01.02.01.17. THE ARM OF GOD
THE ARM OF GOD "And underneath are the everlasting Arms’’ Deuteronomy 33:27.
"Be thou their Arm every morning" Isaiah 33:2.
SOMETIMES by an anthropopathy, an Arm is attributed to God, by which we are to denote his strength and power, because the strength of a man is known by the strength of his Arm, whether it be in labour, fight, &c., Exodus 15:16; Job 40:9; Psalms 77:15; Psalms 79:11, and Psalms 89:10, Psalms 89:13; Isaiah 30:30, and Isaiah 51:9. Sometimes a stretched-out Arm is ascribed to him, as Psalms 136:11-12; Jeremiah 32:17. But here God is by a metaphor said to be an Arm; upon which we will produce the following parallel.
METAPHOR I. The Arm is an essential and noble part of man.
PARALLEL I. Power is an essential of the Divine Being, or one of the glorious attributes of God.
METAPHOR II. The Arm is a very useful limb or member of the body; what can the body do for itself, or other, that hath no Arms?
PARALLEL
II. The power of God is very useful and profitable unto the saints; of the same use that the Arm is to the body, is God to believers.
METAPHOR III. The Arm guards, protects, defends; and saves the body from many blows, and other imminent dangers.
PARALLEL
III. God guards, protects, defends, and saves the church, which is his mystical body, from those cursed assaults and blows of Satan, and other dangers they are exposed to in this world, Isaiah 4:5; Psalms 21:1. and Psalms 5:11; Isaiah 31:5.
METAPHOR
IV. The Arm is a yery useful and ready thing to take hold of, and to bear such up that are weak and feeble. We commonly say, to such especially whom we dearly love, Take hold, and lean upon my Arm.
PARALLEL
IV. God’s power is useful and ready, to bear up and support all sincere though weak and feeble saints; nay, there is none can go alone, walk and not stumble, unless God takes hold of them, Psalms 37:23. "He led them (it is said) by the right-hand of Moses, with his glorious Arm," Isaiah 63:12.
METAPHOR V. The body hath, and needs two Arms, and cannot by any means spare either of them.
PARALLEL
V. We read not only of the Arm, but Arms of God: "Underneath are the everlasting Arms," Deuteronomy 33:27. There is the Arm of his mercy, as well as the Arm of his power; and the church can by no means spare either of these Arms of God.
METAPHOR VI. The Arm is not only ready for defence, but also to offend those enemies, that would destroy and ruin the body.
PARALLEL
VI. The Arm of the Most High is not only for defence and protection to the church, but also to offend and destroy her implacable enemies: "He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say, destroy them," Deuteronomy 33:27. "Thou hast smitten all mine enemies on the cheek-bone, and hast broken the teeth of the ungodly," Psalms 3:7.
METAPHOR
VII. With our Arms we embrace our friends, and those we dearly love. Thus Laban embraced Jacob, Genesis 29:13, and Jacob his sons, before he died. Genesis 48:14. It is a sign our wrath is pacified to those that have offended us; thus Esau embraced Jacob at their meeting, Genesis 33:4.
PARALLEL
VII. God, in his Arms of grace and mercy, embraces all those that submit themselves unto him in an humble and sincere manner; and by this shows that his wrath is appeased. And Christ is said to embrace the spouse: "His left-hand is under my head, and his right-hand doth embrace me," Son 2:6. As the heart signifieth inward love; so the Arm of Christ signifieth the manifestation of that love, saith a reverend author.
METAPHOR
VIII. The Arms of a mighty man are said to be mighty strong. Sampson broke the two cords wherewith he was bound, the cords that were upon his Arms became as flax; and by the strength of his Arm, with the jaw-bone of an ass, he slew a thousand men, Judges 15:13-14, Judges 15:16; and afterwards overthrew the house where the Lords of the Philistines were, Judges 16:30.
PARALLEL
VIII. God is mighty in power, who hath an Arm like the Arm of God? Job 40:9. "Who knoweth the power of his anger?" Psalms 90:11, or who can show the strength of his love? Ephesians 3:19. There is nothing too hard for the Arm of God to do; nay, nothing is hard to him. With his Arms he will deliver his people: "My own Arm brought salvation," Isaiah 63:5. With the strength of his Arm he will dash the wicked in pieces, and overthrow the strong-holds of Babylon: "I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it," Ezekiel 36:36.
METAPHOR
IX. In our Arms we carry our weak and young children, if they cannot go; we that way show our care and bowels of compassion towards them.
PARALLEL
IX. The Lord manifesteth his bowels of compassion and tender care over his poor, young, and weak children, by carrying them in his Arms; "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his Arms, and carry them in his bosom." Isaiah 40:11.
METAPHOR
X. The Arm or hand is the instrument of action and administration, it is that by which all our works are performed; without Arms we can do nothing. There is a necessity of Arms, to get our bread, and afterwards to feed our mouths, &c.
PARALLEL
X. Without God we can do nothing, John 15:5, He it is that works and labours for the good of his church: "Lord, thou hast ordained peace for us; for thou also hast wrought all our works in us, Isaiah 26:12. He provides us bread, and then feeds us also: "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." Psalms 81:10.
METAPHOR
XI. A man usually stretches out his Arms, when he calls a child to him that hath been rebellious, whom he is willing to pardon.
PARALLEL
XI. God is said to stretch forth his Arms, he calls upon rebellious sinners, showing how willing he is, upon their repentance, to pardon, and forgive them. Isaiah 65:2.
METAPHOR I. THE Arm of a man is an Arm of flesh, and consequently may decay, grow weak, or be withered.
DISPARITY I. THE Arm of God is a spiritual Arm, and cannot decay; all the attributes of God abide, and change not.
METAPHOR II. The Arm of man is short, and cannot help at a distance; such as is a man, such is his Arm and power.
DISPARITY
II. God’s Arm is not short; he can help and save afar off, as well as near; and ten thousands at once, though they live in so many nations; "The Lord’s Arm is not shortened, that he cannot save," Isaiah 59:1.
METAPHOR
III. The Arm of a man is weak, and may be broken down by a greater force; cannot engage or encounter with the powers of hell.
DISPARITY
III. God’s Arm is very strong, too strong for the mighty of the earth; what is the Arm of man to the Arm of God? Alas! what can they do? He is able with his little finger to crush and break them to pieces; nay, he is able to destroy all the powers of hell and devils in a moment, Psalms 89:10, Psalms 89:13; Job 40:9.
METAPHOR IV. The Arm of a man may be broken, or cut off, and so become useless.
DISPARITY IV. God’s Arm cannot be broken, nor cut off.
METAPHOR V. The Arm of a man helps but for a time; he lives not always, and so cannot help always.
DISPARITY V. The Arms of God can help at all times, and in every condition; hence called the everlasting Arms, Deuteronomy 33:27.
APPLICATION.
1. IF God hath such a strong Arm, let sinners take heed how they provoke him against them; it is a dreadful thing (you may perceive from hence) to fall into the hands of the living God. "Do ye provoke the Lord to anger? Are ye stronger than he," 1 Corinthians 10:22.
2. If God hath such a strong Arm, woe to the enemies of the church? This may make Babylon tremble: "Her plague shall come upon her in one day, death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall be utterly burnt with fire; for strong is the Lord that judgeth her," Revelation 18:8.
3. If the church of God hath such Arms as you have heard, doubtless her enemies shall never prevail against her; it shows forth the security and safety of God’s people; God is able to save and deliver his Church when he pleases.
4. Why should saints be afraid of man, and tremble at the Arm of flesh, who have an Arm of God to help them? Job 40:9, Have men an Arm like him? Alas! their power is weak and vain. "There is no king saved by the multitude of an host; a mighty man is not delivered by much strength." As it is a great sin to trust in an Arm of flesh, "Cursed is the man that trusteth in man;" so it is a great evil and folly to fear what they can do. What hurt can the Arm of man do us? They can only kill the body, that is the most; and so far they are not able to go neither, unless God gives them commission.
5. How soon can God, if he hath such an Arm, break the Arm of the mighty; God can deal with the strongest Arm of flesh. "Son of Man, saith the Lord, I have broken the Arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make strong to hold a sword," Ezekiel 30:21. When God breaks the Arm of a haughty king, it is beyond the skill of his surgeons to set the bones, and make it whole again. "The horn of Moab is cut off, and his Arm is broken," Jeremiah 48:25. A. savage beast (saith one) cannot hurt us, when the horn is broken; no more can a cruel tyrant, when his Arm of power is burst asunder.
6. If this be so, let us engage the Arm of God for us: if we can but get the Almighty to be on our side, we will not fear what hell nor Rome can do unto us. Let us humble ourselves before him, and depart from iniquity; let us trust in God alone, and offend him (as we have done) no more.
7. If God hath such a mighty Arm, then let us all labour to trust in him. We cannot (saith a godly minister
8. This may stir us up to the duty of prayer, to cry mightily in our distresses to God for help; let us pray in this time of need, as the Church doth: "Awake, awake, put on strength, O Arm of the Lord, awake as in the generations of old: art thou not he that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?" Lord, show forth thy might; here is another dragon, a Romish and bloody dragon risen up against thy poor Church, and it is in the power of thy Arm only to deal with him.
9. Seeing God hath such an Arm, let weak Christians pray, that he would lead them, yea, carrying them in his bosom; and let us all daily be in the consideration and meditation of the strength and power of his Arm. We little consider and fear what God can do.