=========================================================== Scripture Studies: Vol. IX, No. 1 - February 2002 ================================================== In this issue: Old Testament Study - Malachi 1:6-14 Patience in Affliction, pt. 7, by Richard Baxter New Testament Study - Matthew 12:9-21 A Topical Study - The Shortness of Life, pt. 2, by Samuel Davies A Study in Psalms - Psalms 48 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 - Malachi 1:6-14 ==================================== Improper Worship ---------------- 6"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty. "It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name. "But you ask, 'How have we shown contempt for your name?' 7"You place defiled food on my altar. "But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?' "By saying that the LORD'S table is contemptible. 8When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" says the LORD Almighty. 9"Now implore God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?"- says the LORD Almighty. 10"Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you," says the LORD Almighty, "and I will accept no offering from your hands. 11My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations," says the LORD Almighty. 12"But you profane it by saying of the Lord's table, 'It is defiled,' and of its food, 'It is contemptible.' 13And you say, 'What a burden!' and you sniff at it contemptuously," says the LORD Almighty. "When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?" says the LORD. 14"Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king," says the LORD Almighty, "and my name is to be feared among the nations." The book of Malachi is largely a book of rebuke to the children of Israel for sliding back into their old ungodly ways. In this section, the Lord, through Malachi, addresses His words of rebuke to the religious leaders. Malachi showed a certain amount of boldness in taking on the priesthood. Granted, Malachi was given the words of the Lord to aid him. Yet, there are many who, though called into service by the Lord to speak the words of the Lord, reject this call through fear of men. Malachi did not bow to this fear. Certainly, if there was need for the priests to be admonished, they should have been admonished. As the leaders in the worship of God, they naturally would set an example (good or bad) for the people. If their worship was improper, then the worship of the people would most likely be improper. So also, nowadays, the spiritual leaders of the people should be held to an exacting standard, for they provide an example for the people in the worship of the Lord. As James warns: "Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly" (James 3:l). The Lord addresses the priests first with a logical argument: "'A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?' says the Lord Almighty. 'It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name'" (vs. 6). God was the "father" of the children of Israel, not only by right as their Creator, but also by His adoption of them as His chosen people (see Deut. 32:6; Isa. 63:16; Jer. 31:9). God was their "master" as their "Lord Almighty". God here appeals to their common sense. As humans, would they not honor their "father"? As humans, would they not show respect for their "master"? By not showing respect for God, they were treating their fellow man better than they were treating their Lord and Creator. Their guilt was enhanced by the fact that, as priests, they were supposed to be the spiritual examples, the leaders in the worship of their Lord. Throughout the book of Malachi (as we saw in Malachi 1:2), those who were being rebuked challenge the Lord's statements: "'But you ask, "How have we shown contempt for your name?"'" (vs. 6). God, of course, had a ready answer for them: "'You place defiled food on my altar. But you ask, "How have we defiled you?" By saying that the Lord's table is contemptible. When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?' says the Lord Almighty" (vss. 7-8). The "contempt" for God's name was demonstrated in the way they worshiped Him. They were bringing blind, crippled and diseased animals for sacrifice. This was expressly forbidden by the law (see Lev. 22:20,25; Deut. 15:21). Such a show of contempt for the proper worship of the Lord was also a show of contempt for the Lord Himself. Though we no longer must offer animals for sacrifice, we should examine our lives to see if the Lord's rebuke applies to us, in the service and worship we offer the Lord. Do we offer the Lord the best we have, or do we offer Him the left-overs that we don't want anyway? "Those who offer to God the dregs of their time, their strength, and their means, are virtually offering 'polluted bread upon the altar of God,' and treat 'the table of the Lord' as 'contemptible'... He demands the 'first-fruits' of our all, or else He will accept neither us nor our offerings" [JFB, 715]. "Wicked hypocrites think anything good enough for God; and pious men think nothing good enough for Him. Blind and ignorant services, lame and halting services occur when there is action without affection; the lips without the heart; double-mindedness and hypocrisy, sick or faint, and languishing services are, that come coldly from us, without any life or vigor of the inner-man, and these are all vile and odious." [Westminster Divines]. The Lord makes a convincing argument to the priests about the contempt they were showing Him, by pointing out that they would not treat their fellow man with such contempt: "'Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you' says the Lord Almighty" (vs. 8). If the President called you up to ask you to do some service for your country, would you not do your best for him? Then why do you not serve the Lord of the Universe with the same diligence? Respect and honor for any man (even the President), over respect for the Lord, is improper. The Lord, through Malachi, gives the priests the remedy for showing such contempt to Him: "Now implore God to be gracious to us" (vs. 9). The Lord is good to us, and extremely forgiving. Though we have shown contempt for Him, we can appeal to His grace for forgiveness. The basis of the contempt that the priests were showing for God was that they were carrying out their service as if it were for men, not for God. They were going through the motions of worshipping God, but they were doing it in a way that would curry the favor of men. You see, they were allowing the people to bring the diseased animal sacrifices, rather than telling the people that such sacrifices were improper. This behavior is evocative of (so-called) ministers of God's Word who avoid controversial subjects, and preach only what (they think) their hearers want to hear. They won't speak of sin, of condemnation for the unsaved, of God's judgment. Rather than serving God, they are serving men. It would be better that no service be done, than service which is contemptible to the Lord: "'Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,' says the Lord Almighty, 'and I will accept no offering from your hands'" (vs. 10). The Lord is adamant: He does not want improper worship. To "shut the temple doors" would be better. It could very well be that the priests thought that they were serving the Lord well enough. It could be that they did not think important the regulations concerning the sacrifice of blemished animals. What they did not know then was that the sacrifices that they offered as priests were models of the sacrifice ultimately to be offered by the unblemished Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. By offering blemished animal sacrifices, they were misrepresenting the whole plan of God's system of atoning sacrifices. The forgiveness of sin comes through the sacrifice of the sinless, as represented by the unblemished animal sacrifice. The fulfillment of the rituals of atoning sacrifice was the sacrifice that Jesus made by dying for us. And His sacrifice was sufficient to take away our sins, only because He Himself was sinless (unblemished), for if He was not sinless, the shedding of His blood would have only been sufficient to take away His own sins. And so, by allowing unblemished animals to be sacrificed, the priests were making a mockery of the ultimate offer by God of His own Son to be sacrificed for our sins. Now we can understand the Lord's anger at the priests, and His desire that the improper sacrifices cease, whatever the means: "Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar!" (vs. 10). In response to this, some of the priests must have thought, "But if we shut the temple doors, then who will worship the Lord?" They think too much of themselves, though. God doesn't need them. He says: "'My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations' says the Lord Almighty" (vs. 11). God will always have His faithful remnant. He doesn't need any of us, such that we may dictate the conditions of our worship to Him. Despite what we individually do (or not do) for Him, His "name will be great among the nations." As you serve the Lord, never think, "Oh, my service sure is indispensable to Him." Rather, recognize what a privilege it is to be able to serve, in any small way, the Lord of the Universe. The priests, rather than recognizing the privilege of serving the Lord, had come to despise the correct worship of the Lord: "'But you profane it by saying of the Lord's table, "It is defiled," and of its food, "It is contemptible"'" (vs. 12). They had also become bored of worshipping the Living God: "'And you say, "What a burden!" and you sniff at it contemptuously,' says the Lord Almighty" (vs. 13). If you become bored with the worship of God, this is a sure sign that you need prayer. Pray that the Holy Spirit would help you appreciate the greatness and goodness of our God, so that you may worship Him with joy and fervency. Pray that your worship would be a "fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God" (Phil. 4:18). =========================================================== Patience in Affliction, pt. 7, 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. Injuries from Malicious Enemies - II (Continued from the previous issue) But when you have made sure that you suffer not as evil-doers, upon mistake, but for your duty and for righteousness, consider these following reasons for your patience. 1. If you believe not that anything is done against you by man, but what falls under the overruling, disposing will and providence of God, you deny His government, and are unfit to do or suffer. Though God caused none of the malice and sin of the murderers of Christ, yet as to the effect of their free, sinful volitions, there was nothing done but what God's counsel fore-determined for the redemption of the world: and if you believe this, dare you impatiently grudge at the providence of God? 2. Though you are innocent towards your persecutors, and you suffer for well-doing, you are not innocent towards God, who may use bad men for just chastisement. 3. It is an unspeakable mercy to have unavoidable, deserved sufferings to be made the sanctified means of your salvation, and to be forever rewarded for bearing that which else would have been but the foretaste of hell. Sin brought unavoidable pain and death on all mankind. No power, or policy, or price can save you from it. If you deny Christ and sell heaven to save your lives, you shall die for all that; and he that so saveth his life shall lose it, and lose his soul also by such self-saving. "It is appointed to all men once to die, and after that the judgment" (Heb. 9:27). A martyr doth but die, and so doth his persecutor; and death to the ungodly is the door of hell. And is it not a marvellous mercy that suffering but the same death in faith and hope, and obedience for Christ, and for your duty, shall procure you a crown of glory? Even as the same outward blessings, which to the wicked are but the fuel of sin and hell, are by believers improved for grace and glory; so is it also with the case of suffering. And what a terror is it to conscience, when the sentence of death shall be passed upon you, to think, "Now that life is at an end, which I sold my soul to save, oh that I had rather chosen to die for duty, than by my sin: this death would then have been the entrance into heaven, but is now the entrance into misery." This made many dying Christians in Cyprians' charge to be hardly comforted, because they had not died martyrs, that death might have been a double gain to them. Is it not better to have a glorious reward for dying, than die for nothing? 4. It is no small benefit to be called out to the exercise of that which everyone who will be saved must resolve on, and be prepared for: that we may not be deceived, but know by experience, whether we are sincere or not. Whatever worldly hypocrites think, Christ was in good earnest when He said, "He that forsaketh not all that he hath, even life itself, cannot by my (sincere) disciple," (Luke 14:26,30,33). Holiness here, and heaven hereafter, is that which Christ came to procure for His own, and that which all must choose and trust to as their hope and portion, that will be His. Worldings never make this choice, but being doubtful of the life to come, prefer the present prosperity of the flesh, and will be religious only in subordination thereto, and hope for heaven (if there be any life to come) but as a reserve and second good, because they cannot keep the world: which they will not lose for the hope of heaven, as long as they can keep it, but will rather venture their souls than bodies. This being the true difference between the faithful and the worldly hypocrite, all that will be saved must be such as would let go life, and all the world, rather than by willful sin to forfeit their salvation, if they were called to it: though all be not actually put upon the trial, and seeing it is so easy for a prosperous man to profess Christianity with a worldly mind, and say that he would rather die than willfully sin, being in hope that he shall never be put to it; it is a great advantage to our assurance of salvation, to find that we can suffer in a time of trial, and so that our resolution was not false; for so far as any man loveth the world, the love of the Father is not in him. The heat of persecution withereth the corn that groweth on the rocks. They are offended and go sorrowful away, because they cannot make sure both of earth and heaven. And as the faithful have the fullest proof of their sincerity in the greatest sufferings, no wonder if they have the greatest comfort. No reasoning will so fully answer all their fears and doubts, whether they are sincere, and should not forsake Christ in suffering. 5. Believers should much more pity their persecutors than themselves. If a madman in Bedlam should spit in your face, would you have your action against him, or would you be sorry for him? They are preparing fuel for themselves in hell, while they make a purgatory for you on earth. O think who it is that ruleth them, and how he will reward them, and how dear they will pay for this forever, without conversion; and pray God to have mercy on them in time. If the righteous be scarcely saved, and must suffer before they reign, where shall the ungodly and sinners appear? "It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you, and to you that are troubled, rest with Christ" (II Thess. 1:6,7). Do but believe that dreadful reckoning of their day that is coming, when in vain they will wish the hills to cover them, and shall receive according to their works, and then you will rather weep over their foreseen misery, than make too great a matter of your suffering by them. They know nothing but present things, like beasts; but you foreknow things to come. God beareth with them, because He knoweth that their day is coming. 6. And remember, that if you suffer for Christ and righteousness, the wrong is much more to Him than to you: and He will judge them that do but neglect His servants, much more that persecute them, as doing it all against Himself: and the cause and interest being much more His than yours, cast it upon Him, and trust Him with His own cause. Who is to be trusted if He be not? And when is He to be trusted, if not when we suffer for Him? An honest master would bear out his servant who suffereth for obeying him, and will not Christ? Do you think that Christ will be too slow, or deal too gently in His revenge? Sure you would wish no greater punishment to persecutors than He hath threatened. It were better a millstone were hanged about their neck, and they cast into the sea, who offend but His little ones. On whom this stone falls, it will grind him to powder. 7. The promises made to them that patiently suffer for well-doing are so many and great. I will not recite them, supposing you cannot be ignorant of them. And do you not believe the word of Christ? He hath bound Himself to save you harmless, and to be with you in your sufferings, and never to fail you nor forsake you; and to give you for all that you lose for him a hundredfold (in value) in this world, and in the world to come, eternal life. If we trust these promises, undoubtedly our patience and choice will show it. He that is offered a lordship in a foreign land, if he will leave his native land and friends where he liveth in poverty or prison, if he trust the promiser, will leave all and go with him; but if he dare not venture, he doth not trust him. =========================================================== New Testament Study - Matthew 12:9-21 ===================================== Healing on the Sabbath ---------------------- 9Going on from that place, He went into their synagogue, 10and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked Him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" 11He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." 13Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. 15Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed Him, and He healed all their sick, 16warning them not to tell who He was. 17This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 18"Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations. 19He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear His voice in the streets. 20A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out, till He leads justice to victory. 21In His name the nations will put their hope." In the previous section, Jesus defended His disciples against the accusations of profaning the Sabbath by the Pharisees. Jesus convincingly did so, teaching the Pharisees the spirit of the Sabbath. Jesus also proclaimed Himself the Lord of the Sabbath. Not content to "leave well enough alone", the Pharisees set up a situation to confront Jesus publicly concerning His own observance of the Sabbath: "Going on from that place, He went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked Him, 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?' He said to them, 'If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath'" (vss. 9-11). This episode, I think, is quite surprising, in demonstrating clearly the evil attitude of the Pharisees. For they had faith that Jesus could miraculously heal the man with the shriveled hand. And in fact, they believed in Jesus' goodness, for they knew that Jesus would heal the man. Given such knowledge of His power, and His goodness, how could they deny that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath? But rather than responding to their faith with repentance, and then taking to heart the teachings of the Lord, the Pharisees looked "for a reason to accuse Jesus." Jesus answered their attempt to accuse Him by pointing out the absurdity of their rules concerning the Sabbath, while at the same time appealing to their common sense: "He said to them, 'If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath'" (vs. 11-12). The Pharisees, by their rules, would have been able to help a sheep, but not a man. Jesus ignored their rules and did what was right and good: "Then He said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other" (vs. 13). The Pharisees had a curious reaction to witnessing so grand and glorious a miracle: "But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus" (vs. 14). "What evil had our Lord done, that He should be so treated? None, none at all: no charge could be brought against His life. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners; His days were spent in doing good" [Ryle, 125]. In plotting to kill Jesus, the Pharisees demonstrated that their hearts were hardened beyond repair. "His arguments had not convinced them of their error, and His miracle mercy had only intensified their hostility" [Thomas, 173]. "What a stubborn rage it is that drives the reprobate to resist God! Let them be convicted, and their poison will only pour out the more" [Calvin, 34]. The Pharisees also demonstrated a great amount of hypocrisy. For they accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath for healing a man, and yet, did they not break their own rules concerning the Sabbath by plotting His death? "What a reproach upon human nature, to see men maintaining that it was a mortal sin to heal disease on the Sabbath, and yet foully plotting on that same sacred day, how they might destroy the innocent Teacher and Healer" [Broadus, 263]. Jesus, somehow, either by human or divine intuition, knew of their plot, and responded to it: "Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed Him, and He healed all their sick, warning them not to tell who He was" (vss. 15-16). Jesus did not withdraw because He was afraid of the Pharisees. He could have, of course, through divine power, destroyed His enemies. Yet, to do such a thing was not a part of the plan of God, under which the Messiah came to this earth, the first time, in humility. "His reaction was to avoid provocation; He would die courageously when the right time came, but He would not engage in needless provocation of His enemies until His ministry drew to its close" [Morris, 309]. He did not want His quarrels with the Pharisees to hinder His ministry to the people. There would come a time when He would allow His confrontation with the Pharisees to run its course, but until then, Jesus was determined to do as much good, for as many people as He could. Though He withdrew from where the Pharisees were, He was hardly alone, for "many followed Him." Jesus' reaction to His followers was not to shoo them away, but to "heal all their sick." Such is the love of Christ. The contrast between the behavior of Jesus and the behavior of the Pharisees (the so-called religious leaders of the time) is stark: Jesus "healed all the sick"; the Pharisees planned to murder the Healer of All. In order that His ministry not be hindered by further confrontation with the religious leaders, Jesus warned those whom He healed "not to tell who He was" (vs. 16). "Jesus did not want unnecessary publicity. Obviously with a large crowd following Him a certain amount of publicity was inevitable. But He was no publicity seeker, apparently not because He would be in danger if His enemies knew where He was, but because He preferred to do His work quietly and without fuss" [Morris, 309]. Jesus' warning was intended only for His followers at that time. We, of course, are under no such warning. We should declare His great works to anyone who will listen. We have seen throughout the book of Matthew that one focus of Matthew's Gospel is to show how Jesus fulfilled prophecy. So here, Matthew takes an opportunity to point out that Jesus' passive response to the Pharisees was as the Messiah was prophesied to act: "This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 'Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out, till He leads justice to victory. In His name the nations will put their hope'" (vss. 17-20). And indeed, Jesus' behavior fulfills this prophecy. When confronted by the Pharisees, Jesus did not shy away, but He spoke the truth, "proclaiming justice to the nations." Yet, He did not push the point so as to "quarrel or cry out." He did not demand to defend Himself by raising "His voice in the streets." "He did not aim at raising Himself in the esteem of the multitude by successfully contending with the Pharisees; for His method was of another sort" [Spurgeon, 150]. "He shall do His office meekly and humbly, and not manage His spiritual kingdom by violence, nor unnecessarily contest with the Pharisees, who consulted how to destroy Him" [Westminster Divines]. Jesus' behavior is greatly contrasted to that of the Pharisees. The Pharisees sought out confrontation, as they "looked for a reason to accuse Jesus" (vs. 9). They were angry at Jesus for no reason, for Jesus was merely speaking the truth of God. Though Jesus had just cause and reason to be angry at the Pharisees, He did not seek out a confrontation, but rather withdrew so that He could continue His good works in peace. As pointed out in the prophecy cited here, many of Jesus' good works concerned His help to the helpless: "A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out" (vs. 20). Leon Morris explains the metaphor: "The natural thing was to discard an imperfect reed and replace it with a better one. But the Lord's servant does not discard those who can be likened to shattered reeds, earth's broken ones... A wick that functioned imperfectly was a nuisance: it would not give out good light and its smoldering released a certain amount of smoke. The simple thing was to snuff it out and throw it away. A little bit of flax did not cost much, so replacing it was the normal procedure. It took time and patience and the willing to take pains to make anything useful out of a bruised reed or a smoking wick. People in general would not take the trouble. In a similar fashion, most of us regard the world's down-and-outs as not worth troubling ourselves over; we do not see how anything can be made of them. But love and care and patience can do wonders, and that is what the prophet is talking about" [Morris, 311]. In my view, those servants of the Lord who are most Christ-like are those that minister to the "bruised reeds" and "smoldering wicks" of society: the poor, the down-trodden, the homeless, those who are in prison. May the Lord bless the work of these ministers of Christ. This prophecy concerning Christ is especially important because most of the children of Israel did not expect their Messiah to act in this way. "In popular expectation Messiahs exercised their authority by crushing opposition, but Jesus showed His authority in His concern for the helpless and downtrodden" [Morris, 309]. "God laid on His Son a humble and lowly role. But the simple might be offended at His contemptible and obscure life; and so the prophets and Matthew agree that this was no accident but came to pass by the decree of heaven" [Calvin, 35]. "The Jews expected the Messiah to be a great conqueror, whose warlike exploits would attract universal attention; and as the character and course of Jesus were quite the reverse of all this, it was important for Matthew's purpose of convincing the Jews that He was the Messiah, to point out that His action in this respect was in accordance with Messianic prediction" [Broadus, 263]. =========================================================== A Topical Study - The Shortness of Life, pt. 2, by Samuel Davies ================================================================ [Here we continue a series that urges a certain indifference to life, and the things of this world, due to the shortness of life, and the vanity of the things of this world. This series is taken from a funeral sermon by Samuel Davies.]-Ed. Indifference to Life Urged from Its Shortness and Vanity - II by Samuel Davies (1724 -1761) ----------------------------- 29But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; 30And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; 31And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away. (I Cor. 7:29-31 AV). And how strongly does the shortness of this life prove the certainty of another? Would it be worthwhile, should it be consistent with the wisdom and goodness of the Deity, to send so many infant millions of reasonable creatures into this world, to live the low life of a vegetable or an animal for a few moments, or days, or years, if there were no other world for these young immortals to remove to, in which their powers might open, enlarge, and ripen? Certainly men are not such insects of a day: certainly this is not the last stage of human nature: certainly there is an eternity; there is a heaven and a hell:-otherwise we might expostulate with our Maker, as David once did upon that supposition, "Wherefore hast Thou made all men in vain?" (Ps. 89:47, AV). In that awesome eternity we must all be in a short time. Yes, my brethren, I may venture to prophesy that, in less than seventy or eighty years, the most, if not all this assembly, must be in some apartment of that strange untried world. The merry, unthinking, irreligious multitude in that doleful mansion which I must mention, grating as the sound is to their ears, and that is hell!, and the pious, penitent, believing few in the blissful seats of heaven. There we shall reside a long, long time indeed, or rather through a long, endless eternity. Which leads me to add, That the time of life is short absolutely in itself, so especially it is short comparatively; that is, in comparison with eternity. In this comparison, even the long life of Methuselah and the antedeluvians shrink into a mere point, a nothing. Indeed no duration of time, however long, will bear the comparison. Millions of millions of years! As many years as the sands upon the sea-shore! As many years as the particles of dust in this huge globe of earth; as many years as the particles of matter in the vaster heavenly bodies that roll above us, and even in the whole material universe, all these years do not bear so much proportion to eternity as a moment, a pulse, or the twinkling of an eye, to ten thousand ages! Not so much as a hair's bradth to the distance from the spot where we stand to the farthest star, or the remotest corner of creation. In short, they do not bear the least imaginable proportion at all; for all this length of years, though beyond the power of distinct enumeration to us, will as certainly come to an end as an hour or a moment; and when it comes to an end, it is entirely and irrecoverably past; but eternity (oh the solemn, tremendous sound!) eternity will never, never, come to an end! Eternity will never, never, never be past! And is this eternity, this awesome, all-important eternity, entailed upon us? Upon us, the offspring of the dust? The creatures of yesterday? Upon us, who a little while ago were less than a gnat, less than a mote, were nothing? Upon us who are every moment liable to the arrest of death, sinking into the grave, and mouldering into dust one after another in a thick succession? Upon us whose thoughts and cares, and pursuits are so confined to time and earth, as if we had nothing to do with anything beyond? Oh! Is this immense inheritance unalienably ours? Yes, brethren, it is; reason and revelation prove our title beyond all dispute. It is an inheritance entailed upon us, whether we will or not; whether we have made it our interest it should be ours or not. To command ourselves into nothing is as much above our power as to bring ourselves into being. Sin may make our souls miserable, but it cannot make them mortal. Sin may forfeit a happy eternity, and render our immortality a curse; so that it would be better for us if we never had been born; but sin cannot put an end to our being, as it can to our happiness, nor procure for us the shocking relief of rest in the hideous gulf of annihilation. And is a little time, a few months or years, a great matter to us? To us who are heirs of an eternal duration? How insignificant is a moment in seventy or eighty years! But how much more insignificant is even the longest life upon earth, when compared with eternity! How trifling are all the concerns of time to those of immortality! What is it to us who are to live forever whether we live happy or miserable for an hour? Whether we have wives, or whether we have none; whether we rejoice, or whether we weep; whether we buy, possess, and use this world; or whether we consume away our life in hunger, and nakedness and the want of all things? It will be all one in a little, little time. Eternity will level all; and eternity is at the door. And how shall we spend this eternal duration that is thus entailed upon us? Shall we sleep it away in a stupid insensibility or in a state of indifferency, neither happy nor miserable? No, no, my brethren; we must spend it in the height of happiness or in the depth of misery. The happiness and misery of the world to come will not consist in such childish toys as those that give us pleasure and pain in this infant state of our existence, but in the most substantial realities suitable to an immortal spirit, capable of vast improvements and arrived at its adult age. Now, as the apostle illustrates it, we are children, and we speak like children, we understand like children; but then we shall become men, and put away childish things (see I Cor. 13:11). Then we shall be beyond receiving pleasure or pain from such trifles as excite them in this puerile state. This is not the place of rewards or punishments, and therefore the great Ruler of the world does not exert his perfections in the distribution of either; but eternity is allotted for that very purpose, and therefore He will then distribute rewards and punishments worthy of Himself, such as will proclaim Him God in acts of grace and vengeance, as He has appeared in all His other works. Then He will "show His wrath", and "make His power known on the vessels of wrath who have made themselves fit for destruction" and nothing else; "and He will show the riches of the glory of His grace upon the vessels of mercy whom He prepared beforehand for glory" (Rom. 9:22-23). Thus heaven and hell will proclaim God, will show Him to be the Author of their respective joys and pains, by their agreeable or terrible magnificence and grandeur. Oh eternity! With what majestic wonders art thou replenished, where Jehovah acts with His own immediate hand, and displays Himself God-like and unrivalled, in His exploits both of vengeance and of grace! In this present state, our good and evil are blended; our happiness has some bitter ingredients, and our miseries have some agreeable mitigations; but in the eternal world good and evil shall be entirely and forever separated; all will be pure, unmingled happiness, or pure, unmingled misery. In the present state the best have not uninterrupted peace within; conscience has frequent cause to make them uneasy; some mote or other falls into its tender eye, and sets it a-weeping; and the worst also have their arts to keep conscience sometimes easy, and silence its clamors. But then conscience will have its full scope. It will never more pass a censure upon the righteous, and it will never more be a friend, or even an inactive enemy to the wicked for so much as one moment. And oh what a perennial fountain of bliss or pain will conscience then be! Society contributes much to our happiness or misery. But what misery can be felt or feared in the immediate presence and fellowship of the blessed God and Jesus (the friend of man); of angels and saints, and all the glorious natives of heaven! But, on the other hand, what happiness can be enjoyed or hoped for, what misery can be escaped in the horrid society of lost, abandoned ghosts of the angelic and human nature; dreadfully mighty and malignant, and rejoicing only in each other's misery; mutual enemies, and mutual tormentors, bound together inseparably in everlasting chains of darkness! Oh the horror of the thought! In short, even a heathen (Virgil) could say: "Had I a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths, An iron voice, I could not comprehend The various forms and punishments of vice." The most terrible images which even the pencil of divine inspiration can draw, such as a lake of fire and brimstone, utter darkness, the blackness of darkness, a never-dying worm, unquenchable everlasting fire, and all the most dreadful figures that can be drawn from all parts of the universe, are not sufficient to represent the punishments of the eternal world. And, on the other hand, "the eye", which has ranged through so many objects, "has not seen: the ear", which has had still more extensive intelligence, "has not heard; neither have entered into the heart of man", which is even unbounded in its conceptions, "the things that God hath laid up for them that love Him." The enjoyments of time fall as much short of those of eternity, as time itself falls short of eternity itself. But what gives infinite importance to these joys and sorrows is, that they are enjoyed or suffered in the eternal world, they are themselves eternal. Eternal joys! Eternal pains! Joys and pains that will last as long as the King eternal and immortal will live to distribute them! As long as our immortal spirits will live to feel them! Oh what joys and pains are these! And these, my brethren, are awaiting every one of us. These pleasures, or these pains, are felt this moment by such of our friends and acquaintances as have shot the gulf before us; and in a little, little while, you and I must feel them. And what then have we to do with time and earth? Are the pleasures and pains of this world worthy to be compared with these? "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity"; the enjoyments and sufferings, the labours and pursuits, the laughter and tears of the present state, are all nothing in this comparison. What is the loss of an estate or of a dear relative to the loss of a happy immortality? But if our heavenly inheritance be secure, what though we should be reduced into Job's forlorn situation, we have enough left more than to fill up all deficiencies. What though we are poor, sickly, melancholy, racked with pains, and involved in every human misery, heaven will more than make amends for all. But if we have no evidences of our title to that, the sense of these transitory distresses may be swallowed up in the just fear of the miseries of eternity. Alas! What avails it that we play away a few tears in mirth and gaiety, in grandeur and pleasure, if when these few years are fled, we lift up our eyes in hell, tormented in flames! Oh what are all these things to a candidate for eternity! An heir of everlasting happiness, or everlasting misery! =========================================================== A Study in Psalms - Psalms 48 ============================= Psalm 48 - Great is the Lord ----------------- A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. 1Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, His holy mountain. 2It is beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth. Like the utmost heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King. 3God is in her citadels; He has shown Himself to be her fortress. 4When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together, 5They saw her and were astounded; they fled in terror. 6Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor. 7You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind. 8As we have heard, so have we seen In the city of the LORD Almighty, in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever. Selah 9Within Your temple, O God, we meditate on Your unfailing love. 10Like Your name, O God, Your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is filled with righteousness. 11Mount Zion rejoices, the villages of Judah are glad because of Your judgments. 12Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, 13Consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, That you may tell of them to the next generation. 14For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end. This psalm is a song of praise to the Lord for His protection and deliverance. The protection of the children of God is, in this psalm, reflected in the beauty and safety of the city of God: "Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, His holy mountain. It is beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth. Like the utmost heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King" (vss. 1-2). "How great Jehovah is, essentially none can conceive; but we can all see that He is great in the deliverance of His people, great in their esteem who are delivered, and great in the hearts of those enemies whom He scatters by their own fears" [Spurg. 360]. "As God shows His greatness and glory in all His works, and specially in His care for, respect unto, and operation in His church; so should He have glory and praise from His church, for and from all His works, but specailly for His care of her" [Dickson, 278]. At times, though, it is difficult to praise Him, not because He is not worthy of praise, but because it is difficult to find words to express the greatness of God. He is "worthy" of our loud and continuous "praise". "It is not possible for us to praise God too much or in strains too exalted, for He is 'most worthy of praise'" [Plumer, 536]. For the children of Israel, God's Spirit was present on Mount Zion, "His holy mountain." God's mere presence was certainly enough to make mount Zion "beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth." "God's presence makes any place notable and desirable. It makes a stone in the wilderness a Bethel. It makes Jerusalem the most famous city in the world. The birth of Jesus made Bethelhem, and His residence made Nazareth famous to all coming time. But all these were otherwise poor places, and the latter of them was even infamous" [Plumer, 536]. Though the city of God, Jerusalem, was fortified, its safety lie only in the fact that God was present: "God is in her citadels; He has shown Himself to be her fortress" (vs. 3). The citadels would not protect very well without the presence of God, as became evident later after God's Spirit left the city. "His saints must not trust in fortresses, castles, palaces; but in God alone" [Plumer, 533]. We too must show this same attitude. We should not trust in the things of the world for safety. Our bank accounts, our worldly standing, our physical stature-none of these things are sufficient to fully protect us. Only God is a mighty fortress. And note, "He has shown Himself to be her fortress." We can be sure that God is willing and sufficient to protect His people, because we have recorded so many instances throughout history where He has done so. The Psalmist gives a brief account of a recent instance of God's protection: "When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together, they saw her and were astounded; they fled in terror. Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor. You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind" (vss. 4-7). Apparently, the enemy was seized with a panic before they were even able to begin their attack. "No sooner did they perceive that the Lord was in the Holy City, than they took to their heels. Before the Lord came to blows with them, they were faint-hearted, and beat a retreat" [Spurgeon, 361]. "Heart and hand, courage and strength, counsel and resolution fail a man, when he seeth God to be his party, and to be prevailing against him" [Dickson, 279]. For the Psalmist, this eye-witnessed event greatly strengthened his faith: "As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of the Lord Almighty, in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever" (vs. 8). To read of the Lord's great works is one thing, but to see and recognize the work of the Lord in one's own life, is a great strengthener of faith. We should always be attentive to God's work in our lives. God is working all of the time. If we don't see His work, it is not that He is not working, it is that we are not recognizing His work in our lives. But recognizing God's work in our lives is not enough. We must respond to it in praise to Him: "Within Your temple, O God, we meditate on Your unfailing love. Like Your name, O God, Your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is filled with righteousness. Mount Zion rejoices, the villages of Judah are glad because of Your judgments" (vss. 9-11). "As it is a good thing patiently to wait on God's loving-kindness in the use of the means, when troubles and dangers come; so it is a good thing for the godly, after receiving the fruit of their faith, hope and patience, to observe the grace gotten of God, which made them to meditate upon and look unto His loving-kindness, and so to strengthen themselves in their resolutions to follow this blessed course hereafter as the faithful do here" [Dickson, 281]. In this psalm, the people praise God's "judgments"; they praise that His "right hand is filled with righteousness." The people of God need not fear God's "judgments", rather they can praise Him for them. God's people are right with God, through Jesus Christ, who has taken upon Himself the judgments of God's people. The Psalmist concludes by exhorting God's people to survey the land where the Spirit of God dwells: "Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation" (vss. 12-13). Now as Christians, the Spirit of God dwells within us. And so we could apply these verses by taking a survey of our lives since our bodies are cities where the Spirit of God dwells. One would hope that we would be able to see a positive change in our lives since the time we received the Spirit of God. For the Psalmist, the purpose of making a survey of the towers, ramparts and citadels of the city of God is so "that you may tell of them to the next generation" (vs. 13). "A reason why people when young and vigorous should study God's word and the history of His dealings with His church is that they may have something instructive and profitable to talk about to the next generation. All should publish the glory of God" [Plumer, 537]. There are two reasons to tell of the strength of God in His city to the next generation: that they may have faith in future deliverances; and that they too may glorify God and give Him praise for His protection. Oh Lord, may we be diligent in telling the next generation of Your love and protection, of Your mighty works and great deliverances, for indeed You are "our God forever and ever", and "our guide even to the end." Men and countries come and go, but the Spirit of God lives among His people forever.