READINGS ON HEBREWS (4)
READINGS ON HEBREWS (4)
BTF Is the point in this chapter the present enjoyment of the rest of God?
JT I think it is that we should enter into it: “Let us therefore use diligence to enter into that rest, that no one may fall after the same example of not hearkening to the word”. It is more that we should go on to the end. We have in verse 6 of chapter 3, “Whose house are we, if indeed we hold fast the boldness and the boast of hope firm to the end”, Hebrews 3:6. And again, in verse 14, “For we are become companions of the Christ if indeed we hold the beginning of the assurance firm to the end”, Hebrews 3:14.
The reference is to that which was presented to the children of Israel at Kadesh in order that they might enter into the land. It would show that God’s objective for us is, that we should go on to His full purpose for us; not only as a matter of present enjoyment, but that we should go on to the end. We must see to it that we do not come short of it.
CB That would mean more than the forgiveness of sins.
JT It says: “We have had glad tidings presented to us, even as they also”.
AFM Those glad tidings would include the thought of rest.
JT They refer here to the report the spies brought back from the land.
AFM I wondered if the glad tidings included the thought of their deliverance from Egypt — their being brought out and in — but it may refer to what you say: to the word the spies brought back of the land itself.
JT It is that, [p. 50] I think.
ANW They were all supposed to be in the good of forgiveness of sins; and the overthrow of Pharaoh was accomplished.
CB There are so many who stop short and do not go on to God’s thoughts.
JT The glad tidings we have here refer to the purpose of God for us after we have known deliverance from the world. It was at the end of the eleven days’ journey from Horeb to Kadesh that the glad tidings of the land were presented to them, not only by Caleb and Joshua, but by all the spies. None of them denied the fruitfulness of the land; so the question was, whether the people would hearken to the word.
FL That is very clear. Not only did they have the word of the spies as to the fruitfulness of the land and the promise of God to bear it out; but there was also fruitfulness itself seen in the bunch of grapes that was brought back by the spies, speaking of the exceeding riches of the land. So that lack of faith was the only thing that prevented their entering in. It was not a question of their coming out but of their going in.
JT Yes. They were shown the fruit of the land. The name given to the valley of Eshcol inferred that the grapes which grew there gave character to it. It was a valley of grapes: “that place was called the valley of the bunch of grapes, because of the grapes which the children of Israel had cut down there”, Numbers 13:24. See Numbers 13:24, and footnote in New Translation.
Beside grapes, they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. There was variety of fruit in the land, and the testimony of this was brought back to them: so the point was whether they would hearken.
FL Whether they would go in. What was presented to them in Egypt was, whether they would come out. As far as the purpose of God was concerned He brought them out and in; but faith was operative [p. 51] in those who embraced the purpose of God, and no farther. So it held good that they were brought out and in; but those who fell in the wilderness, fell because they lacked faith, and that is the point before us.
JMcD How does this apply to us now?
JT The point is, that the Holy Spirit says, “Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts”. It reads: “As says the Holy Spirit”. It is not that He said, but He says. Although some one who wrote the Psalm long before said it, it has a present voice to us, so we should not turn away and harden our hearts, but embrace all that God presents to us in the way of glad tidings. Not only that which we have already, but what there is in the way of purpose for us — what God has for us in His love — that which “eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man’s heart, which God has prepared for them that love him, but God hath revealed to us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God”, 1 Corinthians 2:9,10. The question is, Am I mixing that with faith?
AFM So the rest of God (reached by faith) would have reference to the consummation of God’s purpose in regard to us, the land being its sphere.
JT Yes. It is cessation from labour.
ARS Joshua’s and Caleb’s report was one that would establish confidence in the hearts of the people to go into the land.
JT All the spies joined in the testimony as to the fruitfulness of the land, which put the people under responsibility. Then, “Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up boldly, and possess it; for we are well able to do it”, Numbers 13:30. But the ten join in with the voice of the people and call attention to the size of the inhabitants, and the whole assembly lifted up their voices and cried and [p. 52] wept. Then Joshua and Caleb come forward. It was a crisis, and the Holy Spirit raised up a standard against the tide of evil that was coming in. Joshua and Caleb rent their garments and said unitedly: “The land, which we passed through to search it out, is a very, very good land. If Jehovah delight in us, he will bring us into this land, and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey”, Numbers 14:7,8. That was a beautiful word for them. There was, on the one hand, what they all agreed to, namely, the fruitfulness of the land; but there was added this testimony: “If Jehovah delight in us, he will bring us into this land, and give it to us”, Numbers 14:8. Joshua and Caleb presented this to the people but it was refused. It was not simply Moses speaking authoritatively; it is the testimony of those who had been there and had taken account of things by faith; hence, the people were now placed under serious responsibility as to whether they would accept it. We know they did not. Numbers 14 shows us what is referred to here, and that God was wrath with the people; but in chapter 15 He says, “When ye come into the land of your dwellings, which I give unto you”, Numbers 15:2. Then He says, “When ye come into the land whither I bring you”, Numbers 15:18. Meaning that, on the one hand, they would come into it by faith; but, on the other hand, they would be brought into it by power. On the line of purpose we are brought into it; but, on the line of faith and exercise we come into it. The bringing in agrees with the testimony of Joshua and Caleb. God has undertaken to bring us in and He will do it.
FL The light they had when they first came out, as expressed in Exodus 15, is spoken of as a thing accomplished. It does not permit of the idea of failure; but, when it comes to experimentally passing through the thing, it is said in 1 Corinthians 10, “yet God was not pleased with the most of them for they were strewed in the desert”, 1 Corinthians 10:5.
[p. 53] Would you not emphasise the importance of listening to the voice of the Spirit? One is impressed that in the confused state of things existing in Christendom the only possible hope of recovery is to take heed to the present voice of the Holy Spirit: “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”, Revelation 2. It is what the Spirit says.
JT In the addresses to the assemblies, there is what the Lord says, which is given to us. The actual things are recorded. His authority is asserted in the assemblies; but what the Spirit says is not recorded because, I apprehend, it would depend upon conditions. The injunction there is not to hear what the Lord says — of this we are told, but “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”, Revelation 2:11. The Spirit has taken up a very lowly place here: The Lord said, “Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come”, Matthew 12:32. Implying, amongst other things, I think, that the Holy Spirit having taken up this very lowly place, would be exposed to insult in taking up, as He does, persons of humble origin, and altogether different from what man might expect. The Holy Spirit is therefore exposed to peculiar reproach and insult, hence the exhortation is especially important. We are to hear what He has to say. What the Lord says in Revelation 2 and 3 is official, and we are told what He says; but with the Spirit it is not exactly official, and you can never say just how He may cause His voice to be heard. One has often been encouraged by the word in Zechariah: “So the poor of the flock that gave heed to me knew that it was the word of Jehovah”, Zechariah 11:11. The voice of the Spirit will be discerned by those who are in that position, characteristically — “the poor of the flock”.
FL We have the poor of the flock in Zechariah, and also the “sons of oil”. The gold is ministered through these sons of oil. It is not that the Holy Spirit will give new revelations — the revelation is complete — but as to what He will do, or whom He will take up, as suited to the moment, that is His prerogative, and sovereignty. We cannot be led aright unless we attend to what the Spirit says.
JT The Psalms give us the experience of those who respond to the revelation of the Pentateuch. The five books of the Psalms correspond in that way to the five books of Moses which are authoritative; the Psalms are experimental. It is not a question in them of the person who speaks (that is necessary where the communication is official), but of the experience he has. So it is the voice of the Spirit you get here in Psalm 95, and it is a question of the experience of the one who speaks.
AFM It was a serious thing for the people to refuse to hearken to the voice of Joshua and Caleb. It says they did not hearken to the word.
JT Joshua and Caleb came in on the same line as Psalm 95 — that of experience. They had been into the land. The Holy Spirit is never at a loss for a vessel. If there is experience with God, He uses such an one through whom to speak.
FL Referring again to Zechariah, the “sons of oil” are suggestive of the Holy Spirit working through men.
JT The use of the word ‘sons’ there is suggestive. “Sons of oil” would suggest that the vessels are intelligent and sympathetic in the thing. They are not simply pipes.
FL About this rest, will you give it a present application?
JT It refers to what God has reached in Christ. He has reached finality — the end of His labour in Christ. It is in that way we arrive at it in our souls.
[p. 55] It is the apprehension of Christ before God as the One who accomplished all His will.
FL The sabbath, as we are brought to know and appreciate it, is really Christ, is it not? I was thinking in that connection of the end of Matthew 11. The Lord turns to the Father in the deep and precious understanding which existed between them, and then turns to the disciples and says: “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest”, Matthew 11:28. Then at the beginning of chapter 12, He takes the place of “Lord of the Sabbath”, Matthew 12:8. We now reach the sabbath in Christ.
JT God rested in Christ. It could safely be said that God’s sabbath was Christ. In the unfolding of the pattern of the tabernacle on the mount, we have at the end, the injunction that they should keep the sabbath, for it was the day in which God rested and was refreshed, referring to what had been disclosed. There were unfolded on the mount the varied glories of Christ, as the One who would carry out the will of God here, the end of which would yield refreshment for God.
BTF Where would you place the people who turned back today?
JT I think their position is that of Christendom; it has turned back. In chapter 2 of our epistle you get a slipping away from what is presented in the “great salvation”(Hebrews 2:3); but here the danger was, of not going in — they do not go on.
BTF Many souls enjoy the gospel, but go no further than that.
JT That is so. This chapter is for such: indeed, for all of us in that way. “We which have believed (that is, Christians characteristically) do enter into rest”. It is not that we should; but we do. “We which have believed do enter into rest”.
JMcD “We which have believed”, does not include every believer, does it?
JT It is characteristic. “We enter into the rest who have believed”, that is, we are enterers. Believers are characteristically such.
FL One might point out that the name Jesus in verse 8, should read, Joshua. It had reference to what Joshua did in going across the Jordan.
JMcD There was great danger of some of these believers not entering into the rest.
JT He is dealing here with the great Christian profession. Everyone who professes to be a Christian is included in this address. All believers do not enter in; but, then, the question arises, What is a believer? Believers enter in — that is a thing to lay hold of. There are many who are nominally believers, when the Lord was here many believed on Him because of His miracles, but He did not commit Himself to them; see John 2. They were not believers in the sense in which the word is used here. Joshua and Caleb represent the idea perfectly. A believer, characteristically, is one who believes the testimony in whatever way it may be presented. He does not restrict himself to any set of doctrines, he is ready to believe all that God says. Like the man at Capernaum recorded in John 4, who believed — he was a characteristic believer. If Paul, although not one of the twelve, had gone to Capernaum, he would have believed his testimony. He would not confine himself to the twelve, but would accept whatever feature of the testimony was being presented.
DMR A believer would be one who would give attention to the Spirit.
JT He is open to receive the word.
JEH The New Translation renders it: “Who had not hearkened to the word”, Hebrews 3:18 That is the whole point. What is God saying? The characteristic believer will hearken to what God says, “This beginning of signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed on him”, John 2:[p. 57] 11.
FL The principle on which we are brought to God — that of faith — is the principle which applies in equal power to every day. So the word is, “Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts”. Not that you believed something a number of years ago, or even yesterday, but the word specifically is, “Today”. What day? This day. A believer is not one who is reputed to have believed something at some time, abandoned it and gone adrift; he is a believer today, and goes on to the end.
JT The thing is not to be an unbeliever in not hearkening to the word. That was what brought about the destruction of the Israelites in the wilderness. Hearkening to the word would be going in for what is presented.
ANW As long as we are receptive there is hope, no matter if we have not gone very far. There may yet be Sihon and Og to overcome, but such an one would not be classed as an unbeliever as long as his heart is hearkening.
JT An unbeliever is one who continues to refuse the word; he may refuse it because of some secondary consideration. God is looking at his heart, sees it is being hardened and is warning him with a view to recovery. That is the point here.
BTF Could you properly introduce the two and a half tribes here?
JT It does not refer to that period of the people’s history, but to Kadesh-barnea, to their being brought up to where the spies brought back the testimony of the land. The two and a half tribes fell short in a measure; but they did not fall in the wilderness. They were regarded as God’s people and under His protection, and three of the cities of refuge were appointed in their territory; but this is a definite hardening of the heart.
FL If one tries to get the present application of it, do you not think that it begins by our becoming [p. 58] selective in our belief? Take Christendom, they will select, in the midst of the confusion, that this should be observed and the other be dropped out; that leads to a hardening of the conscience and they do not enter in, for they do not hearken to the word. The word must be authoritative with us, and must do its work, for it is “living and operative, and sharper than any two edged sword”.
JT Take the Romish system, which maintains that the church speaks; there are councils, etc., convened to determine what shall, or shall not be effected. Then with the Reformation there were set doctrines or principles laid down, that were selective. Whereas the truth of Christianity is that the Holy Spirit speaks and continues speaking, and those who believe listen to what He says. They turn away from Romish pretensions, and also from selective creeds, and are open in mind, like the believing man of Capernaum in John 4.
FL The shipwreck of Protestantism really came about by selecting doctrines, applying reasonings, and not listening to the present voice of the Spirit. It has a name to live but is dead because of this.
AFM In contrast to that we have “the confession” here. That would embrace all that is in the mind of the Lord and of the Spirit to present.
JT Not the Westminster Confession — that is not comprehensive enough! “The Apostle and High Priest of our confession”, Hebrews 3:1. “Our confession” involves the whole revelation of God, nothing less than that, and those who believe are prepared for all of it. One does not assume that one has it all; we have scarcely touched it; but the thing is to be prepared for the wonderful things contained in it.
ANW The first day I committed my soul to Christ, in principle, I reached God’s rest.
JT God has reached His rest in Christ, and in principle the believer [p. 59] has.
ANW If that is maintained in the soul, your ear is ready for further glad tidings — you hearken to the word.
FL The way in which verse 12 comes in is significant, is it not? That is in its supremacy and vitality. It merges from “the word” to the Person — a divine Person.
JT I was thinking of the two things that predominate: the word of God and the priesthood of Christ. We have been referring to what happened historically — there was the church of Rome, then the different Protestant bodies. Christians were in bondage in one way or another, and no progress was made toward the final end. Well, the word of God came in. It was sharper than any two-edged sword. It penetrated to the very core of Christendom. Now the question is, How are we to stand in regard to it? It exposes everything as it is. We are made to stand by the priesthood of Christ; and so Christians do not need the support of the State. His priesthood is all you need — He stands by you. “Having therefore a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of [p. 62] God, let us hold fast the confession”. It is in the knowledge of the Priest you can do that.
BTF Why does it bring in “who has passed through the heavens”?
JT To emphasise His personal greatness.
BTF He is there administering and exercising His priestly office in regard to us in the wilderness.
JT Quite. One has noticed that at the end of the book of Judges, chapter 18, you have Jehonathan, the grandson of Moses, ministering in an idolatrous system in the tribe of Dan — that is one position. Then in chapter 20 you have Phinehas in the house of God, that is another position. It says, “And the children of Israel inquired of Jehovah (and the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood
before it in those days)”, Judges 20:27,28. Now these are the two positions: the public profession had degenerated into idolatry, and the grandson of Moses was supporting it. Whereas, in Phinehas you have the man who was standing for God before the ark. This Phinehas was pointed out in Exodus 6, and by his personal devotedness he secured the priesthood for ever. Before you have the deliverance of the people out of Egypt this remarkable man, is brought to light, and later, in a crisis through his personal devotedness to God, he secured the everlasting priesthood. Many years later, when things had degenerated, and the grandson of Moses was ministering in Dan, this man was standing before the ark of God in the house of God. Phinehas typifies what you have here. It is such a Priest as that, Jesus, the Son of God, who has passed through the heavens; so you hold fast the confession, for He will support you in it.
AFM Our great High Priest has been tried in like manner — “tempted in all things in like manner”. We are empowered by Him to stand because “he is able to succour them that are tempted”, Hebrews 2:18.
FL What is called “the faith” in Timothy and Jude is the same as “the confession” here. We get it in chapter 3, “The Apostle and High Priest of our confession”,(Hebrews 3:1); and in our chapter, “Let us hold fast the confession”. There is the idea of Christ, personally, as the great Apostle and Priest, and you confess Him; confessing Him, you confess the whole system which is inherent in Him and which He brings to pass.
JT The “Apostle” is dropped after being introduced in chapter 3. What we need is the Priest to enable us to stand. That is what is so beautiful about Phinehas — he stood before the ark of God in those dreadful days.
FL In the days of Malachi that was not forgotten.
[p. 61] In the closing of the Old Testament that is what shines out; Malachi 2:4 - 7.
DMR That would have a bearing on us today, would it not?
JT I think the two things have come into prominence. The word of God has been brought to bear on all this darkness. It is bad enough to be in darkness; but when it holds your conscience how terrible! “Who has delivered us from the authority of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love”, Colossians 1:13. There are those who are held by the authority of it. When false teaching is accepted it has a hold on one; but He delivers from the authority of darkness. The word of God having been brought to bear on all these things has exposed them, and the people of God have been delivered from them; but how am I to stand? The next thing is the priesthood of Christ.
AFM The word of God coming being presented after the Sardis phase of things had failed, would take specific form in men, would you not think? It was not simply an open Bible.
JT I think it would be in those who ministered it. “Remember your leaders who have spoken to you the word of God”,(Hebrews 13:7) — the Hebrew leaders. We have leaders too — those who have spoken to us the word of God, and it has exposed everything for us, so we have escaped the authority of darkness. But the question now is, how are we to stand in the maintenance of the light that has come to us? The priesthood of Christ enables us to do it.
FL The fact that the word is living and operative is proved in that it produces life and vitality.
JT The living character of it is in the Person from whom it comes.
ANW “Jesus, the Son of God”.
JT “Having therefore a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast the confession. For we have not a High Priest not able to sympathise with our infirmities, but tempted in all things in like manner, sin apart. Let us approach therefore with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and find grace for seasonable help”. That is, instead of the support of the state, or whatever it may be that people rest in, you “find grace for seasonable help”.
AFM That is by prayer.
JT Yes. You come to the throne of grace for seasonable help.
DMR As to the support you get from the Lord, what did you imply was set forth in Phinehas?
JT He secured the priesthood because he took the javelin at a critical time (Numbers 25:7, 8), he thought for God — he was faithful. I suppose that it should come home to each of us as to whether we have learned to use the javelin, or the sword.
When the golden calf was made Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? let him come unto me”, Exodus 32:26. And all the sons of Levi came to Moses, and each man took his sword and slew his brother. In that way he was sanctified. Levi knew not his father or his mother — he disowned natural claims for the Lord’s sake. I think Levi represents that in the fullest possible way. So in a day of decline you see Phinehas standing before the ark in the house of God which, it seems to me, corresponds in a striking way with the present moment. The truth of the house of God has come to light, which involves that the Holy Spirit speaks, and the priesthood supports us in it.
FL Did I understand someone to say that the throne of grace was a question of prayer? I thought it was wider than prayer.
JT Here we are encouraged to come to it.
JEH Why is it, “Jesus, the Son of God” here, not Christ.
JT The Man is more in evidence when you come to priesthood — His personal sympathies and affections.
FL How the thought of the Priest magnifies and expands in one’s mind! It is Jesus; but it is the Son of God, and as the Son of God it embraces every expression of His fulness and glory, and the Priest is such an One. The One who made the universe and will fill the world by and by; He is the Priest. You go out and experience His sympathy and support.
J.S. Why “boldness”?
JT We are naturally timid. The Hebrew Christians would be particularly exposed to legal fear, and the epistle is to remove that and give a sense that they had a link with this great One who had “passed through the heavens”.
FL It removes all sense of disparity also: “for both he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren”, Hebrews 2:11. So, if you are delivered from legality and all carnality, and have no sense of disparity, you come with a holy boldness.
JT The position here is what we should take up in our meetings for prayer, as well as individually. The confession has to be held through the support which comes to us through prayer. The confession is the full truth, the whole range of it: you hold it fast and do not let it go. The enemy seeks to deprive us of certain features of the truth, but you hold all of it fast, in the light of this wonderful throne and the wonderful Person who is there.
AFM All the power of the enemy was arrayed against the Lord when here; but He used the throne, so to say — He was marked by prayer. Now He has gone on high and we can approach the throne with boldness in view of His support. He will enable us to stand so that we “hold fast the confession”.
BTF Would you say a word more about the prayer meeting?
JT Here we have the word of God and the Priest; but, in order to get the good of the Priest, you have to bring in prayer. So you go boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace. The throne is universal, and the administration is universal, but I have to get the things, and so I pray. “Ask and ye shall receive”, John 16:24.
BTF It is individual also.
JT Surely. It is the light in which we are together, too.
BTF You were speaking of the throne, and in that connection we have: “perfect love casts out fear”, 1 John 4:18. Then you get in Paul an instance of individual prayer when he besought the Lord thrice, and received the answer. “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness”, 2 Corinthians 12:8, 9.
JT You get also in Paul the Lord standing by him. “The Lord stood by him”, Acts 23:11. That is the thing.
FL That gives the thought I had, that the throne of grace was a wider thought than prayer. Paul got into the position he was in, to a certain extent because he did not heed the voice of the Spirit, but such is the meaning of the throne of grace that, when he was suffering the consequences of that, the Lord comes and stands by him, and everything is adjusted and set right in Paul’s spirit — he can go through everything now.
JT The throne is available through prayer. Whatever discrepancy there was in Paul, he was set for the testimony. “As thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome”, Acts 23:11.
Ques Why is the word ‘throne’ used?
JT The Jews were well acquainted with the thought of a throne. They knew what the throne of [p. 65] David meant, and what the mercy seat in the holiest meant; this is an allusion to that. The Christian economy centres in a throne of grace and it is unlimited — it is absolute. Think of grace being absolute, it is without any restrictions.
ANW Who is for you when you approach the throne?
JT God; but I approach in the light of the Priest being there. We must dismiss natural thoughts. I think the throne strengthens the heart inasmuch as it is absolute, but I draw near in the sense that there is that which is in my favour, grace. Even though I may have failed, it does not alter the throne. So you draw near in the light of that and obtain help.
JS “That we may receive mercy”.
FL Would you say a word as to mercy and grace?
JT One has often felt that mercy comes as a surprise sometimes — you do not expect that which happens. Mercy is shown in connection with our circumstances, and one is agreeably surprised by the way God comes in as we traverse the path of faith. You may ask for certain things; but mercy is what God devises.
JMcD God showed Israel great grace; but He is going to bring them in by and by on the ground of mercy.
JT One has seen it exemplified in the history of God’s people. David was raised up in mercy; but I would refer particularly to Saul of Tarsus. In his case it was quite unexpected; it was what God had devised.
FL “I obtained mercy”, (1 Timothy 1:13) Paul said afterwards.
JT He had no claim on it. Certainly the saints at Jerusalem would never think of, nor expect, a man like Saul to come in as he did amongst them. Mercy is that which springs from God’s own mind and heart.
P Is it generally [p. 66] individual?
JT It is equally collective. God acts in His own sovereign way; and things happen which one would never imagine. There are certain things you know you need, and feel you must have; but God says, I will give you something you never thought of.
DMR Paul and Silas experienced mercy in the prison at Philippi.
JT They did not expect that; but think of what happened! At midnight an earthquake — the prison doors opened; the jailor himself secured for God, and his whole house! That is what God can do. Those who know God, although they do not know what He will do, expect He will do just such things as that.
AFM Paul, in another connection, did not lose the thorn, but got the grace.
JT It was grace there. Mercy might have removed the thorn; but grace supported him with it. Mercy comes out particularly after failure: the responsible element having broken down. It is brought in in Exodus 33, and pre-eminently in David, who stands out as a striking example of the mercy of God.
These things which occur help us immensely. God always has something in reserve and, I think, mercy covers that. There are things which you do not expect. Jesus “himself knew what he would do” (John 6:6); they did not know, and you go to God in the knowledge that He knows well what He will do. This applies individually, or in view of the collective position. Such things become a great help. See how this was exemplified in Saul, afterwards Paul! The saints had not expected his conversion evidently, but the Lord brought him in.
JS They might have asked for his removal.
JT See what an asset he was afterwards!
FL “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ [by grace ye are saved]” Ephesians 2:4,5.