Seasons of Nature, Providence, & Grace

Posted on September 23, 2022 by The Editor

Ecclesiastes 3:1; Ecclesiastes 3:11; Psalm 104:24

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): God has made everything; as all things in creation are made by Him, for His pleasure and glory, and all well and wisely, there is a beauty in them all; so are all things in providence—He upholds all things; He governs and orders all things according to the counsel of His will. Some things are done immediately by Him, others by instruments, and some are only permitted by Him; some He does Himself, some He wills to be done by others, and some He suffers to be done; but in all there is a beauty and harmony; and all are ordered, disposed, and overruled, to answer the wisest and greatest purposes.

J. H. M. d’AUBIGNÉ (1794-1872): It is too vast for our human minds to trace the Divine purposes in passing events; we can see but in part, and even that little which we do notice is seldom the cause, but merely the effect. We view the great and momentous fruit come to harvest, but see not the seed. We do not discern the connection between the smallest, seemingly insignificant event that may, in God’s infinite wisdom, in the space of two hundred years hence, bring forth a mighty fruit as a consequence. Nor can we know His perfect timings, nor His instruments, nor His methods in advance.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): We must wait with patience for the full discovery of that which to us seems intricate and perplexed, acknowledging that we “cannot find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end,” and therefore must judge nothing before the time…Every thing is done well, as in creation, so in providence, and we shall see it when the end comes, but till then we are incompetent judges of it—but we must wait till the veil be rent, and not arraign God’s proceedings nor pretend to pass judgment on them.

J. H. M. d’AUBIGNÉ: And so it is in history. Only in looking back upon the vast, and infinitely complex ocean of passing events, and only at those rare times when God is pleased to lift a small corner of the veil, may we be privileged to glimpse a trace of His hidden hand, governing and guiding the affairs of men.

GEORGE MÜLLER (1805-1898): “Put your hope in God,” Psalm 43:5. Please remember there is never a time when we cannot hope in God, whatever our need or however great our difficulty may be. Even when our situation appears to be impossible, our work is to “hope in God.” Our hope will not be in vain, and in the Lord’s own timing help will come. Oh, the hundreds, even the thousands, of times I have found this to be true in the past seventy years and four months of my life! When it seemed impossible for help to come, it did come, for God has His own unlimited resources. In ten thousand different ways, and at ten thousand different times, God’s help may come to us.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Not only the mercy, but the timing of it, is in the hands of God; therefore are we bidden, “Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him,” Psalm 37:7. Alas, how sadly do we fail at this point. How easily we become discouraged if our Jericho does not fall the first or second time we encompass it: “the vision is yet for an appointed time…though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come,” Habakkuk 2:3. But Oh! how impatient is the flesh.

JAMES DURHAM (1622-1658): Folks should not limit God in His way and timing of things to them, but wait upon and submit to His carved out time.

GEORGE MÜLLER: Our work is to lay our petitions before the Lord, and in childlike simplicity to pour out our hearts before Him, saying, “I do not deserve that Thou should hear me and answer my requests, but for the sake of my precious Lord Jesus; for His sake, answer my prayer. And give me grace to wait patiently until it pleases Thee to grant my petition. For I believe Thou will do it in Thine own time and way.”

STEPHEN CHARNOCK (1628-1680): The timing of affairs is an eminent part of the wisdom of God.

JOHN GILL: Everything is done in the time in which He wills it shall be done, and done in the time most fit and suitable for it to be done.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): The sovereignty of God appears in the timing.

A. W. PINK: The natural world illustrates the spiritual world—as there is a continual alternation between spring and autumn, summer and winter—so there is in the history of the soul. He who gives rain and sunshine, also sends droughts and biting frosts; likewise does He grant fresh supplies of grace—and then withholds the same; and also sends grievous afflictions and sore tribulations. Herein is His high sovereignty conspicuously displayed; as there are some lands which enjoy far more sunshine than others—so some of His elect experience more of joy than sorrow. And as there are parts of the earth where there is far more cold than heat, so there are some of God’s children who are called on to suffer more of adversity—both inward and outward—than of prosperity. Unless this is clearly recognized, we shall be without the principle key which unlocks the profoundest mysteries of life.

JOHN GILL: Things in summer, winter, spring, and autumn; frost and snow in winter, and heat in summer; darkness and dews in the night, and light and brightness in the day; and so in ten thousand other things: all afflictive dispensations of Providence; times of plucking up and breaking down of weeping and mourning, of losing and casting away are all necessary, and seasonable and beautiful, in their issue and consequences: prosperity and adversity, in their turns, make a beautiful checker work, and work together for good.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): We are in autumn now, and very likely, instead of prizing the peculiar treasures of autumn, some will mournfully compare yon fading leaves to funeral sermons replete with sadness.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): The fervid suns of autumn and the biting blasts of November equally tend to the production of the harvest.

C. H. SPURGEON: Some will contrast summer and autumn, and exalt one above another. Now, whoever shall claim precedence for any season shall have me for an opponent! They are all beautiful in their season, and each excels after its kind. Even thus it is wrong to compare the early zeal of the young Christian with the mature and mellow experience of the older Believer and make preferences. Each is beautiful according to its time.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): In things of nature, providence, and grace, we may well cry out, as we contemplate them—“in wisdom hast thou made them all.”

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): God’s works are well done; there is order, harmony, and beauty in them all.

 

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Delusional Dreams of Salvation

Posted on September 16, 2022 by The Editor

Jeremiah 23:28,29; Hebrews 1:1,2; John 5:39—John 6:63; 2 Peter 1:19

The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me—the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.

GEORGE BURDER (1752-1832): Dreams are sometimes of use to warn and encourage a Christian, and seem to be really “from God;” but great caution is necessary, lest they mislead us. They must never be depended on as the ground of hope, or the test of our state; nothing must be put in the place of the Word of God.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Another very common error is that a good dream is a most splendid thing in order to save people—that if you dream that you see the Lord in the night you will be saved, or if you think you see some angels, or if you dream that God says to you, “You are forgiven,” all is well. Now, if it be so, the sooner we all begin to eat opium the better; because there is nothing that makes people dream so much as that; and the best advice I could give would be—let every minister distribute opium very largely, and then his people would all dream themselves into heaven.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): We believe that many have been awakened to a sense of their danger, and brought to think seriously of their souls and eternity, by means of a dream. But to rest in, or build upon a dream, would be obviously quite a different thing.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Whence is that confidence which some derive from dreams, or visions, or other conceits of their own? It all arises from a propensity inherent in fallen man to rest in something besides God.

JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): They that take more heed to their own dreams than to the Word of God, fear not God. This also is plain from the Word. “For in the multitude of dreams, there are also divers vanities, but fear thou God,” Ecclesiastes 5:7; Isaiah 8:20—that is, take heed unto His Word. The fearing of God is opposed to our overmuch heeding dreams: and there is implied, that it is for want of the fear of God that men so much heed those things.

GEORGE OFFOR (1787-1864): No one can charge Bunyan with a superstitious notion of dreams. Such a mode of interpretation as he recommends is both rational and scriptural.

C. H. SPURGEON: I know some who think themselves to be God’s children, because they dreamed they were. They had a very remarkable dream one night, and if you were to laugh at them they would be unutterably indignant; they would call you an “accuser of the brethren.” They do not rely upon what God has said to them in the Bible; but they had some singular vision, when deep sleep had fallen upon them, and because of that, they reckon they are children of God.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: We do not believe that the soul will ever be allowed to rest in such dreams or visions, if the Holy Ghost is really working.

C. H. SPURGEON: In the course of seeing persons who come to me, I hear every now and then a story like this, “Sir, I was in such-and-such a room, and suddenly I thought I saw Jesus Christ, and heard a voice saying such-and-such a thing to me, and that is the reason why I hope I am saved.”—“Oh, but,” saith another, “I have confidence that I am saved, for I have had a wonderful dream, and, moreover, I heard a voice, and saw a vision.” Rubbish all! Dreams, visions, voices! Throw them all away. There is not the slightest reliance to be placed upon them. “What, not if I saw Christ?” No, certainly not, for vast multitudes saw Him in the days of His flesh, and perished.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): “But we see Jesus,” Hebrews 2:9. What is meant by this? How do we “see Jesus”?

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Not with bodily eyes, but with the eyes of the mind, and understanding.

A. W. PINK: Not by means of mysterious dreams or ecstatic visions, not by the exercise of our imagination, nor by a process of visualization; but by faith. Just as Christ declared, in John 8:56, “Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it, and was glad.” Faith is the eye of the spirit, which views and enjoys what the Word of God presents to its vision.

In the Gospels, Acts, Epistles, Revelation, God has told us about the exaltation of His Son; those who receive by faith what He has there declared, “see Jesus crowned with glory and honour,” as truly and vividly as His enemies once saw Him here on earth “crowned with thorns.” It is this which distinguishes the true people of God from mere professors. Every real Christian has reason to say with Job, “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee,” Job 42:5. He has “seen” Him leaving Heaven and coming to earth, in order to “seek and to save that which was lost.” He has “seen” Him as a sacrificial Substitute on the cross, bearing “our sins in His own body on the tree.” He has “seen” Him rising in triumph from the grave, so that because He lives, we live also. He has “seen” Him highly exalted, “crowned with glory and honour.” He “has seen Him”—as presented to the eye of faith in the sure Word of God.

C. H. SPURGEON: Dreams! The disordered fabrics of a wild imagination—how can they be the means of salvation? Poor dear creatures, when they were sound asleep they saw the gates of heaven opened, and a white angel came and washed their sins away, and then they saw that they were pardoned; and since then they have never had a doubt or a fear. It is time that you should begin to doubt, then; a very good time that you should; for if that is all the hope you have, it is a poor one—to trust them is to trust a shadow, to build your hopes on bubbles.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): Believe me, it was not a whim or a dream, which changed my sentiments and conduct, but a powerful conviction—that many wholesome and seasonable admonitions have been received in dreams, I willingly allow; but though they may be occasionally noticed, to pay a great attention to dreams, especially to be guided by them, to form our sentiments, conduct, or expectations upon them is superstitious and dangerous.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: I could never find peace for my guilty conscience in visions or dreams, for the simplest of all reasons, that visions and dreams could not cancel my guilt or satisfy the claims of the holiness of God. I may be aroused to a sense of need, by a vision or dream; but my need can only be satisfied by Jesus and His precious blood, as unfolded in the Word, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

C. H. SPURGEON: “But surely a dream will save me.” It will give you a dreamy hope, and when you awake in the next world your dream will be gone…The one thing to rest upon is a more sure word of testimony—Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and whosoever believeth in Him is not condemned.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: You must rest only in Christ—build only upon Christ—boast only in Christ. All else beside that will prove utterly insufficient.

 

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Monitory Dreams – Warnings, Admonitions, & Convictions

Posted on September 9, 2022 by The Editor

Job 33:14-17

God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): The dreams of men are not such insignificant things as many imagine.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): We are far from recommending any one to trust in dreams, or to pay any attention to them whatever, for “in the multitude of dreams are divers vanities.” But we dare not say that God never makes use of dreams to forward His own inscrutable designs: on the contrary, we believe that He has often made a dream about death or judgment the occasion of stirring up a person to seek after salvation; and that He has afterwards answered the prayers, which originated in that apparently trifling and accidental occurrence.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): I have had some people awakened by dreams—two persons, who lived like heathens, and never came to church, were alarmed by some terrifying dreams, and came out to hear forthwith. There the Lord was pleased to meet with them. One of them died triumphing; the other, I hope, will do so when her time comes.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Many, by such means, have had the most salutary warnings; and to decry all such, because there are many vain dreams, would be nearly as much wisdom as to deny the Bible, because there are many foolish books—Many warnings in this way have come from God; and the impression they made, and the good effect they produced, were the proofs of their Divine origin. To deny this would be to call into doubt the testimony of the best, wisest, and holiest men in all ages of the Church.

RICHARD CECIL (1748-1810): John Newton, being a common sailor [in 1742, at age 17], received a remarkable check by a dream, which made a very strong, though not abiding, impression upon his mind.

JOHN NEWTON: The scene presented to my imagination was the harbour of Venice, where we had lately been. It was night, and my watch upon the deck; and as I was walking to and fro, a person brought me a ring, with an express charge to keep it carefully; assuring me, that while I preserved that ring, I should be happy and successful: but if I lost or parted with it, I must expect nothing but trouble and misery. I accepted the present and the terms willingly, not in the least doubting my own care to preserve it, and highly satisfied to have my happiness in my own keeping.

I was engaged in these thoughts, when a second person came to me, and observing the ring on my finger, asked me some questions concerning it. I told him its virtues; and his answer expressed a surprise at my weakness in expecting such effects from a ring. I think he reasoned with me some time, upon the impossibility of the thing, and urged me to throw it away. At first I was shocked at the proposal; but his insinuations prevailed. I began to reason and doubt, and at last plucked it off my finger, and dropped it over the ship’s side into the water.

At the same instant it hit the water, a terrible fire burst out from a range of mountains behind the city of Venice. I saw the hills as distinct as if awake, and they were all in flames. I perceived, too late, my folly; and my tempter, with an air of insult, told me that all the mercy God had in reserve for me was comprised in that ring, which I had willfully thrown away. Now I must go with him to the burning mountains. I trembled, and was in a great agony; so that it was surprising I did not then awake: but my dream continued.

Then, when I thought myself upon the point of a forced departure, and stood self condemned, without a plea or hope—suddenly, either a third person, or the same who brought the ring at first, I am not certain which, came to me, and demanded the cause of my grief. I told him, confessing that I had ruined myself willfully, and deserved no pity. He blamed my rashness, and asked if I should be wiser if I had my ring again. I thought it was gone beyond recall, and I had not time to answer, before I saw this unexpected friend go down under the water, in the spot where I had dropped it; and he soon returned, bringing the ring with him: the moment he came on board, the flames in the mountains were extinguished, and my seducer left me. Then was the prey taken from the hand of the mighty, and the lawful captive delivered. My fears were at an end, and with joy and gratitude I approached my kind deliverer to receive the ring again; but he refused to return it, and said, “If you should be entrusted with this ring again, you would very soon bring yourself into the same distress: you are not able to keep it; but I will preserve it for you, and, whenever it is needful, will produce it in your behalf.”

Upon this I awoke, in a state of mind not to be described: I could hardly eat, or sleep, or transact my necessary business for two or three days: but the impression soon wore off, and in a while I totally forgot it; I think it hardly occurred to my mind again till several years afterwards.

GEORGE OFFOR (1787-1864): John Bunyan profited much by dreams and visions.

JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): The time that I was without God in the world, it was indeed according to the course of this world, and “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,” Ephesians 2:2,3. It was my delight to be “taken captive by the devil at his will,” 2 Timothy 2:26. Being filled with all unrighteousness, which did so strongly work and put forth itself in my heart and life, and that from a child, that I had but few equals, for cursing, swearing, lying, and blaspheming the holy name of God. Yea, so settled and rooted was I in these things, that they became as second nature to me; which, as I have with soberness considered since, did so offend the Lord, that even in my childhood, He did scare and affright me with fearful dreams, and did terrify me with dreadful visions; for often, after I had spent a day in sin, I have in my bed been greatly afflicted, while asleep, with the apprehensions of devils and wicked spirits, who still, as I then thought, laboured to draw me away with them, of which I could never be rid.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Wicked men’s sleep is often troublesome, through the workings of their evil consciences; king Richard III, after the murder of his two innocent nephews, had fearful dreams, insomuch that he did often leap out of his bed in the dark, and catching his sword, which always lay naked stuck by his side, he would go distractedly about the chamber, everywhere seeking to find out the cause of his own disquiet.

GEORGE OFFOR: We have no space to attempt drawing a line between convictions of sin and the terrors of a distempered brain. John Bunyan’s opinions upon this subject are deeply interesting. Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, the narrative of Bunyan’s progress in his conversion is, without exception, the most astonishing of any that has been published.

 

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Kindergarten in the School of Christ

Posted on September 2, 2022 by The Editor

1 John 3:23; Matthew 16:24

This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ.

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): This commandment—“that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ,” is little thought of, and it is often despised by the many who talk much of their obedience: but it stands as a prominent command of the gospel; it stands at the entrance of the Christian life; and, until this command be complied with, we are neither in a disposition nor in a state properly to comply with any other.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Repentance, therefore, is the commencement of true docility, and opens the gate for entering into the school of Christ.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): Moreover, we believe that the new birth must take place, in every instance―and we are convinced that this new birth is entirely a divine operation, effected by the Holy Ghost, through the Word, as we are distinctly taught in our Lord’s discourse with Nicodemus, in John chapter 3.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): God teaches a man to know himself, that, finding his need of salvation, he may flee to lay hold on the hope which His heavenly Father has set before him in the Gospel.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: Nicodemus had, like many, to unlearn a great deal, ere he could really grasp the knowledge of Jesus. He had to lay aside a cumbrous mass of religious machinery, ere he could apprehend the divine simplicity of God’s plan of salvation. He had to descend from the lofty heights of Rabbinical learning and traditional religion, and learn the alphabet of the gospel, in the school of Christ. This was very humiliating to a “man of the Pharisees”—“a ruler of the Jews”—“a master of Israel.” There is nothing of which man is so tenacious as his religion and his learning; and, in the case of Nicodemus, it must have sounded strange upon his ear when “a teacher come from God,” declared to him, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Being by birth a Jew, and as such, entitled to all the privileges of a son of Abraham, it must have involved him in a strange perplexity, to be told that he must be born again—that he must be the subject of a new birth, in order to see the kingdom of God. This was a total setting aside of all his privileges and distinctions. It called him down, at once, from the very highest to the very “lowest step of the ladder.”

JOHN CALVIN: The Spirit of God here opens a common school for all…The first lesson which He gives us, on entering His school, is to “deny ourselves, and take up his cross.” He lays down a brief rule for our imitation, in order to make us acquainted with the chief points in which He wishes us to resemble Him. It consists of two parts, self-denial and a voluntary bearing of the cross. This self-denial is very extensive, and implies that we ought to give up our natural inclinations, and part with all the affections of the flesh, and thus give our consent to be reduced to nothing, provided that God lives and reigns in us. We know with what blind love men naturally regard themselves, how much they are devoted to themselves, how highly they estimate themselves. But if we desire to enter into the school of Christ, we must begin with that folly to which Paul exhorts us, “becoming fools, that we may be wise,” 1 Corinthians 3:18; and next we must control and subdue all our affections.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): How blessed, then, is the teaching of the Holy Ghost, which strips the sinner, makes him all bare, leaves him nothing, but shews him his whole insolvency, emptiness, and poverty, that he may make room for Jesus! And when He hath thus made the sinner sensible of his nothingness, He makes him equally sensible of Christ’s fulness and all sufficiency; and that in bringing nothing to Christ, but living wholly upon Christ, and drawing all from Christ; in this simplicity that is in Christ, He teacheth the poor sinner how to live and how to keep house by faith, wholly upon the fulness that is in Christ Jesus.

THOMAS SCOTT (1747-1821): As the Master in this school is “meek, and lowly in heart,” and teaches with gentleness and wisdom, the scholars should surely be teachable and learn in meekness and humility.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): In the school of teachableness, humility, and simplicity, the best and wisest have yet many lessons to learn…In the school of Christ, every one must study meekness and humility: for to these two the whole science of Christianity may be reduced; the meekness of love, calm and sedate in the midst of wrongs, injuries, affronts, persecutions; without envy, without malice, without revenge: humility of heart, remote from all inordinate and worldly desires, by which pride is nourished; ascribing nothing to itself, and desiring nothing; ready to part with all things, to be placed below all men, to remain in silence and oblivion. Lord, vouchsafe to teach us this science, writing it in our hearts by Thy love!

JOHN CALVIN: And let him take up his cross. He lays down this injunction, because, though there are common miseries to which the life of men is indiscriminately subjected, yet as God trains His people in a peculiar manner, in order that they may be conformed to the image of his Son, we need not wonder that this rule is strictly addressed to them. It may be added that, though God lays both on good and bad men the burden of the cross, yet unless they willingly bend their shoulders to it, they are not said to bear the cross; for a wild and refractory horse cannot be said to submit to his rider, though he carries him. The patience of the saints, therefore, consists in bearing willingly the cross which has been laid on them. Luke 9:23 adds the word daily—“let him take up his cross daily,”—which is very emphatic; for Christ’s meaning is, that there will be no end to our warfare till we leave the world. Let it be the uninterrupted exercise of the godly, that when many afflictions have run their course, they may be prepared to endure fresh afflictions.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: The Lord’s lessons are often painful and difficult, because of the waywardness or indolence of our hearts; but every fresh lesson learned, every fresh principle imbibed, only fits us the more for all that is yet before us. Yet it is blessed to be the disciples of Christ, and to yield ourselves to His gracious discipline and training. The end will unfold to us the blessedness of such a place. Nor need we wait for the end; even now, the soul finds it most happy to be subject, in all things, to the Master. “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light,” Matthew 11:28-30.

ROBERT HAWKER: This is the sweet instruction taught in the school of Jesus.

 

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A Carnal Mind or a Spiritual Mind—Which is Yours?

Posted on August 26, 2022 by The Editor

Romans 8:5-9

They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): We take first what Paul says here about the man who is not a Christian. His general description of him is that he is “after the flesh.” What does he mean by this? The word flesh means fallen human nature—human nature as it is before the Spirit of God begins His work in a person…The non-Christian is “after the flesh.” The word after is interesting. Some would translate it as “according to the flesh,” but the best translation is “under the flesh.” The word the apostle uses carries the idea of being “under” something else, under authority in particular. So, we are told that the non-Christian is one who is habitually dominated by the nature with which he was born.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): By “the carnal mind,” we understand that principle of our fallen nature which affects and idolizes carnal things. The spiritual mind imports that principle which leads the soul to spiritual objects, and is implanted by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the regenerate. The difference between these two principles is discoverable in our thoughts. The thoughts will naturally be fixed on the objects that are best suited to the reigning principle. To these objects they recur with frequency, fervour, and complacency.

JOHN ANGELL JAMES (1785-1869): Thoughts are the springs of feeling, the elements of action, and of character.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: How does that show itself?

CHARLES SIMEON: If we be under the dominion of a carnal principle, we shall be thinking of some pleasure, profit, honour, or other worldly vanity. If we be led by a spiritual principle, God, and Christ, and the concerns of the soul, will occupy the mind.

JOHN OWEN (1616-1683): So, to be spiritually minded, in the first place, is to have holy, heavenly, spiritual thoughts. The regenerate, spiritual heart, like a refreshing spring, pours out a crystal-clear stream of such thoughts. As all men occasionally think of spiritual things, but are not spiritually minded, we must find out what thoughts especially prove us to be spiritually minded.

JOHN ANGELL JAMES: Something like this is spirituality of mind—It is such a minding of spiritual things, as arises from a strong interest and delight in them; such a proneness to meditate upon them, as is produced by a strong attachment to them.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: You know, it is possible to have an intellectual enjoyment even of the Bible. I’ve known men who’ve had that; it’s simply been their way of doing crossword puzzles. You can use the Bible like that, the Bible’s a wonderful book. There is no greater intellectual treat than reading and studying the Bible.

JOHN OWEN: It is the same with all those who read a portion of Scripture every day. They may be very faithful in performing this religious ritual and yet not be at all spiritually minded, Ezekiel 33:31.

JEREMY BURROUGHS (1599-1647): Men that only look on God in a natural way reason thus: “All good things come from God,” and so they go to prayer, “Lord, we beseech Thee, bless us this day, for all good things come from Thee.” They serve God; their consciences tell them they must worship and serve God, while they live here. But it is in a dull, natural way.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: They come to a place of worship, they listen to things that ravish the hearts of believers, but they see nothing in it at all. There are many such people in the churches now, as there always have been…They are dead—dead to God, dead to the Lord Jesus Christ, dead to the realm of the spiritual, and all spiritual realities, dead to their own soul and spirit, and their everlasting and eternal interests!

JOHN OWEN: Let us not mistake ourselves. To be spiritually minded is not to have the notion and knowledge of spiritual things in our minds; it is not to be constant—no, nor to abound in the performance of duties: both which may be where there is no grace in the heart at all…But when a person is relaxed and free from all cares and worries, and his mind is free to think as it pleases, then we can see what thoughts are natural to it. If these are useless, foolish, proud, ambitious, lustful, or degrading, then such is the true nature of the heart and the person. But if they are holy, spiritual, and heavenly, so is the heart and the person.

JOHN ANGELL JAMES: The true indication of this state of mind, then, is to be found in the prevailing character and complexion of the thoughts. “As a man thinketh in his heart,” says Proverbs 23:7, “so is he.”

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): Whatever degree of religious pleasure a Christian professor may possess; or however confident he may be, relative to the safety of his own state; if not habitually desirous of growing in grace, in spiritual mindedness, and in conformity to the example of Jesus Christ, he may be justly considered as a self-deceiver.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: How important it is to realize the truth of this matter!

JEREMY BURROUGHS: In Genesis 27:28-39, you find Isaac blessing Jacob and Esau. But I would have you observe the difference in the placement of them. Observe the blessing of Jacob in verse 28. There God gives “the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth,” and plenty of corn and wine as Jacob’s blessing. Now look at Esau’s blessing in verse 39, for the blessing was suitable to their disposition. Jacob’s father said unto him, “Behold thy dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above.”

Mark it—Isaac blesses them both with the dew of heaven and fatness of the earth. But in Jacob’s blessing, the dew of heaven is first and the fatness of the earth is second, while in Esau’s blessing, the fatness of the earth is first and then the dew of heaven. Note that a godly man stands in need of earthly things. As Christ said, your Father knows you stand in need of these things. But the great thing in the first place that a godly heart minds is the dew of heaven, and then secondly, the blessing of the earth. Now a carnal heart thinks that it has some need of the things of heaven, it will acknowledge that. But it’s the fatness of the earth they desire, and then, the dew of heaven. So that’s the first thing: earthly-minded men look upon these things as the high and chief things, and hence it is that the choice thoughts of an earthly-minded man are carried out on worldly objects.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564):  All the thoughts of the flesh are acts of enmity against God…We must bear in mind the exhortation of Christ—“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness,” Matthew 6:33; “other things,” He says, “shall afterwards be added.”

WILLIAM MASON (1719-1791): If you love the world, if it has your supreme affections, the love of God is not in you, 1 John 2:15.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): To be a living member of Christ’s church is infinitely more our concern.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): The application, my reader, is easy. What side hast thou taken? The carnal mind can rest in anything, and everything—but Christ. What thinkest thou of Christ?

 

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Where Do Dreams Come From?

Posted on August 19, 2022 by The Editor

Ecclesiastes 5:3,7

A dream cometh through the multitude of business…For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): When the body is soundly asleep, the soul or mind is not inactive, as our dreams manifestly evidence.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Dreams in the patriarchal age were frequently prophetical.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): True, there were, in old times, dreams in which God spoke to men prophetically—but ordinarily they are the carnival of thought, a maze of mental states—a dance of disorder!

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Dreams have been on one hand superstitiously regarded, and on the other, skeptically disregarded. That some are prophetic there can be no doubt.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): It would be foolish and puerile to extend this to all dreams; as we see some persons never passing by a single one without a conjecture, and thus making themselves ridiculous. We know dreams to arise from different causes. Experience also sufficiently teaches us how our daily thoughts recur during sleep, and hence the various affections of the mind and body produce many dreams…It will now be well to discuss the points which are worthy of consideration.

ADAM CLARKE: Dreams may be divided into six kinds: First, those which are the mere nightly result of the mind’s reflections and perplexities during the business of the day.

C. H. SPURGEON: Our dreams often follow the leading thoughts of the day; or, if not of the day, yet the chief thoughts that are upon the mind…I should not wonder if some before me, who are deeply engaged in earnest Christian work, have often dreamt about their Sunday-school, or their mission-station.

ADAM CLARKE: Second, those which spring from a diseased state of the body, occasioning startings, terrors, etc.

JOHN CALVIN: The body itself causes dreams, as we see in the case of those who suffer from fever; when thirst prevails they imagine fountains, burnings, and similar fancies.

C. H. SPURGEON: Dreams frequently depend upon the condition of the stomach, upon the meat and drink taken by the sleeper before going to rest. They often owe their shape to the state of the body or the agitation of the mind. Dreams may, no doubt, be caused by that which transpires in the bedchamber of the house—a little movement of the bed caused by passing wheels, or the tramp of a band of men—or even the running of a mouse behind the wainscot may suggest and shape a dream. Any slight matter affecting the senses at such time may raise within the slumbering mind a mob of strange ideas.

JOHN CALVIN: We perceive also how intemperance disturbs men in their sleep; for drunken men start and dream in their sleep, as if in a state of frenzy.

ADAM CLARKE: Third, those which spring from an impure state of the heart, mental repetitions of those acts or images of illicit pleasure, riot, and excess, which form a profligate life. Fourth, those which proceed from a diseased mind, occupied with schemes of pride, ambition, grandeur. These, as forming the characteristic conduct of the life, are repeatedly reacted in the deep watches of the night, and strongly agitate the soul with illusive enjoyments and disappointments.

GEORGE B. CHEEVER (1834-1892): Our dreams sometimes reveal our character, our sins, our destinies, more clearly than our waking thoughts; for by day the energies of our being are turned into artificial channels, but by night our thoughts follow the bent that is most natural to them; and as man is both an immortal and a sinful being, the consequences both of his immortality and his sinfulness will sometimes be made to stand out in overpowering light, when the busy pursuits of day are not able to turn the soul from wandering towards eternity.

THOMAS SCOTT (1747-1821): Unprofitable, proud, covetous, sensual, envious, or malicious imaginations, occupy the minds of ungodly men, and often infect their very dreams. These are not only sinful in themselves, indicating the state of their hearts, and as such will be brought into the account at the day of judgment; but they excite the dormant corruptions, and lead to more open and gross violations of the holy law. The carnal mind welcomes and delights to dwell upon these congenial imaginations, and to solace itself by ideal indulgences, when opportunity of other gratification is not presented, or when a man dares not commit the actual transgression. But the spiritual mind recoils at them: such thoughts will intrude from time to time, but they are unwelcome and distressing, and are immediately thrust out.

C. H. SPURGEON: The thoughts of men appear to be utterly lawless, especially the thoughts of men when deep sleep falls upon them! As well might one foretell the flight of a bird as the course of a dream! Such wild fantasies seem to be ungoverned and ungovernable. If anything beneath the moon may be thought to be exempt from law and to be the creature of pure chance, surely it is a dream!

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Dreams are either natural, or supernatural. Natural dreams are not much to be regarded…There are also dreams diabolical.

ADAM CLARKE: Fifth, those which come immediately from Satan, which instil thoughts and principles opposed to truth and righteousness, leaving strong impressions on the mind suited to its natural bent.

MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): Satan plagues and torments people all manner of ways. Some he affrights them in their sleep, with heavy dreams and visions, so that the whole body sweats in anguish of heart.

JOHN TRAPP: Eusebius* tells us that Simon Magus had his dream-haunting devils—his familiars by whom he deluded men in their dreams, and drew them into the admiration of himself. These devilish dreams are either mere illusions—or else they tend to sin, as nocturnal pollutions, and other evil dreams; whereby the devil sometimes fasteneth that sin upon the saints when asleep, that he cannot prevail with them to commit while awake.

JOHN CALVIN: On the other hand, it is sufficiently evident that some dreams are under divine regulation.

ADAM CLARKE: Sixth, those which come from God, and which necessarily lead to Him, whether prophetic of future good or evil, or impressing holy purposes and heavenly resolutions. Whatever leads away from God, truth, and righteousness, must be from the source of evil; whatever leads to obedience to God, and to acts of benevolence to man, must be from the source of goodness and truth.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): The mind much occupied on God will often in sleep find the communion still maintained with Him, and the very dreams holy and comforting…When we lie down with good thoughts, we may hope that our very dreams shall be holy. Though most visions of the night are vain and incoherent, and that to be troubled by them would be superstitious folly; yet there are some, I doubt not, which bear the mark of God’s hand, and deserve our solemn attention.

JOHN TRAPP: That some dreams are divine, some diabolical, and some natural, no wise man ever doubted…But what are dreams ordinarily, but very vanities, pleasant follies and delusions, the empty bubbles of the mind, tales of fancy, and idle and fruitless notions—mere baubles. Why, then, should men make so much of them?

THOMAS COKE: Why may not dreams sometimes still be monitory?**

MARTIN LUTHER: We will discuss these questions some other time.

___________________

EDITOR’S NOTE: Eusebius* was a Greek historian, who died in 339 AD. The word monitory** means cautionary, or to warn or admonish.

 

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The Dream of Pontius Pilate’s Wife

Posted on August 12, 2022 by The Editor

Matthew 27:15-19

Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would. And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.

When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): Matthew only mentions this passage of Pilate’s wife.

R. BEACON (circa 1909): Seemingly the verse containing it might be removed without affecting the sense or the sequence of the passage. Yet, however slight it may seem, we may be sure there was a divine reason for its insertion in an inspired writing, where nothing is casual.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Observe the special providence of God in sending this dream to Pilate’s wife.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Here was an unlooked-for witness to the innocence of Christ. Notice the peculiar time in which her warning came. It was evidently a dream of the morning—“I have suffered many things in a dream this day.” The day had not long broken—it was yet early in the morning. The Romans had a superstition that morning dreams are true.

MATTHEW POOLE: Whether this dream was caused by God for a further testimony of Christ’s innocence, or were merely natural, cannot be determined. She doubtless refers to some late dream, which possibly she might have after her husband was gone from her, for he was called early, Matthew 27:1, 2.

MATTHEW HENRY: It is not likely that she had heard anything before, concerning Christ, at least not so as to occasion her dreaming of him.

R. BEACON: But it is far from unlikely that Claudia Procula—the name, according to tradition, of the lady whose disturbed dream is recorded by the Evangelist—that she may have seen our Lord. What more probable than that, on one or more of her comings and goings to and from her husband’s palace, she may have come across Him during His visits to Jerusalem?

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Jansenius* thinks that she had now a representation or foresight of those calamities which afterwards befell Pilate and his family.

MATTHEW HENRY: She suffered many things in this dream; whether she dreamed of the cruel usage of an innocent person, or of the judgments that would fall upon those that had any hand in His death, or both—it seems it was a frightful dream, and her thoughts troubled her.

C. H. SPURGEON: Most dreams we quite forget—but so deep was the impression upon this Roman lady’s mind that she does not wait until her lord comes home, but sends to him at once. Her advice is urgent “Have thou nothing to do with that just Man.” She must warn him now, before he has laid a stroke on Him, much less stained his hands in His blood…Whether the dream of Pilate’s wife was a divine revelation of Christ’s glory or not, we cannot tell; but the message she sent to Pilate must have made him even more anxious than before to release Jesus.

R. BEACON: The statement from Pilate’s wife clearly shows that he was, somewhat at least, influenced by her. It is well known that such influence was often exerted by women, and naturally exercised as a rule on the side of mercy. Indeed, the Romans on this very account objected to provincial governors taking their wives with them, lest they should be deflected from the line of rigid justice. And we know how severe the Romans were, though there was much that was excellent in their discipline. Every student of Roman history is aware how conspicuously the manlier virtues stand out in the records of her chroniclers. But with dominion, luxury and skepticism had increased, and there was a condition of ostentatious culture that is only too closely paralleled by not a little that we see around us now. It is always so in the history of nations: first, power; then, wealth and luxury; then, degeneracy. And of such a culture Pilate was probably a crucial type. His very question, “What is truth?” addressed to our Lord, indicated the languid cynicism with which he regarded the matter. But to return to Claudia Procula—and, first of all, may we not surmise, for the reason stated above, that nothing is casual or insignificant in scripture, that it was not merely superstitious feeling that prompted her action?

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Although the thoughts which had passed through the mind of Pilate’s wife during the day might be the cause of her dream, yet there can be no doubt that she suffered these torments, not in a natural way, such as happens to us every day, but by an extraordinary inspiration of God.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Doubtless, this was of God, and with a design that a testimony should be bore to the innocence of Christ every way.

MATTHEW HENRY: This was an honourable testimony to our Lord Jesus, witnessing that He was a just man, even when He was persecuted as the worst of malefactors: when His friends were afraid to appear in defence of Him, God made even those that were strangers and enemies, speak in His favour; when Peter denied Him, Judas confessed Him; when the chief priests pronounced Him guilty of death, Pilate declared he found no fault in Him; when women that loved him stood afar off, Pilate’s wife, who knew little of Him, showed a concern for Him.

JOHN CALVIN: God the Father took many methods of attesting the innocence of Christ that it might evidently appear that He suffered death in the place of others—that is, in our place. God intended that Pilate should so frequently acquit Him with his own mouth before condemning Him, that in His undeserved condemnation the true satisfaction for our sins might be the more brightly displayed. Matthew expressly mentions this, that none may wonder at the extreme solicitude of Pilate, when he debates with the people, in the midst of a tumult, for the purpose of saving the life of a man whom he despised. And, indeed, by the terrors which his wife, had suffered during the night, God compelled him to defend the innocence of His own Son; not to rescue Him from death, but only to make it manifest, that in the place of others He endured that punishment which He had not deserved.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Pilate washed his hands before the multitude, and said, “I am free from the blood of this just person.”

C. H. SPURGEON: Ah! Pilate, you need something stronger than water, to wash the blood of that just person off your hands…Knowing Him to be innocent, “when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.”

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): There is no doubt that God had appeared unto this woman, testifying the innocence of Christ, and showing the evils which should pursue Pilate if this innocent blood should be shed by his authority.

THOMAS COKE: Josephus* assures us that Pilate was deposed from his government by Vitellius,* and sent to Tiberius* at Rome. And Eusebius* tells us that quickly after having been banished to Vienne in Gaul, Pilate laid violent hands upon himself, falling on his own sword.

MATTHEW HENRY: The Father of spirits has many ways of access to the spirits of men, and can seal their instruction in a dream, or vision of the night, Job 33:15,16.

JOHN CALVIN: As to dreams, which serve the purpose of visions, I shall defer the subject, as I cannot now discuss it at large, and a more convenient opportunity will offer itself.

___________________

*Editor’s Note: Jansenius (1585-1638) was a Roman Catholic Bishop of Ypres; Josephus (born 37 A.D.) was a Jewish historian; Eusebius (died 339) was a Greek historian; Vitellius and Tiberius were both Roman Emperors.

 

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The Pool of Siloam

Posted on August 5, 2022 by The Editor

John 9:1-11

As Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.)

He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): There is one little detail here which strikingly evidences the truthfulness of this narrative, and that is one little omission in this man’s description of what the Saviour had done to him. It is to be noted that the beggar made no reference to Christ spitting on the ground and making clay of the spittle. Being blind he could not see what the Lord did, though he could feel what He applied!

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): You may be sure that the Pharisees would be in high resentment because Christ did that; for, according to their superstition, to make clay with spittle was a kind of brick-making which must not be done on the Sabbath-day—they would, for that reason, condemn Christ as a breaker of the Sabbath.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): Which is by interpretation, Sent.—Why is this parenthetical explanation inserted by John?

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): The word Siloam was intended to prefigure the true “Shiloh,” “the messenger of the covenant,” Malachi 3:1, the sent of God, John 10:36—the Messiah that should come into the world.

C. H. SPURGEON: “Until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be,” Genesis 49:10. This is the Shiloh for whose salvation Jacob waited, looking for Him who should be sent…Observe the likeness between the words Siloam and Shiloh, in which case, Shiloh would mean the same as Messiah, the Sent One—and would indicate that Jesus Christ was the Messenger, the Sent One of God, and came to us, not at His own instance, and at His own will, but commissioned by the Most High.

J. C. RYLE: All pious Jews would understand the expression which so frequently occurs in John’s Gospel, “He whom God hath sent,” as pointing to the Messiah—It was fitting that He who was “Sent of God” should work a miracle in the pool called “Sent.” This is the view of Chrysostom and Augustine.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Ages before our Lord’s incarnation, the prophet Isaiah was commissioned to tell the Church, when pointing to His Person, and Character: “Behold!” said he, “your God will come and save you!” And how was He to be known? “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,” Isaiah 35:4,5.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): We have heard already about the Pool of Siloam, in John 7:37: there we read, “In the last day, that great day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said, If any man thirst let him come to Me and drink.” These words were probably spoken on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, on which one part of the ceremonial was the drawing, with exuberant rejoicing, of water from the Pool of Siloam, and bearing it up to the Temple.

J. C. RYLE: Water was drawn from the pool of Siloam every day with great solemnity, and poured upon the altar, while the people sung the 12th chapter of Isaiah.

CHARLES SIMEON: The Jews were wont to pour out the water with joy; referring, in their minds, to the promise, that at that time “living waters should go out from Jerusalem,” Zechariah 14:8; and to that song which the Prophet Isaiah had taught them, “With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation,” Isaiah 12:3. In the midst of that ceremony, our blessed Lord addressed the whole multitude, saying, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him should receive.”

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): And now, behold! He makes the same proclamation from His celestial temple—and says, “whosoever will, let him come, let him freely take of this living water,” Revelation 22:17.

CHARLES SIMEON: Our blessed Lord, determining to heal him, made clay of His own spittle, and put it on his eyes, and bade him wash in the pool of Siloam. How strange a remedy was this!

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Had there been the least glimmer of light before, the clay would have shut it all out.

C. H. SPURGEON: Is this the way to give him sight? Yes, our Lord often uses means that seem to be very unlikely to accomplish His purpose…Often, when He is going to open a man’s eyes, spiritually, He first makes him feel more blind than he ever was in all his life.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): It certainly was no ordinary proof of faith, that the blind man, relying on a bare word, is fully convinced that his sight will be restored to him, and with this conviction hastens to go to the place where he was commanded.

C. H. SPURGEON: The command was exceedingly specific—“Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” So is the Gospel exceedingly specific—“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,” Acts 16:31…If he had refused to go and wash, he would not have received his sight.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): His blind obedience made him see.

AUGUSTINE (354-430): If you do not believe you will not understand—Therefore, seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe, that you may understand.

ROBERT HAWKER: One word more in relation to this poor man—he was not conscious at the first, who his great benefactor was. Neither could he tell how the Lord had accomplished the wonderful cure. He only knew that he was once blind, and now had sight. Such is not infrequently the case in respect to spiritual mercies. How little do we know of Jesus, when first He manifests Himself to us. And even after renewed love tokens of His favour, how backward we are, in apprehension. All the objects we at first behold in spiritual discernment, are but indistinct, like the sight of him who saw “men as trees walking” in Mark 8:22-26. But, Reader! though you, or I, or any other child of God cannot exactly tell how or when or where the Lord was pleased to accomplish our effectual calling; still the day of small things is not to be despised, when we can truly say as he did: “One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.”

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): “Waters of Shiloah” are mentioned in Isaiah 8:6, and said to “go softly.”

CHARLES SIMEON: All of us must of necessity resemble the man while his blindness continued—or, after it had been removed. Let us then inquire whether we can say with him, “This I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.” If we cannot, let us remember, that the Saviour is nigh at hand, and that the means used for our illumination, weak as they are, are quite sufficient, if accompanied with His power. Let us take encouragement to ask the influences of His good Spirit, and to pray with David, “Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law,” Psalm 119:18.

ROBERT HAWKER: Pause a moment more. If such to a blind man in nature, were the wonders of sight; what must it be, yea what is it daily to a child of God in grace, when his spiritual eyes are opened to see the wonderful things of God’s law?

 

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Faith in Times of Pestilence

Posted on July 29, 2022 by The Editor

Psalm 91:1 & 2, 5-7, 9-11

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee…Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): It is very wonderful when men have lived near to God, and have received special faith to grasp such a promise as this, how they have outlived the most deadly pestilences. I collected sometime ago a little list of names of devout men who in the times of pestilence remained in the field to visit the sick and to attend to those who were dying, and it is marvelous that they outlived all, and their names stand now upon the catalogue of fame as benefactors of the race. They had special faith given, and they used that faith in trusting in God.

WOLFGANG MUSCULUS (1497-1563): Certainly such a confidence of mind could not be attributed to natural powers, in so menacing and so overwhelming a destruction. For it is natural to mortals, it is implanted in them by God the Author and Maker of nature, to fear whatever is hurtful and deadly, especially what visibly smites and suddenly destroys. Therefore does he beautifully join together these two things; the first, in saying, Thou shalt not be afraid; the second, by adding, for the terror. He acknowledges that this plague is terrible to nature; and then by his trust in divine protection he promises himself this security, that he shall not fear the evil, which would otherwise make human nature quail.

C. H. SPURGEON: Walls cannot keep out the pestilence, but the Lord can.

WILLIAM BRIDGE (1600-1670): What faith is this, what trust is that which God hath promised protection and deliverance to in the time of a plague?

C. H. SPURGEON: I have already said that I do not believe that this applies to all believers, for good men die as well as bad men in days of pestilence; but there are some who dwell near to God to whom the promise comes with special power, and they have been able to do and dare for God without fear, and their faith has been abundantly rewarded.

WILLIAM BRIDGE: There is a faith of persuasion, called faith, whereby men are persuaded and verily believe that they shall not die, nor fall by the hand of the plague. This is well; but I do not find in the 91st Psalm that this protection is entailed upon this persuasion, neither do I find this faith here mentioned. There is also a faith of reliance, whereby a man doth rely upon God for salvation; this is a justifying faith, true justifying faith; this is true faith indeed, but I do not find in this Psalm, that this promise of protection and deliverance in the time of a plague is entailed upon this, nor that this is here mentioned.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Those that preserve their purity in times of general corruption may trust God with their safety in times of general desolation.

C. H. SPURGEON: God does not give long life to all His people; yet in obedience to God is the most probable way of securing long life. There are also many of God’s saints who are spared in times of pestilence, or who are delivered by an act of faith out of great dangers.

WILLIAM BRIDGE: What act of faith is it? What faith is it?

C. H. SPURGEON: “I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress.” To take up a general truth and make it our own by personal faith is the highest wisdom. It is but poor comfort to say “the Lord is a refuge,” but to say He is my refuge, is the essence of consolation.

WILLIAM BRIDGE: I think this is the faith here spoken of in this 91st Psalm—I may call it a faith of recourse unto God—mark verse one, as if he should say, ‘When others run from the plague and pestilence and run to their hiding places, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High—that betakes himself to God as his hiding place and his habitation—he shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty, shall be protected;’ and so at verse nine, “Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge, even the Most High thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling;”—as if he should say, ‘In a time of plague men are running and looking out for habitations and hiding places; but because thou hast made the Lord thy habitation, and hast recourse to Him as thy habitation, no evil shall befall thee, neither shall the plague come nigh thy dwelling.’

JOHN WHITECROSS (circa 1831): Lord Craven lived in London when the plague raged. His Lordship, to avoid the danger, resolved to go to his house in the country. His coach was at the door, his baggage put up, and all things in readiness for the journey. As he was walking through his hall with his hat on, his cane under his arm, and about to step into his carriage, he overheard his negro servant saying to another servant, “I suppose, by my Lord’s quitting London to avoid the plague, that his God lives in the country, and not in town.” It struck Lord Craven very sensibly and made him pause. “My God,” thought he, “lives everywhere, and He can preserve me in town as well as in the country. I will stay where I am.” He continued in London, was remarkably useful among his sick neighbours, and never caught the infection.

WILLIAM BRIDGE: “He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways,”—in the ways of thy calling and place. Look! when a man in the time of a plague shall conscientiously keep his station and place, and betake himself to God as his habitation; this is the faith that is here spoken of, and this is the faith that God hath promised protection to in the 91st Psalm.

JEREMY BURROUGHS (1599-1647): David would not be afraid though he walked “in the valley of the shadow of death,” because God was with him, Psalm 23:4.

MATTHEW HENRY: No locks nor bars can shut out diseases, while we carry about with us in our bodies the seeds of them—if it take away the natural life, yet it shall be so far from doing any prejudice to the spiritual life that it shall be its perfection. A believer needs not fear, and therefore should not fear any arrow, because the point is off, the poison is out. O death! where is thy sting? It is also under divine direction, and will hit where God appoints and not otherwise. Every bullet has its commission. Whatever is done, our heavenly Father’s will is done; and we have no reason to be afraid of that.

ROWLAND HILL (1744-1833): Where you die—when you die—or by what means is scarcely worth a thought, if you do but die in Christ.

 

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Consider God’s Grand Design in Affliction

Posted on July 22, 2022 by The Editor

Proverbs 13:24; Hebrews 12:5-11; Romans 8:28

He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): Consider the design of affliction.

THOMAS BROOKS (1608-1680): The grand design of God in all the afflictions that befall His people is to bring them nearer and closer to Himself.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): The sufferings of the righteous here are not punitive, they are corrective…It is not the sword of the judge, it is the rod of the father, which falls upon the believer—the sword of justice no longer threatens us, but the rod of parental correction is still in use…All His corrections are sent in love, to purify thee, and to draw thee nearer to Himself. Surely it must help thee to bear the chastening with resignation if thou art able to recognize thy Father’s hand.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Ah, dear reader, there is no real rest for your poor heart until you learn to see the hand of God in everything.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): “Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest,” Psalm 94:12. Here David looks above the instruments of trouble, and eyes the hand of God, which gives it another name and puts quite another colour upon it…Now it is here promised, that God’s people shall get good by their sufferings—the afflictions of the saints are fatherly chastenings, designed for their instruction, reformation, and improvement.

A. W. PINK: “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,” Psalm 37:23, yet the path He appoints is not the one which is smoothest to the flesh.

WILLIAM JAY: The people of God may suffer. They may “eat the bread of adversity, and drink the water of affliction,” Isaiah 30:20; their purposes may be broken off, even the thoughts of their hearts—and their schemes frustrated; they may suffer calamity in their worldly circumstances; they may suffer from the loss of health and friends; their trials may be painful and repeated, and “deep may call unto deep,” and they may exclaim, “All thy waves and thy billows have gone over me,” Psalm 42:7.

OCTAVIUS WINSLOW (1808-1878): Such is the nature of Christ’s religion, and such are the terms of His discipleship—suffering and self-denial. This is a truth hard to understand for those who are not initiated into the mysteries of the kingdom of grace. To them it is inexplicable how one who is loved by God, whose sins Christ has forgiven, whose life appears holy, useful, and honoured, could be the subject of divine correction and, perhaps in some instances more than others, seem smitten by God and afflicted. But to those who are students of Christ, who learn at the feet of Jesus, this is no insoluble problem. They understand, at least in a measure, why the most holy are frequently the most chastened.

WILLIAM JAY: It is not only to possess your souls with patience―it is not only to submit yourselves under the mighty hand of God―but to acquiesce in the pleasure of the Almighty.  It is not to say, “This is my grief, and I must bear it;” but, “Here I am, let Him do what seemeth to Him good.” But you cannot render a voluntary, and cheerful, and grateful resignation till you see the righteousness, the wisdom, and, above all, the kindness of His dispensations towards you.

OCTAVIUS WINSLOW: Oh, let this be the one desire and earnest resolve of your soul: “That I may know Him,” Philippians 3:10. “Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord,” Philippians 3:8. Such, then, as have learned of Christ can understand why a child of God should be a child of affliction—why the Lord “trieth the righteous,” Psalm 11:5. Declarations such as these have significant meaning they comprehend very well: “I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction,” Isaiah 48:10. “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten,” Revelation 3:19. When the present and hallowed results of the divine dealings are somewhat realized and the heart is awakened to more prayer, Christ is more precious, sin is more hated, self is more loathed, holiness is more endeared, and the soul is brought into greater nearness to God.

JEREMY BURROUGHS (1599-1647): Among others, this is one special means whereby an afflicted condition comes to be useful for the increase of grace, because in it the soul gains much experience of God and of His ways. It experiences the goodness and faithfulness of His Word, as we read in Psalm 107: “those who go down into the sea see the wonders of the Lord;” much more do those who come into the seas of troubles and afflictions.  How do they see the wonders of the Lord? They can tell their friends much of the wonders of the Lord towards them.  Israel in the time of trouble cried out, “My God, we know thee,” Hos. 8:2. They knew God more then than before affliction and experiencing of the evil of sin.

SAMUEL RUTHERFORD (1600-1661): It is much to come out of the Lord’s school of trial wiser, and more experienced in the ways of God.

GEORGE SWINNOCK (1627-1673): God’s rod, like Jonathan’s, is dipped in honey.

OCTAVIUS WINSLOW: When the suffering Christian reviews the divine supports he has experienced in his affliction—remembering how God encircled him with the everlasting arms, how Christ pillowed his languid head, how the Holy Ghost comforted and soothed his anguish by unfolding the sweetness and fullness of the Scriptures, sealing promise upon promise upon his smitten heart—his chastened spirit can well exclaim, “Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord, according unto thy word,” Psalm 119:65.  Thou hast broken only to bind up; hast wounded only to heal; hast emptied only to replenish; hast embittered only to sweeten; hast removed one blessing only to bestow another and a greater.

MATTHEW HENRY: David could speak from experience: “It was good for me, that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes,” Psalm 119:71; many a good lesson he had learnt by his afflictions, and many a good duty he had been brought to which otherwise would have been unlearnt and undone. Therefore God visited him with affliction, that he might learn God’s statutes; and the intention was answered: the afflictions had contributed to the improvement of his knowledge and grace. He that chastened him, taught him.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): Those afflictions which are accompanied with Divine instructions are great and true blessings.

J. R. MILLER (1840-1912): It is a sad thing when we allow life’s disappointments to make us despondent. The problem of Christian living in this world is not to escape experiences of hardship, but to retain sweetness of spirit in all such experiences…You must have hardships, losses, sorrows. But see to it that you retain through all these a heart gentle as a little child’s, and full of trust and hope.

GEORGE MÜLLER (1805-1898): Our desire, therefore, is not that we may be without trials of faith, but that the Lord would graciously support us in the trial, and that we may not dishonour Him by distrust—In a thousand trials, it is not just five hundred of them that work “for the good” of the believer, but nine hundred and ninety-nine, plus one.

 

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