The Treasures of the Snow

Posted on December 17, 2021 by The Editor

Job 38:22; Proverbs 25:11

Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): This is an elegant figure to represent the golden fruit of the gospel set forth by the word of the Spirit.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): One day, I once witnessed a most unusual occurrence in the largest orange-growing district of southern California; something, indeed, that none remembered as having taken place previously. A fairly heavy fall of snow occurred during the height of the orange harvest. The trees everywhere were covered with the silvery down. As the lovely view spread out before me, and I noticed the great yellow globes hanging among the whitened boughs and leaves, I exclaimed, “Apples of gold in pictures of silver!”

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): I remember how God once preached to me by a similitude in the depth of winter. The earth had been black and there was scarcely a green thing or a flower to be seen. As you looked across the field, there was nothing but blackness—bare hedges and leafless trees and black, black earth, wherever you looked. On a sudden God spoke and unlocked the treasures of the snow and white flakes descended until there was no blackness to be seen—all was one sheet of dazzling whiteness. It was at that time I was seeking the Saviour and it was then I found Him. And I remember well that sermon which I saw before me—“Come now and let us reason together; though your sins are as scarlet they shall be as snow, though they are red like crimson they shall be whiter than wool,” Isaiah 1:18.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Where in the New Testament is there a word, which—for pure grace, exceeds “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow?”

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): “Can you tell me of anything that is whiter than snow?” asked a teacher, who was addressing a Sunday school. “The soul that has been washed in the blood of Jesus,” was the satisfactory answer of a little girl…Is there any way by which a crimson sinner can be made whiter than snow? Yes—in Christ Jesus, and through His blood.

EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): I think how many souls there are, and have been, and shall be, in the world. Think of the innumerable criminals of the most abandoned kind—the murderers, robbers, conquerors, and blasphemers, adulterers, harlots—the impious, hardened wretches who neither fear God nor regard man, that have been, and still are, to be found among mankind. What an ocean of mercy is necessary to wash away their sins, to make the deep crimson white as snow. What an omnipotence of grace is requisite to fit such wretches for admission into a heaven of spotless purity, and make them holy as God. Yet all such Christ invites, all such He is able to save, all such He would save, would they come to Him. Who then can describe, who can conceive the ten thousandth part of that grace and mercy which must be in Christ; or of the love which renders Him thus willing to scatter that grace and mercy round Him upon the worthless and undeserving.

GEORGE WHITEFIELD (1714-1770): It is not the greatness or number of our crimes, but impenitence and unbelief, that will prove our ruin—No, were our sins more in number than the hairs of our head, or of a deeper die than the brightest scarlet; yet the merits of the death of Jesus Christ are infinitely greater, and faith in His blood shall make them white as snow—Having much to be forgiven, despair not; only believe.

C. H. SPURGEON: Is the Holy Spirit making you conscious of sin? He does so that you may be conscious of pardon! Do you feel condemned? The Lord condemns you, now, that you may not be condemned with the world! Are you evil, foul and vile in your own sight? It is that you may wash and be whiter than snow through the Lord Jesus!

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): ’Tis the work of God alone;

An emblem of the pow’r

By which He melts the heart of stone,

In His appointed hour.

H. A. IRONSIDE: If you are ready to come now into the presence of God, you must come with all your sins upon you. You can not get rid of them otherwise. You cannot cleanse your own heart. Job says, “If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me,” Job 9:30,31. It is absolutely impossible for you to cleanse yourself, to wash out the stains of sin. But thank God, if you are ready to come to Him in repentance—and repentance involves a complete change of attitude in regard to sin—if you are ready to come now, earnestly desiring the forgiveness of sins, there is forgiveness with Him, thank God. For “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” 1 John 1:9.

GEORGE WHITEFIELD: One act of true faith in Christ, justifies you forever and ever; and He has not promised you what He cannot perform.

HUGH HENRY SNELL (1817-1892): Jeremiah plainly states, “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more,” Jeremiah 31:34. Hear the prophet Isaiah saying, “I, I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins,” Isaiah 43:25. Hezekiah also—“Thou hast, in love to my soul, delivered it from the pit of corruption; for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.” Isaiah 38:17. The Psalmist says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us,” Psalm 103:12.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: A believer, then, is cleansed from all sin by the blood of Christ, and made the righteousness of God in Christ who is risen and ascended—all on the principle of faith.

CHARLES STANLEY (1821-1890): He has not half washed us in His precious blood. No, our sins are all forgiven, and we “are justified from all things,” Acts 13:38, 39. But it is “through Jesus.” It was Jesus “who died for our sins,” 1 Corinthians 15:3. It was Jesus “who was raised from the dead for our justification,” Romans 4:25; who said, “It is finished,” John 19:30. It was Jesus who showed them His hands and His side, and said, “Peace be unto you,” John 20:21. It was Jesus. Yes, yes! Jesus hath done all things well.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: The work of redemption is finished, all is done. Thou hast only to yield thy heart to His love, believe His word, and trust the blood that can make thee whiter than snow. If you are a believer, you are washed—yes, whiter than snow.

ELVINA M. HALL (1818-1889) Jesus paid it all,

All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow!

 

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Whole Hearted Seeking

Posted on December 10, 2021 by The Editor

Proverbs 23:26; Jeremiah 29:13; 1 Chronicles 22:19; Psalm 119:58

My son, give me thine heart.

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God.

I intreated thy favour with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to thy word.

THOMAS MANTON (1620-1677): Whoever would seek God aright, they must seek Him with their whole heart. What doth this imply?

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): The whole heart is taken for an upright or sincere heart, which is opposed to a double heart.

THOMAS MANTON: It implies sincerity and integrity; for it is not to be taken in the legal sense with respect to absolute perfection, but in opposition to deceit. “Judah has not turned to me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord,” Jeremiah 3:10.

JOHN ANGELL JAMES (1785-1869): If you do not, like David, seek the favour of God with your whole heart, you will never have it. You may more rationally think to reach the top of the highest mountain on earth without labour, than to imagine you can reach heaven without effort. If you suppose a few wishes or a little exertion will do, you are mistaken; and the sooner you are undeceived the better.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): Trust Him with your whole heart, for “with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,” Romans 10:10…I am tired and sick of half-heartedness. I don’t like a half-hearted man. I don’t care for anyone to love me half-heartedly. And the Lord won’t have it. If we are going to seek for Him and find Him, we must do it with all our hearts.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): A half heart is no heart at all…You cannot give Christ a piece of a heart, for a heart that is halved is killed. A heart that has even a little bit taken off is a dead heart.

THOMAS MANTON: He that gives but part to God doth indeed give nothing. The Devil keeps an interest as long as one lust remains unmortified, and one corner of the soul is kept for him. As Pharaoh stood haggling with Moses, Exodus 7, he would have some pawn of their return: either leave your children behind; no, no, they must go and see the sacrifices, and be trained up in the way of the Lord; or he would have their flocks and herds left behind; he knew that would draw their hearts back again. So Satan must have either this lust or that; he knows by keeping part all will fall to his share in the end. A bird that is tied in a string seems to have more liberty than a bird in a cage; it flutters up and down though it be held fast: so many seem to flutter up and down and do many things, as Herod, Mark 6:20; but his Herodias drew him back again into the fowler’s net.

C. H. SPURGEON: The devil does not mind having half your heart. He is quite satisfied with that because he is like the woman to whom the child did not belong—he does not mind if it is cut in halves. The true mother of the child said, “Oh, spare the child! Do not divide it!” And so Christ, who is the true Lover of hearts, will not have the heart divided.

THOMAS BROOKS (1608-1680): He loathes a divided heart: Psalm 51:17; James 1:8. God neither loves halting nor halving; He will be served truly and totally. The royal law is, “Thou shalt love and serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.” Among the heathens, when the beasts were cut up for sacrifice, the first thing the priest looked upon was the heart, and if the heart was naught, the sacrifice was rejected. Verily, God rejects all those sacrifices wherein the heart is not.

C. H. SPURGEON: Some seekers are divided as to the object of their trust. They trust in Jesus Christ, but they also trust a little in themselves. They believe His blood has a great deal to do with it, but they think their prayers have something, too, and so they stand with one foot on the land and the other on the sea and, therefore, they fall! They are relying upon self in part and upon Christ in part, and so they will assuredly come to destruction, for Christ will never be a part Saviour! It must be all or nothing! He never entered into partnership with sinful worms to help save them—He is the sole Foundation—and other foundation can no man lay. Alas, upon this matter, how many have their hearts divided! They are trusting to their Baptism, or to their Confirmation, or to their “sacraments”—all false foundations—and yet they are trying to trust in Christ at the same time! Their heart is divided and now they are held guilty…To believe is to trust with your whole heart—and whoever trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ with his whole heart has the promise of eternal life.

THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): Justifying faith is seated in the whole heart, as Philip said in Acts 8:37— “If thou believest with all thine heart,” thou shalt be saved.

D. L. MOODY: “Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Those who seek for Him with all their hearts, find Christ. Did you ever hear of anyone calling upon Christ with the whole heart, that Christ didn’t answer?

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): “They sought Him with their whole desire, and He was found of them; and the Lord gave them rest round about,” 2 Chronicles 15:15. The words express in simplest form what should be the chief desire of our hearts and occupation of our lives, and what will then be our peaceful experience.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Give yourselves wholly to Him; and so shall that promise be fulfilled to you; “I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty,” 2 Corinthians 6:18.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): His mercy shall be shown to all those who have fled for refuge to the hope that is set before them in the Gospel…Feeling that he deserved nothing but wrath, that he had no right to any good, he cries for mercy in the way that God had promised to convey it: “Be merciful unto me!” And to this he is encouraged only by the promise of God; and therefore prays, “Be merciful unto me—according to thy Word.”

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): This is the sum of his petition, and must be the main of ours.

C. H. SPURGEON: You will have the Saviour when your whole heart and soul are after Him…The heart is united in itself when it is united to the Lord! Even as the Lord has said by the mouth of the Prophet, “I will give them an heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto Me with their whole heart,” Jeremiah 24:7…Again, remember that you who seek the Lord with a divided heart condemn yourselves. When you stand before the Judgment Seat you won’t be able to say, as some will, “Lord, we did not know of this salvation.”

 

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Searching for Wisdom in a Foolish World

Posted on December 3, 2021 by The Editor

James 3:17; Job 28:20; Proverbs 1:1-7

The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; to know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; to give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: to understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): The word “wisdom” occurs thirty-seven times in the book of Proverbs.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): The title of this book, and the following six verses contain what we today would speak of as preface. That preface first declares the purpose of the book in terms so simple as to need no comment. Then follows a statement of method, which is necessary to a right use of the whole book.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): In the three sacred books written by Solomon, he sends each forth under three different titles. Here he calls himself “the son of David, king of Israel.” The book of Ecclesiastes, he styles “the words of the Preacher,” and therein he takes the name of “the King of Jerusalem.” And in the Song of Solomon, after speaking in the title page of the excellency of it, he only puts his name of Solomon.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): They are the “proverbs of Solomon.” His name signifies peaceable.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Proverbs, or, Master sentences; maxims, axioms, speeches of special excellence and predominance; received rules that must overrule matters, and mightily prevail in the minds of men.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Solomon is recorded as the wisest of men; a man of wisdom, because he was a man of prayer, 1 Kings 3:1-14; compare Proverbs 2:1-9. His extraordinary wisdom was the admiration of the world, 1 Kings 3:28; 1 Kings 4:34.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): The queen of Sheba is also to be admired in that, wishing to learn from Solomon, she asked him many questions—not simply one or two, but many, 1 Kings 10:1-9. Some people say, though I do not know how true it is, that curiosity is largely developed in women. In this case, however, the woman’s curiosity was wise and right, that when she was in the presence of such a man of wisdom, to try to learn all that she could from him and, therefore, she questioned him about all sorts of things.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): Proverbs are ancient, wise, and short sayings in common use; whereof some are plain and easy, others are intricate and obscure.

ROBERT HAWKER: A proverb is said to be a “dark saying,” intimating that there is much more in it than might at first sight be supposed. Therefore, through the whole of the proverbs, we are taught to be looking beyond the surface for the grand substance that is concealed. And this, if I do not greatly err, we shall find to be Christ. He is the wisdom which is here spoken of, and for which the proverbs are given.

CHARLES BRIDGES: Valuable as are Solomon’s maxims for their wisdom—exceeding the sages of his own or any other time, 1 Kings 4:29-31, they claim our reverence upon infinitely higher ground: “Behold! A greater than Solomon is here,” Matthew 12:42.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): The son of David, king of Israel. These titles are such as belong to the Messiah, Solomon’s antitype, one that is greater than he.

C. H. SPURGEON: Though Solomon was wise, he was not Wisdom itself, and that Jesus is. In the Book of Proverbs Jesus is referred to under the name of Wisdom.

THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): Wisdom, in the Proverbs, is put for the person of Christ Himself—see Proverbs Chapter 8. So also Luke 11:49 compared with Luke 7:34,35, wherein Christ, speaking of Himself, says in Luke 11:49, “Therefore also said the Wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles…”—and in Luke 7:34,35, He expressly says, this “Wisdom” is He who was the Son of man.

C. H. SPURGEON: Paul tells us that “He is made of God unto us wisdom,” 1 Corinthians 1:30. They who really know Him know something of how wise He is and how truly He may be called Wisdom. Because He is with the Father and knows the Father, He has such wisdom as no one else can have. “No man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomever the Son will reveal Him,” Matthew 11:27. He knows the deep things of God, for He came down from Heaven bringing His Father’s greatest secrets in His heart. To Him, therefore, men ought to come if they wish to be wise, and ought we not to wish for wisdom? To whom else can we go if we go not to Him “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge?” Colossians 2:3.

WILLIAM ARNOT (1808-1875): What is the relation which subsists between the fear of the Lord and true wisdom? The one is the foundation, the other the imposed superstructure; the one is the sustaining root, the other the sustained branches; the one is the living fountain, the other the issuing stream. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,”—the meaning is, he who does not reverentially trust in God, knows nothing yet as he ought to know.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN: The facts of God, and man’s relation to Him, must be taken for granted if there is to be any true wisdom.

MATTHEW HENRY: Fools—atheists, who have no regard to God—“despise wisdom and instruction;” having no dread at all of God’s wrath, nor any desire of His favour. Those who say to the Almighty, “Depart from us,” who are so far from fearing Him that they set Him at defiance, can excite no surprise if they desire not the knowledge of His ways, but despise that instruction.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): What is wisdom to them?

MATTHEW HENRY: Those are fools who do not fear God and value the scriptures; and though they may pretend to be admirers of wit they are really strangers and enemies to wisdom…They talk of their wisdom, but, “Lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord;” they would not be governed by it, would not follow its direction, would not do what they knew; and then “what wisdom is in them?” None to any purpose; none that will be found to their praise at the great day, however much it is found to their pride now.

C. H. SPURGEON: They despise the wisdom of Christ. If you probe them, you will discover that they were never willing to learn of Him. His own words are, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven,” Matthew 18:3. The wisdom of Christ cannot be known by those who refuse to be disciples—that is, learners.

H. A. IRONSIDE: Wisdom is “skillfulness”—the ability to use knowledge correctly.

CHARLES BRIDGES: The great end of this inestimable book of Proverbs is to teach, not secular or political wisdom—though many excellent rules of each are interspersed—but that knowledge of God, which, while it “maketh wise unto salvation,” perfects and “furnishes the man of God unto all good works,” 2 Timothy 3:15-17. Its glowing privileges are set forth, Proverbs 3:13-18. It is pressed upon us with intense earnestness, as “the principal thing,” Proverbs 4:7; and our very “life,” Proverbs 4:13,20-23.

JOHN GILL: Moreover, a man who thoroughly understands the things in this book is fit to be a counsellor of others in things human and divine; in things moral, civil, and spiritual.

 

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Women Preaching

Posted on November 26, 2021 by The Editor

1 Timothy 2:11-14; 1 Corinthians 14:34-36

Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): The root trouble, even among good Evangelicals, is our failure to heed the plain teaching of Scripture. We accept what Scripture teaches as far as doctrine is concerned; but when it comes to practice, we very often fail to take the Scriptures as our only guide. When we come to the practical side we employ human tests instead of scriptural ones. Instead of taking the plain teaching of the Bible, we argue with it. “Ah, yes,” we say, “since the Scriptures were written, times have changed.” Dare I give an obvious illustration? Take the question of women preaching, and being ordained to public ministry.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): Scripture is very plain as to the place of the woman. The spirit and teaching of the New Testament are against any such practise.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: The apostle Paul, in writing to Timothy, prohibits it directly. He says quite specifically that he does not allow a woman to teach or preach. “Ah, yes,” we say, as we read that letter, “he was only thinking of his own age and time; but you know times have changed since then, and we must not be bound. Paul was thinking of certain semi-civilized people in Corinth and places like that.” But the Scripture does not say that. It says, “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.”

JOHN KNOX (1514-1572): And why, I pray you? Was it because that the apostle thought no woman to have any knowledge? No, he gives another reason, saying, Let her be subject, as the law saith.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Paul’s reasoning is simple—that authority to teach is not suitable to the station that a woman occupies, because, if she teaches, she presides over all the men, while it becomes her to be under subjection.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: “Ah, but that is only temporary legislation,” they say. But Paul does not say that it was only for the time being; he takes it right back to the Fall and shows that it is an abiding principle. It is something that is true, therefore, of the age in which we live. But thus, you see, we argue with Scripture. Instead of taking its plain teaching, we say that times have changed—when it suits our thesis we say it is no longer relevant.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Some have objected that Paul was an old bachelor and did not like women, but we need to remember that he was the inspired servant of God and wrote as directed by the Holy Spirit.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): How often we have heard different ones claim that the Spirit moved them to perform such an act, as for example, a woman to preach, which is forbidden. The Spirit quickens and empowers—but He never prompts to anything contrary to Scripture.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: It will perhaps be said in reply, that God uses the preaching and praying of women, for the blessing of souls. Well, what does this prove? The rightness of female preaching? No; but the sovereign goodness of God—God is sovereign, and may work where and by whom He pleases; we are servants and must do what He tells us…To reason from results may lead us into the grossest error. It ought to be sufficient, for every one who bows to the authority of Scripture, to know that the Holy Ghost strictly commands the woman to keep silent in a public assembly. And truly we may say, ‘Doth not even nature itself teach’ the moral unfitness of a woman’s appearing in a pulpit or on a platform? Unquestionably.

JOHN CALVIN: If any one bring forward, by way of objection, Deborah and others of the same class, of whom we read that they were at one time appointed by the command of God to govern the people, the answer is easy. Extraordinary acts done by God do not overturn the ordinary rules of government, by which He intended that we should be bound.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: In the history of Israel, it was always a proof of the nation’s low condition when the female was thrown into prominence. It was Barak’s backwardness that threw Deborah forward, Judges 4:6-9. According to the normal divine idea, the man is the head. This is seen, in perfection, in Christ and the Church. Here is the true model on which our thoughts are to be formed.

A. W. PINK: The Lord Jesus Christ has not committed His Gospel into the hands of women. There were none among the twelve, nor among the seventy whom He chose and sent forth. The preaching of the Gospel is a man’s job.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: There are many and varied ways in which women can “labour in the gospel” without the unseemliness of public preaching.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Paul’s preaching is very plain upon the subject of female preaching. He does not allow a woman to preach; but this by no means bars her from bearing testimony in her own way—and here she can do God’s work quite as effectually as if she occupied the pulpit! A woman was the founder of the Church in Samaria, which was afterwards multiplied by Christ’s teaching, John 4:28-30…The first person baptized in Europe was a woman, Acts 16:14,15; therefore let none of our Sisters in Christ exempt themselves from bearing witness for Jesus Christ! Neither let them think that their witness is unimportant.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): They may teach in private, in their own houses and families; Timothy, no doubt, received much advantage, from the private teachings and instructions of his mother Eunice, and grandmother Lois; but then women are not to teach in the church; for that is an act of power and authority.

A. W. PINK: The part allotted to the sisters—and an important part it is—is to hold up the hands of their ministering brethren by prayer and supplication.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): I do not think it necessary to swell our pages by a comment on what is so plain as to need none.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Note that Paul doesn’t rebuke the women, but he rebukes the men for their weakness in allowing women to preach and teach in their church services, saying, “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” Therefore, all who argue in favour of this unscriptural practice of women preaching, spiritually cut these “commandments of the Lord” out of the New Testament. But first they had better read Deuteronomy 4:2 and Revelation 22:19.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: We do not, of course, expect that persons who are bent on carrying out their own thoughts; whose will has never been broken—who reason instead of submitting to the authority of Scripture, and who say, “I think,” instead of seeing what God thinks—we do not expect that any such will approve or appreciate what we have advanced.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): “If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.” Note: It is just with God to leave all those who willfully shut out the light, to the blindness of their own minds.

JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): When women keep their places, and men manage their worshipping of God as they should, we shall have better days for the church of God in the world.

 

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A Lesson From a Leper

Posted on November 19, 2021 by The Editor

Luke 17:11-19

It came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): What a rare thing is thankfulness. We are told that of all the ten lepers whom Christ healed, there was only one who turned back and gave Him thanks. The words that fell from our Lord’s lips upon this occasion are very solemn: “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?”

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Christ keeps count how many favours men receive from Him, and will call them to a particular account thereof.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Our Lord had cured nine Jews: yet not one of them returned thanks, but with the view of obliterating the remembrance of their disease, they privately stole away. One man only—a Samaritan, acknowledged his obligation to Christ. There is, therefore, on the one hand, a display of Christ’s divine power; and, on the other hand, a reproof of the impiety of the Jews, in consequence of which so remarkable a miracle as this received scarcely any attention.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): This is particularly remarked by the evangelist, because the Samaritans were reckoned by the Jews to be ignorant and irreligious persons, and no better than Heathens; and yet this man behaved as a religious good man, who had a sense of his mercy, knew his duty, and his obligations, and performed them; when the other nine, who very likely were all Jews, acted a very stupid and ungrateful part.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): In this view we should not be too forward to condemn the Jews;—for have we not too much reason to doubt whether, of the multitudes who are indebted to the divine goodness, one in ten has a becoming sense of it.

J. C. RYLE: The lesson before us is humbling, heart-searching, and deeply instructive. The best of us are far too like the nine lepers. We are more ready to pray than to praise, and more disposed to ask God for what we have not, than to thank Him for what we have. Murmurings, and complainings, and discontent abound on every side of us. Few indeed are to be found who are not continually hiding their mercies under a bushel, and setting their wants and trials on a hill. These things ought not so to be. But all who know the church and the world must confess that they are true. The wide-spread thanklessness of Christians is the disgrace of our day. It is a plain proof of our little humility.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): How little time we usually take in telling the Lord how grateful we are for what He has done for us. This is so important. Take that little prayer our Lord taught His disciples in Matthew 6:9-13: Have you noticed that about two-thirds of it is taken up with worship—and only one-third with petitions?

JOHN CALVIN: Let us learn that this complaint is brought generally against all of us, if we do not at least repay the divine favours by the duty of gratitude.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): This man appears to have been very hearty and affectionate in his thanksgivings: “With a loud voice he glorified God,” acknowledging it to come originally from Him; and he lifted up his voice in his praises, as he had done in his prayers.

JOHN TRAPP: He was as earnest in praises as he had been in prayers.

MATTHEW HENRY: He also made a particular address of thanks to Christ: “He fell down at his feet,” put himself into the most humble reverent posture he could, and “gave him thanks.” We ought to give thanks for the favours Christ bestows upon us, and particularly for recoveries from sickness; and we ought to be speedy in our returns of praise, and not defer them, lest time wear out the sense of the mercy. It becomes us also to be very humble in our thanksgivings, as well as in our prayers.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): But the most remarkable feature to be noticed in this miracle, as it related to this man, is that the Lord Jesus said unto him, his faith had made him whole. How is this? The whole ten were healed by Christ: and was there then anything special in this man’s case? I would not be understood as speaking decidedly upon the subject; but I am inclined to think that there was, and that those persons differed widely in their characters, and in the mercy received. What leprosy is to the body, such is sin to the soul. They were all healed of the leprosy of the body; but this man only of both leprosy of soul and body. And hence the different effects. When the ten felt their cure, nine of them had all they desired, all they asked for. But in this man, grace had entered his soul, and healed a far deeper and more dreadful leprosy there; and therefore, led by that awakening grace in the heart, he had forever done with Jewish priests and legal sacrifices, and fled to Christ, the Author and Finisher of his salvation. If my views be right, we see at once the effect of distinguishing grace.

H. A. IRONSIDE: Notice what it says: “One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet.” When you have a pronoun like that, you must have a noun as a precedent of it. The noun that precedes that “His” pronoun—is “God.” He realized that God was there in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and so he glorified God and fell down at the feet of God manifested in the flesh, to worship and adore Him. He realized that only God could cleanse a leper, and that Jesus was worthy of worship and adoration. This man, who might have been considered the very worst of the whole company, manifested more spiritual insight than the rest, who were Israelites.

ROBERT HAWKER: Nine lepers, if only healed in body, will rise from beds of sickness the same as they lay down, never discerning the hand of that Lord, whose name is Jehovah Rophe—I am “the Lord that healeth thee,” Exodus 15:26. But the poor sinner, who feels and knows the leprosy of the soul, no sooner finds that Jesus Christ hath made him whole, but falls at His feet with a loud voice of thankfulness.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): The simple reason is, Those who have much forgiven will love much, Luke 7:47.

J. C. RYLE: This, after all, is the true secret of a thankful spirit. It is the man who daily feels his debt to grace, and daily remembers that in reality he deserves nothing but hell—this is the man who will be daily blessing and praising God. Thankfulness is a flower which will never bloom well except upon a root of deep humility!

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): The question of Jesus, “Where are the nine?” becomes arresting and revealing, showing, as it does, that He waits for the worship of healed souls, and often is robbed of it.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): If He has made us clean from our leprosy of sin, we are not commanded to conceal it. On the contrary, it is our duty to publish it abroad.

 

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Job’s Diligent Search for God

Posted on November 12, 2021 by The Editor

Job 23:8-10, 13-15

Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him. But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold…

But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him. Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): With the Jewish commentators in general, we are to understand places by these various expressions; even the parts of the world—east, west, north, and south; which Job went through, and surveyed in his mind, to find God in, but to no purpose; for, when a man stands with his face to the rising sun, the east is before him, and, if he goes forward, he goes eastward; and behind him is the west, and, if he goes that way, he goes backward; so the eastern sea is called the former sea, and the western Mediterranean sea, the hinder sea, Zechariah 14:8; and a man, in this position, will have the north on his left hand, and the south on his right; now Job says that he went “forward,” that is, eastward. But, says he of God, “he is not there,” or “is not;” meaning not that He did not exist; for Job most firmly believed in the existence of God—In the east Job now lived, and had been the greatest man in it; but now God did not appear to him, not in a kind and gracious manner; nor could he find Him at His throne of justice. He was there, though Job saw him not, for He is everywhere.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Look at Job—he hunts for God everywhere—forward, backward, on the left hand, on the right hand. He leaves no quarter unvisited. No part of the earth is left without being searched over that he might find his God.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Really? Job was searching all over the earth for God?

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): What does it mean then?

JOHANNES COCCEIUS (1603-1669): By “forward” and “backward,” are meant times future and past; the sense is that Job looked into the future times of the Messiah, and the grace promised him in His living Redeemer, that should stand on the earth in the latter day, Job 19:25-27; and he looked back to the ages before him, and to the first promise made to Adam; but he could not understand by either the reason why good men were afflicted. By the “right” hand and “left” hand, he meant the different dispensations of God to men, granting protection with His right hand, and distributing the blessings of His goodness by it; and with His left hand laying afflictions and evils upon them; yet, neither from the one nor the other could he learn the mind and will of God concerning men, since love and hatred are not to be known by these things, Ecclesiastes 9:1,2.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Cocceisus gets closer to the truth of it. But I think it’s more personal. In his chastening affliction, Job looked forward to the future, seeking to understand God’s purpose in it, but he could not discern it; and he looked backward, searching his own ways for any cause that God might have to afflict him, but he saw no cause for it. Then, trying to perceive God’s reasons for these afflictions, he looked to God’s left hand, where God doth work judgment in His providences—and still it was hid from him. Lastly, he looked to God’s right hand, symbolic of God’s gracious blessings, but despite his faith in God, Job couldn’t see how all this continuing misery could possibly work together to his future good. And although Job knew that all these terrible afflictions came upon him from God’s hands, yet he could not “perceive Him,” or “see Him,” in them—neither in God’s purpose, nor for what cause or reason, nor could he see how a blessing could ever come as a result of it.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): When God afflicts us, He contends with us, and when He contends with us, there is always a reason.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): It is justly said that “God’s judgments are a great deep,” Psalm 36:6…It behooves us to mark, that God’s judgments are oftentimes hidden from us. But yet must we not therefore think them strange, or say that there is no reason in them. Let us rather acknowledge that God’s righteousness is too high a thing for such rudeness that is in us, and that it is too great a presumptuousness for us to desire to attain thereto. This, say I, must we be fully resolved of—that God’s judgments are very secret, and when we have fought, searched, and ransacked to the uttermost that we can, we shall be confounded: but it doth not follow therefore, that God hath no rule of Himself. No. And why? Let us make a comparison between Him and us, and what a difference is there. “My ways,” saith He, “are further off from yours, than heaven is from earth,” Isaiah 55:8,9.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” Romans 11:33. God’s judgments are a great deep, and His ways past finding out; but the issues of all are to the glory of His wisdom and grace, and to the eternal happiness of all who trust in Him.

JOHN CALVIN: What remaineth then? We must honour God’s secrets when they be hidden from us, and confess that all His doings are disposed with infinite wisdom, uprightness, and goodness.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Thus Job found it. In the midst of his afflictions, he accounted God his enemy; but not so when he saw the termination of them. Thus we, under our trials, are ready to say, “All these things are against me:” but in how many instances have we seen reason to be ashamed of our precipitancy and unbelief! In how many instances have we found our trials to be the richest blessings in disguise, and have been constrained to acknowledge them all as the fruits of parental love! Let us, then, wait for the issue of our trials, before we presume to judge hardly of God on account of them. The history of Job was particularly intended to teach us this lesson, and to reconcile us to afflictive dispensations of whatever kind: “Behold, we count them happy that endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy,” James 5:11.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Remember the words of our Lord Jesus to His disciples, “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter,” John 13:7.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Whatever veil now covers the deep things of God, it will shortly be done away with; though we know not now, the faithful shall know hereafter, and forever admire and adore the perfection, excellence, and beauty of all His works and ways—in creation, providence, and grace, and not a flaw to be found.

CHARLES SIMEON: Let it be our endeavour to walk more by faith and less by sight; according to that direction of the prophet, “Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God,” Isaiah 50:10.

 

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Satan’s War on English Personal Pronouns

Posted on November 5, 2021 by The Editor

Psalm 12:6; Psalm 23:1-6

The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Words are used in Scripture with the most exact precision and discrimination.

WILLIAM PRINGLE (1790-1858): It is impossible not to see that here.

A. W. PINK: The One present was Jehovah, whom David knew and owned as “my Shepherd” in the opening verse. But observe a striking alteration in David’s language in the latter part of Psalm 23. In the first three verses all the pronouns referring to the Lord are in the third person: “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me. He restoreth my soul.” But in the last three verses David changes to the second person: “Thou art with me. Thy rod”—not ‘His’ rod—and Thy staff. Thou preparest a table before me, Thou anointest my head.” Why the variation? Ah, there is something inexpressibly blessed in that change. During life the believer speaks of the Lord—“He leadeth me;” but as he enters the valley of the shadow of death, he speaks to the Lord, for He is there by his side!

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Martin Luther used to say, “All vital religion is in the personal and possessive pronouns.” Is it not so? “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee!” Isaiah 43:2…How sweetly does David address the Lord in Psalm 84:3—“O Jehovah of Hosts, my King and my God.” The people of God love possessive pronouns—“my King and my God”…Let us also value the personal possessive pronouns—the sweetness of the promises lies in them. These are our arms with which we embrace the promises.

A. W. PINK: Here the change of pronouns brings out a precious line of truth.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren,” Luke 22:31,32. Our Lord directs His speech to Peter—though it appears He had a respect to them all, for the word “you” is in the plural number.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Satan hath desired to have you all in his hands—that he may sift you as wheat.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): “But,” continues our Lord, “I have prayed for thee,”—Peter in particular.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The NIV, ESV, NKJV, and RSV translations of the Bible replace all “thee and thou” singular pronouns with the plural pronoun “you.” Here they read as if Satan wanted to sift only Peter. But Jesus knew Satan wanted all of His apostles, and that the devil’s main assault would come upon Peter, for whom He prayed in particular, that Peter’s faith would not totally fail. Thus details of God’s truth which are seen in the original Greek and Hebrew texts, and in the King James Bible, are hidden in those modern English translations.

MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): No greater mischief can happen to a Christian people, than to have God’s Word taken from them, or falsified, so they no longer have it pure and clear.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): We are told today we must realize that we are living in a ‘post-Christian’ era and that the greatest obstacle to preaching today, is that people do not understand our terms. They sound archaic to them, they are not modern, they are not up-to-date. The result is this great modern craze for new translations of the Scriptures in familiar, ordinary everyday language, and the fashion of no longer addressing God as “Thee” and “Thou,” but “You.” This, we are told, is all-important—that when the modern man hears “Thee” and “Thou” it is almost impossible for him to listen to the gospel, leave alone to believe it. So we have to change our language, and we do this in our new translations of the Bible, and in our prayers.

EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s nonsense. When Canadians sing their national anthem before the start of a hockey game, they  have no trouble understanding, “O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. God keep our land, glorious and free.” The same is true for Americans when they sing, “America, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty.”

LORD SHAFTESBURY (1801-1885): I see that the revision of the Scriptures is to impoverish our language.

C. H. SPURGEON: At first, Calvinism was too harsh, then evangelical doctrines became too antiquated—now the Scriptures themselves must bow to man’s alteration and improvement.

LORD SHAFTESBURY: All is in keeping. These fellows are enfeebling our doctrine; and it is quite in harmony to enfeeble the language in which it is expressed.

JOHN ROBINSON (1575-1625): That translation is most exact, which agrees best with the original, word for word, so far as the idiom, or propriety of the language will bear.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): “When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me,” John 15:26. One thing comes out very plainly here, and that is the personality of the Holy Ghost. In Greek it stands out very prominently in the gender of the pronouns, which our English language cannot reach. The word we render “whom,” in the Greek text is masculine;—“which” is neuter;—and “he” is masculine again.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Let us have the best that the translators can give us. But that is not the real point behind the idea that you must now address God as “You” rather than “Thee” or “Thou” if you are to communicate the Gospel to modern man. The basic assumption behind that thinking is that the reason people do not believe in God, and do not pray to Him and accept the Gospel, is the archaic language of the King James Version—and if only that is put right the whole situation will be changed.

J. C. RYLE: Let us be on our guard against the devil’s devices. He is very subtle. The personality, activity, and power of the devil are not sufficiently thought of by Christians. This is he who brought sin into the world at the beginning, by tempting Eve.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The last fifty years have shown that much of modern English language revisionism has a far deeper Satanic agenda, under a guise of equality and human rights. First, in 1969, feminist “equality” activism instigated the ordination of women and their preaching in churches, contrary to God’s Word, 1 Corinthians 14:34; 1 Timothy 2:11,12. In 1989, the first “gender neutral” Bible was published, when the New Revised Standard Version adopted a policy of “inclusiveness in gender language,” using non-masculine pronouns for God. By the late 20th century, the word “gay,” traditionally meaning “cheerful” or “carefree,” had replaced the term “homosexual,” a subtle cultural rebranding to legitimize an anti-Christian “lifestyle.” In 2001, came the world’s first legalization of “gay marriage.” Its opponents were labelled “homophobic,” which, by its psychological connotation, perversely slandered them as having a mental disorder. Now feminist/homosexual activists insist that gender is not inherently male or female, but a matter of choice, so everyone must address “trans-gender” people by whatever pronouns they choose to use. The Satanic design behind these lies and unholy practices is to undermine the authority of the Bible, and the natural order of God’s Creation.

 

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A Dark Night of Despair At Endor

Posted on October 29, 2021 by The Editor

1 Samuel 28:3-20

Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa. And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. And when Saul enquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.

Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee.

And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die? And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing. Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.

And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.

And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up?

And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.

Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? And the LORD hath done to him, as he spake by me: for the LORD hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David: Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the LORD done this thing unto thee this day. Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.

Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel: and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): That such a thing as witchcraft has existed, we cannot doubt. The account given us of the witch of Endor is one of the most remarkable in the Scriptures; though there are in it some difficulties, which have occasioned a diversity of opinions respecting it—many have thought that Samuel himself did not appear, but that Satan assumed his shape and garb. But there is no intimation in the history that this was the case; on the contrary, every expression has directly the opposite aspect.

WILLIAM KELLY (1821-1906): It was Samuel whom Saul saw. It was an unusual sight the witch beheld. She confessed it, when she told Saul she saw “gods ascending out of the earth.” Her familiar spirit was unable to act, for God Himself had taken up the matter against Saul.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): But to this it may be objected, that the soul of Samuel would not have “ascended out of the earth,” but come down from heaven; it cannot reasonably be supposed that it was in the power of the witch, by the assistance of the devil, to fetch it from heaven.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Neither Satan nor his instruments can have power over the souls of glorified saints—we know the spirits of just men made perfect are with the Lord.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): “Why hast thou disquieted me?” This the true Samuel would never have said; but as the devil had personated Samuel in his form, so now he doth in his words.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Samuel complains not of the woman, but of Saul, for disquieting him; whence it appears clear, that Samuel was not raised up by her magic arts, but by the will of God. Samuel’s disquiet plainly arose from Saul’s hardened impenitence—it was this that grieved and provoked him.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): Let it be carefully read, and it becomes perfectly clear that this woman had nothing to do with bringing up Samuel. She commenced, on the occasion of Saul’s visit, to practice the deceptions with which she was familiar. When in response to her incantations, as it seemed, Samuel actually appeared, she was startled beyond measure.

ALFRED H. BURTON (1853-1937): Evidently the witch of Endor was not accustomed to bring up the dead, from her surprise at the appearance of Samuel: the spirit which she and all of her class professed to consult was a demon which personated the one desired. Her alarm at seeing Samuel, whom she herself does not appear to recognize, makes it clear that something unusual had taken place. It was God who interposed in this case to bring up Samuel in reality from the dead, who pronounces from Jehovah the solemn judgment about to fall upon Saul.

JOHN GILL: God would not send Samuel’s soul from heaven on such an errand, to give Saul an answer, when He would not answer him by any prophet on earth, nor in any other way; and especially it seems quite incredible that He should send Samuel at the motion of a witch, and through her enchantments, who, according to a law of His, ought not to live; whereas nothing could have given greater countenance to such a wicked profession than this.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): God condemns spiritism in no uncertain terms in the writings of Moses and of the prophet Isaiah.

THOMAS COKE: God is not so tied down to His own institutions, that He cannot at any time depart from them. That God should manifest Himself by His prophets, to encourage or countenance what He Himself had forbidden, is indeed very unlikely, or to speak more justly, very absurd to suppose. But that He should interpose to reprove that practice, is perfectly compatible with all our ideas of His perfections.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN: That Samuel actually appeared to Saul, there can be no doubt.

ROBERT HAWKER: That it could not be Samuel is evident from other considerations.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): There are divers passages in this relation which plainly discover that this was no good, but an evil spirit; as First, That he receives that worship from Saul, which good spirits would not suffer, Revelation 19:10; 22:8,9. Secondly, That amongst Saul’s other sins for which he condemns him, he omits this of “asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it;” for which transgression, with others, Saul is expressly said to have died, 1 Chronicles 10:13,14—and which the true Samuel, who was so zealous for God’s honour, and so faithful a reprover, would never have neglected—especially now, when he takes Saul in the very fact of it. The only argument of any colour to the contrary is only this: that the devil could not so particularly and punctually discover Saul’s future events as this ‘Samuel’ does.

THOMAS COKE: These predictions of Samuel evidently proved that he spoke by God’s order; for he foretells, first, the victory of the Philistines; secondly, the death of Saul and his sons; and thirdly, the advantages which the Philistines should derive from their victory. And it is surprising, that after such plain predictions as these, which could come only from God, any person should imagine that this apparition of Samuel was a diabolical imposture.

MATTHEW POOLE: But this also hath little weight in it; it being notoriously known that evil spirits in the oracles of heathens, and otherwise, have oft-times foretold future contingencies; God being pleased to reveal such things to them, and to permit them to be the instruments of revealing them to men, for the trial of some, and for the terror and punishment of others.

EDITOR’S NOTE: God, Who knows the end from the beginning, had permitted an evil spirit to terrify king Saul once before: “the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him;” this evil spirit departed from Saul only when David played the harp, 1 Samuel 16:14,23.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): An evil spirit foresaw king Ahab’s fall at Ramoth-Gilead and was instrumental in it, 1 Kings 22:19-23—as perhaps this evil spirit, by divine permission, was instrumental in Saul’s destruction…The devil knows how to speak with an air of religion, and can teach false apostles to transform themselves into the apostles of Christ and imitate their language.

JOHN TRAPP: Samuel himself could not have spoken more gravely, severely, divinely, than this fiend does.

MATTHEW HENRY: Yet with what a malicious design! He upbraids him with his disobedience to the command of God in not destroying the Amalekites. Satan had helped him to palliate and excuse that sin when Samuel was dealing with him to bring him to repentance, 1 Samuel 15:13-31. But now he aggravates it, to make him despair of God’s mercy.

JOHN GILL: His intent is to lead him to despair, which shows what sort of spirit he was.

JOHN TRAPP: See how Satan layeth load enough upon this already despairing wretch that he may hurry him to hell. Till men have sinned, Satan is a parasite; when they have sinned, he is a tyrant. This is yet his method to this day: be not ignorant of his wiles.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): The scene at Endor makes one’s flesh creep. No more tragic picture of failure and despair was ever painted.

 

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The Idolatry of Modern Environmentalism

Posted on October 22, 2021 by The Editor

Ecclesiastes 1:9,10

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): There is nothing in the world but a continued and tiresome repetition of the same things.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): We hear of some who worship the sun at its rising—that is sad idolatry.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The worship of the sun, moon, and stars, is another sort of idolatry which they were cautioned against, Deuteronomy 4:19. This was the most ancient species of idolatry and the most plausible, drawing the adoration to those creatures not only in a situation above us, but most sensibly glorious in themselves, and most generally serviceable to the world.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Others also, made prayer to Mother Earth.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Mother Earth was a common expression in different nations…The inhabitants of north Germany, our Saxon ancestors, in general worshipped Mother Earth; they believed her to interpose in the affairs of men, and to visit nations; that to her, in a sacred grove in a certain island of the ocean, a vehicle covered with a vestment was consecrated, and allowed to be touched by the priests only, who perceived when the goddess entered into her secret place, and with profound veneration attended her vehicle, which was drawn by cows. While the goddess was on her progress, days of rejoicing were kept in every place which she vouchsafed to visit; they engaged in no war, they handled no weapons; peace and quietness were then only known, till the same priest conducted the goddess back to her temple.

C. H. SPURGEON: Nowadays, swarms of people attribute everything that is great and wonderful to “Nature”—they talk forever of “the beauties of Nature,” “the grandeur of Nature,” “the laws of Nature.” But God is as little spoken of as if He were not alive! As to laws of Nature, these occupy with moderns much the same place as the deities of Olympus with the ancients!

STEPHEN CHARNOCK (1628-1680): Creation presents us with a prospect of the wisdom of God: “By wisdom He created the earth,” Proverbs 3:19.

C. H. SPURGEON: What are laws of Nature but the ordinary ways in which God works? But these people attribute to them a sort of power apart from the Presence of the Creator. There are plenty of people who are willing to believe in a god of a certain sort, but I hardly know how to describe their god…One man says, “I do not go into your places of worship, and hear you talk about God. I like to walk about and worship Nature.” Does he mean the grass in the meadows and the flowers of the field? If so, I hardly think that I should like to worship what cattle eat—it seems a degradation for a man to stoop as low as that! But they will say and do anything to get rid of the idea of the living and true God. One standing up in the street, said that we could not do better on Sunday than go and worship Nature. There was nothing that was so refining and elevating to the mind as Nature. Nature did everything.

JOHN TRAPP: Mother Nature.

C. H. SPURGEON: A Christian man in the crowd ventured to ask, “What is Nature?” And the gentleman said, “Well, Nature—well—it is Nature! Don’t you know what it is? It is Nature.” No further definition was forthcoming! I fear the term is only useful as enabling men to talk of creation without being compelled to mention the Creator.

A. W. TOZER (1897-1963): God dwells in His creation, and is everywhere indivisibly present in all His works. This is boldly taught by prophet and apostle and is accepted by Christian theology generally—but the doctrine of the divine Presence is definitely not Pantheism. Pantheism’s error is too palpable to deceive anyone. It is that God is the sum of all created things. Nature and God are one, so that whoever touches a leaf or a stone touches God. That is, of course, to degrade the glory of the incorruptible Deity and, in an effort to make all things divine, to banish all divinity from the world entirely. The truth is, that while God dwells in His world, He is separated from it by a gulf forever impassable. However closely He may be identified with the work of His hands, they are, and must eternally be other than He Himself—and He is, and must be, antecedent to and independent of them.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Modern Environmentalism has degenerated into a secular religious cult of climate activism and earth-worship idolatry, which worships “the creature more than the Creator,” Romans 1:25; its idol-god is “Science,” so called; and its followers, with all the zealous devotion of deluded fanatics, believe that they alone will save the planet from destruction. All who disagree are dismissed as ignorant infidels.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): It is a diabolical science, however, which fixes our contemplations on the works of nature, and turns them away from God.

ALEXANDER CARSON (1776-1844): They make the dogmas of human science an authority paramount to the testimony of God in the Scriptures.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): Modern science itself teaches us that we are not anti-scientific and we are not obscurantist if we do not accept statements as absolute truth simply because they are made by certain prominent scientists. We know that great scientists have made very dogmatic statements in the past, which by now have proved to be wrong…Christianity has not come into the world to reform the world. What has it come for? It has come to save us from the destruction that is coming to the world.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Let us consider the dissolution of this present world.

C. H. SPURGEON: God’s Word declares that the whole world will be destroyed by fire.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, 2 Peter 3:13. The promise to which it is supposed that Peter alludes, is found in Isaiah 65:17, “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind;” and Isaiah 66:22, “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, saith the Lord.” Now, although these may be interpreted of the glory of the Gospel dispensation, yet, if Peter refers to them, they must have a more extended meaning. It does appear from these promises, and from what is said in Revelation 21 & 22, that the present earth, though destined to be burned up, will not be destroyed, but be renewed and refined, purged from all moral and natural imperfection, and made the endless abode of blessed spirits. But this state is certainly to be expected after the Day of Judgment; for on this the apostle is very express, who says the conflagration and renovation are to take place at the judgment of the great day; 2 Peter 3:7-12.

CHARLES SIMEON: That’s the period John speaks of in Revelation 21:1, when he says “I saw a new heaven, and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.”

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): The day of the Lord will come. It will be destructive. It will be constructive.

MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): The world is now in its working clothes, and by-and-by, it will be arrayed in its Easter garments of joy.

 

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God’s Conservation Commandment

Posted on October 15, 2021 by The Editor

Leviticus 25:3-7, 20-22

Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land. And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee, and for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.

And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase. Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): The command to give rest to the land every seventh year must appear exceeding strange to those who have not duly considered it. Most would account for it perhaps from its being conducive to the good of the land, which would be too much exhausted, if it were not permitted occasionally to lie fallow.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): It is a known rule in husbandry, that land requires rest; and therefore it is generally laid fallow, in order to recruit its strength: this, doubtless, among others, was a reason for the present institution.

CHARLES SIMEON: But this could not be the reason: for then a seventh part of the land would most probably have been kept fallow every year, and not the whole land all at once…Nor can the idea of lying fallow be applied with any propriety to the olive-yards and vineyards, which, though not trimmed and pruned that year, were suffered to bring all their fruit to maturity.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): Where, throughout all the earth, do we read of a land enjoying a year of unbroken repose—and a year of richest abundance?

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): It was a kindness to their land to let it rest sometimes, and would keep it “in heart” as our husbandmen express it, for posterity, whose satisfaction God would have them to consult, and not to use the ground as if it were designed only for one age.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): Yes, no doubt that is true partially; but that was never the sole, nor even the main purpose.

CHARLES SIMEON: We must look then to some other source for the reasons of this commandment.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): It is “a sabbath for the Lord,”—for His honour and glory, to ascertain His property in the land, to show the power of His providence, and display His goodness in His care of all creatures, without any means used by them.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): God here asserted His right of property, as the LORD of the whole earth.

CHARLES SIMEON: In Leviticus 25:23, God says to His people, “The land is mine.” And it was His: He had dispossessed the former inhabitants, and had given it to His own people, assigning to every tribe its precise district, and to every family their proper portion. This they would have been likely to forget in the space of a few years: and therefore, as the great Proprietor, He specified the terms on which he admitted them to the possession of His land, reserving to Himself the tithes and first-fruits, and requiring the whole to be left uncultivated and common every seventh year. Thus the people would be reminded from time to time that they were only tenants, bound to use the land agreeably to the conditions imposed on them.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: The rationalist may ask, “How can these things be?”

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): “What shall we eat the seventh year?” A very natural question, which could only be laid at rest by the sovereign promise in the next verse: “I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.”

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): The phrase must be observed, that God would “command His blessing” in an especial manner, and beyond the usual course, so that the land should be twice or thrice more fertile.

ROBERT HAWKER: Rather than God’s people shall be losers by their dependence upon Him, He will even work a miracle to supply them; for causing the sixth year to be three times as prolific, was little less than a standing miracle.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): They were to have enough for the year of rest, and for the next year in which the harvest was growing, and still to have something over for the ninth year. They scarcely could want as much as that; but God would give them more than they actually needed, exceeding abundantly above what they asked or even thought…There was to be no private property in the spontaneous produce of that year. It was free to everybody; free even to the cattle, which might go and eat what they would, and where they would.

MATTHEW HENRY: They were hereby taught to be charitable and generous, and not to engross all to themselves, but to be willing that others should share with them in the gifts of God’s bounty, which the earth brought forth of itself—They were reminded of the easy life man lived in paradise, when he ate of every good thing, not, as since, in the sweat of his face. Labour and toil came in with sin. They were taught to consider how the poor lived, that did neither sow nor reap, even by the blessing of God upon a little.

ROBERT HAWKER: See that sweet promise, Psalm 132:15, “I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread.” What a strong leading feature is here given of man’s dependence upon God. And what a precious comment doth Jesus Himself give of it in Matthew 4:4—“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): These signs served to keep before the people the fact that God is the original Owner and Possessor of the land and that no man can treat it as absolutely his own.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): As God would hereby try their faith, and exercise their obedience, so He gave them eminent proof of His own exact providence and tender care for them.

MATTHEW HENRY: It was intended for an encouragement to all God’s people, in all ages, to trust Him in the way of duty, and to cast their care upon Him.

THOMAS COKE: They who follow God’s will may safely trust Him for a provision. It would be a shame to a Christian if he had less faith than a Jew, and if we should be more afraid of wanting bread than they were.

ROBERT HAWKER: Was not the extensiveness of this mercy, in reaching to all ranks and orders of the people, intended to shadow forth the extensiveness of that mercy which Jesus by His glorious redemption hath accomplished?

MATTHEW HENRY: This year of rest typified the spiritual rest which all believers enter into through Christ, who giveth us comfort and rest “concerning our work, and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed,” Genesis 5:29. Through Him we are eased of the burden of worldly care and labour, both being sanctified and sweetened to us, and we are enabled and encouraged to live by faith. And, as the fruits of this sabbath of the land were enjoyed in common, so the salvation wrought out by Christ is a common salvation.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: Here, then, we have the special feature of the Lord’s land. He would have it to enjoy a sabbatical year, and in that year there was to be the evidence of the rich profusion with which He would bless those who held it as tenants under Him. Happy, highly privileged tenancy! What an honour to hold it immediately under Jehovah! No rent! No taxes! No burdens! Well might it be said, “Happy is the people that is in such a case; yea, happy is that nation whose God is Jehovah,” Psalm 144:15.

 

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