All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits. Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established. The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
I beg the Reader to mark particularly this last verse. That the Lord is the maker of all, is a truth well known. But all things are not only made by him, but for him, we are here told: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. Reader! pray pause. The design of redemption, Paul was commissioned to tell the church was, that God Might in the. dispensation of the fulness of times, gather together in one all things in Christ, Ephesians 1:10. Consequently all things include both good and bad; the one for happiness, the other for destruction; and the whole for the divine glory in the everlasting felicity of his redeemed, and the everlasting misery of the damned. And the song in heaven John heard was to the same effect, that God had made all things for himself. It was addressed to the Lamb, but the glory terminated not there; God in Christ, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, had the ascription, Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood. Revelation 5:9. From Jehovah is the first cause, and to Jehovah as the final end. And what a world of mystery, wonder and glory is folded up in that short scripture, the deceived and the deceiver are his. Job 12:16.