And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
Ver. 25. And the rain descended, and the floods came, &c.] Many are the troubles of the righteous; they come commonly thick and threefold, one in the neck of another, as Job's messengers. a "The clouds return after the rain," Ecclesiastes 12:2. There is a continual succession of miseries and molestations from the devil, the world, and the flesh, to them that hear and do the words of Christ: like the weather in winter, when a shower or two do not clear the air, but though it rain much, yet the sky is still overcast with clouds, which are dissolved upon the saints, sometimes in lesser and lighter crosses, as the smaller rain, sometimes in pressing and piercing calamities, like storm and hail. b The rain falls, the floods rise, the wind blows, and many a sharp shower beats upon the Christian's building; but, like Noah's ark, it is pitched within and without; like Mount Sion, it abides for ever immovable, because founded upon the Rock of ages. Si nos ruemus, ruet Christus usa, ille regnator mundi, said that noble Luther: If we fall, Christ shall fall too, that Ruler of the world: and let him fall; I had rather fall with Christ, than stand with Caesar. The devil stirs up a tempest against God's children, saith Ambrose, sed ipse naufragium facit, but himself maketh shipwreck. The Church, according to that Venetian motto, nec fluctu, nec flatu movetur: and yet Venice hath but one street (they say) that is not daily overflowed by the sea.
And it fell not] Saving grace is incapable of being lost, though it may be impaired in the degrees, and may recoil to the root, as sap doth in winter. Christ lives in the hearts of all his saints, Galatians 2:20, and can die no more, Romans 6:10. Die he may as well at the right hand of his Father, as in the heart of a Christian.
A weak brother, for whom Christ died, may perish, 1 Corinthians 8:11 .
No thanks to us if he do not, who by scandalous courses offend and wound his conscience; but Christ will not lose him so. Destrut potest, ex parte, per interveniens scandalum; quod et verbum απολεω aliquo modo denotat, non distrahi penitus caula, &c.
There are those who deny the Lord that bought them, 2 Peter 2:1 .
Bought they were by Christ in their own conceit, and in the esteem of others, but it proved otherwise. Or, they were bought, that is, delivered, in a general sense (so the word here used often signifieth), from their superstition to the knowledge of salvation (I say not to saving knowledge), whereby they might preach to others, themselves being castaways. God hath charged Christ, as Mediator, to see to the keeping of the bodies and souls of all true believers, John 6:39,40. And he faithfully performed it. "Those thou gavest me I have kept," saith he, "and none of them is lost," John 17:12 .
Christ makes exception of one that was lost, Ibid.
That shows he was never of his body; for can he be a Saviour of a son of perdition?
Why is he then excepted?
1. Because he seemed to be one of Christ's, by reason of his office.
2. He speaketh there in particular of the twelve: and to be an apostle was, in itself, but an outward calling.
Christians may lose the things that they have wrought, 2 John 1:8 .
1. Temporaries may, and do; and of them it may be understood, Matthew 7:9 .
2. True Christians may:
1. In respect of the praise of men; all their former honour may be laid in the dust.
2. In regard of the inward sense and comfort, as David, Psa 32:1-11 Psalms 51:1,19 .
3. In respect of the fulness of the reward in heaven, their glory may be much lessened by their falls.
A righteous man may turn from his righteousness, and die, Ezekiel 18:24 .
From his righteousness imparted, or that of sanctification, he may turn in part, and for a time, and die a temporal death for his offence, as Josiah: not so from his righteousness imputed, or that of justification, so as to die eternally. Or the Holy Ghost may so speak, as of a thing impossible; as, If an angel from heaven should preach any other doctrine, &c., Galatians 1:8, which cannot possibly be. So that this text concludes not categorically. The Comforter shall abide with us for ever, John 14:16. It is called an earnest, not a pawn. A pawn is to be returned again; but an earnest is part and pledge of the whole sum.
What need then so many exhortations to perseverance?
1. True grace in itself is leesable, in respect of us, who should fall from it, as Adam; but we are kept by the power and promise of God to salvation; and we need Christ's left hand to be under us, and his right hand over us, to clasp and hold us up. He keepeth the feet of the saints,1 Samuel 2:9, and preserves us from all such evil, as may frustrate our perseverance, 2 Thessalonians 3:3; 1 John 5:18 .
2. By these exhortations, as means, God's grace is promoted, and preserved in us.
3. We are but in part renewed, and are apt to backslide; if we row not hard, wind and tide will carry us back again. Heed therefore must be taken, that we look not back with Lot's wife; that our Jacob's ladder may reach to heaven; that our oil fail not, till the Bridegroom come; that our coat reach down to our heels, as Joseph's and the high priest's did; that we sacrifice the beast with the tail, Genesis 37:3; Exodus 28:4; Exodus 28:42; Exodus 29:22; that we keep in this fire of the sanctuary; or, if it slack, that we rake it out of the ashes, and blow it up again into a flame, αναζωπυρειν, 2 Timothy 1:6; that we turn not again, as we walk, with those living creatures, Ezekiel 1:12; nor be like Nebuchadnezzar's image, that began in gold, and ended in clay, Daniel 2:33; that "we begin not in the Spirit and end in the flesh,"Galatians 3:3; that we go not backward as Hezekiah's sun, nor stand at a stay, as Joshua's, but rejoice to run our race, as David's,Psalms 19:4; and go on to the perfect day, as Solomon's, Proverbs 4:18 .
a Fluctus fluctum trudit. Πονος πονω πονον φερει - dolor et voluptas invicem cedunt, brevior voluptas. Sen.
b Calamitas est proprie calamorum comminutio a grandine seu tempestate. Sic cludes dicebantur surculorum detritio: strages a stratis arboribus. Becman. Scaliger. Et esto ruat: Malo ego cum Christo ruere, quam cum Caesare stare. Epist. ad Melch. Burton of Melancholy.