Expositions of Holy Scripture: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and First Book of Samuel, Second Samuel, First Kings, and Second Kings chapters I to VIIMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and First Book of Samuel, Second Samuel, First Kings, and Second Kings chapters I to VII
And let us carve, deep-cut and indelible, in solitary conspicuousness,
on the trophy that we rear on each well-fought field, the name of no
man save 'Jesus only.' We read that on a pyramid in Egypt the name and
sounding titles of the king in whose reign it was erected were blazoned
on the plaster facing, but beneath that transitory inscription the name
of the architect was hewn, imperishable, in the granite, and stood out
when the plaster dropped away. So, when all the short-lived records
which ascribe the events of the Church's progress to her great men have
perished, the one name of the true builder will shine out, and 'at the
name of Jesus every knee shall bow.' Let us not rely on our own skill,
courage, talents, orthodoxy, or methods, nor try to 'build tabernacles'
for the witnessing servants beside the central one for the supreme
Lord, but ever seek to deepen our conviction that Christ, and Christ
only, gives all their powers to all, and that to Him, and Him only, is
all victory to be ascribed. That is an elementary and simple truth; but
if we really lived in its power we should go into the battle with more
confidence, and come out of it with less self-gratulation.
We may note, too, in these verses, the threefold repetition of one
thought, that of God's punctual and perfect fulfilment of His word. He
'gave unto Israel all the land which He sware to give'; 'He gave them
rest, ... according to all that He sware'; 'there failed not aught of
any good thing which the Lord had spoken.' It is the joy of thankful
hearts to compare the promise with the reality, to lay the one upon the
other, as it were, and to declare how precisely their outlines
correspond. The finished building is exactly according to the plans
drawn long before. God gives us the power of checking His work, and we
are unworthy to receive His gifts if we do not take delight in marking
and proclaiming how completely He has fulfilled His contract. It is no
small part of Christian duty, and a still greater part of Christian
blessedness, to do this. Many a fulfilment passes unnoticed, and many a
joy, which might be sacred and sweet as a token of love from His own
hand, remains common and unhallowed, because we fail to see that it is
a fulfilled promise. The eye that is trained to watch for God's being
as good as His word will never have long to wait for proofs that He is
so. 'Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even he shall
understand the loving kindness of the Lord.' And to such a one faith
will become easier, being sustained by experience; and a present thus
manifestly studded with indications of God's faithfulness will merge
into a future still fuller of these. For it does not need that we
should wait for the end of the war to have many a token that His every
word is true. The struggling soldier can say, 'No good thing has failed
of all that the Lord has spoken.' We look, indeed, for completer
fulfilment when the fighting is done; but there are 'brooks by the way'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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