Luke 18:1-8 And he spoke a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;… This parable sets before us, under the figure of a widow — a feeble and injured widow — the true character and standing of the Church of God on earth, during the present age. In numbers she is few — a mere election, a gathering out, no more; in power, slender; in honour, little set by; in alliances, little courted. That such is the case, nay, that such must be the case, appears from such things as these: — 1. The Father's purpose concerning her. That purpose has great things in store for her, in the ages to come; but at present her lot is to be weakness, poverty, hardship, and the endurance of wrong. 2. Her conformity to her Lord. He is her pattern, not merely as to character, but as to the whole course of life. In Him she learns what her lot on earth is to be. He, the rejected one, even among His own, she must be rejected too. 3. Her standing by faith. It is the world's unbelief that so specially makes it the world; so it is the Church's faith that makes her what she is, the Church. "We have known and believed the love that God hath to us." 4. The condition of the world out of which she is called. It is an evil world. 5. Her prospects. She is an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ Jesus. The world loves not the faithful widow, and would fain seduce her to a second marriage — a marriage with itself. Decked in costly array, it would admire her, and give her its willing fellowship. But dressed only in the widow's mournful garb, it cannot tolerate her. Her faithfulness to her Lord condemns it. Her seclusion and separation rebuke it. Her continuing in supplication and prayers night and day it cannot away with. The widow's cry sorely disturbs the world's peace, and, ringing nightly through its glittering halls of pleasure, turns all its music into discord. Nor less does Satan dislike the widow's weeds and the widow's cry. For they remind him that his day is short, and that he who is to bind him in chains, and cast him out of his dominions, will soon be here. (H. Bonar, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;WEB: He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray, and not give up, |
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