ARE YOU DISOBEYING GOD? ARE THINGS GOING WELL? BE ALARMED.
ARE YOU CRUSHED FOR YOUR SINS..AND STILL CRAWLING TOWARD GOD? BE ENCOURAGED. (note: i thank God for speaking to me through this psalm. the verses below are, if by God's grace can be internalized, such a potential help not only in my harsh judgment of others, but also in my dispair with the growing awareness of my own personal sins..which at times can seem overwhelming, unconquerable, damning. Hallelujah! what a savior! may He find me always in the latter position above.)
psalm 89:
30 if his children forsake My law and walk not in My judgments
31 if they break My statutes and keep not My commandments
32 then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes.
33 nevertheless My lovingkindness will I will not utterly take from him, nor suffer My faithfulness to fail.
here is comfort to those who are true branches and CONTINUE TO BRING FORTH FRUIT IN THE MIDST OF ALL THE TRIALS THAT BEFALL THEM, that God will not suffer them to be cut off by their corruption. if anything in them should provoke God to do it, it must be sin. now for that, you see how Christ promiseth that God will take order therewith and will purge it out of them. this is the covenant made with david, (as he was a type of Christ, with whom the same covenant is made sure and firm,) that 'if his seed forsake My law and walk not in My judgments', - what! presently turn them out of doors and cut them off, as those He meant to have no more to do with? what! nothing but utter rejection? is there no means of reclaiming them? never a rod in the house? yet- 'then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes; whip out their stubbornness and sinfulness; 'but my lovingkindness will i not utterly take from him' as I did from saul, as it is in I chronicles 17.13.
let the saints consider this, that they may return when they are fallen and submit to Him and his nature and suffer him to do what he sill with them and endure cutting and lancing and burning so long as he cuts them not off; endure chastening and all His dealings else, knowing that all the fruit is but to take away the sin, to make them 'partakers of His holiness'; and 'if by any means', as paul speaks of himself, (philippians 3.11) be the means what it will, it is no matter. and God, if at any time He seems to cut thee off, yet it is but as the incestuous corinthian was cut off, that 'the flesh might be destroyed and the spirit saved'. thomas goodwin
'if his children forsake My law' an objection is supposed: 'suppose this seed who are included in the covenant fall into transgression, who shall the covenant stand fast then?' the covenant, with the seed, shall stand for ever, but the seed must be a holy seed. then the objector supposes- 'suppose the seed become unholy?' well, God explains- ' if is children forsake My law, and walk not in My judgments'- that is, if the seed practically fall away- 'if they break my statutes and keep not My commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. nevertheless My lovingkindness will i not take from him, nor suffer My faithfulness to fail'. make the case. what is it that God will do? the case supposed is that the seed of Christ forsakes the law and breaks His statutes. i need not say to you that that is realized every day. these are not the ungodly or the unconverted that are spoken of, but God's own children. do you say, 'can they be guilty of breaking God's statutes, and forsaking God's law?' WE DO IT EVERY DAY. there is no single day of our lives that we do not do it...
how astonished many would be, if they knew what the real case was of those perhaps whom they admire, and think highly advanced and exalted in the divine life, if they were to know the falls, the wretched falls, falls in heart, in word and in practice; if they were to know the deep distress that the children of go, who are far advanced as they suppose in the divine life, are continually suffering from the effect of such transgression! that is exactly what God says; He comes and contemplates such a case and He says, 'if they break My statutes and keep not my commandments, then'-what? what will god do? some people say, 'then god will leave them'. those who object to the doctrine of final perseverance say this: 'it is true He will preserve the believer from the toils of the devil and the temptations of the world, but not from the breaking forth of his own natural evil. he may be betrayed by that, and finally lost. god exactly meets that case; he contemplates the worst case-actual transgression. He says, 'if a child of mine breaks my law'. He does not say anything about the devil or the outward temptations of the world; but He says, 'if they forsake my law and break my statutes'. let us be instructed by God. He does not say He will leave them and forsake them. make what He will do! He say-'I will visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes'. that is the provision which God has made in His covenant; and it is delightful to see how God has contemplated our case to the uttermost. there is nothing in our history that God has not met in the covenant with Christ. if you are in union with Christ, and a partaker of the covenant, your case is met in every conceivable emergency. nothing can befall you which is not contemplated-nothing which God has not provided for. even if you fall, God has provided for it; but take heed; THE PROVISION INVOLVES MUCH THAT WILL BE TERRIBLE AND DESPERATELY PAINFUL TO YOUR MIND. there is nothing to encourage sin about it; there is nothing to give us license, nothing to lead a man to boast, 'i am safe at last'. be it so; but safe how? how will god secure their safety? 'I will visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes'.
capel molyneux
'if His children forsake My law' if they fall into sins of commission; if they shoot beyond the mark. 'and walk not in my judgments'. transgression and disobedience (that is, every commission and omission) receiveth a just recompense of reward', hebrews 2.2 john trapp
'His children' 'banin' (?) (hebrew) His sons, ie. christians, born through the griefs of Christ on the cross, like the pangs of one in travail. geier
v30 a man may forsake the doctrines of the gospel. he may fall into great errors, great aberrations from Truth; he may forsake the ordinances of the Lord's house, though he sees God's word is clear upon the point. he esteems those things as nothing worth, which the Lord esteems so well, that He has given them to His church as a sacred deposit, which she is to convey down to the last posterity till time shall be no more. and what is still more-a man may forsake for a time the principles of the precious gospel of the living God. but i can imagine a state still more solemnly affecting that even this. it is a part of God's wisdom, (and it is for our good that it is so - all God's wisdom is for his people's good)-it is a part of the wisdom of God, that sin should lead to sin; that one neglect shall pave the way to another; that that which is bad shall lead to that which is worse, and that which is worse shall prepare the way for that which is worst...the longer i live, the more i am brought to this-to know that there is not a sin that ever was committed, but i need the grace of god to keep me from it. james harrington evans
v30-4 God here says two things; first, that he will chastise them, next, that He will not, on that account, cast them out of his covenant. O wonderful tempering of the kindness and severity of God! in which He finds His own glory and believers their safety! the heavenly Father loves the blood and marks of His Christ which He sees upon them, and the remains of faith and godliness which are preserved hidden in the depth of their heart, this is why He will not cast them off. on the other hand, He considers that it accords neither with His wisdom nor His holiness to bestow His grace and salvation upon those who do not repent for having cast off his law and given themselves up to iniquity. in order to harmonize these opposite desires, He takes the rod and chastises them, to arouse their conscience, and to excite their faith; to restore them, by the repentance which His discipline produces, to such a state, as that He may be able to bestow upon them, without shame, the blessings he has promised to the children of His Son; just as a wise parent, by moderate and judicious correction gradually draws back his son from those irregularities of life into which he has plunged; and thereby preserves his honour, and himself the pleasure of being able to love and please him without misgiving. or, as a skillful surgeon, by the pain which his knife, or cautery, or bitter potions, cause his patient, saves his life, and wards off death. jean daille
when our heavenly Father is, as it were, forced to put forth His anger, He then makes use of a father's rod, not an executioner's axe. He will neither break His children's bones, nor His own covenant. He lashes in love, in measure, in pity and compassion thomas lye, 1621-1684
v32 'then will I visit their transgression with the rod', He does not simply say, i will smite them; but, i will visit with the rod. it is one thing merely to smite, it is another thing to smite by visiting. for visitation implies oversight and paternal care. the metaphor is taken from those who undertake to watch over the sick or train up children, or tend sheep. he does not say, i will visit THEM with the rod; but, I will visit THEIR TRANSGRESSION with the rod. we ought to think perpetually, what it is the rod of God visits in us, that we may confess our transgressions, and amend our lives. musculus
v33 'I will not utterly take from Him' why 'from Him'? because all God's lovingkindness to His people is centred in Christ. does God love you? it is because He loves Christ; you are one with Christ. your transgressions are your own; they are separate from Christ; but God's love is not your own; it is Christ's; you receive it because you are one with Him. how beautifully that is distinguished here- 'if they transgress, i will punish THEM; but my lovingkindness will i not take from Him' -in whom alone they find it; and in union with whom alone they enjoy it capel molyneux
v33 'from Him' the words, 'nevertheless My lovingkindness will I not utterly take from Him' are worthy of consideration; for the question being about those who are chastised, it would appear that he should have written from THEM, and not from HIM. but the prophet has thus worded it, because, being the children and members of His Christ, the favours which God bestows upon us belong to Him in some manner; and it seems that the psalmist wishes to show us hereby, that it is in Jesus Christ, and for the love of Him alone, that God bestows favours on us. and that which follows, in the 34th verse, agrees herewith,- 'My covenant will i not break' -for it is properly to Jesus Christ, on account of His admirable obedience, that God the Father has promised to be merciful to our iniquities, and never to leave one of those to perish who are in covenant with Him. jean daille
v34 'My covenant will I not break' He had said above, 'if the children of david break my statutes'; and now, alluding to that breach, He declares that He will not requite them as they requite Him, 'My covenant will I not break', implying, that although His people may not altogether act in a manner corresponding to their vocation, as they ought to do, He will not suffer His covenant to be broken and disannulled on account of their fault, because He will promptly and effectually prevent this in the way of blotting out their sins by a gratuitous pardon. john calving
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