Exposition of Jude, Exegesis of Jude · Verse 5 · Part 8
OBSERVATIONS.
1.Obſerv. 1. The moſt numerous company of ſinners are unable to withſtand an angry God. He can eaſily deſtroy ſix hundred thouſand perſons in a few years; and an hundred four ſcore and five thouſand Aſſyrians in one night. Though hand joyn in hand, yet ſhall not the wicked go unpuniſhed. 2 King. 19.35. Prov. 11.21.He, to whom it is all one to ſave by a few, and by many, can as eaſily deſtroy many as one. Numbers are nothing with God. The whole old world of ſinners are no more in the hands of God, than an handfull of worms. The greateſt combination of ſinners are but ſtubble to the flame, and but as ſnow-balls to the ſun. He can as eaſily caſt down multitudes of ſinning Angels, as they (nay he) can cruſh an Ant upon a mole-…ill. There's no proportion between created ſtrength and increated omnipotency. The powers of all the world are but borrowed of him, and as purely dependent upon him, as the ſtream upon the fountain, the beam upon the ſun. How can that power be too hard for him who gave it, and can withdraw it at pleaſure? Never let multitudes dare to oppoſe him, nor one poor weak Saint, fear to truſt him.
2.Obſerv. 2. The worſt cauſe commonly hath the moſt abettors. Had this been put to the queſtion, whether will God keep his promiſe in giving to Iſrael the land of Canaan? Caleb and Joſuah would have been over-voted by almoſt ſix hundred thouſand Iſraelites; who nevertheleſs would have as much fail'd in their cauſe, as they exceeded in their numbers. The multitude is but a weak argument to prove a ſtrong cauſe. The moſt have ever been the worſt. Righteous Noah ſtood in a manner by hmſelfe, againſt the whole world of ungodly. The Prophet Elijah was not the worſe for being oppoſed by four hundred Baalites, nor they the better for having only one Elijah to withſtand them. Let us walk by rule, not example. Numbers commonly do no more pleaſe God, than they can oppoſe him. Its better to go to heaven with an handfull, than to hell in a croud. and to enter in at the ſtrait gate with a few, than at the broad with many; to go into Canaan with Caleb and Joſuah, than to fall in the wilderneſſe with ſix hundred thouſand.
3. No priviledges abuſed, Obſerv. 3. Jer. 6.8. Iſa. 29.1. Jer. 7.12. Pſ. 78.60, 61. Jer. 22.24.can exempt from puniſhment. The ſoul of God may depart from Jeruſalem; and Ariel, the city where David dwelt, hath woe denounced againſt it. God may forſake his tabernacle in Shiloh, deliver his ſtrength into captivity, his glory into the enemies hand; and pluck the ſignet from his right hand. 1 Cor. 10.5.With many of the Iſraelites God was not well pleaſed, for they were overthrown in the wilderneſſe. To him that breaks the law, Rom. 2.25. Matth. 11.23.circumciſion is made uncircumciſion. Corazin, Bethſaida, Capernaum, get nothing by the mighty works of Chriſt, and their Elevation to heaven, but greater woes and falls. Job. 4.23.God delights not in outward priviledges, but in inward purity. The new creature, worſhip in ſpirit and truth, a Jew inwardly, Gal. 6.15an Iſraelite indeed, circumciſion and brokenneſſe of the heart, only pleaſe the eye of God; and without theſe, externall ſervice is but painted Atheiſm. As the pure in heart ſhall only ſee God, Matt. 5.8ſo God only ſees the pure in heart with contentment: God loaths ſin whereever he ſees it, but moſt of all when 'tis ſheltered with appearances, profeſſions and priviledges. A name to live, externall ordinances, circumciſion in the fleſh, the Temple of the Lord, commend us not to God. I will puniſh (ſaith God) the circumciſed with the uncircumciſed. Egypt and Judah, and Edom, Jer. 9. ult.the children of Ammon and Moab; for all theſe nations are uncircumciſed, and all the houſe of Iſrael are uncircumciſed in heart. The Bible in thy houſe, the word of grace in thy eare, will not avail, unleſſe the grace of the word be in thy heart; and the former without the later will but prove like Ʋriahs letters, which he carried for his own deſtruction: Paul accounted all his priviledges as dung in regard of the knowledg of Chriſt. The means of ſalvation in word and ſacraments muſt be uſed in faith and repentance. Otherwiſe they being out of their holy uſe enjoyed, will turne to our deſtruction.
4.Obſerv. 4. God labours to win people by mercies, before hee wounds them by judgments. Iſrael is firſt ſolicited by love; God deſtroyes them not till afterward; and if his goodneſſe had made them bluſh, his greatneſſe ſhould not have made them bleed. Oh how propenſe was that God to ſave his Iſrael! and how unwilling to deſtroy them! He gave them the honey of deliverance and proviſions freely, and of his own accord; he put not forth the ſting of puniſhment till he was provoked. Iſrael ſhall firſt have the cloud to guide them, the ſea divided, Egyptians drowned, Mannah ſhowred downe, the roks guſhing them drink, and they by all left inexcuſable before they be deſtroyed. Oh that the longſuffering of God might be ſalvation, and lead us to repentance, and that by ſubmiſſion to mercy, wee may prevent a conqueſt by judgment: and not put the Lord upon a work more unpleaſing to him than to our ſelves, whoſe backs do not ſuffer ſo much as his bowells, Hoſ. 11.8.when we are beaten.
5.Obſerv. 5. Miraculous mercies do not benefit an unholy heart. After all the ſalvations that God had beſtowed upon Iſrael, they were fit for nothing but deſtruction. Every ſtep they took in the red-ſea, they trode upon a miracle of mercifull preſervation: Every time they taſted a crumb of bread or a drop of water, they took in a miracle of mercifull proviſion: Every time they look'd up to the heavens, they beheld a miracle of mercifull direction; but none of theſe could work upon ſtubborn hearts: Only he who commanded that more ſoft rock to give them water, could make their hearts obedient. They who will not be taught by the word, will not be bettered by the rod of Moſes; and without the ſpirit, wee ſhall be benefitted by neither.
6. Great deliverances abuſed, make way for ſevereſt judgments. Many times did God deliver Iſrael; Pſal. 105.44but they provoking him with their connſel, were brought low for their iniquity: The whole book of Judges is the Comment upon this truth, a book made up of the viciſſitudes of deliverance, provocation, and puniſhment. Sins committed againſt the love of a God, are committed moſt againſt the happineſſe of a people. Every deliverance is a bil of Enditement againſt the unthankfull. This makes God to call to the heavens and earth as witneſſes againſt thoſe children which he had brought up, Iſa. 1.2.3. Joſh. ult 20. Judg. 10.13. Jer. 15.6. Ezra. 9.13, 14.and rebelled againſt him. Yea, to profeſſe, that the owner of an ox, and the Maſter of an aſſe were more reſpected by their beaſts, than he was by his Iſrael. This makes God to profeſſe, that he will conſume his people, after he hath done them good; and that hee will deliver them no more: and elſewhere, that he is weary of repenting. After all this is come upon us (ſaith Ezra) ſhould we again break thy Commnadments, wouldſt not thou be angry with us, till thou hadſt conſumed us? Oh that England would, in ſtead of murmuring at its preſent diſtreſſes, mourn for its abuſe of former deliverances: and more fear, without a ſpeedy reformation, that the mercies which ſtill we enjoy ſhall be removed, than hope that thoſe we want ſhall be beſtowed.
7. Sin diſappoints the hopefulleſt expectations of mercy. Obſervat. 7. Jer. 8.15. Jer. 14.19.It ſtifles it even when it ſeems to be come to the birth. We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble. Who could have expected but that Iſrael, after ſo many miraculous mercies, being now upon the confines of Canaan, ſhould inſtantly have entred? but behold, their ſin ſends them back into the wilderneſſe, there to linger and pine for forty years together. Sinners diſappoint Gods expectation, and juſtly therefore may God diſappoint theirs. Iſa. 5.2.After all the coſts beſtowed by God upon his vineyard, he looked that it ſhould bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wilde grapes. Iſrael gives God appearances of holineſſe, and God gives Iſrael an appearance of deliverance. They flatter God with ſhews of that obedience which he deſerved; and how juſtly doth God diſappoint them of thoſe mercies which they deſired? They fall ſhort of promiſed duty, and therefore of expected delivery. Oh that we could condemne our ſelves, and juſtifie God in the ſad diſappointments of Englands recovery. We made ſhew at the firſt of a through reformation; but we ſoon faltered and made an halt; and why ſhould God be bound, when we would needs be looſe? Our goodneſſe was as the early dew, and the morning cloud that goeth away; Hoſ. 6.4.and juſtly therefore was our deliverance as a morning ſunſhine, ſoon clouded and overcaſt with unexpected troubles.
8.Obſervat. 8. Even in judgment God remembers mercy. God was good to Iſrael, when he deſtroyed Iſrael. God in his ſmiles will be feared, and in his frowns will be loved; as its ſaid of Aſher, that his ſhoos were iron and braſſe; and yet that he dipt his foot in oyl; Deu. 33.24, 25ſo doth God ever mix the hardeſt and heavieſt ſeverities toward his Iſrael, with the oyl of mercy and gentleneſſe. He ſpared the children, when he overthrew the parents. He did as vvell remember his own Covenant, as their provocation. He cut off ſome luxuriant branches, but did not cut down the tree: he puniſhed ſome for their ſins, hee puniſhed not all, Pſal. 106.8. Ezek. 23.9.for his own glory. He wrought for his Names ſake. I ſaid, I would ſcatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to ceaſe from among men, were it not that I feared the wrath of the Enemy, Deut. 32.27. So good is God, that hee raiſeth arguments of pitty toward rebellious Iſrael, out of himſelfe, yea out of his enemies, vvhen Iſrael affords him none. Though juſtice made him caſt his Church into the fire to be ſcorched, yet mercy made him pluck it like a brand out of the fire, leſt it ſhould be conſumed, Zec. 3.2. And a ſeed he reſerves, a remnant, that his Church may not be as Sodom, Iſa. 1.8. In the vintage of a judgment, he leaves the gleanings of grapes upon the Vine of his Church. Hee never ſhakes his Olive tree ſo throughly, but he leaves at leaſt two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmoſt branches, Iſa. 17.6. Though I make a full end of all Nations whither I have driven thee, Jer. 30.11 Jer. 46.28yet will I not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in meaſure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpuniſhed. Let not Iſrael preſume upon mercy, if they will ſin; but yet let them not deſpair of mercy, though they ſuffer. God will not caſt off his people. Pſ. 94.14. Though the deſtruction of his Iſrael be never ſo great, yet it ſhall never be totall; and ſhould many fall, yet all ſhall not: the cauſe, the intereſt of Chriſt ſhall not; and though poſſibly in a wilderneſſe of common calamities, the carcaſſes of ſome of his owne, may fall among others, ſo as they may never live to enter the Canaan of a longed for peace and reformation in this life; yet by faith aſcending up to the Nebo of a promiſe, they may behold it afar off, and ſee it poſſeſſed by their poſterity; they themſelves mean while, repenting of their unbelief and unworthineſſe, and ſo entring that heavenly Canaan, where they ſhall enjoy the fulneſs of that, which here they could have enjoyed but in part.
The third branch of the example of the Iſraelites, is the cauſe of their deſtruction, viz, their infidelity, contained in theſe words, That beleeved not.