by Arthur W. Pink
by Arthur W. Pink
Philologos Religious Online Books
Philologos.org
by Arthur W. Pink
June, 1933
Waiting at Wisdom's Gates
II. But another thing is said of the blessed man. He does more than hear Wisdom's voice: he watches at Wisdom's gates. “Blessed is the man that heareth Me, watching daily at my gates” (Prov. 8:34). And what are these gates at which the blessed man watcheth? By Wisdom's gates I understand those places where Wisdom speaks by those whom she calls her maidens--ministers called and taught by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ. Among the Jews, counsels were held in the gates of the city; causes were heard and decided, and judgment was given; the oppressors were condemned, and the oppressed were delivered; property was redeemed, and contracts were entered into. So, also, in Wisdom's gates, where Wisdom presides and speaks, teaches and directs, these things spiritually, are done, and heavenly business is transacted. At her gates she assembles and gathers together her children, to speak to them and to give them good counsel. Here she reveals the secrets of their hearts; passes judgment upon what is false and evil; takes away their rotten props; drives them out of their refuges of lies; exposes the deceit of their hearts; opens them to receive the truth, and to attend unto the things that are spoken by her; brings redemption into the soul; saves it from the oppressor, from the delusions of Satan, and the accusations of conscience; and sweetly reveals her pardon and peace. Here she strengthens the weak hands, and confirms the feeble knees; comforts the distressed, satiates the longing soul; fills the empty soul with good things; opens blind eyes, unstops deaf ears, circumcises the heart; and makes the lame to leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb to sing. Here righteous judgment is given; a true balance is held, and right and just weights are put therein; and the Lord is known to be a God of judgments, by whom actions are weighed. These are the gates of righteousness, the gates of Wisdom; and here the righteous resort, and here the blessed man “watches.”
Yes, he watches. He does not go out of form or custom, or merely to hear a fine orator, or to satisfy conscience. No; he watches. As the criminal on the gallows watches and strains his eyes, looking to the skirts of the crowd and to the distant hills, if peradventure he may see the messenger of mercy, dispatched from the king's presence with the wished-for reprieve; as the sick patient anxiously looks toward the door, in expectation of the far-famed physician; as the shipwrecked mariner watches the dim spot in the horizon, in hopes it may prove to be a sail approaching for his deliverance; as the suitor watches the face of him to whom he presents his petition, or the beggar the opening of the gate in hopes of receiving an alms; even so does the blessed man watch at Wisdom's gates. He watches for some token for good, some message of peace, some sweet consolation; some sensible and powerful manifestation of love and freedom, mercy and grace; some interpretation of his case, and unraveling of his dark and difficult experience; some light on his path, some crumbs from the bread of life, some shinings and beams from the Sun of righteousness; some instruction in righteousness, some promise of good things; some proof that his spots are the spots of God's children, that he is not deceived, that he is in the way of life, and that he is among the jewels of the Lord. He watches attentively, he longs earnestly, for these blessings. He goes to Wisdom's gates in hopes of hearing glad tidings; of being filled and rejoiced, of having pardon and peace sealed in his heart; of hearing Wisdom's voice, seeing her arm revealed, feeling her healing power, not to have his judgment only informed, but to have his heart affected; not to be seen of man, but to see the Lord's face and to have the light of His countenance lifted up upon him. Thus he watches at Wisdom's gates, in expectation of seeing and receiving from her hands a good and perfect gift. “Blessed is the man that heareth Me, that watcheth daily at my gates.”
The blessed man is said to attend daily, to hear and watch for Wisdom. Thus these blessed watchers watch daily, and wait for some hope, some comfort, some promise, some light and blessing from Wisdom. They are found at Wisdom's gates as often as they open, and they are able to come. There is no need to exhort them to go there. They require no entreaties. They are hungry and want food; needy and poor, and want to be enriched; naked, and want clothing; cold, and want to be warmed; miserable, and want to be comforted; guilty, and want to be pardoned. They do not mind walking a few miles to hear the Word, for the desire of their soul is towards it. They endure affliction, and watch continually, sometimes with more, and sometimes with less fervor. Those who are very unlike Wisdom's watching children can be kept from hearing and watching because the road is long and rough, the weather cold or damp, or because some trifling obstacle is in the way. But observe the word “my”: “that watcheth daily at My gates.” “My sheep hear My voice, and a stranger they will not follow,” saith Christ. Thus blessed hearers and blessed watchers cannot sit under a legal or dry doctrinal ministry, in which Wisdom's voice is not heard, and be satisfied therewith. Though they would feign fill their belly with the husks which the swine eat, they cannot. It will not do for them; they must have “clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan” (Isa. 30:24). They cannot sit under a dead minister who exalts the creature, and exhorts him to do what he feels he cannot do; for he has “the sentence of death” in himself, that he should not trust in himself (2 Cor. 1:9). The blessed hearers and watchers will never be content with a legal preacher, or a dry though correct letter preacher. They want power, unction, experience, interpretation of their cases, and to have the footsteps of the flock (Song. 1:8) traced out, that they may go forth their way by them. There are thousands who are very attentive and regular at their churches and chapels, are very fond of being there early, and never miss when the doors are open, who are far from being among the number of the blessed hearers and watchers, for they can hear and watch like strangers, which blessed hearers and watchers cannot do. They can delight in the gates of Satan, transformed into an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14); but blessed hearers and watchers can approve of Wisdom's gates only.
“Blessed is the man that heareth Me, that watcheth daily at My gates, that waiteth at the posts of My doors.” Here is another mark of a blessed man: he waits at the posts of Wisdom's doors. But what are those doors? A door is that which we pass through to obtain entrance into a house, chamber, or private enclosure, and is the only lawful and proper inlet to those who come in a direct and blessed way. The Lord Jesus said of Himself, “I am the door” implying that none can enter into the fold, or bond of the covenant, but through Him. They must not only have a sight of Him afar off, but in experience or nearness to and entry into Him, ere they can, as His sheep, lie down and feed in the fold of the covenant of grace, and delight themselves in God's everlasting, electing, redeeming, renewing, and preserving love. Christ is Himself the Covenant, as it is said in Isaiah 42:6; and He is one of the Divine Covenaters (Zech. 9:11). In Him are hid all the covenant stores of wisdom and knowledge, salvation and righteousness, mercy and truth, peace and life. Therefore, the soul that would enjoy these blessings must have more than a letter knowledge of them. He must handle and enjoy, taste and feast; and this he cannot do until, by the blessed Spirit, he has such a revelation of Jesus as to assure him he is “a man in Christ.”
The blessed man, that hears Wisdom, and watches at her gates, at which are laid up all manner of precious fruits (Song. 7:13), knows and feels this; he has such a savor of the preciousness which Jesus is and has in Himself, that he pants after the enjoyment thereof. He is not content to “go about Zion” and to “mark her walls and bulwarks,” as thousands are; but he wants to find an entrance into Zion, to be brought into the citadel of safety, and the banqueting house of love, and therefore his eyes are up unto the Lord (Psa. 123:1, 2). He is “looking unto Jesus” (Heb. 12:2), and waiting with anxiety and longing desires, in hope that He will put forth His hand, and take him in to Him, as Noah put forth his hand, and took into the ark the dove which had been fluttering over the waste of waters and drowned bodies, and could find no rest for the sole of her foot; not being able to rest on that which had destroyed so many, nor on the corruption which floated on every side. He waits and knocks also at the posts of the doors of love, mercy, and salvation. He knows what they are in the letter, and has sometimes had glimpses and rays of the Sun of righteousness darting through them into his soul. He has been very near the free enjoyment of what his soul desires, even at “the posts.” But he wants more than this: he wants to find an entrance into the doors, by assurance entering into him. He wants the witness of the Spirit, and the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Spirit. For these he begs and knocks, with sighs and groans, and hungerings and thirstings. Sometimes he fears the doors will never be opened to him, he is so vile and foul, unbelieving and hardhearted. He sees there is a “door of faith” (Acts 14:27) and a “door of hope” (Hosea 2:15), and hears that they are opened to waiting and troubled souls in the wilderness (Hosea 2:14). But he must have more than hearing these things as truths and blessed realities: he must enjoy and enter into them as such.
Now such a waiter has faith in Christ; but it is only like a drop of oil under the muddy water, which is struggling to rise to the top, or like a bladder or cork caught in the seaweeds and held down thereby. Though it is in its nature to rise and ascend, it cannot. He has, then, faith to believe his need of these things, and to cry to the dear Lord to open to him, to let him in. He has faith and hope sufficient to keep him knocking and calling for admission; like a storm-beaten and shivering traveler at the door of an inn, the keeper whereof is in bed and asleep, and who, if he hears his voice, appears not inclined to rise and open to him. He waits for God to enable him to receive “the end of his faith, the salvation of his soul” (1 Peter 1:9); to convince him that he has “faith of the operation of God” (Col. 2:12). He cannot conclude that he has true faith, and that his is a good hope through grace (2 Thess. 2:16), till he can feel thereby assured he is elected, and born of God. False professors, who are left-hand goats and not right-hand sheep, and so never hear the voice of Wisdom, get into the full assurance of faith very easily. Nothing is more simple to them. They say, “you have only to believe.” But only to believe is as impossible to Wisdom's waiting children, as for them to grasp the whole firmament with their hands, or to lay hold upon and enter into the sun. They feel their helplessness, weakness, unbelief, darkness, and blindness. They are like wayfaring men, who, although they may perchance be in the right way, cannot be assured thereby, because all behind and before, above and around them, is thick darkness; and they know not where they are, and are afraid to proceed, or go backwards lest they should fall into a bog or pit, or over a precipice; but they call and shout, in hopes of being heard and directed in the way. They stand still, and wait and watch for the break of day, for the light to visit them.
Thus Wisdom's watching, waiting children feel what David was experiencing when he said, “Lord, hear my voice; let Thine ear be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If Thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning” (Psa. 130:2-6). Now a soul in this state is a “blessed” soul. He is a wise son; an heir of God, and a joint-heir together with Christ. Though under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the Father (Gal. 4:2), yet is he a true son, and not a bastard (Heb. 12:8); although he is but at the posts of Wisdom's doors, holding on by only a little hope, a little strength, a little light, a something which will not let him give up watching, but which keeps him looking for the morning, for the day-star to arise in his heart (2 Peter 1:19), and the Sun of righteousness with healing in his wings (Mal. 4:2), he is manifestly, though not to himself, one of God's children; yea, though he is like the chapped ground, which, parched with the droughts of summer, cleaves into deep fissures, and can only open its many mouths, and gape for the refreshing and reviving rain. For it is the blessed Spirit who has taught him that without Jesus he can do nothing; and that has made him open his mouth wide, that He might fill it (Psa. 81:10). He may wait long, and seemingly in vain; but in the set time (Psa. 102:13) God will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground (Isa. 44:3). He will show him that He has set before him an open door, and no man can shut it (Rev. 3:8), while like Hannah, he speaks and prays only in his heart (1 Sam. 1:13). God hears the voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace (Jer. 30:5). Wisdom sees him at the posts of her doors, though he cannot see that. Wisdom observes and cares for him. Wisdom will keep him watching as long as it is good for him, but not a moment longer. There is a “set time to favour Zion,” and it cannot be hastened nor retarded. The vision, saith the Lord, is for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry (Hab. 2:3). Those who, like Simeon, are found waiting for the consolation of Israel (Luke 2:25), like Simeon will, ere the earthly house of their tabernacle be dissolved, be blessed with holding their Savior in the arms of their faith, and will be enabled to say, “Lord, now lettest Thou (or now Thou lettest) Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation” (Luke 2:28-30).
Thus a waiting soul is a blessed soul. “Blessed is (not shall be) the man that heareth Me, that watcheth daily at My gates, that waiteth at the posts of My doors.” He is a saved soul, though he cannot say my God and my Savior. He is not blessed because he hears, and watches and waits; but because he is blessed, therefore a hearing, watching and waiting spirit is given him. Patience is the fruit of the Spirit, and the Spirit puts forth no fruits but in elect souls. He who groans within himself, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body (that is, who waits till he shall be brought into the full enjoyment of the redemption of his body, which is redeemed as well as his soul; or who waits, longing to be rid of his body of death and corruption; who waits, desiring to be freed from sin, and to enjoy the full fruition of the adoption of the sons of God), is a blessed man (Rom. 8:23). And so is the man who, though sorely oppressed and cast down, is not destroyed, nor bereft of hope, nor able to consent to evil, but endures temptation (James 1:12). “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord” (Psa. 128:1). “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted, etc., etc. (Matt 5:3-12). Now in some one or more of these states all who are born of God are found; and all such though differing in the depth of their feelings and experience, are blessed persons, and hear Wisdom (not the mere words of man), nor or taken up with fine, empty oratory; not hear this or that good man, for Wisdom saith “Blessed is that man that heareth Me, that watcheth (not loungeth listlessly) daily at My gates, that waiteth at the posts of My doors.”
Happy, blessed man that waits in the spirit for Jesus! God says he is blessed, He has blessed him, and none can curse him; neither Satan, nor the law, nor sin, nor man. Blessed is every one that blesseth him, and cursed is he that curseth him. God will never be tired, however long the time may be to the watching, hearing soul. He may fear he will be cut off, but God declares He will preserve and keep him. “He that trusteth in the Lord shall never be confounded or put to shame”; and therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God of judgment, and leads in the way of righteousness, and in the midst of the paths of judgment (Prov. 8:20). “Blessed are all they that wait for Him” (Isa. 30:18). John Gadsby, 1843.
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