No. 2. “That Eternal Life Which Was With The Father.”
We track His wondrous path from the glory to the Heirship, of all things. What discoveries are made of Him, beloved! Read of Him in Proverbs 8:22-3122The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. 23I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. 24When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. 25Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: 26While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. 27When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: 28When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: 29When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: 30Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; 31Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men. (Proverbs 8:22‑31); John 1:1-31In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1‑3); Ephesians 1:1010That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10); Colossians 1:13-2213Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 15Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 21And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: (Colossians 1:13‑22); Hebrews 1:1-31God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:1‑3): 1 John 1:22(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) (1 John 1:2); Revelation 3:1414And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; (Revelation 3:14). Meditate on Him as presented to you in those glorious Scriptures. Let them yield to you their several lights, in which to view the One in whom you trust, the One who gave up all for you, the One who has trod, and is treading, such a path-and then tell me, can you part with either Him or it? In the bosom of the Father He was —there lay the eternal life with the Father, God and yet with God. In counsel He was then set up ere the highest part of the dust of the earth was made. Then, He was the Creator of all things in their first order and beauty; afterward, in their state of mischief and ruin, the Reconciler of all things; and bye and bye, in their re-gathering, He will be the Heir of all things. By faith we see Him thus, and thus speak of Him. We say, He was in the everlasting counsels, in the Virgin’s womb, in the sorrows of the world, in the resurrection from the dead, in the honor and glory of a crown in heaven, and with all authority and praise in the Heirship and Lordship of all things.
And still further; in each stage of this journey we see Him awakening the equal and full delight of God; all and as much His joy at the end as at the beginning, though with this privilege and glory, that He has awakened it in a blissful and wondrous variety. This blessed thought Scripture also enables us to follow.
But when His Beloved was set up as the center of all the Divine operations, or the foundation of all God’s counsels, He was still God’s delight. In such a place and character, we see Him in Proverbs 8:2;2-3 12She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. (Proverbs 8:2). In that wondrous scripture, Wisdom or the Son is seen as the great Original and Framer and Sustainer of all the Divine works and purposes, set up in counsel before the world was-as several scriptures in the New Testament also present Him to us (see accordingly, John 1:33All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3); Ephesians 1:99Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: (Ephesians 1:9), to; Colossians 1:15-1715Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:15‑17)).
And in all this He can say of Himself, “Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him.”
So when the fullness of time was come, the Son of God lay in the Virgin’s womb. Who can speak the mystery? But so it is. But it is only another moment, and a fresh occasion, of joy —and angels came to utter it, and tell of it to the shepherds n the fields of Bethlehem.
Then again, in a new form the Son of His love was to run another course. Through sorrows and services as Son of man, He is seen on earth, but all and as unmixedly awakening ineffable delight, as in the hidden ages of eternity. “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” “behold My servant, whom I uphold, Mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth,” are voices of the Father telling of this unchanging joy, while tracking the path of Jesus across this polluted earth.
And that same voice, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” is heard a second time—heard on the holy hill, as on the banks of Jordan, in the day of transfiguration, as at the baptism. And the transfiguration was the pledge and type of the kingdom, as the baptism was entrance on His ministry and witness. But the same delight is thus stirred in the Father’s bosom, whether the eye of God track Him along the lonely path of Jesus the servant in a polluted world, or on the heights of the King of glory in the millennial world.
It is delight in Him, equal and full delight all along the way from everlasting to everlasting; no interruption, no pause, in the joy of God in Him, though various and changeful joy-the same in its fullness and depth, let the occasions proceed and unfold themselves as they may. The one who awakens the joy is the same throughout, and so the joy itself. It can know no different measures, though it may know different springs.
The Holy Bible: No. 9. —Remarks upon the books of the Old Testament.
Amos. This prophet was a Jew residing in Tekoa, a small town six miles south-east of Bethlehem, and followed the very humble occupation of a herdsman and gatherer of sycamore fruit (Chapter 7). From thence he was called to utter “the word of the Lord” in Israel, especially in Bethel, the southern seat of idolatry in the kingdom of the ten tribes (1 Kings 13). The charming simplicity of the prophet’s account of himself and of his peasant life, his striking images and metaphors drawn from nature and the animal creation, with which he was familiarly acquainted, are beautiful and very striking. The native eloquence of the shepherd of Tekoa characterizes the book throughout. Judgment upon the Gentiles in external relationship to Israel, as Damascus, Syria, Tyrus, and the Moabite nations bordering upon the land of Israel is the burden of the first eighteen verses of the book. Then the prophet denounces the wickedness and hypocrisy of Israel, even under the splendid reign of Jeroboam II., and predicts her captivity to Assyria and that of Judah to Babylon, announced in language and symbols both striking and original. The last five verses of the prophecy are beautiful, and we are not surprised at their frequent quotation by prophetic students in describing millennial blessedness. Amos was contemporary with Hosea (Chapter 1:1) and probably followed Jonah. The latter may have lived in the early part of Jeroboam’s reign, and Amos in the latter part.
OBADIAH. This is the shortest of the prophetical books, and unless we regard ‘Obadiah as an historian, writing after the capture and sack of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans 588 B.C., (actively assisted by the Edomites that exulted in Judah’s overthrow,) we must place him among the early prophets and discard the date of the accomplished chronologist Ussher, viz: 587 B.C. The burden of this book is the doom of Edom, a people proverbial for their pride, wisdom, power, and whose rage against the people of Jehovah’s choice found vent at the Chaldean destruction of Jerusalem. Alas! the Babylonians needed not the encouraging cry of the Edomite in wreaking their vengeance upon the poor Jew: “Rase it, rase it even to the foundation thereof” (Psalms 137:77Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. (Psalm 137:7)). The land of Edom is about an hundred miles in length, and is prophetically destined to be the scene of the most appalling judgment in the divine records (Isaiah 63:1-61Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. 2Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? 3I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. 4For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. 5And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me. 6And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth. (Isaiah 63:1‑6)). Here the character, doings, and thoroughness of the overwhelming desolation yet awaiting Edom by the hand of conquering Judah are calmly and sternly announced. The prophecy was probably uttered in Judea.
JONAH. It was probably because of the Gentile mission to which Jonah was separated and which he so disliked, that the ecclesiastical leaders of Judah conveniently forgot that a prophet had arisen out of Galilee (John 7:5252They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. (John 7:52)). Jonah was born in Gath-hepher in the northern part of Palestine, and was probably a contemporary of Elisha, or at least immediately succeeded him. This piece of information we glean from 2 Kings 14:25-2725He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-hepher. 26For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel. 27And the Lord said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash. (2 Kings 14:25‑27), where we are told that the enlargement of Israel’s sea coasts wrested from the Syrians was according to a previous prediction by Jonah. This consideration, as also the internal character and contents of the book itself, warrants us in assigning a very early date indeed to this prophecy of judgment upon proud and haughty Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian kingdom and the mistress of the earth. It is perhaps the earliest prophetical bock we have. The personal history of the prophet occupies the larger portion of the book, while the remainder affords a highly instructive narrative of the Lord’s governmental ways with nations as exemplified in the threatened judgment of Nineveh, its repentance, and the suspension of the stroke for a lengthened period. The book was probably written about 826 B.C. and either in Palestine or near Nineveh.
MICAH. This prophet was contemporary with Isaiah, Hosea, and Amos: see the first verse of each of the books of these prophets. Micah is termed “the Morasthite” from Moresheth-Gath, a small town in southern Judea, not far from Jerusalem. There is not in this book such a range of subjects or comprehensiveness of treatment as in Isaiah, yet Micah in some respects resembles his great contemporary. Both specially regard Israel’s political foe and external enemy in the future Jewish crisis, namely, “the Assyrian” or “king of the north;” and both predict millennial blessedness in the same eloquent terms (Isaiah 2:2-42And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Isaiah 2:2‑4); Mic. 4:1-31But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. 2And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 3And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Micah 4:1‑3)). Jeremiah was not afraid that his credit as a prophet would suffer by referring expressly to Micah (Jeremiah 26:1818Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. (Jeremiah 26:18)), as did Daniel in a latter day to Jeremiah (Daniel 9:22In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. (Daniel 9:2)), and Amos to Joel (Amos 1:22And he said, The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. (Amos 1:2)). There are few original characters in the world, and we above all others, should beware of the spirit of independency, for God has set us in:” one body” and constituted us members one of another and thus mutually dependent; let us not hesitate therefore to own frankly indebtedness to one another. In the prophecies contained in this book, Jerusalem the religious, and Samaria the proud, the respective capitals of Judea and Israel, have special judgment meted out to them; these predictions have been fulfilled to the very letter. Here Jehovah is seen coming out of His place, the temple; and so the storm of divine wrath sweeps through the land of Immanuel, then the land of Assyria, and finally spends itself upon the near and distant heathen. But glory will break for Israel and the nations in those coming days so grandly foretold by Isaiah, weepingly yearned for by Jeremiah, and energetically predicted by Ezekiel. Palestine (probably the southern kingdom) would be the scene where and 750 B.C., about the date when these prophecies were uttered.
NAHUM. The prophets Jonah and Nahum were Galileans, and both had Nineveh as the burden of their testimony. In the former, however, the character of the prophet forms an integral part of the book, while in the latter the character of God is unfolded in language unrivaled for its sublimity. The short, abrupt, bold and elegant sentences in describing Nineveh, her lengthened siege and the manner of her capture, make the book a very interesting one indeed. We need not the pen of the historian to trace for us the particulars connected with the destruction of that city which with its rival Babylon is doomed to perpetual desolation. A more graphic account of the pride, cruelty, and idolatry of Nineveh, of its size and of its resources, and finally of the mode of its capture, with the surprise of its king and nobles, cannot be produced, and positively makes the reader independent of the mere human historian. Here we have God’s account of things, surely preferable infinitely to man’s judgment and his generally faulty record of things and persons.
Nahum prophesied in Palestine, and nearly a century-and-a-half after Jonah his predecessor, in testimony to and of Nineveh.
HABAKKUK. We have nothing in scripture as to the personal history or parentage of this prophet, but plenty of tradition as to both, which is not of much value. It has been remarked that Jeremiah’s great prophecy has been divided into two parts which we might term the moral and prophetic, and further that Habakkuk takes up the moral side of the book of Jeremiah, as Zephaniah does the prophetic side. We have neither note of time, nor exact historical data as to when or where this prophecy was uttered and written. We should judge, however, from verses 5 and 6 of Chapter 1, which intimate the Chaldean invasion of Judea, that the vision of Habakkuk (Chap, 1 and 2.) and his sublime and fervent prayer (Chapter 3) considerably preceded the rise of the Chaldeans, and that the southern kingdom of Palestine, probably Jerusalem, was the scene of the “vision,” and “prayer.” If Nahum announces the judgment of the Assyrian who destroyed the kingdom of Israel, Habakkuk on the other hand predicts the utter ruin of the Chaldeans, who in turn destroyed the kingdom of Judah. The distinctly moral character of the book, and the prophet’s identification with the people in their sin, and then in their turning to Jehovah and hoping in His mercy, are truths of priceless value to every true servant of God whose desire is to serve Him and His afflicted saints and churchapter It will be observed that the word “Selah” meaning to pause or consider, occurs three times in the third Chapter, as also about seventy times in the book of Psalms. This Chapter also contains other points of resemblance to the Psalms. The character of the Chaldean power (Chapter 1) and the five woes pronounced upon it (Chapter 2) are foretold with an exactness, force of language, and striking imagery peculiar to our prophet. We heartily endorse the encomium of another who says “it were difficult to find words to set forth adequately the exalted claims and peculiar merits of this high minstrel of grief and joy, of desolateness and hope, of scorn and tenderness.”
ZEPHANIAH. The pedigree of this prophet is carefully given, for four generations, as also the period of his prophecy, —the reign of the godly Josiah, the last pious king of Judah (Chapter 1:1). The time and place of these predictions are thus easily ascertainable. It was in the land of Judea, and about 630 B.C., or a few years later when Zephaniah uttered his “Thus saith the Lord”—the usual formula of the prophets. The references to preceding prophecies as Isaiah, Amos, and Joel, are numerous in so short a prophecy. The harmony and entire agreement in the prophetic books of the Old Testament is well worth consideration, as evidencing that one Divine mind and purpose characterize all Scripture. The great themes of all the prophets are iniquity, judgment, and glory, and Zephaniah descants on these subjects, especially the latter. In the main, the burden of his prophecy is the “great day of the Lord,” the day of Jehovah’s anger-an expression common to all the prophets, and signifying the future period of judgment. It is therefore pre-eminently a book of judgment, but glory triumphs in the end. The judgments predicted by this prophet are not only general and universal in their range and extent, but are also minute and particular—none escape. Thy land and people, O Immanuel, will yet be the object of Thy joy, and the rest of Thy love.
HAGGAI. The three last books of the Old Testament have a peculiar character impressed upon them. They contain predictions of judgment, but are also exceedingly rich in their anticipations of that happy future awaiting Israel and the earth. They were uttered in presence of the remnant returned to Judea from the Babylonian captivity, and in view of their then moral condition. Man’s utter failure and inability to respond to God’s claims of grace or law, with Jehovah’s tender and yearning love over His guilty people, are truths graven in these books by the “Prophets of the Restoration.” Haggai and Zechariah greatly encouraged the people to resume the building of the Temple which had been interrupted for about 14 years (Ezra 5 by a decree from Artaxerxes, the Persian Monarch, forbidding the work (Ezra 4). The energetic and faithful remonstrances of our prophet and of his able coadjutor Zechariah, had the desired effect, and the people recommenced the work before Darius reversed the decree of his predecessor, and confirmed the commandment of Cyrus. What about the unchanging laws and unalterable decrees (Daniel 6:1515Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed. (Daniel 6:15)) of the Persian realm in presence of God and of His power? When God is working with His people, and they are in fellowship with Him, what is man? All! we have omnipotent strength and infinite love to count upon, the strength for our weakness and the love for our need. The living God is Himself the resource of His people.
The book contains four messages, termed in each case, “the word of the Lord” delivered in Jerusalem in the second year of Darius Hystaspes, 522 B.C. and within a period of about three months.
ZECHARIAH. This prophet commenced his prophetic service two months later than his contemporary and colleague Haggai (compare Zechariah 1:11In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, (Zechariah 1:1) with Haggai 1). The latter is simply termed “Haggai the prophet” whereas the father and grandfather of our prophet are expressly named. We gather from a comparison of the first verse with Nehemiah 12:44Iddo, Ginnetho, Abijah, (Nehemiah 12:4), and Ezra 5:11Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. (Ezra 5:1), that Zechariah was of priestly descent, as were Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Ezra, and perhaps Habakkuk. We would direct special attention to the minute accuracy of the dates in the books of Zechariah and Haggai. They conclusively mark God’s recognition of the sovereign power granted to the. Gentiles and under which His people were placed till the government of the world shall be once again exercised through the Jew, and from Jerusalem, the city of the Great King. The prophecies contained in this book are mainly respecting Judah as a people, and Jerusalem as a city in their judgment, as also in their blessed future, but in special relation to the Gentiles. The eight visions seen in one night (chaps. 1-6.), from the Persian power, under Cyrus (the rider among the myrtle trees, but figuring Christ, Chapter 1:8) till the temple and throne are set up in Jerusalem in millennial glory, present the great facts connected with Israel and her relation to the imperial powers. In the rest of the book numerous details of a deeply interesting kind bearing upon the millennial future, are given; moral truths, prophecies of and about the Messiah and physical facts (Chapter 14) abound.
MALACHI. Significantly, the name Malachi means “My Messenger.” (Chapter 3:1). What now remains for God to do in view of Israel’s moral condition, if His claims are treated with proud contempt, His service a weariness, and His worship a lifeless form? If Jehovah’s last pleadings of love fall upon the cold insensible ears and hearts of these returned remnants, save upon a few (a remnant out of the remnant Chapter 3:16-18) what can God now do to His degenerate vine but send “His messenger” before He comes personally in judgment? We have the coming of Jesus in grace referred to (Chapter 3 and His coming in judgment (Chapter 4:5.) The opening words of our prophet are quoted by Paul (Romans 9:1313As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. (Romans 9:13)) while the closing utterances are cited by Jesus (Matthew 17:11, 1211And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. 12But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. (Matthew 17:11‑12)). We close these remarks upon the Old Testament in the earnest hope that the reader will lay deeply to heart the solemn lessons and truths graven on these last books of the former revelation.