A Rich Feast Prepared for Hungry Souls!
Thomas Boston, 1676–1732
Isaiah 25:6, "And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined."THE prophets of old prophesied of the grace of Christ which should come unto us, 1 Peter 1:10; and of these none more than our evangelical prophet, who, in the verse before us, foretells a rich spiritual entertainment which should be made by the Savior Jesus Christ unto a starving world of prodigal sinners, reduced by their extravagance into extreme want. Here there is to be observed,
1. The Maker and Master of the feast, the Lord himself; it is a royal feast, with which the King of Zion entertains his own subjects. Particularly, it is the Lord Christ, the Son of God, who, pitying the famished condition of poor sinners, was at the expense of this costly feast for them; for the maker of it is the same who swallows up death and victory, verse 8. A warlike title is ascribed to him, the "Lord of hosts," for there is a banner in Christ's banqueting-house; and this feast looks both backward and forward to a war. You will observe,
2. The guests for whom this feast is provided: it is made for "all people." Not that every person does actually partake of it, nor that every person without exception is invited to it; the event shows the contrary, there being many to whom the sound of the gospel never comes; but intimating, that the invitation is given to all who come in its way, without distinction, or exception of any sort of persons; Matthew 22:9, "Go you therefore into the highways, and as many as you shall find, bid to the marriage." The invitation is to the Gentiles, as well as to the Jews, to those in the highways and hedges, as well as those in the city. All who will come are welcome. You may observe,
3. The guest-chamber where this feast is held; "In this mountain," namely, mount Zion, that is, the church. To that society all must join who would partake of this feast. And as mount Zion represents both the church militant and the church triumphant, so these are one church, one body; and it is one feast, as to its substance, Hebrews 12:22–24. You will observe,
4. The matter of the feast: a feast imports abundance and variety of good entertainment; and here nothing is wanting which is suitable for hungry souls. This is held forth under the notion of the best meat and drink, because what these are to the body, the same is the gospel-feast to the soul. In this valley of the world lying in wickedness, there is nothing for the soul to feed on but carrion, nothing but what would be loathed, except by those who were never used to better: but in this mountain, there is a "feast of fat things," things most relishing to those who taste them, most nourishing to those who feed on them; and these are "full of marrow," most satisfying to the soul.—In this valley of the world, there is nothing but muddy waters, which can never quench the thirst of the soul, but must ruin it with the dregs ever cleaving to them; but I here, on this mountain, are "wines on the lees," that is, the best of wines, which having been kept long upon the lees, are therefore strong and nourishing. And these wines are well refined, being carefully drawn off, and quite separated from the lees or dregs, and therefore clear and fine. They are undreggy comforts; they afford the most refined satisfaction and delight. From this subject we take the following
DOCTRINE, That Jesus Christ has prepared a most rich and delicious feast for the souls of all those who will come to him, and partake of it as presented to them.
In speaking upon this pleasant and interesting subject, it is intended,
I. To show the absolute need that there is of this provision.
II. To explain what the provision is which Christ has prepared for the souls of a famished world.
III. To consider what sort of a feast it is.
IV. To confirm, that all people who will come, may come, and partake of this feast. And then,
V. Conclude with a practical improvement of the subject.
We are then,
I. To show the absolute need that there is of this provision.
The distinguishing need for this provision was the extreme necessity of a lost world, which, by Adam's fall, the great prodigal, was reduced to a starving and famishing condition. The King of Heaven set down Adam, and his posterity in him, to a well-covered table in paradise, in this lower world, making a covenant of friendship with him, and with them in him. Man consists of an earthly part and a heavenly part, a body, and a soul: and as everything must have nourishment suitable to its nature, so, although the body might, yet the soul could never be nourished by the best produce of the earth. Therefore, by virtue of that covenant, it was concluded, that, upon condition of perfect obedience to it, they should have provision for their souls from the King's country. But man being drawn into rebellion against God, this prospect was lost, and their table is drawn; Adam and all his posterity in his loins were driven out of the guest-chamber, the family was ruined, broken, and scattered, having nothing left them.—To impress this the more upon us, let us view how our first father left us.
1. In point of need, he left us with hungry hearts, like the prodigal; Luke 15:16, "And he would gladly have filled his belly with the husks which the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him." Every man and woman naturally has a gnawing appetite after happiness and satisfaction. This is so interwoven with man's nature, that it never leaves him in any state whatever, and so will make a part of the torment of the damned: Isaiah 8:21, "And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry; and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their King and their God, and look upward." Every one finds himself not self-sufficient, and therefore his soul cleaves to something without itself to satisfy it. Listen, O Christless sinner! who are destitute of holy desires, and you shall hear a voice within your own breast, saying, Give, give, a continual noise. Look into your own heart, and you will see it, in respect of desires, like a nest of young birds, all gaping for a fill, but never satisfied, still gaping, after all that is put in their months.—He left us also with thirsty consciences, scorched and burned up with heat, so that most of them are in the dead-thraw, and many of them quite seared. Hence the gospel-invitation is, Isaiah 55:1, "Ho! every one that thirsts, come you to the waters." In a natural state there can be no conscience but an evil conscience, the thorn of guilt is not pulled out of it; it is a defiled conscience which needs to be sprinkled, Hebrews 10:22. And though a sleeping conscience in many, yet such is the thirst of it in all the sons of Adam, that, when awakened, they cry out, We die, we perish, we all perish, Luke 15:17.
2. In point of supply, he left us without any prospect, for all communication with Heaven was stopped. War was declared against the rebels, so that there could be no transportation of provisions from thence, Genesis 3:24. Truth had said, Genesis 2:17, "But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die." And therefore, though mercy might incline to supply a starving world, justice interposes, and pleads that there could be no communication between God and the sinners, without a satisfaction, which they nor angels could not make; and therefore, without satisfaction, they must be famished forever. Thus heaven's doors were closed on a starving world.—Now, there was a mighty famine upon the earth, such as was with the prodigal, Luke 15:14, "And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want." Adam's sons, abandoned of Heaven, fell a-begging at the world's door, if so be they might find rest and satisfaction in the creature. They go after a law-righteousness, if so be they might find a rest to their consciences. But it fares with them in this search, as with the unclean spirit gone out of a man. He goes through dry places seeking rest, and finding none returns disappointed. When they have traversed all the mountains of vanity for something to satisfy their hungry hearts, they find nothing but husks to feed on with the swine; which are the empty and unsatisfying things of the world, that can never feed their souls, Luke 15:16. The poor sinner out of Christ, is like the hungry infant, which sucks at everything to which its mouth comes near, and shifting about, and getting nothing, falls a-weeping; but the appetite continuing, the infant falls a-sucking again, where formerly it was disappointed. Such is the life of every natural man, a continued tract of lustings after, and disappointments from the creature. So that he is born weeping, lives seeking, and will die disappointed, if not brought to the feast of fat things. Again, they find but dust to feed on with the serpent; Isaiah 65:25, "And dust shall be the serpent's meat;" that is, they suck at the defiled breasts of their lusts, which can never satisfy, but poison the soul. They cannot find their satisfaction in lawful worldly comforts; and therefore, like hungry beasts, they break over into forbidden ground, and all to satisfy a gnawing appetite after happiness. But there they are as far from their mark as ever. For, though the enjoyment of a lust may please them for a while; yet it is but like a man, eating or drinking in a dream, he awakes, and behold he is faint, and his soul has appetite, Isaiah 24:8. There is a bitter dreg remaining behind. Striking at this rock for water, they cause fire to flash out on their faces; and sucking at these breasts, draw out blood instead of milk. Traveling through the barren region of the law for something to satisfy their scorched consciences, they can find nothing but muddy and salt waters, which can give no ease truly satisfying, but raises the thirst again. For the purging of the conscience is what the law cannot do, Romans 6:3; compared with Hebrews 9:14. What can duties do to the purging of the conscience; Isaiah 64:6, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Will mud wash out mud? What can tears do for this end? Without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. Even our tears must be washed in the Mediator's blood, or they will defile the conscience, and leave a new stain in it. What can trusting to uncovenanted mercy do? and such is the mercy of God in respect of all who are not in Christ, Acts 4:12; 2 Corinthians 5:19. They may make a plaster for their wounded consciences of these, they may lay it on, but all their are can never make it stick, it will fall off before the wound heal.
We come now,
II. To explain what the provision is which Christ has prepared for the souls of such a famished world.—This, in a word, is his precious self; the Maker of the feast is the matter of it, even Christ crucified; his body broken for us, is that feast to which hungry souls are called, and which they are to feed upon: "Take, eat, this is my body broken for you." Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." We have heard of mothers who have eaten their own children, but who ever gave themselves to be meat unto them? But Jesus died that we might live, gave himself to enliven and nourish our souls.—Let us consider,
1. The meat which is served up in this feast for the hungry heart. This is Christ's body; John 6:55, "For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." Never was there such a costly feast in the world as this, Christ's body broken and bruised by justice, that it might be food to us. This is the provision offered to you all in the word, exhibited to you, O believers! in the sacrament. And you may eat, and must eat of it, or you will perish: John 6:53, "Then Jesus said unto them, Truly, truly, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you." Take him by faith, receive him with a faith of application, and unite with him in the covenant; relish the sweetness of Christ, improve every part of Christ, his low birth, his sorrowful life, his bitter death, his burial, resurrection, and ascension to heaven.—Christ's body is the fat things of this feast, which will completely satisfy the hungry heart; so that your soul feeding upon it by faith, shall be filled and satisfied, like the hungry infant, when it is set to its mother's full breasts: Psalm 81:10, "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." How can these things be? will an unbelieving world say. We answer, in two things,
(1.) There is a fullness of the spirit of sanctification in him, which is communicated unto all who receive him: John 1:16, "And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace." And the more eagerly that the soul feeds on him, the more of that spirit they receive. The first entering of his spirit into the soul gives life; the further measure of the spirit, gives life more abundantly. And there is a double effect of the spirit of sanctification received from Christ.—[1.] The spirit of Christ in the soul dries up the devouring deeps of unmortified desires after the world of lusts, stops their mouths by stabbing them to the heart, that the soul may live spiritually: John 4:14, "But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life." Never thirst, that is, at the rate he did in his natural state. Gasp they may, as a thief upon the cross, but they shall never gape so wide and so incessantly as before, the soul being determined to starve them.—[2.] The spirit of Christ in the soul stirs up holy desires in the heart, which are the predominant motions and affections there: Psalm 27:4, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple." The man's choice is altered, his desires run in another channel. Sometimes it was, Who will show us any good? but now it is, Lord, lift upon us the light of your countenance, Psalm 4:6. Now his longings are after the Lord, Psalm 42:1, and 63:1. His sorrowings are for the want of his presence; his comfort is enjoying the light of his countenance. If he has a God in Christ to be his God, you may take from him what you will; Psalm 73:25, "Whom have I in Heaven but you? and there is none in all the earth that I desire besides you." Let these desires be satisfied, and he is filled as with marrow and fatness.
(2.) The fullness of the Godhead is in Christ: Colossians 2:9, "For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." The tabernacle of meeting between God and the sinner is the flesh of Christ; in him they have the enjoyment of God as their God. Taking Christ by faith, God is theirs, for he and the Father are one: thus in Christ they are complete, Colossians 2:10. They are at the utmost stretch of their desires as to the substance of them; for having God to be their God, they have all. And thus the soul may feed on all the perfections of God: on his power, as theirs to protect them; his wisdom, as theirs to guide, etc; on his word and all the promises of it, which are theirs. Here there is both plenty and variety.—Let us consider,
2. The drink which is afforded at this feast for the thirsty conscience. This is the precious blood of Christ: John 6:55, "My blood is drink indeed." This is that spiritual drink which is offered in the word, and exhibited in the sacrament: "This cup is the New Testament in my blood." If ever you would have life, you must all drink of this blood, by a believing application of it to your own souls: Romans 3:25, "Whom God has set forth to be a atoning sacrifice , through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness, for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God."—This is "wines on the lees, well refined," effectual for purging the conscience of the most guilty creature, when it is believingly applied to the soul: Hebrews 9:14, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" This blood is sin-atoning blood, it answers all the demands of justice, affords a covert under which a guilty creature may stand before God, and not be condemned: Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus."—It is sin-expiating blood, "shed for remission of sins unto many." Lay all your guilt over on this blood. It will blot out all the items out of the debt-book of justice; it will draw the sting out of your conscience, for which all other persons and things have been physicians of no value.—It is peace-making blood. Lay the weight of your peace with God on it: "Christ is our peace," Ephesians 2:14.—It is justifying blood; by it is brought in an everlasting righteousness.—It is heaven-opening blood, for time, in access to God and communion with him on earth; and for eternity, that believers in it may be ever with the Lord, Hebrews 10:19, 20. How can these things be? Why, in one word, this wine is the juice of the choice vine of Heaven, it is the blood of the Son of God, and therefore of infinite value, 1 John 1:6. When the blood of bulls and of goats could avail nothing to cool the heat of scorched consciences, when rivers of oil, and the fruit of one's body, could avail nothing for the sin of the soul; the Son of God took on him man's nature, and in that nature died, shed his precious blood, to be a ransom for elect sinners, to deliver them from the pit, Job 33:22–30.
We are now,
III. To consider what sort of a feast it is.—Upon this we observe,
1. That it is a feast upon a sacrifice: 1 Corinthians 5:7, 8, "For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore, let us keep the feast." Justice was provoked by the conduct of self-destroying sinners. God's anger was incensed against us, and the fire of his wrath has burned up many. And when wrath was gone out against the world, the great High Priest stepped in, and offered up himself a sacrifice to atone for sin, and turn away divine wrath. Here we are called to a feast on that sacrifice, to partake of its virtue and efficacy.
2. It is a covenant-feast, Hebrews 13:20, 21. When Jacob made the covenant with Laban, they feasted together on the mount, Genesis 31:44–54. There is no partaking of this feast, but by the way of the covenant. All the guests must be covenanters, and they who are not pleased with the covenant of friendship and peace with God, as held forth in the gospel, cannot taste of this supper. But those who are well pleased with it, and sincerely consent to it, Christ says to them, "Eat, O friends! drink, yes, drink abundantly, O beloved!"
3. It is a marriage-feast, a marriage-supper, Matthew 22:1–4. The Lord Christ is the Bridegroom, and the captive daughter of Zion the bride. He offers himself to each of you to whom the gospel comes, to be yours in a marriage-relation. Consent then to the match, and you shall eat of this bread, and drink of this wine which he has mingled. He is yours, and you have all, which he has purchased, to feed on for time and for eternity.
4. It is a feast which has a respect to war. The Lord of hosts made it. It looks backward to that terrible encounter which Christ had with the law, with death, with Hell, and the grave, upon the account of his ransomed ones, and that glorious victory which he obtained over them, by which he wrought the deliverance of his people. The gospel-feast is a feast upon the back of that victory, and the Lord's supper is particularly a feast in commemoration of that battle and victory. It looks forward to a war: Song 2:4, "He brought me to the banqueting-house, and his banner over me was love." It is provided for and presented to his people to animate and strengthen them for the spiritual warfare against the devil, the world, and the flesh; and none can truly partake of it, but those who are resolved on that battle, and are determined to pursue it, until they obtain the complete victory at death.
Lastly, It is a weaning feast, Genesis 23:8. There is a time prefixed in the decree of God, at which all who are his shall, by converting grace, be weaned from their natural food. And with this their sitting down to this feast agrees. Where is the soul which is now weaned from their sucking so long at the dry breasts of the world? that soul shall have the sweet enjoyment of this feast; and the more that they feed, the more they will be weaned.
We now proceed,
IV. To confirm, that all people who will come, may come, and partake of this feast. Not that all may immediately partake of the sacrament, but that all may and should receive Christ, with his benefits, offered to them in the gospel; they are made most heartily welcome.—To make this appear, consider,
1. Christ invites all without distinction, even the worst of sinners, to this spiritual feast: Isaiah 55:1, "Ho every one that thirsts, come you to the waters." John 7:37, "If any man thirst," said Jesus, "let him come to me and drink," Revelation 22:17, "And whoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." These are gospel-invitations, clogged with no conditions, comprehending all who are willing to receive Christ, whatever their case is or has been.—Consider,
2. For what end does Jesus send out his messengers with a commission to invite all to come, if they were not welcome? Matthew 22:9, "Go you, therefore, into the highways, and as many as you shall find, bid to the marriage." Nay, the Lord is very express in the welcome given to the worst of sinners, Jeremiah 3:1; Isaiah 1:18; and directs his messengers to invite the most unworthy and unsightly persons to this feast: Luke 14:21–33, "Go out quickly," says he, "into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled."—Consider,
Lastly, That he takes it heinously amiss when any refuse to come: Luke 14:21, "He was angry;" angry, because those who were invited would not come. He not only invites you, but you are commanded on your peril to comply with the invitation: 1 John 3:23, "And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ." And do what you will, if you slight the offer, you cannot please him; for without faith it is impossible to please God.—It only remains, that,
V. We make some practical improvement; and this shall be confined for the present to a use of exhortation.
1. We would exhort all hungry hearts who are suing for satisfaction in the world and their lusts, and whose consciences have no solid resting-place, O! come to Jesus Christ in his covenant, and sit down to this feast prepared for you and the like of you.—To prevail with you, I would mention the following MOTIVES—
MOT. 1. While you come not to Christ, you have nothing commensurable nor suitable to the cravings of an immortal soul. All other things are but as stones or ashes, they are not bread; Isaiah 55:2, "Where fore do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfies not?" The man was a fool, who bid his soul take ease from what he had in his barns. Nothing less than a God in Christ can ever satisfy the cravings of an immortal soul, a soul which was created capable of enjoying an infinite good. And nothing but the blood of the Redeemer will ever give solid peace to your consciences.
MOT. 2. Should not the continued tract of disappointments you have met with at other doors, engage you to come to Christ's banqueting-house? Jeremiah 3:23, "Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel." Have you not always found creature-comforts greater in expectation than in fruition? How often have you looked for much comfort, where you got little? And has not your greatest crosses arisen sometimes from those quarters whence you expected your greatest comfort?
MOT. 3. In what you are now pursuing, consider that there is not only vanity and emptiness, which will disappoint you, but there is death in the pot, which will destroy your souls. There needs no more to ruin you, but that you be left to your own heart's lusts, and take your swing. Fearful will the reckoning be, when so much time, pains, and labor, are laid out on the pursuit of the world, and the immortal soul is quite neglected as to its eternal welfare, Ecclesiastes 11:9.
MOT. 4. If you will come to Christ, you shall get true rest; rest to your hearts, rest to your consciences, Matthew 11:28. Whatever your wants be, there is a suitable fullness in him; a fullness of merit, to carry off your guilt; a fountain, even the depth of the sea, to wash it away; a fullness of the Spirit to kill your corruptions; of righteousness to cover your unrighteousness; of light for your darkness; of strength for your weakness.
Lastly, Consider, if you will come, you shall be happy for time and eternity. When the lower table is drawn, you shall sit down at the upper. If not, you shall never know satisfaction, nor find rest to your souls.—I would exhort,
2. Communicants to feed on Christ at his table. Let not the feast be in vain to you. Dead sinners, those destitute of spiritual life, are not fit guests for the Lord's table, for they cannot feed. Such will eat and drink judgment to themselves, not discerning the Lord's body.—Here it may be inquired, How may one know if he has any spiritual life? To this we answer, Whoever has spiritual life will be sincerely longing to be rid of the grave-clothes of sin; Matthew 5:6, "Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." They will be content to part with all sin, and resolved henceforth to oppose every lust, as a limb of the body of death; not only sin in general, but the iniquity which is in their hearts, and with which they are most easily beset. They are willing also to lay aside the grave-clothes of self; Matthew 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." They will look on the rags of their own righteousness but as grave-clothes also, and set themselves against all motions of this tendency. In a word, they are for doing all as if they were to win Heaven this way; at the same time, overlooking all as if they were doing nothing.
Now, to you living and believing communicants, we acquaint you with Christ's welcome: Song 5:1, "Eat, O friends! drink, yes, drink abundantly, O beloved!" Take it and use freedom in his house. Eat, drink abundantly. Let your souls feast indeed at this gospel-feast, and miss not the opportunity.—I will only say to you, as the angel to Elijah, 1 Kings 19:7, "And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you." you have a great journey to go, and it is a question if you get such another meal set before you, before you be at the end of it. You have a twofold journey, each of which requires you to eat.—You have,
1. Your journey through the world, towards the Canaan above. It is difficult at all times; so as that many never dare venture on it others never make it out, for it lies through many difficulties. The devil, the world, and the flesh, will struggle with you, to give over this journey, of living well through the world. It is like to be more than ordinarily difficult in our times. A spirit of delusion threatens a dark and misty day. Labor to taste the power of truth, if you would be established in it. A Popish and malignant spirit threatens with darkness, blood, and confusion. This is evident, if we consider the apostasy in these nations from the once covenanted work of reformation, the blood of the saints yet lying at their doors, with the profanity and irreligion which is abounding among all rauks. As we have reason to think the Popish and malignant party in these nations, setting up for a Popish pretender, are infatuated of God to their own ruin, that they may get blood to drink; so we have ground to fear God may make them a scourge to the nations, and perhaps by them he may drive them to reformation. Whatever, then, the clouds may turn to, eat for a wilderness-journey.—You have,
2. Your journey out of the world, that is, to die well. It is a weighty journey from time to eternity. Eat for it this day, and do as you will wish to have done when you come to a dying-hour. It may be some will not have as much time to think on it when it comes, as they will have this day at a communion table. And that at a communion-table you may eat,—labor to have your appetite after Christ sharpened. Open your mouths wide, and he will fill them. Consider well your own needs, and his fullness.—Adore the wonderful condescension of the great God. Reverence his greatness; but beware of slavish fear and amazement. Look to God through the veil of Christ's flesh.—In a word, beware of unbelief. Rest not in a general faith, but exercise a faith of application: Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; and yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Amen.