The Christian’s Shout by H. W. S.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 3, 1872

The Christian’s Shout.

By H. W. S.

Here is a scene in the history of the children of Israel, revealing in type one of those precious secrets of the Lord, which is progressively made known to them that love him. And perhaps there is no revelation made to the soul, after it has entered upon the life of faith, that is more practically valuable than this. For it is a secret in reference to Christian warfare, which, when it is discovered, makes this warfare a long triumphal progress.

This scene occurs when the children of Israel were brought before Jericho, one of those “cities great, and walled up to heaven,” which had so discouraged the hearts of the spies forty years before. Now upon their entrance at last into their promised land of rest, the first difficulty which meets them is this mighty city, opposing their onward progress. Well might their hearts be appalled at the sight of it. But the Lord said unto Joshua, “See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor.” And then, after a few words as to their order of march, and the trumpets of testimony, he closes with these strange words: “All the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up, every man straight before him.” Strange, yet true, it was so. On the seventh day, “Joshua said unto the people, Shout, for the Lord hath given you the city.” So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets. “And it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.”

Now no one can suppose for a moment that this shout caused the walls to fall. And yet the secret of their victory lay in just this shout. For it was the shout of a faith which dared to claim a promised victory, on the authority of God’s word alone, while as yet there were no signs of this victory being accomplished. And according to their faith, God did unto them; so that when they shouted he made the walls to fall.

God had declared that he had given them the city, and faith reckoned this to be true. Unbelief might well have said, “It would be better not to shout until the walls do actually fall, for should there be any failure about it the men of Jericho will triumph, and we shall bring dishonor on the name of our God.” But faith laughed at all such prudential considerations, and, confidently resting on God’s word, gave a shout of victory, while yet to the eye of sense that victory seemed impossible. And long centuries afterward, the Holy Ghost thus records this triumph of faith, in Heb. 11:30: “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.”

Jehoshaphat is another example of this sort of faith. In 2 Chron. 20:2, we read that it was told him that a “great multitude” had come up against him. He spread the case before the Lord, and received as an answer the wonderful promise: “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle; set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem; fear not, nor be dismayed; to-morrow go out against them, for the Lord will be with you.” Jehoshaphat believed what God said, and he and his people marched out to meet their enemy, as confident of victory as though they had seen that victory already accomplished before their eyes; so that they even appointed singers to praise the Lord, and to sing the song of victory as they went out to meet their foe. And we read that, “When they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the enemy, and they were smitten.” And when the children of Israel came near them, “they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.” “More than conquerors,” merely, “they were three days in gathering the spoil, it was so much.”

The principle of warfare, typified to us in these beautiful scenes, is that declared in 1 John 5:4: “And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” It is a mode of warfare incomprehensible to the natural man; a mystery even to the Christian whose faith has not advanced beyond the failing experience of the seventh of Romans; but radiant with the light of the Holy Spirit to every soul that has entered upon the life hid with Christ in God. Such, and such only, can understand the full meaning of the words of our Lord, when he said, “Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.” They read in them the secret of an already conquered foe; and they can go out to meet their enemies, claiming the victory before the battle has even begun, so that they become in very truth, “more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”

We must observe that Joshua did not say, “Shout, for the Lord will give you the city,” but, “Shout, for he hath given it.” And neither does our Lord say, “Be of good cheer; I will overcome the world;” but, “I have overcome” it. There is a mighty difference between these two; as great a difference as there is between meeting an army all in battle array, and meeting one routed and demoralized by an acknowledged defeat. It is well known that so long as an army can keep secret the fact of its being conquered from its conquerors, it can still make some show of resistance; but the moment it becomes conscious that its defeat is known, it loses all heart, becomes utterly demoralized, and has no resort left but to flee.

The secret then lies in this—to meet our enemy as an already conquered foe, and not as one who has yet to be conquered. And it is the one secret above all others which Satan seeks to hide from the church, and in which he has only too well succeeded. A dear Christian, who had been fearfully beset by temptation, and had found a complete victory impossible, was told this secret by another to whom it had been revealed. Her soul rejoiced in the discovery, and she said afterward it seemed to her at once as though she could almost hear Satan, as he slunk away, exclaiming: “There, she has found out my secret! She knows now that I am an already conquered foe; and I shall never have any more victories over her again.”

Surely, it is true that Jesus has fought our enemy and has overcome him. And if our faith will only reckon him to be overcome, and will dare to raise the shout of victory, when it comes in sight of any foe, we shall surely find, as the Israelites did, that every wall will fall flat, and that a pathway will be opened up straight before us to take the city.

And now a few practical words as to how to do this. Our usual way of meeting temptation has been, perhaps, with a cry for help. We have said, over and over, “O Lord, save me! O Lord, save me!” Let us meet it hereafter with a shout of victory, instead. Let us say by faith, He does save me. The walls may look as high and as immovable as ever; and prudence may say, It is not safe to shout until the victory is actually won. But the faith that can shout in the midst of the sorest stress of temptation, “Jesus, save me, he saves me now!” such a faith will be sure to win a glorious and a speedy victory. I have tried this often. Temptations have come in like a flood—temptations to irritability, or to wicked thoughts, or to bitterness of spirit, or a thousand other things. I have felt my danger of sinning, and my fears and my consciousness have said to me, Jesus will not save at all! But my faith claims continually, “Jesus saves me—saves me now!” and the salvation is glorious. Sometimes it seems so untrue that Jesus can save me, that I have to say aloud that he does save, forcing my lips to utter it over and over, shutting my eyes and closing my ears against every suggestion of the devil to doubt. But, untrue as it may seem at first, I always find that according to my faith it is unto me, and that when I shout, the Lord never fails to give me the victory.

A Christian car-man, of a naturally harsh temper, had entered upon this life of faith, but was sorely beset with temptations when about his daily work among his ungodly companions. He stopped one morning on his way down to his stand, at the house of the minister who had led him into this rest, in order to ask him how he could best meet and conquer them. After explaining to the minister the suddenness of the temptations, and the want of time even to pray for help against them, the car-man said: “Now can you tell me of any short road to victory, that I can lay hold of just at the needed moment?” “Yes,” replied the minister, “when the temptation comes, do not stop to pray for help, but, instead, by faith claim at once the promised victory, and Satan will instantly flee.”

The car-man went on his way to his daily work. As usual, he was met by the taunts and sneers of his fellow-workmen; and he soon found that they had jostled him out of his rightful place in the ranks, and had pushed him back to the end of the train of cars. The temptation to anger was very great, but folding his arms he said at once, “The blood of Jesus cleanseth me!” and his heart was filled with perfect peace and content. Again he was tried; a heavy box was so rolled as to fall on his foot and badly hurt him. And again he folded his arms and repeated his shout of victory, and at once all was calm. And so the day passed on. Trials and temptations abounded, but his triumphal shout carried him safely through them all, and the fiery darts of the enemy were all quenched by the shield of faith which he continually lifted up. Night time found him more than conqueror through Him who loved him, and his fellow-car-men were forced to own the reality and the beauty of a religion that could so triumph over their aggravating assaults.

Dear Christian, try this. Go out to meet your enemy, singing a song of triumph as you go, and I can promise you on the authority of God’s own word, that according to your faith it shall be unto you. Meet your very next temptation in this way. At its first approach, begin to give thanks for the victory, and you will find such a triumph as you have heretofore scarcely dreamed could be. Thus shall life become a continual psalm of praise, as you sing, “Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the work of thy hands.”—H. W. S.