Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. The Lord's dealings with Israel
are set forth for us to illustrate the determination of the Lord
to bring His purpose to pass in causing His name to be exalted
in the earth and the heavens by the demonstration of His love
for the people of His choice. By nature, religious men will
seek to make these accounts to be a morality show. They will
tell us how Israel's disobedience brought on their trials and how
they could have avoided these things by being obedient. Yet
the glory in all of these chastenings is that they are brought to pass
to demonstrate the faithfulness of God to that people which He
has loved with an everlasting love, of which Israel is a type
and foreshadow. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee. Therefore
will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. None of
the obedience of Israel nor any of their disobedience was outside
of the realm of the purpose of God, which He is pleased to demonstrate
for our sakes, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and
searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come
unto you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of
Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand
the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto
us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you
by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy
Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire
to look into. All of those things which the
Lord was pleased to bring upon Israel were primarily for our
benefit. For whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience
and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Babylon was
one of the most ungodly and cruel kingdoms which have existed in
the earth. And it was them and their despotic king, Nebuchadnezzar,
whom the Lord raised up and empowered for the purpose of demonstrating
His hatred of Israel's ways and their disrespect of Him who is
a jealous God, who had plainly told them, Thou shalt have no
other gods before Me. He raised up the nation of Israel
that they might set forth, by way of illustration, the greater
purpose of demonstrating His intention to bless that remnant
of His choice, as He promised to deliver them from all of their
oppressors. Not simply just to deliver them,
but to ultimately destroy all of their enemies, so that they
might dwell in peace and safety forever. Indeed, all things work
together for good to them who are the called, according to
His purpose. Many of the calamities which befell Israel are prophesied
in the book of Ezekiel, yet just as clearly are prophesied the
Lord's judgment and total destruction of those nations which dared
to strike the Lord's anointed. It is well within the Lord's
prerogative to design a people to wreak havoc upon His people
and then to destroy them for daring to do so. We can see a
picture of this in David's death sentence upon the man who claimed
to have slain Saul. The Lord's purpose to bless that
people of his choice shall surely be brought to pass, even though
it be in a manner which is beyond the thought of men or the scope
of their understanding. He plainly declares that he scatters
his people in order that he might demonstrate the glory of his
grace in gathering them again at his appointed time. just as
He has subjected them unto vanity, as it hath pleased Him, that
He might bring glory to His name in their redemption by the blood
of His only begotten Son. He will cause the earth to know
that He puts a difference between those whom He has loved and those
He has not, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen.
The work of Christ in the behalf of his people is not done simply
that they might be made aware of it, but that his deliverance
of them might stand as a testimony to the whole creation, and to
make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which
from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created
all things by Jesus Christ. to the intent that now unto the
principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known
by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal
purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. The Lord
has not designed these events because he takes some delight
in the creation and destruction of men and nations, or is blindly
intent upon chaos, but rather that he might bring glory to
his name in the deliverance of that peculiar people which he
has hid in Christ from the beginning, and they shall know that I am
the Lord their God. What a glorious privilege is
given to the sons of God to hear and believe the gospel of the
glory of the blessed God. They do behold his judgment upon
the heathen and rejoice in his mercy revealed in Christ as that
one who has borne their griefs and carried their sorrows. Do
you rejoice in the salvation which is found in Christ? For
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