Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/mhcc30/v30950

Text File | 1994-03-01 | 9KB | 163 lines

30952
 #18-23 When God comes towards us in ways of mercy, we must meet
 him with joy and thankfulness. Therefore be faithful and honest
 in all your dealings; and let it be a pleasure to you to be so,
 though thereby you come short of the gains others get
 dishonestly; and, as much as in you lies, live peaceably with
 all men. Let the truths of God rule in your heads, and let the
 peace of God rule in your hearts. Thus the ancient servants of
 God drew the notice of heathen neighbours, whose prejudices were
 softened. A great increase to the church shall be made. Hitherto
 the Jews had been prone to learn the idolatries of other
 nations: what more unlikely than that they should teach religion
 to their conquerors, and to all the principal nations of the
 earth! Yet this is expressly foretold, and it came to pass.
 Hitherto the prophecy has been wonderfully fulfilled, and no
 doubt future events will explain it further. It is good to be
 with those who have God with them; if we take God for our God,
 we must take his people for our people, and be willing to take
 our lot with them. But let not any one think that mere zeal,
 either for Jews or Gentiles, will stand in the place of personal
 religion. Let us be living epistles of Christ, known and read of
 all men, so that others may wish to go with us, and to have
 their portion with us in the realms of bliss.
30958
 * God's defence of his church. (1-8) Christ's coming and his
 kingdom. (9-11) Promises to the church. (12-17)

 #1-8 Here are judgements foretold on several nations. While the
 Macedonians and Alexander's successors were in warfare in these
 countries, the Lord promised to protect his people. God's house
 lies in the midst of an enemy's country; his church is as a lily
 among thorns. God's power and goodness are seen in her special
 preservation. The Lord encamps about his church, and while
 armies of proud opposers shall pass by and return, his eyes
 watch over her, so that they cannot prevail, and shortly the
 time will come when no exactor shall pass by her any more.

30966
 #9-17 The prophet breaks forth into a joyful representation of
 the coming of the Messiah, of whom the ancient Jews explained
 this prophecy. He took the character of their King, when he
 entered Jerusalem amidst the hosannas of the multitude. But his
 kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. It shall not be advanced by
 outward force or carnal weapons. His gospel shall be preached to
 the world, and be received among the heathen. A sinful state is
 a state of bondage; it is a pit, or dungeon, in which there is
 no water, no comfort; and we are all by nature prisoners in this
 pit. Through the precious blood of Christ, many prisoners of
 Satan have been set at liberty from the horrible pit in which
 they must otherwise have perished, without hope or comfort.
 While we admire Him, let us seek that his holiness and truth may
 be shown in our own spirits and conduct. These promises have
 accomplishment in the spiritual blessings of the gospel which we
 enjoy by Jesus Christ. As the deliverance of the Jews was
 typical of redemption by Christ, so this invitation speaks to
 all the language of the gospel call. Sinners are prisoners, but
 prisoners of hope; their case is sad, but not desperate; for
 there is hope in Israel concerning them. Christ is a
 Strong-hold, a strong Tower, in whom believers are safe from the
 fear of the wrath of God, the curse of the law, and the assaults
 of spiritual enemies. To him we must turn with lively faith; to
 him we must flee, and trust in his name under all trials and
 sufferings. It is here promised that the Lord would deliver his
 people. This passage also refers to the apostles, and the
 preachers of the gospel in the early ages. God was evidently
 with them; his words from their lips pierced the hearts and
 consciences of the hearers. They were wondrously defended in
 persecution, and were filled with the influences of the Holy
 Spirit. They were saved by the Good Shepherd as his flock, and
 honoured as jewels of his crown. The gifts, graces, and
 consolations of the Spirit, poured forth on the day of
 Pentecost, #Ac 2| and in succeeding times, are represented.
 Sharp have been, and still will be, the conflicts of Zion's
 sons, but their God will give them success. The more we are
 employed, and satisfied with his goodness, the more we shall
 admire the beauty revealed in the Redeemer. Whatever gifts God
 bestows on us, we must serve him cheerfully with them; and, when
 refreshed with blessings, we must say, How great is his
 goodness!
30975
 * Blessings to be sought from the Lord. (1-5) God will restore
 his people. (6-12)

 #1-5 Spiritual blessings had been promised under figurative
 allusions to earthly plenty. Seasonable rain is a great mercy,
 which we may ask of God when there is most need of it, and we
 may look for it to come. We must in our prayers ask for mercies
 in their proper time. The Lord would make bright clouds, and
 give showers of rain. This may be an exhortation to seek the
 influences of the Holy Spirit, in faith and by prayer, through
 which the blessings held forth in the promises are obtained and
 enjoyed. The prophet shows the folly of making addresses to
 idols, as their fathers had done. The Lord visited the remnant
 of his flock in mercy, and was about to renew their courage and
 strength for conflict and victory. Every creature is to us what
 God makes it to be. Every one raised to support the nation, as a
 corner-stone does the building, or to unite those that differ,
 as nails join the different timbers, must come from the Lord;
 and those employed to overcome their enemies, must have strength
 and success from him. This may be applied to Christ; to him we
 must look to raise up persons to unite, support, and defend his
 people. He never will say, Seek ye me in vain.

30980
 #6-12 Here are precious promises to the people of God, which
 look to the state of the Jews, and even to the latter days of
 the church. Preaching the gospel is God's call for souls to come
 to Jesus Christ. Those whom Christ redeemed by his blood, God
 will gather by his grace. Difficulties shall be got over easily,
 and effectually, as those in the way of the deliverance out of
 Egypt. God himself will be their strength, and their song. When
 we resist, and so overcome our spiritual enemies, then our
 hearts shall rejoice. If God strengthen us, we must bestir
 ourselves in all the duties of the Christian life, must be
 active in the work of God; and we must do all in the name of the
 Lord Jesus.
30987
 * Destruction to come upon the Jews. (1-3) The Lord's dealing
 with the Jews. (4-14) The emblem and curse of a foolish
 shepherd. (15-17)

 #1-3 In figurative expressions, that destruction of Jerusalem,
 and of the Jewish church and nation, is foretold, which our Lord
 Jesus, when the time was at hand, prophesied plainly and
 expressly. How can the fir trees stand, if the cedars fall? The
 falls of the wise and good into sin, and the falls of the rich
 and great into trouble, are loud alarms to those every way their
 inferiors. It is sad with a people, when those who should be as
 shepherds to them, are as young lions. The pride of Jordan was
 the thickets on the banks; and when the river overflowed the
 banks, the lions came up from them roaring. Thus the doom of
 Jerusalem may alarm other churches.

30990
 #4-14 Christ came into this world for judgment to the Jewish
 church and nation, which were wretchedly corrupt and degenerate.
 Those have their minds woefully blinded, who do ill, and justify
 themselves in it; but God will not hold those guiltless who hold
 themselves so. How can we go to God to beg a blessing on
 unlawful methods of getting wealth, or to return thanks for
 success in them? There was a general decay of religion among
 them, and they regarded it not. The Good Shepherd would feed his
 flock, but his attention would chiefly be directed to the poor.
 As an emblem, the prophet seems to have taken two staves;
 Beauty, denoted the privileges of the Jewish nation, in their
 national covenant; the other he called Bands, denoting the
 harmony which hitherto united them as the flock of God. But they
 chose to cleave to false teachers. The carnal mind and the
 friendship of the world are enmity to God; and God hates all the
 workers of iniquity: it is easy to foresee what this will end
 in. The prophet demanded wages, or a reward, and received thirty
 pieces of silver. By Divine direction he cast it to the potter,
 as in disdain for the smallness of the sum. This shadowed forth
 the bargain of Judas to betray Christ, and the final method of
 applying it. Nothing ruins a people so certainly, as weakening
 the brotherhood among them. This follows the dissolving of the
 covenant between God and them: when sin abounds, love waxes
 cold, and civil contests follow. No wonder if those fall out
 among themselves, who have provoked God to fall out with them.
 Wilful contempt of Christ is the great cause of men's ruin. And
 if professors rightly valued Christ, they would not contend
 about little matters.