=========================================================== Scripture Studies: Vol. VII, No. 7 - September 2000 ==================================================== In this issue: Old Testament Study - Zechariah 7 A Classic Study - Navigation Spiritualized, pt. 27, by John Flavel New Testament Study - Matthew 9:14-17 A Topical Study - Loving God vs. Loving the World, pt. 11 A Study of Wisdom - Ecclesiastes 9:1 Masthead -------- "Scripture Studies" is edited by Scott Sperling and published ten times a year by Scripture Studies, Inc., a non-profit organization. It is distributed all over the world by postal mail and via the internet, free of charge. If you would like to financially support the publication and distribution of "Scripture Studies", send contributions to: Scripture Studies Inc. 20 Pastora Foothill Ranch, CA 92610 USA Contributions are tax deductible in the United States. 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Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers =========================================================== Old Testament Study - Zechariah 7 ================================= A Question Concerning Fasting ----------------------------- 1In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. 2The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech, together with their men, to entreat the LORD 3by asking the priests of the house of the LORD Almighty and the prophets, "Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?" 4Then the word of the LORD Almighty came to me: 5"Ask all the people of the land and the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? 6And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? 7Are these not the words the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?'" 8And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah: 9"This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. 10Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.' 11"But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. 12They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry. 13"'When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the LORD Almighty. 14'I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land was left so desolate behind them that no one could come or go. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.'" Some time after Zechariah received his visions from the Lord, the word of the Lord came to him again. The occasion was a visit by some people from Bethel: "In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech, together with their men, to entreat the LORD by asking the priests of the house of the LORD Almighty and the prophets, 'Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?'" (vss. 1-3). Some of the returned exiles from the town of Bethel came to Jerusalem to ask a question to the priests concerning yearly fasts that they had been observing. The question was simple: Should they keep observing these fasts? They most likely thought that they would get a "yes" or "no" answer from the priests. What they got was a two-chapter answer from the Lord Himself, who reproofed and exhorted them concerning their worship of Him. This answer, which was given through Zechariah, comprises chapters 7 and 8 of the book of Zechariah. Their question concerned a fast during the fifth month that commemorated the destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar (see II Kings 25:8-9). They apparently had observed this fast during the 70 years of exile. They were asking this question two years after work had resumed on rebuilding the Temple. Now that there was considerable progress made on restoring the Temple, they naturally wondered whether they should observe a fast that commemorated its destruction. It should be noted that only one regular, commemorative fast was instituted by the Lord Himself, and that is the abstention required on the Day of Atonement (see Lev. 16:29; Lev. 23:27ff). The fast that commemorated the destruction of the Temple, about which the people from Bethel were asking, was a burden the people put upon themselves. Moreover, in addition to this fast in the fifth month, apparently the people had also instituted fasts in the fourth, seventh and tenth months (see Zech. 8:19). These presumably commemorated other significant events that occurred during the conquest of Israel, such as the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Jerusalem (see II Kings 25:1-2; Jer. 39:1), and the breaching of the city wall (see Jer. 39:2). In His answer to the people, the Lord addresses all of these fasts that the people instituted, specifically addressing the attitude with which they observed the fasts, and their actions during the fasts: "Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: 'Ask all the people of the land and the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?'" (vs. 4-7). This first response to their question is a set of rhetorical questions asked of them by the Lord. These rhetorical questions suggest that the people were fasting for selfish reasons; and then when they weren't fasting, they were feasting strictly for themselves: "Was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?" (vs. 5-7). Fasts, rightly observed, are times of mourning and grief over one's own sins and failures to do God's will. They are times to seek God's will with an acute awareness that all things come from His hands, and with an awareness that we do not deserve any of the blessings we receive from God. There are two primary ways that fasts are made into selfish activities. The first way is when one uses a fast to call attention to one's religiosity. The faster lets others know that he is fasting, with the desire that others will look upon him as being especially godly. Jesus spoke against fasting in this way: "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you" (Matt. 6:16-18). The second primary way that a fast is made into a selfish activity is when one fasts with the expectation that the fasts, in and of themselves, will bring rewards from God. The fast is improperly used as an "end", not a means to seek God's will. The faster thinks that God will bless him simply for the act of fasting. This is "works"-based thinking: "If I do this religious ritual, God will bless me." "They thought that God must bless them, indeed was bound to bless them, if they rigidly observed these outward rites, whatever was their inward character" [Moore, 106]. In verse 7, the Lord points out that He instructed the people concerning their empty religious rituals through earlier prophets: "Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?" Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord spoke these words concerning improper fasting: "For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and He will say: Here am I" (Isa. 58:2-9) The Lord repeats this sentiment through Zechariah: "And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: 'This is what the Lord Almighty says: "Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other"'" (vss. 8-10). A religious ritual such as fasting, indeed any method of worshiping God, is worthless if it is not accompanied by a life that seeks to obey God. "The point is clear. God is not content with mere ceremonial acts. On the contrary, He actually hates such acts if they are not preceded and accompanied by a genuine love for God and other people" [Boice, 184]. Basic godliness requires these traits: "justice", "mercy", "compassion". To go through religious rituals, yet to lack these traits, is not only hypocritical, it is also blasphemous. The person who makes an outward show of being religious, yet at the same time is unjust, unmerciful, or lacking in compassion, blasphemes God, for he misrepresents the character of God. The Lord reminds the Bethelites that the children of Israel ignored His instructions through the earlier prophets: "But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry" (vss. 11-12). A progression is suggested here: first, they "refused to pay attention", then they "stubbornly turned their backs", and finally, "stopped up their ears". By doing this, "they made their hearts as hard as flint". This all resulted in the Lord becoming "very angry". They stopped listening to God, so He stopped listening to their prayers: "'When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen' says the Lord Almighty" (vs. 13). Without God's help, we are at the mercy of this fallen world. The Israelites had many enemies, and the absence of God's protection resulted in disaster: "I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land was left so desolate behind them that no one could come or go. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate" (vs. 14). "As they pushed from them the yoke of obedience, God laid on them the yoke of oppression. As they made their hearts hard..., God broke their hard hearts with judgments. Hard hearts must expect hard treatment." [JFB, 682]. By reminding them of all this, God is exhorting the people to learn from the mistakes of the past. The cause of the events for which the Bethelites were fasting was disobedience. The Bethelites themselves were in danger of falling into the same disobedience as their ancestors, for the Bethelites were not observing their fasts rightly. They were ignoring the instructions that God gave through the earlier prophets. To exhort people to look at the past, and learn from the mistakes of their forefathers, can be an effective way to encourage obedience to God. Another effective way to encourage obedience is to look forward to the future. In the next chapter, the Lord will finish the answer to the Bethelites' question, by giving magnificent promises concerning the future of Israel. =========================================================== A Classic Study - Navigation Spiritualized, pt. 27, by John Flavel ================================================================== A Classic Study by John Flavel (1628-1691) ------------------------------------------ [Here, we conclude our reprint of excerpts from John Flavel's book Navigation Spiritualized. John Flavel was a 17th century minister in the seaside town of Dartmouth, England. A good many of his parishioners made their living on the sea, and so Mr. Flavel wrote Navigation Spiritualized, a book which draws parallels between things of the sea and spiritual things.]-Ed. - The End of the Journey How glad are seamen when they make the shore? And saints, no less, when all their danger's o'er. OBSERVATION. ------------ What joy is there among seamen, when at last, after a tedious and dangerous voyage, they descry land, and see the desired haven before them! Then they turn out of their loathed cabins, and come upon open deck with much joy. "Then they are glad, because they be quiet: So he bringeth them to their desired haven" (Ps. 107:30). Now they can reflect with comfort upon the many dangers they have passed. Olim haec meminisse juvabit: it is sweet to recount them. APPLICATION. ------------ But O, what a transcendent joy, yea, ravishing, will overrun the hearts of saints, when, after so many conflicts, temptations, and afflictions, they arrive in glory, and are harboured in heaven, where they shall rest for ever! (see II Thess. 1:7). The scripture saith, "They shall sing the song of Moses, and of the Lamb," (Rev. 15:3). The song of Moses was a triumphant song composed for the celebration of that glorious deliverance at the Red Sea. The saints are now fluctuating upon a troublesome and tempestuous sea; their hearts sometimes ready to sink and die within them at the apprehension of so many and great dangers and difficulties. Many a hard storm they ride out, and many straits and troubles they here encounter, but at last they arrive at their desired and long-expected haven, and then heaven rings and resounds with their joyful acclamations. And how can it be otherwise, when as soon as ever they set foot upon that glorious shore, Christ Himself meets and receives them with a "Come ye blessed of my Father," (see Matt. 25:34). "O joyful voice! O much desired word!" saith Paraeus, "what tribulation would not a man undergo for this word's sake!" Besides, then they are perfectly freed from all evils, whether of sin or suffering, and perfectly filled with all desired good. Then they shall join with that great assembly, in the high praises of God. O what a day will this be! If (said a worthy divine) Diagoras died away with an excess of joy, whilst he embraced his three sons that were crowned as victors in the Olympic games in one day; and good old Simeon, when he saw Christ but in a body subject to the infirmities of our nature, cried out, "Now let thy servant depart in peace;" what unspeakable joy will it be to the saints to behold Christ in His glory, and see their godly relations also (to whose conversion, perhaps, they have been instrumental) all crowned, in one day, with everlasting diadems of bliss! And if the stars did, as Ignatius saith, make a choir, as it were, about that star that appeared at Christ's incarnation, and there is such joy in heaven at the conversion of a sinner; no wonder then, the morning stars sing together, and the sons of God shout for joy, when the general assembly meet in heaven. O how will the arches of heaven ring and echo, when the high praises of God shall be in the mouth of such a congregation! Then shall the saints be joyful in glory, and sing aloud upon their beds of everlasting rest. REFLECTION. ----------- And is there such a day approaching for the sons of God, indeed! And have I authority to call myself one of the number! (see John 1:12). O then let me not droop at present difficulties, nor hang down my hands when I meet with hardships in the way. O my soul, what a joyful day will this be! For at present we are tossed upon an ocean of troubles, fears, and temptations; but these will make heaven the sweeter. Cheer up, then, O my soul, thy salvation is now nearer than when thou first believedst, (see Rom. 13:11). And it will not now be long ere I receive the end of my faith, (see I Pet. 1:9). And then it will be sweet to reflect even upon these hardships in the way. Yet a few days more, and then comes that blessed day thou hast so long waited and panted for. Contrast the glory of that day, O my soul, to thy present abasures and sufferings, as blessed Paul did (see Rom. 1:18), and thou shalt see how it will shrink them all up to nothing. Contrast the inheritance thou shalt receive in that day to thy losses for Christ now; and see how joyfully it will make thee bear them (see Heb. 10:34). Contrast the honour that will be put upon thee in that day, to thy present reproaches, and see how easy it will make them to thee (see I Cor. 4:5). What condition can I be in, wherein the believing thoughts of this blessed day cannot relieve me? Am I poor, here is that which answers poverty: "Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom?" (James 3:5). Am I tempted? Here is relief against that: "Now is come salvation and strength; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down," (Rev. 12:16). Am I deserted? Here is a remedy for that too, "And there shall be no night there," etc. (see Rev, 22: 5). Come, then, my soul, let us enter upon our inheritance by degrees, and begin the life of heaven upon earth. (This concludes are excerpted reprints of Mr. Flavel's book) =========================================================== New Testament Study - Matthew 9:14-17 ===================================== New Wineskins ------------- 14Then John's disciples came and asked Him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" 15Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. 16No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." In the last few sections of Matthew's Gospel, the author, in addition to recounting some of the miracles that Jesus performed, has recounted some instances of opposition to Jesus' ministry. In Matthew 8:34, the townspeople in the Gadarenes pleaded with Jesus to leave their region because some demons that Jesus exorcised caused a herd of pigs to jump off a cliff. In Matthew 9:3, some teachers of the law accused Jesus of blaspheming when He told a paralytic on a mat that his sins were forgiven. In Matthew 9:11, some Pharisees implied to His disciples that Jesus shouldn't be eating with "sinners". Here in this section, the opposition comes from an unlikely source: "Then John's disciples came and asked Him, 'How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?'" (vs. 14). The opposition in this case is coming from the disciples of John the Baptist. From the beginning of Jesus' ministry, John the Baptist acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah. When asked who he was, John said: "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord'" (John 1:23). When Jesus came to John to be baptized, John said: "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" (Matt. 3:14). And when some of John's disciples pointed out that many of his followers were leaving him to follow Jesus, John told them: "He must become greater; I must become less" (John 3:30). "It was the design of John's ministry to bring men to believe on Jesus as coming, and to follow Him when He came; and he took great pains to prevent the people from regarding himself as the Messiah (see John 1:20; 3:28-30; Acts 19:4). Yet there were some who, failing to follow out their master's teachings, felt jealous of the growing influence of Jesus (see John 3:26), and continued to hold exclusively to John" [Broadus, 201]. In the question that John's disciples posed, there was a clear implication that Jesus' disciples were being less godly by not fasting. Pious Jews of the time fasted twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays) [Morris, 223]. However, no such fasts are instituted in the Law of God. In fact, only one regular fast is instituted in the law, and that is the command to deny oneself on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:29). Yes, fasting at certain times is proper: such as, times of despair when the will of God needs to be discerned. But according to God's law, regular institutional fasts were not a part of worship. God's law is perfect. What He instituted constitutes proper worship. When men add to God's law, the cause of God is invariably harmed. In this case, Jesus' godly disciples were unjustly criticized as being ungodly. As a result, the teachings of Jesus were tainted in the minds of the hearers. Jesus pointed out to John's disciples that there are proper and improper times to fast: "Jesus answered, 'How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast'" (vs. 15). "By this illustration our Lord teaches that fasting is not to be regarded or observed as an arbitrary institution, but as a thing having natural grounds, and to be practiced or not, according to the dictates of natural feeling as growing out of the circumstances in which we find ourselves. In some situations it is appropriate and may be made beneficial; in others, it is out of place" [Broadus, 202]. The times when Jesus was present with the disciples was a time of great joy, not a time of mourning. To be in the presence of the Lord! How could one consider fasting then? To hear His wonderful teachings! To witness His marvelous miracles! The problem with the Pharisees and John's disciples was that they didn't understand the religious ritual that they were observing. They were merely going through religious motions. If they truly understood fasting, and the purpose of fasting, they would have realized how improper it was to fast when the Messiah was in their presence. We must take care that we do not merely "go through the motions" in our religious observances. Do we pray because "we have to", or do we pray with the desire to communicate with God? Do we attend church on Sunday because "we have to", or do we attend church to worship our Risen Lord? Do we read the Bible because "we have to", or do we read it as the living Word of God, seeking to understand what He has to say to us? By the way, note that Jesus alludes to His leaving this earth, "when the bridegroom will be taken from them." This is the first time recorded in the Gospels that Jesus alludes to His leaving this earth. At this point, of course, the disciples had no conception of all that would happen: Jesus' crucifixion, His resurrection, His ascension into heaven. And, after these things, the disciples themselves would face much persecution. Oh yes, Jesus was right: "The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast." The followers of Jesus did have many occasions to fast after He was "taken from them" (see, for example, Acts 9:9; Acts 13:3; Acts 14:23; Acts 27:9). Jesus ended His answer to John's disciples with a couple of illustrations: "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved" (vss. 16-17). These illustrations seem to have a wider application than this question of fasting. Both illustrations contrast the old with the new, showing that mixing old systems with new systems ruin both the old and the new: new, unshrunk cloth sewn on an old garment will tear the old garment, thus making the patch ineffective; new, unfermented wine, if poured into an old, hardened wineskin, will burst the skin as it ferments, thus ruining both the new wine and the old wineskin. "These illustrations show that the new situation introduced by Jesus could not simply be patched onto old Judaism or poured into the old wineskins of Judaism. New forms would have to accompany the kingdom Jesus was now inaugurating; to try to domesticate Him and incorporate Him into the matrix of established Jewish religion would only succeed in ruining both Judaism and Jesus' teaching" [Carson, 227]. John's disciples came to Jesus questioning the way that Jesus' disciples were practicing religion, as Jesus' disciples were not observing the same rituals that they were. Jesus, with these illustrations, was preparing John's disciples for even greater changes concerning the practice of religion after the Messiah versus before the Messiah. The old rituals would not be part of the new religion, for Jesus, by His death and resurrection, would do away with the need for the old rituals. Christianity would not be a "patch-up" of Judaism. It would be a new garment. To disregard this would bring harm to true worship. "While the principle here illustrated was introduced with regard to fasting, it is obviously of wider application, extending to everything in which the two dispensations characteristically differ; and the great mass of the Christian world, from an early period, has sadly exhibited the evil results of disregarding this principle. They would, notwithstanding this and numerous other warnings, connect Levitical rites with Christianity. The simple preacher and pastor must be regarded as a priest, and spiritual blessings must depend on his mediation, as if it were not true that all Christians are priests, and all alike have access through the one Mediator. The simple memento of the Saviour's death must be a sacrifice, offered by the priest for men's sins. Numerous religious festivals and stated fasts must be established and enjoined, tending to make religion a thing only of specials seasons. The buildings in which Christians meet to worship must be consecrated as being holy ground, like the temple, and splendid rites, in imitation of the temple worship, must lead men's minds away from the simple and sublime spirituality of that worship which the gospel teaches. With good motives, no doubt, on the part of many, was this jumble of Judaism and Christianity introduced, and with good motives do many retain it; but none the less is it the very kind of thing the Saviour here condemned; and with results as ruinous as he declared" [Broadus, 203]. Oh, Father, help us to focus not on rituals as we worship, but on our relationship with You, made possible through Your Son Jesus Christ. May our worship be true to the principles of worship that Jesus, our example, set forth. Be glorified in our lives. Guide us by Your Spirit, through the study of Your Word, that Your will may be done in our lives. In the name of Your glorious Son, we pray these things, Amen. =========================================================== A Topical Study - Loving God vs. Loving the World, pt. 11 ========================================================= [Here we continue our series that has the goal of increasing our love for God and the things of God, while decreasing our love for the world and the things of the world. This resumes a multi-part study by Samuel Annesley, in which he examines, in detail, the greatest commandment.]-Ed. How May We Attain to Love God by Samuel Annesley (1620 -1696) ------------------------------- "Jesus said unto him, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment'" (Matt. 22:37-38, AV). WHAT ABILITIES ARE REQUISITE FOR THE WELL-PERFORMANCE OF THIS DUTY, AND HOW WE MAY OBTAIN THOSE ABILITIES ------------------------------------- III. What abilities are requisite to the performance of this duty, and how may we attain those abilities?-This we must be experimentally acquainted with, or all I can say will at best seem babbling. Therefore let me at first tell you plainly, nothing on this side regeneration can capacitate you to love God. It is God alone that giveth, worketh, infuseth, impresseth the gracious habit of divine love in the souls of His people. Our love to God is nothing else but the echo of God's love to us. Through the corruption of our nature, we hate God. God implanted in our nature an inclination to love God above all things amiable; but by the fall we have an headlong inclination to depart from God, and run away from Him; and there is in every one of us a natural impotency and inability of turning unto God. The grace of love is no flower of nature's garden, but a foreign plant. It is the immediate work of God to make us love Him. I do not mean immediate in opposition to the use of means, but immediate in regard of the necessary efficacy of His Spirit, beyond what all means in the world, without His powerful influence, can amount unto. It is the Lord alone that can "direct our hearts into the love of God" (II Thess. 3:5). God is pleased in a wonderful and unexpressible manner to draw up the heart in love to Him. God makes use of exhortations, and counsels, and reproofs; but though He works by them and with them, He works above them and beyond them: "The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." And again: "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him: for He is thy life, and the length of thy days" (Deut. 30:6,19,20). "He is thy life;" that is, effectively, and that by love, saith Aquinas. It is reported, that "it often happens among partridges, that one steals away another's eggs; but the young one that is hatched under the wing of a stranger, at her true mother's first call, who laid the egg whence she was hatched, she renders herself to her true mother, and puts herself into her covey" [Sales, "Of the Love of God, 63]. It is thus with our hearts: though we are born and bred up among terrene and base things under the wing of corrupted nature; yet at, and not before, God's first quickening call, we receive an inclination to love Him; and upon His drawing, "we run after him" (Canticles 1:4). God works a principle of love in us, and we love God by that habit of love He hath implanted. Hence the act of love is formally and properly attributed to man as the particular cause: "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength" and, "I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice" (Ps. 18:1; 116:1). The soul works together with God in his powerful working; the will, being acted of God, acteth. It is a known saying of Augustine, "The wheel doth not run that it may be round, but because it is round." The Spirit of God enables us to love God: but it is we that love God with a created love; it is we that acquiesce in God in a gracious manner. What God doeth in the soul doth not hurt the liberty of the will, but strengthens it, in sweetly and powerfully drawing it into conformity with the will of God, which is the highest liberty: "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (II Cor. 3:17). It is a poor liberty that consists in an indifferency. Do not the saints in heaven love God freely? Yet they cannot but love Him. As the only efficient cause of our loving God is God Himself, so the only procuring cause of our loving God is Jesus Christ, that Son of the Father's love who by His Spirit implants and actuates this grace of love, which He hath merited for us. Christ hath "made peace through the blood of his cross" (Col. 1:20). Christ hath as well merited this grace of love for us, as He hath merited the reward of glory for us. Plead therefore, dear Christians, the merit of Christ for the inflaming your hearts with the love of God, that when I shall direct to rules and means how you may come to love God, you may as well address yourselves to Christ for the grace of love, as for the pardon of your want of love hitherto. Bespeak Christ in some such, but far more, pressing language: "Lord, thou hast purchased the grace of love for those that want and crave it: my love to God is chill, do thou warm it! My love is divided, Lord, do thou unite it! I cannot love God as He deserves, O that thou wouldest help me to love Him more than I can desire! Lord, make me sick of love, and then cure me! Lord, make me in this as conformable to Thyself, as it is possible for an adopted son to be like the natural, that I may be a son of God's love, both actively and passively, and both, as near as it is possible, infinitely!" Let us, therefore, address ourselves to the use of all those means and helps whereby love to God is nourished, increased, excited, and exerted. I will begin with removing the impediments; we must clear away the rubbish, before we can so much as lay the foundation. IMPEDIMENTS OF OUR LOVE TO GOD ------------------------------ IMPED. I. Self-love.-This the apostle names as captain-general of the devil's army, whereby titular Christians manage their enmity against God. In the dregs of the "last days", this will make the times dangerous: "Men shall be lovers of their own selves" (I Tim. 3:1,2). When men over-esteem themselves in their own endowments of either body or mind, when they have a secret reserve for self in all they do (self-applause or self-profit), this is like an error in the first concoction. Get your hearts discharged of it, or you can never be spiritually healthful. The best of you are too prone to this; I world therefore commend it to you to be jealous of yourselves in this particular: for as conjugal jealousy is the bane of conjugal love, so self-jealousy will be the bane of self-love. Be auspicious of every thing that may steal away or divert your love from God. IMPED. II. Love of the world.-This is so great an obstruction, that the most loving and best-beloved disciple that Christ had, said, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in Him" (I John 2:15), and the apostle James makes use of a metaphor, calling them "adulterers and adulteresses" that keep not their conjugal love to God tight from leaking out toward the world. He chargeth them, as if they knew nothing in religion, if they knew not this, that "the friendship of the world is enmity with God" and it is an universal truth, without so much as one exception, that "whosoever will be a friend of the world," must needs upon that very account be God's "enemy" (James 4:4). The apostle Paul adds more weight to those that are even pressed to hell already: "They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things," etc. (I Tim. 4:9-11). When men will be somebody in the world, they will have estates, and they will have honours, and they will have pleasures! What variety of vexatious distractions do unavoidably hinder our love to God! When our hearts are hurried with hopes and fears about worldly things, and the world hath not wherewithal to satisfy us; how doth the heart fret under its disappointments! And how can it do otherwise? We would have happiness here. Sirs, I will offer you fair: name me but one man that ever found a complete happiness in the world, and I dare promise you shall be the second; but if you will flatter yourself with dreams of impossibilities, "this your way will be your folly," though, it is like, "your posterity will approve your sayings" (Psalm 49: 13), and try experiments while they live, as you have done. But where is your love to God all this while? It is excluded. By what law? By the law of sin and death; by the love of the world and destruction; for Christ tells us, all that "hate him love death" (Prov. 8:36). IMPED. III. Spiritual sloth, and carelessness of spirit.-This impediment is when men do not trouble themselves about religion, nor any thing that is serious. Love is a busy passion, a busy grace. Love among the passions is like fire among the elements. Love among the graces is like the heart among the members. Now that which is most contrary to the nature of love must needs most obstruct the highest actings of it. The truth is, a careless frame of spirit is fit for nothing; a sluggish, lazy, slothful, careless person never attains to any excellency in any kind. What is it you would intrust a lazy person about? Let me say this (and pray think on it twice, ere you censure it once): Spiritual sloth doeth Christians more mischief than scandalous relapses. I grant, their grosser falls may be worse as to others: the grieving of the godly, and the hardening of the wicked, and the reproach to religion, must needs be so great as may make a gracious heart tremble at the thought of falling. But yet, as to themselves, a slothful temper is far more prejudicial. For example: those gracious persons that fall into any open sin, it is but once or seldom in their whole life; and their repentance is ordinarily as notorious as their sin, and they walk more humbly and more watchfully ever after; whereas spiritual sloth runs through the whole course of our life, to the marring of every duty, to the strengthening of every sin, and to the weakening of every grace. Sloth (I may rather call it unspiritual sloth) is a soft moth in our spiritual wardrobe, a corroding rust in our spiritual armoury, an enfeebling consumption in the very vitals of religion. Sloth and carelessness without an epithet, bare sloth without any thing to aggravate it, ordinarily doeth the soul more hurt than all the devils in hell, yea, than all its other sins. Shake off this, and then you will be more than conquerors over all other difficulties. Shake off this, and there is but one sin that I can think of at present that you will be in danger of, and that is spiritual pride. You will thrive so fast in all grace, you will grow up into so much communion with God, that unless God sometimes withdraw to keep you humble, you will have a very heaven on earth. IMPED. IV. The love of any sin whatsoever.- The love of God, and the love of any sin, can no more mix together than iron and clay. Every sin strikes at the being of God. The very best of saints may possibly fall into the very worst of pardonable sins; but the least of saints get above the love of the least of sin. We are ready to question God's love unto us, as Delilah did Samson's love to her, if he do not gratify us in all we have a mind to; but how could Delilah pretend love to Samson, while she complied with his mortal enemy against him? How can you pretend to love God, while you hide sin, His enemy, in your hearts? As it was with the grandchild of Athaliah, stolen from among those that were slain, and hidden; though unable at present to disturb her, ere long he procures her ruin (II Kings 11:1,2,etc.), so any sin, as it were, stolen from the other sins to be preserved from mortification, will certainly procure the ruin of that soul that hides it. Can you hide your sin from the search of the word, and forbear your sin while under the smart of affliction, and seem to fall out with sin when under gripes of conscience, and return to sin as soon as the storm is over? Never pretend to love God: God sees through your pretences, and abhors your hypocrisy: "His eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hate themselves" (Job 34:21,22). Come, sirs, let me deal plainly with you: you are shameful strangers to your own heart, if you do not know which is your darling sin or sins; and you are traitors to your own souls, if you do not endeavour a thorough mortification; and you are willful rebels against God, if you do in the least indulge it. Never boggle at the Psalmist's counsel: "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil" (Psalm 97:10). IMPED. V. Inordinate love of things lawful.-And in some respect here is our greatest danger. Here persons have scripture to plead for their love to several persons and things; that it is a duty to bestow some love upon them, and the boundary-stones are not so plainly set as easily to discern the utmost bounds of what is lawful, and the first step into what is sinful. And here, having some plausible pretences for the parcelling out of their love, they plead "Not guilty," though they love not God with all their hearts, souls, and minds: whereas they should consider that the best of the world is not for enjoyment, but use; not our end, but means conducing to our chief end. Here is our sin, and our misery, our foolish transplacing of end and means. Men make it their end to eat, and drink, and get estates, and enjoy their delights; and what respect they have to God,-I know not whether to call [it] love or service-they show it but as means to flatter God to gratify them in their pitiful ends. Having warned you of some of the chief impediments, I shall [in the next study] propose some means to engage your hearts in love to God, which you may confidently expect to be effectual through the operation of the Holy Ghost, and you may likewise expect the operation of the Spirit in the use of such means. =========================================================== A Study of Wisdom - Ecclesiastes 9:1 ==================================== In God's Hands -------------- 1So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God's hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him. In the previous section of the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon found himself at the end of his quest, by human means, to understand the things of life. He discovered that, no matter how worldly wise he may be, a man could not understand fully what goes on in life: "When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man's labor on earth-his eyes not seeing sleep day or night-then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it" (Eccl. 8:16-17). Here, he continues that thought, concluding that whatever happens on earth is in God's hands: "So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God's hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him" (vs. 1). God is in control. We cannot change that. And this is fine with Solomon. What is puzzling to Solomon, however, is that, despite the fact that God is in control, the "righteous" and "wise" do not know "whether love or hate awaits [them]". One might think that, since a loving God is in control, then the "righteous" could always expect a life of ease and peace, a "good" life with no suffering. Yet, this is not the case. This mystery of providence is a stumbling block for many. Life, even for the most devout Christian, is not a bed of roses. God allows affliction. As Jesus pointed out: "In this world, you will have trouble" (John 16:33). Many would ask, "Why, Lord, is there trouble for us?" Part of the answer to this question is that God, in His sovereignty, has largely chosen to put the world under the stewardship of sinful man. And since sinful men are given by God the free will to run things down here, sin happens. Where sin is, there is affliction. And yet, the answer is more complicated than this. Despite the fact that men run things down here, God does direct circumstances according to His will, for we have statements from God's word, such as: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose" (Rom. 8:28). So, though there is pain and affliction in this sinful world, what we experience, what we must endure, is in "God's hands". Many ask, "Well, how can a loving God allow His children to experience pain?" One can respond, simply: "Do not you, as a parent, allow your children to experience pain? Do you not discipline them? Do you not allow the doctor vaccinate them so that they will not contract horrible diseases? Do you not, for their good, deny them things they would think pleasurable?" The fact that God allows us to undergo affliction is not a sign that He does not love us. On the contrary, the fact that we are disciplined by God is a sign that He loves us: "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees" (Heb. 12:7-12). Yes, the godly at times suffer; the ungodly at times prosper. "God's approval or disapproval of us cannot always be read from [what happens to us]; things are not always what they seem to be to us or what our friends construe them to be. After all, Job's three friends took the bare facts of his suffering and incorrectly concluded that he must have sinned grievously; otherwise he would not have been suffering as he was. Nor must we conclude that God hates those to whom He sends adversity and loves those who receive prosperity. If believers are to walk by faith, there will be times when outward appearances and facts will defy explanation for the moment. It is cruel to add to the hurt of oppressed persons by suggesting that they are definitely objects of God's judgment. Such narrow-minded reasoning would suggest that all suffering is the result of personal sin, but that would be unbiblical" [Kaiser, 94-95]. We learn in the Bible, that the suffering of God's children has its purpose. "Certainly some suffering is (1) educational (as Elihu informed Job by divine inspiration in Job 34:32;35:11;36:10,15,22); some is (2) doxological, for the glory of God (as Jesus showed His disciples the proper deduction to be drawn from the man born blind in John 9:1-3); some is (3) probationary (as when Habakkuk looked out from his watchtower on a world of tyranny, violence, and sin and found the answer in patient waiting for God's long-suffering retribution to take effect); some is (4) revelational (as the prophet Hosea learned the isolation felt by God as a result of Israel's spiritual adultery when he, Hosea, lost his own wife in physical harlotries); and some suffering is (5) sacrificial (as the suffering Servant bore great pain because of the sin of others, see Isa. 42;49-50;53). Therefore, it is most unfortunate when men hastily make a one-to-one nexus between personal guilt and suffering" [Kaiser, 95]. As for myself, I can truly say that all suffering I have experienced in life has been beneficial to me, in some way. I can see, looking back, God's hand at work, in all times of affliction that I have experienced. Think back. Can you not see God's hand at work in your life through your times of affliction?