself. And to be very heavy, as if an awful weight pressed on His soul.

34. And said unto them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful unto death: tarry you here and watch. These three were to make His closest bodyguard, to intimate to Him if any came.

35. And He went forward a little. A stone's cast, so as to be retired from them.

35, 36. And fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. And He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto You: take away this cup from Me; nevertheless not what I will, but what You will That was the point of the prayer—the very pith and marrow of it—not what I will, but what You will.

37. And He came and found them sleeping. Three choice guards—His bosom companions.

37. And said unto Peter, Simon, do you sleep? Could you not watch one hour? Matthew and Luke tell us that He said, "Could you not watch with Me one hour?" And Mark tells us here that He especially said that to Peter. Now remember that Mark is the Gospel of Peter. No doubt Mark was the great friend of Peter, and writes his Gospel from Peter's point of view, so Peter, in the Gospel of Mark records the worst things about himself. And only he puts it here that the Master said, "Simon, do you sleep?" Bad enough for the others to be asleep, but, "Simon, do you sleep? Could not you watch one hour?"

38. Watch andpray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. Oh, that was a kind excuse to make for them—to say something good about them, even though they slept when they ought to have comforted Him! He did see that their spirit was ready, but the flesh was weak.

39. 40. And again He went away and prayed, and spoke the same words. And when He returned, He found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy), neither knew they what to answer Him. How could they excuse their conduct? A second time asleep! They were in a muddled state.

41. And He came the third time, and said unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come. Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.