The Vanguard and Rear Guard of the Church

Spurgeon takes God's double promise — "The Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard" — and applies it first to the whole church throughout history, showing how God has always led the way ahead of his people from the eternal council of the Trinity before creation, through every trial from Egypt to the Reformation to the mission field, with the church's surprising conquests only explainable by an invisible divine vanguard. He then turns the promise toward individual believers, using it to calm two specific fears: anxiety about the future, which is settled by the truth that God has already mapped the road in his decrees, prepared mercies in advance, and Christ has already conquered every enemy the believer will face; and guilt over the past, which is met by the "God of Israel" in his covenant role, who sweeps clean the trail behind every believer, blotting out sins through the blood of Christ so thoroughly that no accuser can find a single mark against them. He closes by inviting even the worst of sinners to enlist in Christ's army, promising that the God who goes before and behind his people will receive the most broken recruits and make both their past and their future completely safe.Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on December 26th, 1858.