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I. Our attention is arrested first BY THE "GREAT THINGS" OF SIN AND JUDGMENT. Some scholars give the text and context literal interpretations; they construe it to mean that in consequence of the sins of Israel God will send upon the land swarms of locusts which shall destroy every green thing. Others give the text an allegorical interpretation. They say that God threatens to let loose upon Israel a fierce invading army, which like a swarm of locusts will eat up the nation. Be this as it may, the chapter unmistakably sets forth the terrible, devouring power of sin, and the retributions which arise out of sin, and this is a warning that all generations ought to consider and respect. The swarming locusts remind us of the multitudinousness of evil. Evil envelops us, attacks us, torments us on every side. You may crush a locust, you may crush a score, you may crush a thousand, it makes no appreciable difference, myriads more crowd in hungrily, and give you the sense of hopelessness. So the evils that afflict the world are manifold, and it seems useless to resist them; practically they are infinite and overwhelming. What a picture this chapter gives of the fiery energy, the swiftness, the restlessness, the practical irresistibility of the locusts! "The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen so shall they run." "Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble." So there is an awful wrathfulness, facility, and effectiveness about evil passions, evil movements, and evil things. It takes a century to build up an oak, but the lightning flash blasts it in a moment. Again, these locusts remind us of the pervasiveness of evil. "They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall; they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief." You cannot exclude evil; it penetrates everywhere, it defiles everything. It mocks at personal vigilance. The black locusts swarm on all the roses of our pleasure, they devour the golden fruits of our industry, they strip the vine and fig-tree of our domestic felicity, they defile the pomegranates and palms of our sacred places. These locusts suggest another terrible aspect of evil, namely, that it expresses a certain law, order, and government. "They shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks." The New Testament makes this clear, that the world of iniquity is a realm of government. Finally, the locusts symbolise the destructiveness of sin. "The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness." We cannot to-day look upon this world without feeling how awful sin is, and how terrible its consequences are. How painful are the aspects of the world beyond Christendom, how painful,, the. scenes on which we look! Sin has "magnified itself to do great things, and it has done them. It has boasted itself against nature, and filled the earth with disorder, cruelty, and anguish. It has boasted itself against man, and covered him with dishonour, pierced him with misery, dug his grave. It has boasted itself against God, spoiling His works, thwarting His purpose, grieving Him at His heart. It has done great things. It is doing them, it is preparing to do them. We often stand appalled in the presence of evil; we are awed by it, staggered by it. There is something in it that is so mysterious, immeasurable, unfathomable, unaccountable. All our efforts to arrest it seem ridiculous. Scientists identify it with the cosmical force. Philosophers recognise in it the authority of necessity. Reformers and educationists faint as they struggle against the sea-power of evil. And the religious worker often feels the terrible chill of despondency and despair.

II. We dwell upon THE "GREAT THINGS" OF THE DIVINE GRACE. "Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things." The adversary has magnified himself, vaunted himself, to do "great things," and God responds to his challenge: "I, the Lord, will do great things; I will show that My strength prevails against the rage of evil, I will drive the locusts into the sea, I will destroy the destroyer, and bring his work to a perpetual end."

1. Let us notice the wonderful way in which God limits evil. "But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate., with his face towards the cast sea, and his hinder part towards the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things." If we look into nature we see that limits have ever been put to the destructive forces. The geologists tell us this. The wild, terrible, murderous dragons of the primitive age were held in check. According to the theory of some scientists, the stronger animals invariably destroy the weaker, but, if that be so, how is it that these awful primeval monsters, all teeth and claws, did not take possession of the earth and keep possession? It is certain that they did not; palaeontology answers us that the best armed species are those which have almost always disappeared. There were laws and forces which hedged in the wildest elements, and gave security and permanence to the weaker but nobler races. And we to-day see the same restraints put upon the noxious things of nature. The naturalist makes this clear. In New Guinea is a venomous bird known as the "Bird of Death." Its bite causes excruciating pain, blindness, and lockjaw. No person bitten by it, it is asserted, has recovered, and death comes within a few hours. How is it that this bird of bad omen has not multiplied and taken possession of the forests? How is it that the birds of Paradise manage to survive by its side? Or, to come nearer home, how is it that the hawk does not exterminate the sweet singers of our woods? The "devil plant" of the Mississippi is most fatal; ii kills insects and cattle, and rich meadow lands shrivel at its insidious approach as if they had been touched with fire. How is it that the infernal thing remains within certain regions? In Nicaragua is the "vampire vine," which seems literally to drain the blood of every living-thing, which comes within its deathdealing touch. How is it that this vampire vine does not prevail, and drive out the vine whose purple clusters make glad the heart of man? One of the old kings had a garden planted solely with poison flowers; how is it that the whole earth has not become such a garden? The fact is, there is a vigilant, benign law, a balance of nature, which keeps these formidable growths within limit beyond which they cannot pass, and, instead of sickly colours, vile odours, and deadly poisons dominating the panorama, the landscape is full of loveliness, fragrance, and health. The octopus, the alligator, the shark threaten the seas, but the same law prevails there that prevails on the land, shielding whatsoever passeth through the depth of the seas. And the physiologist tells us the same story. One would expect that diseases of the blood and brain would be transmitted from one generation to another, until the whole race would become infected, and the earth degenerate into a lazar house; but the physiologist answers us that there is "a limit to the transmission of abnormal characteristics." And if you look into history you are taught exactly the same lesson. The Pharaohs, the Neros, the Attilas, the Mahomets, the Tamerlanes, the Alvas, the Napoleons now and again threaten civilisation; it lies helpless and bleeding at their feet; but the historian shows that there is always a rock on which their Armadas suffer shipwreck, a Moscow in which their armies perish. And it is thus to-day in this world of ours. All about us are horrible things, infectious literature, vile institutions, degrading practices, which threaten the very life of the nation. And prowling around are thousands of selfish, cruel monsters, ready to prey on their helpless fellows. It is a mystery that they do not eat us up. But they do not. Just as there is a secret law circumscribing the shark, the vampire, the corpse plant, the upas, so God's eye is upon the drinking, saloon, the infamous press, the gambling club, the camera obscura of lust, the prize ring, the opium den, and all the rest of the terrible things which menace civilisation, and the proud, raging waves of hell foaming out their own shame are broken on unseen, mystic sands which God has fixed as the bounds over which they may not pass. He limits one bad thing by another bad thing; He limits one bad thing by a thing less bad; He limits all bad things by the golden ring of His perfect sovereign government.

2. But God does not merely intend to limit evil; He designs the full triumph of righteousness. It is not enough that He should restrain the force and fury of the devil within given breakwaters; He means to confound evil, to abolish it. "Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord hath done great things." "And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten." "The Lord hath done great things" in the direction of this absolute victory. The Gospel is a revelation of "great things." The advent of our Lord; His personal moral glory; His ministry; His passion; His atoning death; His resurrection; His ascension into heaven; His sending forth of the Holy Spirit; His session at the right hand of God, — these are the mighty accomplished facts of redemption which justify our boast that the Lord hath done "great things." Over against the destructive things and methods of wickedness He has put a "great salvation" which was first spoken by the Lord, and which was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him. And in its application the "great salvation" has vindicated its name. At once in the actual world the first evangelists proved its efficacy. The "great things" of God at once assert themselves against the "great things" of darkness, against the rulers of this world. And is not Christianity the great force that. overcomes evil in the world of to-day? It is the saving power in the heathen world. And here at home the "great things" of the Gospel are the hope of society. Not!ling goes to the root of the evil we bemoan but the doctrines of the Gospel; nothing really grapples with sin but the power of grace; nothing creates amongst us a living, organic righteousness except the truth and love and power of God in Jesus Christ. And it will continue to save and bless. Do not lose heart, do not be overwhelmed by the vision of evil.

(W. L. Watkinson.)

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KJV: Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.

WEB: Land, don't be afraid. Be glad and rejoice, for Yahweh has done great things.