The object of this record is to form the basis of judgment. Their deeds were as particularly recorded as if actually written in a book. He who is Omniscient needs no book to keep Him in mind of His people's services. The expression is an accommodation to our modes of speech. In speaking of a book, we do not insist on an actual volume. THE LORD KEPT A BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE FOR RECORDING THE NAMES AND DEEDS OF THE FAITHFUL. Men to stand up for the defence of the truth not merely devout believers, but able apologists. There are times when such men are specially needed. At the peril of their lives they bore testimony and were not ashamed. They took their united stand on common ground - the fear of God. God was subjecting these men who feared Him tea Divine test. Illustrate - Catacombs, Waldenses, Covenanters, etc. What a beautiful picture is this of Christian fellowship and fidelity and happily, even the darkest days of the Church have been brightened by examples of a like kind. Their object was not only mutual encouragement, but the vindication of their God from the aspersions cast upon His name. Instead of envying at the wicked, and bewailing their own condition, they met for mutual encouragement, and for the defence of God's righteous dealings against blasphemers. THE CONDUCT OF THE FAITHFUL AT A TIME OF APOSTASY. Our short-sightedness keeps us from seeing beyond the present, otherwise we would perceive a higher good than earthly greatness, and true success would he tested not by outward conditions, but by moral character. They would help each other to fathom the providential mystery. Those who continued faithful to God were perplexed when they saw the success of sin, and so they met to hold mutual intercourse, and to impart mutual encouragement.
What profit had the righteous man in walking mournfully before the Lord? The prosperity of the wicked became a stumbling-block to the righteous. God's people had begun to think the service of God to be vanity. The ungodly were allowed to go on in sin without calling down any token of Divine displeasure. The transgressor never got off with impunity but the present seemed to be an exception. Violated law brought in due time its appropriate punishment and in this way God's moral government, as it were, rectified itself to the eyes of men. The course of their history shows that the recurrence of certain evils brought on, as by natural sequence, a repetition of punishment, or a fresh chastisement. Such a time had, in the providence of God, been permitted to cast its dark shadow over the people of Israel. The prophet is here speaking of the conduct and reward of those who remained faithful to God at a time of great national apostasy. Then they that feared the LORD spoke often one to another: and the LORD listened, and heard it…
0 kommentar(er)
