For he wrote of me.— "Had you believed the writings of Moses, which are daily read in your synagogues, you would have believed me; for these writings describe me, as by a variety of striking types and figures, so likewise by many strong and direct prophesies: see the last note: But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? If you do not believe the testimony of your own lawgiver, I have no reason to be surprised that you do not credit me upon my testimony." Thus the Lord Jesus asserted his own personal dignity, as the Sonof God, and Judge of the world; and at the same time proposed the evidences of his divine mission from God with such strength of reason, perspicuity, and brevity, as nothing can equal.
Inferences drawn from our Lord's miracle wrought at the pool of Bethesda.—It is very pleasing to observe, that the eternal Son of the most high God, when, as the Lord and Ruler, the great Messenger of the covenant, he suddenly came to his temple, and when he was about to deliver the most sublime discourse concerning his equality with the Father, should, on the sabbath-day, enter as a physician those five porches, which were a kind of hospital, where there lay so great a multitude, so sad a spectacle of the wretched and suffering children of Adam!
This serves to assure us, that Christ, though reigning in equal power and glory with the Father, does not therefore disregard our miseries; but exerts the office of a loving Mediator in this world, as a great hospital, assisting by his grace, and ready to help, the afflicted in soul as well as body, and not forgetting to extend continually his rich mercy and compassion towards both.
Nay, if he condescended to come down into this wretched world, this place of misery and woe, and to assume our nature, and to open from his most precious heart a fountain for all our uncleanness; can we doubt of his fatherly care over us? Can we doubt of his tender regard for us?—We must necessarily be dear to him, who, of his own free love, paid so inestimable a price for us! Let us learn hence, with full and humble confidence to repose ourselves upon him, and in all our miseries and necessities to commend ourselves into the hands of this faithful Redeemer; to wait upon him in all those means, which he himself has ordained and appointed, and wherein he has promised to meet and refresh our longing souls!
What a blessing was this pool of Bethesda, endowed with this miraculous virtue, to the Jewish people! You see how they thronged it; the five porches were full; all were wishing and striving to enjoy its advantages. Were there such a miraculous bath in this nation, there would be no less crowding thither. Each would be pressing towards it, when labouring under diseases; all desirous of stepping in first, that they might be made whole.
How amazingly do men, by their own conduct in temporal things, condemn themselves in spiritual! Such a pool, such a fountain there is for the soul, a fountain opened for sin, and for all uncleanness; a fountain, in which whosoever will, may come, wash, and be clean. Such a fountain is the most precious blood of Jesus Christ, streaming forth in all his divine ordinances,—those waters of life, by which spiritual maladies are healed, and vigour is restored to our enfeebled souls!
And yet, how little are they thronged by men, wishing and earnestly striving to be healed; how few comparatively are there who come to them with a full sense of their spiritual impotency, and a resolution to step in that they may be made whole! Multitudes were continually attending at this pool; and why then is the house of God forsaken, where not one alone, but many, at the same moment may receive spiritual sight and strength, yea, and life from the dead? But, alas! under the diseases of the soul, how few comparatively desire to be made whole. Blessed Jesus! if thou hast awakened that desire in us, we would adore thee for it, as a token for good; and would lift up our believing eyes to thee, in humble expectation that thou wilt graciously fulfil it.
How many are there who never come to the ordinances of God at all; who have either found out some new methods of spiritual cure; or, proud in heart, will confess no spiritual infirmities, and despise the weakness of their proffered cure; or, wise in their own inventions, have too much sense to believe the gospel. God grant that they may all understand in time how fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God! more especially, when so much grace, when so much goodness, when so much mercy, has been long and obstinately rejected; the grace, the mercy, the goodness of an eternal Saviour, who, unbounded in his voluntary love, hath endured sufferings unspeakable, to procure so divine a remedy for all our evils; a remedy infallible! All sicknesses, all disorders, however complicated, however inveterate, are here removed by one hand, and one water: none ever were, none ever will be sent empty away, who come desirous of relief; nor is that relief confined to the first only who steps in; it is a fountain flowing plenteously unto every draught!
And thus may all be cured; but their own will must concur: Christ first asked the man, Wilt thou be made whole? John 5:6 before he bid him arise and walk. There could be no doubt of his desire to be cured, who waited at the pool for this very purpose; and you, reader, must shew your will and desire to be cured in this same way; you must wait at the pool,—must wait for Christ in those general ordinances, which himself hath enjoined, in the sacraments, in prayer and the word: and if, with hope, duly sensible of your weakness and misery, you thus wait upon him, you need not fear but he will perfect the cure of all your spiritual maladies, and enable you to walk and glorify him.
But if you attend at the pool, if you frequent the ordinances of the gospel, with any other motive than a real desire to meet there the Saviour of your souls, and to be healed of all your infirmities by his blood; be assured you will frequent them in vain, and never find them, what they are to the contrite and humble, means of grace, and channels of heavenly life and support to the soul.
Should you frequent them, and still find them not efficacious, you must not therefore cease to frequent them. The man before us, was thirty-eight years in his infirmity, John 5:5 and yet was perfectly healed by the power of Christ at the last. God sometimes delays his mercies to make them more signal and acceptable; and when we have no man to put us into the pool, when none is able or willing to help, he speaks the word, and we are delivered. Bethesda must be waited on; he is worthy of his crutches, who will not stay God's leisure for his cure: there is no virtue, no success without patience; and here we all have need of it. One is sick of an overflowing of the gall,—the jaundice of malice; another of the swelling of pride; another of the fever of concupiscence; another of the vertigo of inconstancy; another of the choaking quinsey of curses and blasphemies; another of the dropsy of covetousness; another of the pleuritical pangs of envy: one is consumed with emulation; another rotten with corrupt desires; and all are so much the sicker, if they feel not these distempers.
We work hard, and we endure much for the body; what toil do we take, that we may toil yet a little longer! We endure many certain pains for the addition of a few uncertain days. Why will we not do thus for the soul, for the immortal, the better part, when we know that our waiting will not be unsuccessful; and when we know that our waiting here, shall procure for us eternal rest hereafter? O wait then upon the Lord in all the means of grace, in all the paths of duty; come by these means, duly sensible of your spiritual evils; lay them before the Lord, confess your sins to him, and with earnest desire to be delivered from the body of this death, cry to him, and he will at length give you the victory, and by his grace enable you to rise, take up your bed and walk; to leave sin, and all the occasions of it, and to serve him in holiness and newness of living.
The sure evidences of a spiritual cure are these: 1. A forsaking of our former sins: 2. A laying aside the marks and occasions thereof: and, 3. A performing the contrary actions; particularly the duties of praise and thanksgiving to God, as this infirm man did, who, languishing as he was lately on the couch, we quickly after see found by Jesus in the temple, John 5:14. And where indeed should they be found, who have been raised up from beds of weakness, and brought out from chambers of sorrow and confinement, but in the sanctuary, rendering their praises to the God of their mercies? It was here that Christ said to him, for a lesson to us all, Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee; hereby shewing us, that diseases and sickness are the punishment of sin, and that of consequence the best remedy we can apply for their cure, is sincere repentance and conversion through the grace of God.
Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. To deter from relapses into sin, Christ shews the danger of them. It was bad enough to lie thirty and eight years bound by a terrible disease: but it is worse, infinitely worse, than pen can describe, or thought conceive, to lie bound in flames of ever-during fire, not for thirty-eight, or thirty times thirty-eight years, but for ever and ever!—Let them remember this admonition of our Lord, who have made upon sick-beds good resolutions, and determined to turn and amend their lives, when the hand of God hath been sore upon them; but have forgotten all, when, to prove their sincerity, he hath saved them awhile from the jaws of death! O let such remember, how fearful a woe hangs over their heads, who, having been made whole, have yet indulged as usual in the practice of sin; and lest a worse thing, even eternal misery, come unto them, let them make haste, with broken hearts and humbled souls, to the heavenly pool of Bethesda, the blood of Christ, the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness.
Sin is the fruitful parent of all human evils; and, till the body rests in the silent grave, the temptations to sin will never cease: so that we have continual need to be upon the watch, and to remember our Lord's warning. The only method to secure us from relapses, is a full dependance upon the almighty grace of God, sought for in all its converting powers with sincerity and humility, accompanied by a strict attendance on all the means of grace, on all the gospel ordinances, and by a holy and conscientious walking, and a strict watchfulness over all our thoughts, words, and actions. If endeavouring thus to wait, and thus to act, we shall find God's grace sufficient for us; if thus Christ find us in the temple, paying our grateful tribute of praise and adoration, he will enable us boldly to confess him before men, as this man did before the Pharisees; and if we perseveringly do so, we have his infallible promise that he will also confess us before his Father and all the holy angels, in the realms of glory and immortality. See Matthew 10:32-33.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, The feast spoken of John 5:1 was probably the passover; the second which our Lord kept at Jerusalem, after his public entrance on the ministry; and there he works the following gracious and very remarkable miracle:
1. The place where the miracle was wrought, is worthy of note. It was a pool of water near the sheep-gate, Nehemiah 3:1 called Bethesda, or the house of mercy, surrounded with cloisters, or covered walks, where the impotent lay sheltered, who came with their several complaints, blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water, in hopes of a cure. For this pool was impregnated with a strange virtue at certain seasons, owing to the descent of an angel who troubled the waters; and the first person who immediately stepped in, was cured of whatever disease he had.
When this healing power began to be communicated to the waters, or when it ceased, the Jewish historians are entirely silent; it served however to shew, that God had not left his people without witness, and represented that fountain which should be opened in the Saviour's side, in which whoever washed should be made clean: This fountain has not at seasons merely, but at all times, the power of healing; and therefore whoever continues under his spiritual maladies, has only his own negligence to blame, that he will not come to Christ that he may be cured.
2. The person on whom the cure was wrought, had been thirty-eight years under his infirmity, probably paralytic, and unable to move; and therefore when Jesus, passing by, compassionately observed his pitiable case, and graciously addressed him, Wilt thou be made whole? he relates his unhappy condition, and his continual disappointment, while some other stepped in, before he could find a friend to assist him to reach the troubled waters; so that he began now to despair of ever obtaining his cure. Note; (1.) What thankfulness do we owe to our preserving God, if we enjoy perfect health and strength, whilst others totter with weakness and disease, and wearisome days and nights are appointed to them? (2.) The compassionate eye of Jesus is on his afflicted but faithful people; and though he suffer them to be long exercised, he will pass by them in due season, and deliver them. (3.) They who would receive a cure from him of their spiritual maladies, ought at least to be waiting at the pool of ordinances, where Jesus usually manifests his power and grace.
3. Christ with a word heals his disease, bidding him arise, take up his bed, and walk; and such power accompanied his command, that the impotent man instantly felt his strength return; arose perfectly cured; and taking up his bed, walked away in the sight of, and to the amazement of the beholders; and the same day was the sabbath. Note; (1.) when Christ speaks to the penitent soul, he gives ability for that which he commands. (2.) They who are healed by his grace, will instantly be obedient to his will.
4. As, according to the tradition of the elders, it was accounted unlawful to carry a bed on the sabbath-day; the Jews jealous, therefore, for the honour of that sacred day of rest, rebuked the healed person for being guilty of such a profanation. The man thought he had sufficient authority when he who healed him gave him his orders, and pleads the command of the person who had wrought the cure upon him. They suspected who had done the miracle, and wanted the man to accuse his kind benefactor, against whom they wished to proceed as a sabbath-breaker: What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed and walk? With such contempt and indignation do they speak of Christ, as if he was a mere man, and a wicked man too, notoriously guilty of a breach of God's law. The man, who knew not Jesus, could give them no information; for he had disappeared immediately, mixing among the crowd, probably to avoid the admiration of some, and the malignity of others, who he knew would be offended at him for this glorious act of mercy, because it was the sabbath-day. Note; (1.) The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; therefore works of mercy and charity are always commendable. (2.) They who are eminent for well-doing, may expect to pass through evil report as well as good report.
5. Soon after this, the poor man going up to the temple, probably to return thanks for his late mercies, met Jesus there, who gave him a solemn caution with regard to his future conduct; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. Should he provoke the wrath of God by his sins, it would yet be worse than his past long affliction. The man in the simplicity of his heart went, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole: probably he hoped that this notable miracle might engage them to acknowledge him as the Messiah; but so far were they from being led to admire his character, that, filled with envy and enmity, they sought to slay Jesus; and, for a pretext, pleaded that this work of mercy was a profanation of the sabbath. Note; (1.) They who have received signal mercies from God, are peculiarly obliged to be found in the temple, offering up their thanksgivings. (2.) In the Lord's house we may expect to be favoured with his presence. (3.) Sin is at the root of all sufferings, in time and eternity. (4.) They who are by grace delivered from the guilt and power of sin, should be doubly watchful not to return again unto folly. (5.) Many cover, with pretended zeal for religion, their enmity against the most faithful servants of Christ.
2nd, We have our Lord's vindication of himself from the charge laid against him as a sabbath-breaker.
1. He argues from his Father's works to his own. My Father worketh hitherto; by his continual operation, every day he administers the affairs of the kingdom of providence; and I work as one with him, in nature and operation; and therefore my works of power and grace can be no more the subject of blame, than his. Most absurd, therefore, was the charge laid against him as a sabbath-breaker, who was Lord of the sabbath, and one with the eternal Father, the Maker and Preserver of all things.
2. This defence exasperated them but the more. Such a claim to God, as his own Father, in that peculiar sense which implied a co-equality with him in power, authority, and operation, they regarded as the highest blasphemy, and more deserving of death than even the breach of the sabbath.
3. Far from blaming his enemies as perverting his words, he vindicates what he had said; asserting and proving in the most exalted sense the eternal union and co-equality between the Father and the Son, and his title to the dignity of the undivided Godhead. Verily, verily, I say unto you, what I speak is certain, and my word truth itself; the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do; such is the unity of their nature, that they are alike intimately acquainted with each other's councils and designs, having one eternal mind. The Son, therefore, never acts separately from the Father, but with his consent and cooperation: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise; whatever the Father doth in the continual agency of his Providence, the Son, as one with him, is a co-worker, and acts with the same divine power and authority as the Father himself. For the Father loveth the Son, an infinite mutual complacence subsists between the divine Persons; and sheweth him all things that himself doeth, communicating to him all his councils and designs, and doing nothing in the kingdom of grace or providence, but in conjunction with him: and he will shew him greater works than these, performed by him and with him, greater miracles of power and goodness than this wrought on the impotent man, that ye may marvel; either led to admire my works, and believe in my divine mission, or to wonder and perish in obstinate infidelity.
4. In confirmation of what he had said, he instances his own divine power in two most remarkable particulars; both of which are interwoven in his discourse, and nearly connected.
[1.] He hath power equally with the Father to quicken the dead. He is the prince of life: self-existent as the Father, he hath life in himself; for as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; in the oeconomy of man's redemption this life eternal is lodged in the hands of the Son, resides in him, and is to be derived from him; and he bestows it on all his faithful saints. By him,
(1.) The souls of penitent sinners are raised from the death of trespasses and sins, in which they lay; by the word of gospel-grace they are called from the grave of corruption, and awake to newness of life: and the hour is coming, yea, now is, when this great work shall be performed; now by his own ministry, hereafter more abundantly by the preaching of his apostles. Note; (1.) Our souls, by the fall, are become utterly incapable, in the mere state of nature, of all spiritual good, insensible to our real state of misery, and altogether dead before God. (2.) Our hearts must experience a spiritual resurrection to newness of life here, or we can never hope for eternal life hereafter. (3.) The voice of Jesus in his word made effectual by his Spirit, is the powerful agent which accomplishes this glorious work in the hearts of those who believe.
(2.) By him the dead bodies of men shall be raised up at the last day. Nor need any marvel, that he who first created men upon earth, should be able to repair the ruined tabernacle, and restore it from the dust: all, from the first man whom God formed, to the last whom death shall seize, shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and instantly at his word shall come forth, leaving the prison of the grave, restored to life that never more shall end: though, according to their several characters, very different will their doom be; they that have done good, whose hearts were renewed by divine grace, and whose works and ways evidenced faith unfeigned, and love without dissimulation, they, and only they, will rise unto the resurrection of life, to that state of immortal bliss and glory, which shall be the reward of their fidelity; and they that have done evil, have continued under the power and dominion of their native corruption, have lived without experiencing a divine change upon their hearts, and died under the guilt of unrepented sin, they shall be raised unto the resurrection of damnation, condemned to those eternal torments which are the wages of sin, without measure and without end; lying down in hell under that wrath of God, which is for ever wrath to come. How awful! how alarming the admonition! oh that we might feel the weighty import of it, and prepare to meet our God!
[2.] He hath the power of finally determining the everlasting state of men and angels. Not only as God the Son is he judge of all, in common with the Father, administering all the affairs of the kingdom of providence and grace, and without him the Father judgeth no man—but as Mediator also, he has a peculiar authority delegated to him, to execute judgment as the Son of man; to pronounce sentence from his throne at the last day, to take vengeance on all who have been rebellious against his government, and despised or rejected his salvation; and to fix, by an irrevocable decree, the eternal blessedness of his faithful people: and the rule of his judgment at that day will be his own word, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life: where we may observe, (1.) The sinner's title to glory, faith in the Redeemer. (2.) The effect of it; deliverance from all condemnation; and, if he persevere in this faith, eternal bliss. (3.) They who have passed from spiritual death to spiritual life, have therein the earnest and foretaste of eternal life. (4.) The judgment of Jesus is just; for all that he doth is in correspondence with the will of the Father, and according to the commission that he has received from him. Such, then, being his infinite dignity, the Son, who is in glory equal, in majesty co-eternal, must be honoured, worshipped, and adored, even as the Father; and so far from its being blasphemous, and derogatory from the Father's glory, that he should thus claim equality with him, in nature, perfections, and uncreated excellence; so inseparably connected are they, and their honour and interest so entirely the same, that the Father regards every instance of disrespect shewn to his Son as dishonour done to himself; both as he is one with him in the same undivided Godhead, and also as he is the Son of man sent from him, commissioned by him, and, as his ambassador, representing himself.
3rdly, In confirmation of the glorious character which he assumed, and his mission from the Father, our Lord, proceeds to produce other evidence than his own; admitting, that if what he asserted were utterly unsupported, they might reject his testimony of himself as untrue.
1. John the Baptist bore witness of him; to his evidence Christ appeals, fully assured that it was true: and they themselves, who applied to him as a prophet, were bound to embrace his testimony, which in the most solemn manner he delivered to those deputies of the Sanhedrim who were sent to inquire who he was, and under what authority he acted. He plainly asserted Christ's divine character, (See Ch. John 1:19-30.); and his evidence they could not but allow to be most respectable. For though he was not that light, the Messiah, he was a burning and a shining light; his exemplary conduct and zealous preaching bespoke the simplicity of his soul, and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. They gloried in him at first, and raised their expectations high; but when he would neither himself assume the character of the Messiah, nor declare himself that Elias whom they expected, they could not bear the sharpness of his rebukes, and plainness of his testimony to that Messiah whom they rejected; and therefore they soon fell off and neglected him: not that Christ indeed needed human testimony; he had far greater. But for their conviction he mentions this, if any thing might be the means of rescuing them from ruin. Note; (1.) Every minister of Jesus, like John, should burn with zeal for his glory, and shine in all holy conversation, that he may adorn and give weight to the doctrine that he preaches. (2.) Many at first seem to rejoice in the light of the gospel, who soon grow cold and careless, and neglect so great a salvation. (3.) They who trifle with their mercies, are justly deprived of them.
2. He appeals to a greater witness than that of John, even his own works, which bore witness of him. His whole life and ministry bespoke his glorious character; and especially his miracles, wrought by his own divine power, evinced his mission from God. And greater works than he had yet done, remained for him to finish, to leave them at least without excuse, if they obstinately persisted in their infidelity.
3. God the Father himself had expressly borne witness to him by a voice from heaven at his baptism, Matthew 3:16-17 which was solemnly repeated, Matthew 17:5 at his transfiguration; and this was a singular attestation, such as had never before on any occasion been vouchsafed. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape; all the voices that were heard, and the appearances that were seen, under the Old Testament, were either those of the Son in a human form, or of the angels employed by him in this ministry: then first when the Father in person spoke from heaven at the baptism of his Son, was his voice audibly heard, and a most wonderful visible manifestation made of his glory. (See the Annotations for another view of this passage.) And ye have not his word abiding in you; neither this immediate testimony from heaven, nor his former word by his prophets, had ever made any abiding impression; for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not: after all this evidence they, notwithstanding, rejected the testimony of God, and refused to believe in the Messiah. Note; (1.) When God sends, he will bear witness to his own servants, and attest with his Spirit the commission that he has given them. (2.) Many have the word of God in their hands, and sounding in their ears, and yet have it not abiding in their hearts.
4. He refers them to their own scriptures for the proof of his divine character and mission: search the scriptures. The scriptures were by many of them much studied, and they boasted of their wisdom in these sacred oracles, but they were great strangers to the meaning of them; they had need therefore look farther and deeper than ever yet they had done; and he ventures to rest his cause upon an appeal to these authentic records, which they themselves so highly and justly valued: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: they placed the chief stress of their religion upon the knowledge of the law; and flattered themselves, that by constantly reading these sacred writings, and getting them by rote, they were sure of heaven. Now these, saith he, are they which testify of me; all the types, promises, prophesies, centre in him, and refer to him; and yet ye will not come to me, that ye might have life; such were their prejudices and wilful blindness, that though the scriptures were so express in pointing him out to their notice, they would not submit to apply to him, that they might obtain the pardon, life and salvation which he alone could give. Not that he affected to exalt himself, to gather a party, or obtain temporal dominion. I receive not honour from men; he neither courted nor needed human applause; his only aim was to advance his Father's glory and the salvation of men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you; he tried their hearts, and, notwithstanding all their high pretences of zeal for God's honour, the love of the world predominated in their affections, and they had really no heartfelt and sincere regard to God or godliness, and rejected him because he did not correspond with their earthly expectations. Hence, though I am come in my Father's name, with evidences of a divine mission so strong and striking, ye receive me not, because the salvation that he brought was spiritual salvation from sin, and death, and hell: and he so sharply rebuked their vices, and undeceived them in their vain expectation of a temporal Messiah, who should come with outward pomp and grandeur, therefore they rejected him: but if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive, eager to embrace every impostor who pretended to deliver them from the Roman yoke, and aggrandize their nation, though vouching no authority but his own boastings. And being under the influence of such a carnal mind, how can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? Their spirit and temper, and the proud affectation of pre-eminence, were the reverse of the kingdom which Christ came to erect, where humility and self-denial stood in the first and most distinguished place; and must for ever exclude them from the spiritual, substantial, and eternal honours which God alone bestows on his faithful children. Learn hence, (1.) The necessity of deep and serious examination of the scriptures, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, and diligently seeking for Christ in them, who is the sum and substance of them; for without the practical knowledge of him, all other attainments in the letter, language, and phrases of the scripture, are really no better than splendid ignorance. (2.) In the scriptures eternal life is to be obtained, because they reveal to us that Redeemer, who is the author of it to all who obey him. The Old Testament, as well as the new, is full of him; the moral law drives us for refuge to him, the types of the ceremonial law all prefigure him, the prophesies all centre in him. He is indeed all, and in all. (3.) All who come by faith to Christ, perseveringly embracing the salvation which is in him, will assuredly find pardon, grace, and glory: the reason why any sinners perish is this, that, blinded by wilful ignorance, and perverted by pride and self-righteousness, they will not come to Christ that they may have life. Their eternal ruin, therefore, lies at their own door. (4.) Christ searches the heart, and trieth the reins; he knows what is in man; and, under the guise of the warmest profession of religion, can discover the enmity which reigns within against himself and his gospel. (5.) Where inordinate love of this world prevails, and ambition, covetousness, and a desire of human applause possess the soul, it is impossible that the love of God should dwell there. No man can serve two masters. (6.) When men choose those false prophets, who flatter them in their iniquities, and run without being sent; and, pleased with their smooth prophesies, turn a deaf ear to the warning voice of truth, justly does God give up such to the delusions which they have chosen. (7.) True honour comes from God alone; his estimation of us, not that of all the world beside, stamps our character with excellence or infamy. His approbation, therefore, a gracious soul desires in the first place. (8.) Whilst our hearts affect earthly honours, it is impossible that we should believe in, embrace, and submit to him, whose kingdom is not of this world, and whose first demand from us is to take up our cross and follow him, as men who are wondered at.
Lastly, Christ turns them over to Moses, in whose writings they so much gloried, for a proof of his mission, and as their accuser, if they persisted in their infidelity. Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father, as if I came to spy out your faults, with a view to their condemnation; No, there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. That law on which they trusted for salvation, must needs condemn them as transgressors: and Moses in person at the last day must, to their confusion, testify against their impenitence and unbelief. For had ye believed Moses, ye should have believed me: for he wrote of me, as the great Prophet who should arise; as the great end of the law, moral and ceremonial, to which both pointed; but if ye believe not his writings for whom you pretend such high veneration, and are not convinced by them of my divine mission, how shall ye believe my words? against whom you entertain such inveterate prejudices, and whom you treat with such insolent contempt? Note; (1.) Many make their boast in those privileges which will at last prove their more aggravated condemnation, because they have abused them. (2.) They who refuse to fly by faith for refuge to the gospel of Christ, must inevitably perish under the accusations of the law.