Strange Fire

Posted on April 9, 2021 by The Editor

Leviticus 9:23,24; Leviticus 10:1-3

Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the people. And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.

And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): This solemn story of sin and punishment is connected with the preceding chapter by a simple “and.” Probably, therefore, Nadab and Abihu “offered strange fire,” immediately after the fire from Jehovah had consumed the appointed sacrifice. Their sin was aggravated by the time of its being committed. But a week had passed since the consecration of their father and themselves as priests. The first sacrifices had just been offered, and here, in the very blossoming time, came a vile canker.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): How ‘quickly’ Nadab and Abihu did that which the Lord “commanded them not” after the priesthood was instituted!

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: If such license in setting aside the prescriptions of the newly established sacrificial order asserted itself then, to what lengths might it not run when the first impression of sanctity and of God’s commandment had been worn by time and custom? The sin was further aggravated by the sinners being priests, who were doubly obliged to punctilious adherence to the instituted ritual.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): By their example, they encouraged the people to disregard the laws that had been promulged; and God, by executing judgment on the offenders, showed the whole nation—yea, the whole world also, that “He will by no means clear the guilty.”

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Since He was not glorified by them before the people in the way of their duty, He would glorify Himself in their punishment.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): But what was their sin?

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Nadab and Abihu appear to have entered into the Presence of God wrongfully. They had probably been drinking, for there was a command given afterwards, Leviticus 10:9, that no priest should drink wine or strong drink when he went into the House of the Lord.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: It was the fire which was wrong. Plainly, the narrative points to the essence of the crime in calling it “fire which He had not commanded.”

THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): By His command, only fire from the altar should have been offered which originally came down from heaven.

JOHN GILL: This fire was not that which came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, as at the end of the preceding chapter, but common fire, and therefore called strange.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: What was their sin in thus offering it?

MATTHEW HENRY: The priests were to burn incense only when it was their lot, Luke 1:9, and, at this time, it was not theirs.

CHARLES SIMEON: It would seem that they were elated with the distinction conferred upon them, and impatient to display the high privileges they enjoyed. Hence, without waiting for the proper season of burning incense, or considering in what manner God had commanded it to be done, they both together took their censers—though only one was ever so to officiate at a time, and put common fire upon them, and went in to burn incense before the Lord.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: So this was their crime, that they were tampering with the appointed order which but a week before they had been consecrated to conserve and administer; that they were thus thrusting in self-will and personal caprice, as of equal authority with the divine commandment.

THOMAS GOODWIN: It was a transgression in bringing in, or continuing to use, such human inventions in worship as God had not commanded, and justifying such to be warrantable.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): “This is it that the Lord spake.” Where? and when?

MATTHEW HENRY: Where did God speak this? We do not find the very words; but to this purpose He had said, “Let the priests who come near to the Lord sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them,” Exodus 19:22. Indeed the whole scope and tenor of His law spoke this, that being a holy God, and a sovereign Lord, He must always be worshiped with holiness and reverence, and exactly according to His own appointment; and if any jest with Him, it is at their peril. Much had been said to this purpose, as in Exodus 29:43,44; Exodus 34:14; Leviticus 8:35. What was it that God spoke? It was this: “I will be sanctified in those that come nigh me—whoever they are, and, before all the people I will be glorified.”

A. W. PINK: Now, have these unspeakably solemn incidents no message for us today?

MATTHEW HENRY: Whenever we worship God, we come nigh unto Him as spiritual priests. This consideration ought to make us very reverent and serious in all acts of devotion, when we approach God and present ourselves before Him. It concerns us all, when we come nigh to God, to sanctify Him, that is, to give Him the praise of His holiness, to perform every religious exercise as those who believe that the God with whom we have to do is a holy God, a God of spotless purity and transcendent perfection, Isaiah 8:13. When we sanctify God we glorify Him, for His holiness is His glory; and, when we sanctify Him in our solemn assemblies, we glorify Him before all the people, confessing our own belief of His glory and desiring that others also may be affected with it.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): A learned writer explains “that Moses gives to the fire, of which the two sons of Aaron made use, the direct name of fire without any qualification; not calling it strange fire till after he had said that they put incense thereon: so that, considering the mode of expression he uses, it seems as if the fire which Nadab and Abihu employed was not in itself a strange fire, and only became such when they had cast the incense upon it.”

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): Nothing could be permitted to ascend from the priestly censer but the pure fire, kindled from off the altar of God, and fed by the “pure incense beaten small,” Leviticus 16:12.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): What is it to offer strange fire before the LORD, but to offer anything of our own, and not with an eye to Jesus, when we come before the LORD? In Exodus 30:9, mention is made of the prohibition of “strange incense” being offered before the LORD. And as incense is generally understood to have reference to the merits of Christ, why may not the sacred fire be supposed to have reference also to the person or oblation of the Lord Jesus?

JOHN GILL: “Strange fire” may be an emblem of dissembled love, such as when a man performs religious duties, prays to God, or praises Him without any cordial affection to Him, or obeys commands not from love, but selfish views; or of an ignorant, false, and misguided zeal, a zeal not according to knowledge, superstitious and hypocritical; or of false and strange doctrines, such as are not of God, nor agree with the voice of Christ, and are foreign to the Scriptures; or of human ordinances, and the inventions of men.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): How greatly God abominates all the sins whereby the purity of religion is corrupted.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: Very much of that which passes among men for the worship of God is but “strange fire” after all…The time, however, is rapidly approaching when the strange fire will be quenched for ever, when the throne of God shall no longer be insulted by clouds of impure incense ascending from unpurged worshippers; when all that is spurious shall be abolished.

 

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An Easter Springtime

Posted on April 2, 2021 by The Editor

John 11:25,26; Colossians 3:4; Romans 13:11,12

I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Christ was crucified on the fourteenth of Nissan, or about the beginning of April. It was the first of Israel’s great national feasts—the most important season in the Jewish year. It was the Passover, when solemn celebration was made of that night when all the firstborn sons of the Hebrews were spared from the angel of death in the land of Egypt.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): The Chaldees call this month Abib, from the new fruits or ears of grain then first appearing. It was the first month unto Israel, in respect of sacred, not civil affairs, because of their coming out of Egypt therein. It answereth to part of March with us, and part of April.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): It seems to me that spring reads to us a most excellent discourse upon the grand doctrine of revelation. This very month of April, which, if it is not the very entrance of spring, yet certainly introduces us to the fullness of it. This very month—bearing by its [Latin] name the title of the ‘opening’ month, speaks to us of the resurrection. As we have walked through our gardens, fields and woods, we have seen the flower buds ready to burst upon the trees and the buried flowers starting up from the sod; and they have spoken to us with sweet voices, the words, “You, too, shall rise again. You, too, shall be buried in the earth like seeds that are lost in winter, but you shall rise again and you shall live and blossom in eternal spring.”*

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): The resurrection of Jesus is the support and comfort of the dying believer; for if we have been planted with Him in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: as members of His body, because He lives, we shall live also.

MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): About the time of Easter in April, Pharaoh was swallowed up in the Red Sea, and the nation of Israel delivered from Egypt—and at the same time Christ rose again to renew the world. Perchance the last day will come about the same time.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): There is a certain series in the works of providence, as there is in the works of nature. The signs of the times are compared with the prognostics of “the face of the sky,” Matthew 16:3. So here, with those of the face of the earth, Matthew 24:32; when that is renewed, we foresee that summer is coming, not immediately, but at some distance; after “the branch grows tender,” we expect the March winds, and the April showers, before the summer comes; however, we are sure it is coming; “so likewise ye, when the gospel day shall dawn, count upon it, that through this variety of events which I have told you of, the perfect day will come.” “The things revealed must shortly come to pass,” Revelation 1:1; they must come in their own order, in the order appointed for them. “Know that it is near.”

MARTIN LUTHER: I am of the opinion it will be about Easter, when the year is finest and fairest, and early in the morning, at sunrise, as at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The elements will be gloomy with earthquakes and thunderings about an hour or a little longer, and the secure people will say: “Pish, thou fool, hast thou never heard it thunder?”

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): The days of Noah are the true type of the days when Christ shall return, Matthew 24:37,38. When the flood came, men were found “eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage,” absorbed in their worldly pursuits, and utterly regardless of Noah’s repeated warnings. They saw no likelihood of a flood. They would not believe there was any danger. But at last the flood came suddenly and “took them all away.” All that were not with Noah in the ark were drowned. They were all swept away to their last account, unpardoned, unconverted, and unprepared to meet God. And our Lord says, “so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

MARTIN LUTHER: The Christians and the righteous shall ascend upward into heaven, and there live everlastingly, but the wicked and the ungodly, as the dross and filth, shall remain.*

J. C. RYLE: “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh,” Matthew 24:44. Let us mark this text, and store it up in our minds.

THOMAS COKE: We too shall have our spring-time of resurrection.*

JOHN TRAPP: At that day of “Revelation,” as it is called, “we must all appear,”—or be made transparent, translucent, like a perfectly transparent body, as the word there signifies—before the judgment seat of Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:10; and all shall be laid naked and open, the books of God’s omniscience and man’s conscience also shall be then opened, and secret sins shall be as legible in thy forehead as if written with the brightest stars or the most glittering sunbeams upon a wall of crystal. Men’s actions are all in print in heaven, and God will at that day read them aloud in the ears of all the world. “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil,” Ecclesiastes 12:14. Then it shall appear what it is, which before was not so clear; like as in April both wholesome roots and poisonable reveal themselves, which in winter were not seen. Then men shall give an account, of good things committed unto them; of good things neglected by them; of evils committed by them; and lastly, of evils done by others, suffered by them when they might have hindered it.

WILLIAM PRINGLE (1790-1858): Moreover, know the time, that it is even now the very time for us to awake from sleep; for nearer now is our salvation than when we believed: the night has advanced, and the day has approached; let us then cast away the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light; let us, as in the day, walk in a becoming manner.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): This is the current language and sense of our Lord and His apostles. They represent his coming as “at hand,” as “drawing nigh,”—and admonish their hearers to “watch,” lest His coming should find them unprepared.

J. C. RYLE: Millions of professing Christians will be found thoughtless, unbelieving, Godless, Christless, worldly, and unfit to meet their Judge. Let us take heed that we are not found amongst them.*

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*Editor’s Note: For true believers in Jesus, the Day of His coming in power and glory will be one of great joy. But not for unbelievers, no matter what they may call themselves. An old preacher once said that the Sadducees were “sad, you see,” because they did not believe in the resurrection, and thus had no hope. How much greater will be the sadness of unbelievers, when they must face the true reality of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, and hear His judgment of eternal doom upon them.

 

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Jesus Christ’s Way of Dealing With Persecution

Posted on March 26, 2021 by The Editor

Hebrews 12:3; 1 Peter 2:19-24

Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): It is here taken for granted that persons in every age will be persecuted for righteousness’ sake. And the whole history of mankind fully justifies this assumption: for from the time of Abel to the present hour it has been verified. The lovers of darkness hate the light; and will endeavour, when it lies in their power, to extinguish it, John 3:19. The whole life of David tends to illustrate this: “They that render evil for good are mine adversaries,” says he; “because I follow the thing that good is,” Psalm 38:20. And what shall I say of Him who was greater than David, even the Son of God Himself?

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): What trials Christ met with in His race and course! He “endured the contradiction of sinners against himself;” He bore the opposition that they made to Him, both in their words and behaviour. They were continually contradicting Him, and crossing in upon His great designs.

CHARLES SIMEON: Consider the unreasonableness with which He was opposed, when, notwithstanding the myriads of miracles that He wrought, His enemies were continually demanding more signs, and pretending a want of evidence as the ground of their unbelief. Consider the obstinacy with which He was rejected, when His victory over the devils was ascribed to a confederacy with them…Consider the malice with which He was persecuted. Incessantly did His enemies labour to ensnare him, and seek to take away His life. And, when they had a prospect of effecting their purpose, there was no method, however infamous, which they did not use to accomplish their wishes. With what inveteracy did they suborn false witnesses; and, on the failure of that device, compel the judge by clamours and menaces, to give sentence against him! Consider the cruelty with which He was put to death. They might, one would have thought, have been satisfied with seeing His back torn, and even ploughed up, with scourges: but their cruelty was insatiable; for, even when He was nailed to the accursed tree, they ceased not to mock and insult Him, and to add by their indignities a tenfold poignancy to all His anguish.

MATTHEW HENRY: Yet He endured their evil manners with great patience.

CHARLES SIMEON: Surely His wisdom precluded a possibility of any fault being found with Him; whilst His goodness suppressed, in every bosom, a disposition to find fault. But on the contrary, in proportion to His superiority above all the sons of men, was the inveterate obstinacy of the carnal mind against Him. Can we, then, hope to escape their malignity? No; The disciple cannot be above his Master, or the servant above his Lord: if they have hated Him, they will hate us also, Matthew 10:24; John 15:18. We, like Him, must have our cross to bear and “all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution,” 2 Timothy 3:12.

MATTHEW HENRY: Christians are a sort of people “called to be sufferers,” and therefore they must expect it; by the terms of Christianity they are bound to deny themselves, and take up the cross.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Our troubles are but as the slivers and chips of His cross.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): If the Son of God, whom it behoves all to adore, willingly underwent such severe conflicts, who of us should dare to refuse to submit with Him to the same? For this one thought alone ought to be sufficient to conquer all temptations, that is, when we know that we are companions or associates of the Son of God, and that He, who was so far above us, willingly came down to our condition, in order that He might animate us by His own example; yea, it is thus that we gather courage, which would otherwise melt away, and turn as it were into despair.

JOHN OWEN (1616-1683): And this I judge to be the frame of mind here cautioned against by the apostle, namely, the want of life, vigour, and cheerfulness in profession, tending unto a relinquishment of it…When we begin to be heartless, desponding, and weary of our sufferings, it is a dangerous disposition of mind, towards a defection from the gospel. So it hath been with many, who at first vigorously engaged in profession, but have been wrought over unto a conformity with the world, by a weariness of their trials. And we ought to watch against nothing more diligently than the insensible, gradual prevailing of such a frame in us, if we intend to be faithful unto the end. There is the way whereby we fall into this dangerous condition—it is by “fainting in our minds.”

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): What is the remedy? True heart-devotedness to, and fellowship with, a rejected and glorified Christ.

MATTHEW HENRY: The best way to prevent this is to look unto Jesus, and to consider Him. Faith and meditation will fetch in fresh supplies of strength, comfort, and courage; for He has assured them, if they suffer with him, they shall also reign with him,” 2 Timothy 2:12. And this hope will be their helmet.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Attentively observe and analyze every part of His conduct, enter into His Spirit, examine His motives and object. And remember that, as He acted, ye are called to act.

MATTHEW HENRY: The example of Christ’s subjection and patience is here explained and amplified: Christ suffered, wrongfully, and without cause; for he “did no sin,” 1 Peter 2:2; He had done no violence, no injustice or wrong to any one—He wrought no iniquity of any sort whatever; “neither was guile found in his mouth;” His words, as well as His actions, were all sincere, just, and right. “When he was reviled, he reviled not again;” when they blasphemed Him, mocked Him, called Him foul names, He was “dumb, and opened not his mouth,” Isaiah 53:7.  When they went further, to real injuries—beating, buffeting, and crowning Him with thorns, “he threatened not;” but committed both Himself and His cause “to God that judgeth righteously,” who would in time clear His innocence, and avenge Him on His enemies. Learn, our Blessed Redeemer was perfectly holy, and so free from sin that no temptation, no provocation whatsoever, could extort from Him so much as the least sinful or indecent word. Provocations to sin can never justify the commission of it. The rudeness, cruelty, and injustice of enemies, will not justify Christians in reviling and revenge.

ADAM CLARKE: He bore a continual opposition of sinners against Himself, but He conquered by meekness, patience, and perseverance.

JOHN CALVIN: Christ will not be less strong and invincible in us also, if, conscious of our own weakness, we place reliance upon His power alone.

ADAM CLARKE: If ye trust in Him, ye shall receive strength; therefore, howsoever great your opposition may be, ye shall not be weary: if ye confide in and attentively look to Him, ye shall have continual courage to go on, and never “faint in your minds”—He will furnish you with the same Spirit, and will support you with the same strength.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): What a spur this is, under God’s grace, to encourage the redeemed of the Lord to live an holy life?

 

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True Repentance in Prose & Poetry

Posted on March 19, 2021 by The Editor

Luke 18:13; 2 Samuel 24:10; Job 42:1-6

The publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): We never begin to be good till we can feel and say that we are bad…He that has learned to feel his sins has great reason to be thankful. We are never in the way of salvation until we know that we are lost, ruined, guilty, and helpless.

DUTCH PSALTER 140 (Psalm 51): I am evil, born in sin;

                                                                    Thou desirest truth within.

                                                                    Thou alone my Saviour art,

                                                                 Teach Thy wisdom to my heart;

                                                                Make me pure, Thy grace bestow,

                                                                  Wash me whiter that the snow.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Job was high in his own esteem before he saw God; but after he had seen God, his sentiments were wholly changed. Job expressly declares that his repentance was the result of the discovery afforded him.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Nothing can display more fully the state of a true penitent before the LORD. In the expressions Job makes use of, the very inside of his heart seems to be turned out to view. Self loathing, and self-abhorring, are among the highest tokens of the real contrition which passed within.

CHARLES SIMEON: The experience of every Christian accords with this. Nothing shows us the aggravations of our sins so much as a view of Him against whom they have been committed. Our contrition will ever be proportioned to our views of Christ. They will cause us to abhor ourselves in dust and ashes. While we know but little of God, we see but little of our own corruptions; but as we become more enlightened, we learn to loathe and abhor ourselves. Even Job, holy as he was, found this effect from his views of God. Paul also, notwithstanding all his integrity, was brought to this by a sight of Jesus Christ. The same cause will produce the same effect in all.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Like the Apostle Paul, they will count themselves the “chief of sinners.”

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The more we see of the glory and majesty of God, and the more we see of the vileness and odiousness of sin, and of ourselves because of sin, the more we shall abase and abhor ourselves for it. Self-loathing is evermore the companion of true repentance. “They shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed,” Ezekiel 6:9.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Impressed with a deep sense of his sins, the publican appeared so vile in his own sight, that he would not go up among the people of God, but stood afar off, in the court of the Gentiles, perhaps without the stone wall, called by the apostle the middle wall of partition, which the Gentiles and unclean Israelites were not permitted to pass.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Not because he was a heathen, and dared not approach the holy place—for it is likely he was a Jew—but because he was a true penitent, and felt himself utterly unworthy to appear before God.

THOMAS COKE: With eyes fixed on the ground, smiting on his breast, he by that action made a public acknowledgment of his great transgressions before all who were in sight of him, and, in the bitterness of his soul, earnestly cried for mercy.

J. C. RYLE: It was a humble prayer—a prayer which put self in the right place. The Publican confessed plainly that he was “a sinner.” This is the very A B C of saving Christianity.

C. H. SPURGEON: “The sinner” it should be; it is so emphatically in the Greek…He does not describe himself as a penitent sinner, or as a praying sinner, but simply as a sinner, and as a sinner he goes to God asking for mercy.

J. C. RYLE: It was a prayer in which mercy was the chief thing desired, and faith in God’s covenant mercy, however weak, was displayed. Mercy is the first thing we must ask for in the day we begin to pray. Mercy and grace must be the subject of our daily petitions at the throne of grace till the day we die.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): Thereby instructing us how to make our applications to God, disclaiming any goodness or righteousness in ourselves, and fleeing to the alone merits of Christ, and the free grace of God in and through Him.

DUTCH PSALTER 140 (Psalm 51): God be merciful to me

                                                                   On Thy grace I rest my plea;

                                                                 Plenteous in compassion Thou,

                                                                Blot out my transgressions now;

                                                                Wash me, make me pure within,

                                                              Cleanse, O cleanse me from my sin.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): The Publican prayed much, though he spoke little.

C. H. SPURGEON: Our English version of the Bible does not give the full meaning of the publican’s prayer; it is, “God be propitious to me,” that is, “be gracious to me through the ordained sacrifice;” and that is one of the points of the prayer that made it so acceptable to God. There is a mention of the atonement in it, there is a pleading of the sacrificial blood. It was a real prayer, and an acceptable prayer.

J. C. RYLE: His prayer was one which came from his heart. He was deeply moved in uttering it.

JOHN TRAPP: “And David’s heart smote him after he had numbered the people.” David’s heart had prompted him to this sin…Now the same heart smote him with a sense of guilt, and a fear of wrath.

MATTHEW POOLE: His conscience discerned his sin, and he was heartily sorry for it.

JOHN TRAPP: A stroke on the heart we know is deadly: so had this been to David, but that he confessed and forsook his sin, and so found mercy. “I have sinned greatly.” He confessed not slightly, but with the greatest aggravation: “For I have done very foolishly.”

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): All sin is folly, and some sins are exceeding foolish, and so this appeared to David; or, “though I have done very foolishly, yet forgive my sin.”

DUTCH PSALTER 140 (Psalm 51): My transgressions I confess,

                                                                     Grief and guilt my soul oppress;

                                                                     I have sinned against Thy grace

                                                                     And provoked Thee to Thy face;

                                                                        I confess Thy judgment just,

                                                                      Speechless, I Thy mercy trust.

                                                                        Broken, humbled to the dust,

                                                                     By Thy wrath and judgment just,

                                                                        Let my contrite heart rejoice

                                                                      And in gladness hear Thy voice;

                                                                       From my sins O hide Thy face,

                                                                     Blot them out in boundless grace.

JOHN GILL: “And now I beseech thee, Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant.” Take away the guilt of it from his conscience, which lay heavy there, and suffer not the punishment it deserves to take place on him, but grant an application of pardon to him.

J. C. RYLE: Such prayers are the prayers which are God’s delight. “A broken and a contrite heart,” He will not despise, Psalm 51:17.

CHARLES SIMEON:  Fear not, but that they who trust in God’s mercy shall find mercy at His hands. Let that faithful saying of the Apostle Paul’s sink deep into your hearts, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief,” 1 Timothy 1:15. Look truly to the Saviour—and to every believing penitent Jesus speaks as He did of that repenting Publican: “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified,” Luke 18:14.

 

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Justification By Faith Alone: A Stumbling Block Removed

Posted on March 12, 2021 by The Editor

Romans 4:2-5; James 2:14-18, 21-24

If Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works…Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only?

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): I would observe, that the great servant of God, Martin Luther, soon after he began to preach the Gospel, made a mistake…He had felt the power of Paul’s doctrine in his own soul, and would have defied an angel that should have dared to oppose it: therefore, when his adversaries pressed him with the authority of James, not having at that time light to give a more solid answer, he ventured to deny the authenticity of the whole Epistle, and rashly insisted, both in his sermons and books, that James never wrote it.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Many, besides Martin Luther, have thought they detected contradictory teaching in the letter of James, to that of Paul as set forth in Romans. Paul tells us plainly in Romans 4:2, “If Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.” Is there not contradiction here? Was not Luther right in declaring that this letter of James’ was not true inspired Scripture, but just “an epistle of straw?”

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): James never contradicts Paul—it is because we do not understand him that we fancy he does so.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): The Sophists laid hold on the word “justified,” and then they cried out as being victorious, that justification is partly by works. But we ought to seek out a right interpretation according to the general drift of the whole passage.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): There is a striking difference in the manner of expression between those two great Apostles. In all the writings of Paul, in relation to justification, he is uniformly speaking of the method of a sinner’s justification before God. James, on the contrary, is solely considering the subject, in respect to our being justified in the sight of men. Paul, never loseth sight of the cause of justification, which is Christ. James is speaking of the effect of justification.

H. A. IRONSIDE: Luther and many others failed to note those words in Romans 4:2, “not before God.” How was Abraham justified before God? James and Paul agree that it was when “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness.” But a careful examination of these letters will show that they were treating of altogether different subjects. Paul was dwelling on justification before God; James on justification before men.

JOHN CALVIN: We have already said that James does not speak here of the cause of justification, or of the manner how men obtain righteousness, and this is plain to every one; but that his object was only to show that good works are always connected with faith; and, therefore, since he declares that Abraham was “justified by works,” he is speaking of the proof that he gave of his justification.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): James does not stop to explain precisely what he means by “faith.” Clearly he here means a mere intellectual belief of religious truth, a barren orthodoxy. If that undeniable explanation of his terminology is kept steadily in view, much of the difficulty which has been found in bringing his teaching into harmony with Paul’s teaching melts away at once.

JOHN CALVIN: When, therefore, the Sophists set up James against Paul, they go astray through the ambiguous meaning of a term. When Paul says that we are justified by faith, he means no other thing than that by faith we are counted righteous before God. But James has quite another thing in view, even to show that he who professes that he has faith, must prove the reality of his faith by his works. Doubtless James did not mean to teach us here the ground on which our hope of salvation ought to rest; and it is this alone that Paul dwells upon. That we may not then fall into that false reasoning which has deceived the Sophists, we must take notice of the two fold meaning, of the word “justified.” Paul means by it, the gratuitous imputation of righteousness before the tribunal of God; and James, the manifestation of righteousness by the conduct, and that before men, as we may gather from the preceding words, “Show me thy faith.”

H. A. IRONSIDE: When Abraham went to Mount Moriah and there by faith offered his son upon the altar, he was justified by works before men, as he made manifest the reality of his profession of confidence in God and His Word. Thus, says James, the scripture found in Genesis 15:6 came to fulfilment in the demonstration of that faith Abraham had so long ago. Remember, some forty years elapsed between the patriarch’s justification by faith before God and his justification by works before men.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Which shows that Abraham was justified before he wrought this work—and therefore that could not be the cause or matter of his justification before God.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): The design of James is not to show how sinners are justified in God’s court, but only what kind of faith it is whereby they are justified—such a one as purifies the heart, Acts 15:9, and looks to Christ, not only as made righteousness, but as sanctification to them, 1 Corinthians 1:30; and consequently not only rests on Him for justification, but stirs them up to yield obedience to Him.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Thus the faith of Abraham was a working faith: “Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was made perfect? Ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only.”—Not by a bare opinion, or profession, or believing without obeying, but by having such a faith as is productive of good works.

C. H. SPURGEON: Both the doctrinal Paul and the practical James spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Paul builds the tower and James puts the railing around it—Paul conducts us to the summit of God’s House and bids us rejoice in what we see there. And then James points us to the railing that is built up to keep us from leaping over the truth of God to our own destruction. Thus is each doctrine balanced, bulwarked and guarded.

H. A. IRONSIDE: Had Luther seen this in his early days and put more stress upon it, he might have saved many of his followers from resting on mere credulity instead of knowing the reality of saving faith.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): Such are the weakness or slowness of understanding, dullness or confusedness of apprehension, incoherency of thought—these are the infirmities which are found in the best of men, in a larger or smaller proportion.  And from these none can hope to be perfectly freed, till the spirit returns to God that gave it.

JOHN NEWTON: But Luther, though mistaken in this point, was under the Lord’s teaching; he went on from strength to strength, increasing in knowledge and grace; and when his judgment was better informed, he publicly retracted his former unguarded assertion.

 

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The Cities of Refuge

Posted on March 5, 2021 by The Editor

Joshua 20:1-3, 6-9

The LORD also spake unto Joshua, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses: That the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood…And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days: then shall the slayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled.

And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjatharba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah. And on the other side Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever killeth any person at unawares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): This chapter is but short, but the contents of it are interesting…Had the merciful provision made by the Lord for unintentional blood-shedding, been the only thing intended from the appointment of those cities of refuge, surely a court of enquiry among the elders of Israel, would have answered every purpose, in acquitting innocent persons upon those occasions. Doth it not strike the mind therefore with full conviction, that the whole of this was typical of some greater thing? And what so likely as that of representing the great shelter and deliverance to sinners from the blood-shedding of our poor souls, when by unbelief and sin we unintentionally destroy ourselves.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): The cities of refuge are a type of Christ.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): The cities of refuge were a manifest type of Christ as He is presented and offered to sinners in the Gospel. They were appointed by God Himself. They were not of man’s devising, as the Gospel is no human invention. They were an expression of the Divine mercy: and how rich the grace thus evidenced, for it provided not merely one, but no less than six, of these cities!

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): These regulations were for all in the land, whether inhabitants or foreigners. God thought of all.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Some observe a significancy in the names of these cities with application to Christ as our refuge.

D. L. MOODY: Their names are significant in that connection.

A. W. PINK: The names of these cities spoke of what the believer has in Christ.

MATTHEW HENRY: I delight not in quibbling upon names, yet I am willing to take notice of these. Kedesh signifies “holy,” and our refuge is the holy Jesus.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): It signifies “holy,”—or “holiness;” Christ is holy in both His natures, divine and human; and so abundantly qualified to be the Mediator, Saviour, and Redeemer, Psalm 16:10; and is the fountain of holiness to His people, and is made sanctification to them, 1 Corinthians 1:30.

A. W. PINK: Shechem means “shoulder.”

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): The shoulder, because of its readiness to bear burdens, prop up, and sustain—and from this ideal meaning, it has the metaphorical one of Government.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): On His shoulder, the government is laid, Isaiah 9:6.

JOHN GILL: Not only the government of the church and people of God is on the shoulder of Christ, but all their sins have been laid upon Him, and bore by Him; and every particular soul in conversion, every lost sheep, is looked up by Him, and taken up and brought home on His shoulder, Luke 15:5.

A. W. PINK: Hebron means “fellowship.”

JOHN GILL: In the effectual calling, the saints are called into fellowship with Christ, and their fellowship is with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ; through Him they have access to God, and communion with Him now, and shall have uninterrupted communion with Him to all eternity, 1 Corinthians 1:9, John 17:24.

A. W. PINK: Bezer means “a fortified place,”—and the Lord is “a strong hold in the day of trouble,” Nahum 1:7.

MATTHEW HENRY: He is a strong-hold to all those that trust in Him—for in Him all the saints are justified. Ramoth, means “high,” or “exalted,” for Him hath God exalted with His own right hand.

A. W. PINK: In Christ we are elevated above the world, “and made to sit in heavenly places,” Ephesians 2:6. Golan means “exultation,” or “joy,” and “we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:11.

JOHN GILL: Golan also signifies “revealed,” or “manifested;” so Christ has been made manifest in the flesh, and is revealed to sinners, when they are called by His grace; to whom they flee for refuge.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): There were six cities of refuge, in order that one of them might be at a convenient distance from any part of the country.

D. L. MOODY: As the cities of refuge were so situated as to be accessible from every part of the land, so Christ is ever accessible to needy sinners.

A. W. PINK: They were available for Gentiles as well as Jews, Numbers 35:15. How thankful we should be that “there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him,” Romans 10:12.

ROBERT HAWKER: Here we find that by the death of the High Priest, the poor captive got his freedom, and was permitted to return to his own city.

A. W. PINK: It was the death of the high priest which secured full and final deliverance from the avenger of blood.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: A change in the priesthood, through death, brought liberty to those who were prisoners in the cities of refuge. The appearing of the Lord’s anointed, in the exercise of His Melchisedec priesthood, will be the great antitype of that ancient law.

ROBERT HAWKER: Reader! was it not the death of thy High Priest and sacrifice that procured thy ransom? Did not our Jesus, liberate all His people in the day He died on the cross?

JOHN GILL: Certain it is, that the death of Christ, our high priest, atones for every sin of those that flee to Him, and by which they are reconciled to God.

A. W. PINK: Seven is the number of completion and of rest after a finished work; see Genesis 2:3.

C. H. SPURGEON: Seven is the number of perfection—to show that there was a perfect offering made by the sprinkling of the blood. Even so, Jesus has perfectly presented His bloody sacrifice…Now, there are not six Christs—there is but one…Beloved, our Lord Jesus Christ is the Divinely-appointed way of salvation! Whosoever among us shall make haste away from our sins and flee to Christ, being convinced of our guilt, and helped by God’s Spirit to enter that road, shall, without doubt, find absolute and eternal security! The curse of the Law of God shall not touch us, Satan shall not harm us, vengeance shall not reach us, for the Divine appointment, stronger than gates of iron or brass, shields everyone of us “who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” in the Gospel!

THOMAS COKE: Thus, in the perfection of our Redeemer’s merits, lies the security of the sinner’s hope; on His shoulder the government is laid, so that no enemy can hurt us; the sweetest communion is that which can be enjoyed through faith in Him; His arms of love are a strong-hold, and His exaltation is the pledge of our own; for He shall bring all who have fled to Him for refuge, and cleave to Him, to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads.

A. W. PINK: Therefore, “I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust,” Psalm 91:2.

 

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The Poor in Spirit

Posted on February 26, 2021 by The Editor

Matthew 5:3

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

THOMAS WATSON (1620-1686):  Why does Christ here begin with poverty of spirit?

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): A ladder, if it is to be of any use, must have its first step near the ground, or feeble climbers will never be able to mount it. Our Divine Instructor begins at the beginning—with the very ABC of experience—and so enables the babes in Grace to learn of Him. This first Beatitude, though thus placed at a suitably low point where it may be reached by those who are in the earliest stages of Grace is, however, none the less rich in blessing.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): This, of necessity, is the one which must come at the beginning for the good reason that there is no entry into the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God, apart from it. There is no-one in the kingdom of God who is not “poor in spirit.”

THOMAS WATSON: Well then, what are we to understand by “poor in spirit?”

C. H. SPURGEON: First—what is it not?

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: There are those who tell us that it should read “Blessed in spirit are the poor.” They seem to derive a certain amount of justification for that from the parallel passage in Luke 6:20, where you will read, “Blessed be ye poor,” without any mention of “poor in spirit.” So they would regard it as a commendation of poverty. But surely that must be entirely wrong. The Bible nowhere teaches that poverty itself is a good thing.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): There is no virtue, and often no disgrace, in financial poverty; nor does it, of itself, produce humility of heart, for anyone who has any real acquaintance with both classes soon discovers there is just as much pride in the poor as there is in the rich.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Jesus emphasizes, not simple poverty as to material means, but says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”

THOMAS WATSON: Roman Catholics give a wrong gloss upon the text—By “poor in spirit,” they understand those who, renouncing their estates, vow a voluntary poverty, living in their monasteries. But Christ does not pronounce them blessed who make themselves poor, leaving their estates and callings.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Most of the Roman Catholic commentators are very fond of interpreting this statement in that sense. Their patron saint is Frances of Assisi. But there is no merit or advantage in being poor. Poverty does not guarantee spirituality. Clearly, therefore, the passage does not mean that…If those are the negatives, then what is the positive aspect of being “poor in spirit?”

A. W. PINK: This ‘poverty of spirit’ is a fruit that grows on no merely natural tree. It is a spiritual grace wrought by the Holy Spirit in those whom He renews…It is the opposite of that haughty, self-assertive and self-sufficient disposition which the world so much admires and praises. It is the very reverse of that independent and defiant attitude which refuses to bow to God, which determines to brave things out, which says with Pharaoh, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?”

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: I think the best way to answer that question is to put it in terms of Scripture. It is what Isaiah said, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones,” Isaiah 57:15.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The foundation of all other graces is laid in humility. Those who would build high must begin low; and it is an excellent preparative for the entrance of gospel-grace into the soul; it fits the soil to receive the seed.

THOMAS ADAM (1701-1784): Alas! who is humble? Humility is knowing that we are not humble.

THOMAS WATSON: What is the difference between ‘poverty of spirit’ and humility? These are so alike that they have been taken one for the other. John Chrysostom, by “poverty of spirit,” understands humility. Yet I think there is some difference. They differ as to the cause and the effect. Tertullian says, “none are poor in spirit but the humble.” He seems to make humility the cause of poverty of spirit. But I rather think that poverty of spirit is the cause of humility, for when a man sees his want of Jesus Christ, and how he lives on the alms of free grace—this makes him humble.

A. W. PINK: It corresponds to the initial awakening of the prodigal in the far country, Luke 15:14, when he “began to be in want.”—And what is poverty of spirit?” To be “poor in spirit,” is to realize that I have nothing, am nothing, and can do nothing, and have need of all things. Poverty of spirit is a consciousness of my emptiness, the result of the Spirit’s work within. It issues from the painful discovery that all my righteousnesses are as filthy rags. It follows the awakening that my best performances are unacceptable…Poverty of spirit evidences itself by its bringing the individual into the dust before God, acknowledging his utter helplessness and deserving of hell.

MATTHEW HENRY: It is to acknowledge that God is great, and we are mean; that He is holy and we are sinful; that He is all and we are nothing, less than nothing, worse than nothing; and to humble ourselves before Him, and under His mighty hand.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): You know nothing aright, if you know not yourselves.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: How does one therefore become poor in spirit?

GEORGE WHITEFIELD (1714-1770): The poor in spirit are only they who are willing to go out of themselves, and rely wholly on the righteousness of another.

MATTHEW HENRY: It is to come off from all confidence in our own righteousness and strength, that we may depend only upon the merit of Christ for our justification, and the spirit and grace of Christ for our sanctification. We must call ourselves poor, because always in want of God’s grace, always begging at God’s door. That “broken and contrite spirit,” with which the publican cried for mercy to a poor sinner, is that ‘poverty of spirit.’

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Being sensible of their poverty, they place themselves at the door of mercy, and knock there; their language is, “God be merciful, a sinner.”

JOHN NEWTON: Pray that you may likewise be poor in spirit.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: The way to become poor in spirit is to look at God…It is also to look at the Lord Jesus Christ, and to view Him as we see Him in the Gospels—and the more we look at Him, the more hopeless shall we feel by ourselves, and in and of ourselves, and the more we will become “poor in spirit.” Look at Him—keep looking at Him…You cannot truly look at Him without feeling your absolute poverty, and emptiness. Then you say unto Him:

                                                 “Nothing in my hand I bring,

                                                  Simply to Thy cross I cling.”

H. A. IRONSIDE: It is to acknowledge that in yourself you have absolutely nothing to satisfy God, but when you trust His grace, then you can say that yours is the kingdom of God.

JOHN NEWTON: Are you poor in spirit?

 

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Weather Events

Posted on February 19, 2021 by The Editor

Psalm 29:10; Job 37:5,6, 10-13; Psalm 18:13—Psalm 148:8

The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.

God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend. For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength…By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened. Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud: And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth. He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy.

The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.—Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word.

MARTIN GEIER (1614-1680): “Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind.” The words of this verse have special use; for men are exceedingly apt to ascribe the violence of tempests to blind chance.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): In this atheistic and materialistic age God is not only not accorded His proper place in the hearts and lives of the people, but He is banished from their thoughts and virtually excluded from the world which He has made. His ordering of the seasons, His control of the elements, His regulating of the weather, is now believed by none save an insignificant remnant who are regarded as fools and fanatics.

HENRY P. LIDDON (1829–1890): It might at first sight seem that there are forces in nature which have escaped from God’s rule, and are in insurrection against it, since they bring upon His world destruction and death. And therefore, the psalmist carefully adds, “fulfilling His Word.” The storm and wind, he maintains, although somewhat against appearances, do obey God’s Will; but appearances may point so much the other way that the fact can hardly be taken for granted, and requires an explicit statement.

HERMANN VENEMA (1697-1787): This verse arrays in striking order three elements that are ever full of movement and power—fire, water, and air. The first includes meteors, lightnings and thunders; the second, snow, hoar-frost, dew, mist and rain; the third breezes, tempests and hurricanes.

HENRY P. LIDDON: The Bible occasionally lifts the veil, and shows us how destructive forces of nature have been the servants of the will of a moral God. It was so when the waters of the Red Sea returned violently on the Egyptian pursuers of Israel, Exodus 14:26-30. It was so when, at the prayer of Elijah, the messengers Ahaziah were killed by lightning, 2 Kings 1:10-14.

MARTIN GEIER: The “stormy wind” is the swift messenger of God, Psalm 147:15-18. The hurricane fulfils the divine command—the stormy wind is a minister of judgment, Ezekiel 13:13.

HENRY P. LIDDON: It was so when, as Jonah was fleeing to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, that “the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken,” Jonah 1:4.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): The whirlwind, the tempest, or the tornado; each accomplishing an especial purpose, and fulfilling a particular will of the Most High.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Be they ever so strong, so stormy, they “fulfill God’s word,” and do that, and no more than that which He appoints them; and by this Jesus Christ showed Himself to have a divine power, that He “commanded even the winds and the seas,” and “they obeyed Him,” Matthew 8:27.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): The winds blow not at random, but by a Divine decree; and God hath ordered that whether north or south blow, they shall blow good to His people, Song of Solomon 4:16.

HENRY P. LIDDON: So again, it was when there arose a great storm on the Sea of Galilee, that the disciples might learn to trust the power of their sleeping Master, Matthew 8:23-27; or when Paul, a prisoner on his Rome-ward voyage, was wrecked on the shore of Malta, Luke 13:14. In all these cases we see the “wind and storm fulfilling God’s Word,” because the Bible leads us to understand how God’s Word or Will was fulfilled, but there is much in modern history, perhaps in our own lives, which seems to us to illustrate the matter scarcely less vividly. Our English ancestors saw God’s hand in the storm which discomfited the great Spanish Armada.

MATTHEW HENRY: The sea is God’s for He made it, He restrains it; He says to it, “Here shall thy proud waves be stayed,” Job 38:11. This may be considered as an act of God’s power over the sea. Though it is so vast a body, and though its motion is sometimes extremely violent, yet God has it under check. Its waves rise no higher, its tides roll no further, than God permits; and this is mentioned as a reason why we should stand in awe of God, Jeremiah 5:22; and yet why we should encourage ourselves in Him, for He that stops the noise of the sea, even the noise of her waves, can, when He pleases, still the tumult of the people, Psalm 65:7.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Though rushing with incalculable fury, the stormy wind is still under law, and moves in due order, to carry out the designs of God.

A. W. PINK: It is God who withholds the rain, and God Who gives the rain when He wills, where He wills, as He wills, and on whom He wills. Weather Bureaus may attempt to give forecasts of the weather, but how frequently God mocks their calculations!

JAMES MacGOSH (1811): The half-learned man is apt to laugh at the simple faith of anyone who tells us that rain comes from God. The former, it seems, has discovered that it is the product of certain laws of air, water, and electricity. But truly the peasant is the more enlightened of the two, for he has discovered the main cause, and the real Actor, while the other has found only the second cause, and the mere instrument.

A. W. PINK: Atmospheric disturbances are merely secondary causes, for behind them all is God Himself. Let His Word speak once more: “I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD,” Amos 4:7,8.

MATTHEW HENRY: Those that will not fulfill God’s Word, but rise up in rebellion against it, show themselves to be more violent and headstrong than even the stormy winds, for the winds fulfill it.

A. W. PINK: Truly, then, God governs inanimate matter. Earth and air, fire and water, hail and snow, stormy winds and angry seas, all perform the Word of His power and fulfill His sovereign pleasure. Therefore, when we complain about the weather, we are, in reality, murmuring against God.

C. H. SPURGEON: Somebody will grumble at the weather today. “And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD,” Numbers 11:1—I suppose that they complained of the weather. It was too cold. It was too hot. It was too wet. It was too dry. In fact, they were very like ourselves! They often complained most when they had least to complain of. Discontent is chronic to our humanity.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): It is a blessed thing to be in that state of soul where we can just trust ourselves to Him. Spurgeon also tells of a man who had the words, “God is love,” painted on his weather-vane. Someone said, “That is a queer text to put there. Do you mean to say that God’s love is as changeable as the wind?” “Oh, no,” said the other, “I mean that whichever way the wind blows, God is love.”

 

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Christian Marital Love & Respect

Posted on February 12, 2021 by The Editor

Colossians 3:18,19; Ephesians 5:22-33

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): No woman has the duty of a wife to perform but she who is one, and no man has the duty of a husband to perform but he who is married.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): That may be a very trite remark, yet today it needs making.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): Today, the whole thing has become aggravated, because of the modern notions of equality between men and women, the results of the so-called “feminist” movement—which claims that men and women are equal in every respect…Taking it in general, and as a principle, it flies against the plain teaching of the Scripture at this point, and is without any question, the cause of much confusion, much trouble, and much damage to the marriage state—and alas! it seems even to be seeping into the thinking of many who call themselves evangelical, and who claim to believe in the Scripture as the inspired Word of God.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): The rejection of the inspiration of the Bible places the law of God, as written in the Ten Commandments, among the productions of the human mind. Therefore its code of morals is spurned and a lower ethical system, more in keeping with present day conditions, is substituted. And so, loose standards prevail where Scripture no longer speaks with authority. “They have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them?” Jeremiah 8:9. Unholy ways always accompany, and indeed spring from, unholy teachings…Men and women sustaining unholy relations are rocked to sleep in their sins while death, judgment, and eternal punishment are fast approaching!

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): And certainly, where the bond of marriage is broken—the whole of human society sinks into decay.

A. W. PINK: Marriage is designed as a preventive of immorality: “To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband,” 1 Corinthians 7:2.

H. A. IRONSIDE: He made them at the beginning, male and female—This is the divine institution of marriage…These verses picture sanctified wedded love.

ARTHUR TAPPAN PIERSON (1837-1911): The Divine institution of marriage teaches that the ideal state of both man and woman is not in separation but in union, that each is meant and fitted for the other; and that God’s ideal is such union, based on a pure and holy love, enduring for life, exclusive of all rivalry or other partnership, and incapable of alienation or unfaithfulness because it is a union in the Lord—a holy wedlock of soul and spirit in mutual sympathy and affection.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: What the apostle is concerned about here, is one big point only—harmony, and peace, and unity, as it is displayed in the married relationship. So, that being his leading theme, he picks out on the two sides, the element that needs to be emphasized above every other. The thing the wife has to keep her eye on in maintaining the harmony, is this element of submission. The thing the husband has to keep his eye on, is this element of love.

JOHN DAVENANT (1572-1641): It is to be observed that He requires the duty of the wife in the first place.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Submit is a short word, but of large extent. It comprehends reverence; “Let the wife see that she reverence her husband,” as Sarah did, and is chronicled for it, Peter 3:6, “Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.” God is pleased to single out this, and set it as a precious diamond in a gold ring to Sarah’s eternal commendation.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Whether the woman lusts for rule, or repines under the obligation to submit, either principle breaks the rank in which God has placed her.

H. A. IRONSIDE: “Silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,” 2 Timothy 3:6. How remarkably this is fulfilled in modern Feminism! Observe the words “led away with divers lusts,” which might be freely rendered “ambitious desires.” This desire for publicity, this deplorable masculinity, this denial of man’s headship, this usurping of authority, is one of the most striking signs of the times…But also to the attitude and position taken by so many “silly women” in the churches. How sad it is to see the plain command of God: “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak,” 1 Corinthians 14:34—now so generally disregarded. Today there are not a few who unblushingly denounce the inspired apostle as “an old bachelor with narrow ideas.”

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.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Husbands—Your duty is to “love your wives,” and never on any occasion to entertain an unkind feeling towards them. A proud, haughty, imperious carriage towards them is most offensive to God, who will regard every harsh, bitter, or contemptuous expression towards them as an abuse of your authority and a violation of His commands. Though He has constituted you lords, He has not authorized you to be tyrants; but requires you to be precisely such lords over your wives, as Christ is over His Church. You are to govern, it is true; but you are to govern only for the good of the wife: you are to seek only, and at all times, her best interests, and to promote to the utmost of your power her real happiness. You must not require any thing unreasonable at her hands, nor ever fail to recompense with testimonies of your love, the efforts which she makes to please you.

WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): If the wife is to be governed by you, you are to be governed by reason and religion. You are to “give honour unto the wife,” 1 Peter 3:7. What honour? The honour of attention. Nothing is so intolerable to a female as neglect; and upon what principle can a man justify indifference, omissions of observance, and heedless manners towards a wife?

CHARLES SIMEON: Nor must you merely endeavour to render her happy, but you must be ready to make great sacrifices for this end. What the Lord Jesus Christ has done for His Church, is set forth as the proper model and pattern of your duty towards your wife: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it.” O! what an example is here! Methinks, no wife would complain of the obedience that is required of her, if the authority of her husband were exercised in such a way as this: on the contrary, obedience on her part would be her chief delight. Know then, ye husbands, that this is the duty assigned to you: if your wives are to be obedient, as the Church is to Christ, ye also on your part are to be loving, even as Christ is to the Church. Your wives should be to you as your own flesh.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: It is only as we realize the truth about the relationship of Christ to the Church, that we can really function as Christian husbands are to function.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): Husbands and wives are continually doing either good or harm to each other’s souls. Let all who are married, or think of being married, ponder these things well.

 

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Heavenly Light for the Human Heart of Darkness

Posted on February 5, 2021 by The Editor

Genesis 1:3; John 1:1-5,9,10; 2 Corinthians 4:6; John 8:12; Psalm 36:9

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not…That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

With thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The God of grace is the fountain of spiritual life.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): There is not a drop of life to be found without Him, or which flows not from His grace. The metaphor of light, in the last clause of the verse, is most emphatic, denoting that men are altogether destitute of light, except so far as the Lord shines upon them. If this is true of the light of this life, how shall we be able to behold the light of the heavenly world, unless the Spirit of God enlighten us? for we must maintain that the measure of understanding which men are by nature endued, is such that “the light shineth in darkness, but the darkness comprehendeth it not,” and that men are enlightened only by a supernatural gift.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): God can only be known by means of a supernatural revelation of Himself. Apart from the Scriptures, even a theoretical acquaintance with Him is impossible. It still holds true that “the world by wisdom knew not God,” 1 Corinthians 1:21. Where the Scriptures are ignored, God is “the unknown God,” Acts 17:23. But something more than the Scriptures is required before the soul can know God—know Him in a real, personal, vital way. This seems to be recognized by few today. The prevailing practice assumes that a knowledge of God can be obtained through studying the Word, in the same way as a knowledge of chemistry may be secured by mastering its textbooks. An intellectual knowledge of God maybe—not so a spiritual one. A supernatural God can only be known in a manner above that which mere nature can acquire, by a supernatural revelation of Himself to the heart.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): No man can illuminate his own soul; all understanding must come from above…“In thy light shall we see light.” This is literally true.

A. W. PINK: God can only be known through a supernatural faculty. Christ made this clear when He said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” John 3:3. The unregenerate have no spiritual knowledge of God. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,” 1 Corinthians 2:14.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): The first work of Grace is to enlighten the soul. By nature we are entirely dark. The Spirit, like a lamp, sheds light into the dark heart, revealing its corruption, displaying its sad state of destitution and, in due time, also revealing Jesus Christ, so that in His light we may see light.

WILLIAM ARNOT (1808-1875): It is God’s love, from the face of Jesus shining into my dark heart, that makes my heart open to Him, and delight to be His dwelling-place.

ADAM CLARKE: “God said, Let there be light; and there was light;” by that light the eye of man was enabled to behold the various works of God, and the beauties of creation: so, when God speaks light into the dark heart of man, he not only beholds his own deformity and need of the salvation of God, but he beholds the “light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ;” “God, in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.”

C. H. SPURGEON: Darkness fled before Him in the primeval chaos and order followed confusion. Do you think, if He shall say, “Let there be light” in a dark heart, that there shall not be light there? I think it is just this—that God is the absolute monarch of the hearts of men…The Lord, when He means to save sinners, does not stop to ask them whether they mean to be saved, but like a rushing mighty wind the Divine influence sweeps away every obstacle. The unwilling heart bends before the potent gale of grace and sinners that would not yield are made to yield by God. I know this, if the Lord willed it, there is no man so desperately wicked here this morning that he would not be made now to seek for mercy. However infidel he might be, however rooted in his prejudices against the Gospel, Jehovah has but to will it and it is done. Into your dark heart, O you who have never seen the light, would the light stream. If He did but say, “Let there be light,” there would be light.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): When He arises on the soul, He enlightens it, and infuses into it a principle of life.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): As He speaks life into them in regeneration, commands light to shine in their dark heart, and says to them, when in their blood, Live; so by the mighty power of His Word, He commands the fear of Him in them, and it continues.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Certain it is, that man hath neither life nor light in himself till it be communicated unto him from God.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): In communion with Him who is the Light as well as the Life of men, we see a whole universe of glories, realities, and brightnesses. Where other eyes see only darkness, we behold “the King in His beauty, and the land that is very far off.” Where other men see only cloudland and mists, our vision will pierce into the unseen, and there behold “the things which are,” the only real things, of which all that the eye of sense sees are only the fleeting shadows, seen as in a dream—They who see by the light of God, and see light therein, have a vision which is more than imagination, more than opinion, more than belief. It is certitude. Communication with God does not bring with it superior intellectual perspicuity, but it does bring a perception of spiritual realities and relations, which, in respect of clearness and certainty, may be called sight.

A. W. PINK: The one who has been favoured with this supernatural experience has learned that only “in thy light shall we see light.”

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: In communication with God, we see light upon all the paths of duty. It is wonderful how, when a man lives near God, he gets to know what he ought to do. That great Light, which is Christ, is like the star that hung over the Magi, blazing in the heavens, and yet stooping to the lowly task of guiding three wayfaring men along a muddy road upon earth. So the highest Light of God comes down to be “a lantern for our paths and a light for our feet.” And in the same communion with God, we get light in all seasons of darkness and of sorrow. “To the upright there ariseth light in the darkness,” Psalm 112:4.

JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): Beg of God that He would do these two things for thee: First, Enlighten thine understanding. And, Second, Inflame thy will…Cry hard to God for an enlightened heart, and a willing mind.

 

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