I. ITS SOURCE. How does this kingly state come to be conferred on men? 1. By Divine favour. God favours righteousness. This is not apparent on earth, or, at all events, under circumstances of trouble and disappointment. Yet in the long run God sustains and exalts those who follow his will. No man can lift himself up to the high places of God. God, and God alone, raises up and casts down. God "withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous." 2. On condition of righteousness. This is not an arbitrary condition. (1) It is just. The right should prevail. Good men are best fitted to be in the exalted positions. (2) It is natural. If "the meek shall inherit the earth" by a silent law that gives them possession of it, the righteous shall rule it by force of a similar law in the very constitution of things. Right tends to prevail, for there is "a stream of tendencies that makes for righteousness." 3. Through faith. We must add this Christian thought to the teaching of Elihu, if we would have a complete view of the truth. Our own self-made righteousness will never exalt us to a kingly throne. There is no royalty about it. The kingly grace attaches to that righteousness of faith which is the gift of God. II. ITS CHARACTER. In what sense is it said that righteous men are to be with kings on the throne? How can Christians be regarded as kings? 1. In true glory. Good men may not enjoy worldly glory; they may be poor, despised, obscure. Yet in the sight of God and the angels they may be sitting as kings with crowns on their heads. Royal dignity is not a matter of display. There is a glory which no eye of sense can see. 2. In spiritual power. Kings in the East, and in the olden time, were rulers who made their power felt; and in the Bible kingship involves ruling authority as well as reigning dignity. Now, there is influence in goodness. The man of character carries weight with his advice. In course of time he gains respect, and so acquires influence. 3. In future possession. These ideas of the kingship of the good point to a yet unseen future for their perfect realization. Righteousness is not yet by any means universally dominant. The future has in store for us a glorious kingdom of God, when all evil shall be suppressed, and when goodness shall take its rightful place. In that perfect Messianic age, with Christ reigning as King of kings, all his people will have the honour and power of royalty. In the mean time let us recollect that the kingdom must begin within. Until we can rule our own souls we are not fit to sit as kings. Kingly natures are those that have mastered themselves, and so are capable of ruling others. Righteousness implies self-mastery. When the self-mastery is complete it will be time to ask about the larger kingship. - W.F.A.
Behold, God is mighty and despiseth not any. Contempt, whether of men or of things, is a feeling that is alien to God. With Him there is no littleness; He neither spurns, nor slights, nor disregards. And the reason is that He is so mighty.I. GOD IS GREAT IN INTELLIGENCE AND DESPISETH NOT. How great that intelligence is, in its reach, in its grasp, in its certainty, the Scriptures keep continually before us. He whom we worship is the "Only Wise." God sees things not only in themselves, but in their connections, sources, and results; sees them with all those secret accompaniments that make matters that are apparently trivial really significant and momentous. Therefore, though man may be careless, he cares; what man holds lightly, he esteems. We argue from the inerrancy of the Divine judgment. We found on the comprehensiveness of the Divine mind. God is great in knowledge and despiseth not, depreciating neither person nor tiring. II. GOD IS GREAT IN HOLINESS AND DESPISETH NOT. He is so pure and exalted a moral Being Himself, He must needs hold everything of importance into which the moral element enters. Take the minutest moral deflection. He cannot think lightly of that. Sin is sin, whatsoever its scale. He cannot think lightly of the least moral aspiration. The feeblest of our longings, the stretching of a hand, the breathing of a sigh, the dropping of a tear, are matters of interest and importance to Him whose kingdom is a kingdom of uprightness, and who longs for that kingdom to come in the hearts and lives of men. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness. His very purity is a sure guarantee that the yearnings and the strivings of a sin-weary heart will always be precious in His sight. Then beware of contempt. Do not belittle the moral realities. Do not belittle sin. Too often we meet goodness with a spirit of levity. III. GOD IS GREAT IN HIS LOVE AND DESPISETH NOT. 1. The greatness of God's love is a pledge that He will not despise the least or the lowliest disciples. He is not the God of the strong merely, He is the God of the weak. 2. The greatness of God's love is a pledge that He does not despise the least or the lowliest needs. 3. The greatness of God's love is a pledge that He will not despise the least and lowliest services. Whatsoever love offers, love will value, love will store up, and love will reward. Two practical lessons.(1) Observe the light which the text casts on the dignity of everyday life. It illumines our homeliest tasks. Do not think lightly of the homeliest kindnesses.(2) The principle also throws light on the nearness and sympathy of God. He despiseth not little things, therefore consult Him about little things. (W. A. Gray.) 1. Behold this combination in the lower orders of creation. The minutest insects are as well provided for as the cattle on a thousand hills. Compared with man, what are they? Yet God despiseth them not. 2. In the revelation of His Word. All language does but poorly express the great thoughts of God. Yet He condescends to all degrees of thought, The old philosophers concealed their thoughts from common people. 3. In the subjects of the Divine regard. Men are in danger of despising each other. God despiseth not any. 4. In the incarnate life of Christ, how near He seems to come to men! It would not be difficult to survey Hebrew society, and pick out the despised classes — lepers, lost women, publicans. Jesus came very near to the weak and weary, the reviled and persecuted, and they found recovery and rest in Him. 5. In the agencies He employs, God does not pass by His own best materials among men; but He uses the humble prayer of a desolate widow, or the effort of some silent worker, who speaks a word for the Master in quiet places of the city. In the moral world there is no need to despise the day of small things. 6. In the sacrificial atonement of Christ. The magnet of the Cross meets all conditions of men, all types of character, all degrees of education, all depths of ignorance, all forces of rebellion and self-will. 7. In the great gathering of the redeemed. There the rich and the poor, the master and the servant, meet together. Jesus is Lord and brother of men. Deity is linked with humanity in the marks and memories of the manger, the carpenter's home, and the Cross. Many who have had scant mercy from man, will enjoy there the triumphs of the mercy of God in Christ. (W. M. Statham.) ( C. H. Spurgeon.) No one renders a better service to his fellows than he who leads them to a true conception of the character and purpose of God. No one has been so grievously misunderstood, caricatured, and aspersed as God. Men have looked at Him with sceptical eyes, melancholy eyes, sin-damaged eyes, tear-filled eyes, and many of their readings have been grotesque, unsatisfactory, and mischievous. How much misery has resulted froth the thought that God is impersonal — that the throne of the universe is without a King, that we are in the hands of a remorseless fate, that blind forces are evermore giving us shape, that we are accountable to no authority beyond ourselves! How much misery has resulted from the thought that God is cruel! Some have imagined God a merciless monster, an infinite detective, a harsh taskmaster, a vindictive gaoler. How much evil has been caused by the thought that God is exclusive — that only a select number are His children, that for the rest He has no love, no care, no blessing! How much evil has been caused by the thought that God is indifferent, that He dwells in splendid isolation, too self-absorbed to heed man's anguish, to ease his woes, redress his wrongs! Here, then, is our thought — God has a profound reverence for man; and this is so because of His unequalled greatness. This we know runs counter to our general way of thinking. We think of greatness as isolating, separating, and not as uniting men. We think contempt a proper sort of thing, and not often do we see greatness and gentleness going together. Our great teacher John Ruskin says "One of the signs of high breeding in men generally will be their kindness and mercifulness." And Shakespeare says: "Mockery is the fume of little hearts." Now, whatever we may find in men, we see that the greatness of God is not aloofness, not high disdain, not proud contempt, but infinite love, eternal compassion, omnipotent tenderness, absolute devotion to man's interests. Behold, God is mighty — so mighty that we are awed as we think of Him. But He despiseth not, for in Him might and mercy are combined. This is an oft-recurring note of the Bible. "I will sing of Thy power," says the Psalmist, but he adds, "Yea, I will sing aloud of Thy mercy." And again, "He telleth the number of the stars, He calleth them all by their names." But what says the context: "He healeth the broken in heart; He bindeth all their wounds." Oh, beautiful juxtaposition of power and tenderness, knowledge and grace. God does not despise any person. No human soul is valueless in the eye of God; it is more than all else to Him — the jewel of priceless value, the gem of peerless worth. Disparagement of man has been a note of all times, and not least of our own. Man's contempt for man finds luxuriant expression, and all its signs are ugly. Sometimes we see men despising others because of their poverty. Not for this reason does God despise men. Among the indigent He has found His princeliest souls, His most faithful servants. The ban of poverty is nothing to Him. Sometimes we see men despising others because they are commonplace. The world swarms with the colourless, the insignificant, the inept, the failing. Not so does God regard men. The colourless are full of suggestions to Him; the commonplace all have a place in His great heart. He does not measure men superficially, but radically. He takes note, not of the accidental, but of the essential. God is willing to take in hand the inept, the unbrilliant, the unpromising, and to bring their lives to an undreamt-of glory and greatness. Sometimes we see men despising their fellows because of their sinfulness. Man never appears so mean and worthless as when his sin is obvious. He, to whom sin is most offensive; He, whom it has cost more than anyone, despiseth not any sinner. He loves the sinner in spite of his sin, for love sees what nothing else can see. It is in Jesus Christ we see this truth best illustrated. He went straight to the worst. He touched the outcast, and he became a denizen of God's Kingdom. More than comforting is the precious truth that no soul is God-despised. He who despiseth not any person does not despise our desires. How often we despise ourselves because of the paucity of our good desires, or else on account of their feebleness. Well, we may sit in stern judgment on ourselves, and it is well, perhaps, we do so, but God despiseth not any desire. And God does not despise any service. Sometimes we disparage our services. We think them slight, imperfect, obscure. God never overlooks the quiet, obscure workers. Do not despise yourself. Are you poor? So have been earth's noblest children, so have been the peers of piety. Are you sinful? Thank God for the consciousness of your sin; it is a stepping-stone to salvation. Remember, the Church is made up of transmuted failures. God gives to men a second chance, and He delighteth in mercy. Do not despise your fellows. Moreover, it is ours to make it as easy as possible for every prodigal son of our Father to come home. Do not despise God. The adjuration is not unnecessary. Alas! this is the fatal fault of men; they disesteem their Maker, Redeemer, Friend. The Apostle asks: "Despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?"(J. Pearce.) People Elihu, JobPlaces UzTopics Affliction, Afflictions, Bound, Captured, Caught, Chains, Cords, Fast, Fetters, Held, Holden, Prisoned, Prisoners, TroubleOutline 1. Elihu shows how God is just in his ways16. How Job's sins hinder God's blessings 24. God's works are to be magnified Dictionary of Bible Themes Job 36:8 5251 chains 6169 godlessness Library Whether by his Passion Christ Merited to be Exalted?Objection 1: It seems that Christ did not merit to be exalted on account of His Passion. For eminence of rank belongs to God alone, just as knowledge of truth, according to Ps. 112:4: "The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens." But Christ as man had the knowledge of all truth, not on account of any preceding merit, but from the very union of God and man, according to Jn. 1:14: "We saw His glory . . . as it were of the only-Begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth." … Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Whether Christ Acquired his Judiciary Power by his Merits? Whether Christ Will Judge under the Form of his Humanity? Whether the Old Law was from God? Whether Man Can Know that He Has Grace? Whether the Judicial Power Corresponds to Voluntary Poverty? Whether Hypocrisy is the Same as Dissimulation? The Great Teacher "That which was from the Beginning," Whether Hypocrisy is Always a Mortal Sin? Whether those to whom Christ's Birth was Made Known were Suitably Chosen? Divine Grace. Messiah's Easy Yoke Epistle v. To Theoctista, Sister of the Emperor. The Greatness of the Soul, Job Links Job 36:8 NIVJob 36:8 NLT Job 36:8 ESV Job 36:8 NASB Job 36:8 KJV Job 36:8 Bible Apps Job 36:8 Parallel Job 36:8 Biblia Paralela Job 36:8 Chinese Bible Job 36:8 French Bible Job 36:8 German Bible Job 36:8 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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