Psalm 72:5 They shall fear you as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. The grand doctrine brought before us in these words is the perpetuity of the Church of Christ upon the earth; or the imperishable and indestructible character of His religion. We conceive that the same doctrine that is taught in this text is taught in such passages of Scripture as the following: "The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church — one generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts — of the increase of the government of the Messiah there shall be no end; my salvation shall be from generation to generation." And notwithstanding all the vicissitudes of the Church of Christ, that Church has been preserved through them all. In the reign of Solomon the Church in Israel seemed likely that men would always fear the Lord. But we know what apostasy began in his reign, and went on with scarcely an interruption till the days of the captivity. And then from the time of our Lord there have been seasons of decay, but revival has ever followed. All attempts to efface Christianity have failed, numerous, varied, and severe though they have been. We conclude, therefore, that the Church can never perish so long as time shall endure. (James Smith, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.WEB: They shall fear you while the sun endures; and as long as the moon, throughout all generations. |
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