In
this chapter we have, I. A promise of the coming of the Messiah, and of his
forerunner; and the errand he comes upon is here particularly described,
both the comfort which his coming brings to his church and people and the
terror which it will bring to the wicked, ver. 1-6. II. A reproof of the
Jews for their corrupting God's ordinances and sacrilegiously robbing him of
his dues, with a charge to them to amend this matter, and a promise that, if
they did, God would return in mercy to them, ver. 7-12. III. A description
of the wickedness of the wicked that speak against God (ver. 13-15), and of
the righteousness of the righteous that speak for him, with the precious
promises made to them, ver. 16-18.
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Evangelical
Predictions; The Advent of Christ Predicted.
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1 Behold, I will
send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord,
whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the
covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD
of hosts. 2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who
shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and
like fullers' soap: 3 And he shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as
gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD
an offering in righteousness. 4 Then shall the offering of Judah
and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD,
as in the days of old, and as in former years. 5 And I will come
near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the
sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and
against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and
the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and
fear not me, saith the LORD
of hosts. 6 For I am the LORD,
I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
The first words of this chapter seem a direct answer to the profane
atheistical demand of the scoffers of those days which closed the foregoing
chapter: Where is the God of judgment? To which it is readily
answered, "Here he is; he is just at the door; the long-expected
Messiah is ready to appear; and he says, For judgment have I come into
this world, for that judgment which you have so impudently bid defiance
to." One of the rabbin says that the meaning of this is, That God will
raise up a righteous King, to set things in order, even the king Messiah.
And the beginning of the gospel of Christ is expressly said to be the
accomplishment of this promise, with which the Old Testament concludes, Mark
i. 1, 2. So that by this the two Testaments are, as it were, tacked
together, and made to answer one another. Now here we have,
I. A prophecy of the appearing of his forerunner John the Baptist, which the
prophet Isaiah had foretold (ch. xl. 3), as the preparing of
the way of the Lord, to which this seems to have a reference, for the
words of the latter prophets confirmed those of the former: Behold, I
will send my messenger, or I do send him, or I am sending
him. "I am determined to send him; he will now shortly come, and will
not come unsent, though to a careless generation he comes unsent for."
Observe, 1. He is God's messenger; that is his office; he is Malachi
(so the word is), the same with the name of this prophet; he is my angel,
my ambassador. John Baptist had his commission from heaven, and
not of men. All held John Baptist for a prophet, for he was God's
messenger, as the prophets were, and came on the same errand to the world
that they were sent upon--to call men to repentance and reformation. 2. He
is Christ's harbinger: He shall prepare the way before me, by calling
men to those duties which qualify them to receive the comforts of the
Messiah and his coming, and by taking them off from a confidence in their
relation to Abraham as their father (which, they thought, would serve
their turn without a saviour), and by giving notice that the Messiah was now
at hand, and so raising men's expectations of him, and making them readily
to go into the measures he would take for the setting up of his kingdom in
the world. Note, God observes a method in his work, and, before he comes,
takes care to have his way prepared. This is like the giving of a sign. The
church was told, long before, that the Messiah would come; and here it is
added that, a little before he appears, there shall be a signal given; a
great prophet shall arise, that shall give notice of his approach, and call
to the everlasting gates and doors to lift up their heads and give
him admission. The accomplishment of this is a proof that Jesus is the
Christ, is he that should come, and we are to look for no
other; for there was such a messenger sent before him, who made ready
a people prepared for the Lord, Luke i. 17. The Jewish writers run into
gross absurdities to evade the conviction of this evidence; some of them say
that this messenger is the angel of death, who shall take the wicked
out of this life, to be sent into hell torments; others of them say that it
is Messiah the son of Joseph, who shall appear before Messiah the son of
David; others, this prophet himself; others, an angel from heaven: such
mistakes do those run into that will not receive the truth.
II. A prophecy of the appearing of the Messiah himself: "The Lord,
whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the God of
judgment, who, you think, has forsaken the earth, and you wot not
what has become of him. The Messiah has been long called he that
should come, and you may assure yourselves that now shortly he will
come." 1. He is the Lord--Adonai, the basis and foundation on
which the world is founded and fastened, the ruler and governor of all, that
one Lord over all (Acts x. 36) that has all power committed to him
(Matt. xxviii. 18) and is to reign over the house of Jacob for ever,
Luke i. 33. 2. He is the Messenger of the covenant, or the angel
of the covenant, that blessed one that was sent from
heaven to negotiate a peace, and settle a correspondence, between God and
man. He is the angel, the archangel, the Lord of the angels,
who received commission from the Father to bring man home to God by a
covenant of grace, who had revolted from him by the violation of the
covenant of innocency. Christ is the angel of this covenant, by whose
mediation it is brought about and established as God's covenant with Israel
was made by the disposition of angels, Acts vii. 53; Gal. iii. 19.
Christ, as a prophet, is the messenger and mediator of the
covenant; nay, he is given for a covenant, Isa. xlix. 8. That
covenant which is all our salvation began to be spoken by the Lord,
Heb. ii. 3. Though he is the prince of the covenant (as some read
this) yet he condescended to be the messenger of it, that we might
have full assurance of God's good-will towards man, upon his word. 3. He it
is whom you seek, whom you delight in, whom the pious Jews expect and
desire, and whose coming they think of with a great deal of pleasure. In
looking and waiting for him, they looked for redemption in Jerusalem
and waited for the consolation of Israel, Luke ii. 25, 38. Christ was
to be the desire of all nations, desirable to all (Hag. ii. 7); but
he was the desire of the Jewish nation actually, because they had the
promise of his coming made to them. Note, Those that seek Jesus shall find
pleasure in him. If he be our heart's desire he will be our heart's delight;
and we have reason to delight in him who is the messenger of the
covenant, and to bid him welcome who came to us on so kind an errand. 4.
He shall suddenly come; his coming draws nigh, and we see it not at
so great a distance as the patriarchs saw it at. Or, He shall come
immediately after the appearing of John Baptist, shall even tread on the
heels of his forerunner; when that morning-star appears, believe that
the Sun of righteousness is not far off. Or, He shall come
suddenly, that is, he shall come when by many he is not looked for; as
his second coming will be, so his first coming was, at midnight, when
some had done looking for him, for shall he find faith on the earth?
Luke xviii. 8. The Jews reckon the Messiah among the things that come unawares;
so Dr. Pocock. And the coming of the Son of man in his day is said to be as
the lightning, which is very surprising, Luke xvii. 24. 5. He shall
come to his temple, this temple at Jerusalem, which was lately built,
that latter house which he was to be the glory of. It is his temple,
for it is his Father's house, John ii. 16. Christ, at forty days old,
was presented in the temple, and thither Simeon went by the Spirit,
according to the direction of this prophecy, to see him, Luke ii. 27. At
twelve years old he was in the temple about his Father's business,
Luke ii. 49. When he rode in triumph into Jerusalem, it should seem that he
went directly to the temple (Matt. xxi. 12), and (v. 14)
thither the blind and the lame came to him to be healed; there he
often preached, and often disputed, and often wrought miracles. By this it
appears that the Messiah was to come while that temple was standing;
that, therefore, being long since destroyed, we must conclude that he has
come, and we are to look for no other. Note, Those that would be acquainted
with Christ and obtain his favour must meet him in his temple, for there he records
his name and there he will bless his people. There we must receive his
oracles and there we must pay our homage. 6. The promise of this coming is
repeated and ratified: Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts;
you may depend upon his word, who cannot lie, he shall come, he will
come, he will not tarry.
III. An account given of the great ends and intentions of his coming, v.
2. He is one whom they seek, and one whom they delight in; and yet who
may abide the day of his coming? It is a thing to be thought of with
great seriousness, and with a holy awe and reverence; for who shall stand
when he appears, though he comes not to condemn the world, but that the
world through him might have life? This may refer,
1. To the terrors of his appearance. Even in the days of his flesh there
were some emanations of his glory and power, such as none could stand
before, witness his transfiguration, and the prodigies that attended his
death; and we read of some that trembled before him, as Mark v. 33.
2. To the troublous times that should follow soon after. The Jewish doctors
speak of the pangs or griefs of the Messiah, meaning (they
say) the great afflictions that should be to Israel at the time of his
coming; he himself speaks of great tribulation then approaching, such as
was not since the beginning of the world, nor ever shall be, Matt. xxiv.
21.
3. To the trial which his coming would make of the children of men. He
shall be like a refiner's fire, which separates between the gold and the
dross by melting the ore, or like fuller's soap, which with much
rubbing fetches the spots out of the cloth. Christ came to discover men, that
the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed (Luke ii. 35), to
distinguish men, to separate between the precious and the vile, for his
fan in his hand (Matt. iii. 12), to send fire on the earth, not
peace, but rather division (Luke xii. 49, 51), to shake heaven and
earth, that the wicked might be shaken out (Job xxxviii.
13) and that the things which cannot be shaken might remain, Heb.
xii. 27. See what the effect of the trial will be that shall be made by the
gospel.
(1.) The gospel shall work good upon those that are disposed to be good, to
them it shall be a savour of life unto life (v. 3): He shall sit
as a refiner. Christ by his gospel shall purify and reform his church,
and by his Spirit working with it shall regenerate and cleanse particular
souls; for to this end he gave himself for the church, that he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word (Eph. v.
26) and purify to himself a peculiar people, Tit. ii. 14. Christ is
the great refiner. Observe, [1.] Who they are that he will purify--the
sons of Levi, all those that are devoted to his praise and employed in
his service, as the tribe of Levi was, and whom he designs to make unto our
God spiritual priests (Rev. i. 6), a holy priesthood, 1 Pet. ii. 5.
Note, All true Christians are sons of Levi, set apart for God, to do the
service of his sanctuary, and to war the good warfare. [2.] How he
will purify them; he will purge them as gold and silver, that is, he
will sanctify them inwardly; he will not only wash away the spots they have
contracted from without, but will take away the dross that is found in them;
he will separate from them their indwelling corruptions, which rendered
their faculties worthless and useless, and so make them like gold refined,
both valuable and serviceable. He will purge them with fire, as
gold and silver are purged, for he baptizes with the Holy Ghost and
with fire (Matt. iii. 11), with the Holy Ghost working like fire. He
will purge them by afflictions and manifold temptations, that the trial
of their faith may be found to praise and honour, 1 Pet. i. 6, 7.
He will purge them so as to make them a precious people to himself. [3.]
What will be the effect of it: That they may offer unto the Lord an
offering in righteousness, that is, that they may be in sincerity
converted to God and consecrated to his praise (hence we read of the offering
up, or sacrificing, of the Gentiles to God, when they were sanctified
by the holy Ghost, Rom. xv. 16), and that they may in a spiritual manner
worship God according to his will, may offer the sacrifices of
righteousness, (Ps. iv. 5), the offering of prayer, and praise, and holy
love, that they may be the true worshippers, who worship the
Father in spirit and in truth, John iv. 23, 24. Note, We cannot offer
unto the Lord any right performances in religion unless our persons be
justified and sanctified. Till we ourselves be refined and purified by the
grace of God, we cannot do any thing that will redound to the glory of God.
God had respect to Abel first, and then to his offering; and therefore
God purges his people, that they may offer their offerings to him in
righteousness, Zeph. iii. 9. He makes the tree good that the fruit may be
good. And then it follows (v. 4), The offering of Judah and
Jerusalem shall be pleasant unto the Lord. It shall no longer be
offensive, as it has been, when, in the former days, they worshipped other
gods with the God of Israel, or when, in the present days, they brought the
torn, and the lame, and the sick, for sacrifice; but it shall be acceptable;
he will be pleased with the offerers, and their offerings, as in the days
of old and as in former years, as in the primitive times of the church,
as when God had respect to Abel's sacrifice and smelled a savour of rest
from Noah's, and when he kindled Aaron's sacrifice with fire from heaven.
When the Messiah comes, First, He will, by his grace in them, make
them acceptable; when he has purified and refined them, then they shall
offer such sacrifices as God requires and will accept. Secondly, He
will, by his intercession for them, make them accepted; he will recommend
them and their performances to God, so that their prayers, being perfumed
with the incense of his intercession, shall be pleasant unto the Lord; for
he has made us accepted in the Beloved, and in him is well pleased
with those that are in him (Matt. iii. 17) and bring forth fruit in him.
(2.) It shall turn for a testimony against those that are resolved to go on
in their wickedness, v. 5. This is the direct answer to their
challenge, "Where is the God of judgment? You shall know where
he is, and shall know it to your terror and confusion, for I will come
near to you to judgment; to you that set divine justice at
defiance." To them the gospel of Christ will be a savour of death
unto death; it will bind them over to condemnation and will judge them
in the great day, John xii. 48. Let us see here, [1.] Who the sinners are
that must appear to be judged by the gospel of Christ. They are the sorcerers,
who died in spiritual wickedness, that forsake the oracles of the God of
truth to consult the father of lies; and the adulterers, who wallow
in the lusts of the flesh, those adulterers who were charged with dealing
treacherously (ch. ii. 15); and the false swearers, who
profane God's name and affront his justice, by calling him to witness to a
lie; and the oppressors, who barbarously injure and trample upon those who
lie at their mercy, and are not able to help themselves: they defraud the
hireling in his wages and will not give him what he agreed for; they
crush the widow and fatherless, and will not pay them their just
debts, because they cannot prove them, or have not wherewithal to sue for
them; the poor stranger too, who has no friend to stand by him and is
ignorant of the laws of the country, they turn aside from his right,
so that he cannot keep or cannot recover his own. That which is at the
bottom of all this is, They fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. The
transgression of the wicked plainly declares that there is no fear
of God before his eyes. Where no fear of God is no good is to be
expected. [2.] Who will appear against them: I will come near, says
God, and will be a swift witness against them. They justify
themselves, and, their sins having been artfully concealed, hope to escape
punishment for want of proof; but God, who sees and knows all things, will
himself be witness against them, and his omniscience is instead of a
thousand witnesses, for to it the sinner's own conscience shall be made to
subscribe, and so every mouth shall be stopped. He will be a swift
witness; though they reflect upon him as slow and dilatory, and ask, Where
is the God of judgment, and where the promise of his coming? they will
find that he is not slack concerning his threatenings any more than
he is concerning his promises. Judgment against those sinners shall not be
put off for want of evidence, for he will be a swift witness. His judgment
shall overtake them, and it shall be impossible for them to outrun it. Evil
pursues sinners.
IV. The ratification of all this (v. 6): For I am the Lord; I
change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Here we have,
1. God's immutability asserted by Himself, and glorified in: "I am
the Lord; I change not; and therefore no word that I have spoken shall
fall to the ground." Is God a just revenger of those that rebel against
him? Is he the bountiful rewarder of those that diligently seek him? In both
these he is unchangeable. Though the sentence passed against evil works (v.
5) be not executed speedily, yet it will be executed, for he is the Lord;
he changes not; he is as much an enemy to sin as ever he was, and
impenitent sinners will find him so. There needs no scire facias--a writ
calling one to show cause, to revive God's judgment, for it is never
antiquated, or out of date, but against those that go on still in their
trespasses the curse of his law still remains in full force, power, and
virtue. 2. A particular proof of it, from the comfortable experience
which the people of Israel had had of it. They had reason to say that he was
an unchangeable God, for he had been faithful to his covenant with them and
their fathers; if he had not adhered to that, they would have been consumed
long ago and cut off from being a people; they had been false and fickle in
their conduct to him, and he might justly have abandoned them, and then they
would soon have been consumed and ruined; but because he remembered his
covenant, and would not violate that, nor alter the thing that had gone
forth out of his lips, they were preserved from ruin and recovered from the
brink of it. It was purely because he would be as good as his word, Deut.
vii. 8; Lev. xxvi. 42. Now as God had kept them from ruin, while the
covenant of peculiarity remained in force, purely because he would be
faithful to that covenant, and would show that he is not a man that he
should lie (Num. xxiii. 19), so, when that covenant should be superseded
and set aside by the New Testament, and they, by rejecting the blessings of
it, lay themselves open to the curses, he will show that in the
determinations of his wrath, as well as in those of his mercy, he is not
a man, that he should repent, but will then be as true to his
threatenings as hitherto he had been to his promises; see 1 Sam. xv. 29. We
may all apply this very sensibly to ourselves; because we have to do with a
God that changes not, therefore it is that we are not consumed,
even because his compassions fail not; they are new every morning; great
is his faithfulness, Lam. iii. 22, 23.
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The
Sins of the People; Encouragements to Repentance.
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7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are
gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto
me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD
of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? 8 Will a man rob
God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In
tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for
ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring ye
all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house,
and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD
of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a
blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive
it. 11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he
shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast
her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD
of hosts. 12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye
shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD
of hosts.
We have here God's controversy with the men of that generation, for
deserting his service and robbing him--wicked servants indeed, that not only
run away from their Master, but run away with their Master's goods.
I. They had run away from their Master, and quitted the work he gave them to
do (v. 7): You have gone away from my ordinances and have not kept
them. The ordinances of God's worship were the business which as
servants they must mind, the talents which they must trade with, and the
trust which was committed to them to keep; but they went away from them,
grew weary of them, and withdrew their neck from that yoke; they deviated
from the rule that God had prescribed to them, and betrayed the trust lodged
with them. They had revolted from God, not only in worship, but in
conversation; they had not kept his ordinances. This disobedience
they were chargeable with, and had been guilty of, even from the days of
their fathers; either as in the days of their fathers of old, who were
sent into captivity for their disobedience, or, "Now, for some
generations past, you have fallen off from what you were, when first you
came back out of captivity." Ezra owns it in one particular instance: Since
the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day,
Ezra ix. 7. Now observe, 1. What a gracious invitation God gives them to
return and repent: "Return unto me, and to your duty, return to
your service, return to your allegiance, return as a traveller that has
missed his way, as a soldier that has run his colours, as a treacherous wife
that has gone away from her husband; return, thou backsliding Israel, return
to me; and then I will return unto you and be reconciled, will remove
the judgments you are under and prevent those you fear." This had been
of old the burden of the song (Zech. i. 3), and is still. 2. What a peevish
answer they return to this gracious invitation: "But you said
with disdain, said it to the prophets that called you, said it to one
another, said it to your own hearts, to stifle the convictions you were
under; you said, Wherein shall we return?" Note, God takes
notice what returns our hearts make to the calls of his word, what we say
and what we think when we have heard a sermon, what answer we give to the
message sent us. When God calls us to return, we should answer as
those did Jer. iii. 22, Behold, we come. But not as these here, Wherein
shall we return? (1.) They take it as an affront to be told of their
faults, and called upon to amend them; they are ready to say, "What
ado do these prophets make about returning and repenting; why are we
disgraced and disturbed thus, our own consciences and our neighbours stirred
up against us?" It is ill with those who thus count reproofs
reproaches, and kick against the pricks. (2.) They are so ignorant of
themselves, and of the strictness, extent, and spiritual nature, of the
divine law, that they see nothing in themselves to be repented of, or
reformed; they are pure in their own eyes, and think they need no
repentance. (3.) They are so firmly resolved to go on in sin that they will
find a thousand foolish frivolous excuses to shift off their repentance, and
turn away the calls that are given them to repent. They seem to speak only
as those that wanted something to say; it is a mere evasion, a banter upon
the prophet, and a challenge to him to descend to particulars. Note, Many
ruin their own souls by baffling the calls that are given them to repent of
their sins.
II. They had robbed their Master, and embezzled his goods. They had asked,
"Wherein shall we return? What have we done amiss?" And he
soon tells them. Observe, 1. The prophet's high charge exhibited, in God's
name, against the people. They stand indicted for robbery, for sacrilege,
the worst of robberies: You have robbed me. He expostulates with them
upon it: Will a man be so daringly impudent as to rob God?
Man, who is a weak creature, and cannot contend with God's power, will he
think to rob him vi et armis--forcibly? Man, who lies open to God's
knowledge, and cannot conceal himself from that, will he think to rob him clam
et secreto--privily? Man, who depends upon God, and derives his
all from him, will he rob him that is his benefactor? This is ungrateful,
unjust, and unkind, indeed; and it is very unwise thus to provoke him from
whom our judgment proceeds. Will a man do violence to God? so some
read it. Will a man do violence to God? so some read it. Will a
man stint or straiten him? so others read it. Robbing God is a heinous
crime. 2. The people's high challenge in answer to that charge: But you
say, Wherein have we robbed thee? They plead Not guilty, and put
God upon the proof of it. Note, Robbing God is such a heinous crime that
those who are guilty of it are not willing to own themselves guilty. They
rob God, and know not what they do. They rob him of his honour, rob him of
that which is devoted to him, to be employed in his service, rob him of
themselves, rob him of sabbath-time, rob him of that which is given for the
support of religion, and give him not his dues out of their estates; and yet
they ask, Wherein have we robbed thee? 3. The plain proof of the
charge, in answer to this challenge; it is in tithes and offerings.
Out of these the priests and Levites had maintenance for themselves and
their families; but they detained them, defrauded the priests of them, would
not pay their tithes, or not in full, or not of the best; they brought not
the offerings which God required, or brought the torn, and lame, and sick,
which were not fit for use. They were all guilty of this sin, even the
whole nation, as if they were in confederacy against God, and all
combined to rob him of his dues and to stand by one another in it when they
had done. For this they were cursed with a curse, v. 9. God
punished them with famine and scarcity, through unseasonable weather, or
insects that ate up the fruits of the earth. God had thus punished them for
neglecting to build the temple (Hag. i. 10, 11), and now for not maintaining
the temple-service. Note, Those that deny God his part of their estates may
justly expect a curse upon their own part of them: "You are cursed
with a curse for robbing me, and yet you go on to do it." Note, It
is a great aggravation of sin when men persist in it notwithstanding the
rebukes of Providence which they are under for it. Nay, it should seem,
because God had punished them with scarcity of bread, they made that a
pretence for robbing him-that now, being impoverished, they could not afford
to bring their tithes and offerings, but must save them, that they might
have bread for their families. Note, It argues great perverseness in sin
when men make those afflictions excuses for sin which are sent to part
between them and their sins. When they had but little they should have done
the more good with that little, and that would have been the way to make it
more; but it is ill with the patient when that which should cure the disease
serves only to palliate it, and prevent its being searched into. 4. An
earnest exhortation to reform in this matter, with a promise that if they
did the judgments they were under should be quickly removed. (1.) Let them
take care to do their duty (v. 10): Bring you all the tithes into
the storehouse. They had brought some; but, like Ananias and Sapphira,
had kept back part of the price, pretending they could not spare so
much as was required, and necessity has no law; but even necessity
must have this law, and it would redress the grievance of their necessity:
"Bring in the full tithes to the utmost that the law requires, that
there may be meat in God's house for those that serve at the altar,
whether there be meat in your houses or no." Note, God must be served
in the first place, and our quota must be contributed for the support of
religion in the place where we live, that God's name may be sanctified, and
his kingdom may come, and his will be done, even before we provide our daily
bread; for the interests of our souls ought to be preferred before those of
our bodies. (2.) Let them then trust God to provide for them and their
comfort "Let God be first served, and then prove me herewith, saith
the Lord of hosts, whether I will not open the windows of heaven."
They said, "Let God give us our plenty again, as formerly, and try us
whether we will not then bring him his tithes and offerings, as we did
formerly." "No," says God, "do you first bring in all
your tithes as they become due, and all the arrears of what is past, and try
me, whether I will not then restore you your plenty." Note, Those that
will deal with God must deal upon trust; and we may all venture to do so,
for, though many have been losers for him, never any were losers by him in
the end. It is fit that we should venture first, for his reward is with
him, but his work is before him; we must first do the work which
is our part, and then try him and trust him for the reward. Elijah put the
widow of Zarephath into this method when he said (1 Kings xvii. 13), "Make
me a little cake first, and then prove me whether there shall not be
enough afterwards for thee and thy son." That which discourages
people from the expenses of charity is the weakness of their faith
concerning the gains and advantages of charity; they cannot think that they
shall get by it. But it is a reasonable demand that God here makes: "Prove
me now; is any thing to be got by charity? Come and see;"
Nothing venture, nothing win. Trust upon honour, "And you shall
find," [1.] "That, whereas the heavens have been shut up, and
there has been no rain, now God will open to you the windows of
heaven, for in his hand the key of the clouds is, and you shall have
seasonable rain." Or the expression is figurative; every good gift
coming from above, thence God will plentifully pour out upon them the
bounties of his providence. Very sudden plenty is expressed by opening
the windows of heaven, 2 Kings vii. 2. We find the windows of heaven
opened, to pour down a deluge of wrath, in Noah's flood, Gen. vii. 11.
But here they are opened to pour down blessings, to such a degree
that there should not be room enough to receive them. So plentifully
shall their ground bring forth that they shall be tempted to pull down
their barns and build greater, for want of room, Luke xii. 18. Or, as
Dr. Pocock explains it, "I will pour out on you such a blessing as
shall be not enough only, and such as shall be sufficient, but more
and more than enough;" that is, a great addition. The oil that is
multiplied shall not be stayed as long as there are vessels to receive it, 2
Kings iv. 6. Note, God will not only be reconciled to sinners that repent
and reform, but he will be a benefactor, a bountiful benefactor, to them. We
are never straitened in him, but often straitened in our own bosoms. God has
blessings ready to bestow upon us, but, through the weakness of our faith
and narrowness of our desires, we have not room to receive them. [2.] That,
whereas the fruits of their ground had been eaten up by locusts and
caterpillars God would now remove that judgment (v. 11): "I
will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and will check the progress of
those destroying animals, that they shall no more destroy the products of
the earth and the fruits of the trees." God has all creatures at his
beck, can command them and remand them at his pleasure. Neither shall the
vine cast her fruit before the time; it shall not be blasted or blown
off. Or, as some read it, Neither shall the devourer make your vine
barren, as the locusts did, Joel i. 7. [3.] That, whereas their
neighbours had upbraided them with their scarcity, and they had lain under
the reproach of famine, which was the more grievous because their
country used to be boasted of for its plenty, now all nations shall call
them blessed, shall speak honourably of them, and own them to be a happy
people. [4.] That whereas their sin had made their land unpleasing to God
(even their temple, and altars, and offerings were so, ch. ii. 13),
and whereas his judgments had made their land unpleasant to them, and very
melancholy, "Now you shall be a delightsome land, your country
shall be acceptable to God and comfortable to yourselves." Note, The
reviving of religion in a land will make it indeed a delightsome land both
to God and to all good people; he will say, It is my rest for ever; here
will I dwell; and they will say the same, Isa. lxii. 4; Deut. xi. 12. It
should seem that this charge to bring in the tithes had its good effect, for
we find (Neh. xiii. 12) that all Judah did bring in their tithe into the
treasuries, and, no doubt, they had the benefit of these promises, in
the return of their plenty, immediately upon their return to their duty,
that they might plainly discern for what cause the evil had been upon them
(for when the cause was removed the evil was removed), and that they might
see how perfectly reconciled God was to them upon their repentance, and how
their transgression was remembered no more, for the curse was not only taken
away, but turned into an abundant blessing.
|
Wicked
Conversation Reproved; Evil Maxims of Sinners; Pious
Converse Commended; Promises to the Godly.
B. C. 400.
|
|
|
|
13 Your words have been stout against me,
saith the LORD.
Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? 14
Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it
that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before
the LORD
of hosts? 15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that
work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even
delivered. 16 Then they that feared the LORD
spake often one to another: and the LORD
hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before
him for them that feared the LORD,
and that thought upon his name. 17 And they shall be mine, saith
the LORD
of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a
man spareth his own son that serveth him. 18 Then shall ye
return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that
serveth God and him that serveth him not.
Among the people of the Jews at this time, though they all enjoyed the same
privileges and advantages, there were men of very different characters (as
ever were, and ever will be, in the world and in the church), like
Jeremiah's figs, some very good and others very bad, some that plainly
appeared to be the children of God and others that as plainly discovered
themselves to be the children of the wicked one. There are tares and wheat
in the same field, chaff and corn in the same floor; and here we have an
account of both.
I. Here is the angry notice God takes of the impudent blasphemous talk of
the sinners in Zion and his just resentments of it. Probably there was a
club of them that were in league against religion, that set up for wits, and
set their wits on work to run it down and ridicule it, and herein
strengthened one another's hands. Here is,
1. An indictment found against them, for treasonable words spoken against
the King of kings: Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord.
They spoke against God, in reflection upon him, in contradiction to
him, as their fathers in the wilderness (Ps. lxx. 19); yea, they
spoke against God. What he said, and what he designed, they opposed, as
if they had been retained of counsel against him and his cause. Their words
against God were stout; they came from their pride, and haughtiness,
and contempt of God. What they said against God they spoke loudly, as if
they cared not who heard them; they were not themselves ashamed to say it,
and they desired to propagate their atheistical notions and to infect the
minds of others with them. They spoke it boldly, as those that were resolved
to stand to it, and were in no fear of being called to an account. They
spoke it proudly, and with insolence and disdain, scorning to be under the
divine check and government. They strengthened themselves; they would
be valiant against the Almighty, Job xv. 25.
2. Their plea to this indictment. They said, What have we spoken so much
against thee? They deny the words, and put the prophet to prove them;
or, if they spoke the words, they did not design them against God, and
therefore will not own there was any harm in them; at least they extenuate
the matter: What have we spoken so much against thee, so much that
there needs all this ado about it? They cannot deny that they have spoken
against God, but they make a light matter of it, and wonder it should be
taken notice of: "Words" (say they) "are but wind;
others have said more and done worse; if we are not so good as we should be,
yet we hope we are not so bad as we are represented to be." Note, It is
common for sinners that are unconvinced and unhumbled to deny or extenuate
the faults they are justly charged with, and to insist upon their own
justification, against the reproofs of the word and of their own
consciences. But it will be to no purpose.
3. The words themselves which they are charged with. God keeps an account of
what men say, as well as of what they do, and will let them know that he
does so. We quickly forget what we have said, and are ready to deny what we
have said amiss; but God can say, You have said so and so. They had
said it as their deliberate judgment.
(1.) That there is nothing to be got in the service of God, thought it is a
service that subjects men to labour and sorrow. They said, It is vain to
serve God, or, "He is vain that serves God, that is, he
labours in vain and to no purpose; he has his labour for his pains, and
therefore is a fool for his labour. What profit is it that we have kept
his ordinance, or his observation, that we have observed what he
has appointed us to observe?" What mammon, or wealth,
have we gained, says the Chaldee, intimating (says Dr. Pocock) that it was
for mammon's sake only that they served God, and so indeed not God at all,
but mammon. "We have walked mournfully, or in black, with
great gravity and great grief, before the Lord of hosts, have
afflicted our souls at the times appointed for that purpose, and yet we are
never the better." Perhaps this comes in as a reason why they would not
trust God to prosper them upon their bringing in the tithes (v.
10); "For," say they, "we have tried him in other things, and
have lost by him." This is a very unjust and unreasonable reflection
upon the service of God, and we can call witnesses enough to confront the
slander. [1.] They would have it thought that they had served God and had
kept his ordinances, whereas it was only the external observance of them
that they had kept up, while they were perfect strangers to the inward part
of the duty, and therefore might say, It is in vain. God says so
(Matt. xv. 9), In vain do those worship me whose hearts are far
from me while they draw near with their mouth; but whose fault is
that? Not God's, who is the rewarder of those that seek him diligently, but
theirs who seek him carelessly. [2.] They insisted much upon it that they
had walked mournfully before God, whereas God had required them to
serve him with gladness, and to walk cheerfully before him. They by their
own superstitions made the service of God a task and drudgery to themselves,
and then complained of it as a hard service. The yoke of Christ is easy; it
is the yoke of antichrist that is heavy. [3.] They complained that they had
got nothing by their religion; they were still in poverty and affliction,
and behindhand in the world. This is an old piece of impiety. Job xxi. 14,
15, What profit shall we have if we pray unto him? Elihu charges Job
with saying something like this. Job xxxiv. 9, It profits a man nothing
that he should delight himself with God. The enemies of religion do but
set up against it the old cavils that have been long since answered and
exploded. Perhaps this refers to the errors of the sect of the Sadducees,
which was the scandal of the Jewish church in its latter days; they denied a
future state, and then said, It is vain to serve God, which has
indeed some colour in it, for, if in this life only we had hope in
Christ, we were of all men most miserable, 1 Cor. xv. 19. Note, Those do
a great deal of wrong to God's honour who say that religion is either an
unprofitable or an unpleasant thing; for the matter is not so: wisdom's ways
are pleasantness, and wisdom's gains better than that of fine gold.
(2.) They maintained that wickedness was the way to prosperity, for they had
observed that the workers of wickedness were set up in the world, and
those that tempted God were delivered, v. 15. The
outward prosperity of sinners in their sins, as it has weakened the hands of
the godly in their godliness (Ps. lxxiii. 13), so it has strengthened the
hands of the wicked in their wickedness. Note, [1.] Those that work
wickedness tempt God by presumptuous sins; they do, as it were, try God,
whether he can and will punish them as he has said in his word, and, in
effect, challenge him to do his worst, by provoking him in the highest
degree. [2.] Those that tempt God by their wicked works are many times both
delivered out of the adversity into which they were justly brought and
advanced to the prosperity which they were utterly unworthy of. They are not
only set up once, but when we thought their day had come to fall, and they
were in trouble, they were delivered and set up again; so strangely did
Providence seem to smile upon them. [3.] Though it be thus, yet it will not
warrant us to call the proud happy. For they may be delivered and set
up for a while, but it will appear that God resists them, and that their
pride is a preface to their fall; and, if so, they are truly miserable, and
it is folly to call them happy, and to bless those whom the Lord abhors.
Wait awhile, and you shall see those that work wickedness set up as a
mark to the arrows of God's vengeance, and those that tempt God delivered
to the tormentors. Judge of things as they will appear shortly, when the
doom of these proud sinners (which follows here, ch. iv. 1) comes to
be executed to the utmost.
II. Here is the gracious notice God takes of the pious talk of the saints in
Zion, and the gracious recompence of it. Even in this corrupt and degenerate
age, when there was so great a decay, nay, so great a contempt, of serious
godliness, there were yet some that retained their integrity and zeal for
God; and let us see,
1. How they distinguished themselves, and what their character was; it was
the reverse of theirs that spoke so much against God; for, (1.) They feared
the Lord--that is the beginning of wisdom and the root of all religion;
they reverenced the majesty of God, submitted to his authority, and had a
dread of his wrath in all they thought and said; they humbly complied with
God, and never spoke any stout words against him. In every age there has
been a remnant that feared the Lord, though sometimes but a little remnant.
(2.) They thought upon his name; they seriously considered and
frequently mediated upon the discoveries God has made of himself in his word
and by his providences, and their mediation of him was sweet
to them and influenced them. They thought on his name; they consulted
the honour of God and aimed at that as their ultimate end in all they did.
Note, Those that know the name of God should often think of it and dwell
upon it in their thoughts; it is a copious curious subject, and frequent
thoughts of it will contribute very much to our communion with God and the
stirring up of our devout affections to him. (3.) They spoke often one to
another concerning the God they feared, and that name of his which they
thought so much of; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will
speak, and a good man, out of a good treasure there, will bring
forth good things. Those that feared the Lord kept together as those
that were company for each other; they spoke kindly and endearingly one to
another, for the preserving and promoting of mutual love, that that might
not wax cold when iniquity did thus abound. They spoke
intelligently and edifyingly to one another, for the increasing and
improving of faith and holiness; they spoke one to another in the
language of those that fear the Lord and think on his name--the language of
Canaan. When profaneness had come to so great a height as to trample upon
all that is sacred, then those that feared the Lord spoke often
one to another. [1.] Then, when iniquity was bold and barefaced, the
people of God took courage, and stirred up themselves, the innocent
against the hypocrite, Job xvii. 8. The worse others are the better we
should be; when vice is daring, let not virtue be sneaking. [2.] Then, when
religion was reproached and misrepresented, its friends did all they could
to support the credit of it and to keep it in countenance. It had been
suggested that the ways of God are melancholy unpleasant ways, solitary and
sorrowful; and therefore then those that feared God studied to evince the
contrary by their cheerfulness in mutual love and converse, that they might put
to silence the ignorance of foolish men. [3.] Then, when seducers were
busy to deceive and to possess unwary souls with prejudices against
religion, those that feared God were industrious to arm themselves and one
another against the contagion by mutual instructions, excitements, and
encouragements, and to strengthen one another's hands. As evil communication
corrupts good minds and manners, so good communication confirms them.
2. How God dignified them, and what further honour and favour he intended
for them. Those who spoke stoutly against God, no doubt looked with disdain
and displeasure upon those that feared him, hectored and bantered them; but
they had little reason to regard that, or be disturbed at it, when God
countenanced them.
(1.) He took notice of their pious discourses, and was graciously present at
their conferences: The Lord hearkened and heard it, and was well
pleased with it. God says (Jer. viii. 6) that he hearkened and heard
what bad men would say, and they spoke not aright; here he hearkened
and heard what good men did say, for they spoke aright. Note, The gracious
God observes all the gracious words that proceed out of the mouths of his
people; they need not desire that men may hear them, and commend them; let
them not seek praise from men by them, nor affect to be taken notice of by
them; but let it satisfy them that, be the conference ever so private, God
sees and hears in secret and will reward openly. When the two
disciples, going to Emmaus, were discoursing concerning Christ, he hearkened
and heard, and joined himself to them, and made a third, Luke xxiv. 15.
(2.) He kept an account of them: A book of remembrance was written before
him. Not that the Eternal Mind needs to be reminded of things by books
and writings, but it is an expression after the manner of men, intimating
that their pious affections and performances are kept in remembrance as
punctually and particularly as if they were written in a book, as if
journals were kept of all their conferences. Great kings had books of
remembrance written, and read before them, in which were entered all the
services done them, when, and by whom, as Esther ii. 23. God, in like
manner, remembers the services of his people, that, in the review of them,
he may say, Well done; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. God has a
book for the sighs and tears of his mourners (Ps. lvi. 8), much more for the
pleadings of his advocates. Never was any good word spoken of God, or for
God, from an honest heart, but it was registered, that it might be
recompensed in the resurrection of the just, and in no wise lose its reward.
(3.) He promises them a share in his glory hereafter (v. 17): They
shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my
jewels. When God utterly cuts off the Jewish church and nation for their
infidelity, the remnant among them, that believed his word, and, having
waited for the consolation of Israel, welcome him when he comes, shall be
admitted into the Christian church, and shall become a peculiar people to
God; God will take care of them, that they perish not with those that
believe not; but that they be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger
against that nation. They shall be my segullah--my peculiar treasure
(it is the word used, Exod. xix. 5), in the day when I make or do
what I have said and designed to do; so some read it. These pious ones shall
have all the glorious privileges of God's Israel appropriated to them and
centring in them; they shall now be his peculiar treasure, when the rest are
rejected; they shall now be the vessels of mercy and honour, when the rest
are made vessels of wrath and dishonour, vessels in which is no pleasure.
This may be applied to all the faithful people of God, and the distinction
he will put between them and others in the great day. Note, [1.] The saints
are God's jewels; they are highly esteemed by him and are dear to him; they
are comely with the comeliness that he puts upon them, and he is pleased to
glory in them; they are a royal diadem in his hand, Isa. lxii. 3. He
looks upon them as his own proper goods, his choice goods, his treasure,
laid up in his cabinet, and the furniture of his closet, Ps. cxxxv. 4. The
rest of the world is but lumber, in comparison with them. [2.] There is a
day coming when God will make up his jewels. They shall be gathered
up out of the dirt into which they are now thrown, and gathered together
from all places to which they are now scattered; he shall send forth his
angels to gather his elect, who are his jewels, from the four
winds of heaven (Matt. xxiv. 31), to gather his jewels into his
jewel-house, as the wheat from several fields into the barn. All the saints
will then be gathered to Christ, and none but saints, and saints made
perfect; then God's jewels will be made up, as stones into a crown, as stars
into a constellation. [3.] Those who now own God for theirs, he will then
own for his, will publicly confess them before angels and men: "They
shall be mine; their sanctification shall be completed, and so they
shall be perfectly and entirely mine, without any remaining interests of the
world and the flesh." Their relation to God shall be acknowledged, and
his property in them. He will separate them from those that are not his, and
give them their portion with those that are his; for to them it shall be
said, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you. They were in doubt, sometimes, whether they were belonging to God
or no; but the matter shall then be put out of doubt. God himself will say
unto them, You are mine. Now their relation to God is what they are
reproached with, but it will then be gloried in; God himself will glory in
it.
(4.) He promises them a share in his grace now: I will spare them as a
man spares his own son that serves him. God had promised to own them as
his and take them to be with him; but it might be a discouragement to them
to think that they had offended God, and that he might justly disown them,
and cast them off; but, as to that, he says, "I will spare them;
I will not deal with them as they deserve. I will rejoice over them"
(so some expound it) "as the bridegroom over his bride," Isa. lxii.
5; Zeph. iii. 17. But the word usually signifies to spare with commiseration
and compassion, as a father pities his children, Ps. ciii. 13. Note,
[1.] It is our duty to serve God with the disposition of children. We must
be his sons, must by a new birth partake of a divine nature, must consent to
the covenant of adoption and partake of the spirit of adoption. And we must
be his servants; God will not have his children trained up in idleness; they
must do him service, and they must do it from a principle of love, with
cheerfulness and delight, and as those that are therein serving their own
true interest, and this is serving as a son with the father, Phil.
ii. 22. [2.] If we serve God with the disposition of children, he will spare
us with the tenderness and compassion of a Father. Even God's children that
serve him stand in need of sparing mercy, that mercy to which we owe it that
we are not consumed, that mercy which keeps us out of hell. Nehemiah, when
he had done much good, yet, knowing there is not a just man on earth,
that does good and sins not, and that every sin deserves God's wrath,
prays, Lord, spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy; see
Neh. xiii. 22. And God, as a Father, will show them this mercy. He will not
be extreme to mark what we do amiss, but will make the best of us and our
poor performances; he will mitigate the afflictions his children are
exercised with, and save them from the ruin they deserve. The father
continues to spare the son, and does it with complacency, because he is his
own; thus God will spare humble penitents and petitioners, as a man
spares his son that serves him, though we do him so little service, nay,
though we do him so much disservice.
3. How they will thus be distinguished from the children of this world (v.
18): "Then shall you return, and discern between the righteous and
the wicked, between sinners and saints, between those that serve God
and make conscience of their duty to him and those that serve him not,
but put contempt upon his service. You that now speak against God as making
no difference between good and bad, and therefore say, It is in vain to
serve him (v. 14), you shall be made to see your error; you that
would speak for God, but know not what to say as to this, that there seems
to be one event to the righteous and to the wicked, and all things
come alike to all, will then have the matter set in a true light, and
will see, to your everlasting satisfaction, the difference between the
righteous and the wicked. Then you shall return, that is, you shall change
you mind, and come to a right understanding of the thing." This
primarily respects the manifest difference that was made by the divine
Providence between the believing Jews and those that persisted in their
infidelity, at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish
church and nation, by the Romans. But it is to have its full accomplishment
at the second coming of Jesus Christ, and on that great discriminating day
when it shall be easy enough to discern between the righteous and the
wicked. Note, (1.) All the children of men are either righteous or
wicked, either such as serve God or such as serve him not. This is that
division of the children of men which will last for ever, and by which their
eternal state will be determined; all are going either to heaven or to hell.
(2.) In this world it is often hard to discern between the righteous and
the wicked. They are mingled together, good fish and bad in the same
net. The righteous are so distempered, and the wicked so disguised, that we
are often deceived in our opinions concerning both the one and the other.
There are many who, we think, serve God, who, having not their hearts right
with him, will be found none of his servants; and, on the other hand, many
will be found his faithful servants, who, because they followed not with us,
did not, as we thought, serve him. But that which especially raised the
difficulty here was that the divine Providence seemed to make no difference
between the righteous and the wicked; you could not know wicked men by God's
frowning upon them, for they commonly prospered in the world, nor righteous
men by his smiling upon them, for they were involved with others in the same
common calamity. None now knows God's love or hatred by all that
is before him, Eccl. ix. 1. (3.) At the bar of Christ, in the last
judgment, it will be easy to discern between the righteous and the
wicked; for then every man's character will be both perfected and
perfectly discovered, every man will then appear in his true colours, and
his disguises will be taken off. Some men's sins indeed go beforehand, and
you may now tell who is wicked, but others follow after; however, in the
great day, we shall see who was righteous and who wicked. Every man's
condition likewise will be both perfected and everlastingly determined; the
righteous will then be perfectly happy and the wicked perfectly miserable,
without mixture or allay. When the righteous are all set on the right hand
of Christ, and invited to come for a blessing, and all the wicked on his
left hand, and are told to depart with a curse, then it will be easy to
discern between them. As to ourselves, therefore, we are concerned to think
among which we shall have our lot, and, as to others, we must judge
nothing before the time.
