Christ Will Not Break the Bruised Reed (Pt 3)

In pursuing his calling, Christ will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax, in which more is meant than spoken, for he will not only not break or quench, but he will cherish those with whom he so deals.

Who Are the Bruised Reeds?

But how shall we know whether we are such as may expect mercy?

“The bruised” here doesn’t just mean those that are brought low by crosses, but those that are brought by crosses to see their sin, which bruises most of all. When conscience is under the guilt of sin, then every judgment brings a report of God’s anger to the soul, and all lesser troubles run into this great trouble of conscience of sin. As all excess fluid runs to the diseased and bruised part of the body, and as every creditor falls upon the debtor once he is arrested, so when conscience is awakened, all former sins and present afflictions join together to make the bruise more painful. Now the one that is bruised will be content with nothing but mercy from the one who has bruised him. He has wounded, and he must heal (Hos. 6:1). The Lord who has bruised me deservedly for my sins must bind up my heart again.
Again, a man truly bruised judges sin the greatest evil, and the favor of God the greatest good
He would rather hear of mercy than of a kingdom.
He has poor opinions of himself, and thinks that he is not worth the earth he walks on.
Towards others he is not censorious, like somebody taken sick at home, but is full of sympathy and compassion to those who are under God’s hand.
He thinks that those who walk in the comforts of God’s Spirit are the happiest in the world.
He trembles at the Word of God (Isa. 66:2), and honors the very feet of those blessed instruments that bring peace unto him (Rom. 10:15)
He is more taken up with the inward exercises of a broken heart than with formality, and is yet careful to use all sanctified means to convey comfort.

But how shall we come to this state of mind?

First we must conceive of bruising either as a state into which God brings us, or as a duty to be performed by us. Here, both are meant. We must join with God in bruising ourselves. When he humbles us, let us humble ourselves, and not stand out against him, for then he will redouble his strokes. Let us justify Christ in all his chastisements, knowing that all his dealing towards us is to cause us to return into our own hearts. His work in bruising should lead to our work in bruising ourselves.

Let us lament our own perversity and say, “Lord, what a heart I have that needs all this, that none of this could be spared!” We must lay siege to the hardness of our own hearts, and aggravate sin all we can. We must look on Christ, who was bruised for us, look on him whom we have pierced with our sins.

But all directions will not prevail, unless God by his Spirit convinces us deeply, setting our sins before us, and driving us to a standstill. Then we will cry out for mercy. Conviction will breed contrition, and this leads to humiliation. Therefore desire God that he would bring a clear and a strong light into all the corners of our souls, and accompany it with a spirit of power to lay our hearts low.

A set measure of bruising of ourselves cannot be prescribed, but it must be so far as

that we may prize Christ above all, and see that a Savior must be had; and
that we reform that which is amiss, thought be to the cutting off of our right hand, or pullout out of our eye

There is a dangerous slighting of the work of humiliation, some using as an excuse for their lackadaisical dealing with their own hearts, that Christ will not break the bruised reed. But they must know that every sudden terror and short grief is not that which makes us bruised reeds. It’s not a little “bowing down our heads like a bulrush” (Isa 58:5), but a working our hearts to such grief as will make sin more odious unto us than punishment, until we offer a “holy violence” against it. Else, favoring ourselves, we make work for God to bruise us, and for sharp repentance afterwards.

It is dangerous, I confess, in some cases, with some spirits to press too much and too long this bruising, because they may die under the wound and burden before they are raised up again. Therefore it is good in mixed assemblies to mingle comfort that every soul may have its due portion. But if we have this for a foundation truth, that there is more mercy in Christ than sin in us, there can be no danger in thorough dealing. It is better to go bruised to heaven than sound to hell.

Therefore let us not take off ourselves too soon, nor pull out the stitches before cure is complete, but keep ourselves under this work till sin is the sourest, and Christ is the sweetest, of all things. And when God’s hand is upon us in any way, it is good to divert our sorrow for other things to the root of all, which is sin. Let our grief run most in that channel, in order that as sin bread grief, so grief may consume sin.

The Reed and the Bruising (pt 2)

Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. (Isa. 42:1-3)

How Christ Pursues His Calling

Here it says that it is done modestly, without making a noise, or raising up dust by a pompous arrival, as politicians are used to doing. “His voice shall not be heard.” His voice was indeed heard, but what voice? “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden” (Matt. 11:28). He cried, but how? “Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters” (Isa. 55:1). And as his coming was modest, it was also mild, which is set down in these words: “A bruised reed shall he not break, and a smoking flax shall he not quench.”

We see therefore, that the condition of those he was to deal with, was that they were bruised reeds and smoking flax. Not trees, but reeds; and not whole, but bruised reeds. The church is compared to weak things: to a dove amongst the fowls; to a vine amongst the plants; to sheep amongst the beasts; to a woman, which is the weaker vessel.

God’s children are bruised reeds before their conversion, and they often stay bruised reeds after. Before conversion, all (except the ones that, being brought up in the church, God has delighted to show himself gracious to them from childhood), all are bruised reeds. Yet in different degrees, as God sees fit. And just as there are differences in temperament, gifts, and lifestyle, so there are differences in God’s intention to use men in the time to come. For he usually empties them of themselves and makes them nothing before he will use them for any great services.

The Reed and the Bruising

The prophet Isaiah, being lifted up and carried with the wing of a prophetic spirit, passes over all the time between himself and the appearing of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Seeing Christ as present, with the eye of prophecy and with the eye of faith, he presents him in the name of God to the spiritual eye of others, in these words:

Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. (Isa. 42:1-3)

Matthew says these words are now fulfilled in Christ (Matt:12:18-20). In them are shown, first, the calling of Christ to his office; second, the way he carries it out.

Christ’s Calling

Here God calls him his servant. Christ was God’s servant in the greatest piece of service that ever was: a chosen and choice servant, who did and suffered everything by commission from the Father. Here we may see the sweet love of God for us, in that he counts the work of our salvation by Christ as his greatest service, and also in that he will put his only beloved Son to that service.

He does well to prefix it with “Behold,” to raise up our thoughts to the highest pitch of attention and admiration. In time of temptation, apprehensive consciences look so much to the present trouble that they are in, that they need to be roused up to behold the one in whom they can find rest for their distressed souls. In temptations, it is safest to behold nothing but Christ, the true bronze serpent, the true “Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

This saving object has a special influence of comfort to the soul, especially if we look, not only on Christ, but on the Father’s authority and love in him. For in all that Christ did and suffered as Mediator, we must see God in him, reconciling the world to himself (2 Cor. 5:19)

What a support to our faith this is! That God the Father, the very one offended by our sins, is so well pleased with the work of redemption! And what a comfort this is, that seeing God’s love rests on Christ, as well pleased in him, we may gather that he is just as pleased with us, if we are in Christ!

His love rests on a whole Christ – on the mystical Christ as well as the natural Christ, because he loves him and us with a single love. Let us therefore embrace Christ, and in Christ let us embrace God’s love, and build our faith safely on such a Savior, who is furnished with so high a commission.

See here for our comfort, a sweet agreement of all three persons: the Father gives a commission to Christ; the Spirit furnishes and sanctifies to it, and Christ himself executes the office of a Mediator. Our redemption is founded on the joint agreement of all three persons of the Trinity.