74. Rivers In The Desert.

A man shall be . . . as rivers of water in a dry place. - Isaiah 32:2.

OUR Lord Jesus is nearest and dearest to us as Man. His manhood reminds us of—

· His incarnation, in which he assumed our nature.

· His life on earth, in which he honored our nature.

· His death, by which he redeemed our nature.

· His resurrection, by which he upraised our nature.

Consider the Word made flesh, and you have before you "rivers of water?" "It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell?"

Though manhood seems to be a dry place, a salt and barren land, yet in the case of this Man it yields rivers of water, numberless streams, abounding with refreshment.

Let us learn from the simile before us:

I. THAT NATURE'S DROUGHT DOES NOT HINDER CHRIST'S COMING TO MEN.

l. He came into the dry place of a fallen, ruined, rebellious world.

2. He comes to men personally, notwithstanding their being without strength, without righteousness, without desire, without life.

3. He flows within us in rivers of grace, though the old nature continues to be a dry and parched land.

4. He continues the inflowing of his grace till he perfects us, and this he does though decay of nature, failure, and fickleness prove us to be as a dry place. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."

II. THAT NATURE'S DROUGHT ENHANCES THE PRECIOUSNESS OF CHRIST.

1. He is the more quickly discovered; as rivers would be in a desert.

2. He is the more highly valued; as water in a torrid climate.

3. He is the more largely used; as streams in a burning wilderness.

4. He is the more surely known to be the gift of God's grace. How else came he to be in so dry a place? Those who are most devoid of merit are the more clear as to God's grace.

5. He is the more gratefully extolled. Men sing of rivers which Flow through dreary wastes.

III. THAT NATURE'S DROUGHT IS MOST EFFECTUALLY REMOVED BY CHRIST.

Rivers change the appearance and character of a dry place. By our Lord Jesus appearing in our manhood as Emmanuel, God with us, —

1. Our despair is cheered away.

2. Our sinfulness is purged.

3. Our nature is renewed.

4. Our barrenness is removed.

5. Our trials are overcome.

6. Our fallen condition is changed to glory.

The desert of manhood rejoices and blossoms as the rose now that the Man Christ Jesus has appeared in it

IV. THAT OUR OWN SENSE Of DROUGHT SHOULD LEAD US THE MORE HOPEFULLY TO APPLY TO CHRIST.

He is rivers of water in a dry place. The dry place is his sphere of action. Nature's want is the platform for the display of grace.

1. This is implied in our Lord's offices. A Savior for sinners. A Priest who can have compassion on the ignorant, etc.

2. This is remembered in his great qualifications. Rivers, because the place is so dry. Full of grace and truth, because we are so sinful and false. Mighty to save, because we are so lost, etc.

3. This is manifested by the persons to whom he comes. Not many great or mighty are chosen. "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." He calls "the chief of sinners." In every case the rivers of love flow into a dry place.

4. This is clear from the object which he aimed at, namely, the glory of God, and the making known of the riches of his grace. This can be best accomplished by working salvation where there is no apparent likelihood of it, or, in other words, causing rivers to water dry places.

Come to Jesus, though your nature be dry, and your case hopeless. Come, for there are rivers of grace in him. Come, for they flow at your feet, "in a dry place."

Come, if you have come before, and are just now in a backsliding condition. The Lord Jesus is still the same; the rivers of mercy in him can never be dried up.

Christ never seems empty to any but those who are full of themselves. He is dry to those who overflow with personal fullness, but he floods with his grace all who are dried up as to all self-reliance.