“When all this love shines now unencumbered of every darkening cloud of wrath, every such cloud being swept away by this death-tasting Mediator on His cross, and now the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ— why any more delay in lifting up, or where now any temptation to refrain one moment from lifting up, the high praises of the Lord our God?
Why any delay, where any temptation to delay, breaking forever that sad, and sore, and sullen silence which we had so long maintained?
‘O, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever! For He hath remembered us in our low estate, for His mercy endureth forever: and hath redeemed us from the hands of the enemy, for His mercy endureth forever. O, give thanks unto the God of heaven, for His mercy endureth forever!’ (Psalm 136:23-24)
Yes, there is, and there can be, and there shall be, no more delay. If the church is not ready to sing, Jesus is. If the sinner will not sing, the Sin-bearer will.
That there may be (for there must be) no more delay, Jesus begins immediately the song of gratitude devout, of cordial and confiding adoration.
‘O Father, I have declared Thy name unto My brethren, and now, in their name, and lending their gratitude and hymns of joy— responsible for them, in life and song now, as I have been in sorrow and in death- their representative and sponsor now in Thy favour and joy, as I have been under Thy wrath and all its woe- in their name, and as the first-born among many brethren, procuring acceptance for their praise by My righteousness, and inspiring them with true praise by My Spirit, I in them and they in me — behold, we glorify Thy name forever!’ In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee?” (Hebrews 2:12)
Oh! is it not when you thus wake to see and hear Immanuel in His ever glorious office as head and mediator for His church, charging Himself with the noble service of exemplifying, stimulating, yea, conducting and leading on her faith and gratitude and worship—
O, when showing you His Father’s name and glory in such a light that you see that even all your guilt cannot shut you out from His holy love now that in Christ His anger is removed, and that even all your indwelling corruption cannot shut you out, now that in the face of all its continually accruing demerit, that same sacrifice of Christ (of boundless savour and efficacy) keeps an open way for you into the holiest, and maintains inviolable the peace which God cherishes and testifies towards you forever—
O, is it not when you see all the work of atoning sacrifice absolutely perfected by Christ, and room now for nothing but simple acceptance by faith, and then for unhampered gratitude and praise and song forever-
Nay, when you see the Sacrifice perfected and accepted and glorified on the throne, and the Father’s name shining lovely and resplendent in that perfect sacrifice of His Son, and nothing now remaining but the song of praise, and even that song begun already by the Son, into whose fellowship, free and unhampered, the glorious gospel both calls and admits you—
O, is it not when summoned simply to join with Jesus in the song, as His companion, now that Jesus, without companion, but alone, has completed all the sacrifice—
O, is it not, when seeing all hindrance to your peace and salvation removed, and your Father now rightly understood, receiving and reconciling you, freely, firmly, and forever, to Himself (the silence of neglect being gone in deepest sorrow for it, and the silence of resentment and sullen dislike and defiance gone in lively shame for it), your tears flowing fast, and your heart enlarged, and your mouth opened for his praise, you say,
‘O Lord, I will praise Thee! Though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song, He also is become my salvation.’ (Isaiah 12:1-2)
Yet when you thus sing, it is Christ’s very song you have caught hold of. It is into the very strain and concert of His praise that your believing heart has been wrapped by the one Spirit in fellowship with His.
It is the echoing, plaintive warblings of gratitude and peace, on the back of the death and sorrow that are past, and the manly, majestic outpourings of exultation, in possession and prospect of eternal life— these, as embodied first in Christ, and awakened in your soul fresh by transference from His.
It is indeed not you, but Christ that singeth in you, and the song that you sing, like ‘the life that you live in the flesh’ (Galatians 2:20), you sing in the faith and the fellowship of Him who witnesseth thus unto the Father: ‘In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.’”
–Hugh Martin, “Silence Between Heaven and Earth Broken,” Union with Christ: Sermons of Hugh Martin, eds. Matthew J. Hyde and Catherine E. Hyde (Glasgow, Scotland: Free Presbyterian Publications, 2024), 50-53. Martin is preaching on Hebrews 2:12.
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