=========================================================== Scripture Studies: Vol. VIII, No. 6 - August 2001 ================================================== In this issue: Old Testament Study - Zechariah 12:1-9 Patience in Affliction, pt. 2, by Richard Baxter New Testament Study - Matthew 11:2-6 A Topical Study - Loving God vs. Loving the World, pt. 20 A Study in Psalms - Psalms 44 Masthead -------- "Scripture Studies" is edited by Scott Sperling and published ten times a year by Scripture Studies, Inc., a non-profit organization. It is distributed all over the world by postal mail and via the internet, free of charge. If you would like to financially support the publication and distribution of "Scripture Studies", send contributions to: Scripture Studies Inc. 20 Pastora Foothill Ranch, CA 92610 USA Contributions are tax deductible in the United States. If you do not live in the United States, and would like to support "Scripture Studies", please send international postal coupons. Please feel free to upload "Scripture Studies" to any BBS or online service. If you or anyone that you know would like to be added to the subscription list send your request to the above address, or, via email to Scott Sperling at: ssper@aol.com Unless noted otherwise, scripture references are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers =========================================================== Old Testament Study - Zechariah 12:1-9 ====================================== An Oracle of the End-Times - I ------------------------------ 1An Oracle: This is the word of the LORD concerning Israel. The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: 2"I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. 3On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. 4On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness," declares the LORD. "I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. 5Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, 'The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God.' 6"On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place. 7"The LORD will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem's inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. 8On that day the LORD will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the LORD going before them. 9On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem." This chapter begins the second Oracle from the Lord. The first oracle, comprised of chapters 9 through 11 of the book of Zechariah, primarily prophesied events that are now in the past to us. Those prophecies dealt with events just before, during, and just after the first coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, to Israel. The second oracle, which is comprised of chapter 12 through 14 of the book of Zechariah, consists almost exclusively of prophecies of events that will occur during the end-times: events that will occur just before, during and just after the second coming of Christ. These events are denoted in many places in the book of Zechariah, and in many other places in the Bible, with the words, "On that day..." As we will see, the Lord has reserved for Israel a primary role in the events of the end-times: "This is the word of the Lord concerning Israel. The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: 'I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling'" (vss. 1-2). In the recent history of Israel during Zechariah's time, other nations were used as instruments of God's judgment upon Israel. During the end-times, however, Israel will be used as an instrument to bring about God's judgment upon ungodly nations, as the Lord makes "Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling." For the people of Zechariah's time, this prophecy may have seemed fanciful. For this reason, Zechariah introduces it with a declaration of God's power and might: "The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares..." (vs. 1). "By rehearsing Yahweh's works of the past, Zechariah assures his readers of God's ability to fulfill the promises about to be revealed" [Baldwin, 116]. Certainly, any of these prophesied acts are lesser works as compared to creating the heavens and the earth. Note that, significantly, Zechariah treats God's creative work as being on-going, for he uses the present tense to describe these works: The Lord "stretches out the heavens", "lays the foundation of the earth", and "forms the spirit of man within him." "God stretches out the heavens every day afresh, and every day He lays the foundation of the earth, which, if His power did not uphold it, would move from its orbit and fall into ruin" [Hengstenburg, in Baron, 425]. God's work has not ended. As the Bible avers, God is intimately involved in His creation. "The Bible is ignorant of that philosophy which teaches that God has created the universe and wound up its machinery like a clock, and then left it to run on by its own inherent energies. From moment to moment He is exerting His power in maintaining the movements of visible things" [Moore, 189]. On to the promises: "I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves" (vss. 2-3). We see here that, though Israel will have the special blessing of God, and will be specially protected by God, this does not mean that Israel will be immune to trouble. In fact, the situation will seem extremely grim for Israel. Her capital, Jerusalem, will be "besieged", and she will be without allies, for "all the nations of the earth [will be] gathered against her." When we are given the privilege to be used by God as instruments to carry out His purposes, this does not mean that we will be immune to trouble. On the contrary, we may very well be led into trouble, so that the world may see and recognize the work of God, and in order that God may be glorified through His work. Zechariah uses analogies for Israel, or more specifically Jerusalem (for Jerusalem is the center of activity in this passage), as he depicts her as two types of instruments of God. Jerusalem is an "immovable rock." The rock is so "immovable" that "all who try to move it will injure themselves." Jerusalem is also pictured as a "cup" of God's wrath. The "cup" is an oft-used symbol of God's wrath in the Bible (see Is. 51:17,22; Jer. 13:13; 25:15-28; 51:7). It's a cup of drunkenness, which reduces men to "a state of helplessness and misery similar to that of a drunken, staggering, intoxicated man." [Kaiser, 400]. The next verses depict the confusion that this cup will bring: "'On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,' declares the Lord. 'I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations'" (vs. 4). I find this passage interesting as it may apply to instruments of modern warfare. If we assume that the horses and riders are symbols of instruments of warfare, and we reflect how important vision and communication through instruments of technology are in modern warfare, I could speculate that this prophecy may be fulfilled by the Lord somehow crippling the technology of an army as it wages war on Jerusalem. Some sort of sudden and total loss of technological "vision" and communication in the midst of a battle would render an army virtually helpless and quite probably throw it into a panic, as described here. Whatever way this prophecy is eventually fulfilled, it will be seen by the people of God as a miraculous work of the Lord: "Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, 'The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the Lord Almighty is their God'" (vs. 5). It is a great blessing to have godly leaders, leaders who recognize and attribute to God the great things He has done. The "Then" in verse 5 suggests to me that the leaders at that time will first realize that the Lord was the source of Jerusalem's strength. This realization will give the leaders the ability to fire up (so to speak) the people of Judah to victory: "On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves" (vs. 6). This leadership will spur Jerusalem to victory: "They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place" (vs. 6). In the process of giving Judah the victory, the Lord will show that He is not a "respecter of persons" (see Acts 10:34), by saving first those who will be considered lowest in the eyes of the world: "The LORD will save the dwellings" (literally "tents") "of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem's inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah" (vs. 7). Those on the outskirts, living in "tents", will be saved by the Lord before those living in the city of Jerusalem, and even before the leaders in Jerusalem. In this way, God will demonstrate that those on the outskirts are just as valuable to Him as the "sophisticated" who live in the city. Then, the Lord will exalt them all: "On that day the LORD will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the LORD going before them" (vs. 8). In battle they will be invincible. They will go into battle as if their leaders were "the Angel of the LORD" Himself. And their invincibility will be proven: "On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem" (vs. 9). This passage and, indeed, the rest of the book of Zechariah proclaim clearly that God is not finished with the people of Israel. We who revere the Word of God cannot help but realize this. The prayers of the church should ever be with Israel: that Israel would embrace the Word of God, and turn to their Messiah, Jesus Christ. =========================================================== Patience in Affliction, pt. 2, by Richard Baxter ================================================ A Classic Study by Richard Baxter (1615-1691) [Here, we continue a reprint of excerpts from Richard Baxter's work entitled Obedient Patience. In each article, Mr. Baxter gives advice on how to be patient through a specific type of affliction.]-Ed. Under the Sentence of Death --------------------------- The next case that requireth obedient patience is, the sentence of death. Briefly, consider this: 1. He that would not die (when he knoweth that there is no other way to paradise) would have no more than he shall possess on earth: which he may easily know is transitory vanity, mixed with so much vexation, more than most of the brutes themselves have, as would make man as unhappy a wight as they, if not much more. Man's nature, which abhorreth death, doth abhor the ending of its being, activity, and delights: and will any man's reason then direct him to choose such an end of all, and to despair of ever having any life, activity, or pleasure after this? Doubtless nothing but hell is more contrary to our interest; and our interest, if known, will be our desire and choice. Who would willingly be as brutes? 2. If it be such brutish unbelief and desperation which maketh death frightful, as if there were no better to be had, reason should make such inquiry and search, whether there be no hopes; and if this be but faithfully done, the light of nature and the gospel will confute such desperation, and give man the joyful prospect of happy immortality. It is the darkness of ignorance, error, and unbelief, that makes us fear that which should be our joyful hope. 3. But if it be the fear of hell or future punishment that makes us afraid of death (as, alas, to most there is greater cause than they will believe), such fear, should drive men presently to the remedy. We are not in hell, where there is no hope, but on earth, where mercy is ready to save us, and seeketh to us, and beggeth our acceptance. If you fear death and hell, fly presently to Christ for grace; repent unfeignedly of all the sin which is your danger: give up your souls to be saved by Christ on His own reasonable terms, and then you may boldly and joyfully hope that He will save them. All your fears, if you will truly repent and trust in Christ, may be turned into assurance of salvation, and glad desires to be with Him! 4. Did we not all our lifetime know that we must die? And should a man therefore live in continual terror? If not, how little doth the case and reason differ at the last, from that which he was all his life in? 5. All that have been born into this world since it was made have quickly passed out again. Death is as common as birth. And hath God made all mankind to live in continual terror, so much more miserable than the brutes, that know not that they must die? Shall I wish alone to be exempted from the case of all mankind? 6. Yea, all the saints that ever were on earth (save Enoch and Elijah) died. All that are in heaven have gone this way before me. Faith can see beyond the gulf or stream, which they are safely wafted over, and see them stand and joyful on the shore of glory. And should I not long to be with so desirable company? 7. Do we believe in Christ, that He hath done and suffered all that He did, to purchase heaven for us, and His intercession and grace is to bring us to it; and when all is done, would we not come there, and had we rather stay in a sinful, malignant, vexatious earth? 8. Are we in good earnest when we pray, and labour, and suffer for heaven, and make it the end of all our religion and obedience, and make that the business of our lives, and yet would we not go to that which we spend our lives in seeking? 9. If our fears be unreasonable, necessitated by nature, against the convictions of faith, even those fears should make us desire death, as that which faith tells us will end them all, and be our only full deliverance. 10. Is it not unnatural, and contrary to the very interest and tendency of all our faculties, to fear and flee from that which is our felicity and joy? Doth our heavenly state differ from the best on earth, more than a kingdom from a prison; and shall we fear it, as if it were evil, and fly from the only hope and happiness of souls? Quest. These reasons to godly men are undeniable; but the fears of death will not yield to reason: have you no other way or remedy against it? Ans. Souls are wrought upon by soul-operations and remedies. But further, 1. When fear cometh from natural averseness to die, and strangeness to the state of separated souls, and to some unrevealed things of the unseen world, it is wisdom to cast those dark and unknown frightful things quite out of our thoughts, and quietly to shut our eyes against them. When I was young, I was wont to go up the Wrekin-Hill with great pleasure (being near my dwelling) and to look down on the country below me, and see the villages as little things; but when I was weak with age and sickness, the last time I went up, if I did but cast my eye downwards, my spirits failed, and I was ready to fall down in sudden death. Were I chained fast to the top of a high spire-steeple, I am sure that I could not fall, and yet I am confident that one look down would suddenly kill me. What then should I do? As on the hill I fixed my eyes on the earth at my feet, till I came down; so I would in such a height, either look only upward, or shut my eyes, and take heed of looking down to the earth: so do here. If faith and reason tell you that death is not to be so feared, and that all your hope and comfort must be beyond, and that you are safe in God's promise, and in the hand of Christ-but yet the thoughts of a grave, and the separation from the body, and of all that is unknown to us in the next world, is frightful to you-shut your eyes, and think not on those things. Wink, and say, they belong not to my thoughts. But then join the other remedies. 2. Look upwards, and dwell on the delightful thoughts of all that revealed joy and glory, which is ready to receive us, and of the company that is there, that hope and desire may conquer fear. 3. And especially trust Jesus Christ with your departing souls, and trust Him quietly and boldly, as to all that He hath revealed, and you know; and as to all that is unrevealed and unknown, He is fully able, wise, and willing. Trust Him, for He commandeth it. Trust Him, for He never deceived any. He hath saved all departed souls, that ever truly and obediently trusted Him. Cast away all distrusting, caring, fearing thoughts, that would take His work out of His hand. Against all such even wink, and trust Him. It is His part and not yours to know fully what He will do with you, and to receive you into His prepared mansions, and to justify you against the accusations of Satan, and the guilt of pardoned sin; and to bring you into the Jerusalem above, and present you spotless to His Father. Cast therefore all these cares on Him, who hath promised to care for you. Commit yourselves to Him, and trust Him with His own, which He hath wonderfully purchased. Suspect not His power, skill, or will, and beg His grace to increase your faith, that you may not fear nor faint, through self-caring and unbelief. =========================================================== New Testament Study - Matthew 11:2-6 ==================================== John Questions Jesus -------------------- 2When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples 3to ask Him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" 4Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 6Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me." In chapters 11 and 12, Matthew presents episodes in Jesus' life where Jesus begins to assert His authority as the Son of God. For example, in these chapters, Jesus will pronounce woe upon cities that do not respond to the message He brings (Matt. 11:21ff), He will boldly proclaim that "no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him" (Matt. 11:27), He will proclaim Himself as Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8), and He will predict His death and resurrection (Matt. 12:40). In the passage we are looking at in this issue, John the Baptist, through his disciples, questions Jesus about who He is: "When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask Him, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?'" (vs. 2). One might well wonder: was John losing his faith in Jesus as the Messiah? During his ministry, John boldly proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah. He said of Jesus, without equivocation: "I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God" (John 1:34; see also John 1:15; John 1:26-35; John 3:26-30). Yet now John asks Jesus: "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" (vs. 2). We can only speculate at this time about John's thoughts, attitudes and motives for asking this. I would guess that John's imprisonment had a lot to do with John's lack of certainty about Jesus' mission. First, who knows how Jesus' ministry was being misrepresented to John? There must have been all sorts of rumors, myths, exaggerations, etc. concerning Jesus' ministry. And John, being in prison, had no way to verify for himself the truth. Second, it may well be that John himself had misapprehensions about what Jesus' ministry was supposed to entail. It seems that John, during his ministry, emphasized the judgment the Messiah would bring. John said of Jesus: "His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (vs. 12). "Perhaps John was simply puzzled. He had prophesied such great things about Jesus, and specifically he had spoken of judgment (cf. 3:11-12). But there was no sign of the judgment he expected (it would have been very human for John to have looked for judgment on those who had brought his ministry to a close and made him suffer so many things in jail)" [Morris, 275]. "Jesus was not turning out to be the kind of Messiah the people had expected. Even John the Baptist had doubts" [Carson, 260]. Third, it is quite possible that John's imprisonment had a depressing effect on John, which led to these doubts about all that God was doing. Given the importance of his ministry before he was imprisoned, John must surely have felt frustrated that he was not out and about preaching. "As Elijah sometimes got sadly out of heart, so John, who in many respects closely resembled him, would be likely to grow despondent, in this season of enforced idleness and uncertain danger" [Broadus, 235]. "Dark thoughts may come to the bravest when pent up in a narrow cell. It was well that John's question was put, that it might receive a distinct reply; reassuring for himself, and instructive for us." [Spurgeon, 134]. "Jesus replied, 'Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me'" (vss. 4-6). Jesus' reply to John was effective in a number of ways. First, Jesus dealt with any false accounts that John might have heard about Jesus' ministry. Jesus told John's disciples to "go back and report to John what you hear and see." So, Jesus was telling people that John trusted to personally report about Jesus' ministry. Their personal account would serve to counteract any false rumors that John might have heard. Second, Jesus' reply reflected His own confidence in what He was doing, that what He was doing was God's will. Jesus did not try to reinterpret His actions for John's sake. Jesus told the disciples, simply, to "report what you hear and see." Third, Jesus implicitly presented evidence from prophecy that He was the Messiah. Jesus' words, "The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor", are similar to language used in well-known, prophecies about the Messiah. Isaiah prophesied: "Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy" (Isa. 35:5-6), and, in the voice of the Messiah, he wrote, "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor" (Isa. 61:1). Jesus answered John's questions with evidence from His life, acts that fulfilled prophecy. Through these acts are demonstrated not only His miraculous powers, but proofs that what He was doing was what the Messiah was prophesied to do. Significantly, the Messianic passages that Jesus was implicitly referring to are nearby passages that speak of judgment by the Messiah. Isaiah wrote: "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, He will come with vengeance; with divine retribution He will come to save you" (Isa. 35:4), and also, he wrote that the Messiah was sent to proclaim "the day of vengeance of our God" (Isa. 61:2). So, Jesus was, in effect, telling John that there are two aspects prophesied about the coming of the Messiah. John knew well the aspects of the wrath and vengeance that the Messiah will bring. Jesus was reminding John of the grace and salvation that the Messiah was prophesied to bring. We know now that these two aspects of the Messiah would be manifested in two separate comings. It seems that John did not realize this. John (we presume) expected the wrath of the Messiah to be manifest in Jesus' first coming. We must all be careful that we do not get locked stubbornly into an interpretation of prophecy in the Bible that may turn out to be inaccurate or incomplete. There are many passages in the Bible about which godly people disagree, especially passages of prophecy. We must be open to growth and evolution of our understanding of the Bible, as the Holy Spirit chooses to reveal His Word to us. Strange as it sounds, people were "falling away" from the faith because Jesus, the promised Messiah, did not act according to their interpretation of the Bible. Thus, Jesus added to His reply: "Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me" (vs. 6). =========================================================== A Topical Study - Loving God vs. Loving the World, pt. 20 ========================================================= [Here we continue our series that has the goal of increasing our love for God and the things of God, while decreasing our love for the world and the things of the world. This resumes a multi-part study by Samuel Annesley, in which he examines, in detail, the greatest commandment. In this study, Mr. Annesley concludes his list of some effects of loving God, by listing effects that concern both the one who loves God, and God Himself.]-Ed. How May We Attain to Love God by Samuel Annesley (1620 -1696) ------------------------------- "Jesus said unto him, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment'" (Matt. 22:37-38, AV). (II.) EFFECTS of love to God. 3. Mutual effects are these, and such like as these:- (l.) Union with God.-Union is the foundation of communion, and communion is the exercise of union. The Spirit of God is the immediate efficient cause of this union, and faith is the internal instrument on our part; but love is the internal instrument both on God's part and ours. Christ "dwells in our hearts by faith, we being rooted and grounded in love" (Eph. 3:17). This union is most immediately with Christ, and, through Him, with the Father and Holy Ghost. It is an amazing and comfortable truth, that our union with Christ does much resemble the personal union of the two natures in Christ. I grant it is unlike it in more considerations, because of the transcendency of the mystery; but yet there is some resemblance. For example: the human nature in Christ is destitute of its subsistence and personality, by its union with and its assumption to the divine; so the gracious soul hath no kind of denomination but what it hath from its union with Christ: its gracious being is bound up in its union with Christ. Other men can live without Christ; but so cannot the gracious soul. Again: in Christ there is a communication of properties, that is, that which is proper to the Divine Nature is attributed to the human; and, contrarily, that which is proper to the human nature is attributed to the Divine: so here, in the soul's union with Christ, Christ is made sin for us, and dealt with as if He were a sinner; we are made the righteousness of God in Him, and privileged as righteous persons. Christ's riches are ours, and our poverty His; yea, more, the offices of Christ are attributed to believers; they are "an holy and a royal priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (I Peter 2:5, 9); and Christ "hath made us kings and priests unto his Father" (Rev. 1:6). Christ hath a stock of created grace: it was for us: "Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace" (John 1:16). The apostle bids us "be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (II Tim. 2:1). What shall I say? Is Christ the natural Son of God? They are the adopted. Is Christ the beloved Son of God? Believers, in their measure, are so too. They are dead with Christ, buried with Christ, risen with Christ, sit together in heavenly places with Christ, fellow-heirs with Christ. In short, as there never was such another union in the world as the union of this two natures in Christ, so there never was, nor ever can be, such another union in the world as between Christ and the believer. It is beyond what any metaphors from art or nature can fully express. That of a foundation and building, of a vine and branches, of head and members, of soul and body, are but dark shadows of this union. But I must not enlarge. (2.) Communion with God.-Communion consists in communication; when there is a kind of community of property. I might run over the former particulars, and enlarge them; but the subject is not so barren, that I need name one thing twice. Christians, I beg of you that you would be careful of receiving, because I can be but brief in delivering a few hints of the communication of divine love between God and us. For example: God communicates "the divine nature" to us through his fulfilling "exceeding great and precious promises" (II Peter 1:4). We make returns as those that are born of God, in obeying His commands. Because God loves us, He communicates unto us His communicable properties of holiness, wisdom, goodness. Seeing we have nothing to return, we prostrate ourselves at His feet, and ingenuously acknowledge our unholiness, folly, and badness. God and the soul hold communication in all gracious actions. God communicates strength to the doing of those things which He cannot do, but which we must: to repent, believe, obey God,-these are our actions through His strength. Again: we exercise our graces upon God for those actions which we cannot do, but which we may, through His covenant-engagement, with humble thankfulness say He must. For example: for the pardon of sin, speaking peace to the conscience, giving-out of gracious influences, etc.; for these we admire God, we praise Him, rejoice in Him. Once more: in those things wherein we can make no return to God, but may to others for God's sake; our love to God necessitates us to do it. For instance: God pities us, is merciful and kind to us; God is infinitely above all such returns. Ay, but so are not the members of Christ, who are the best visible image of God in the world: I will give them not only my alms, but my very bowels, etc. In short, in this communication, God and the gracious soul have the same interest, drive on the same design (the advancement of Christ and the gospel), have the same friends, and the same enemies. They communicate secrets to each other: none but the loving soul knows the secrets of Divine Love; and none but God hears all the secrets of the soul without a reserve. Among the dearest friends in the world, there is some reserve. Some things we will rather speak to a stranger than to our dearest bosom-friend; we think them not fit to mention, or we are loath to trouble them: but there is none of this between God and the soul: God tells us all that may benefit, not overcharge, us: we tell God all the very worst of our own hearts, which we are ashamed to mention to those that most love us. God deals with us according to our capacities; our bottles would break should God over-fill them; but we deal with God according to the utmost of our active graces: God is both compassionate to pity and pardon what is no way acceptable, and even incredibly condescending to accept of what none but His infinite grace would accept. (3.) Familiar love-visits.-When God makes sad visits to the disquieting of conscience, and the breaking of our peace; yet even then the soul, under trouble of conscience, would not change its spiritual trouble for the best of the world's peace, no, not for its former peace, with which it was so well pleased before conversion. The soul that loves God cannot construe that to be a visit which others count so. The soul never goes to God as we go to visit those we care not for, that we are glad at their being from home; so the visit be but paid, we care not. Pray compare some passages in that Song of Loves: one while you have the spouse inquiring of Christ, "Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?" (Song. 1:7). As if he had said: "Tell me, O Lord, my love and life, where I may have both instruction and protection in an hour of trouble; lest through Thy absence I be seduced by those that only pretend to love Thee." Christ gives a present answer, and quickly after returns an invitation: "O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely" (Songs 2:14). As if he had said: "O my mourning dove, that darest not stir out of thy secret place, stir up thy faith, hold up thy face with comfort, let me hear thy prayers and praises: though others censure them, I esteem them; though others count thee deformed, thou art in my eyes beautiful." Here is something of affection; but see more: "Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits" (Songs 4:16). As if he had said: "O my Lord, what I have from Thee, I return to Thee: accept, I beseech Thee, the fruits of obedience and praise." Christ presently accepts the invitation: "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved" (Songs. 5:1). As if He had said, "Thou shalt no sooner ask, than be answered; I accept thy graces and duties, thy bitter repentance and thy fragrant holiness: they are most sweet to me, notwithstanding their imperfections. And ye, O my friends, whether blessed angels, or gracious souls, do you cheer yourselves with the same spiritual dainties wherewith I am refreshed." This is much; but there is more in the next expression I shall name: "Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me" (Song. 6:5), as if he had said, "I am ravished and vanquished by thy fixed eye of faith." In short, see the spouse's closing request: "Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices" (Song. 8:14). As if he had said, "As I began this song, my dearest Saviour, with passionate desires of Thy first coming by the preaching of the gospel; so, though I thankfully praise thee for all the communion I have had with Thee, yet I cannot, my Lord, but more passionately long for Thy glorious coming, to take me with Thee from these bottoms of death and valleys of tears, to those eternal heights where nothing springs but life and glory; that, instead of this song, I may sing a new one to the Lamb, and to Him that sits upon the throne unto all eternity." Thus, but in a far more seraphic manner than I am able to express, the soul-loving God, as the God-loving soul, are rejoicing in each other with joy, till they rest in each other's love (see Zeph. 3:17). In short, the soul that loves God is never so well as when most immediately with Him; and while there is any distance, many a love-glance passeth between God and the soul, even in the greatest crowd of business and diversions. (4.) A putting a love-interpretation upon all things.-God looks upon the very miscarriages of those whom He loves as their infirmities, and puts a better interpretation upon them, than they dare do themselves. The disciples slept when Christ bade them watch: they knew not what to answer Him. Christ Himself excuseth it better than they could, in saying, "The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak" (Mark 14:37, 38, 40). And the loving soul is as loath to take any thing ill at the hands of God: when it is never so bad with the soul, he blesseth God that it is no worse. God and the loving soul do those things towards each other, which nothing but love can put a good interpretation upon: the truth is, without love it were intolerable. For example: God requires that service of the gracious soul that He requires of no other; namely, to bless God when persecuted, to rejoice in tribulations, to hope against hope, etc. God puts the soul that loves Him upon those trials that He puts upon no other; namely, those chastisements from Himself, those reproaches from men, those buffetings from Satan, which are peculiar to saints. But the soul heartily loveth God under all these. Again: the soul grows upon God in prayer; and the more it receives from God, the more insatiable it is, and God loves the soul the better for it. When afflictions are extreme, those that love God put the affliction upon the account of God's faithfulness: on the other hand, when the poor soul is foiled, and Satan runs with the tidings of it to set God against Him, God pities the soul, and rates the accuser: "And He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments: Take away the filthy garments from him," etc. (Zech. 3:1-4). Here is Joshua the high priest: while executing his office in offering sacrifices and prayers for the people, Satan arraigns him as a prisoner at the bar, and the accusation being true and vehement, Satan takes the upper hand; but now, Jesus Christ, as well the patron as the Judge of saints, cuts him short with a vehement reproof, and tells him those sins could not make void that choice, which they could not at first hinder; and, further, Christ, as it were, tells him they had been severely punished, half burnt and wasted by the heat of God's displeasure; and would he now re-kindle that fire? No, Satan, thy charge is, as it were, thrown out of the court: his sins shall be pardoned, his graces multiplied, and upon the well-discharging of his office he shall have "places to walk among them that stand by" (alluding to the walks and galleries about the temple). As if he had said, "Thou shalt walk with these glorious angels: they shall be thy companions and guardians, where Satan hath no place." So that Christ loves a soul the more, not the less, for Satan's accusations. =========================================================== A Study in Psalms - Psalms 44 ============================= Psalm 44 - God's People Under Heavy Trial - I ---------------------------------- For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil. 1We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what You did in their days, in days long ago. 2With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers; You crushed the peoples and made our fathers flourish. 3It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; It was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, for You loved them. 4You are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob. 5Through You we push back our enemies; through Your name we trample our foes. 6I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; 7But You give us victory over our enemies, You put our adversaries to shame. 8In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise Your name forever. Selah 9But now You have rejected and humbled us; You no longer go out with our armies. 10You made us retreat before the enemy, and our adversaries have plundered us. 11You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations. 12You sold Your people for a pittance, gaining nothing from their sale. 13You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us. 14You have made us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their heads at us. 15My disgrace is before me all day long, and my face is covered with shame 16At the taunts of those who reproach and revile me, because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge. 17All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten You or been false to Your covenant. 18Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from Your path. 19But You crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals and covered us over with deep darkness. 20If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, 21Would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart? 22Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. 23Awake, O Lord! Why do You sleep? Rouse Yourself! Do not reject us forever. 24Why do You hide Your face and forget our misery and oppression? 25We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. 26Rise up and help us; redeem us because of Your unfailing love. ------------------------------------------- Neither the inscription, nor the contents of this psalm suggest who the author was. And it is just as well, for this psalm is representative of the words that any of God's people may speak under heavy trial. This psalm is a structured, well-argued appeal to God for help in time of trouble. First, the speaker recalls the testimony of the history of God's intervention for His people (vss. 1-3); then, the Psalmist points out that God's people have trusted in Him (vss. 4-8); next, he asks God why He has deserted them (vss. 9-12), bringing to God's attention the reproach they face for His desertion of them (vss. 13-16); the psalmist then makes the case to God as to why His people do not deserve the affliction they are facing (vss. 17-22); finally, he prays that God return to His people (vss. 23-26). The inclusion of this psalm in the inspired Word of God is evidence that God's people will face persecution. Also, I believe that God has inspired this psalm in order to encourage believers to wrestle with Him in prayer during times of affliction. We should wrestle with God as vehemently as Jacob wrestled with God: through the night, not letting go until we receive a blessing. The Psalmist begins by recalling God's work in the past: "We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what You did in their days, in days long ago. With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers; You crushed the peoples and made our fathers flourish. It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, for You loved them" (vss. 1-3). The Psalmist gives special emphasis here to the miraculous intervention by God on behalf of His people. The Psalmist does this because, as we shall see later in the psalm, he does not see that God is working for His people in his present circumstance. It is an effective argument before God to use examples from His Word. "We ought diligently to study God's mercies to others in times past; for though the memory of them may cast us down if we presently experience no deliverance, yet a mind rightly guided by faith will be led to say, 'He, who helped others, will in His time help me'; and so hope and courage will both be revived." [Plumer, 511]. It is well worth noting that the Psalmist heard the testimony of God's past work from "our fathers". If you are a parent, it is a duty of yours to educate your children concerning the works of God. "They could not have had better informants. Schoolmasters are well enough, but godly fathers are, both by the order of nature and grace, the best instructors of their sons, nor can they delegate the sacred duty... When fathers are tongue-tied religiously with their offspring, need they wonder if their children's hearts remain sin-tied?" [Spurgeon, 299]. The Psalmist gives strong emphasis that it was the power of God, not the people, that did those great works. He says: "...what You did", "...With Your hand You drove out...", "...You crushed...", "...It was not by their sword...", "...It was Your right hand, Your arm...". "The Lord's part in a work is best seen, when man's part and all that he, as an instrument, hath done, or could have done, is all declared null; being considered as separate from God, who moved the instruments, and wrought by them what He pleased" [Dickson, 244]. The Psalmist next points out that, at the time of writing, he and the rest of God's people facing affliction have responded to the testimony of God's work in the past by trusting in God: "You are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob. Through You we push back our enemies; through Your name we trample our foes. I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; but You give us victory over our enemies, You put our adversaries to shame. In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise Your name forever" (vss. 4-8). The testimony of the Psalmist's fathers has shaped his relationship to God, as well as shaping his attitude toward everything that happens to him. He states: "You are my King and my God." For the Psalmist, this statement is not merely an abstract statement about his relationship to God, but he sees his whole life as a reflection of God's Kingship. He is nothing without God. He cannot trust in his own abilities to accomplish anything. It is God who works through him. "The less confidence we have in ourselves or in anything beside God, the more evidence have we of the sincerity of our faith in God" [Dickson, in Spurgeon, 308]. The Psalmist does not boast in his own abilities. Rather: "In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise Your name forever" (vs. 8). This is the only sort of boasting that is right and proper. Verse 8 ends with a "Selah". Many commentators believe that this was a musical term, possibly denoting a pause or interlude. Here, the "Selah" is quite appropriate, because after verse 8, the tone of the psalm noticeably changes. The first eight verses speak of God's favorable intervention on behalf of His people. In the rest of the psalm, the Psalmist expresses to God that he feels rejected and forgotten by Him. (We will continue our study of this psalm in the next issue.)