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Lord, and having received mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. And thus the conscience being purged from dead works, we are prepared to serve the living God. Many know that faith without works is dead, who do not know that works without faith are dead also. And service to the living God rendered by a living soul is the essence of real good works, or usefulness, or testimony.

To recapitulate briefly what has been said, the beginning of the Psalm states the fact of the omnipresence of God, the latter part says Amen to it willingly. The first part gives us a doctrine, the last the experience of a soul capable of contemplating the doctrine without fear. Between the two, in a confessedly obscure passage, we may discern the secret formation of a predestinated body, described in one verse as a process of covering in the womb, in another as a curious operation in the lowest part of the earth. Viewing this Psalm in connection with other parts of Scripture, it is almost impossible not to perceive the same principle in action whether in the restoration of the Jews, the resurrection of the saints, or the conversion of a soul. The lowest parts of the earth clearly testify of burial and death, and generation is a type of regeneration. If any question the analogy between the raising of the dead and the restoration of Israel, that point seems to be settled by the divine authority of the 37th of Ezekiel, ver. 11, "Son of Man, these bones are the whole house of Israel." There may be more room for doubt, though I confess I do not think there is much as to whether Dan. xii. 2, does not at least allude to the restoration of Israel; and still less reason do I perceive for questioning whether Isaiah xxvi. 19, refers to the same subject.

I would add a few words to prevent mistake on the subject of the body of Moses. To speak, as some have done, of Israel being the body of Moses in the sense in which the Church is the body of Christ is foolish, not to say profane, but to say there is a striking coincidence

In the remarks that have been made on the 139th Psalm, it is not meant that the writer of it did not know grace at the beginning, but only that he does not express it till the end, and the order of his words may be that of another man's experience.

between what Scripture says of Israel and what it says of the body of Moses is only to state a fact of which any reader of the Bible may judge for himself. In Deut. xxxiv. 5,6, we read that the Lord buried Moses, and no man knows where his sepulchre is to this day. In Ezek. xx.23, and elsewhere, the Lord threatens to scatter Israel. Ezek. xxxvii. 21, Israel is scattered, of course by the Lord, and, referring to ver. 11, this seems to be the antitype of the figure of the resurrection of the dry bones. It is not unworthy of notice that both the burial of Moses and the vision of the dry bones are said to have taken place in a valley, (i. e. if the translation of Ezekiel is correct). Again, it will hardly be denied that in Zech.iii, whatever else may be meant, the brand plucked from the burning is Israel or some part of Israel. There we read, "And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee." In Jude, ver. 9, we read, "Michael the archangel when contending with the Devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee."

ACROSTIC PSALMS.
2.-Ps. CXIX.

Each of the verses from 9—16, begins with Beth.

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Query. Is the meaning "I being in the way," etc. or as the

English version “in the way of Thy testimonies!"

No. VII.

THE GLORIES OF THE SON.

HEBREWS I.

THIS first chapter, and, indeed, the Epistle to the Hebrews generally, remarkably sets forth to us the glories of the Son. We would desire, under the Lord's guidance, to dwell upon them: may He bless it to the profit of our souls!

He introduces it to us by the thought, that the God, who in times past spake "in many parts, and in many manners," hath, in these last days, spoken to us in one full, unbroken, complete revelation of Himself by His Son. "The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." Meet person to do so! He only meet! How fully, then, does He unfold the glories of the Son. By Him He made the worlds, or ages; and for Him, as Heir, he made them. For Him, I say, as heir; for 1 Corinth. viii. 6 (where "in him" should be "unto him” [xaì ñμeîs eis autóv―ED.]) shews us, I believe, the Father as the ultimate object. "To the glory of God the Father" (Philip. ii. 11).

And let us pause, to see with what distinctness the Son is spoken of in Scripture as the Creator (which, to many of us, of course, need not be written, as " though we knew not the truth"). John says (i. 3), "All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made." With equal certainty does the apostle say-" By Him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him."

And as He is the Creator of all, so in the same undoubted certainty is He the Judge of all. John v. 26— "For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself [it is spoken, apprehend, officially, as Head of His Church]; and

hath given Him authority to execute judgment, also, because He is the Son of Man". And (v. 22)-"For neither doth the Father judge any man; but hath committed all judgment to the Son." Which resurrectionpower, I believe, he sets before us, when he says "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." I take this to be, "they that are Christ's at His coming;" they, and they only, hear His voice at that time, and come forth, for ever to be with their Lord. Lazarus was the practical exhibition of this. And not only they; but the hour is coming, in its own time, "when all that are in the graves shall hear His voice. And shall come forth: they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." And all this for the express purpose, as He tells "that all should honour the Son even as they honour the Father" (ver. 23). And how thoroughly do our hearts assent to, and echo, that word "He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father that sent Him."

us,

What a chain of glory, therefore, is here indicated to us! Creator of all, Preserver of all (as I believe that word "upholding all things by the word of His power," and (Colossians)" and by Him"-perhaps better "in Him"-all things consist, shews us), and finally Judge of all. "The judgment-seat," we know, is that of "Christ."

This is part of His glory: [but there are some of His glories which we may, and I think it is most important that we should, look upon, as, after all, less than Himself, His own person, and glory:] because they are official glories. Thus the expression (Col. i. 15), "The firstborn of every creature, or of all creation.' That there can be no identification intended with the creature, the

I unhesitatingly prefer "by" in both passages, and think the contexts entirely disprove the correctness of the suggested alterations.-ED.

The part in [] seems to me to be a hasty and an unweighed statement of the writer (and the rest of the paper proves it to be so), for surely" some of all" will always be less than "all"; and all His glories must be less than the infinite God Himself.--ÉD.

context entirely proves; for the " FOR," which, in verse 16, elucidates this first-bornship, is not as though he were only the first-born among the rest of the creatures coming after him; but the first-bornship stands in this connection, FOR by Him were all things CREATED, whether they be thrones, or dominions," etc.

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The first-bornship I would take to be a thing answering to that of the 18th verse, that of the Church. It points, I would suggest with all reverence and deference, to Him, as appointed from everlasting to the headship, first of creation ("I was set up," Prov. viii., strictly, "anointed" [лD ED.], from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was), and then as the ulterior object (Eph. iii. 9 where for "from the beginning of the world," read "from the age") to the Headship of the Church. This does not touch the question of what he was in Himself.

And so again with regard to the Kingdom, when it comes, glorious as it is, yet is it less than what He is in Himself. "Then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that did put all things under him, that God may be all in all." He has received the Kingdom from the Father, and when he has gathered out of it all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, put down all authority, and power, and made it meet for the Father, he lays all down at the Father's feet, that God may be all in all; the last grand and glorious token of obedience and love (John xiv. 31). It has been a mediatorial official glory. "He is the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person."

And then what joy it is to our souls to find what comes after; "When he had, by Himself, purged our sins." All the value of his person was thrown into his work and in the value of that work He now stands before God for us, and we in Him. As the living bird in Lev, xiv. dipped in his fellow's blood, stood now in all the value of that blood, though alive; so Jesus, He

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