The power of the Lord's rebuke.
"At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both chariot and horse are cast into a deep sleep." Byron pictures the scene with great poetical force—
"And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
"And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail."
"God did but speak the word, as the God of Jacob that commands deliverances for Jacob, and, at his rebuke, the chariot and horse were both cast into a dead sleep. See the power and efficacy of God's rebukes." "It is impossible to mistake the allusion to the deeper sleep of death, falling on the sleeping Assyrian army, before the valiant men could 'find their hands,' in the half-waking grasp of weapons in the hour of danger."
I. GOD'S REBUKES ARE SOMETIMES WORDS. Illustrate by Moses' messages from God to Pharaoh. Or the case of the prophet who went to Bethel to rebuke Jeroboam. Or Nathan's rebuke of David. Or Elijah's rebuke of Ahab. What is it that specially calls for the Lord's rebuke? Wilfulness. Persistent forcing of a man's own way. And even more precisely, the daring of the man who forces his way when he knows it is contrary to the will of God, or when he means to put dishonour on God. This is the case before us now. Sennacherib was forcing his own way, with designed intention of insulting and humiliating the God of Israel. And still the Divine rebuke is called forth when we fall into the committal of "presumptuous sins."
II. GOD'S REBUKES ARE SOMETIMES DEEDS. But they are voiceful deeds. See here, the rebuke was a night blast that slew the tens of thousands, and drove Sennacherib back to his land, a defeated and humiliated man. God's rebuke to hardened Pharaoh was the flower of his army drowned in the Red Sea. God's rebuke to over confident David was three days' plague in the land. God's rebuke to Herod, who accepted the homage due alone to God, was a terrible disease, that carried him off in agony and disgrace. Read life aright, and we may find God's rebuke in disappointments that we have known, and disasters we have suffered. Blessed are they who