But by and by, when the Church shall have left the scene, God will deal with the world in righteousness; He will judge the nations for their treatment of His people Israel.
We do not attempt to quote passages, but merely call the reader's attention to the principle, in order to enable him to understand the just application of the prophetic psalms.
[4] It is at once instructive and admonitory to see that the garments, the mouldy bread, and the plausible words of the Gibeonites did what the walls of Jericho could not do. Satan's wiles are more to be dreaded than his power. "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." The more deeply we ponder the various parts of the whole armor of God, the more clearly we shall see that they are ranged under these two heads,—obedience and dependence. The soul that is really governed by the authority of the Word, and wholly dependent upon the power of the Spirit, is fully equipped for the conflict. It was thus the Man Christ Jesus vanquished the enemy. The devil could do nothing with a man who was perfectly obedient and perfectly dependent. May we study, in this, as in all beside, our great Exemplar.
[5] Speaking in a general way, the word τέκνον, child, is a term of endearment; υἱός, son, of moral dignity. παίς is either a child or a servant: νήπιος, a babe.
[6] John iii. 36 is a passage of immense weight and importance. It not only sets forth the great truth that all who believe in the Son of God are the privileged possessors of eternal life, but it also cuts up by the roots two leading heresies of the day, namely, universalism and annihilationism. The universalist professes to believe that, ultimately, all shall be restored and blessed. Not so, says our passage; for those who obey not the Son "shall not see life."
The annihilationist professes to believe that all who are out of Christ shall perish like the beasts. Not so, for "the wrath of God abideth" upon the disobedient. Abiding wrath and annihilation are wholly incompatible. It is utterly impossible to reconcile them.
It is interesting and instructive to notice the difference between the words ὁ πιστεύων—"he that believeth"—and ὁ ἁπειθῶν—"he that obeyeth not." They give us the two sides of the subject of faith.
[7] We have, in human writings, numerous examples of the same thing that infidels object to in Deuteronomy x. 6-9. Suppose a man is anxious to call the attention of the English nation to some great principle of political economy, or some matter of national importance; he does not hesitate to select facts however widely separated on the page of history, and group them together in order to illustrate his subject. Do infidels object to this? No; not when found in the writings of men. It is only when it occurs in Scripture, because they hate the Word of God, and cannot bear the idea that He should give to His creatures a book-revelation of His mind. Blessed be His name, He has given it notwithstanding, and we have it in all its infinite preciousness and divine authority, for the comfort of our hearts and the guidance of our path amid all the darkness and confusion of this scene through which we are passing home to glory.
[8] No doubt it was in faith that Joshua took—and could take nothing less than—the whole land; but as to actual possession, chapter xiii. 1 shows there was "yet much land to be possessed."
[9] The fact that the tribute-money may have been for the temple does not touch the principle set forth in the text.