The Crowing of the Cock

It appears somewhat unusual to have a meditation in June about the crowing of the cock. Don’t we speak of this only in the passion weeks? However, beloved readers, we must not forget that every meditation and every sermon should be a consideration of the suffering of Christ. Paul said in Galatians 6:14, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Certainly every day we commit sins and transgressions; we have unfaithfulness, doubts, and unbelief: Every day we are in need of atonement in and through the precious blood of Christ.

Also every day there is a cock crowing. Therefore there is reason enough also in the summer to consider for a moment what the crowing of the cock has to say to us. In our area we hear the crowing of the cock early every morning. But do we think about the fact that there are lessons to be learned from it?

We don’t read a great deal about the cock in the Bible. We do read that the early morning is indicated by the crowing of the cock. Also the crowing of the cock is related by the four evangelists in connection with the repentance of Peter. The Lord used the crowing of the cock to cause Peter to remember the warning of which Jesus had spoken to him. As the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, so likewise the Lord had arranged the crowing of the cock as a means to bring Peter to a standstill. The Lord Jesus had said to Peter, “Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice.” No one can really believe this…a child of God, a disciple of the Lord Jesus, denying his Master? Neither could Peter believe it. He was willing to die for the Lord Jesus. But that which was unbelievable has nevertheless happened. Peter denied his Master and immediately the cock crew. This was not by chance, but precisely on time. The cock crew at the command of God.

The crowing cock is not only meant for Peter. It is still crowing. Every sermon we hear, and also this meditation, is a crowing of the cock. It is a command of God, to shake us awake and cause us to stand still and to come to ourselves. This we need just as much as Peter did. How much dust and darkness there can be lying upon God’s people! How much backsliding there can be in grace! How can we continue to live in a deadly restfulness, living in and with the world, as if we shall always remain here? It is a life for and with and in the world. Our young people also many times are living their own lives: “Let us eat, drink, and be merry.” It is God’s longsuffering patience that the cock still crows, and that it does so at the Lord’s time. At that precise moment when Peter said for the third time, “I know not the man,” the cock crew. No, the cock knew nothing of that which was taking place inside. He crowed at God’s time and command. No, it did not happen by chance. The Lord had so ordered it.

Also in the middle of the summer, while our lives hasten onward and we live our own lives, the cock is crowing. We are at times momentarily brought to a standstill. At a time of deep decline in family, society, and church, the Lord calls us to consideration. Must it continue in this way? Pause a moment and consider your life. All norms in our society are being severed from God’s Word; we have become a law unto ourselves. Also in the church the decline is great. There is certainly much religion, but where is the power of godliness? Where is the life with and through the Lord Jesus Christ? Even today Jesus is denied and His blood counted as an unholy thing. We have our opinions and with these we batter one another. The crucified Christ is no longer the central point of our lives, thoughts, desires, and conversation. We maintain ourselves with our emptiness and misery.

This decline can begin so silently, so unobserved, and so slyly. The door to the world stands open. First it is only slightly ajar, but the danger also enters through a small crack. It already started in Paradise. Eve saw the tree that it was to be desired, and she became desirous and took.The same thing happened to Achan. He saw the spoils, coveted them, and took.The same thing happened to David. He saw Bathsheba, lusted, and took.

Young friends, it can also happen in this way in our families and in our young lives. You certainly are not a child anymore; you can certainly take care of yourself. You know what is permissible and what is not. Your parents are so old-fashioned; they do not change with the times. Thus you arrive in places where you do not belong, where seeing, desiring, and taking drag you into the abyss. “One beer does not matter; I know how far I can go.” This is also true in your association with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Just that one time. Peter had also once said, “Though I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee.”

Overestimating of self is a great danger and therefore the crowing of the cock is very important and beneficial. At God’s command and at God’s time the cock crows. It is as a signal of alarm, saying, “Stop; stand still; go no further. Wake up; be awakened, thou that sleepest, and rise from the dead.” We live as on the edge of the abyss and we are sleeping. In the midst of the bustle and sin of our lives the cock crows and the alarm of the Lord comes to us. Let us then give heed.

It is a sad sign that many fallwith Peter, but do not follow him in his arisingand his bitter weeping.Many continue indifferently in the way of sin. They do not listen to the crowing of the cock. It irritates them, especially early in the morning when they desire to sleep. We do not want to be disturbed in our rest. I remember, many years ago when we were staying on a farm, and early in the morning a cock began to crow just outside the bedroom window. It disturbed me and I closed the window. Don’t we do the same in a spiritual sense? The Lord Jesus said, “I have mourned unto you, and you have not lamented. I have piped unto you, and you have not danced.”

Thus the cock crows often in our lives. Sometimes the Lord turns against us in His wrath, at other times in His judgments, and then again in grace and blessings. Indeed, how often He comes unto us with His loving invitations of the gospel, and we close the window! One sermon after the other and one warning after another, but all appear to be without fruit. At times we are frightened by a sudden death, or a serious accident, but then we quickly turn over and continue to sleep. Under all these things many remain unmoved. They do not stand still; they do not come to themselves, but they harden their necks. They never become duly concerned with the word which the Lord has spoken. They never take it to heart. How poor are they who never even think seriously about God, about themselves, about their sins, and about Him who saves sinners! They never go outside with Peter. They never isolate themselves in order to give thought to their souls and salvation. They do not know what it is to weep bitterly about their sins and unrighteousnesses. They do not know that godly sorrow after God, after Jesus, which worketh a repentance to salvation not to be repented of.

Dear readers, consider for a moment that the cock shall not always crow. The Word of God cannot always be heard in vain. God’s Word shall not return void. It will be a savor of life unto life or a savor of death unto death. When the cock of God’s admonishings and invitations has crowed long enough without effect, the Lord shall turn against you in His anger. Because you will not lament about your sins here, nor forsake sin, your place shall eternally be where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Oh, if by God’s grace we might but learn to follow Peter’s example! Arise out of the sleep of sin without delay. “Let us hear His voice today, lest, if we our hearts should harden, we should perish in the way.” Do not permit sin to root itself within your hearts. Come to yourselves. Listen, with application to yourselves, to the crowing of the cock. Does the blood of Christ have such little value for you that you tread it under foot? When Jesus turned and looked upon Peter, what love streamed from His eyes! Seek to go outside with Peter, departing from the fellowship of the world, of sin, and of those who have no desire to know of Jesus. Where there is a true sorrow for sin, a person cannot and will not travel on in the same paths.

Pour your heart out then before the Lord, even though you have forfeited His blessing a thousand times. In a way of penitence the Lord Jesus shall look upon you in grace, revealing His love and His forgiving grace. It is His work to save sinners. He shall give you “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” Then the world will have lost its taste and color, and His service will be full of grace and truth.

Oh, may the Lord grant us to hear the crowing of the cock in our hearts! Then the tears of penitence shall begin to flow and we shall forsake the path of sin, because then Jesus Christ has looked upon us in His love and has received us in His grace. He is near and gracious to them who are of a broken and contrite spirit.

Beloved readers, the cock crows— also in the summer—for you. Do you hear it?

Remedy

“I would seek unto Cod. “

—Job 5:8a

In medical science, it is not enough to find the root and cause of a person’s illness, but a prescription for the right kind of medicine is needed, which must be used faithfully in order to get relief from the pain and to effect a cure.

With the help of the Lord, we desire to hold before you and point out to you the only true remedy for each one of you. By the right use of this remedy, and with the gracious blessing from heaven, we can be cured of our deadly sickness, and be forever saved.

This great and beneficial remedy is pointed out and recommended in the few words of our text: “I would seek unto Cod.” Oh, nothing is necessary for us to do as poor, wretched sinners! Could we but seek and find God in all uprightness, we would find everything! Oh, that the merciful God of all grace would bring us to this need and also teach us ourselves!

The words of our text contain the beneficial advice of Eliphaz the Teman-ite, which he spoke to Job in his very deep affliction. Eliphaz, who seems to have been the oldest and most virtuous, was the most diligent of Job’s friends, and therefore is now the first one to answer Job in his complaints. He does this in a long discourse in which he presents many godly, weighty, and very beneficial statements.

—Rev. Theodorus Van Der Croe

Rev. H. Hofman is pastor of the Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Sioux Center, Iowa.

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