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"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers."
There is allusion in these three verses to several passages of Scripture, the principles of which are peculiarly applicable, and the mind` of the Apostle was imbued with the truth contained in these Scriptures. He had imbibed the sense, the sap-though you will not find the exact words that are here brought together recorded anywhere. The principle is this: whether it be Egypt, you must get out of Egypt-or Babylon, you must get out of Babylon. " And ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." He promises to be more to them than He had ever been to the Jews; He will have them entirely to Himself. Now we are not, like the Jews, to judge only of outside cleanness, but we are to judge the whole spirit of the world; and whatever is not of Christ we are to judge unclean. The world will come in with all that is pleasant to the flesh, but it will bring in all that can trouble, and will bring in judgment.
The Word of the Lord is that which the Apostle gives us, taking the sense of several Scriptures, and so applying them as to express God's mind with peculiar force and clearness. " I will dwell in them and walk in them," &c. He is here laying the ground, and we ought to be able to go on with that which He would unfold to us, and to say, " God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world." If we have known the unsearchable riches of Christ, let us live in the enjoyment of our own proper things which God has given us in Him.
When a Christian gets into the world, it is dreadfully far. It- is not that he may fall into its grosser sins, but when he gets into association with the spirit of the world, he gets out of his right sphere, and loses his proper blessings.
The Apostle says, "Our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged!"
He had said, " Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." That is the testimony we go out with to the world. Ye have received this testimony; well then, take care that ye receive not the grace of God in vain: but now be ye enlarged. I want you to leave the spirit of the world, that your hearts may be enlarged; and that cannot be but as you are living in the new world, in the place where God has put you. " Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." This was having fellowship with the world. If I go and dishonor God with idols, He will destroy the idols. He says, " Come out from among them and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you."
The Apostle had to write unto them, not as unto natural men, (because they had been converted,) but as unto carnal; he could not write unto them as unto spiritual, consequently was not able to tell them of that which was their portion and really belonged to them: for if they had not been faithful in that which was another's, how could he give unto them that which was their own? Wherever the heart is turned to idols, it is necessarily straitened in itself; it is not living in its own proper sphere, where the riches of God's house have entrance into the heart.
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There are two things the Spirit witnesses to-as to my sins and as to myself. As to my sins, that they are gone: " Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." But as to myself, His witness is, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
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" Thy kingdom come." This sets everything aside in this world that the kingdom of the Lord may come in. It involves the removing of things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Let us ask ourselves if we are quite sure that our hearts are so detached from everything here that we can truthfully say, " thy kingdom come." Are we quite sure that we should like to see Him come in this kingdom, which will involve the shaking out of everything that may not remain when He so comes? Surely it would wrench our hearts from a quantity of things that are attaching our affections to that which does not belong to the coming kingdom and must inevitably be shaken down. The Christian, doubtless, desires it as an object, but if it be applied to what is in the heart, it can only be said in truth by the only perfect one.
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One atom of brokenness of spirit is better than filling all London with miracles.
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James 1:9-11
"Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: but the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof faileth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways."
The Jews had to be guarded against a wrong thought of the expression of God's favor, because all that which the gospel brought out is so contrary to that which they had been accustomed to. The general character of the epistle of James is like a continuation of our Lord's teaching on earth. It does not present truth in its heavenly application, but in connection with its judgment of earthly things. The Lord looked at all earthly grandeur and the only thought of His heart was, that God has not His place: so here. The divine nature cannot adapt itself to man's lusts; and therefore when in a man, It necessarily comes athwart all that men are cherishing and pursuing. The thought of these verses is that the believer is to rejoice in that which brings out his real condition in God's grace; because it is divine truth which alone does this. By getting social communication on heavenly subjects it brought the one down, and raised the other up. The world had lost its power in principle; and then it is found that inequality of position is that which draws out affection, and not equality. The metaphor in verse 11 states the fact that when judgment comes, the rich are more exposed to trial than the poor; for example, in political revolutions, wars, and earthly changes, &c.; but the great point here is the judging all that appears by letting in daylight upon the scene. Judgment is upon the whole scene we are living in.
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The presence of the Holy Ghost down here, as truly sent from above as the Son, though in a different manner, and consequent on the accomplishment and establishment before God of divine righteousness by Jesus Christ, is the key and center of all that belongs to the christian estate.
Righteousness has been established before God, in heaven, and perfect love shown to the sinner on earth. Christ has made good both perfect love on God's part towards man in his sins-for God so loved that He spared not His own Son-and perfect righteousness for faith before God-for Christ is our righteousness before God. Of this the Holy Ghost is witness in the gospel, in the whole creation, (see 2 Cor. 5:19,20; Col. 1:23,) because Jesus is on high.
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Matthew 14:1-21
When John was cast into prison Jesus went into Galilee: but when John was beheaded He went into the wilderness. The world had nothing to minister to Him; but He in divine power ministered to all the necessities of poor sinners in these destitute circumstances; and here he showed, " It is more blessed to give than to receive."
The poor sinner found the place destitute, but Him full of all blessing in this destitute place. He healed the sick and abundantly fed the hungry, and made the wilderness the place of blessing, because the place where He was. Rejected righteousness in John was the occasion for drawing out more grace from Him.
You never see a Christian go through his course without being " brayed in a mortar." Unsuspected evil may demand this, but it will, under God's hand, be thus.
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We may have the hope of the Lord's coming as being glad to get to the end of the desert, because it is a desert; or we may long to be out of it because Canaan is at the end. If it is not the latter, we shall be in danger of being tired with running, which is always wrong; we should be in the spirit of waiting pilgrims, not weary pilgrims, for we ought not to be weary. I do not say we are not weary, but we ought not to be so. " For consider him, who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be weary and faint in your minds."
We ought, in the power of the Spirit, to be longing for Christ, because of the excellency there is in Him. It is not because of the judgments that are coming, that we should wish to be with the Lord; for in the book of Revelation, when all the judgments have been gone through, He presents Himself to the church as " the bright and morning star;" and the bride says, " Come," it is her response to Himself for what is in Himself, and not because of the judgments. And when He has presented Himself as "the bright and morning star" to the church, He does not add, " Surely I come quickly," until the church has first cried out, " Come," in answer to what He is in Himself, and therefore a desire produced by the revelation of Himself.