Lessons From the Life of Lot Part 7: Lot’s Final Legacy

Posted on November 23, 2018 by The Editor

Genesis 19:29, 17-26, 30-32, 36

And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt…And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.

And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt…

And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father…Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Lot’s shameful and scandalous fall. Lord, What is man! Drunk and incestuous, and thus repeatedly too.

JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): I have sometimes wondered at Lot. His wife looked behind her, and died immediately; but he would not so much as look behind him to see her. We do not read that he did so much as once look where she was, or what was become of her.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Whoever would have concluded that Lot was a “righteous man” had not the New Testament told us so!

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Lot, when commanded to take himself to the mountain, chose rather to dwell in Zoar.

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): And how fares he at Zoar?

THOMAS COKE: He is scarcely arrived there, before he thinks himself not in sufficient safety.

JOHN CALVIN: After this habitation was granted to him, according to his own wish, he soon repents and is sorry for he trembles at the thought that destruction is every moment hastening on a place so near to Sodom, in which perhaps the same impiety and wickedness was reigning.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): From this time we hear nothing of him except his drunkenness and incest; and, if Peter had not given us reason to believe that he became truly penitent, 2 Peter 2:6-8, we should have had ground to apprehend that he was, after all, an outcast from heaven.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): One would wonder how the fire of lust could possibly kindle upon those who had so lately been the eye-witnesses of Sodom’s flames.

JOHN CALVIN: It is no new thing for the sins of the fathers to be cast into the bosom of the children.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Lot offended against both their chastities in offering them up to the Sodomites, Genesis 19:8: and they both now conspire against his chastity.

WILLIAM GURNALL: Do not his own daughters bring a spark of Sodom’s fire into his own bed, whereby he is inflamed with lust?

JOHN CALVIN: It was only through the wonderful kindness of God, that Lot did not receive either immediate, or very severe punishment [for wanting to go to Zoar]. For the Lord, by pardoning him at that time, caused him finally to become judge of his own sin. For he was neither expelled from Zoar by force nor by the hand of man; but a blind anxiety of mind drove him and hurried him into a cavern, because he had followed the lust of his flesh rather than the command of God. And thus in chastising the faithful, God mitigates their punishments so as to render it their best medicine. For if he were to deal strictly with their folly they would fall down in utter confusion. He therefore gives them space for repentance that they may willingly acknowledge their fault.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Lot removes to the mountain.

JOHN TRAPP: So he should have done at first; and so he had obeyed God, saved his wife, and prevented that sin of incest with his daughters…Say not of this, as Lot did of Zoar, Is it not a little one? The smallness of a sin taketh not away the depravity of it: and a less maketh way for a greater, as wedges do in wood cleaving.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Little did Lot consider that his haste to be rich was the highroad to poverty. But step by step he “entered into temptation.” Every worldly prospect was blasted; and he ends his days, a poor, forlorn, degraded tenant of the desolate cave of Zoar.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): Now, just take an inventory of what that man lost. He lost twenty years of time. We do not find that he did any good down there at all; he did not get one inhabitant out of the doomed city…He lost all his property; everything he gained in Sodom—he lost it all; he lost all his family, but his two daughters, and they were so stained by the sins of Sodom that they soon fell into an awful sin; and the last thing we see of Lot is on the mountain side, where he has fallen into that sin and become the father of the Moabites and the Ammonites that ever afterwards were the enemies of God and His people. What a dark picture it is, the end of a poor backslider; the end of a man that went to Sodom and lived for Sodom.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): Nor is this all; but at the last, when the fiery rain bursts on the doomed city, Lot has to leave all the wealth for which he has sacrificed conscience and peace, and escapes with bare life; he suffers loss even if he himself is ‘saved as dragged through the fire.’

D. L. MOODY: Lot was one of those characters who are easily influenced―and I think, perhaps, that is just the key to his character…So long as he stayed with Abraham he got on very well. His mistake was in leaving him. Some men all through life have to be bolstered up by others. When they are at home, home has an influence over them; or while they are among their relatives or friends they stand well, but when they are away, and trial and temptation come, and the world comes in like a flood upon them, they are carried away.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Abraham was a man of very different metal.

A. W. PINK: In almost every respect Lot compares unfavourably with Abraham. Abraham walked by faith, Lot by sight. Abraham was generous and magnanimous; Lot greedy and worldly. Abraham looked for a city whose builder and maker was God; Lot made his home in a city that was built by man and destroyed by God. Abraham was the father of all who believe; Lot was father of those whose name is a perpetual infamy. Abraham was made “heir of the world,” Romans 4:3; while the curtain falls upon Lot with all his possessions destroyed in Sodom, and himself dwelling in a cave…Lot is a concrete warning, a danger signal, for all Christians who feel a tendency to be carried away by the things of the world.

A. W. TOZER (1897-1963): God will wean us from the earth some way―the easy way if possible, the hard way if necessary.

 

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A Thanksgiving Feast of Blessings & Praise

Posted on November 16, 2018 by The Editor

Psalm 103

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; to such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.

Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure. Bless the LORD, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the LORD, O my soul.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): As in the lofty Alps some peaks rise above all others, so among even the inspired Psalms there are heights of song which overtop the rest. This one hundred and third Psalm has ever seemed to us to be the Monte Rosa of the divine chain of mountains of praise, glowing with a ruddier light than any of the rest.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): This psalm is perhaps the most perfect song of pure praise to be found in the Bible.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564):  God is not deficient on His part in furnishing us with abundant matter for praising Him. It is our own ingratitude which hinders us from engaging in this exercise…How is it that we are so listless and drowsy in the performance of this the chief exercise of true religion, if it is not because our shameful and wicked forgetfulness buries in our hearts the innumerable benefits of God?

C. H. SPURGEON: Alas! that forgetfulness of God’s benefits is an evil kind of worm that eats into the very heart of our praise. Oh, for a retentive memory concerning the lovingkindness of the Lord!―Come, my heart, wake up, awake every faculty, but especially my memory: “Forget not all His benefits.”

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): If we do not give thanks for them, we do forget them; and that is unjust as well as unkind.

JOHN CALVIN: Doubtless our slothfulness in this matter has need of continual incitement.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): It is a favourite opinion of some divines, that we are bound to love God for His own perfections, without having any respect to the benefits which we receive from Him. But this appears to us to be an unscriptural refinement. That God deserves all possible love from His creatures on account of His own perfections, can admit of no doubt―but that any creature can place himself in the situation of a being who has no obligations to God for past mercies, and no expectation of future blessings from Him, we very much doubt: nor are we aware that God any where requires us so to divest ourselves of all the feelings of humanity, for the sake of engaging more entirely in the contemplation of His perfections. Nor indeed can we consent to the idea that gratitude is so low a virtue. On the contrary, it seems to be the principle that animates all the hosts of the redeemed in heaven; who are incessantly occupied in singing praises to Him who loved them, and washed them from their sins in His own blood. By this also all the most eminent saints on earth have been distinguished. In proof of this, we need go no further than to the psalm before us, wherein the man after God’s own heart adores and magnifies his Benefactor, for some particular mercies recently vouchsafed unto him.

MATTHEW HENRY: David is here communing with his own heart, and he is no fool that thus talks to himself and excites his own soul to that which is good. Observe, how he stirs up himself to the duty of praise—and that which is very affecting: “Come, my soul, consider what God has done for thee.”

CHARLES SIMEON: To enumerate all the benefits we have received from God, would be impossible…We would call you then to consider, the freeness and undeservedness of them, and their constancy and continuance. See how triumphantly the Psalmist dwells on this—Note: “Forgiveth, healeth, redeemeth, crowneth, satisfieth.”

J. R. MILLER (1840-1912): What an enumeration of divine blessings this is! Any one of them is worth more than all earth’s treasures combined.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): Be thankful for the great things which He has already done for you.

THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): Learn, then, by this the way of stirring up your hearts to thankfulness to God. Take a view of all his benefits to you in Christ, labour to see your interest in them, and then consider that all this God hath ordained not for my salvation only, but for the praise of His glory. All this, if thoroughly apprehended by a fresh view of faith, will at any time move a good heart to give thanks to God.

ANDREW BONAR (1810-1892): How often have saints in Scotland sung this Psalm in days when they celebrated the Lord’s Supper! It is thereby specially known in our land. It is connected also with a remarkable case in the days of John Knox. Elizabeth Adamson, a woman who attended on his preaching, “because he more fully opened the fountain of God’s mercies than others did,” was led to Christ and to rest, on hearing this Psalm―she asked for this Psalm again before she died: “It was in receiving it that my troubled soul first tasted God’s mercy, which is now sweeter to me than if all the kingdoms of the earth were given me to possess.”

CHARLES SIMEON: And let us compare our experience with the Psalmist’s. Has not God made us also the objects of His providential care, by day and by night, from the earliest period of our existence to this present moment? Has He not also renewed to us every day and hour the blessings of His grace, “watering us as His garden,” and “encompassing us with His favour as with a shield?” Surely we may say that “goodness and mercy have followed us all our days;” there has not been one single moment when our Divine keeper has ever slumbered or slept; He has kept us, “even as the apple of His eye;” “lest any should hurt us, He has kept us day and night.” Say now, what are the feelings which such mercies should generate in our souls; and what are the returns which we ought to make to our heavenly Benefactor?

C. H. SPURGEON: He has been blessing thee; now begin thou to bless Him.

 

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In Remembrance of Oliver Cromwell

Posted on November 9, 2018 by The Editor

Psalm 68:1

Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): You remember the story of Oliver Cromwell and his men at the Battle of Dunbar [during the English Civil War]―when before the battle they all of them knelt on the heather, and asked the Lord their God to be with them. And then springing up they chanted this old Psalm: “Let God arise and scattered let all His enemies be,

And let all those that Him do hate before His presence flee.

As the smoke is driven, so drive Thou them. As fire melts wax away,

Before God’s face let wicked men, so perish and decay.”

WILLIAM TAYLOR (1821-1902): Cromwell’s Ironsides were sneeringly called Psalm-singers; but God’s Psalm-singers are always Ironsides.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): When they became famous for piety, they became famous for bravery. Yes, there is an inseparable connection between the two things―he who truly fears God, fears not man. It is written, “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion,” Proverbs 28:1.

OLIVER CROMWELL (1599-1658): It may be thought that some praises are due to those gallant men, of whose valour so much mention is made—their humble suit to you and all that have an interest in this blessing, is, that in the remembrance of God’s praises, they be forgotten. It’s their joy that they are instruments of God’s glory, and their country’s good.

A. W. PINK: After the battle at Naseby, in a letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons, Oliver Cromwell wrote, “Sir, this is none other than the hand of God, and to Him alone belongs the glory, wherein none are to share with Him.”

OLIVER CROMWELL: Sir, they that have been employed in this service know that faith and prayer obtained this—I do not say ours only, but of the people of God all England over, who have wrestled with God for a blessing…Our desires are that God may be glorified by the same spirit of faith by which we ask all our sufficiency, and have received it. It is meet that He have all the praise. Presbyterians, Independents, all have here the same spirit of faith and prayer; the same presence and answer; they agree here, and have no names of difference: pity it is it should be otherwise anywhere! All that believe have the real unity, which is most glorious―because [it is] inward, and spiritual, in the Body and to the Head.*

J. H. MERLE d’AUBIGNÉ (1794-1872): These are remarkable words. Glory to God in heaven―union among the children of God upon earth―such are Cromwell’s two grand thoughts…It is from this moral point of view that we must study Cromwell; this was his ruling principle; and this alone explains his whole life.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): Many fail to realize what the situation was in this country at that time.

J. H. MERLE d’AUBIGNÉ: The fearful commotions and sanguinary conflicts which shook the British isles in the middle of the seventeenth century, were in the main a direct struggle against Popery…

Cromwell was forty-two years old, and the father of six children. He was living quietly, like many other good citizens and loyal subjects…Every day these men were disturbed in their homes at London, or in their more tranquil rural retreats, by reports of the massacre of the Protestants in Ireland, of King Charles’ connivance at it, of his insincerity and falsehood, of the punishments already inflicted on many of their brethren, of the acknowledged Popery of the Queen, of the semi-Romanism of the King, of the persecutions in Scotland, the daily banishment of the best Christians in the kingdom, and by other signs and events no less alarming. When everything seemed to announce that the Protestants of England would ere long be either trampled down by Popery or massacred by the sword, these serious men arose, and called upon the King, through the House of Commons, not to deceive the expectations of his subjects. But when they found that prince, deaf to their prayers, raising troops to overawe Parliament, and already victorious in several encounters, they resolved in a spirit of devotedness, to save with God’s assistance their country and their faith.

C. H. SPURGEON: Oliver Cromwell was a real hiding place and cover to this land in the days when the crowned king was unworthy to rule. In him, God raised up a man who risked everything in defense of the liberties which we still enjoy.

J. H. MERLE d’AUBIGNÉ: On the 7th of February, 1642, Cromwell contributed £300, a large sum for his small means, towards the salvation of Protestantism and of England. He then joined the parliamentary army with his two sons, respectively twenty and sixteen years of age; and shortly after raised two companies of volunteers at Cambridge…For the space of seventeen years, from this day until that of his death, all his thoughts, however well or ill conceived, were for Protestantism, and for the liberty of his fellow citizens.

C. H. SPURGEON: Family religion was the strength of Protestantism at first. It was the glory of Puritanism and Non-Conformity. In the days of Cromwell it is said that you might have walked down Cheapside at a certain hour in the morning, and you would have heard the morning hymns going up from every house along the street. And at night, if you had glanced inside each home, you would have seen the whole household gathered, the big Bible opened and family devotion offered…What made brave Oliver Cromwell, in the days gone by, so terrible an enemy to all who loved not liberty and right? It was his faith!

NEWMAN HALL (1816-1902): Faith in Christ—Christ crucified, the only foundation of the sinner’s hope, the only secret of the believers’ life and joy. “Here,” as old Oliver Cromwell says in one of his letters, “here rest I would, and here only.”

J. H. MERLE d’AUBIGNÉ: All who were about him bore testimony to his piety―every day of his life he retired to read the Scriptures and to pray.

C. H. SPURGEON: I was reading, yesterday, the dying prayer of Oliver Cromwell and one sentence in that man of God’s last breath pleased me exceedingly. It was to this effect, I think. I have copied out the words―“Teach those who look too much on Thine instruments to depend more upon Thyself.”

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: The great period during Cromwell’s Protectorate from 1649-60 was one of the most amazing epochs in the whole history of this country. To me it was certainly one of the most glorious―it was a time of great religious liberty. Thank God for Oliver Cromwell!―perhaps the most honest man in the 17th century, a man who strove to be true to his conscience above all others that I know of in political history.

J. H. MERLE d’AUBIGNÉ: In studying the life of Cromwell, the reader will undoubtedly have frequent reason to bear in mind the saying of holy Scripture, “In many things we offend all,” James 3:2. He interfered violently in public affairs, and disturbed the constitutional order of the state. This was his fault—a fault that saved his country.

C. H. SPURGEON: It is related of Oliver Cromwell that when his portrait was about to be painted by an eminent artist, the painter desired to conceal the wart upon the Protector’s face, but the true hero said, “Paint me just as I am, wart and all.”

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*Editor’s Note: Oliver Cromwell’s remarks concerning unity in the Body and to the Head, refers to true believers as being the “Body of Christ,” and being united by the Holy Spirit to Jesus Christ as the “Head” of that body.

 

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Jesus Christ, the King of Meekness

Posted on November 2, 2018 by The Editor

Matthew 21:5

Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): The four Evangelists all notice this triumphal entrance of Christ into Jerusalem, five days before his death as if to testify the prophecy concerning it: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass,” Zechariah 9:9.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Now observe here―how His coming is described. When a king comes, something great and magnificent is expected, especially when he comes to take possession of his kingdom―but there is nothing of that here: Behold, he cometh to thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass. When Christ would appear in His glory, it is in His meekness, not in His majesty. His temper is very mild. He comes not in wrath to take vengeance, but in mercy to work salvation. He is meek to suffer the greatest injuries and indignities for Sion’s cause, meek to bear with the follies and unkindness of Sion’s own children. He is easy of access, easy to be entreated.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): He was the very King of meekness.

ROBERT HAWKER: Behold! how distinguished from every other king, is Zion’s king. No trumpets, no gorgeous apparel, no courtly attendants, but as the Lord himself was meek and lowly, every accommodation corresponded to the humble appearance! Such was, and is, Jesus!

MATTHEW HENRY: As an evidence of this, His appearance is very mean, sitting upon an ass, as creature made not for state, but for service―not for battles, but for burdens; slow in its motions, but sure, and safe, and constant. The foretelling of this so long before, and the care taken that it should be exactly fulfilled, intimate it to have a peculiar significancy, for the encouragement of poor souls to apply themselves to Christ. Sion’s King comes riding, not on a prancing horse, which the timorous petitioner dares not come near, or a running horse, which the slow-footed petitioner cannot keep pace with, but on a quiet ass, that the poorest of His subjects may not be discouraged in their access to Him. Mention is made in the prophecy of  “a colt, the foal of an ass;” and therefore Christ sent for the colt with the ass, that the scripture might be fulfilled, Matthew 21:1-4.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): You know, it is difficult to be a man of power and yet to be meek—to be a king and able to order things after your own will and yet be lowly—to be master of all and to suffer with patience the scoffs and reproaches of those who are not worthy to be put among the dogs of your flock. But our Master had all things delivered to Him by God, yet He was so meek as to endure all manner of contradiction of sinners against Himself. He allowed sinners to spit in His face, to pluck His hair and scourge Him cruelly—this is matchless and unparalleled meekness and lowliness of heart! Yet such was Jesus Christ—as God Almighty, and as Man most lowly. Having an infinite mediatorial power, with all things delivered to Him, yet our Redeemer was “meek and lowly in heart.”

A. W. PINK: Meekness is the only virtue which will keep the affections and passions in their proper place. Meekness is the only grace which makes one submissive to God—and pleased with all that pleases Him…Supremely it was exemplified by Christ, who declared, “I am a worm, and no man,” Psalm 22:6, which had reference not only to His being humbled into the dust, but also to the fact that there was nothing in Him which resisted the judgments of God, John 18:11: “The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?” He was “led―not dragged―as a lamb to the slaughter.”

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): You see it in the whole of His life. You see it in His reaction to other people, you see it especially in the way He suffered persecution and scorn, sarcasm and derision―His attitude towards His enemies. But perhaps still more His utter submission to His Father, show His meekness. He said, “The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself,” and “the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works.” Look at Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Look at the portrait of Him we find in Philippians, where Paul says He did not regard His equality with God as a prerogative at which to clutch or something to hold on to all costs. No, He decided to live as a Man, and He did. He humbled Himself, became as a servant and even went to the death on the cross.

A. W. PINK: When He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He was buffeted, He threatened not.

C. H. SPURGEON: By many, to return evil for evil has been judged to be the more manly course.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Courage was the supreme virtue of the Greek pagan philosophers. And that was why you see they regarded the meekness taught by Christian faith, as weakness―courage, and strength, and power―those were the things they believed in.

ROBERT LEIGHTON (1611-1684): Men think meekness poor and mean―nothing more exposed to contempt than the spirit of meekness―it is mere folly with men. That is no matter; this overweighs all their disesteem, “A meek and quiet spirit is with God of great price,”  1 Peter 3:4. And things are indeed as He values them, and no otherwise―yea, it is the King’s own fashion: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls,” Matthew 11:29.

MATTHEW HENRY: He is meek not only as a Teacher, but as a Ruler; He rules by love. His government is mild and gentle, and His laws not written in the blood of His subjects, but in His own.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): The world will never understand the value of this―Theodore Roosevelt said once, “I hate a meek man.” He probably did not realize that the boldest man, the most utterly unafraid man ever seen on earth, our Lord Jesus Christ, was in the fullest sense a meek man. Meekness is not inconsistent with bravery, and enables one to suffer and be strong when the world would “turn aside the way of the meek,”Amos 2:7.

A. W. PINK: So far from being weakness―as the world supposes―meekness is the strength of the man who can rule his own spirit under provocation, subduing his resentment under wrong, refusing to retaliate. But meekness must not be confounded with weakness. True meekness is ever manifested by yieldedness to God’s will, yet it will not yield a principle of righteousness or compromise with evil. God-given meekness can also stand up for God-given rights: when God’s glory is impeached, we must have a zeal which is as hot as fire―Remember how Christ, in concern for His Father’s glory, made a whip of cords and drove the desecrators out of the temple, John 2:15. Meekness restrains from private revenge, but it in nowise conflicts with the requirements of fidelity to God, His cause, and His people.

C. H. SPURGEON: Now, Christian, who is your model of a man? There is but one model of a Christian, and that is the Man, Christ Jesus.

 

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The Essential Priority of First Things First

Posted on October 26, 2018 by The Editor

Matthew 6:26-33

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): In all this passage there is a treasury of golden lessons―Jesus Christ offers us a gracious promise, as a remedy against an anxious spirit. He assures us that if we “seek first” and foremost to have a place in the kingdom of grace and glory, every thing that we really want in this world shall be given to us. It shall be “added,” over and above our heavenly inheritance.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Let the word “first” indicate to you the order of time.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): “First things first!” It is a maxim that carries us far, and as right as far.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): It is one thing to recognize and realize that it is both our duty and wisdom to put first things first, and quite another to actually do so…What is it to put first things first?

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): First―before anything else; and first―more than any other thing.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Get right with God first―know His saving help first of all―be right with God before everything else. Trust in God first as your Saviour, and then own Him as Lord of your life. “Put first things first,” as one has said, and give the Lord the supreme place in heart and life―the divine authority over all our lives.

THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): In the first place they should seek the kingdom of God, and then, next in order, mind their worldly affairs.

A. W. PINK: Are you, my reader, fearful of the future? Afraid that when strength fails and old age comes you may be left without the necessities of life? Then suffer us to remind you that there is no need whatever for such fears. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things―temporal necessities―shall be added unto you.”

J. C. RYLE: But this we may be sure of, that David’s words are true, “I have been young, and now am old, yet never saw I the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread,” Psalm 37:25.

C. H. SPURGEON: And we also can still speak of the faithfulness of Jehovah. He who took care of His people in David’s day has not changed since then. We have not seen the righteous forsaken.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): But who are the righteous?

JOHN GILL (1697-1771):  Christ’s followers are the righteous here meant, made so by His righteousness.

A. W. PINK: More specifically, “righteousness” has reference, first, to the righteousness of faith whereby a sinner is justified freely by Divine grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. As the result of his Surety’s obedience being imputed to him, the believer stands legally righteous before God. As sinners who have constantly broken the Law in thought, word, and deed, we are utterly destitute of righteousness. “There is none righteous, no not one,” Romans 3:10. But God has provided a perfect righteousness in Christ for all who believe.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): Singly aim at this, that God, reigning in your heart, may fill it with the righteousness above described.

A. W. PINK: “O fear the Lord, ye His saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing,’ Psalm 34:9,10. “No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly,” Psalm 84:11. But note well that each of these promises is conditional: your business is to give God the first place in your life, to fear, obey and honour Him in all things, and in return He guarantees your bread and water shall be sure―that means, make the things of the Spirit your paramount concern, and your lower interests will be automatically subserved.

H. A. IRONSIDE: Things that your heavenly Father knows you have need of. All of these things are important, tremendously important, in their place, but there is something of greater importance, and that is the “meat which endureth unto everlasting life.” And He declares that it is only the Son of Man who can give this satisfying food for the soul. That is what He came for, to seek and to save that which was lost. He came from heaven in lowly grace and became the Son of Man in order that He might meet the needs of lost sinners.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714):  Have we trusted in Him for the portion of our inheritance at our end, and shall we not trust Him for the portion of our cup, in the way to it?

C. H. SPURGEON: God who gives you heaven will not deny you your bread on the road thither.

A. W. PINK: “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus,” Philippians 4:19. It is profitless to ask, How? The Lord has ten thousand ways of making good His word. Some reader of this very paragraph may be living from hand to mouth, having no stock of money or store of victuals: yea, not knowing where the next meal will come from. But if you be a child of His, God will not fail you, and if your trust be in Him, it shall not be disappointed. In some way or other “The Lord will provide.”―These promises are addressed to us, to encourage us to cleave unto God and do His will.

W. J. HOCKING (1864-1953): Happy the man who always keeps first things first. Christ is first; the Lord is first. His claims must be supreme. Let us everyone make this our life’s motto: Let the Master be first.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): Ask that praying sister of yours, that praying brother, any friend you have, whether it is not the very best thing you can do. And then cry to Heaven and ask Him who is sitting at the right hand of God, and who loves you more than your father or your mother or anyone on earth who loves you so much that He gave Himself for you ask Him what He will have you do, and hear His voice from the throne, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.”

 

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The Arabian Antichrist & the Koran

Posted on October 19, 2018 by The Editor

1 John 4:1-3; 1 John 2:21,22

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): The Mohammedan thinks his Koran is the will of God.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): All are ready to declare, that they do not speak, except from God―Nor does Mohammed assert that he has drawn his dotages, except from heaven―But to all this I reply, that we have the word of the Lord, which ought especially to be consulted. When, therefore, false spirits pretend the name of God, we must inquire from the Scriptures whether these things are so.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Mohammed himself was conversant with the Scriptures, as appears by his wretched perversion of them in his Koran.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): The Koran. This is the Muslim’s holy book. A man must have a strange mind who should mistake that rubbish for the utterances of inspiration. If he is at all familiar with the Old and New Testaments, when he hears an extract from the Koran, he feels that he has met with a foreign author—the God who gave us the Pentateuch could have had no hand in many portions of the Koran!

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): The Koran of Mohammed teaches that the mountains were created “to prevent the earth from moving”! In the teachings of the Koran, prayer, fasting and alms are the chief duties required from the Mohammedan. Prayer, it is said, will carry a man halfway to Paradise; fasting will bring him to the gates, and alms will give him entrance.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Bring it to this test―“Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God.” Mohammed, in his Koran, speaks very honourably of Christ, except only in two things: First, he denies His Deity.

JOHN GILL: Mohammed represented Jesus Christ only as a mere man, and exalted himself above Him as a prophet.

JOHN TRAPP: Secondly, Mohammed denied that He was crucified, but that someone was crucified for Him. But what saith Peter? He “his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,” 1 Peter 2:24.

MARTIN LUTHER: From this anyone can easily observe that Mohammed is a destroyer of our Lord Christ and His kingdom. If anyone denies that Christ is God’s Son, and has died for us, and still lives and reigns at the right hand of God, what has he left of Christ? Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Baptism, the Sacrament, Gospel, Faith and all Christian doctrine and life are gone, and there is left, instead of Christ, nothing more than Mohammed with his doctrine of works, and especially of the sword.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): False religions, like Mohammedanism, have often been spread by the sword…There is no clearer sign of a bad cause in religion than a readiness to appeal to the sword.

C. H. SPURGEON: Christ is meek, as opposed to the ferocity of spirit manifested by zealots and bigots. Take, for a prominent example of the opposite of meekness, the false prophet Mohammed. The strength of his cause lies in the fact, that he is not meek. He presents himself before those whom he claims as disciples, and says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am neither meek, nor lowly in heart; I will have no patience with you; there is my creed, or there is the scimitar—death or conversion, whichever you please.”

JOHN TRAPP: Mohammed’s laws run thus―‘Avenge yourselves of your enemies; marry as many wives as you can maintain; kill the infidels, etc.’ But we have not so learned Christ.

JOHN CALVIN: With what rage are they seized, when the question relates to the defence of the reveries of their prophet Mohammed.

JOHN ANGELL JAMES (1785-1869): In all those pretended revelations from heaven, of which Gabriel is said to have been the bearer, where is there such a description of Deity as this—“God is love!” or such a sentiment as that which arises out of it, “he who dwells in love, dwells in God, and God in him?” So far from recognizing this principle, Islamism condemns and forbids it. It enjoins almsgiving, it is true, and gives it a high place among its virtues—but this is not the same as love, and may be often carried to a great extent without a particle of the nature of love. This system of imposture, abounding as it does with minute and ridiculous ceremonies, and a slavish regard to absurd ritual observances; enforces, by the authority of its founder, the most ferocious and blood-thirsty hatred, to all who do not receive it in the exercise of implicit faith. Wars against all infidels are not only enjoined in many passages of the Koran—but are declared to be in a high degree meritorious in the sight of God. How completely Islamism has filled its votaries with the most ferocious bigotry and the most merciless intolerance, is known by universal testimony. They everywhere pour insulting contempt upon all who are not Muslims, and feel a savage delight in adding cruelty to insult. “The infidel dogs” is a common appellation applied to Christians.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): By their fruits ye shall know them,” Matthew 7:16―A short, plain, easy rule whereby to know true from false prophets…Ye know that “no lie is of the truth”―all the doctrines of these antichrists are irreconcilable to it.

MARTIN LUTHER: Where the spirit of lies is, there is also the spirit of murder…Mohammed’s Koran is such a great spirit of lies that it leaves almost nothing of Christian truth remaining, so how could it have any other result than that it should become a great and mighty murderer, with both lies and murders under the show of truth and righteousness.

JOHN ANGELL JAMES: The spirit of the system is everywhere visible in the absolute despotism of the governments of those countries in which it prevails―liberty withers in its shade.

MARTIN LUTHER: No one can openly confess Christ or preach or teach against Mohammed. What kind of freedom of belief is it when no one is allowed to preach or confess Christ?

PHILIP MAURO (1859-1952): For our immediate purpose it is necessary only to call attention to the remarkable fact, that in Islam, we have a movement energized by prodigious spiritual powers of evil, a Satanic caricature of the Kingdom of God, being led by a false prophet and based upon a false Bible, the Koran―and seeking to gain the sovereignty of the world.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): At present, the Mohammedan power is a genuine antichrist.

JOHN ANGELL JAMES: And it is essentially and unalterably cruel. Such is Islamism—a curse to the world, a mystery in the divine government, a dreadful obstacle to the spread of Christianity, and the reverse of all that is holy and beneficent in the glorious gospel of the blessed God.

 

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Assisted Suicide

Posted on October 12, 2018 by The Editor

2 Samuel 1:2, 4-10

Behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul…

And David said unto him, How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, That the people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.

And the young man that told him said, As I happened by chance upon mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and, lo, the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and called unto me. And I answered, Here am I. And he said unto me, Who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite. He said unto me again, Stand, I pray thee, upon me, and slay me: for anguish is come upon me, because my life is yet whole in me. So I stood upon him, and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen: and I took the crown that was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them hither unto my lord.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): There are always numerous strollers who follow camps, and this lad probably was one of them. Their business is pillage and the stripping of the dead: our young Amalekite, it seems, knew his business, and got the start of the Philistines in the pillage of Saul.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): I am not clear whether this young man’s story was true or no.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): It is most probable this was a lie, devised to gain David’s favour.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): “And I answered him, I am an Amalekite,” which he might be; but it is not likely he should tell Saul he was, which would not recommend him to Saul; though indeed he was now in such circumstances, that the Amalekites had nothing to fear from him…“And he said unto me again, stand, I pray thee, upon me, and slay me,”―which it can hardly be thought that Saul would say; since he might as well have died by the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines, which he endeavoured to avoid, as by the hands of an Amalekite.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): In view of this, it is quite evident that the Amalekite who now communicated to David the tidings of Saul’s death, lied in a number of details.

MATTHEW POOLE: Saul was not killed by a spear, as he pretends, but by his sword; and it is expressly said that Saul’s armour-bearer, being yet living, saw that Saul was dead―which doubtless he would very thoroughly examine and know, before he would kill himself upon that account, as he did, 1 Samuel 31:4,5: “Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him.”

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): It may consist with the narrative in 1 Samuel 31:4,5, and be an addition to it, as Peter’s account of the death of Judas, Acts 1:18, is to the narrative, Matthew 27:5. What is there called a sword may here be called a spear, or when he fell upon his sword he leaned on his spear.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Whether the relation he gave was altogether true is not certain―one thing is certain, that as this man brought the crown and bracelet of Saul to David, he must have been with Saul at his death.

A. W. PINK: Finding Saul’s body with the insignia of royalty upon it, he seized them, and then formed his story in such a way as he hoped to ingratiate himself with David.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Expecting a reward, he found his death.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): “And David said unto him, How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?” 2 Samuel 1:14. Somewhat of a similar process obtains amongst us: a coroner’s inquest is taken whenever a suspicion of murder, or of suicide, appears to have any just foundation.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): “And David called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him. And he smote him that he died. And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain the LORD’S anointed,” 2 Samuel 1:15,16. Though Saul desired thee to despatch him, as thou hast said, and volenti non fit iniuria―‘because he was willing, there was no injury:’ yet because he was felo de se, as lawyers now speak, a suicide—‘a felony itself,’ it was not lawful for thee to help him out of the world, although the enemy had given him his death wound, and he therefore desired it of thee.

MATTHEW HENRY: Instead of preferring him, David put him to death, and judged him out of his own mouth, as a murderer―He did himself confess the crime, so that the evidence was, by the consent of all laws, sufficient to convict him.

THOMAS COKE: The Amalekite deserved death.

MATTHEW HENRY: In vain did he plead that he had Saul’s order for it, that it was a real kindness to him, that he must inevitably have died; all those pleas are overruled.

THOMAS WATSON (1620-1686): The positive duty implied in the command “Thou shalt not kill,” Exodus 20:13, is that we should do all the good we can to ourselves and others―in reference to others, we are to preserve the life of others―we may be said to murder another by not hindering the death of another when in our power.

A. W. PINK: The murdering of another is a most heinous crime―those who are accessories are also guilty of murder, such as those who commission it to be done, or consent thereto, or conceal it.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Our law very properly withholds from a man the right to commit suicide—if he is caught in the act of attempting to take his own life, he is punishable as a criminal. The act of suicide is a grave offense against the Laws of God and man.

A. W. PINK: Suicide is self-murder.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): There have been infidels in all ages who have advocated it’s a justifiable means of release from trial and difficulty; yet thinking men, as far back as Aristotle, have generally condemned it as cowardly and unjustifiable under any conditions. No man has a right to take his own life from such motives any more than the life of another.

 

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Two Keys to Praising God: Joy & Thankfulness

Posted on October 5, 2018 by The Editor

Psalm 100

A Psalm of Praise. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): This is the only psalm in the whole collection entitled “A Psalm of Praise;” and it is supposed to have received this appellation because peculiarly adapted, if not designed, to be sung when the sacrifices of thanksgiving were offered.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): The invitation to worship here given is not a melancholy one, as though adoration were a funeral solemnity, but a cheery, gladsome exhortation, as though we were bidden to a marriage feast.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): Sometimes a naturally morose temper gives a gloomy tinge to religion. Professors forget, that it is no matter of option, whether they should be happy or not; that it is their obligation no less than their privilege to be so; that the commands of God on this duty carry weight, and demand obedience.

THOMAS WATSON (1620-1686): “Serve the Lord with gladness.” It is a sign the oil of grace hath been poured into the heart “when the oil of gladness” shines on the countenance. Cheerfulness credits religion.

C. H. SPURGEON: There is a certain breed of Calvinists, whom I do not envy, who are always jeering and sneering as much as ever they can at the full assurance of faith. I have seen their long faces; I have heard their whining periods, and read their dismal sentences, in which they say something to this effect —“Groan in the Lord alway, and again I say, groan! He that mourneth and weepeth, he that doubteth and feareth, he that distrusteth and dishonoureth his God, shall be saved.” That seems to be the sum and substance of their very ungospel-like gospel.

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): A sad heart does not become a living hope.

CHARLES BRIDGES: From doubting, the soul comes to chilling fear; thence to gloomy despondency.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): In such a case the means of grace may still be used and duties performed, but there is no joy in the one or thankful gratitude behind the other. It is more the service of a slave than of a son.

EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): I need not inform you that the word, gospel, literally signifies “glad tidings,” Romans 10:15―In a word, do you feel that the gospel is glorious glad tidings of great joy? and is it the language of your hearts, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift?” If not, it is most certain that you never believed the gospel; for the apostle Paul assures us, that it does work effectually in all that believe; and we have already seen that it has, in all ages, filled the hearts of believers with joy, and their lips with praise.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): See, then, in this psalm what is the proper effect of religion upon the soul…See it in the Psalmist’s own experience; and see it in all whom he here addresses. Is this gloom or melancholy? Is it not the very reverse? Doubtless, as far as we deviate from religion, we have need to weep and mourn: but, in proportion as we conform to it, and imbibe its spirit, it will fill us with unutterable joy. What is it that the glorified saints are now doing in heaven? Are they not beholding all the glory of their God and Saviour, and singing His praise for all the wondrous works which He has done? This, then, is religion in perfection: and the privilege of God’s people now is, to be assimilated to them, in mind, in spirit, in employment. Be aware of this, my beloved Brethren; and learn, not only to estimate religion aright, but to have it reigning in your hearts, and exemplified in your lives.

A. W. PINK: If there be no joy, there can be no worship.

WILLIAM GURNALL: “Saints shall shout aloud for joy,” Psalm 132:16.  To see a wicked man merry, or a Christian sad and dumpish, is alike uncomely…Truly the saint’s heaviness reflects unkindly upon God Himself: we do not commend His cheer, if it doth not cheer us. O Christians, let the world see you are not losers in your joy, since you have been acquainted with the Gospel; give them not cause to think by your uncomfortable walking, that when they turn Christians, they must bid all joy farewell, and resolve to spend their days in a house of mourning.

C. H. SPURGEON: What was the very first emotion that you and I felt when we had a sense of guilt removed? We felt joy for our own sake; but immediately after, or at the same instant, we felt such intense gratitude to God that we loved Him beyond all expression.

A. W. PINK: Thankfulness is an expression of love.

THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): We never thank God truly, but our hearts are warmed with His love, and we rejoice in Him; therefore, when Mary praised God, she said, “My spirit doth magnify the Lord, and rejoice in God my Saviour,” Luke 1:46,47; and as joy is the ground of it, so the consequent and the issue of it.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): All the lines of joy must meet in Him as in the centre. Let it express itself in praise and thanksgiving.

C. H. SPURGEON: Is there any true praise without joy? Is not praise a twin brother to joy? And do not joy and praise always dwell together?

JEREMIAH DYKE (1584-1639): There is nothing that so feeds spiritual joy, and so maintains and holds up that holy frame that should be in the heart in the duty of thanksgiving, as meditation.  That is the oil and the fuel that keeps such fire burning. The sweeter our meditation is, the more is the heart prepared and enlarged to praises, thanksgiving, and joy in the Lord. 

C. H. SPURGEON: Gratitude is that oil which makes the wheels of life revolve easily; and if anybody ought to be grateful, surely we are the men and women, for whom the Lord has done so much: “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.”

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Besides, the Psalmist adds, that God’s mercy endureth for ever, and that His truth also is everlasting, to point out to us that we can never be at a loss for constant cause of praising Him. If, then, God never ceases to deal with us in this manner, it would argue the basest ingratitude on our part, if we wearied in rendering to Him the tribute of praise to which He is entitled.

 

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The Perfection of Scripture Is Seen in its Details

Posted on September 28, 2018 by The Editor

Numbers 20:2,3; Psalm 106:33; Numbers 20:7-12

There was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!

And they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him.

And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.

And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): This is a strange passage of story, yet very instructive. It is certain that God was greatly offended, and justly, for He is never angry without cause.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): What was the offense for which Moses was excluded from the promised land?

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564):  The submissive and gentle spirit of Moses was fanned, as it were, into a breeze by the perverseness of the people, so that even he spake unadvisedly, saying, “Can God give you water out of the rock?”

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Slight as it may appear to us, it was a complicated offence―there was in it a mixture of irreverence, anger, disobedience and unbelief.

MATTHEW HENRY: They did not punctually observe their orders. God bade them “speak to the rock,” and they spoke to the people, and smote the rock, which at this time they were not ordered to do. It was in his passion that he called them rebels―it came from a provoked spirit, and was spoken unadvisedly: it was too much like “Raca,” and “Thou fool,” Matthew 5:22. His smiting the rock twice―it should seem, not waiting at all for the eruption of the water upon the first stroke―shows that he was in a heat.

JAMES HAMILTON (1814-1867): Angry he certainly was; in the heat and agitation of his spirit he failed to implement implicitly the Divine command. His harangue had a certain tone of petulance and egotism. “Hear now, ye rebels; must we”―must I and Aaron, not must Jehovah―“fetch you water out of this rock?”

MATTHEW HENRY: They assumed too much of the glory of this work of wonder to themselves, as if it were done by some power or worthiness of theirs. Therefore it is charged upon them that “they did not sanctify God,” that is, they did not give Him that glory of this miracle which was due unto His name.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): It is certain from the text that unbelief was their sin.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): “Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me.” Ye could not conceive, and were not very willing, that I should show such favour to so undeserving a people: so measuring my thoughts by your thoughts, and my ways by your ways; casting me into a dishonourable mould, as it were; and this publicly, before all the people.

CHARLES SIMEON: Of this in particular God accuses them. Whether they doubted the efficacy of a word, and therefore smote the rock; or whether they acted in their own strength, expecting the effect to be produced by their own act of striking the rock, instead of regarding God alone as the author of the mercy, we cannot say―In either case they were under the influence of unbelief: for, distrust of God, or creature-confidence, are equally the effects of unbelief: the one characterized the conduct of those Israelites who were afraid to go up to take possession of the promised land; and the other, those who went up in their own strength, when God had refused to go before them. This was the offence which excluded the whole nation from the promised land: “they could not enter in because of unbelief,” Hebrews 3:19; no wonder therefore, that, when Moses and Aaron were guilty of it, they were involved in the common lot.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): It was also a marring of a blessed type. Note: it is “smite the rock” in Exodus 17:6, but only “speak” to it here in Numbers 20:8.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): The smiting of the rock in obedience to God in Exodus 17 was a beautiful type of the smiting of Christ with the rod of judgment. Christ had to be smitten in judgment on Calvary’s cross, and when the wrath of God that was our due fell upon Him and He bowed His head beneath that rod―when the Rock of Ages was cleft for us—the living water flowed forth for the refreshment of a famished world.

A. W. PINK: Doubtless that word in Isaiah 53:4 looks back to that very type—“Smitten of God.” How solemn to behold that it was the people’s sin which led to the smiting of the rock! Out from the smitten rock flowed the water. Beautiful type was this of the Holy Spirit—gift of the crucified, now glorified, Saviour.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): In 1 Corinthians 10: 4, we read, “They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” That is plain and positive.

H. A. IRONSIDE: But you know He was only smitten once in judgment. Having died for our sins, He is never to die again and will never know the smiting of the rod of judgment again. That question has been settled once for all.

A. W. PINK: The rock must not be smitten a second time, for that would spoil the type.

JOHN GILL: But why then was Moses bid to take the rod with him, if it was not to smite with it, as he had done before at Horeb in Exodus 17?

A. W. PINK: It was not the same rod used in Exodus 17. On that former occasion Moses was to use his own rod—the rod of judgment. But here he was to take “the rod,”―the rod of Aaron. This is clear from verse 9, “Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as He commanded him;” if we compare it with Numbers 17:10—“And the Lord saith unto Moses, Bring Aaron’s rod before the testimony to be kept for a token against the rebels.” This, then, was the priestly rod. Mark also how this aspect of truth was further emphasized in this type by the Lord bidding Moses, on this second occasion, to take Aaron along with him—Aaron is not referred to at the first smiting of the rock!

H. A. IRONSIDE: Moses was to take the rod of priesthood, reminding us that our Saviour is now ministering in the presence of God as our great High Priest. Christ does not need to be smitten again to sustain our life. And so Moses spoiled the type of God’s lovely picture of the present work of His Son.

C. H. MACKINTOSH: Our great High Priest has passed into the heavens, there to appear in the presence of God for us, and the streams of spiritual refreshment flow to us, on the ground of accomplished redemption, and in connection with Christ’s priestly ministry, of which Aaron’s budding rod is the exquisite figure, Numbers 17:1-10…To have smitten with Aaron’s rod would, as we can easily understand, have spoiled its lovely blossom. A word would have sufficed, in connection with the rod of priesthood—the rod of grace.

A. W. PINK: It is striking to note that though Moses smote the rock instead of speaking to it, nevertheless, the refreshing waters gushed forth from it―Truly, our God is the “God of all grace.”

 

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When Jesus Christ Washes Our Feet

Posted on September 21, 2018 by The Editor

John 13:1, 3-5

Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end…

Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): It is not the part of a master to wash feet! It is servile, menial, humiliating work. Yet this, which was the lowest of all offices in the East, is that which the Saviour undertakes!

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): He came from God. This implies that He was in the beginning with God, and had a being and glory, not only before He was born into this world, but before the world itself was born; and that when He came into the world He came as God’s ambassador, with a commission from Him. He came from God as the son of God, and the sent of God…He went to God, to be glorified with Him with the same glory which he had with God from eternity―He knew all this; He was not like a prince in the cradle, that knows nothing of the honour he is born to, or like Moses, who wist not that his face shone; no, He had a full view of all the honours of His exalted state, and yet stooped thus low.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Can the imagination conceive anything equally lovely, as in thus beholding the Son of God in our nature, washing the feet of poor fishermen? And what tends to give yet more the highest coloring of grace and mercy to the picture, it is drawn at that moment of all others, when Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into His hands!

C. H. SPURGEON: Mark the condescension of this personal washing, for Abraham did not, himself, wash the angels’ feet, but said, “Let a little water be fetched and wash your feet,” Genesis 18:4. And Joseph did not personally wash his brother’s feet, but the steward of his house brought them in and gave them water, Genesis 43:24; and they washed their feet! But Jesus does it all Himself.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): We learn, for one thing, from these verses, what patient and continuing love there is in Christ’s heart towards His people. It is written that “having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.” Knowing perfectly well that they were about to forsake Him shamefully in a very few hours, in full view of their approaching display of weakness and infirmity, our blessed Master did not cease to have loving thoughts of His disciples. He was not weary of them: He loved them to the last.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Someone has translated that last expression, “He loved them all the way through.” Through what? Through everything. He loved Peter all the way through his boasting and failure, and He loved him back to victory and faithfulness. And, thank God, when once He takes up a poor sinner in grace, He loves him all the way through, so it can be said of every Christian, “Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” For “he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ,” Philippians 1:6.

JAMES DURHAM (1622-1658): Christ Jesus hath a sufficiency and efficacy in Him, not only for the justification of believers that rest on Him, but for the furthering of their sanctification also, and helping of them to a victory over the world; I Corinthian 1:30, “He is our sanctification,” as well as our justification.  Believers in their way, should not only by faith rest on Christ, for attaining pardon of sin by His righteousness; but, should also depend on Him, for furthering of their mortification and sanctification.

MATTHEW POOLE: Peter rashly replies, “Thou shalt never wash my feet,” John 13:8. Here was a seeming reverence for his Master, but like the Jewish zeal mentioned by Paul, “not according to knowledge,” Romans 10:2. Christ tells him, that except He washed him, He had no part with him; that is, he should never be saved.

MATTHEW HENRY: I think it is to be understood: “If I wash not thy soul from the pollution of sin, thou hast no part with me, no interest in me, no communion with me, no benefit by me.” Note: All those, and those only, that are spiritually washed by Christ, have a part in Christ.

C. H. SPURGEON: We must all have this frequent washing by our Lord—it is absolutely necessary. There is a “must” in the case—as we must be born again, so we must be made holy. It would be to our Lord’s dishonour to be followed by disciples who do not walk in integrity and uprightness. As He is, Himself, perfectly holy, He desires to have around Him a holy people purged from all defilement. He is so anxious that He should have such a people that, sooner than they shall not be washed, He will act the part of a Servant and wash their feet Himself.

H. A. IRONSIDE: When we are cleansed by the precious blood of Christ we are washed all over, once for all. That does not have to take place again―we are always clean in that sense. But now, “he that washed needeth not save to wash his feet,” John 13:10; and feet speak of our walk. We read, “He will keep the feet of his saints,” 1 Samuel 2:9, so every time we fail as believers we are to go to our blessed Lord, and say, “Cleanse me now by the washing of water by the word.”

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): In regard of their remainder of sin and lust that is in them, and will be so while they are in the world, and the temptations which every where be in the world, as snares for their feet, they will have need of a daily washing. Our cleansing is in holy writ attributed sometimes to the blood of Christ, sometimes to the Spirit, sometimes to the Word. By the blood of Christ we are made clean as to justification, washed; but yet we had need wash our feet, contracting soil every day in a sinful world, from which we are cleansed by the purifying virtue of the Holy Spirit, working by and together with the Word, which purgeth us of our dross, and maketh us obedient to the will of God.

C. H. SPURGEON: Look, He even washes our feet! What better token need we of His abiding love? This is one of the acts of His continuous love, this daily washing of our feet!

ROBERT HAWKER: And it will not be long before that He Who washed His disciples feet will bring home His whole Church washed from all her sins in His blood, and become a glorious Church, sanctified and cleansed, and made holy, and without blemish before Him, in love! Ephesians 5:25,26.

 

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