Revelation 11:16-19 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell on their faces, and worshipped God,… I. IN THE ORIGINAL PRODUCTION OF ALL CREATURES. It is God alone who can create. Man, in the exercise of his wisdom and ingenuity, may indeed form and invent many things, but he must have the materials to work with: when God formed the world He found no materials to work with — He created the materials Himself. He called them into being with His irresistible voice: and when He surveyed the various works of His hands, we are told, they all met with His full approval: "And God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good." All the works of God are finished works; they will bear, as they invite, the closest and most minute inspection; and unlike the works of man, when most examined they will be the most admired. We may notice also the power of God in the greatness of some of His works, and in the smallness of others. The earth which we inhabit is said to be eight thousand miles in diameter, but what is this when compared with the body of the sun, which gives us light day after day, and which is said to be a million of times larger than the earth we inhabit, and ninety millions of miles distant from it. The smallness again of many creatures is equally surprising, as is the greatness of others. II. IN THE PRESERVATION AND GOVERNMENT OF HIS CREATURES. "He upholdeth all things by the word of His power." The planets revolve in their appointed circuits with the most unerring and minute exactness. The various seasons succeed each other in their regular and appointed order. The great and wide sea also, whose billows roar and threaten to overwhelm the earth, is kept by the power of its Maker within its proper and prescribed limits. We may again observe the same Almighty power in making such constant and abundant provision for the vast family of the universe. All the innumerable tribes of beings which inhabit the earth, the air, and the water, "these all wait upon God." The moral government of God is still more wonderful to contemplate. III. IN THE WORK OF OUR REDEMPTION BY CHRIST JESUS. How manifest was this in the person of our Divine Redeemer Himself! And when we come to consider the first planting of our holy religion in the world, by means so feeble and so unlikely to all human appearance, and notwithstanding obstacles so great, we shall see with what propriety the gospel is spoken of as "the power of God unto salvation." The gospel also is intended to produce a great inward change. The corruption of our nature is such as to render this change absolutely needful; and it is a change so considerable and complete, that it is called in Scripture a "new creation"; this, of course, can only be effected by the power of God. And the apostle, as if wanting language to express the greatness of this power, says, "and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward, who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places." One exertion more of the Divine power let us dwell on. When Moses beheld a hush on fire, and yet not consumed, he turned aside to behold it with admiration. In that burning bush he beheld the emblem of Israel afflicted in Egypt, yet not destroyed; and may we not also perceive in it an emblem of the true Christian, "kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation"? And what but the power of God is sufficient for this purpose? Lessons: 1. That God should be held in reverence and adored. 2. Let this Almighty God be also feared. 3. Blessed are they who put their trust in Him. (J. L. F. Russell, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, |
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