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Deuteronomy Chapter
Twelve
Deuteronomy 12
Chapter Contents
Monuments of idolatry to be destroyed. (1-4) The place of
God's service to be kept. (5-32)
Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:1-4
(Read Deuteronomy 12:1-4)
Moses comes to the statutes he had to give in charge to
Israel; and begins with such as relate to the worship of God. The Israelites
are charged not to bring the rites and usages of idolaters into the worship of
God; not under colour of making it better. We cannot serve God and mammon; nor
worship the true God and idols; nor depend upon Christ Jesus and upon
superstitious or self-righteous confidences.
Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:5-32
(Read Deuteronomy 12:5-32)
The command to bring ALL the sacrifices to the door of
the tabernacle, was now explained with reference to the promised land. As to
moral service, then, as now, men might pray and worship every where, as they
did in their synagogues. The place which God would choose, is said to be the
place where he would put his name. It was to be his habitation, where, as King
of Israel, he would be found by all who reverently sought him. Now, under the
gospel, we have no temple or altar that sanctifies the gift but Christ only:
and as to the places of worship, the prophets foretold that in every place the
spiritual incense should be offered, Malachi 1:11. Our Saviour declared, that those
are accepted as true worshippers, who worship God in sincerity and truth,
without regard either to this mountain or Jerusalem, John 4:21. And a devout Israelite might honour
God, keep up communion with him, and obtain mercy from him, though he had no
opportunity of bringing a sacrifice to his altar. Work for God should be done
with holy joy and cheerfulness. Even children and servants must rejoice before
God; the services of religion are to be a pleasure, and not a task or drudgery.
It is the duty of people to be kind to their ministers, who teach them well,
and set them good examples. As long as we live, we need their assistance, till
we come to that world where ordinances will not be needed. Whether we eat or
drink, or whatever we do, we are commanded to do all to the glory of God. And
we must do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to the
Father through him. They must not even inquire into the modes and forms of
idolatrous worship. What good would it do them to know those depths of Satan?
And our inward satisfaction will be more and more, as we abound in love and
good works, which spring from faith and the in-dwelling Spirit of Christ.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Deuteronomy》
Deuteronomy 12
Verse 2
[2] Ye
shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall
possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and
under every green tree:
All the places —
Temples, chapels, altars, groves, as appears from other scriptures.
Green-tree — As
the Gentiles consecrated divers trees to their false gods, so they worshipped
these under them.
Verse 3
[3] And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn
their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods,
and destroy the names of them out of that place.
Pillars —
Upon which their images were set.
Names —
That is, all the memorials of them, and the very names given to the places from
the idols.
Verse 4
[4] Ye
shall not do so unto the LORD your God.
Not do so —
That is, not worship him in several places, mountains, and groves.
Verse 5
[5] But
unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to
put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou
shalt come:
To put his name there — That is, to set up his worship there, and which he shall call by his
name, as his house, or his dwelling-place; namely, where the ark should be, the
tabernacle, or temple: which was first Shiloh, and then Jerusalem. There is not
one precept in all the law of Moses, so largely inculcated as this, to bring
all their sacrifices to that one altar. And how significant is, that appointment?
They must keep to one place, in token of their belief. That there is one God,
and one Mediator between God and man. It not only served to keep up the notion
of the unity of the godhead, but the one only way of approach to God and
communion with him in and by his son.
Verse 6
[6] And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and
your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill
offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:
Thither bring your burnt-offerings — Which were wisely appropriated to that one place, for the security of
the true religion, and for the prevention of idolatry and superstition, which
might otherwise more easily have crept in: and to signify that their sacrifices
were not accepted for their own worth, but by God's gracious, appointment, and
for the sake of God's altar, by which they were sanctified, and for the sake of
Christ, whom the altar manifestly represented.
Your heave-offerings — That is, your first-fruits, of corn, and wine, and oil, and other
fruits. And these are called the heave-offerings of their hand, because the
offerer was first to take these into his hands, and to heave them before the
Lord, and then to give them to the priest.
Your free-will-offerings — Even your voluntary oblations, which were not due by my prescription,
but only by your own choice: you may chuse what kind of offering you please to
offer, but not the place where you shall offer them.
Verse 7
[7] And
there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that
ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath
blessed thee.
There —
Not in the most holy place, wherein only the priests might eat, but in places
allowed to the people for this, end in the holy city.
Ye shall eat —
Your part of the things mentioned, Deuteronomy 12:6.
Before the Lord — In
the place of God's presence, where God's sanctuary shall be.
Verse 8
[8] Ye
shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man
whatsoever is right in his own eyes.
Here —
Where the inconveniency of the place, and the uncertainty of our abode, would
not permit exact order in sacrifices and feasts and ceremonies, which therefore
God was then pleased to dispense with; but, saith he, he will not do so there.
Right in his own eyes — Not that universal liberty was given to all persons to worship how they
listed; but in many things their unsettled condition gave opportunity to do so.
Verse 11
[11] Then
there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name
to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt
offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your
hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the LORD:
His name —
His majesty and glory, his worship and service, his, special and gracious
presence.
Your choice vows —
Heb. the choice of your vows, that is, your select or chosen vows; so called,
because things offered for vows, were to be perfect, whereas defective
creatures were accepted in free-will-offerings.
Verse 12
[12] And
ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God, ye, and your sons, and your
daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is
within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.
Your daughters —
Hence it appears, that though the males only were obliged to appear before God
in their solemn feasts, yet the women also were permitted to come.
Verse 13
[13] Take
heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that
thou seest:
Thy burnt-offerings —
Nor the other things mentioned above, this one and most eminent kind being put
for all the rest.
Verse 17
[17] Thou
mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of
thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows
which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave offering of thine hand:
Within thy gates —
That is, in your private habitations, here opposed to the place of God's
worship.
Verse 20
[20] When
the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he hath promised thee, and thou
shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh; thou mayest
eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.
Enlarge thy border —
Which will make it impossible to bring all the cattle thou usest to the
tabernacle.
Verse 21
[21] If
the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to put his name there be too far
from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which the LORD
hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates
whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.
If the place be too far — Being obliged to carry their sacrifices to the place of worship, they
might think themselves obliged to carry their other cattle thither to be
killed. They are therefore released from all such obligations, and left at
liberty to kill them at home, whether they lived nearer that place, or farther
from it; only the latter is here mentioned, as being the matter of the scruple.
As I have commanded — In
such a manner as the blood may be poured forth.
Verse 22
[22] Even
as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat them: the unclean and
the clean shall eat of them alike.
As the roe-buck — As
common or unhallowed food, tho' they be of the same kind with the sacrifices
which are offered to God.
The unclean —
Because there was, no holiness in such meat for which the unclean might be
excluded from it.
Verse 27
[27] And
thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar
of the LORD thy God: and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon
the altar of the LORD thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh.
The flesh —
Excepting what shall be burned to God's, honour, and given to the priest
according to his appointment.
Verse 30
[30] Take
heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be
destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying,
How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
By following them — By
following the example they left, when their persons are destroyed.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Deuteronomy》
12 Chapter 12
Verses 1-3
If there arise among you a prophet.
On the criterion of a false miracle
I. The evidence
drawn from miracles, in favour of any Divine revelation, rests in general on
the testimony of those who saw the miracles performed. But in addition to this,
it is important to inquire, whether some consideration may not be at the same
time due to the nature and tendency of the doctrines themselves, and whether
there may not be in them some internal marks, which, in some cases at least,
may enable us to distinguish false miracles from true. That such a criterion
was given to the Jews appears plain from the words of the text, according to
which, though a miracle should actually be performed, yet if its intention was
to teach the doctrine of idolatry, it was not to be considered as a miracle
authorised by God.
II. Yet the text
does not appear to be confined merely to fictitious miracles of human
contrivance, but to extend to real miracles actually performed, either by men
permitted so to act, or by the agency of superior intellectual beings, with the
permission indeed of God, but not by His authority. Not only no human art or
deception, but also no superior, or supernatural power should undermine our
faith, or draw us from the allegiance which we owe to God.
III. I cannot
dismiss the subject without taking notice of a difficulty which may possibly be
thought to attend the foregoing theory. It relates to the assertion that no
internal doctrine can be brought in proof of a miracle. For it may be said,
that there are certain doctrines conveyed by the help of miracles, which no
human reason could ever have discovered; such are, that God on certain
conditions will freely forgive sins, and that to the sincere, penitent, and
faithful believer in Jesus Christ, He will grant life eternal. The answer is,
that though the truth of these things be beyond the reach of the human reason
to discover, yet the things themselves are not beyond the reach of the human
imagination to conceive. Their truth therefore must depend on the evidence of
the miracles which were wrought in their support, and the miracles must first
be distinctly proved, before we can give an admission to the doctrines. (W.
Pearce, D. D.)
The objection of the Jews to Christianity, as founded on this
passage, answered
It has commonly, and with justice, been thought, that the two
great pillars on which a revelation from God must stand, are miracles and
prophecies. Without these we cannot be assured that any discovery which may
have been made in man is really Divine. We must, indeed, inspect the matter of
the thing revealed to see whether it be worthy of Him from whom it is said to
come; and from its internal evidence our faith will derive great strength; but
still in the first instance we look rather to external proofs. But the Jews
imagine that they are precluded from judging of Christianity on such grounds as
these, since Moses, in this passage, guards them against any such inferences as
we are led to draw from the prophecies and miracles on which our religion is
founded. He concedes that some prophecies may be uttered, and some miracles be
wrought in favour of a false religion; and that, even if that should be the
case, the Jews are not to regard any evidences arising from those sources, but
to hold fast their religion in opposition to them. First, mark the supposition
here made, namely, that God may permit miraculous and prophetic powers to be
exercised even in support of a false religion. We are not indeed to imagine
that God Himself will work miracles in order to deceive His people and to lead
them astray; nor are we to imagine that He will suffer Satan to work them in
such an unlimited way as to be a counterbalance to the miracles by which God
has confirmed His own religion; but He will, for reasons which we shall
presently consider, permit some to be wrought, and some prophecies to come to
pass, notwithstanding they are designed to uphold an imposture. The magicians
of Pharaoh, we must confess, wrought real miracles. They were permitted to do
so much as should give Pharaoh an occasion for hardening his own heart, but not
sufficient to show that they could at all come in competition with Moses. In
every age there were also false prophets, who endeavoured to draw the people
from their allegiance to God; and in the multitude of prophecies that they
would utter, it must be naturally supposed that some would be verified in the
event. Now then, in the next place, let us notice the injunction given to the
Jews notwithstanding this supposition. God commands them not to give heed to
that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, even though his predictions should be
verified, if his object be to turn them from Him; for that He Himself suffers
these illusions to be practised upon them in order that their fidelity to Him
may be tried, and their love to Him approved. It may seem strange that God
should suffer such stumbling blocks to be cast in the way of His people; but it
is not for us to say what Jehovah mayor may not do; we are sure that “He
tempteth no man,” so as to lead him into sin (James 1:13), and that the “Judge of all
the earth will do nothing but what is right.” But it is a fact that He thus
permitted Job to be tried, in order that he might approve himself a perfect
man; and in like manner He tried Abraham, in order that it might appear,
whether his regard for God’s authority and his confidence in God’s Word were
sufficient to induce him to sacrifice his Isaac, the child of promise (Genesis 22:1-2; Genesis 22:12). It was for similar ends
that God permitted His people to be tried for forty years in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:2), and in the same way He
has tried His Church in every period of the world. It is God’s express design
in the whole constitution of our religion to discover the secret bent of men’s
minds; and whilst to the humble He gives abundant evidence for their
conviction, He has left to the proud sufficient difficulties to call forth
their latent animosity, and to justify in their own apprehensions their
obstinate unbelief (Luke 2:34-35). He gave originally to the
Jews, as He has also given to us, sufficient evidence to satisfy any candid
mind; and this is all that we have any right to expect. The argument founded on
this injunction comes now before us with all the force that can be given to it.
A Jew will say, “You Christians found your faith on prophecies and on miracles;
and admitting that Jesus did work some miracles, and did foretell some events
which afterwards came to pass, God permitted it only to try us, and to prove
cur fidelity to Him. He has cautioned us beforehand not to be led astray from
Him by any such things as these; and therefore, however specious your
reasonings appear, we dare not listen to them or regard them.” Having thus
given to the objection all the force that the most hostile Jew can wish, I now
come, in the second place, to offer what we hope will prove a satisfactory
answer to it. It cannot but have struck the attentive reader that in this
objection there are two things taken for granted; namely, that in calling Jews
to Christianity we are calling them from Jehovah; and that our authority for
calling them to Christianity is founded on such miracles as an impostor might
work, and such prophecies as an impostor might expect to see verified. But in
answer to these two points we declare, first, that we do not call them from
Jehovah but to Him; and next, that our authority is not founded on such
miracles and prophecies as might have issued from an impostor, but such as it
was impossible for an impostor to produce; and lastly, that, in calling them to
Christ, we have the express command of God Himself.
1. We do not call our Jewish brethren from Jehovah, but to Him. We
worship the very same God whom the Jews worship; and we maintain His unity as
strongly as any Jew in the universe can maintain it. As for idols of every
kind, we abhor them as much as Moses himself abhorred them. Moreover, we
consider the law which was written on the two tables of stone as binding upon
us, precisely as much as if it were again promulgated by an audible voice from
heaven. With respect to the ceremonial law, we do indeed call you from the
observance of that; and we have good reason so to do; for you yourselves know
that all the essential part of your religion existed before the ceremonial law
was given; and that Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, who lived hundreds of years
before the ceremonial law was given, were saved simply and entirely by faith in
that promised seed, in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed. If you
ask, Why then was the ceremonial law given? I answer, To shadow forth your
Messiah, and to lead you to Him; and when He should come and fulfil it in all
its parts, it was then to cease; and you yourselves know that it was intended
by God Himself to cease at that appointed time. If then we call you from the
outward observances of the law, it is not from disrespect to that law, but from
a conviction that it has been fulfilled and abrogated by the Lord Jesus. We
call you only from shadows to the substance. We call you to Christ as uniting
in Himself all that the ceremonial law was intended to shadow forth. I am aware
that in calling you to worship the Lord Jesus Christ we appear to you to be
transferring to Him the honour due to God alone. But if you will look into your
own Scriptures you will find that the person who was foretold as your Messiah
is no other than God Himself. Receive Him in the character in which the prophet
Isaiah foretold His advent, as “the Child born, the Son given, the wonderful
Counsellor, the mighty God, the Prince of peace.” Call Him, as another prophet
instructs you, “Jehovah our Righteousness,” and know that in thus “honouring
Christ you will honour the Father who sent Him.”
2. The next thing which we proposed to show was, that our authority
for calling you thus to Christ is not founded on such prophecies or miracles as
might have issued from an impostor, but on such as it was impossible for an
impostor to produce. Consider the prophecies; they were not some few dark
predictions of mysterious import and of doubtful issue, uttered by our Lord
Himself; but a continued series of prophecies from the very fall of Adam to the
time of Christ; of prophecies comprehending an almost infinite variety of
subjects, and those so minute, as to defy all concert either in those who
uttered, or those who fulfilled them. Consider the miracles also; these were
beyond all comparison greater and more numerous than Moses ever wrought. The
whole creation, men, devils, fishes, elements, all obeyed His voice; and at His
command the dead arose to life again. But there is one miracle alone which in
particular we will mention. Jesus said, “I have power to lay down My life, and
I have power to take it again”; and the former of these He proved by speaking
with a loud voice the very instant He gave up the ghost, showing thereby that
He did not die in consequence of His nature being exhausted, but by a voluntary
surrender of His life into His Father’s hands. And at the appointed time He
proved the latter also, notwithstanding all the preparations made to defeat His
purpose, all which proved in the issue the strongest testimonies to the truth
of His word. We therefore confidently call you to believe in Him, and to
embrace the salvation which He offers you in the Gospel. But there is one great
argument which we have reserved till now, in order that it may bear upon you
with the greater weight.
3. We declare to you, then, in the last place, that in calling you to
Christ we have the express command of God Himself. Moses, in chap. 13, bids
you, as we have seen, not to listen to any false prophet; but in Deuteronomy 18:18-19, he most explicitly
declares that a prophet should arise, to whom you should attend. Now I ask you,
who is the prophet here spoken of Where was there ever, besides Moses, a
prophet that was a Mediator, a Lawgiver, a Ruler, a Deliverer? Was there ever
such an one except Jesus? And was not Jesus such an one in all respects? Yes;
He has wrought for yell not a mere temporal deliverance like Moses, but a
spiritual and eternal deliverance from sin and Satan, death and hell; He has
redeemed you, not by power only, but by price also, even the inestimable price
of His own blood. When therefore you plead the authority of Moses, we join issue
with you, and say, Be consistent. Renounce false prophets, because he bids you;
but believe in the true Prophet, whom God, according to His Word, has raised up
to you, because He bids you. Let His authority weigh equally with you in both
cases; and then we shall not fear, but that you will embrace the salvation
offered you in the Gospel, and be the spiritual children, as ye already are the
natural descendants of believing Abraham. (C. Simeon, M. A.)
The only pulpit worth having
I. That no
instrumentality is of any real service to man, as man, that does not promote in
him a right sovereign affection.
1. Every man is under some one dominant affection. Love of--
2. A wrong dominant affection in a man will neutralise the highest
services that may be rendered to him.
II. That the only
right sovereign affection is supreme love for the supremely good. All goodness
streams from God as all light from the sun. Ought He not, then, to be extremely
loved?
III. That the only
pulpit that is of any real service to man is that which generates and fosters
this sovereign affection.
1. It is the pulpit that works into man the conviction that God loves
men, though sinners.
2. It is the pulpit that exhibits God as essentially good and
benevolent in Himself. (Homilist.)
Danger and security
This passage, by the inspiration of God, touches upon all the
possible points of danger in a religious course.
I. What are the
points of danger?
1. The first may be described as being somewhat after a philosophical
sort. There is nothing rude in the assault, nothing violent or startling, from
a merely physical point of view; it is a very delicate encroachment upon
religious thought; it is impalpable as a dream. Surely this is harmless: it is
more than harmless; it is instructive: it may be a lesson in the deeper
philosophy; it may be the beginning of a widening revelation. The mischief is
this, that a man who would listen to such a dreamer, or seer of visions, and
allow his religion to be affected by the nightmare, would turn the man out of
his presence if he attempted to offer him a single idea upon any practical
subject under heaven. We are easily beguiled from the religious point. “O
foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you?” It would seem as if it were easier
to murder the soul than to kill the body. The first point of danger, therefore,
is thus clouded in a golden veil; and the man who may be said to be preparing
for that danger is dreamy, hazy-minded, speculative, always looking into a mist
if, haply, he may find a star; such a gentle, dozing creature, so harmless, and
really so very attractive in many qualities of his character.
2. What is the second point of danger? It is not at all
philosophical; it may be ranked among the social forces that are constantly
operating upon life (verse 6). Social influences are constantly operating upon
our faith. The youngest member of the family has been reading a book, and has
invited the head of the house to go and listen to some new speaker of theories,
speculations, and dreams; the service is so beautiful; the idea is so novel; a
great deal of the rush and tumult common to elementary religious life is
totally escaped; the intellectual brother--the man supposed to have all the
brains of the family--has got a new idea--an idea which in nowise associates
itself with historical churches and traditional creeds, but a brand new idea,
altogether sparkling and daring, and whosoever professes it will at once take
his place in the synagogue of genius; or the darling friend has caught a voice
down some byway, and he will have his other self go with him in the evening to
hear this speaker of anti-Christian ideas--a man who has undertaken to
reconstruct so much of the universe as will allow him to touch it; a person of
exquisite mind, of dainty taste, and of quiet latent power. The subtle purpose
is to draw men away from the old altar, the old Book, the God of deliverance
and beneficence, of mercy and redemption, to another God who will condescend to
be measured for a creed, and who is not above sitting for his portrait. Do not
follow a multitude to do evil. Do not always be at the string end, led about by
those who are of more forceful and energetic will than yourselves. Be sure as
to what they are taking you to; have a clear understanding before you begin.
You would not allow those persons to interfere with anything practical: when
the discussion of commercial questions arises, you stand at the front and say,
There I can bear testimony, and there I ought to be heard. Why claim such a
solemn responsibility in the settlement of nothing, and allow anybody to settle
for you the great questions of religious truth and personal destroy?
3. What is the third point of danger? It is not philosophical; it is
not, in the narrow sense of the term, social; it is a point of” danger which may
be characterised as public sentiment, public opinion--a general turning round,
and a wholesale abandonment of old theologies and old forms of worship (verses
12, 13). Some men may have courage to laugh at the dreamer; others may have
virtue enough to resist the blandishments of the nearest friend; but who can
resist the current or tendency of public opinion?
II. What is the
course to be taken under circumstances of danger? Moses had no difficulty about
his reply: let us see what it was, and consider whether we can adopt it. “And
that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death” (verse 5). The
seducer in the family brings upon himself this penalty. “Neither shall thine
eye pity him neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: but thou
shalt surely kill him” (verses 8, 9); “thou shalt stone him with stones, that
he die” (verse 10). And as for the city--representative of public
opinion--“Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of
the sword,” etc. (verses 15-17). That was a drastic course; there is no touch
of compromise in that stern provision; there is no line of toleration in that
tremendous answer. The same course is to be taken today, as to its spiritual
meaning. Physical violence there must be none; the day of physical pains and
penalties for spiritual offences has closed; but the great lesson of
destruction remains forever. What penalty, then, shall we inflict upon men who
seek to destroy our faith? I hesitate not in my reply: Avoid them; pass by them;
they would injure your soul. (J. Parker, D. D.)
True tests are unfailing discoverers
Every substance is discoverable by some “test,” which usually
neutralises it, or rather, by uniting with it, forms a new compound. The whole
fabric of chemistry rests upon this wonderful principle as one of its
cornerstones. Thus if the least fragment of copper be dissolved in acid, and
the fluid be then diluted with water until no trace of colour remains, so
potent, nevertheless, is the affinity of the well-known fluid called “ammonia”
for the copper, that a single drop of the latter fluid will immediately reveal
the presence of the metal by uniting with it and forming a new substance of the
loveliest violet colour. Similarly, if a morsel of lead be dissolved in acid, and
the acid be then diluted with water, a single drop of a solution of iodide of
potassium will turn the whole to a brilliant crocus-yellow. The presence of
iron, after the same manner, is discovered by the least drop of tincture of
galls, which blackens it upon contact; that of silver by a little solution of
common salt, which causes flakes of imitative snow to make their appearance;
that of mercury again with iodide of potassium, which turns the fluid
containing it to a beautiful red. (Scientific Illustrations.)
Destroy all the places.
Destruction of evil
The first thing Israel had to do appears to be a work of violence.
All idols were to be destroyed. Israel could understand no other language. This
is not the language of today; but the thing inculcated upon Israel is the
lesson for the present time: words change, but duties remain. Violence was the
only method that could commend itself to infantile Israel. The hand was the
reasoner; the breaking hammer was the instrument of logic in days so remote and
so unfavoured. Forgetting this, how many people misunderstand instructions
given to the ancient Church; they speak of the violence of those instructions,
the bloodthirstiness even of Him who gave the instructions to Israel. Hostile
critics select such expressions and hold them up as if in mid-air, that the
sunlight may get well round about them; and attention is called to the
barbarity, the brutality, the revolting violence of so-called Divine
commandments. It is false reasoning on the part of the hostile critic. We must
think ourselves back to the exact period of time and the particular
circumstances at which and under which the instructions were delivered. But all
the words of violence have dropped away. “Destroy,” “overthrow,” “burn,” “hew
down,” are words which are not found in the instructions given to Christian
evangelists. Has the law then passed away? Not a jot or tittle of it. Is there
still to be a work of this kind accomplished in heathen nations? That is the
very work that must first be done. This is the work that is aimed at by the
humblest and meekest teacher who shoulders the Gospel yoke and proceeds to
Christianise the nations. Now we destroy by reasoning, and that is a far more
terrible destruction than the supposed annihilation that can be wrought by
manual violence. You cannot conquer an enemy by the arm, the rod, or the weapon
of war; you subdue him, overpower him, or impose some momentary restraint upon
him; fear of you takes possession of his heart, and he sues for peace because
he is afraid. That is not conquest; there is nothing eternal in such an issue.
How, then, to destroy an enemy? By converting him--by changing his motive, by
penetrating into his most secret life, and accomplishing the mystery of
regeneration in his affections. That mystery accomplished, the conquest is
complete and everlasting; the work of destruction has been accomplished;
burning and hewing down, and all actions indicative of mere violence have
disappeared. (J. Parker D. D.)
Verse 5-6
Unto His habitation shall ye seek.
The Gospel of the holy places
I. God was pleased
to choose out certain places to stand in a special relation of holiness unto
himself under the Old Testament. This holiness of places was two-fold, either
transient and merely for the present time, or else more permanent.
1. The transient holiness of places was where the Lord gave visible
appearances of Himself in His glorious majesty to the eyes of His servants;
such places were holy during the time of such Divine appearances (Exodus 3:5; Exodus 19:11-25; Joshua 5:15, 2 Peter 1:18).
2. There was also a more abiding holiness of places under the law.
II. What is the
ground of this holiness of these places, and how are we to conceive of it?
1. The Lord is said to choose these places to set His name there, and
therefore they are called His habitation.
2. “Thither shalt thou seek,” i.e. for answers and oracles
from the holy places, and from the priest by Urim and Thummim (Exodus 25:22; Numbers 7:8-9; Numbers 27:21).
3. “Thither shalt thou come,” i.e. at all the appointed
festivals, three times a year (Exodus 23:14; Exodus 23:17), and whensoever they
offered sacrifice (Deuteronomy 12:6).
Lessons:
1. The cessation of this holiness of places under the New Testament (John 4:21-23; Matthew 18:22; 1 Timothy 2:8; Malachi 1:11). Every place is now a
Judaea, every house a Jerusalem, every congregation a Zion.
2. Learn to present your worship unto God by Jesus Christ, for He is
the true Temple and Tabernacle (Hebrews 7:25; 1 Peter 1:21; John 14:6; Colossians 3:17).
3. Remember that there is a church worship (Acts 2:42; Acts 20:7).
4. Labour everyone, that his soul may be a habitation for the Lord, a
temple of the Holy Ghost. (S. Mather.)
Verse 8
Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day.
Restraint the Christian’s blessing
The blessing, of which it is now proposed to speak more
particularly, is that of being more under control--of having our lives and ways
more exactly ordered--than as if we were not Christians. We are now come to the
rest and to the inheritance which the Lord our God was so long preparing for
us, and therefore we are no longer to think of doing every man what is right in
his own eyes. And therefore the gate, into which we must strive to enter, is
called “strait,” and the way which leadeth unto life, “narrow.” And our
Saviour, inviting us to the blessings of the Gospel, describes them as a yoke
and a burthen; easy indeed, and light, yet still a yoke and a burthen. And this
very circumstance He mentions as a blessing; as the very reason why, coming to
Him, the weary and heavy laden might find rest (Matthew 11:28). So that it appears that
both the law and the Gospel, both Moses and Jesus Christ, consider it a great
blessing, a great increase of comfort and happiness, to be kept under strict
rules. The Gospel was more strict than the law; and on that very account its
subjects were happier. Canaan was a place where men could not do what pleased
themselves so much as they could in the wilderness: and it was the more
entirely and truly a place of rest. But now this way of thinking is by no means
the way of the world. People in general like nothing so much as having their
own choice in all things. They account it a burthen, and not a privilege, to be
under the government of others. And there is not, one may venture to say, one
man in a thousand who would not rather be rich than poor, for this very
reason--that a rich man is much more his own master, has much more of his own
way in choosing how to spend his time, what company to keep, what employments
to follow, than a poor man generally can have. Again, everyone has observed, I
might say has experienced, the hurry which children are usually in to get out
of the state of childhood and to be left to judge and act for themselves. But the
worst, and, unfortunately, the most common instance of this ungovernable temper
in mankind is, our unwillingness to let God choose for us, and our impatience
under the burthens He lays upon us. How very commonly does it happen that the
very condition people chose beforehand, the very place they wished to live in,
and the persons they wished to live among, being obtained, becomes the ground
of continual complaint and vexation. If they could but change at will, they
say, they should like their situation well enough, but now they are tied down
to it they cannot, that is, they will not, help being fretful and impatient.
Yet this very circumstance of being tied down to rules and not having the power
to change at will, is, as we have seen, reckoned a great blessing, both in the
Old and New Testament, both by Moses and Jesus Christ. And the contrary (the
having to choose for ourselves, and to do what is right in our own eyes), is
spoken of as a great disadvantage. So different is the judgment of God from the
judgment of men. To have this thought steadily fixed within us, will prove,
indeed, the greatest of all blessings, both as to our rest in this world, and
as to our inheritance in that which is to come. In whatever counsel and pursuit
we are sure we are guided by God, that, we are equally sure, must turn out well
in the end; and soberly speaking, what can we wish for more? Once make up your
mind to this most certain truth, that what is right in God’s eyes is far better
for you than what is right in your own eyes, and you will have but one care in
the whole world, i.e. how to please God in making the best use of the
present time, a care in which, by His gracious assistance, you are sure not to
fail. But it was further said, that this temper of not choosing for ourselves
leads directly to our everlasting inheritance in the other world, as well as
making sure of our rest and refreshment in this. For it helps us greatly in the
performance of our duty, because, in truth, it leaves us nothing else to do. It
prepares and trains us for everlasting happiness in heaven. For the very secret
of our enjoyment there will be that God’s will shall be ours. We shall behold
His works and ways, especially the glory which He has given to His beloved Son
our Saviour, and shall rejoice in them as in so much good done to ourselves,
more and more thankfully forever. What a beautiful and comfortable thought is
this, of the high and noble uses to which, if we will, we may turn all our
worst disappointments--the bitterest thoughts of shame and remorse which ever
come upon us. We may consider them as part of our heavenly Father’s way of
breaking us in, as it were, and training us to the desire and enjoyment of His
own blessed presence in heaven. And if even the bitter thought of our past sins
may be accompanied with so much of what is comfortable and hopeful, surely we
may well leave it to Almighty God to do what He will with us in every other
respect. (Plain Sermons by Contributors to “Tracts for the Times. ”)
Life a transitional state of being
“Ye are not as yet come to your rest.” The present is a temporary
and provisional state of things. Such is the reason (Deuteronomy 12:9) assigned by the great
lawgiver of the Jews for the nonobservance of many, and the imperfect
observance of nearly all the statutes and ordinances which he was delivering to
them. We are all, he says, to blame. Your leader is no more exempt from human
infirmities than yourselves. He is as fond of having his own way, of doing what
is right in his own eyes, as any of you. We have all done amiss, and we must
all try to do better; and so prepare ourselves for that entirely altered state
of circumstances which awaits us as soon as we have crossed the narrow dividing
stream; you of Jordan, I of death. In applying these words to the objects of
Christian instruction, observe--
I. The uniformity
of human character. What describes the natural man in one age or country will
suit him equally well at all times and in all countries. What were the
Israelites doing in the wilderness? “Every man whatsoever was right in his own
eyes.” This is human nature. We like to have our own way. Restraint is irksome
to us. We seek to be independent in our circumstances, in order that we may be
so in our actions, and have no one’s wishes or feelings to consult but our own.
But if human wilfulness shows itself in one direction more than another, it is
in our relations to God. Here we meet with no such checks as hem us in on every
other side. Here the freedom of our will is not interfered with by the claims
of family or the obligations of society. The world looks on, but never thinks
of interfering. A man’s religion, it holds, is something entirely between God
and his conscience. In the concerns of the soul it is commonly said that every
man ought to do whatever is right in his own eyes, without any regard to the
opinions or feelings of others. What is most agreeable to our feelings, we
easily persuade ourselves, is most profitable to our souls; and where we are
most profited, where we “get most good,” as it is called, there we feel sure it
is God’s will that we should go. So we “wrap it up” (Micah 7:3). We settle the matter
nominally between God and our consciences, but really between ourselves and our
own wayward and corrupt wills.
II. The impropriety
of this principle of doing “every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.” No
day passes without some matters arising which involve the question of not what
is right in our own eyes, but what is right in itself, and what is right in the
sight of God and man. We are reasonable and accountable creatures. There is a
sense of right and wrong implanted in us by nature. We cannot act contrary to
it without violating our conscience, and causing a sensible disturbance to our
peace of mind. Besides moral, there is also such a thing as positive right,
arising out of the declared will of God; and this is just as binding upon our
consciences as the other. When it pleased God to promulgate the Fourth
Commandment, by that very act He made it a right thing to keep holy the seventh
day, and a wrong thing to do our ordinary work thereon, in the eyes of every
man who believes in the existence and attributes of the Creator of the world.
Unhappily, moral disorder is not attended with the same inconveniences as
civil. Men may be “lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents,” and many other things equally offensive
to piety and virtue, without any particular shock to the peaceful and
prosperous course of this world. Still, “these things ought not so to be.”
Wrong can never be right. There is one Lawgiver, and one holy and righteous and
perfect law. To do as we like is to violate the fundamental law of our being.
“For none of us liveth to himself,” etc. To do that which is right in our own
eyes is too often to do that which is abominable in the sight of God.
III. The necessary
imperfection of our present state of being. Perfect order and perfect happiness
are not to be found on earth, but are reserved for that eternal existence to
which this world is but a passage.
1. This thought will reconcile us, in a great degree, to the troubles
of life.
2. It will encourage us under our moral failings and imperfections.
It may be a poor consolation, but a consolation it certainly is, when we have
done amiss, to know that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”;
and that so long as man is man he will do “whatsoever is right in his own
eyes.” Hereafter it will be otherwise. In another world “we shall not do after
all the things that we do here this day.”
3. It will make us tolerant and indulgent to the failings of others.
We must take the world as we find it. We must deal with things as they are, not
as they ought to be. To bear and to forbear is no small part of our trial. And
we cannot be required to show greater forbearance towards others than God is
continually exercising towards us.
IV. There is no sentiment
so just as not to be liable to perversion and abuse. The necessary imperfection
of our present state might be urged as an excuse for those evils and disorders
which need not exist, and therefore are inexcusable. But this must not be
allowed. Sin must always be protested against. Our nature is corrupt; but that
is a reason for striving against it, not for giving way to it. We live in a
wicked world; but that should put us on our guard against an unreserved
association with the world, or an undue compliance with its ways. Is this all
that is required of us--to contend against the evil of our own hearts, and to
keep ourselves unspotted from the world? Not so. A Christian has a higher
vocation: to make the world better; to season it with the salt of a pure and
uncorrupt conversation; to set an example of that self-denying,
self-sacrificing spirit which leads to conduct the very opposite of that
described in the text. The Christian must be continually reminding both himself
and others that what we are all doing here this day may be excused by
considerations arising out of the frailty of human nature, but can never be
justified. Let us take every opportunity of mortifying those deeds of the body,
those sinful desires and depraved inclinations which, if they do not actually
deprive us of “the rest and the inheritance which the Lord our God giveth us,”
cannot but make us less fit for it. Let us learn the pleasure of giving up our
wills, instead of indulging them; of looking “not every man on his own things,
but every man also on the things of others”; of doing, not “every man
whatsoever is right in his own eyes,” but every man whatsoever is right for him
to do--what religion teaches, what conscience justifies, and what God approves.
V. Let us learn
from this subject to understand more perfectly, and to appreciate more justly,
the Gospel method of salvation. Moses, we are told, “was faithful in all his
house”; as the mediator of that former covenant, he performed his part on the
whole faithfully and well; but that was all. He was no redeemer; he could not
“save his people from their sins.” He was a sinner like themselves: the things
which, by reason of their frailty, they did there that day, he also did. Christ
alone could say, “Ye shall not do after all the things which ye do here this
day”; ye, not we,--excluding Himself from the number of those who do “every man
whatsoever is right in his own eyes.” Of Himself He says, “I seek not Mine own
will, but the will of the Father which sent Me.” “I do always those things that
please Him.” On this principle of seeking God’s glory, not His own--He acted
through life, and also “became obedient unto death.” Without this act we should
never have come to that rest, never have attained to that inheritance at all.
We should have continued all our lives, as many do to this day, doing “every
man whatsoever is right in his own eyes”; because we should have had no motive
or inducement to do otherwise. If we have learnt better things, it is only
because we have learnt Christ; learnt Him as “the way, the truth, and the
life”; “heard Him, and been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus.” It
remains that we should turn our lessons into practice, by “putting off the old
man,” etc. So shall we leave off by degrees to “do after all the things which
we do here this day”; and under the renewing and sanctifying influence of the
Holy Spirit we shall become daily more and more “meet for the inheritance of
the saints in light,” and ripe for that “rest which remaineth for the people of
God.” (Frederick Field, LL. D.)
Verse 9
Ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance.
Not as yet
That is the beginning--the refrain--the very soul of a hymn. “Not
as yet”--it is a blossom-like word--an unfulfilled prophecy. “Not as yet”--why,
then, it may be some day. The meaning is that we are on the road: How far have
we travelled? Are we home? The voice answers in the night, Not yet. But if we
were on the wrong road the voice would not answer so; the voice would then say:
Home: why, we are lost, we are on the wrong road; every mile we have travelled
these last two days has been a mile in the opposite direction. But the very
tone of the voice itself is a gospel. “Not as yet”: presently; nearer and
nearer. “Not as yet”: every step is a battle won; every step is one more
difficulty past. “Not as yet; but sufficiently near to be getting ready. What
is the meaning of all this stir on the ship, this running to and fro, this
calling out from one to another? We have passed something, we have passed a
signal, we shall land tonight! Getting ready, saying in effect, It is all over
now, what remains to be done is a mere matter of detail; we are waiting, and
presently we shall be there. How do we measure our journey? By the middle mile.
We seem not to have begun the journey whilst we are on the first half of it,
but as soon as we got in the middle of the sea, and are told that the middle
mile has been passed, we say, It is all downhill now. Many people are more than
half way through life’s road: what is it to be during the remainder of the
days? Are we leaving heaven behind us, or are we going to it? Many men are
leaving behind them the only heaven they have ever prepared for: what wonder if
they do not sing during the last half of the voyage or the journey? Others have
had a dreary time, a melancholy experience, a troubled disciplinary lot, and
when they are told about half-way through that it is all home going and the
distance may in some unaccountable way be shortened, behold their faces are
alight with a new expression, their soul has come up to look out of the window
to see if it be even so. I heard a great voice from heaven saying: Blessed are
the dead that die in the Lord: for they shall rest. Rest is promised, not as
the reward of selfishness or self-indulgence, but as the crown of service. No
man can rest who has not toiled. No man can have real joy who has not had real
sorrow. What right have we to rest if we have been resting all the time? The
week has Sunday in front of it. Cheer thee! It is Friday. When is Sunday? The
day after tomorrow. Is Sunday in every week? Yes. Herein is the goodness of
God. We need frequent Sabbaths, we need refreshment by the road, yea, at every
seventh step of the journey we must sit down awhile. Sometimes we have a lift
by the way. Does the Shepherd not need Himself to be carried sometimes? No:
because He is not a shepherd, one of many, but The Shepherd, out of whose
shepherdliness all other pastors are struck. The little candle dies, the sun
burneth evermore. You need rest--why not have it? You are a very little one,
and you are soon tired, and He, I repeat, carrieth the lambs in His bosom. The
very principle that Christ went upon was the principle of “Not as yet.” “A
little while” is the length of time Christ gave Himself. He endured the Cross,
despising the shame, because He looked for the joy that lay beyond. Men draw
themselves through earth by laying hold of heaven. That is how the earth drags
itself along; it is all looped up to the sun. No man has seen the filaments,
the threadlets, but the sun feeds them everyone. The tiny earth is hooked on by
invisible tentacles to the great central chariot. It is so that life is drawn
forward, it is so that life is sanctified; because that by which we are
connected with the sun is that through which the centre also communicates to
us. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The imperfection of the believer’s earthly happiness
I. Let us notice
the terms in which the end of the Israelites’ journey is spoken of. They are
the very same terms which are used in the New Testament as applicable to the
Christian’s everlasting home, and they point out respectively its blessedness,
its certainty, its freeness.
1. For it is called a rest: “Ye are not as yet come to the rest.” And
this it is well known St. Paul applies to our eternal home, when he says to the
Hebrews, “There remaineth, therefore, a rest to the people of God.” And in this
expression, I repeat, is conveyed to us the great blessedness of that our
eternal portion. For if there is one word which seems to contain within it an
idea of what is really grateful and enjoyable in this world, it is the word
“rest.” Condemned, as we are, to eat our bread by the sweat of our brow, “and
being born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward,” rest is one of the greatest
earthly blessings that God can bestow. The believer, then, is one day, and that
perhaps no distant day, to rest completely and eternally from all that pains
and grieves him here. He shall rest from suffering, “for there shall be no more
pain”: he shall rest from sorrowing, for “there shall be no more death, neither
sorrow nor crying”; but above all he shall rest from sin.
2. But there is another expression here used, which the New Testament
warrants us to apply to the rest that remaineth to the people of God, namely
“inheritance.” This expression denotes the certainty of the believer’s portion.
There are only three things in the dealings of this world which can disappoint
the heir of his inheritance; and, if it can be shown that these cannot take
place as regards the believer, the ease is clear. For, in the first place, in
earthly things, the parent or the person owning the property may, from some
cause or other, change his mind, and cut off the heir from the inheritance.
But, in the case now before us, “the gifts and calling of God are without
repentance.” Or, secondly, the heir may rebel or run away, and so forfeit and
give up all claim to the inheritance. But in this case this is provided
against; for one part of the adoption into the family of God is the gift of the
Spirit, to keep the heir in the love and fear of God, according as it is
written: “I will put My fear within them, that they shall not depart from Me.”
Or, thirdly, the heir may die before the time appointed of the father, and so
be disappointed. But, as regards the heavenly inheritance, this can never be:
“The soul once quickened shall never die”: “The heirs of God are kept by His
power through faith unto salvation”: “I give unto them eternal life, and they
shall never perish”: “Because I live, ye shall live also.”
3. But there is yet another expression hers used, which appears to
denote the freeness with which it is offered, and which we find used in the New
Testament to denote the same idea. It is spoken of as a gift: “Ye are not come
to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you.” Now, the
New Testament invariably speaks of this as a gift: St. Paul says, particularly,
“The wages of sin”--i.e. the just reward of sin--“is death; but the gift
of God”--observe, not the wages, nor the reward, but the free, undeserved gift
of God--“is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” God is a sovereign:
He has a right to do what He will: He is our Sovereign, and He has a right to
our services: He is our Maker, and He has a right to ourselves. And there is no
obedience, no service, which it is in our power to render Him, to which He has
not already an undoubted right; and, consequently, we can never do anything for
which God is bound in the least degree to bless us. All His gifts, therefore,
to us are free and undeserved, and whatever He gives He gives of His own free
and sovereign grace; and as such we must receive it or perish.
II. Such being the
terms in which the heavenly inheritance is spoken of, let us turn to the proofs
which the Christian has that he has not yet come to the rest which is reserved
for him. These are various, but we will take only a few which come more
immediately in connection with the text.
1. The imperfection and vanity of, every thing connected with this
life--its sorrows, disappointments, pain, and bereavements--all these things
are enough to remind us, as I believe they are graciously intended to remind
us, that this is not our home. Thus the Israelites, wherever they rested,
wherever they went, were still in the wilderness: turn where they would, the
same barren scene would probably present itself, and remind them that this is
not Canaan, this is still the wilderness. Let us be blessed with whatever joy
or advantage we will, there is a worm at the root; and, with all its
capabilities of affording happiness, still it is not permanent, it perishes in
the using. Friends disappoint, children and those dear are removed, health
decays, riches make to themselves wings, and fly away; so that, with all our
earthly comforts, and they are not few, we are still reminded by them, and it
is the crowning mercy of them all that we are reminded by them, that this is
not our resting place, and we are strangers and pilgrims here.
2. But the Israelites would be reminded, from time to time, that they
had not entered into rest, by the continual attacks to which they were exposed
from their enemies, and perhaps also by the continued murmurings and rebellions
which arose among themselves. True it is, that even in Canaan, the nations
greater and mightier than they, were to be dispossessed; still, even on their
road they would feel that they had not yet attained what Moses had promised:
“When the Lord God shall have given you rest from all your enemies round
about.” And this is an especial mark to a Christian that his rest and his
inheritance is not here. Wherever he looks the enemy meets his view; whether he
look around or within him, the scene is the same. I mean not that he takes a
gloomy view of all these things, but he cannot deny the fact that “the world
lieth in wickedness.” His own experience tells him that he has not yet reached
that place or that state where ignorance shall not exist, where every murmuring
disposition shall be forever hushed, where every rebellious feeling shall be
forever slain, and every thought of his heart shall be brought in complete and
eternal captivity to the obedience of Christ.
3. But I think it may be said that our very spiritual blessings are
calculated to remind us of this. All our means of grace, and all our
privileges, many and blessed as they are, are yet adapted for a state of
ignorance and imperfection. The manna which the Israelites gathered from day to
day, and the “spiritual Rock that followed them,” would especially remind them
of the truth adverted to in the text. How different from the grapes of Eshcol!
how far short of the land flowing with milk and honey, to which they were
repeatedly encouraged to look! and yet they were marvellous blessings in
themselves. And so it is with us. The spiritual life is but a small foretaste
of that fulness of life which is hid in Christ with God; and the very supplies
of the Spirit are but the distant branchings of that river which “makes glad
the city of God,” issues from the living fountains to which the Lamb shall one
day lead His people. How inferior, too, is the very written or preached word on
earth to what the believer will hear in glory! How inferior the worship in the
earthly courts to the worship of the redeemed! How inferior is that feast of
the Lord’s Supper, to which we are often invited, to that supper at which the
bride of Christ is one day to be present.
III. What, then, are
the lessons of warning, of duty, or of encouragement which we are to learn from
these considerations?
1. We learn a lesson of warning, not to fix our habitation here,
still less to look back upon the world which we have left. God give you grace
to be wise in time, that you may be happy in eternity.
2. But, again, we learn a large lesson of duty. We learn that we must
not lay aside our armour while we are in the enemy’s neighbourhood; we must not
cease our watchfulness while we are beset by foes within and without; we must
not be contemplating the length of road we have passed, but looking on to what
remains.
3. And, lastly, whenever the following propositions are true, that
is--
1. When he cannot see any hope of supporting himself at home.
2. When prospects abroad are decidedly good, and likely to continue
such.
3. When the journey can probably be performed free from accident.
4. When the means of paying the emigration expenses are secure; and--
5. When family ties are of such a sort that they may with propriety
be severed, or when those dearest to you can accompany you.
I am not intending to say much more about emigration. Yet I have
some valuable advice to offer you upon the subject. Agents, from various
motives, often deceive men about the goodness of the distant country, or the
cheapness of the voyage by their ship, or the certainty of employment at high
wage when they reach the place of destination. You need not fear deceit in this
case. There can be no motive for any deception. I say, then, you will be wise
to go thither, for these two reasons--
1. Ask you why? Because sin has defiled and ruined everything,
rendering the world unfit for us, and us unfit for life; because we are “to
pass, therefore, through the grave and gate of death to our joyful
resurrection”; and so, “ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the
inheritance, which the Lord your God giveth you.”
2. It may be necessary to emigrate; but are the prospects good
elsewhere? Here is a description of the allotment offered to emigrants. It is
called an inheritance, because an Elder Brother of yours has “gone before” and
bought it, and He says “you are joint heirs with Me.” It is called “an
inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, and it is
reserved,” put by, kept ready, safe, all prepared “for you.” Yes, all this in
prospect, seen by faith, heard of by letter and by promise! But remember, “ye
are not yet come to this rest and inheritance which the Lord your God giveth
you.”
3. It may be needful to emigrate, and the prospects beyond seem to
baffle description in their beauty; but that swelling flood, those tossing
waters, are too much for you--you have no great means for paying the costly
freightage; and then there is the constant dread lest you should make
shipwreck, and so never reach the land whither you would go. The prospects are
all you can desire, if only you could get there. I have read the terms of the
emigration, and I am confident that He who gives the inheritance grants a
perfectly free passage thither. Christ said, when here on earth, “I am the Way,
the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh to the Father but by Me.” The Saviour of
sinners offers them a home. It is not a reformatory or a prison, but a home
with Himself, He tells you that you must receive it as a gift, and not make
bargains about it. And His law upon the matter is, that since, from first to
last, it is not of works, but the free gift of Himself, so you are to claim the
inheritance and journey thither entirely at His cost. Are family ties of such a
character as to hinder you from emigration? I answer, Certainly not, because
they, too, both friends and kinsfolk, must leave this place and go elsewhere.
Therefore, I say, your course is plain. Resolve that you will, through the
grace of the Holy Spirit, pass over from this present world of sin unto the
future inheritance of the sons of God. And bring your kinsmen with you. (S.
Venables.)
Our rest and inheritance beyond
I. The rest.
1. From sin.
2. From temptation.
3. From enemies.
4. From weariness.
5. From doubts.
II. The
inheritance.
1. Purchased.
2. Prepared.
3. Pure.
4. Sure.
5. For the saints.
III. Our present
condition.
1. Not a condition of ceaseless toil.
2. Not a condition of entire exclusion from our inheritance.
3. We here enjoy the means of grace.
Lessons:
1. In view of all this we should rejoice--
2. Are we being fitted for that rest and inheritance?
3. Are there any here who are seeking their rest on earth? Oh! poor
miserable souls, ye with all your seeking have not rest here, and will not have
rest hereafter! (Bp. Courtney.)
The expected rest
I. The rest which
awaits believers.
1. A promised rest.
2. A complete rest.
3. Rest in the possession of an inheritance.
4. An eternal rest.
II. Some
considerations suggested by the fact that we are not yet come to our rest. And
this fact requires us--
1. To endure hardships.
2. To prize comforts.
3. To avoid present resting.
4. To be seeking the rest that is to come.
All things encourage us to advance. A better than earthly Canaan
before us; a greater Leader than Moses to guide us; and the millions of the
glorified invoking us, by their reward, to imitate their example. Oh! be not
slothful, but followers of them, who, through faith and patience, are
inheriting the promises. We may infer--
1. The infatuation of the wicked, who, besides not having come to
this rest, are sedulously shunning it by a contrary course; and--
2. The happiness of the righteous, who, though they have not yet come
to this rest, are hourly coming to it, and whose very bereavements teach not
more strikingly the vanity of this world than the proximity of a better. (D.
King.)
Verse 28
That it may go well with thee.
Blessings for the obedient
Though salvation is not by the works of the law, yet the blessings
which are promised to obedience are not denied to the faithful servants of God.
The curses our Lord took away when He was made a curse for us, but no clause of
blessing has been abrogated. We are to note the revealed will of the Lord,
giving our attention not to portions of it, but to “all these words.” There
must be no picking and choosing, but an impartial respect to all that God has
commanded. This is the road of blessedness for the father and for his children.
The Lord’s blessing is upon His chosen to the third and fourth generation. If
they walk uprightly before Him, He will make all men know that they are a seed
which the Lord hath blessed. No blessing can come to us or ours through
dishonesty or double dealing. The ways of worldly conformity and unholiness
cannot bring good to us or ours. It will go well with us when we go well before
God. If integrity does not make us prosper, knavery will not. That which gives
pleasure to God will bring pleasure to us. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
And with thy children
after thee.
Care for posterity
God is concerned for posterity. We may mock the suggestion, and
put foolish questions concerning the generations yet to come, but the Book of
God is as careful about the child unborn as about the old pilgrim born into the
higher spaces. God does not insulate Himself by the little present; He
contemplates the end from the beginning. All souls are His. He also puts it
into our care to regard the welfare of our successors. There is a sense in
which we all have a posterity--some in a narrower, some in a larger sense; but
we all have a succession: we are influencing tomorrow by our spirit and action
today. How mad are they, and how guilty of the cruellest murder, who go on
indulging every desire, sating every appetite, satisfying every wish,
forgetting that they are involving the yet unborn to pain, weakness,
incapacity, and dooming them to lifelong suffering and distress. Here is the
greatness of the Bible, the noble condescension of God, the infinite solicitude
of the eternal Father. His speech runs to this effect: take care: not only are
you involved, but your child and child’s child, for generation upon generation:
your drunkenness will reappear in the disease of ages yet to come; your bad
conduct will repeat itself in a long succession of evil-minded men; your
behaviour appears at present to be agreeable, to have some aspects that might
be called delightful, but things are not what they seem: actions do not end in
themselves; every bad thought you think takes out some spark of vitality from
your brain--robs you, depletes you; be careful; have some regard for those who
have to succeed you; learn from those who went before you how evil a thing it
is to have sown bad seed, and by what you have learned from them conduct
yourself aright; if you are true, wise, pure, generous, well-conducted
altogether, generations will arise to bless you; if you take care of the poor,
if any of your succession be doomed to poverty, with what measure you mete it
shall be measured to you and them again; blessed are the merciful, for they
shall obtain mercy; with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged. Life is
one: touch it where we may, we send a thrill, a vibration, along all the vital
lines. The law is two-fold: sow evil, and reap evil; sow good, and reap good.
This is no partial law, dealing with penalty and shame only: it is an impartial
righteousness, dealing with reward and glory, and promising delight vast and
tender as the heaven of God. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following after
them.
Danger of a conquered foe
It is a remarkable fact, and is proved by Dr. Bell (in his History
of British Insects), that the poison of the rattlesnake is even secreted
after death. Dr. Bell, in his dissections of the rattlesnakes which have been
dead many hours, has found that the poison continued to be secreted so fast as
to require to be dried up occasionally with sponge or rag. The immoral author,
like these rattlesnakes, not only poisons during his lifetime, but after death:
because his books possess the subtle power of secreting the venom to a horrible
degree. A moral sponge is constantly called into requisition to obliterate his poison
for many years after he himself has been dead. (Scientific Illustrations.)
Revival of a conquered sin
As the bough of a tree bent from its usual course returns to its
old position as soon as the force by which it had yielded is removed; so do men
return to their old habits as soon as the motives, whether of interest or fear,
which had influenced them, are done away. “Nature,” says Lord Bacon, “is often
hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished. Let not a man trust his
victory over his nature too far, for nature will lie buried a great time, and
yet revive upon the occasion or temptation; like as it was with AEsop’s damsel,
turned from a cat to a woman, who sat very demurely at the board’s end till a
mouse ran before her.” The same philosopher gives the following admirable
caution:--“A man’s nature runs either to herbs or weeds; therefore let him
seasonably water the one and destroy the other.”
Need for watchfulness
None are so likely to maintain watchful guard over their hearts
and lives as those who know the comfort of living in near communion with God.
They feel their privilege and will fear losing it. They will dread failing from
their high estate, and marring their own comfort by bringing clouds between
themselves and Christ. He that goes on a journey with little money about him
takes little thought of danger, and cares little how late he travels. He, on
the contrary, that carries gold and jewels, will be a cautious traveller; he
will look well to his roads, his horses, and his company, and run no risks. The
fixed stars are those that tremble most. The man that most fully enjoys the
light of God’s countenance, will be a man tremblingly afraid of losing its
blessed consolations, and jealously fearful of doing anything to grieve the
Holy Ghost. (Bp. Ryle.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》