The Church of God must be prepared for conflict. Till the Lord comes sin will give the Church no peace. Till Satan is trampled down under His feet, he will never rest in his deadly warfare against the Lord Jesus and His little flock. The soldier of Christ must be a man of war.
The great Commander will have His own chosen and faithful followers—“they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” { 48a} They are marked from the world by a clear line of separation. They bear His name; they wear His uniform; they rally round His banner; they are not ashamed of His reproach; and wheresoever He goeth there it is their joy to follow Him. There is no service like His, no commander so perfect, no struggle so noble, no victory so certain and so glorious.
If we really be amongst the chosen band of faithful followers, our one standard in life must be the will of our great Commander. We must be watching each signal from Him, and owning no authority but His. From first to last our spirit must be that of Saul of Tarsus, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” { 48b} This may sometimes imply a painful surrender, a surrender of ease, and inclination, and, hardest of all, of pride. But the soldier in the earthly army yields at once to his commanding officer, and how much more should we, when He has chosen us to be His people, blotted out our sins by His blood, called us into His own fellowship, sealed us with His seal, and made us heirs of His Kingdom?
“Our God shall fight for us.”—NEH. iv. 20.
I CAN imagine nothing better calculated to make a people calm, peaceful, and courageous, than to be able to say in faith, “Our God shall fight for us.” If we can say this, we may think on our country and rest assured that, whatever happens, all is safe. If we can say this, we may look upon God’s people struggling for His truth, sometimes sorely pressed and sometimes quite disheartened; but when we look on Him whom God has given to be a Leader and Commander of the people, we may take courage that all will be well, for He is our God, and He will fight for us. Or, we may look at our own personal difficulties, at the temptation without by which we are surrounded, and the proneness to yield within, which renders us perpetually liable to its power; and sometimes we may be ready to ask the question, Can such as we are ever gain the victory? But, if we can but say in faith, “Our God shall fight for us,” then, weak as we are, we may look forward to a triumph, and say even beforehand, “Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory.”