Bozrah? (the capital city of Idumea, the type of Anti-Christ:) this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? (The personage replies,) "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. (The prophet inquires again-) "Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat?" (Answer) "I have trodden the wine-press 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. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. Surely they are my people, children that will not lie; so he was their Saviour."1 "Let the heathen be awakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about, for their wickedness is great. The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel."? "Thou didst march through the land in thine indignation, thou didst thrash the heathen in anger. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people; even for salvation with thine anointed."3 All these predictions seem more or less referable 2 Joel iii. 12-16. 1 Isaiah xliii. 1-8. See also Obadiah verses 15-17. 3 Habakkuk iii. 12, 13. to the same awful period, and it is very observable throughout, that while such unheard-of judgments are denounced against the unconverted, salvation is invariably promised to the people of GOD. Let us cite one or two passages from the New Testament, of a similar import. "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; mens' hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory." And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh? Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." 3 It would appear, then, to be the purpose of JEHOVAH, to invert the usual order of his provi 1 Luke xxi. 25-28. 2 The above passage (Matt. xxiv. 29, 30.) has doubtless a further and fuller application. There seem to be three several comings of Christ, subsequent to his first, indicated in scripture: viz. that at the destruction of Jerusalem (Matt. x. 23. Luke xx. 16)—that immediately preceding the Millennium-(to punish the nations for the rejection of his Gospel, and to avenge his Church upon her persecutors)—and that after the Millennium, at the final day of judgment. (compare Jude 14, 15, with Rev. xx. 11, 12.) And, questionless, it will require all these comings completely to develope and fulfil the pregnant prophecy considered. 3 Rev. iii. 10. dence toward his church. For whereas at all previous times the church had sorrow, and the world had joy; now the church shall rejoice, and the world have sorrow. Lord, and thy God, people; Behold, I "Thus saith thy LORD, the that pleadeth the cause of his have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again; but I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street to them that went Over."1 In the event then, of such a crisis arriving, which assuredly will arrive, and sooner perhaps than we expect; ("behold," says Christ, "I come as a thief; ") what will be the part of the truly pious? This appears an important question. Their duty, then, we think, is very clearly declared in holy Scripture. Their strength will be to sit still; in patience possessing their souls: to remain in their hiding-place, and give themselves to prayer, until the calamities be overpast. "When the wicked arise, men hide themselves." "Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time." 4 "The LORD shall fight for you; and ye shall hold your peace. 995 But where should they hide themselves? Whether the Most High shall actually provide in 1 Isaiah li. 22, 23. 3 Prov. xxviii. 28. Comp. Psalm lxxv. 8. 4 Amos v. 13. 2 Rev. xvi. 15. his providence any particular place on earth, as a sanctuary to his people in such an emergency, as He reserved Zoar for Lot in the destruction of Sodom; and Pella for the Christians in the siege of Jerusalem, is a problem which the writer will not attempt to solve. There seems, indeed, an intimation of the kind in the twelfth chapter of the Revelation-" And to the woman (that is, the church,) were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place; where she was nourished for a time, and times, and half a time," (three years and a half,) from the face of the serpent." And some have conceived that AMERICA is the wilderness here intended. But this must be mere conjecture. God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain.' At all events, CHRIST will be the true hiding-place. "He shall be for a sanctuary; a sanctuary of strength; "a strong-hold." He is the rock of refuge; the rock of salvation. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." The name of the LORD, here, 3 1 Compare Rev. xii. 6. Matt. xxiv. 22. Isaiah xxvi. 20. 3 All the whole gracious name of God, every title that he hath given himself, every description of honour to himself that he hath owned, is confirmed to us, (to as many as believe,) in Jesus Christ. For as he hath declared to us the whole name of God, John xvii. 6. so not this or that promise of God, but "all the promises of God are in him, yea, and amen." So that as of old every particular promise that God made to the people, served especially for the particular occasion on which it was given, and each name of God was to be rested on, as to that dispensation whereunto it was suited to give denotes his attributes; and as these all are concentrated in Christ, "the power of God, and the wisdom of God," "in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the God-head bodily; "1 so, CHRIST is that strong tower; and his various excellences and resources constitute the several apartments or chambers, into one or another of which his people, according to their immediate exigency, betake themselves. Thus it is enjoined, apparently with a special reference to the very period contemplated,— Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment." &c. 2 66 "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, he is my refuge and my fortress-My God, in him will I trust. Because thou hast made the LORD, even the Most High, thy habitation, there shall no evil befal thee."3 Behold then, believer, what exceeding great and precious promises are thine! We have a strong relief and confidence, as the name of El-Shaddai* to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the name Jehovah † to Moses and the people; so now, by Jesus Christ, and in him, every particular promise belongs to believers in all their situations; and every name of God whatever is theirs also, at all times, to rest upon, and put their trust in.OWEN on Psalm cxxx. 1 Exodus xxiii. 20, 21. 2 Isaiah xxvi. 20, 21. 3 Psalm xci. A God all-sufficient. † A God performing what he had promised-a God perfecting what he had begun. |