The Joy of the Church

Rev. W.C. Lamain (1904-1984)

This is a song of thanksgiving sung by those who have been delivered. We will never be able to explain this psalm in a right manner unless our eye is fixed upon the great Surety and Mediator of the Covenant, upon the Servant of the Father, upon Him who was ordained thereto in the stillness of eternity. He is the great Deliverer, but also in the fullest sense of the word, the delivered and liberated One of the Lord. He did not come upon earth for Himself, nor did He enter death for Himself.

Everything which He strived for through the power of the will of His Father was to the glorification of His attributes, to the accomplishing of His adorable counsel, and also for the deliverance of His people—a people which had been given Him from eternity and who had been accepted by Him. “The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up.”

He was cast into the sea of God’s anger and wrath, which boiled and burned as a fire, for the deliverance of those who were His. He has experienced in the fullest sense of the word, “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy waterspouts: all Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over Me.” He has sighed in Psalm 69:1 and 2, “Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto My soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow Me.”

He has suffered during His entire time here upon earth, but especially at the end of His life He has carried the full measure of the eternal wrath of God against the sins of all mankind. His bodily suffering was great, but the suffering of His soul was inestimably greater.

Christ’s godly nature has supported His assumed human nature, but the Father has also sent an angel from heaven in Gethsemane to strengthen Him. He has reached the zenith of His suffering upon Golgotha during the three hours of darkness. There, friend and companion were far from Him. There the Surety of the covenant was forsaken of God, and it appeared that He should succumb under the flood of God’s wrath, but no, He has triumphed upon the cross, and through Christ’s death the waves were stilled and the roaring sea has become tranquil.

The Father now rests in the finished work of His Son and has testified of the same in His resurrection from the dead. He causes the storm to stand still so that its waves are quieted. The sea which earlier raised her waves unto heaven has now become like a mirror. God is in Christ satisfied with His people. Then it is heard from heaven, “For this is as the waters of Noah unto Me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, or rebuke thee” (Isaiah 54:9).

When it is written in our text, “Then are they glad,” this means that Christ as Surety has been the first One to be glad. As Surety He has been troubled and oppressed by God. “I have roared by reason of the disquietness of My heart” (Psalm 38:8b). Now these words may be fully applied to Him:

O Israel’s God, how good Thou art
To all the true and pure of heart!
Though paths of saints are fraught with evil,
Thou showest favor to Thy people.

Who will ever be able to express the joy which has filled the heart of the Surety at the completion of His work? There is now atonement with God. Satan’s head has been crushed, and the salvation of the Church has been secured for all eternity. That joy was increased when He, with full majesty and glory, ascended up into heaven, when in His ascension the gates and the eternal doors were opened so that the King of glory may enter. When the Son returned to His Father, the King unto His throne, and the Ruler to His home, He took along His Church, and He is set for blessings in all eternity, “for Thou hast made Him most blessed forever: Thou hast made Him exceeding glad with Thy countenance.”

Observe here, beloved, that upon the foundation of Christ’s humiliation and exaltation, according to the good pleasure of the Father, the Church is gladdened when, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of Christ’s meritorious work is applied to the hearts of the elect. They may taste of this joy with a believing heart as it may be applied to them on this side of the grave.

God appears unto them with saving convictions. The rest wherein they heretofore lived, whether in the world or in a religious life, is denounced. They come, as it were, upon the sea. They begin to do business in great waters. They try to satisfy God with what they do and do not do. A person will do whatever he can to try to maintain life. God’s righteousness is revealed from heaven. The curse of God’s law is revealed in their heart. They have to meet God, but oh, how will they ever escape? God’s justice demands, the law convicts, and sin, both original and actual, testifies against them.

Also, Satan oppresses and fights against them. He tries to bring them to despair, saying, “For you there is no salvation by God.” They melt away because of anguish. It becomes reality for them, the ground sinks away from under their feet, their wisdom is consumed. They have had moments of hope when the Lord showed them something of it, but also that came to an end. Anxiety oppresses them from all sides. Nothing more remains than to call upon the Lord, and He delivers them out of all their troubles. With the Lord there is deliverance, even from death. Only He can still the internal storm.

There are times they may be encouraged and their soul is enlarged, yet through it all they have a restless soul. Their rest can be found only in God. Oh, when God’s wrath is turned away, and the peace of God through the blood of the Lamb fills the soul, when Christ is applied with His merited righteousness, then those people are glad. Only rest and peace give gladness. When there is no longer any separation between God and their soul, when their guilt is atoned for, when their unrighteousness is taken away and they are clothed by a reconciled God who testifies, “Fury is not found in Me,” then there comes a gladness in their heart that the world does not know.

They are full of joy that the Lord has sought out such a way, gladdened not only because Christ has entered the sea of God’s wrath in their place but also because He came out of it as the great Victor. They are joyful that the Holy Spirit applies and assures the precious work of God to their soul. Did He not give them the faith to believe? They are joyful because God Himself has led them to their desired haven.

People of the Lord, pray that you might make your calling and election sure. Oh, do not grant any rest to your soul until you have found rest in God. May the insufficiency of all that is not Christ be acknowledged and your soul be filled with a holy concern to enter into that rest.

Their desired haven is the rest of faith which God gives to His people when, in that perfect work, they might find peace for their heart. That haven is also especially for God’s children the heart of the Father.

With the abundance of Thy house
We shall be satisfied,
From rivers of unfailing joy
Our thirst shall be supplied.

Oh, as long as they have not come there, there will be no permanent peace in their heart. There were, at times, moments that they were gladdened, yet when they missed the fruit of it in their life, the joy also again vanished. They had torn themselves out of the Father heart of God; for them all avenues were cut off, and see how much grief and sorrow that has caused in their life. Sometimes they feared to perish in their oppression, but God has now restored them from their state of death to a state of life. What joy now fills their soul.

It is a godly, spiritual, and heavenly joy. This joy, however, shall be perfected only when they shall have fulfilled God’s counsel. As long as the Church is upon this world, the storms will remain, sometimes externally and then again internally. The strife shall remain until the end. Here they must fulfill God’s counsel. Although they have received a homecoming here below, they are not yet home eternally. They become aware of that time and again. Certainly, however, no waves shall overflow them.

For them it is no longer a questionable or doubting matter, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” However, here below their joy is so often mixed with sorrow. It is a life of up and down, but there will come an end to that. When death draws nigh, God will give a complete deliverance. In heaven there are no longer any storms, there will be no more disturbances, and there will not be anything which draws away from God which is so often the case here below.

People of the Lord, pray that you might make your calling and election sure. Oh, do not grant any rest to your soul until you have found rest in God. May the insufficiency of all that is not Christ be acknowledged and your soul be filled with a holy concern to enter into that rest. Continually bring yourself under the administration of God’s Word where you are pointed to the rest which is only in God. May God’s dear Spirit, above all, apply it to your heart. For you, my unconverted fellow traveler, it will storm eternally if you remain a stranger of God’s justice and of the application of Christ’s perfect righteousness by the Holy Spirit.

Longing people, do not lose courage (Psalm 31:19). God is coming to give your restless soul peace in Him. May He assure you of eternal life through His Spirit. What shall it be, ye saints of the Lord, when, one day, all the waves will be stilled. Here below man floats upon the sea of life, and his state of salvation is tossed to and fro from all sides. What will it be to arrive in that desired haven of eternity, to disembark, to say farewell to all unrest, and to enter that land where righteousness lives and that city where you will forever enjoy God’s sweet favor.

The more God’s children are taught spiritually, the greater fools they become in their own eyes; the more they know of their own wicked state by nature, the more are they astonished that God should show mercy to such poor worms of the earth.

— William Tiptaft

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