Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/spurgeon/ps2.10

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                           EXPOSITION.

        The scene again changes, and counsel is given to those
who have taken counsel to rebel. They are exhorted to obey, and
give the kiss of homage and affection to him whom they have
hated.

        "_Be wise_."--It is always wise to be willing to be
instructed, especially when such instruction tends to the
salvation of the soul. "Be wise _now, therefore_;" delay no
longer, but let good reason weigh with you. Your warfare cannot
succeed, therefore desist and yield cheerfully to him who will
make you bow if you refuse his yoke. O how wise, how infinitely
wise is obedience to Jesus, and how dreadful is the folly of
those who continue to be his enemies! "_Serve the Lord with
fear_;" let reverence and humility be mingled with your service.
He is a great God, and ye are but puny creatures; bend ye,
therefore, in lowly worship, and let a filial fear mingle with
all your obedience to the great Father of the Ages. "_Rejoice
with trembling_."--There must ever be a holy fear mixed with the
Christian's joy. This is a sacred compound, yielding a sweet
smell, and we must see to it that we burn no other upon the
altar. Fear, without joy, is torment; and joy, without holy fear,
would be presumption. Mark the solemn argument for reconciliation
and obedience. It is an awful thing to _perish_ in the midst of
sin, in the very _way_ of rebellion; and yet how easily could
_his wrath_ destroy us suddenly. It needs not that his anger
should be heated seven times hotter; let the fuel kindle _but a
little_, and we are consumed. O sinner! Take heed of the terrors
of the Lord; for "our God is a consuming fire." Note the
benediction with which the Psalm closes:--"_Blessed are all they
that put their trust in him_." Have we a share in this
blessedness? Do we trust in _him_? Our faith may be slender as a
spider's thread; but if it be real, we are in our measure
blessed. The more we trust, the more fully shall we know this
blessedness. We may therefore close the Psalm with the prayer of
the apostles:-- "Lord, increase our faith."

        The first Psalm is a contrast between the righteous man
and the sinner; the second Psalm is a contrast between the
tumultuous disobedience of the ungodly world and the sure
exaltation of the righteous Son of God. In the first Psalm, we
saw the wicked driven away like chaff; in the second Psalm, we
see them broken in pieces like a potter's vessel. In the first
Psalm, we beheld the righteous like a tree planted by the rivers
of water; and here, we contemplate Christ, the Covenant Head of
the righteous, made better than a tree planted by the rivers of
water, for _he_ is made king of all the islands, and all the
heathen bow before him and kiss the dust; while he himself gives
a blessing to all those who put their trust in him. The two
Psalms are worthy of the very deepest attention; they are, in
fact, the preface in the entire Book of Psalms, and were by some
of the ancients, joined into one. They are, however, two Psalms;
for Paul speaks of this as the second Psalm. (#Ac 13:33|.) The
first shows us the character and lot of the righteous; and the
next teaches us that the Psalms are Messianic, and speak of
Christ the Messiah--the Prince who shall reign from the river
even unto the ends of the earth. That they have both a
far-reaching prophetic outlook we are well assured, but we do not
feel competent to open up that matter, and must leave it to abler
hands.

              EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

        Verse 10.--"_Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings_," etc.
As Jesus is King of kings and Judge of judges, so the gospel is
the teacher of the greatest and wisest. If any are so great as to
spurn its admonitions, God will make little of them; and if they
are so wise as to despise its teachings, their fancied wisdom
shall make fools of them. The gospel takes a high tone before the
rulers of the earth, and they who preach it should, like Knox and
Melville, magnify their office by bold rebukes and manly
utterances even in the royal presence. A clerical sycophant is
only fit to be a scullion in the devil's kitchen.--^C. H. S.

        Verse 11.--"_Serve the Lord with fear_." This fear of God
qualifies our joy. If you abstract fear from joy, joy will become
light and wanton; and if you abstract joy from fear, fear then
will become slavish.--^William Bates, D.D., 1625-1699.

        Verse 11.--"_Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with
trembling_." There are two kinds of serving and rejoicing in God.
First, a serving in security, and a rejoicing in the Lord without
fear; these are peculiar to hypocrites, who are secure, who
please themselves, and who appear to themselves to be not
unuseful servants, and to have great merit on their side,
concerning whom it is said (#Ps 10:5|), "Thy judgments are far
above out of his sight;" and also afterwards (#Ps 36:1|), "There
is no fear of God before his eyes." These do righteousness
without judgment at all times; and permit not Christ to be the
Judge to be feared by all, in whose sight no man living is
justified. Secondly, a serving with fear and a rejoicing with
trembling; these are peculiar to the righteous who do
righteousness at all times, and always rightly attemper both;
never being without judgments, on the one hand, by which they are
terrified and brought to despair of themselves and of all their
own works; nor without that righteousness, on the other, on which
they rest, and in which they rejoice in the mercy of God. It is
the work of the whole lives of these characters to accuse
themselves in all things, and in all things to justify and praise
God. And thus they fulfil that word of Proverbs, "Blessed is the
man that feareth alway_" (#Pr 28:14|); and also that of #Php
4:4|, "Rejoice in the Lord alway." Thus, between the upper and
nether mill-stone (#De 24:6|), they are broken in pieces and
humbled, and the husks thus being bruised off, they come forth
the all-pure wheat of Christ.--^Martin Luther.

        Verse 11.--The fear of God promotes spiritual joy; it is
the morning star which ushers in the sunlight of comfort.
"Walking in the fear of God, and in the comfort of the Holy
Ghost." God mingles joy with fear, that fear may not be slavish.
--^Thomas Watson, 1660.

        Verse 12.--"_Kiss_," a sign of love among equals: #Ge
33:4; 1Sa 20:41; Ro 16:16; 1Co 16:20|. Of subjection in
inferiors: #1Sa 10:1|. Of religious adoration in worshippers:
#1Ki 19:18; Job 31:27|.--^John Richardson, Bishop of Ardagh,
1655.

        Verse 12.--"_Kiss the Son, lest he be angry_." From the
Person, _the Son_, we shall pass to the act (_Osculamini, kiss
the Son_); in which we shall see, that since this is an act which
licentious men have depraved (carnal men do it, and treacherous
men do it--Judas betrayed his Master by a kiss), and yet God
commands this, and expresses love in this; everything that hath,
or may be abused, must not therefore be abandoned; the turning of
a thing out of the way, is not a taking of that thing away, but
good things deflected to ill uses by some, may be by others
reduced to their first goodness. Then let us consider and magnify
the goodness of God, that hath brought us into this distance,
that we may _kiss the Son_, that the expressing of this love lies
in our hands, and that, whereas the love of the church, in the
Old Testament, even in the Canticle, went no farther but to the
_Osculatur me_ (_O that he would kiss me with the kisses of his
mouth_! #So 1:2|), now, in the Christian church, and in the
visitation of a Christian soul, he hath invited us, enabled us to
kiss him, for he is presentially amongst us. This leads us to
give an earnest persuasion and exhortation _to kiss the Son_,
with all those affections, which we shall there find to be
expressed in the Scriptures, in that testimony of true love, a
holy kiss. But then lest that persuasion by love should not be
effectual and powerful enough to us, we shall descend from that
duty, to the danger, from love, to fear, "_lest he be angry_;"
and therein see first, that God, who is love, can be angry; and
then, that this God who is angry here, is the Son of God, he that
hath done so much for us, and therefore in justice may be angry;
he that is our Judge, and therefore in reason we are to fear his
anger: and then, in a third branch, we shall see how easily this
anger departs--a kiss removes it.

        Verse 12.--"_Kiss the Son_." That is, embrace him, depend
upon him all these ways: as thy kinsman, as thy sovereign; at thy
going, at thy coming; at thy reconciliation, in the truth of
religion in thyself, in a peaceable unity with the church, in a
reverent estimation of those men, and those means whom he sends.
Kiss him, and be not ashamed of kissing him; it is that which the
spouse desired, "_I would kiss thee, and not be despised_." #So
8:1|. If thou be despised for loving Christ in his gospel,
remember that when David was thought base, for dancing before the
ark, his way was to be more base. If thou be thought frivolous
for thrusting in at service, in the forenoon, be more frivolous,
and come again in the afternoon: "_Tanto major requies, quanto ab
amore Jesu nulla requies;" [Gregory] "The more thou troublest
thyself, or art troubled by others for Christ, the more peace
thou hast in Christ." ... "_Lest he be angry_" Anger, as it is a
passion that troubles, and disorders, and discomposes a man, so
it is not in God; but anger, as it is a sensible discerning of
foes from friends, and of things that conduce, or disconduce to
his glory, so it is in God. In a word, Hilary hath expressed it
well: "_Paena patientis, ira decernentis_;" "Man's suffering is
God's anger." When God inflicts such punishments as a king justly
incensed would do, then God is thus angry. Now here, our case is
heavier; it is not this great, and almighty, and majestical God,
that may be angry--that is like enough; but even the _Son_, whom
we must _kiss_, may be _angry_; it is not a person whom we
consider merely as God, but as man; nay, not as man neither, but
_a worm, and no man_, and he may be angry, and angry to our ruin
... "_Kiss the Son_," and he will not _be angry_; if he be, kiss
the rod, and he will be angry no longer--love him lest he be;
fear him when he is angry: the preservative is easy, and so is
the restorative too: the balsamum of this kiss is all, to suck
spiritual milk out of the left breast, as well as out of the
right, to find mercy in his judgments, reparation in his ruins,
feasts in his lents, joy in his anger.--^From Sermons of John
Donne, D.D., Dean of St. Paul's, 1621--1631.

        Verse 12.--"_Kiss the son_." To make peace with the
Father, kiss the son. "Let him kiss me," was the church's prayer.
#So 1:2|. Let us kiss him--that be our endeavour. Indeed, the son
must first kiss us by his mercy, before we can kiss him by our
piety. Lord, grant in these mutual kisses and interchangeable
embraces now, that we may come to the plenary wedding supper
hereafter; When the choir of heaven, even the voices of angels,
shall sing epithalamiums, nuptial songs, at the bridal of the
spouse of the Lamb.--^Thomas Adams.

        Verse 12.--"_If his wrath be kindled but a little_;" the
Hebrew is, if his nose or nostril be kindled but a little; the
nostril, being an organ of the body in which wrath shows itself,
is put for wrath itself. Paleness and snuffling of the nose are
symptoms of anger. In our proverbials, to take a thing in snuff,
is to take it in anger.--^Joseph Caryl.

        Verse 12.--"_His wrath_." Unspeakable must the wrath of
God be when it is kindled fully, since perdition may come upon
the _kindling of it but a little_.--^John] Newton.

                       HINTS TO PREACHERS.

        Verse 10.--True Wisdom, fit for kings and judges, lies in
obeying Christ.

        The gospel, a school for those who would learn how to
rule and judge well. They may consider its principles, its
exemplar, its spirit, etc.

        Verse 11.--_Mingled experience_. See the case of the
women returning from the sepulchre. #Mt 28:8|. This may be
rendered a very comforting subject, if the Holy Spirit direct the
mind of the preacher.

        True religion, a compound of many virtues and emotions.

        Verse 12.--_An earnest invitation_. 1. _The command_. 2.
_The argument_. 3. _The benediction_ upon the
obedient.--"Spurgeon's Sermons," No. 260.

        Last clause.-- Nature, object, and blessedness of saving
faith.