Hosea 3:5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king… There are three points here peculiarly worthy of our notice. The designation which is given to the Gospel dispensation — the "goodness of the Lord." The first stage of its development — "in the latter days." The peculiar effect which this development was to produce on the feelings and passions of men — "They shall fear the Lord." The Gospel dispensation is in itself the essence, the consummation, the perfection of excellence. It deserves that appellation because it is the supreme gift, the supreme evidence, and the supreme instrument of Divine love. Goodness generally excites admiration and gratitude and obedience, but here it is said that the exhibition of goodness produces fear. In the first establishment of the Christian dispensation there was everything calculated to produce fear. The astonishing fall of the Jews. A most splendid exhibition of Divine power. Expectation that the end of the world was at hand. The general principle which we consider is — that the goodness of God in the Gospel is calculated to produce fear. Why? I. BECAUSE THIS GOODNESS THROWS FRESH LIGHT ON THE TERRORS OF SIN. Fear, philosophically defined, is this, a painful sensation produced by the apprehension of imminent danger, and that danger may be the loss of present enjoyment, the fear of future disappointment, or the infliction of positive injury. But this is not the fear of our text. There is in it a holy, reverential, and even pleasing awe, produced in the mind by the sight of those visions which the goodness of God in the Gospels unfolds to the mind. When Divine light pierces the darkness of the soul, the mind sees its guilt, feels its pollution, apprehends its terrific and awful doom. I much question whether any man has ever been converted without, first of all, feeling the sensation of fear. It is impossible for any man to be impressed with the depravity of his own mind unless he is impressed with the excellence of the Gospel. II. BY THE EXHIBITION OF THE GOODNESS OF THE GOSPEL WE SEE THE TERRORS OF SIN IN THE WORLD. Who is the man that detects, mourns over, and attempts by God's help to remove the sin that is in the world? Surely it is the man who has received this light. Let us be alive to the real state of things in the world. III. THE GOODNESS OF GOD IN THE GOSPEL PRODUCES FEAR BECAUSE IT IS AN EXTRAORDINARY ACT OF JEHOVAH, AND ARISES FROM ABSOLUTE SOVEREIGNTY. If our salvation were in our own hands why should we fear? If we had a power superior to any power hostile to our salvation, why should we fear? Or if our salvation depended upon the absolute justice of God — if God could not have been just without saving us, why should we fear? But the fact is that God saves us purely and exclusively because He wishes to do it. The very perfections of the Deity qualify Him to act as a sovereign. He acts from His own spontaneousness. God might not have exercised any sovereignty in the way of mercy. The sovereignty of God does real and positive good. But while it does this good, it leaves the sinner just where he was. There is a real exercise of the sovereignty in the salvation of man. Let us fear, then, because our responsibility is awfully augmented. Our gratitude to God ought to correspond to the character of the blessings which we have received. And our exertions for the good of others ought to correspond to the value of the blessings that we enjoy. (Caleb Morris.) Parallel Verses KJV: Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days. |
    |