Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/mhcc24/v25850

Text File | 1994-03-01 | 9KB | 149 lines

25852
 #10-16 When the gospel should be publicly preached, the Gentiles
 would seek Christ Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, and find rest
 of soul. When God's time is come for the deliverance of his
 people, mountains of opposition shall become plains before him.
 God can soon turn gloomy days into glorious ones. And while we
 expect the Lord to gather his ancient people, and bring them
 home to his church, also to bring in the fulness of the
 Gentiles, when all will be united in holy love, let us tread the
 highway of holiness he has made for his redeemed. Let us wait
 for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life,
 looking to him to prepare our way through death, that river
 which separates this world from the eternal world.
25859
 * This is a hymn of praise suited to the times of the Messiah.

 - The song of praise in this chapter is suitable for the return
 of the outcasts of Israel from their long captivity, but it is
 especially suitable to the case of a sinner, when he first finds
 peace and joy in believing; to that of a believer, when his
 peace is renewed after corrections for backslidings; and to that
 of the whole company of the redeemed, when they meet before the
 throne of God in heaven. The promise is sure, and the blessings
 contained in it are very rich; and the benefits enjoyed through
 Jesus Christ, call for the most enlarged thanksgivings. By Jesus
 Christ, the Root of Jesse, the Divine anger against mankind was
 turned away, for he is our Peace. Those to whom God is
 reconciled, he comforts. They are taught to triumph in God and
 their interest in him. I will trust him to prepare me for his
 salvation, and preserve me to it. I will trust him with all my
 concerns, not doubting but he will make all to work for good.
 Faith in God is a sovereign remedy against tormenting fears.
 Many Christians have God for their strength, who have him not
 for their song; they walk in darkness: but those who have God
 for their strength ought to make him their song; that is, give
 him the glory of it, and take to themselves the comfort of it.
 This salvation is from the love of God the Father, it comes to
 us through God the Son, it is applied by the new-creating power
 of God the Spirit. When this is seen by faith, the trembling
 sinner learns to hope in God, and is delivered from fear. The
 purifying and sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost often are
 denoted under the emblem of springing water. This work flows
 through the mediation of Christ, and is conveyed to our souls by
 means of God's ordinances. Blessed be God, we have wells of
 salvation opened on every side, and may draw from them the
 waters of life and consolation. In the second part of this
 gospel song, ver. #4-6|, believers encourage one another to praise
 God, and seek to draw others to join them in it. No difference
 of opinions about the times and seasons, and other such matters,
 ought to divide the hearts of Christians. Let it be our care
 that we may be placed amongst those to whom he will say, Come,
 ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you
 from the beginning of the world.
25865
 * The armies of God's wrath. (1-5) The conquest of Babylon.
 (6-18) Its final desolation. (19-22)

 #1-5 The threatenings of God's word press heavily upon the
 wicked, and are a sore burden, too heavy for them to bear. The
 persons brought together to lay Babylon waste, are called God's
 sanctified or appointed ones; designed for this service, and
 made able to do it. They are called God's mighty ones, because
 they had their might from God, and were now to use it for him.
 They come from afar. God can make those a scourge and ruin to
 his enemies, who are farthest off, and therefore least dreaded.

25870
 #6-18 We have here the terrible desolation of Babylon by the
 Medes and Persians. Those who in the day of their peace were
 proud, and haughty, and terrible, are quite dispirited when
 trouble comes. Their faces shall be scorched with the flame. All
 comfort and hope shall fail. The stars of heaven shall not give
 their light, the sun shall be darkened. Such expressions are
 often employed by the prophets, to describe the convulsions of
 governments. God will visit them for their iniquity,
 particularly the sin of pride, which brings men low. There shall
 be a general scene of horror. Those who join themselves to
 Babylon, must expect to share her plagues, #Re 18:4|. All that
 men have, they would give for their lives, but no man's riches
 shall be the ransom of his life. Pause here and wonder that men
 should be thus cruel and inhuman, and see how corrupt the nature
 of man is become. And that little infants thus suffer, which
 shows that there is an original guilt, by which life is
 forfeited as soon as it is begun. The day of the Lord will,
 indeed, be terrible with wrath and fierce anger, far beyond all
 here stated. Nor will there be any place for the sinner to flee
 to, or attempt an escape. But few act as though they believed
 these things.
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 #19-22 Babylon was a noble city; yet it should be wholly
 destroyed. None shall dwell there. It shall be a haunt for wild
 beasts. All this is fulfilled. The fate of this proud city is a
 proof of the truth of the Bible, and an emblem of the
 approaching ruin of the New Testament Babylon; a warning to
 sinners to flee from the wrath to come, and it encourages
 believers to expect victory over every enemy of their souls, and
 of the church of God. The whole world changes and is liable to
 decay. Wherefore let us give diligence to obtain a kingdom which
 cannot be moved; and in this hope let us hold fast that grace
 whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly
 fear.
25887
 * The destruction of Babylon, and the death of its proud
 monarch. (1-23) Assurance of the destruction of Assyria. (24-27)
 The destruction of the Philistines. (28-32)

 #1-23 The whole plan of Divine Providence is arranged with a
 view to the good of the people of God. A settlement in the land
 of promise is of God's mercy. Let the church receive those whom
 God receives. God's people, wherever their lot is cast, should
 endeavour to recommend religion by a right and winning
 conversation. Those that would not be reconciled to them, should
 be humbled by them. This may be applied to the success of the
 gospel, when those were brought to obey it who had opposed it.
 God himself undertakes to work a blessed change. They shall have
 rest from their sorrow and fear, the sense of their present
 burdens, and the dread of worse. Babylon abounded in riches. The
 king of Babylon having the absolute command of so much wealth,
 by the help of it ruled the nations. This refers especially to
 the people of the Jews; and it filled up the measure of the king
 of Babylon's sins. Tyrants sacrifice their true interest to
 their lusts and passions. It is gracious ambition to covet to be
 like the Most Holy, for he has said, Be ye holy, for I am holy;
 but it is sinful ambition to aim to be like the Most High, for
 he has said, He who exalts himself shall be abased. The devil
 thus drew our first parents to sin. Utter ruin should be brought
 upon him. Those that will not cease to sin, God will make to
 cease. He should be slain, and go down to the grave; this is the
 common fate of tyrants. True glory, that is, true grace, will go
 up with the soul to heaven, but vain pomp will go down with the
 body to the grave; there is an end of it. To be denied burial,
 if for righteousness' sake, may be rejoiced in, #Mt 5:12|. But
 if the just punishment of sin, it denotes that impenitent
 sinners shall rise to everlasting shame and contempt. Many
 triumphs should be in his fall. God will reckon with those that
 disturb the peace of mankind. The receiving the king of Babylon
 into the regions of the dead, shows there is a world of spirits,
 to which the souls of men remove at death. And that souls have
 converse with each other, though we have none with them; and
 that death and hell will be death and hell indeed, to all who
 fall unholy, from the height of this world's pomps, and the
 fulness of its pleasures. Learn from all this, that the seed of
 evil-doers shall never be renowned. The royal city is to be
 ruined and forsaken. Thus the utter destruction of the New
 Testament Babylon is illustrated, #Re 18:2|. When a people will
 not be made clean with the besom of reformation, what can they
 expect but to be swept off the face of the earth with the besom
 of destruction?