TEHILLIM 140

13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy presence.

The Bible an honoured guest. It is in the hands of many millions who cherish it, though they don't read or understand it. It is on the pedestal, and men bow down to it, though they do not believe it. In this there is great comfort for us when we come to enquire how the Bible has got into such a position. It has come into it through what it is in itself, and through the actual events of the work of God connected with its production.—And the Jews are God's witnesses.

There they are in the very position long ago foretold, wanderers among the nations, carrying with them wherever they go Moses and the prophets which give us their history (under the seal and sanction of Christ, who endorsed Moses and the prophets in his day). All the dreadful things written against Israel in Moses and the prophets have come to pass, God's word has failed in nothing of all that He has said for 3,000 years; and His word is full of prophecy concerning Jew and Gentile.

What then? The guarantee is before our eyes if we have eyes to see. The matter does not stand in the position of a "maybe." The ground of our hope is not hypothetical. It does not rest on something beyond reach among the stars, or concealed in the fathomless depths of the great abyss that lies under our feet. It might well be said to us, as Israel said to Moses:

"It is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it? But the Word is very nigh unto thee."

The Bible, which we see exalted in the land and which we treasure in our own private studies, is a great and palpable reality which brings all the other realities with it to enlightened conviction. The Bible in the earth means that God is in heaven, and that Christ lives, and that the purpose of God will come to pass in the restoration of Israel and the salvation of all His people.

He that caused "the dimness of anguish" to come will bring the everlasting joy. He that brought the darkness and the desolation will cause righteousness and light and praise to spring forth before all the nations. He that in anger overthrew the house of David in the hands of rebellious kings, will as certainly build again the tabernacle of David that is fallen down, and establish it high in all the earth in the hands of His Beloved, under whose shadow Israel will revive, the nations find peace, and the saints be saved with an everlasting salvation, even life for evermore:

"He shall sit upon it in truth, seeking judgment and hasting righteousness."

Then will glory dwell in the land and overflow to the utmost bounds of the earth. Then shall the Lord be King over all the earth: then shall all the nations be blessed in Abraham and his seed. Shall we not share the blessing if we continue patient in our confidence in the covenanted word that pledges all these things? Is it not written,

"Them that honour me, I will honour," and "They shall not be ashamed that wait for me?"

These things are beyond contradiction.

Editor.

The Christadelphian, Nov 1889