_Come, and let us return unto the Lord._ THE CHARACTERISTIC MARKS OF TRUE PENITENCE These words are the expressions of that penitence which was excited in the Israelites by God’s departure from them, and by His grace that accompanied the affliction. I. The characteristic marks of true penitence.... [ Continue Reading ]
_After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight._ DEATH THE GATE OF LIFE Let us look, not on the dying side, but on the living side. Each shadow has its light; each valley its height; each night its dawn; each wound of the oyster-shell its pea... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord._ FOLLOW ON In the context, the deliverance of God’s Church out of her troubles is foretold. In the same words our salvation in Christ is figured forth. “Knowledge” here includes the whole of experimental and practical godliness; for in religio... [ Continue Reading ]
_Your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away._ INSTANCES OF INCONSTANCY IN GOOD MEN Men’s convictions die away, their resolutions prove abortive; they run well, but don’t continue; begin to build, but leave their work unfinished This is a most unhappy case, as dangerous... [ Continue Reading ]
_For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice._ MERCY AND SACRIFICE NOT CONTRASTS God had Himself, after the fall, enjoined sacrifice to foreshow and plead to Himself the meritorious sacrifice of Christ. He had not contrasted mercy and sacrifice who enjoined them both. When then they were contrasted, it... [ Continue Reading ]
_But they, like men, have transgressed the covenant._ THE BREACH OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS General defection is a cause and presage of a sweeping stroke. 1. The crime charged on them. Covenant breaking. This is a crime of a high nature; it strikes at the root of society among men, and therefore is... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood._ DIVINE INSTITUTIONS CORRUPTED It is supposed that Gilead here means Ramoth Gilead: the metropolis of the mountainous region beyond Jordan and south of the river Jabbok, known by the name of Gilead (Joshua 21:28; 1 Kings 4:1... [ Continue Reading ]
_Also, O Judah, He hath set an harvest for thee._ NATURALNESS OF RETRIBUTION Divine punishment for sin is elsewhere spoken of as a harvest. I. Retribution is natural in its season. There are the “appointed weeks of harvest.” These weeks come round with an undeviating regularity. Punishment comes... [ Continue Reading ]