Bible Commentaries

2 Kings 25:10 — A CITY WITHOUT WALLS ‘All the army of the Chaldees … brake down the walls of Jerusalem.’ 2 Kings 25:10 I. Judah’s fall teaches this: God will not be mocked; what one sows he will have to reap.—It becomes a question of singular interest to ask and answer whether the Lord God our Maker really does mean what He says, when He threatens to punish sin. He

1 Chronicles 29:13 — THANKS AND PRAISE ‘Now therefore, our God, we thank Thee, and praise Thy glorious name.’ 1 Chronicles 29:13 Let us consider our text in the following way:— I. There is the argument for praise.—‘Now therefore.’ This brings us, of course, clearly back to the beginning of the prayer. David begins: ‘Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the

Haggai 1:5 — THE CALL TO THE CHURCH ‘Consider your ways.’ Haggai 1:5 Haggai was the first prophet who rose up in the midst of the congregation of Judah, after his return from Babylon, to declare to it the will and saving purposes of its God. Between him and Zephaniah lay the seventy years of the exile. The Jewish

Matthew 13:31-32 — THE TREE FROM THE SEED ‘The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed … so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.’ Matthew 13:31-32 The truth which our Lord teaches by this parable is that His Church should rise from a small beginning and grow and spread gradually like some vast tree from a very small seed. I. The history of the Church.—And so it has ever been in the history

Matthew 15:22-28 — THE WOMAN OF CANAAN ‘Behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil,’ etc. Matthew 15:22-28 This poor woman was by birth a heathen, a Phœnician; and the Phœnician religion was one of the very worst, the most cruel and degraded, of all the superstitions of the heathen world. Yet this woman had certainly some knowledge of God’s truth,

Matthew 2:15 — CALLED OUT OF EGYPT ‘Out of Egypt have I called My Son.’ Matthew 2:15 At first we are surprised at the use to which the Evangelist puts these words of the prophet. We turn to Hosea 2:1, and it is evident that in their primary intention they do not refer to the child Jesus, but to the children of Israel collectively

Matthew 2:9 — recognise it or not,—the real centre is Christ. Believe that,—that you are being borne on to something which will at last be satisfied. Do not stop, do not expect any end, till that end is a found, felt Saviour. The Rev. James Vaughan. Illustrations (1) ‘When Christ was born, He was revealed,—first to the Jews, and afterwards to the Gentiles,—to “the shepherds,” and then to “the wise men.” And observe that, as the Jews had the priority of time, so also they had a superiority in the manner of the declaration.

Matthew 25:21 — FOUND FAITHFUL ‘His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.’ Matthew 25:21 What we must learn from the saints is to persevere to the end in our struggle. The moral splendour of sanctity is wrapped up in faithfulness; that is the achievement of the saints. That may be yours. Faithfulness is so practical. I. Faithful to conscience.—The

Matthew 4:18 — THE CALL OF ST. ANDREW ‘Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother.’ Matthew 4:18 Of St. Andrew’s life and doings next to nothing is known. After the day of the Ascension we read no more of him. Yet we seem to discern in the few notices three points in his character which deserve study. I. His courage.—It is the first step which

Mark 10:13-16 — CHRIST AND THE CHILDREN ‘And they brought young children to Him, that He should touch them.… And He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and blessed them.’ Mark 10:13-16 The scene here is one of surpassing beauty. Preachers, artists, poets, have conspired to do honour to it. Christ rejoiced in the simplicity and trustfulness of children, and in the joy and gladness of their lives. He watched their games in the

Mark 8:4 — as signs of a Divine compassion and beneficence comes most easily home to us. ( b) They produced a wider and more startling effect than usual upon the mass of men. The multitude hailed Him with enthusiasm as the promised Messiah; they were ( John 6:15) prepared to take Him by force to make Him their king. ( c) The spiritual significance of these miracles is brought out with especial clearness by John in connection with the feeding of the five thousand. In our Lord’s subsequent discourses to His

Luke 1:35 — THE VIRGIN BIRTH ‘That which is to be born shall be called holy, the Son of God.’ Luke 1:35 (R.V.). The doctrine of the Virgin Birth is based on historical evidence, which, when calmly and dispassionately considered, will be found by every fair and reasonable mind to impart almost irresistible conviction. Have we not the declaration of

Luke 10:9 — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MESSAGE ‘Say unto them, the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.’ Luke 10:9 It was a simple message that Christ entrusted to His earnest, expectant band of young field-preachers: ‘The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.’ Twice He repeated it in the final short epitome of instructions with which He armed them for the delightful

Luke 11:4 — TEMPTATION ‘And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.’ Luke 11:4 Temptation is the precincts of sin. The soul that has trespassed, and is restored back again, is desirous to stand aloof from the neighbourhood of sin; it hates everything to do with sin; and therefore its cry is, not, ‘Lead us not into sin,’ but

Luke 11:54 — THE NEW LIBERTY ‘Seeking to catch something out of His mouth, that they might accuse Him.’ Luke 11:54 No intelligent observer could fail to notice the opposition towards Jesus Christ in certain quarters. While the common people heard Him gladly, those who were in authority at Jerusalem set themselves against Him, and soon began to plot together

Luke 2:49 — true purpose of life for which God has intended us. Each has a work to do for God for which we must give account. There is a niche for each of us to fill. If we leave the work undone it will not be done at all. Bishop C. J. Ridgeway. Illustrations (1) ‘To do our “Father’s business” here In humble reverence and fear, Meekly upon His will to wait In little things as well as great, Contented in our lot to rest, ’Tis thus the Christian serves Him best.’ (2) ‘Always be about your Heavenly Father’s

John 12:29 — VOICES OF GOD ‘The people therefore, that stood by … An angel spake to Him.’ John 12:29 We know the group who thus failed to recognise the voice of God—Jews, Greeks, unbelieving priests, etc. No voice reached them. There are voices of God still speaking to us, and according to our spiritual readiness we hear them or let them pass.

John 13:1 — PERFECT LOVE ‘Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.’ John 13:1 The margin of the R.V. reads, ‘to the uttermost’: ‘He loved them to the uttermost.’ I. Great crises, whether of joy or sorrow, reveal character and disposition.—To-morrow Christ was to die. It was the evening hour, and oh! on what a morning was

1 Corinthians 16:22 — CHRISTIAN UNITY ‘If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran=atha.’ 1 Corinthians 16:22 It is not against men who labour under a theological mistake that St. Paul launched his threat, but ‘If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha.’ That is the one unpardonable heresy—to know what the

Colossians 3:1 — ‘RISEN WITH CHRIST’ ‘If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.’ Colossians 3:1 The resurrection of Christ stands not alone as a great and glorious reality. St. Paul avers that others participated in it. Strictly rendered, his words are, ‘If then ye were raised together with Christ.’ I. A wonderful fact.—There is indeed a very