2 Coríntios 4
Charles Spurgeon · Citado em PreceptAustin
2 Coríntios 4:1-2
Spurgeon addressed the age old tendency of preachers to change the words of the clear Gospel message in order to make it more "seeker friendly" or hip or acceptable ("culturally relevant") writing that "Certain divines tell us that they must adapt truth to the advance of the age, which means that they must murder it and fling its dead body to the dogs...which simply means that a popular lie shall take the place of an offensive truth." John Calvin is quite blunt writing "For just as chaste and honorable women are content with the gracefulness of natural beauty and do not resort to artificial adornments, whereas harlots never think themselves well adorned until they have corrupted nature, so too Paul’s boast is that he has set forth the pure Gospel whereas others have offered a counterfeit Gospel decked out with unworthy additions." (2 Corinthians 4) Earlier Paul had written... we are not like many, peddling (profiteering, adulterating for personal gain) the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God. (2Co 2:17) Paul gives us a wonderful "definition" of the unadulterated Word and its work (efficacy) in men... And for this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God's message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also (present tense = continually) performs its work (energeo - energetic, efficient, effectual, efficacious!) in you who believe. (1Th 2:13+) Kent Hughes has some sobering thoughts on how even evangelical preachers "tamper with the Word of God" noting than instead of actually cutting out the Bible as crass liberal preachers are prone to do... it is far more common for the evangelical preacher to "edit" (Ed: Edit = to alter, adapt, or refine especially to bring about conformity to a standard or to suit a particular purpose!) God’s Word: (1) by removing the text from its context, (Ed: Context must be "king" in order to arrive at accurate Interpretation - see example of danger of misinterpretation) and using it to say whatever the preacher likes (Ed: See example of the mishandling Pr 29:18-discussion), (2) by moralizing the text, so that it is reduced to an ethical maxim that fits any religion, (3) by using the text to promote hobbyhorses (Ed: a topic to which one constantly reverts, a favorite object of pursuit), and (4) by dogmatic insistence that the text says things it does not truly say. This homiletical hocus-pocus has subtle roots such as the desire to be clever and popular or synthetically relevant or intellectually respectable or to make the gospel more acceptable. But most often God’s Word gets watered down by the preacher’s laziness. He simply will not do the hard work to engage and preach a text in its context. (2 Corinthians: Power in Weakness. Preaching the Word) (Bolding and italics added) Comment: How many hours [or perhaps minutes!] does it take for you to prepare your message for Sunday? You are under grace, not legalism and so there is no gold standard given in Scripture, but I have heard that Dr John MacArthur routinely sets aside 20+ hours to prepare his messages. And we can certainly see the fruit of his bountiful sowing! (Remember 2Co 5:9-+, 2Co 5:10-+) John MacArthur (2Corinthians) emphasizes how important it is that pastors and bible teachers constantly strive to derive...the right message from the right passage. Don’t “proof text” your bias or opinions by making the Bible say what you already know you want it to say...like the guy who said, “I’ve already got a sermon; I just have to find a verse for it.” That’s having a preconceived idea and then getting some verses to support it....so there are three errors to avoid... Don’t make a point at the price of a proper interpretation Avoid a superficial interpretation Don’t spiritualize. Warren Wiersbe cautions all of us who handle the Word Truth to strive to rightly divide it (2Ti 2:15-+) ... We must never divorce one part of Scripture from another, but we must always “compare spiritual things with spiritual” (1Co 2:13). We can prove almost anything by the Bible if we isolate texts from the contexts and turn them into pretexts... You can prove anything by the Bible, provided you twist the Scriptures out of context and reject the witness of your own conscience. The Bible is a book of literature and it must be interpreted according to the fundamental rules of interpretation. If people treated other books the way they treat the Bible, they would never learn anything.... Most heresies are the perversion of some fundamental doctrine of the Bible. False teachers take verses out of context, twist the Scriptures, and manufacture doctrines that are contrary to the Word of God. (Bible Exposition Commentary) The Word of God - This phrase occurs 47x in 46v in the NAS - 1 Sam 9:27; 2 Sam 16:23; 1 Kgs 12:22; 1 Chr 17:3; Pr 30:5; Mt 15:6; Mark 7:13; Luke 3:2; 5:1; 8:11, 21; 11:28; John 10:35; Acts 4:31; 6:2, 7; 8:14; 11:1; 13:5, 7, 46; 17:13; 18:11; Rom 9:6; 1 Cor 14:36; 2 Cor 2:17; 4:2; Eph 6:17; Phil 1:14; Col 1:25; 1 Thess 2:13; 1 Tim 4:5; 2 Tim 2:9; Titus 2:5; Heb 4:12; 6:5; 11:3; 13:7; 1 Pet 1:23; 2 Pet 3:5; 1 John 2:14; Rev 1:2, 9; 6:9; 19:13; 20:4 Related Resources: Click Scriptural Descriptions of the Word of God Inductive Study on the Power of the Word of God Walking (4043)(peripateo from peri = about, around + pateo = walk, tread) means literally to walk around, to go here and there in walking, to tread all around. The 39 uses in the Gospels always refer to literal, physical walking. Seven of the 8 uses in Acts are also in the literal sense (except Acts 21:21). (See Spurgeon's comments on what it means to walk) Paul uses peripateo only in the metaphorical sense (32 times in his Epistles) meaning to conduct one's life, to order one's behavior, to behave, to make one's way, to make due use of opportunities, to live or pass one’s life (with a connotation of spending some time in a place). Craftiness (3834)(panourgia from pas = all + ergon = work) is literally "all working" or capable of all work. In the NT panourgia takes on a negative meaning and conveys the ideas of trickery involving evil cunning, cleverness, craftiness, shrewdness, craft or treachery. The idea of "all work" depicts these unscrupulous individuals as willing to stoop to any trick and go the limit! A crafty person is marked by subtlety and guile and is adept in the use of cunning. Beware! (see Paul's warning to the Ephesian elders - Acts 20:28). NIDNTT has the following note regarding the classic use of panourgia..."Its first appearance is in Aeschylus; and from then on in secular Greek its connotation is most commonly pejorative, an unprincipled “capable of doing anything” (e.g. Aristotle, Lysias). Even as a divine attribute (in Euripides, Artemis applies it to Aphrodite) the connotation is negative. In the few instances where the word bears a positive sense, there is a hint of presumption or perhaps deceptive evaluation (Plato, Plutarch). It is possible that the positive ability implicit in the etymology of the word group never got off the ground because in Gk. thought the very idea of such ability is indicative of an arrogance which soon tinges the panourgia with undesirable characteristics. (Brown, Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology) Here are uses of panourgia...(Lk. 20:23; 1 Co. 3:19; 2 Co. 4:2; 2 Co. 11:3; Eph. 4:14) Lk 20:23+ But He (Jesus) detected their trickery and said to them, (The scribes and the chief priests are guilty of “trickery” in their question to Jesus) 1Co 3:19+ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, "He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness"; 2Co 11:3+ But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived (beguiled her thoroughly, seduced her wholly, led her astray - see exapatao) Eve by his craftiness (panourgia), your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. Paul explains that one of the sought after effects of panourgia is to deceive the listener even as Satan deceived Eve (Ge 3:13+)... Eph 4:14+ As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine (Thus the vital importance of the ministry described in Ep 4:11+ - if we are preaching and teaching with stories and humor rather than the Word of Truth, we are failing to arm the disciples to be able to discern Satan's subtle errors and lies. Remember that Satan wages war in the mind and the battle is for truth! Preach the Word! 2Ti 4:2+), by the trickery of men, by craftiness (panourgia) in deceitful scheming; Adulterating (1389) (doloo from dolos which is derived from delo meaning to bait or to catch with bait) is used only here in the NT and means to use deceit, to bait, to ensnare, to corrupt with error, to distort, to falsify. The idea is changing something to cause it be be false (even while it appears to be "true"!). The goal is to beguile, to ensnare or to take by craft. It's like adding a touch of arsenic to pure, life giving water - now it is deadly poison! Doloo was used in secular Greek to describe the dishonest practice of adulterating wine with water. Here Paul is saying in essence "I don't water down the Word of Truth with half truths, funny stories, inappropriate language (which is sadly becoming all to accepted in modern, "hip", "authentic" evangelicalism!)!" It is worth noting that the root word dolos literally refers to a fishhook, trap, or trick -- all of which are various "instruments" of deception. Dolos is a deliberate attempt to mislead, trick, snare or "bait" (baiting the trap in attempt to "catch" the unwary victim), in this case the bait being lies that are spoken that are counter to the Word of Truth (cp Jn 8:44, 2Co 11:13 14 15 2Pe 2:1-+ 2Pe 2:2, 3-+). Dolos reflects a desire to gain advantage or preserve one's position by deceiving others. A modern term in advertising is called "bait and switch" where the unwary consumer is lured in by what looks like an price too good to be true!
2 Coríntios 4:3-4
Spurgeon writes that "According to the text, he that believes not on Jesus Christ is a lost man. God has lost you; you are not his servant. The church has lost you; you are not working for the truth. The world has lost you really; you yield no lasting service to it (Ed: this is the essence of the meaning of apollumi - see below - and this includes all great contributors to arts, sciences, etc -- the point is that if they never become believers, all their labors vanish like the wind in light of an eternal destiny of dreadful doom!). You have lost yourself to right, to joy, to heaven. You are lost, lost, lost... It is not only that you will be lost, but that you are lost ...lost even now. Veiled (2572) (kalupto) means to cause something to be covered over literally (as with a lamp, Lk 8:16, dirt, Lk 23:30, water of waves, Mt 8:24) and hence not be visible. Figuratively, as used by Paul in this verse kalupto means to to cause something not to be known and thus means to hide, conceal, keep secret (cp similar figurative uses in Mt 10:26, Jas 5:20, 1Pe 4:8). Paul explains in the next verse (2Co 4:4) that the Gospel is veiled to those who have refused to believe (THE CAUSE) and have subsequently been spiritually blinded by Satan (THE EFFECT). There is a similar spiritual dynamic seen in Second Thessalonians where Paul is describing the future time during which the Antichrist will be in power (See Daniel's Seventieth Week Chart) that is, the one (referring to the Antichrist, the Man of Sin or Lawlessness, the Little Horn, the Beast of Revelation) whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan (in other words the Antichrist is "energized" by Satan), with all power and signs and false wonders and with all the deception (apate - giving of a false impression) of wickedness (unrighteousness) for those who perish (same word used in 2Co 4:3 - apollumi), because they did not (Gk = ouk = absolute negation) receive (dechomai = they absolutely did not accept it nor welcome it -- the implication is that they had exposure to the Gospel - we have all encountered these individuals) the love of the truth (~the Gospel) so as to be saved. For this reason (What reason? Their unbelief and willful rejection of the truth) God will send upon them a deluding influence (i.e., God actively gives them over to the power of deception = divine retribution/recompense; judicial hardening as God did to rebellious Israel in the OT) so that they will believe what is false (Now they believe but error rather than truth!), in order that (PURPOSE CLAUSE) they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure (DELIGHTED IN, WERE WELL-PLEASED) in wickedness. (2Th 2:10-12+)
2 Coríntios 4:3-4
Spurgeon: Here is personal interest, "my light," "my salvation;" the soul is assured of it, and therefore, declaring it boldly. "My light;" -- into the soul at the new birth divine light is poured as the precursor of salvation; where there is not enough light to see our own darkness and to long for the Lord Jesus, there is no evidence of salvation. Salvation finds us in the dark, but it does not leave us there; it gives light to those who sit in the valley of the shadow of death. After conversion our God is our Joy, Comfort, Guide, Teacher, and in every sense our Light; He is light within, light around, light reflected from us, and light to be revealed to us. Note, it is not said merely that the Lord gives light, but that He "is" light; nor that He gives salvation, but that He is salvation; he, then, who by faith has laid hold upon God has all covenant blessings in His possession. Psalm 44:3 For by their own sword they did not possess the land, And their own arm did not save them, But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence, For You favored them. Psalm 78:14 Then He led them with the cloud by day And all the night with a light (Lxx = photismos) of fire. Comment: It is interesting to see photismos used to describe the pillar of fire which was associated with the presence of the Angel of the LORD, Who most observers agree was a preincarnate manifestation of Christ (Ex 13:21, Ex 14:19, Ex 14:19NLT). Psalm 90:8 You have placed our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your presence. The light of the Gospel - The Gospel has inherent power (Col 1:5, 6 = the Gospel is likened to a "supernatural seed" [cp 1Pe 1:23] which is has the power to be "constantly bearing fruit") which brings supernatural spiritual light to liberate those entrapped in the kingdom of spiritual darkness. (The Gospel has the power) to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.' (Acts 26:18, cp Isa 29:18 35:5 Isa 42:6,7) The LORD (Jehovah) opens (Lxx translates with "sophoo" in the present tense = Jehovah continually makes wise, gives wisdom to) the eyes of the blind (Lxx = tuphlos/typhlos); The LORD raises up those who are bowed down; The LORD loves the righteous (Ps 146:8-+) Spurgeon comments: Jesus did this very frequently, and hereby proved himself to be Jehovah (See Jehovah = Jesus). He who made the eye can open it, and when He does so it is to His glory. How often is the mental eye closed in moral night! And who can remove this dreary effect of the fall but the Almighty God. This miracle of grace He has performed in myriads of cases, and it is in each case a theme for loftiest praise. Spiritual blindness, its curse, cause, and cure. The Lord raises them that are bowed down. This also Jesus did literally, thus doing the work peculiar to God. Jehovah consoles the bereaved, cheers the defeated, solaces the despondent, comforts the despairing. Let those who are bowed to the ground appeal to him, and he will speedily upraise them. William Law: Precious lessons are learned from contemplating God's gracious dealings. His people are born in the prison-house of Satan. God removes the shackles; they go forth free. They are (spiritually) blind by nature. He opens their eyes to see all the wonders of redeeming love. Heavy burdens often oppress them. He enables them to lay aside every weight so as to run with patience the heavenward road. He delights to cheer them with manifestations of His love. They are strangers and pilgrims in an enemy's land. He is their constant guardian. In family destitution He brings relief. But just wrath burns fiercely against His adversaries forever and forever. God shall reign inhabiting the praises of His people. Bless the Lord, O our souls. Amen. F B
2 Coríntios 4:5-6
Spurgeon: I would not give much for your religion unless it can be seen. Lamps do not talk, but they do shine. Alistair Begg: If you can't shine, at least twinkle! Oswald J. Smith: The light that shines the farthest will shine the brightest at home. D. L. Moody: A Christian is the world's Bible — and some of them need revising. It is a great deal better to live a holy life than to talk about it. We are told to let our light shine, and if it does we won't need to tell anybody it does. The light will be its own witness. Lighthouses don't ring bells and fire cannons to call attention to their shining--they just shine. (Ed: A great word picture for Lighthouses do keep vessels from crashing into the rocks and being completely destroyed!) Spurgeon: The sermons most needed today are sermons in shoes. G. Campbell Morgan said that the church did the most for the world when the church was the least like the world. Today, many churches have the idea they must imitate the world in order to reach the world. Beloved, our great nation ("One Nation Under God") will not decay and collapse because of the evil peddlers of pornography or life destroying drugs, but because of Christians who are no longer as salt (Mt 5:13) and light. Sinners will always act like sinners because that is all they can do! But when saints begin acting like sinners, their compromise hurts not only themselves and their families and churches, and ultimately contributes to the decay of the entire nation. Are you as convicted as I am? LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE OUT Fanny Crosby O let your light, tho’ little, shine out, Our Lord’s command fulfilling, To live for Him wherever we go, And seek His will to do. Refrain Shine on, little light, shine on, Shine on so bright and clear; Shine on, little light, and bring A smile for ev’ry tear. Matthew 17:2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. Luke 17:24 "For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. Acts 12:7 And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter's side and woke him up, saying, "Get up quickly." And his chains fell off his hands. I love the use of lampo in Pr 4:18, an OT parallel to Jesus' description of believers in Mt 5:16... Pr 4:18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. The Septuagint of Pr 4:18 translated into English is rendered... But the ways of the righteous shine (Lxx = lampo in the present tense = Believers are continually lighting up the darkness of this lost world!) like light; they go on and shine, until the day be fully come. Here are the other two uses of lampo in the OT... Isaiah 9:2 The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine (Lxx = lampo) on them. (Quoted in Mt 4:16, Lk 1:78, 79)
2 Coríntios 4:7-9
Spurgeon - Mark then, Christian, Jesus did not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He bore a cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that, and expect to suffer. The Weaver My life is but a weaving between my Lord and me, I cannot choose the colors He worketh steadily. Oft times He weaveth sorrow and I in foolish pride Forget He sees the upper and I the underside. The dark threads are as needful in the weaver’s skillful hand As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned. Not till the loom is silent and the shuttle cease to fly Shall God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why. 2 Corinthians 4:9 persecuted but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed (NASB: Lockman) Greek : diokomenoi (PPPMPN ) all' ouk egkataleipomenoi (PPPMPN) kataballomenoi (PPPMPN) all' ouk apollumenoi, (PMPMPN) Amplified: We are pursued (persecuted and hard driven), but not deserted [to stand alone]; we are struck down to the ground, but never struck out and destroyed; (Lockman)
2 Coríntios 4:13-15
Spurgeon has a sermon entitled "Faith Justifying Speech" (based on Ps 116:10). Trust in the Lord motivates a person to action.
2 Coríntios 4:13-15
Spurgeon comments: I could not have spoken thus if it had not been for my faith: I should never have spoken unto God in prayer, nor have been able now to speak to my fellow men in testimony if it had not been that faith kept me alive, and brought me a deliverance, whereof I have good reason to boast. Concerning the things of God no man should speak unless he believes; the speech of the waverer is mischievous, but the tongue of the believer is profitable; the most powerful speech which has ever been uttered by the lip of man has emanated from a heart fully persuaded of the truth of God. Not only the Psalmist, but such men as Luther, and Calvin, and other great witnesses for the faith could each one most heartily say, "I believed, therefore have I spoken." Paulus Palanterius: It is not sufficient to believe, unless you also openly confess before unbelievers, tyrants, and all others. Next to believing follows confession; and therefore, those who do not make a confession ought to fear; as, on the contrary, those should hope who speak out what they have believed. John
2 Coríntios 4:16
Spurgeon says it well: After having been driven far out to sea, Asaph casts anchor in the old port. We shall do well to follow his example. There is nothing desirable save God; let us, then, desire only him. All other things must pass away; let our hearts abide in him, who alone abideth for ever. Paul echoes what all aging believers know (or should know) and that is that there is comfort in the fact that decay is accompanied by renewal. And yet the psalmist presents a excellent prayer we would all to well to utter from time to time… Do not cast me off in the time of old age. Do not forsake me when my strength fails. (Ps 71:9) Spurgeon comments: Alas for us, if we were abandoned by our God, as many a courtier has been by his prince! Old age robs us of personal beauty, and deprives us of strength for active service; but it does not lower us in the love and favour of God. An ungrateful country leaves its worn out defenders to starve upon a scanty pittance, but the pensioners of heaven are satisfied with good things. Do no forsake me - Bear with me, and endure my infirmities. To be forsaken of God is the worst of all conceivable ills, and if the believer can be but clear of that grievous fear, he is happy: no saintly heart need be under any apprehension upon this point. In the present context the literal sense is used signifying a gradual bodily incapacitation and loss of one's strength. In a sense we are "wasting away" in the aging process. Diaphtheiro is used of the worm or moth that eats provisions. As noted in the 6 NT uses below, diaphtheiro can refer to either physical or moral destruction. Keeping the context in mind, we need to think first of the deterioration on Paul's body wrought by the many hardships he has just described (eg 2Co 4:8, 9, also see Paul's Living Martyrdom). In other words, what brought about the deterioration of his body was the cumulative effect of his manifold sufferings. The present tense signifies this process of physical decay and deterioration is inexorable and unavoidable. The seeds of decay and dissolution are in the body from birth. There is no "fountain of youth" for the outer man, but there is one for the inner man! For the believer the unavoidable truth of ongoing decay of the outer man is lessened by the truth of a corresponding ongoing renewal of the inner man. The New American Bible paraphrase picks up this association "our inner being is renewed each day even though our body is being destroyed at the same time." Bernard - Here the decay (diaphtheiretai) of the bodily organism is set over against the growth in grace (anakainoutai, is refreshed) of the man himself. (2 Corinthians 4) Albert Barnes on decaying…"Grows old; becomes weak and feeble; loses its rigour and elasticity under the many trials which we endure, and under the infirmities of advancing years. It is a characteristic of the "outer man" that it thus perishes. Great as may be its rigour, yet it must decay and die. It cannot long bear up under the trials of life, and the wear and tear of constant action, but must soon sink to the grave. Notes on the New Testament Explanatory and Practical. (2 Corinthians 4) John Gill…"Our outward circumstances of life are very mean and despicable; we are oftentimes in a very distressed condition through hunger, thirst, nakedness, and want of the common necessaries of life; our bodies are almost worn out with fatigue, labour, and sorrow; our earthly tabernacles are tottering, and just ready to fall in pieces (2 Corinthians 4) Decaying (1311)(diaphtheiro from dia = intensifies meaning + phtheiro = to ruin, corrupt, spoil, shrivel, destroy, defile) (English = diphtheria) means to cause the complete destruction, to destroy, corrupt or decay utterly (through and through so to speak), to rot thoroughly, to ruin, to pervert utterly, perish. It always signifies a change for the worse. The Bible uses diaphtheiro literally of physical corruption, destruction or decay (Re 8:9, 11:18, Jdg 6:6Lxx) or figuratively of moral decay (1Ti 6:5, Jdg 2:19Lxx) Diaphtheiro - 6x in 5v in the NT, translated decaying(1), depraved(1), destroy(2), destroyed(1), destroys(1). See also the related noun - diaphthora - decay - Acts 2:27, 31 13:34, 35,36, 37. Another derivative adiaphthoria is used once in Titus 2:7 calling for young men to let their teaching have freedom from corruptible mixtures or adulterations. The exhortation was not to mix in teaching or doctrine (didaskalia) with anything that would in any way corrupt and deprive Christian teaching of its eternal value! Oh my, how pulpiteers need to heed this exhortation in a day when truth is becoming more and more difficult to find in the very place that should be the bastion and defender of Biblical truth. Diaphtheiro - 59x in 56v in the non-apocryphal Septuagint (LXX) - Jdg 2:19; Jdg 6:5; 16:7, 16:8; 20:21, 25, 35, 42; Ru 4:6; 1Sa 2:25; 6:5; 13:17; 14:15; 23:10; 26:15; 2Sa 1:14; 11:1; 14:11; 20:20; 24:16; 2Kgs 8:19; 13:23; 18:25; 19:12; Ps 13:1; 52:2; 56:1; 57:1; 58:1; 74:1; 77:38, 45; Eccl 5:5; Mic 2:10; Nah 2:3; Zeph 3:7; Mal 1:14; 2:8; 3:11; Isa 49:19; Jer 5:26; 6:5, 28; 12:10; 13:7; 15:6; 27:45; 28:1, 25; Lam 2:5f, 8; Ezek 20:44; 23:11; 28:17; Da 7:19 Judges 2:19+ But it came about when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly (Heb = shachath; Lxx = diaphtheiro - here used figuratively to describe the decay in their heart, the character, their conduct) than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways. Judges 6:5+ For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in like locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to devastate ("devour" continues image of a locust plague) (Heb = shachath; Lxx = diaphtheiro) it. Jeremiah 6:28 All (speaking of faithless Judah) of them are stubbornly rebellious, going about as a talebearer. They are bronze and iron; They, all of them, are corrupt. (Heb = shachath; Lxx = diaphtheiro in the perfect tense = describes their permanent state) Here are the NT uses of diaphtheiro Luke 12:33+ "Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys (present tense = continually). Comment: Everyone can identify with this portrayal of the destruction wrought by a moth on some fine suit or dress -- it is usually ruined even though the holes may be small. 2Corinthians 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 1Timothy 6:5 and constant friction between men of depraved (perfect tense = speaks of a the permanence of this condition, cp 2Ti 3:7, 8) mind and deprived (passive voice = something pulled them away from the truth) of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. Comment: Note relation between a depraved mind and a "deprived mind"! Their depravity is in accord with their lack of truth. John
2 Coríntios 4:16
Spurgeon - As our body, through pain and disease, is constantly sinking towards the grave, here is our continual consolation,-that our inner man is renewed day by day. Inner man - the inward, nonphysical, spiritual self. The redeemed man. The Spirit-supported self. Synonyms in this section - "a building from God, a house not made with hands" (2Co 5:1). Compare "the hidden person of the heart" (1Pe 3:4+). Not only is Christ in us (Col 1:27+), but our now "life is hidden with Christ in God." (Col 3:3-+). Paul uses a similar expression in Romans where he declares… For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, (Ro 7:22+) Adam
2 Coríntios 4:17
Spurgeon adds that "A Christian man should be willing to be tried; he should be pleased to let his religion be put to the test. ‘There,’ says he, ‘hammer away if you like.’ Do you want to be carried to heaven on a feather bed? Henry Morris rightly notes that "No one likes troubles of this kind, but they may be seen as difficulties to be overcome, as ways of opening up new possibilities. One who sees them in this light glories in them (light affliction but for a moment) Martin Luther wrote that "Whatever virtues tribulation finds us in, it develops more fully. If anyone is carnal, weak, blind, wicked, irascible, haughty, and so forth, tribulation will make him more carnal, weak, blind, wicked and irritable. On the other hand, if one is spiritual, strong, wise, pious, gentle and humble, he will become more spiritual, powerful, wise, pious, gentle and humble. John
2 Coríntios 4:17
Spurgeon - We cannot be established except by suffering. It is of no use our hoping that we shall be well-rooted if no March winds have passed over us. The young oak cannot be expected to strike its roots so deep as the old one. Those old gnarlings on the roots, and those strange twistings of the branches, all tell of many storms that have swept over the aged tree. But they are also indicators of the depths into which the roots have dived. Thomas Brooks - A PERSPECTIVE ON A BELIEVER'S PRESENT AFFLICTIONS - Christian! Your present afflictions are not great—if compared with the afflictions and torments of many of the damned, who when they were it this world, never sinned at so high a rate as you have done! There are many now in hell, who never sinned against such clear light as you have done, nor against such special love as you have done, nor against such precious mercies as you have done! Certainly there are many now a-roaring in everlasting burnings—who never sinned as you have done! What are your present afflictions and troubles—compared to the torments of the damned, whose torments are … without intermission, without mitigation, numberless, bottomless, remediless, and endless! Who have … weeping served for the first course, and gnashing of teeth for the second course, and the gnawing worm for the third course, and intolerable pain for the fourth course! Yet the pain of the body is least part of pain. The very soul of sorrow and pain—is the soul's sorrow and pain! The everlasting alienation and separation from God is served for the fifth course! Ah, Christian! how can you seriously think on these things and not lay your hand upon your mouth—even when you are under the greatest temporal sufferings? Your sins have been far greater than many of those who are now in hell, and your great afflictions are but a flea-bite compared to theirs! Therefore hush your murmuring, and be silent before the Lord! William Dyer - Oh! beloved, there is more evil in the least sin against Christ—than in the greatest suffering for Christ! 2 Corinthians 4:17 1. Our sufferings for Christ are but light. 2. Our sufferings for Christ are short—but for a moment. 3. Christ stands by us in our sufferings. 4. Our sufferings are ordered by the Father. 5. Our sufferings shall not hurt our souls. (The Strait Way to Heaven) THE FRUIT OF AFFLICTION: We sometimes say that certain people have "two strikes" against them. By this we mean they start out their lives under the cloud of some difficulty. It may be the character of their parents, their environment, their appearance, or a disability that came upon them while they were still young. One such person was Mercy Goodfaith. She was an orphan, and at the age of ten was unhappy, sickly, ill-tempered, ugly, and hunch-backed. No one seemed to love her, and no one wanted her until one day a woman came to the orphanage looking for a child no one else would take. Thirty-five years later reports were circulated that one county-appointed home for orphans stood out above all others. A case-worker reported that the children were clean and happy. The matron of this home frequently sang with the children while one of the older girls assisted by playing on a small pump organ. They all seemed to have a deep affection for the housemother and constantly flocked about her. She in turn gave each one the utmost in love and gracious attention. This great and helpful woman was none other than the outwardly ugly hunchback named Mercy Goodfaith. Her affliction had not made her bitter, but had led her into a life of service and devotion to others. The patriarch Joseph also experienced a great deal of misfortune in his lifetime, first at the hand of his brothers and then in his early days in Egypt. He did not deserve the things he suffered. Yet he never became spiteful, never lost his faith, but was able to give a glowing testimony of his submission to the ways of God. The trials were necessary in order that the Lord's loving purpose for the sons of Jacob might be fulfilled. GREAT PREACHERS: The greatest sermons I have ever heard were not preached from pulpits but from sickbeds. The deepest truths of God's Word have often been taught by those humble souls who have gone through the seminary of affliction. The most cheerful people I have met, with few exceptions, have been those who've had the least sunshine and the most pain and suffering in their lives. The most grateful people I have ever known were not those who had traveled a pathway of roses all their lives, but those who were confined to their homes, some to their beds, and had learned to depend on God. The gripers, on the other hand, are usually those who have the least to complain about. The men and women who are the most cheerful and the most grateful for the blessings of Almighty God are often those who have gone through the greatest trials. The Bible tells us that if we respond properly to the trials of life, we will develop patience and godly maturity (Ro 5:3-+, Ro 5:4, 5-+; Jas 1:3, 4-+). We must keep in mind that our present sufferings are "but for a moment" and that they are being used by God for our eternal good (2Corinthians 4:17, 18). Some of life's greatest lessons are learned in the school of affliction. Surprised By Trials - A young man looked forward to joining the US Marine Corps after high school. But after just 3 weeks in boot camp, he wanted out. After he got an administrative discharge, he said, “I didn’t know it would be that hard.” Like that recruit, many Christians are surprised by life’s trials. But just as this young man should have known what he was getting into, we too have been warned that the life of a follower of Christ is not all fun and games. In 1Pe 4:12-+ we read, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.” The clear message: “Don’t be surprised by trials.” That doesn’t sound like good news, but it’s not the whole story. Consider the reassuring words of Ro 8:18-+, where Paul declared that our present sufferings cannot compare with the glory that will be ours in heaven. Our trials will be over, and everlasting joy will follow. Trials are an inescapable part of this life. But God’s Word assures us that they will turn to joy in the morning of His heavenly presence. God's love for His Son was never a shield To keep Him from Calvary's cross; God's love for His children demands that we yield To trials that burn out the dross. —Gustafson Man's highest good may come from his deepest suffering. 'It Came To Pass' Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. —2 Corinthians 4:17 Today's Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:8-18 Some members of a church were sharing their favorite Scripture passages with each other. A number of verses were quoted, most of them on salvation, assurance, or God’s provision. One elderly man, though, stood up and said that his favorite words in the Bible were “It came to pass.” He continued, “When sickness strikes, it encourages me to know that it will pass. When I find myself in trouble, I know it won’t last forever. I’ll soon be able to say, ‘It came to pass.'” Although this man had placed a different meaning on those words than the writers of Scripture intended, he saw in them an important truth that is found in the Bible. No matter how unending a trial may seem, the day will come when it will no longer be a burden or a source of distress. In fact, it will seem like nothing in the light of eternity. Second Corinthians 4:17 tells us that our “light affliction . . . is but for a moment.” Knowing that our burdens are temporary enables us to bear them with a triumphant outlook. Be still, my soul—the hour is hastening on When we shall be forever with the Lord, When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored. —von Schlegel We can endure anything if we depend on Christ for everything. Groans Now, Glory Later - I once heard of a Christian seminar titled, “How To Live A Stress-Free Life.” Such an unrealistic hope promptly made me stressful! Yet we all long for relief from life’s many pressures. A Christian friend of mine whose family is experiencing tough times admits feeling let down by God. She said, “I’ve prayed, agonized, and claimed promises, but nothing changes. The frustrating thing is that I know He has the power to get us out of this. I’ve seen Him do it before, but this time He’s silent.” Larry Crabb, in his book Inside Out, emphasizes that our only hope for complete relief from hardship is to be with Jesus in heaven. “Until then,” he says, “we either groan or pretend we don’t.” He adds, “The experience of groaning, however, is precisely what modern Christianity so often tries to help us escape.” My friend is groaning and she’s not pretending she isn’t. Like all of us, she simply wants things to change. But the fact is, something is changing—she is! The obstacles that we must face Along life’s rocky way Are used by God so we might hear “Well done” from Him someday. —Sper God often uses a setback to move us forward. J C Philpot Devotional (June 8) O suffering saints of God! tried and afflicted children of the most High! raise up your thoughts as God may enable you--lift up your eyes, and see what awaits you. Are you tried, tempted, exercised, afflicted? It is your mercy. God does not deal so with every one. It is because you are his children, that he lays on you his chastening hand. He means to conform you to the image of his Son in glory, and therefore he now conforms you to the image of his Son in suffering. 'O but,' you say, 'I cannot believe it is so!' No; if you could, it would not be much of a trial. This is the trial of faith--to go groaning on, struggling on, sorrowing on, sighing on; believing against unbelief, hoping against hope; and still looking to the Lord, though there is everything in nature to damp the hopes and expectations of your waiting souls. Yet all will end well with the people of God. Their life here is a life of temptation, of suffering and trial; but heaven will make amends for all. And if our faith is now tried as "with fire," it will one day "be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." In that day when the secrets of all hearts will be brought to light, the faith of thousands will be found to be little else than presumption; but the faith of God's dear family will then be crowned with "praise and honor and glory;" and they shall see the Lamb as he is face to face, when all tears are wiped away from all faces. (Devotionals) PRODUCING FOR US AN ETERNAL WEIGHT OF GLORY FAR BEYOND ALL COMPARISON: hemon kath' huperbolen eis huperbolen aionion baros doxes katergazetai (3SPMI) hemin: producing: Ps 119:67,71 Mt 5:12 Ro 5:3, 4, 5 Php 1:19 2Th 1:4,6 Heb 12:10,11 Jas 1:3,4,12 2 Corinthians 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries They who wait on the Lord Can bear the weight of adversity. For they await the weight of glory! It is ironic that earlier Paul had used the noun form of "weight" to declare… For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened (weighed down = bareo from baros = weight) excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; (2 Co 1:8) Spurgeon said that "The tears of affliction are often needed to keep the eye of faith bright". In turn it is the eye of faith that sees eternal glory in the midst of one's temporal afflictions. NO CROSS NO CROWN Romans 8:18-25 is an excellent commentary on this passage… Romans 8:18-25 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. 24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. We see the principle of a cross before a crown in Acts 14 where Paul and Barnabas traveled through the cities… strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:22) God never wastes our suffering. Trials work for us, not against us. Suffering today means glory tomorrow. (1Pe 1:6, 7, 8; 1Pe 5:10; Ro 8:18). Remember that The Lord tests the righteous to bring out the best in them, but Satan tempts them to bring out the worst. When we trust the Lord in the difficulties of life, our trials work for us and not against us and lead to glory. In Hebrew the root for glory means ‘to be heavy’ and thus ‘to be glorious’. Hence we note the the striking image of glory "outweighing’ troubles" -- usually we think of troubles, not glory, as heavy! David
2 Coríntios 4:17
Spurgeon - He can scarcely find words big enough to express the contrast between what believers now have to endure and what they shall for ever enjoy. Play Keith Green's old classic Trials Turned to Gold He's brought me low — So I could know — The way to reach the heights. — To forsake my dreams — My self-esteem — And give up all my rights. — With each one that I lay down, — A jewel's placed in my crown. — Because His love — The things above - — Is all we'll ever need. — He's brought me here — Where things are clear, — And trials turn to gold.
2 Coríntios 4:18
Spurgeon asks… How was it that when cast down Paul was not destroyed-that when troubled he was not distressed? What sustained him? He gives us the key to this fortitude by telling us that he counted his afflictions light because they were, in his estimation, but for a moment ; and they were working out for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. He was calm and happy midst rage and tumult, violent prejudice, and adverse, and even disastrous, circumstances, because, in the language of the text, he looked not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen, reckoning that the things which are seen are not worth looking at, so transient are they, while the things unseen are of priceless worth, because they are eternal. That is our subject at this time: Firstly, things not to be looked at; and, secondly, things to be looked at. The text wears the shape of a double paradox. Things that can be seen are, naturally, the things to be looked at. What should a man look at but what he can see? And yet the apostle tells us not to look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. How can things invisible be looked at? That again is a paradox. How can you look at what you cannot see? This is only one paradox of the Christian life, which is all paradox, and the riddle lies rather in the words than in the sense. We shall soon discover that there is no Contradiction or incongruity, no difficulty whatever… The word "look"… means, first, lightly esteeming both present joy and present sorrow, as if they were not worth looking at. The present is so soon to be over that Paul does not care to look at it. There is so little of it, and it lasts such a brief time, that he does not even deign to give it a glance, he looks not at it. Here he is persecuted, despised, forsaken. "It will not last long," saith he. "It is but a pin's prick; it will soon be over, and I shall be with the goodly fellowship above, and behold my Master's face." He will not look at it. He ignores it. Thus it behoves us to do if surrounded with trials, troubles, present sorrows; we should not think so much of them as to fix our attention, or rivet our gaze on them. Rather let us treat them with indifference and say, "It is really a very small matter whether I am in wealth or in poverty, in health or in sickness; whether I am enjoying comforts or whether I am robbed of them. The present will be so soon gone that I do not care to look at it. I am like a man who stays at an hostelry for a night whilst he is on a journey. Is the room uncomfortable? When the morning breaks it is of no use making a complaint, and so he merely chronicles the fact, and hastens on. He says to himself, "Never mind, I am up and away directly; it is of no use fretting about trifles." If a person is going a long distance in a railway carriage, he may be a little particular as to where he shall sit to see the country, and as to which way he likes to ride; but if it is only a short stage- between, say, the Borough Road and the Elephant and Castle-he does not think about it. He does not care in whose company he may be, it is only for a few minutes; he is hardly in before he is out again, it is a matter not worth thinking about. That is how the apostle regarded it. He reckoned that his present joys and present sorrows were so soon to be over that they were to him a matter of indifference, not even worth casting his eye that way to see what they were. "Doth Jesus bid me go to Rome?" says the apostle. "Then I do not look to see whether I shall be housed in Nero's hail or caged in Nero's dungeon. It is for so short a while that if I can serve my Master better in the dungeon than I can in the palace, so let it be. My casual lot shall be my well-contented choice. It shall be a matter, if not of cool indifference, yet still of calm serenity, for it will be soon over, and gone into history. A whole eternity lies beyond, and therefore a short temporality dwindles into an insignificant trifle." What a blessed philosophy this is which teaches us not even to look at passing, transient troubles, but to fix our gaze on eternal triumphs. (This excerpt is just to give you a sample of Spurgeon's sermon - I encourage you to read the entire encouraging message - Vanities and Verities) Seen (991) (blepo) basically means to have sight, to see, to look at, then to observe, to discern, to perceive with the eye, and frequently implies special contemplation (e.g., often in the sense of “keep your eyes open,” or “beware” [see #6 below]). Friberg's summary of blepo - see, look at; (1) of sense perception see (Mt 7.3); (2) in contrast to being blind be able to see (Lk 7.21); figuratively, of spiritual perception see, understand, be aware of (Jn 9.39; Ro 11.8); (3) of careful observing look at, regard (Mt 5.28; Jn 13.22); (4) of mental functions; (a) as directing one's attention take notice of, regard, consider (1Co 1.26); (b) as taking warning watch, beware, take heed (Mk 13.9); (c) as mentally perceiving discover, find, become aware of (Ro 7.23) (Analytical Lexicon) Blepo indicates greater vividness than horao, a similar verb meaning "to see", for according to W E Vine blepo expresses "a more intentional, earnest contemplation. in Luke 6:41, of beholding the mote in a brother’s eye; Luke 24:12, of beholding the linen clothes in the empty tomb; Acts 1:9, of the gaze of the disciples when the Lord ascended. The greater earnestness is sometimes brought out by the rendering “regardest,” Mt. 22:16. (Vine, W E: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. 1996. Nelson) TDNT says that like horao "blepo also means “to see” with a stronger emphasis on the function of the eye, so that it serves as the opposite of “to be blind.” It can also be used for intellectual or spiritual perception, and in the absolute for insight… (another word for seeing is) theáomai suggests spectators and denotes attentive seeing, i.e., “to behold.” Having a certain solemnity, it is used for visionary seeing and the apprehension of higher realities…(Blepo) first denotes ability to see as distinct from blindness (Mt 12:22; 15:31; Mk 8:23-24; Lk. 7:21; Jn. 9). Seeing the book in Rev. 5:3, 4 includes reading. Scrutiny is implied in Mt. 22:16. God’s seeing in Mt. 6:4 is a secret one. Jesus sees the Father’s works in Jn. 5:19 (cf. Jn 8:38). Angels see the face of God in Mt 18:10. Empirical seeing is the point in Ro 8:24, 25; 2Co 4:18; He 11:1ff. Figuratively blepo can mean “to note,” “to perceive” (Ro 7:23; Col 2:5). (Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Eerdmans) Vine adds that blepo means "“to look,” see, usually implying more especially an intent, earnest contemplation. Blepo is also used of (a) bodily and (b) mental vision, (i.) “to perceive,” e.g., Mt. 13:13; (ii.) “to take heed,”Blepo It especially stresses the thought of the person who sees.Blepo primarily, “to have sight, to see,” then, “observe, discern, perceive,” frequently implying special contemplation, is rendered by the verb “to look” in Luke 9:62 (Vine, W E: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. 1996. Nelson) Some uses of blepo are rendered showing "regard" (KJV) or "partiality" (NASB) (Mt 22:16, Mk 12:14). The idea of "regard" is to observe or to notice with some particularity, to attend to with respect and estimation. Mounce writes that blepo "is a general word meaning “to see.” It commonly refers to seeing physical objects (Mt 15:31; Lk 7:21; Jn 9:7). It can also mean “to look at, watch” such as watching a woman with lustful intent (Mt 5:28) or looking at the “speck” in someone else’s eye (Mt 7:3). In Rev 5:3, 4, no one is able “to looking into” the scroll (Rev 5:3, 4) except the Lamb.(Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words) In secular Greek blepo was commonly used of bringing a ship to land… think of our life as a "ship of faith" moving through the fog, avoiding the dangerous reefs by keeping our focus on the Lighthouse on the shore. The idiom blepo eis prosopon = literally to see into the face = to judge on the basis of external appearances Below are the various nuances of blepo - note that there definitions often overlap making the following distinctions somewhat arbitrary. (1) To have sight, see with the eye - simple vision (Mt 11:4, 12:22, 14:30 15:31 24:2 Mk 5:31 13:2 Lk 7:44 8:16) Lk 10:23 And turning to the disciples, He said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, 24 for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see (eido) the things which you see, and did not see (eido) them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them. " Jn 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (2) Seeing as opposed to literal blindness (This meaning clearly overlaps with #1) (Mt 12:22, 13:16, 15:31, Mk 8:23, 24 Lk 7:21 Jn 9:7, 15, 19, 25, Acts 9:9, Ro 11:8, 10, Re 3:18) (3) Figuratively of spiritual perception (and spiritual blindness) - to understand, be aware of (Mk 8:18 Lk 8:10 Jn 9:39, Ro 11:8) Mt 13:13 (also Mk 4:12) Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing (simple vision) they do not see (describes seeing without spiritual perception), and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Mt 13:16 (also Mt 13:17) "But blessed are your eyes, because they see (Blepo ~ not just physically see but see with spiritual understanding); and your ears, because they hear. Heb 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Comment: True faith is NOT based on empirical evidence but on divine assurance, and is a gift of God. Our goal, then, as George MacDonald once said, is to "grow eyes" to see the unseen. (4) Of careful observing - to look at, to observe (Lk 9:62 Acts 1:11 Jn 13:22) Mt 5:28 but I say to you, that everyone who looks ( present tense. = continually, not a glance but a gaze!) on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. Comment: The “look” that Jesus mentioned was not a casual glance, but a constant stare with the purpose of lusting. (Job31:1) It is possible for a man to glance at a beautiful woman and know that she is beautiful, but not lust after her. The man Jesus described looked at the woman for the purpose of feeding his inner sensual appetites as a substitute for the act. It was not accidental; it was planned. This use of blepo combines the ideas seeing and perceiving. To perceive means to attain awareness or understanding of. Webster's 1828 says perceive means "To have knowledge or receive impressions of external objects through the medium or instrumentality of the senses or bodily organs; as, to perceive light or color; to perceive the cold of ice or the taste of honey." (5) Directing one's attention to something - to take notice, regard, consider (Lk 6:41 1Co 1:26) Lk 6:41 "And why do you look (Blepo used figuratively in the context of not just seeing but of passing judgment) at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 42 "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see (Blepo - figurative sense here of spiritual discernment) the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye. Lk 9:62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (6) Seeing with the idea of "seeing to" something = Have your eye on so as to beware of. - to watch, to take heed, to take care. To see with the mind’s eye, to discern mentally, to turn the thoughts or direct the mind to a thing. Mt 24:4 (similar uses in Mk 13:5, 9, 23, 33, Lk 21:8) And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it (present imperative = command calling for continual attention. Calls for constant vigil.) that no one misleads you (Context = the last days, the days preceding the Messiah's return. Deception will be common). Mk 4:24 (similar use in Lk 8:18) And He was saying to them, “Take care (present imperative = command calling for continual attention) what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. Mk 8:15 (see also Mk 12:38) And He was giving orders to them, saying, “Watch out! Beware (present imperative = command calling for continual attention) of the leaven of the Pharisees (= hypocrisy Lk 12:1) and the leaven of Herod (secularism and worldliness).” Ac 13:40 Therefore take heed (present imperative = command calling for continual attention), so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you: 1Co 3:10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful (present imperative) how he builds on it. 1Co 8:9 But take care (present imperative) that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 1Co 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed (present imperative = command calling for continual attention) that he does not fall. Gal 5:15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care (present imperative = command calling for continual attention) that you are not consumed by one another. Eph 5:15 - Therefore be careful (present imperative = command calling for continual attention. Why? see v16) how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil. Php 3:2 Beware (present imperative = command calling for continual attention) of the dogs, beware (present imperative = command calling for continual attention) of the evil workers, beware (present imperative) of the false circumcision Col 2:8 - See to it (present imperative = command calling for continual attention) that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. Col 4:17 Say to Archippus, “take heed (present imperative = command calling for continual attention) to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.” Comment: A good warning for all who are in active ministry (we should all be involved in some way!) 2 Jn 1:8 Watch (Keep a watchful eye on yourselves; "Look out") (present imperative = command calling for continual attention - why? see Mt 26:41-+) yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Comment: All believers will receive praise at the judgment or bema seat of Christ according to 1Cor 4:5, but some believers shall suffer loss of their rewards as described in 1Cor 3:11, 12, 13, 14, 15) Heb 3:12 Take care (present imperative = command calling for continual attention), brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. Comment: “Be seeing to it constantly, keep a watchful eye ever open,” is the idea. Be on your guard against enemies both within and without.The ruin of others should be a warning to us to take heed. Heb 12:25 See to it (present imperative = command calling for continual attention) that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. (7) Looking with the sense of to discover, to find, to become aware of (Mt 7:3, Mt 13:13 Lk 8:10 Ro 7:23 He 7:23). Mt 7:3 "Why do you look (blepo) at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Blepo - 132x in 116v NAS translates blepo - beware(5), careful(1), careful*(1), consider(1), facing(1), guard(1), keep on seeing(2), look(7), looking(5), looks(1), partial*(2), saw(12), see(54), seeing(8), seen(8), sees(8), sight(2), take care(5), take heed(5), watch(1). (+: Most of the uses of blepo are in the present tense. More than half of uses of blepo are in the Gospels = 72x)- Mt 5:28-+; Mt 6:4-+, Mt 6:6-+, Mt 6:18-+; Mt 7:3-+; 11:4; 12:22; 13:13, 14, 16, 17; 14:30; 15:31; 18:10; 22:16; 24:2, 4; Mk 4:12, 24; 5:31; 8:15, 18, 23, 24; 12:14, 38; 13:2, 5, 9, 23, 33; Lk 6:41, 42; 7:21, 44; 8:10, 16, 18; 9:62; 10:23, 24; 11:33; 21:8, 30; 24:12; Jn 1:29; 5:19; 9:7, 15, 19, 21, 25, 39, 41; 11:9; 13:22; 20:1, 5; 21:9, 20; Acts 1:9; 2:33; 3:4; 4:14; 8:6; 9:8, 9; 12:9; 13:11, 40; 27:12; 28:26; Ro 7:23-+; Ro 8:24, 25-+; Ro 11:8-+, Ro 11:10-+; 1Co 1:26; 3:10; 8:9; 10:12, 18; 13:12; 16:10; 2Co 4:18; 7:8; 10:7; 12:6; Gal 5:15; Ep 5:15-+; Php 3:2-+; Col 2:5-+, Col 2:8-+; Col 4:17-+; He 2:9-+; He 3:12-+, He 3:19-+; He 10:25-+; He 11:1-+, He 11:3-+, He 11:7-+; He 12:25-+; Jas 2:22; 2Jn 1:8; Rev 1:11-+, Re 1:12-+; Re 3:18-+; Re 5:3, 4-+; Re 9:20-+; Re 11:9-+; Re 16:15-+; Re 17:8-+; Re 18:9-+, Re 18:18-+; Re 22:8-+. Blepo - 109x in 98v in the non-apocryphal Septuagint - Gen 45:12; 48:10; Exod 4:11; 23:8; Num 21:20; Deut 4:34; 28:32, 34; 29:3; Josh 18:14; Jdg 9:36; 13:19f; 19:30; 1 Sam 3:2; 4:15; 9:9, 11, 18; 16:4; 25:35; 26:12; 2 Sam 14:24; 1 Kgs 1:48; 12:24; 17:23; 2 Kgs 2:19; 9:17; 1 Chr 9:22; 21:3; 29:29; 2 Chr 4:4; 5:9; 10:16; Neh 2:17; Esth 2:15; 5:1; Ps 9:32, 35; 39:13; 68:24; Prov 4:25; 12:13; 16:25; Eccl 8:16; 11:4, 7; 12:3; Song 1:6; Job 10:4; Amos 8:2; Hag 2:3; Zech 4:2; 5:2; Isa 6:9; 8:22; 21:3; 29:18; 38:14; 44:18; Jer 5:21; 20:18; 49:2; Lam 3:1; Ezek 8:3, 14; 9:2; 11:1; 12:2; 13:3, 6; 40:6, 19ff, 32, 40, 44ff; 42:7f, 15f; 43:1f, 4, 17; 44:1; 46:1, 12, 19; 47:1f; Dan 3:55. TDNT comments on the use of blepo in the Septuagint - In the main the Hebrew original is the same as for horáō. Ability to see is mostly in view, including ability to perceive. God is the subject in Ps. 10:11. Prophetic vision is at issue in Am. 8:2; Zech. 4:2; 5:2. (Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Eerdmans ) Riches Obscure Need of Heaven - For his first sermon in an elementary preaching class, Lawrence, an African student, chose a text describing the joys we'll share when Christ returns and ushers us to our heavenly home. "I've been in the United States for several months now," he began. "I've seen the great wealth that is here—the fine homes and cars and clothes. I've listened to many sermons in churches here, too. But I've yet to hear one sermon about heaven. Because everyone has so much in this country, no one preaches about heaven. People here don't seem to need it. In my country most people have very little, so we preach on heaven all the time. We know how much we need it." Worldliness, Distraction Of Worldliness (Or Looking at the Things Which are Visible) - SOME time ago, I was on Fifth Avenue walking and paused to look at a lifelike mannequin in a store window. I quickly realized that she wasn't a mannequin because she blinked. She almost fooled me though because everything else about her was stationary. Other people began gathering in front of the window and they attempted to get her to break her concentration. People were making faces, making fun of her, knocking on the window, and just doing everything they could to get her to move. But she held her ground. There was something more important than pleasing folk on the other side of the glass. What was more important was pleasing her employer, who was paying her to stand at that window. For you to live a focused life, a life untouched by worldliness, you are going to have to ignore the folks on the other side of the glass. (Tony Evans' Book of Illustrations). Homily from Pulpit Commentary - Observe: 1. That there are things invisible to the bodily eye that can be seen by the soul. There are two classes of invisible things: (1) those that are essentially invisible, such as thoughts, spirits, God; and (2) those that are contingently invisible, such as those things that are visible in their nature, but, through minuteness, distance, or some other cause, are at present invisible. It is to the first of these that the apostle refers—things that are essentially invisible to the bodily eye. The soul can see thoughts, moral intelligences, and the great God. 2. That the things that can be seen only by the soul are not temporal, but eternal. We talk about the everlasting mountains, eternal sun, etc.; but there is nothing that is seen is lasting—all is passing away. Moral truths are imperishable; spiritual existences are immortal; God is eternal; these are things belonging to a kingdom that cannot be moved. 3. That the things that are seen only by the soul are the things that, if realized, will make this mortal life issue in transcendent good. (The pulpit commentary - Homily) Another Homily - Be not much concerned about the things of this life. (2Co 4:18.) These are perishing. The imperishable are our better portion. Look not at the things which are seen; they are not worth looking at. “Set your affection on things above” (Col. 3:2.) 3. Look at things unseen by the carnal sense, but clear to faith’s vision. (2Co 4:18.) God, Christ, holiness, usefulness, spiritual joys, the new Paradise,—these are “eternal.”—H. Homily entitled… "Seeing the unseen" I. The habit of mind here described. The apostle speaks, not of an act or effort, but of a steady mental habit which he had formed—an intentness of regard in a particular direction (Ed: As emphasized by "look" is in the present tense = continuous action). He describes it in a form that sounds paradoxical, but the thing meant is well known to all experimental (experiential) Christians. The things seen and not seen in this passage are not the visible and invisible by mortal eyes, as in Ro 1:20. The things not seen in the verse before us are so, not because they cannot be seen, but because the time has not yet come for their manifestation. The things seen, from which Paul turned away his eyes, were the toils and afflictions endured by him as a servant of Christ. The things not seen were the rewards of faithful service at the coming of the Lord—the “weight of glory.” And the habit here indicated is that of looking off from labours and sufferings to the glorious appearing of the Lord, and the bright “recompense of reward.” It is the highest form of looking on the cheerful side of things. As this is a habit, it must be formed by degrees and by reiterated efforts. By bending the mind as much as we can towards the future with Christ, we must train it to habitual expectation and desire. (Ed: Note that 1 in 20 verses in the NT speaks directly or indirectly of the Second Coming, so clearly God seeks to continually draw out attention to the unseen eternity which will be culminate in Christ's return). II. The reason assigned for forming this habit. “For the things which are seen are,” etc. Paul reflected that “the sufferings of the present time” were, after all, of short continuance. The affliction he endured was only for a moment as compared with the eternity before him. So he felt that he would outlive and triumph over all his trials. They were temporal, and so could not reach into the life beyond or mar the hope laid up for him in heaven. Was not this the way with the Divine Master himself? For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame. And so should all who are his bear the cross and endure patiently, because the time will not be long and the things not seen are eternal. III. The benefits which accompany or flow from this habit when formed. 1. Elevation of the tone of life. Life is as its motives are; and the motives come from the convictions, fears, and hopes that are strongest in the mind. A superficial religion has not power enough to cleanse the heart or ennoble the principles of conduct. But a formed habit of regarding the things eternal as those to which we hasten must raise and refine the character. “Every one who has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure.” (1Jn 3:3-+) And this is no selfish hope, no egotistical ambition. It is the hope of being crowned along with all who love his appearing (2Ti 4:8), and of being rewarded along with all the faithful servants of the King. 2. Consolation in hardship and adversity. Even when a lamp is not near enough to cast a clear light on our path, it is cheering to see it in a murky night; and so are we comforted as we look for the glory with Christ. We move towards it over ever so rugged a path. We steer towards it over ever so restless a sea. If we look at the things which are seen, the waves and the threatening rocks, we lose strength and courage; but with the eye fixed on the light of that blessed hope, we make straight for the harbor. 3. Preparation for departure hence. It is appointed to men to die. To take no thought about this appointment, and to occupy the mind with only the things that are seen, forgetting their transience, is to play the part of a fool. The wise man is he who, while fulfilling the duties of the passing time, looks much and steadily into the future, and so, when he departs, goes, not into regions unknown, but to the Saviour, whom he has loved and served, to wait with him and with all the saints for the resurrection and the glory.—F. (The pulpit commentary) FOR THE THINGS WHICH ARE SEEN ARE TEMPORAL, BUT THE THINGS WHICH ARE NOT SEEN ARE ETERNAL: ta gar blepomena (PPPNPN) proskaira, ta de me blepomena (PPPNPN) aionia: for: Mt 25:46 Lev 16:25,26 2Th 2:16 1Jn 2:16,17,25 2 Corinthians 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries For the things which are seen are temporal - temporary, transitory, phantasmal, passing Temporal (4340) (proskairos from pros = for, toward + kairos = an opportune time) means literally for a season and just like a season comes and goes, so proskairos conveys that sense (of that which is passing, temporary). The idea pf proskairos is that which lasts for only for a short or limited time (= temporary, transient). It follows that proskairos is the direct opposite of that which is eternal or everlasting. In a secular Greek religious writing we read "behold, all the property of my father P. is transitory and evanescent (tending to vanish like vapor = proskairos), but the bounties of your inheritance, Lord, are incorruptible and eternal’" In the letter of Diogenes, proskairos is used to described the fire of persecution as proskairos or only for a short time (unlike Jesus' description in Mt 25:41, 46). In another secular use proskairos described a person as one who "lasts only a little while (proskairos)". Proskairos is the exact antithesis of aionios (eternal). Proskairos is used only 3 other times in the NT (no uses in the non-apocryphal Septuagint)… Matthew 13:21+ (20 "And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word, and immediately receives it with joy) yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. Comment: How tragic to have such a seemingly positive reception, which proves to be only emotional and not volitional (a choice of the will). This individual hears what seems to be a happy release from his troubles and fears, and so receives Christ immediately and joyfully. But there is no root and no foundation, for his purely experiential faith (profession but not "possession"). This individual feels good about it for a while, but salvation does not come through feelings. Note that the unbelieving world does not persecute the believer because of his or her joyful feelings but because of the Living Word and Christ in them. Emotional professors who have no grounding in the solid truth of the Word, cannot resist attacks by unbelievers. Mark 4:17+ (Context = Mk 4:16) and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary (quick to sprout, quick to stumble); then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. A T
2 Coríntios 4:18
Spurgeon writes that In our Christian pilgrimage it is well, for the most part, to be looking forward. Forward lies the crown, and onward is the goal. Whether it be for hope, for joy, for consolation, or for the inspiring of our love, the future must, after all, be the grand object of the eye of faith. Looking into the future we see sin cast out, the body of sin and death destroyed, the soul made perfect, and fit to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. Looking further yet, the believer's enlightened eye can see death's river passed, the gloomy stream forded, and the hills of light attained on which standeth the celestial city; he seeth himself enter within the pearly gates, hailed as more than conqueror, crowned by the hand of Christ, embraced in the arms of Jesus, glorified with Him, and made to sit together with Him on his throne, even as He has overcome and has sat down with the Father on his throne. The thought of this future may well relieve the darkness of the past and the gloom of the present. The joys of heaven will surely compensate for the sorrows of earth. Hush, hush, my doubts! Death is but a narrow stream, and thou shalt soon have forded it. Time, how short-eternity, how long! Death, how brief-immortality, how endless! Methinks I even now eat of Eshcol's clusters, and sip of the well which is within the gate. The road is so, so short! I shall soon be there. When the world my heart is rending With its heaviest storm of care, My glad thoughts to heaven ascending, Find a refuge from despair. Faith's bright vision shall sustain me Till life's pilgrimage is past; Fears may vex and troubles pain me, I shall reach my home at last. Bubbles On The Border - Stuck in a long line at the US-Canada border, Joel Schoon Tanis had to do something to lighten the mood! He reached for his bottles of bubble-making solution, bounded out of the car, and began blowing bubbles. He handed bottles to other drivers too, and he says that “soon there were bubbles everywhere… It’s amazing what bubbles do for people.” The line didn’t move any faster, but “suddenly everyone was happy,” Joel says. “What we see depends mainly on what we look for,” said British statesman John Lubbock (1834–1913). A good attitude and the right focus help us to handle life joyfully, even though it doesn’t change our circumstances. Paul encouraged the Corinthians in their trials: “Do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2Co 4:18). So what’s unseen and eternal that we can look at? The character of God is an excellent place to focus. He is good (Ps 25:8), He is just (Is 30:18), He is forgiving (1Jn 1:9), and He is faithful (Dt 7:9). The eyes of faith when fixed on Christ Give hope for what’s ahead; But focus on life’s obstacles, And faith gives way to dread. —D. De Haan When Christ is the center of your focus, all else will come into proper perspective. What's Inside - A third-grader was asked to write an essay on the subject of the human body. He submitted this masterpiece: “Your head is kind of round and hard, and your brains are in it and your hair is on it. Your face is in front of your head where you eat and make faces… Your stummick is something that if you don’t eat often enough it hurts, and spinach don’t help none… Your arms you got to have to throw a ball with and so you can reach the butter. “Your fingers stick out of your hands so you can throw a curve and add up rithmatick. Your legs is what if you don’t have two of, you can’t run fast. Your feet are what you run on, and your toes are what always get stubbed. And that’s all there is of you, except what’s inside, and I never saw that.” In a different sense, the rich farmer in Luke 12 also was unable to see “what’s inside.” He thought he had “the good life.” He was dead wrong. What we put in barns or closets or garages do nothing for the soul. Have you thought of where you're going When this earthly life is past? Will the seed that you are sowing Bring a harvest that will last? —Jacobsen Life is more than the stuff we store. Obscured by Clouds We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.2 Corinthians 4:18 Today's Scripture & Insight: 2 Corinthians 4:16–18 A rare supermoon appeared in November 2016—the moon in its orbit reached its closest point to the earth in over sixty years and so appeared bigger and brighter than at other times. But for me that day the skies were shrouded in gray. Although I saw photos of this wonder from friends in other places, as I gazed upward I had to trust that the supermoon was lurking behind the clouds. The apostle Paul faced many hardships but believed that what is unseen will last forever. He said how his “momentary troubles” achieve “an eternal glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Thus he could fix his eyes “not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,” because what is unseen is eternal (v. 18). Paul yearned that the Corinthians and our faith would grow, and although we suffer, that we too would trust in God. We might not be able to see Him, but we can believe He is renewing us day by day (v. 16). What does it mean for you to fix your eyes on what is unseen? How does your hope in Jesus help you face the difficulties of life? Lord God, sometimes I feel like You’re far from me. Help me to believe the truth that You are ever near, whether I feel Your presence or not. Temporary Or Eternal - The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were wonderful indeed! These impressive creations of human genius include the Tomb of Mausolos, built in 350 bc; the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus; the Hanging Gardens of Babylon; King Ptolemy’s lighthouse near Alexandria; the 100-foot statue of Apollo called the Colossus of Rhodes; the 40-foot statue of Zeus in the city of Olympia; and the great pyramids of Egypt. Six of these remarkable achievements have been destroyed—Ptolemy’s lighthouse by an earthquake, and the other five demolished by plunderers. Only the pyramids remain to fill us with awe. We may marvel over these Seven Wonders, but we must never forget that everything in our world is temporary. I remember looking at the skyline of New York City from the stern of a ferryboat and recalling the lines of a hymn: “These all shall perish, stone on stone; but not Thy kingdom nor Thy throne.” Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day, Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away; Change and decay in all around I see— O Thou who changest not, abide with me! —Lyte Hold tightly to what is eternal and loosely to what is temporal. What Will Last? - I have a friend who was denied a doctorate from a prestigious West Coast university because of his Christian worldview. As he was approaching the conclusion of his studies, his advisor invited him to come into his office and informed him that his dissertation had been rejected. My friend’s first thought was of thousands of dollars and 5 years of his life taking flight, and his heart sank. But then he thought of the words of the hymn by Rhea Miller: I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold, I’d rather be His than have riches untold; … I’d rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today. And then my friend laughed—for he realized that nothing of eternal value had been lost. How we respond to loss is all a matter of perspective. One person is absorbed with the permanent; the other with the passing. One stores up treasure in heaven; the other accumulates it here on earth. One stays with a difficult marriage because heaven is on ahead; another moves out and looks for happiness in another mate. While one believes that happiness is found in being rich and famous, Christ’s followers are willing to suffer poverty, hunger, indignity, and shame because of “the glory that will be revealed” (1Pe 5:1). I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause, I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause; I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame, I'd rather be true to His holy name. —Miller Living only for temporary gain leads to eternal loss. John Angell James, 1846 in THE TRUE CHRISTIAN HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Cor. 4:18 "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." Col. 3:2 My dear friends, The subject of this address is heavenly-mindedness. It may seem, perhaps, that there is considerable sameness in these first three letters of the series which it is my intention to lay before you. That they are alike and related, I admit, but not that they are identical; and, indeed, they are selected on account of their relation to each other, and with the hope of mutually aiding to deepen, by the repetition and concentration of one train of thought, the impression which each by itself, and the three together, are intended to produce. Heavenly-mindedness is an expression that explains itself, it is the minding of heaven; or the exercise of the thoughts and affections upon those invisible but eternal realities, which are declared by the Scriptures to await the Christian beyond the grave. Spirituality is one branch of holiness; and heavenly-mindedness is spirituality, exercised in reference to one specific object—the celestial state. Alas! how little of this is there to be found even among professing Christians—"How low their hopes of heaven above, How few affections there." The description given by the apostle of the predominant taste and pursuits of the men of the world—"They mind earthly things"—too well suits a large proportion of those who have 'professed' to come out from the world, and to be a people separated unto God. How engrossed are they, not only in the business, but in the cares, the love, and the enjoyment of earthly vanities. Who would imagine, to see their conduct, to hear their conversation, to observe their spirit—so undevout, and so worldly—that these were the men, who have heaven in their eye, their heart, their hope? Even to them, we would be inclined to think, that the Paradise of God is nothing more than a name, a sublime fiction, a sacred vision, which, with all its splendor, has scarcely power enough to engage their thoughts and fix their regards. How little effect has it to elevate them above a predominant earthly-mindedness, to comfort them in trouble, to minister to their happiness, or to mortify their corruptions. Can it be that they are seeking for, and going to glory, honor, and immortality—who think so little about it, and derive so small a portion of their enjoyment from the expectation of it? What is heaven? The Bible, and the Bible only, can answer this question—and even this, though a revelation from God, but partially discloses the infinite and eternal reality. There is enough to excite, sustain, and animate hope—but far too little to gratify curiosity. Substantials are revealed, circumstantials are withheld. In the Bible heaven is represented, rather as a state of mind, than as a place. Where objects of sense and locality are spoken of, they are to be understood, for the most part, in a figurative, and not in a literal meaning. The description of the celestial world, as we find it in the Word of God, has always appeared to me one of the most striking and convincing of the internal evidences of Christianity. The Elysium of the Greeks and Romans; the Paradise of Mahomet, and the various fantastic ideas of the world beyond the grave, entertained by modern pagans, are all of the earth, earthly; nothing more or better than earthly and sensual gratifications rendered immortal. How different the heaven of the New Testament; how pure, how spiritual, how unearthly, how divine! How strictly in harmony with the sublime and holy character of God! How befitting a creature, intelligent and holy! How completely different from everything which the unholy, sensual, and earthly mind of man would ever have devised! How far remote from the track of all his thoughts! Heaven is usually called eternal life, that is—eternal happy existence—everlasting existence, with all that can render existence a blessing. But what are the elements of its felicity? As regards our own condition, they consist of a soul, possessed of perfect knowledge, perfect holiness, perfect liberty, perfect love; united with a body raised from the grave, incorruptible, immortal, and spiritual. As regards our relations to other beings, heavenly bliss means our dwelling in the immediate presence of Christ; the perfect vision, service, likeness, and enjoyment of God—the society and converse of angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect. Connected with this, is the absence of everything that annoys, disturbs, or distresses us in this life. Such is the scripture-representation of heaven, as will be seen by consulting the following scriptures. Psalm 16:11; 17:15. John 3:14, 15, 36; 17:24. Rom. 2:7; 8:18. 1 Cor. 15. 2 Cor. 4:17. Philip 1:21; 3:21. Heb. 4:9; 12:22-24. 1 John 3:2. Rev. 7:9-17; 21.,22. "My chief conception of heaven," said Robert Hall to Wilberforce, "is rest."—"Mine," replied Wilberforce, "is LOVE; love to God, and love to every bright and holy inhabitant of that glorious place." Hall was an almost constant sufferer from acute bodily pain; Wilberforce enjoyed life, and was all amiability and sunshine; so that it is easy to account "for their respective conceptions of this subject. What a mercy that both these conceptions are true." Yes, both are true; and the union of rest and love, perhaps, conveys, within a small compass, the most correct idea of the heavenly state. Following the order of the representation given in the address on Spirituality of Mind, I observe, that heavenly-mindedness means the spontaneous, frequent, delightful, practical bent of our reflections toward eternal life. A heavenly-minded man is one who, as a convinced, condemned sinner, having obtained a title to eternal life, through faith in the blood and righteousness of Christ, and a fitness for it, in the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, considers himself as a pilgrim and stranger upon earth—regards heaven as his native country, and as instinctively turns his thoughts to it, as he who in a distant part of the world, feels his mind and heart attracted to his home. Scarcely a day passes during which no thought of his mind, no glance of the eye of faith, turns to the glory to be revealed. In his solitary musings in the house, or by the way, the object is present to his mind to occupy his thoughts, to refresh and delight his spirit—and when he is with others like-minded with himself, it is his delight to converse upon the country to which they are traveling. Precious to him are those parts of Scriptural revelation which speak of the life to come, and exhibit to him, amid the darkness of his way, the distant lights of his father's house. Sermons that represent the holiness and happiness of heaven are delightful to his heart; books that describe it are congenial with his taste; and the songs of Zion, which sounds like the echo of its divine harmonies, excite all his hallowed sensibilities, and elevate his spirit to catch some of the falling rays of the excellent glory. The beautiful symbols of heavenly bliss, the city too bright with inherent splendor to need the sun; the walls of jasper, the gates of pearl, and streets of pure gold, like unto clear glass; the crown of life; the harp of gold; the palm of victory; the white robe; the song of salvation sounding from the countless multitude of the redeemed; all by turns seize and fix his imagination; while his enlightened judgment and his holy heart, letting go these brilliant images, repose upon the realities they are intended to portray—the presence of God, the vision of the Lamb, the sinless purity, the eternal rest, the communion of the blessed, the fellowship of angels. The heavenly-minded man not only employs his thoughts, but sets his affections on things above. His hope and his heart are there. He does not wish it, it would not be proper that he should, instantly to dissolve his ties with earth, and leaving his family and connections fly the next moment to his eternal home—he is willing to wait as long as it is his heavenly Father's will to detain him upon earth—but he is willing to leave all and go to God, whenever it is judged proper by him to decide the matter—that he should go up to the mount and die. His hopes of heaven do much to destroy his love of life—and fear of death. If nature shrinks, as it sometimes will, at the approach of dissolution, he looks beyond the gloomy passage, and anticipates by a lively hope, the moment when "lifting his last step from the wave, having passed the stream of death, he shall linger and look wondrously back upon its dark waters, then gilded with the light of immortality, and rippling peacefully on the eternal shore." It is not in suffering only that he feels a longing after immortality, for it is no indication of heavenly-mindedness to wish to depart in order to get rid of trouble. Impatience to die is often felt by those who have ceased to feel any attractions in life, and the grave is coveted as a shelter from the 'storms of earth'. There is nothing holy in such wishes; nothing heavenly in such impatience; it is only nature groaning after rest, and not grace longing for its perfection. Perhaps the most holy frame is to have no will or wish about the matter—but a readiness to live or die as God shall appoint. If, however, a preference may be cherished, and the soul rises into a longing to depart, the only ground on which it can with propriety be indulged is—an earnest desire to get rid of sin—to be near and like Christ—to serve God more perfectly—and to glorify him more entirely. And such desires after immortality, when no tie binds us to earth, are legitimate and holy. Happy moments there sometimes are, alas! how rare, in the experience of the spiritual Christian, when such are his views of the desirableness of heaven, that he feels as if he should be glad to break down the prison-walls of his spirit, and let her go forth into the liberty of her eternal felicity. The celebrated John Howe once had such a view of heaven, and such a desire to depart, that he said to his wife—"Though I think I love you as well as it is fit for one creature to love another, yet if it were put to my choice, whether to die this moment, or live through this night; and living this night would secure the continuance of life for seven years longer, I would choose to die this moment." Still the glory of a Christian is to be neither weary of the world nor fond of it; to be neither afraid of death nor impatient after it; to be willing to go to heaven the next hour from the greatest comforts—or to wait for it through many lingering years, amid the greatest hardships, the most self-denying and laborious duties, and the severest and most complicated sufferings. The heavenly-minded man goes farther than this, and prepares for future glory. Considering heaven not merely as an object of delightful contemplation of devout imagination, or of holy revery—a sublime and splendid picture for a visionary piety to gaze upon—but as a state of moral being, action, and service, for which a fitness is required—he diligently cultivates those dispositions which the Word of God assures him belong to, and are to be exercised in the celestial state. He has a post to fill, a situation to occupy, a service to perform in heaven, and for which he knows the necessary qualifications must be acquired on earth. Death is only a physical change, and as far as we can understand, produces no moral effect. Grace is the preparation for glory, and he who has most grace, is most fitted for glory. The man who is going to occupy a place in the palace, endeavors to acquire courtly manners, and to provide himself with a court dress. So the eminently spiritual Christian considers himself as going in to dwell in the palace of the King of kings, and his great business upon earth is to prepare himself with the qualifications and dress of the celestial court. And as he clearly perceives that the prevailing dispositions of heaven are purity and love, he labors to grow in holiness and charity. If asked, in any situation or circumstance, or at any period, what are you engaged in or employed about? his answer is, "I am dressing for heaven; making myself ready to go in and dwell with Christ. Having a post to fill in the divine palace, I am preparing for it by the mortification of sin, and a growth in grace." Such is heavenly-mindedness—but, alas! where is it to be found? I know where it ought to be found—in every professing Christian. His principles demand it, his profession requires it, his prospects justify it. "If we should give a stranger to Christianity an account of the Christian's hopes, and tell him what Christians are, and what they expect to enjoy before long, he would sure promise himself to find so many 'angels' dwelling in human flesh, and reckon when he came among them, he should be as amid the heavenly choir; every one full of joy and praise. He would expect to find us living on earth as the inhabitants of heaven—as so many pieces of immortal glory, lately dropped down from above, and shortly returning there again. He would look to find everywhere in the Christian world 'incarnate glory', sparkling through the overshadowing veil; and wonder how this earthly sphere should be able to contain so many great souls." And oh, how astonished, surprised, and disgusted would he be to witness the earthly-mindedness, and to hear the worldly conversation of the great bulk of professing Christians—as if heaven were nothing more than a splendid painting to adorn their temples of religion, and to be looked at once a week; but not a glorious reality to be ever before their eyes, to form their character, to regulate their conduct, support them in trouble, and furnish their chief happiness! What a source of strong consolation and ineffable delight is a heavenly mind to its possessors! This is what the apostle calls "rejoicing in hope of the glory of God." Could we actually look into the celestial world, and see its felicities and honors; could we hear the very sounds of paradise, and have the songs of the redeemed continually, or at intervals, undulating on our ear; could the rays of the excellent glory, literally fall upon our path—how constantly would we go on our way rejoicing, as we reflected that each step brought us nearer to this world of light and love; and of purity and immortality! How soft would be the cares, how tolerable the sorrows, how easy the most difficult duties, so soon to be laid aside amid such rest and such happiness! This sight of heaven would irradiate the darkest scenes of earth, and prevent us from being seduced by the beauties of the fairest worldly trifle. Who could weep while heaven was spreading out its glories to comfort us, and opening its doors to receive us! Who could think much of that sickness—which was sustained beneath the vision of an incorruptible inheritance; or of those losses—which came upon them in sight of an infinite portion that never fades away! There would need no amusement or recreation to make us happy, while listening to the song of salvation—nor of any other pleasure to cheer us. This mixture of the view of heaven with the scenes of earth, would change the aspect of everything, and give truth to the expressions of the poet— "The men of grace have found, Glory begun below." And what more than a heavenly mind, a vigorous, lively, and influential faith—is necessary to give something like a reality to this? Heaven does exist; all these glories are above us and before us, though we see them not; and it is only to believe them as they may be, and ought to be believed, and we shall rejoice in them with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Vivacious thoughts of them would, in measure, produce the same kind of happiness as seeing them. Happy would we be amid all the cares, and labors, and sorrows, and trials of earth, if in meditation, and by faith and hope, we could thus dwell on the borders of the promised land. It would be to pitch our tent on Mount Pisgah, and constantly to have the promised land spreading out in boundless and beautiful perspective before us. Nor is it our comfort only that would be promoted by a heavenly mind, but our sanctity also. "Every man who has this hope in him," says the apostle, "purifies himself even as he is pure." 1 John 3:3. Heaven, being a holy state, yes, the very perfection of holiness; does, by a natural process, render those holy who meditate upon it, believe it, hope for it, and long for it. Men's hopes always affect their conduct, and transform their characters into a likeness to the nature of the objects of their desires and expectations. How effectually guarded from temptation to lust, worldly-mindedness, and malice—is he whose affections are strongly fixed upon a state of purity, spirituality, and love! Who that is drinking happiness from the crystal river that flows from the throne of God and the Lamb, can take up with the filthy puddle of worldly amusements? What mortification of sin, what conquest of besetting corruption, what eradication of evil tempers, what suppression of unholy disposition goes on, when the soul fixes the 'eye of faith' on unseen and eternal realities! Yes, what discoveries of hidden and unsuspected sins are made, when the light of heavenly glory is let into the soul! In looking so much to earth, and earthly-minded men, we become so familiarized with sin, as to lose our clear perceptions, our accurate discrimination of its evil nature, and our accurate sensibilities to its criminality and odiousness. We lose our self-abhorrence for our own sins, by the view of so much evil without and around us. And we recover our keenness of vision, and tenderness of conscience, only by lifting up our eyes to that pure and blessed region, where no sin dwells, and holiness is in perfection; and where, One view of Jesus as he is, Will strike all sin forever dead. You will much wish to know how such a heavenly state of mind may be promoted. You must be WILLING to have it. Willing! you exclaim, with somewhat of surprise, "Who is not willing? Who would not enjoy such a holy and heavenly frame?" You, perhaps, who ask the question! Comparatively few are willing to be heavenly-minded. The great bulk even of professing Christians do not want this state of the soul. They want to enjoy earth; they are ever seeking new devices by which to be more and more gratified by things seen and temporal; they are ever seeking to invest earth with new charms, and to throw greater attractions over the scenes that surround them. They do not wish to have the luxuriance of their earthly affections repressed, or the exuberance of their worldly joys restrained. It is no part of their plan, or wish, or effort, or prayer—to have one single terrestrial delight limited or displaced by such as are heavenly! Very few are willing then, to be heavenly-minded—and if not willing, they will never attain to it! You must be not only willing but DESIROUS of this frame. It must appear to you a state to be coveted and longed for; and for which you would be willing to part with some worldly joys, and the pleasures of earth—to endure the discipline of trial, and the influence of sorrow. Your heart must be set upon it—your soul must pant after it. It must appear to you not only desirable, but ATTAINABLE. No such idea must be in your mind as that it is too high an elevation of piety for you to reach, too difficult an acquirement for you to make. Do not imagine that it is the devotion of the cloister and the monastery, and which can be cultivated only by the recluse. Spiritual and heavenly Christians have been found, too rarely I admit, amid all the cares of a large family, and all the urgency of an extensive trade. Besides, if you cannot attain to as much of this celestial temper as some others, may you not have much more of it than you already possess? Do not even your circumstances allow of improvement and increase? Use the right means for acquiring it. BELIEVE its reality. Your faith is too weak to be influential. It is not so much a deep conviction, a full persuasion, a confident anticipation—but only 'a mere opinion'. You have the name of heaven upon your lips, but not the grand idea, the glorious reality in your mind—the infinite, the transcendent conception, does not occupy and fill the soul. You are too much a stranger to the force of that expression, "lay hold on eternal life." Acquire a clear and satisfactory evidence of your personal interest in the joys and glories of immortality. "Give all diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end." Unite the full assurance of hope, with the full assurance of understanding and of faith. What is our own, more interests us, though it be little—than what belongs to another, though it be far greater. The heir of a small estate has his mind and heart far more occupied about his little inheritance—than about the vast domain bordering it, of some wealthy peer. Realize your personal interest in heaven. If you are indeed a child of God, seek the witness of the spirit to your sonship; and if a child of God, then you are to heir of God, and joint heir with Christ! After reading the gracious promises, and surveying the boundless prospects of eternal glory—indulge the thoughts that these are all yours! Yours to be admitted to the presence of God and Christ, and to dwell there forever! Yours to be like God and Christ in purity, love, knowledge, and immortality! Yours to be the everlasting companion of all holy angels and blessed spirits. Call the joys of heaven your own—and they will then be infinitely more attractive than they now are! Give yourselves time for reading, meditation, and prayer. You must keep the world within due bounds—as to the time it occupies in your thoughts and life. If you allow it to take and keep the occupancy of the whole day, from the time you open your eyes in the morning, until you close them at night—you cannot grow in this grace of heavenly-mindedness. If you don't resist the world's engrossing, absorbing power—your soul must suffer, your salvation be endangered, your heaven be lost. Oh, will you, with glory, honor, immortality above you, and before you—allow yourselves to be so engaged with worldly trifles—as to have no time to think of them, or to look at them! With the splendor of heavenly and eternal glory beaming upon your path, blazing around you, will you be so taken up with the world, as to hurry by and not turn aside to see this great sight! Oh, Christians, believers—at least professed believers in immortality—is it thus you treat that heaven which occupied the thoughts of God from eternity, which was procured by the death of Christ upon the cross, which is the substance of revealed truth, and the end of all God's dispensations of providence and grace to man! What! no time to retire and meditate on eternal life! Will you—can you—dare you, bring yourself to utter such an expression as this, "I am really so taken up with my business, that I cannot retire to meditate and pray." Then I must tell you, you have no time to be saved; although plenty of time to be lost! Go into your closet, and with your Bible as the telescope that brings eternal glories near—meditate, meditate upon heaven! Survey its glories—go over them in detail and in succession. Dwell upon the presence of God; upon being with Christ; upon perfect love, perfect purity, perfect liberty, perfect knowledge, perfect bliss. Contemplate their infinity, their immensity, their eternity. Oh, what thoughts, what topics, what sources of delight! What sublime, elevating subjects for the child of dust, of sin, of sorrow, of mortality—to indulge in! What a reflection upon us, that we should need to be admonished to turn our thoughts that way; that with heaven open before us, we should need to be reminded, "There is immortal glory, look at it!" And yet after all, should feel that we are so preoccupied and engaged with earthly trifles, that we have no time to survey the wondrous scene! Dwell much upon the nearness of heaven. What is remote has less power over the thoughts than that which is near at hand. How near is all this glory to your soul! Nothing separates you from it, but the thin partition of flesh and blood—a moment of time, a point of space, may be all that intervenes between you and immortality! When you lie down to rest any night—you know not but that you may be in heaven before the next morning! When you rise up in the morning—you know not but that you may be in heaven before night! If you are true Christians, you are ever in the 'vestibule of the heavenly temple', waiting for the opening of the door, to be admitted to the holy of holies! The heirs of glory are every moment going in to be forever with the Lord, and you will soon go with them. Heaven is ever as near to you as God is—for it is the enjoyment of his presence, and he compasses you about on every side. At any given moment of your existence, you know not but that the next may be the commencement of your eternal career of holiness, knowledge, and happiness. Did you realize the nearness of heaven, how would it tend to keep up the frame of mind I am so anxious to promote. As heaven consists of enjoying the divine presence, and of holiness and love, together with the joy arising from them—let us seek more intimate communion with God now, and labor after more purity, more benevolence, more spiritual peace. This would make us think of heaven, and long for it—when we had these, its first fruits—in our soul now. We cannot go up into heaven, without heaven first coming down into us! Holiness in the soul of man is a part of heaven, and the 'greater heaven above' will put forth an attraction to draw up to itself this 'lesser heaven below'. Fire ascends to the sun; rivers run to the ocean; matter gravitates to its center—so holiness in the soul aspires to heaven, to which it belongs. And withal you must be much in private, earnest, and believing prayer for the supply of the Holy Spirit. Who is sufficient for these things, but he whose sufficiency is of God the Spirit? To make the future predominate over the present; the invisible over the visible; the immaterial over the material; and heaven over earth—is an achievement of faith, to which he only is equal, who is taught and helped of God. "He who has wrought us for this self-same thing," says the apostle, "is God, who also has given unto us the earnest of the Spirit." 2 Cor. 5:5. Believers in Christ Jesus! Children of God! Heirs of immortal glory! traveler to Zion! Possessors of eternal life! Look not at the things which are seen and temporal, but at the things which are unseen and eternal. Think of what is before you in the world to which you are going! Let your character and your destiny be in harmony. Born from heaven, and bound to it, let your thoughts and affections be in heaven! "We are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body!" Great Texts of the Bible - THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.—2 Cor. 4:18. THE Apostle looked on the things that are temporal as not looking on them, but as looking straight through, on the thing eternal, which they represent and prepare. He looked on them just as a man looks on a window-pane, when he studies the landscape without. In one view he looks on the glass. In another he does not. Probably enough he does not so much as think of the medium interposed. Or, a better comparison still is the telescope; for the lenses of glass here interposed actually enable the spectator to see, and yet he does not so much as consider that he is looking on the lenses, or using them at all; he looks only on the stars. So also the Apostle looks not on the things that are temporal, even while admiring the display in them of God’s invisible and eternal realities. He looks on them only as seeing through; uses them only as a medium of training, exercise, access to God. Their value to him is not in what they are but in what they signify. ¶ It is a true use of things temporal, that they are to put us under the constant all-dominating impression of things eternal. And we are to live in them, as in a transparency, looking through, every moment, and in all life’s works and ways, acting through, into the grand reality-world of the life to come. ¶ Crathie, 29th Oct. 1854.—This has been a heavenly day of beauty—the sky almost cloudless; the stones on the hill side so distinct that they might be counted; the Dee swinging past with its deep-toned murmur. I preached before the Queen and Royal Family without a note the same sermon I preached at Morven; and I never looked once at the royal seat, but solely at the congregation. I tried to forget the great ones I saw, and to remember the great Ones I saw not, and so I preached from my heart, and with as much freedom, really, as at a mission station. I THE SEEN IS GIRDLED BY THE UNSEEN 1. There are two worlds—the world of sense and the world of spirit; and the world of spirit surrounds, enspheres, and inter-penetrates the world of sense. We speak as if the world of sense came first, and the world of spirit came after; whereas the truth is that the world of spirit is about us now, though the veil of sense hangs between. We imagine that we dwell in time here, and shall dwell in eternity hereafter; while the fact is, we dwell in eternity here, though we take a little section of it and call it time. Each of these two worlds must be discerned by its own faculty. One is made up of places, people, circumstances, possessions—the physical; the other of ideas, feelings, affections, expectations—the spiritual. We are conscious of the house we live in, the faces that look at us, the tasks we do, the afflictions that befall us. We are conscious also of the sins that are past, of the love we have tasted, of the aims we cherish, of the sorrow that wounded our hearts. Both worlds surround us, one of them tangible like water, the other intangible like air. We see one with our eyes, we feel the other with our soul. God keeps His holy mysteries Just on the outside of man’s dream, In diapason slow we think, To hear their pinions rise and sink While they float pure beneath His eyes Like swans adown a stream. Things nameless, which in passing so, Do touch us with a subtle grace, We say, Who passes? They are dumb, We cannot see them go or come; Their touches fall, soft, cold as snow Upon a blind man’s face. ¶ It is a marvellous but familiar fact that, when an orchestra is playing, the ear of the listener can so concentrate itself upon one particular class of sounds in the united harmony—the note of the clarionet, the note of the violoncello—as to hear that alone; the rest subordinate, if not all but extinguished. Mysterious truth, showing that even in the realm of physical nature we do not see with the eye only, or hear with the ear only, but with the brain, or something more spiritual still that lies behind eye and ear. And so it is, not less but more so, with the visions and melodies addressed to man’s eternal part. We see what we wish to see among all the sights that tempt our souls; and we hear what we wish and set ourselves to hear. We can see only the temporal, if all we wish is to see the temporal; and we can see the eternal, if our desire is to see the eternal. 2. Both worlds minister to us. If we were to track the first steps in the growth of a flower just emerging from the seed we should discover, upon the cracking open of the seed, that one minute vegetable fibre commences presently to be pressed thence away up through the overlying soil into the air and the light, and another vegetable thread begins, at the same time, to wind itself away down through the underlying soil into the ground beneath. If now we sink a single delicate thought into the botanical fact just stated, we shall see that that very process of groping up into the air of one part of its nature, and at the same time groping down into the deep places of the earth with the other part of its nature, is a statement in miniature, and a quiet prophecy, of the double affinity with which the plant is endowed, and the twin congeniality with which it has been by God made instinct. Man similarly buds in two directions; he, too, is underlaid with a twin tendency. He is divinely endowed with one impulse that tends to push him out into the world, and into the association of things that lie easily in sight, and he is endowed also with a companion impulse that inclines to conduct him into the fellowship of things upon which the sun does not shine. But each, like the soil under the plant, offers to become to him the means of his life, and the material for his fixity, his power, and his hope. ¶ The idealizing of the outer world is one of God’s ways of teaching us to see the beauty and fineness that lie hidden in the uncouth and rough and commonplace; the victory that waits our grasp within every difficulty. It spells out for us the great simple secret Paul had learned: while we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen; for the things that are seen are often coarse and commonplace and are only for a passing hour; but the things that are not seen are full of beauty and power, and last for ever. The God-touched eye sees through fog and smoke to the unseen harbour beyond. It insists on steering steady and straight regardless of the storm overhead, and the rock or snag underneath. There is a victory in hiding in every knotty difficulty. Every trying circumstance contains a song of gladness waiting to be freed by our touch. Each disheartening condition can be made to grow roses. II THE SEEN INTERPRETS THE UNSEEN 1. Only by looking at the things that are seen do we gain any idea of the unseen. “All visible things,” said Carlyle, “are emblems. What thou seest is not there on its own account; strictly speaking, is not there at all. Matter exists only spiritually, and to represent some idea and body it forth.” And so John Ruskin:—“The more I think of it, I find this conclusion more impressed upon me—that the greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way. Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think; but thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion—all in one.” Nature is a mirror of the Unseen. The world around is an ever-present witness to us of the existence of things unseen. The world of Nature—that ever-changing world, the world of that which is ever being born out of the life of God, the world in which we may look upon ever-new manifestations of the great life of the Divine One—that itself is an ever-present token of a Presence Divine. The Sacramentalism of Nature—for such is the name we may give to this great principle—is presenting itself to the minds of men with increasing vividness. “The things that are made” are being more and more discerned as suggestive to the human mind of thoughts respecting “the invisible things of God.” These thoughts are presenting themselves only to reverent and loving souls. When love interprets what the eye discerns, When mind discovers what is really meant, When grace improves what man from Nature learns, Each sight and sound becomes a sacrament. ¶ There is an experience which I remember well. The time was evening, the scene a valley in a foreign land. The crystalline sky stretched above, lit by the summer moon; the wide, still lake spread beneath, surrounded by the summer woods; not a cloud in the air; not a rustle in the leaves; not a ripple to stir the glassy expanse or break the reflection of the tiny church where it glimmered on its birchen knoll—the whole such a picture of perfect, ethereal, and dreamlike rest that it seemed ready to pass off into spirit before one’s very gaze. It was an hour when talk about common things was hushed, and the thoughts went back to the distant and banished. “What a beautiful sky!” said one of the company. “Yes,” was the sudden reply of another, whose words breathed the longing of these lone mountain lands, yet fitted themselves to the mood of us all,—“yes, if we could only see behind.” So near may Nature bring us to the heart and the secret of things! So clear are her tokens! So thin is her veil! The spell of the eternal lies upon her. The mystery of the eternal breathes through her. Thanks to faith, we may pass beyond, and, entering through the outer curtain, gaze, and wonder, and worship in the inner shrine! The world is round me with its heat, And toil, and cares that tire; I cannot with my feeble feet Climb after my desire. But, on the lap of lands unseen, Within a secret zone, There shine diviner gold and green Than man has ever known. And where the silver waters sing, Down hushed and holy dells, The flower of a celestial spring— A tenfold splendour dwells. Yea, in my dream of fall and brook By far sweet forests furled, I see that light for which I look In vain through all the world. The glory of a larger sky, On slopes of hills sublime, That speak with God and Morning, high Above the ways of Time! 2. It is the unseen things that give meaning to the things which are seen. A man who studies the universe without his thought outrunning his eye, and his heart distancing his thought, is like a child who fumbles over the letters in his primer without drawing an idea from the word in which the letters meet or an inspiration from the sentence in which the words combine. The body takes its beauty from the invisible spirit that is sheathed in its features of expression and organs of action. The single life gains meaning and becomes worth living because of the subtle threads by which it is bound into the general life and the silken meshes that make it part of the fabric universal. This earth of ours is interesting because inaudible messages flash between it and the farthest star, and because it moves in rhythmic tread with all the flashing host that throng the ethereal plain. History first draws to itself our interested regard because it bends upon an invisible axis, and because its events are spelling out in ever-lengthening lines the wisdom, power, and tenderness of God. Each smallest thing everywhere and always wins character and grace from the ties that relate it to the distant and unsounded, as the bay is tremulous with the tide that throbs out in the bosom of the sea. ¶ There is a remarkable passage in Prince Bismarck’s Conversations where he attributes the steadfastness of the German soldiers in the ranks to the deeply-rooted belief in God as ordering duty. But the virtue of heroes or saints or martyrs transcends this. What is its ultimate justification? How is it defensible that a man should lay down his life for duty, if the law of duty is relative only to this present life? I do not see a fair escape from this dilemma. Either life is the highest prize that a man possesses, or there is something beyond and above this present life, and, if so, something which belongs to the world of things unseen. But the Christian martyr lays down his life, and lays it down rationally, because in his eyes duty receives its justification not in this world but in the world for which he looks. Hence, self-sacrifice never seems to him a failure. He that loses his life shall save it. There is no possibility of a final antinomy between the law of duty and the law of interest. God has eternity in which to work out His purposes; and here on earth we touch but the hem of His great providence. The rest is faith. “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.” But if this present life is all complete in itself, then we stand face to face with moral contradictions. Virtue does not always succeed. Vice triumphs. It is not always best to do our duty. The poet of to-day, in the new Locksley Hall, has seen with the eye of genius that to deny the eternity of the moral law is to deny the moral law itself— Truth for truth, and good for good! The Good, the True, the Pure, the Just; Take the charm “For ever” from them, and they crumble into dust. 3. Jesus Christ is the clearest evidence as well as the fullest interpretation of the unseen. It was not possible for the Jewish race of that day by any principle of evolution to have produced Him. He came from elsewhere. No one has ever lived after His fashion, with such becoming perfection. He belonged to elsewhere. Death did not bury His life; it remains unto this day the chief moral energy in the world. While He moved among men He suggested that other world where the hopeless ideals of this life are fulfilled. His biography breaks the bonds of sight; it lays the foundation for faith. ¶ Years ago the English Academy and the French Salôn contained at the same time two pictures which, if they had been painted for the purpose, could not have been a more perfect illustration of St. Paul’s great utterance. In one the king is lying on his bed the moment after death—he was the mightiest monarch of his day—and the sceptre has just dropped from his hands. And behold, the servants who an hour ago trembled at his look are rifling his treasury and dividing his possessions. Below with fine irony was written the title, “William the Conqueror”—his conquests had ceased. In the other, a man is lying in a rocky tomb; His conflict is over, and His enemies have won. He denied the world, and the world crucified Him; He trusted in God, and God left Him to the cross. But love has wrapped His body in spices, and given Him a new tomb amid the flowers of the garden; love is waiting till the day breaks to do Him kindness. The Angels of God and not the Roman soldiers are keeping guard over Him while He takes His rest, after life’s travail. When the day begins to break, He will rise conqueror over death and hell—Lord both of this poor world which passeth away, and of the riches of the world which remaineth for ever. III THE SEEN IS THE SHADOW, THE UNSEEN THE SUBSTANCE 1. All the deeper realities of life are conveyed to us by intimation rather than by demonstration. They come to us by other roads than those of the senses. The persons to whom we are bound in the sweetest relationships or by the noblest compulsion are never really seen by us. We see and touch their garments; we never see or touch them. They may live with us in the closest intimacy, and yet no sense of ours ever made a path of final approach between us. When they vanish out of life, they leave behind them all that we ever saw or touched; but how pathetically unavailing is the appeal of the heart to the garment laid aside in the haste or pain of the final flight! All we ever saw is there, and yet it is nothing! That which we loved, and which made the world dear and familiar through the diffusion of its own purity and sweetness, we never saw or touched. It was never within the reach of our senses; it was accessible only to our spirits. So sacred was it that the final mystery was never dissipated; so Divine was it that the final veil was never lifted. One came our way and dwelt with us in a tabernacle of flesh, even as Christ did, and then departed, leaving behind all that we ever saw or touched, and yet taking with her all that was real, companionable, comprehensible. And yet with this constant and familiar illustration of the presence of a reality which we never touch or see under our roof and by our side, we reject the intimations that come to us from every quarter and bring us the truths by which we live. 2. The eternal persists in spite of outward changes. There is always a continuity in the midst of change, always something eternal rising out of decay, always something immortal to rebuke our mortal fears; there is a human love in us that never dies; there are hopes that never perish; there is a growth that never ceases; there are good thoughts that never leave us; there are joys which no man can take away; there is something always beyond that we are drawn to; there is something out of sight, to which we are always stretching our unsatisfied and aching hands. The body pants for a deliverance which lies beyond; the soul hungers for a larger portion than it has ever known; the whole of our nature cries out for that future which is still unrevealed. And God has written eternity in the hidden heart of all things, not to mock us with vain dreams, but to make us certain that there is a happier and nobler life behind the veil. 3. Let us make the most of the seen by living in the unseen. The statement of the Apostle implies, with reference to “the things which are not seen,” much more than a mere conviction of their existence, however lively and sincere. It implies also an earnest and steadfast contemplation of them—a turning of the thoughts to them, a fixing of the affections on them, and a bending of our aims and efforts to the attainment of them. The word here translated “look at” is in other passages translated by the expressions “take heed,” “mark,” “consider,” or “observe attentively,” and sometimes it means to aim at or to pursue. Indeed, as has been observed, our English word “scope” is derived from it, which signifies the general drift or purpose of a man’s conduct—the mark he aims at, or the end he has in view. When Christians, therefore, are said to “look at the things which are not seen,” the meaning evidently is, that they look at these things with earnest attention, with eager desire, with steady contemplation, as the marksman looks at the target which he seeks to hit, or the racer looks at the goal which he is striving to reach. ¶ During the greater part of his illness he would have chosen to live, and he was hopeful, as we were hopeful, until within a few days of the last. Then he became glad to go. Though devoted doctors and nurses did all that skill and care could do, the walls of the Dwelling-House of that ardent spirit grew thin and more thin. One morning he beckoned to us to come nearer, and he tried to put into words a state of vision he had been in when he appeared to be neither sleeping nor waking. He had looked into the Book of Creation, and understood that the whole could be comprehended—made plain from that other point of view which was not our earthly one. “A glorious state,” he called it, and we looked on the face of one who had at last seen “true being” when he said, “Now I see that great Book—I see that great Light.” ¶ I remember standing once on a high Swiss pass, the ledge of a perpendicular precipice, where I waited for the morning view. There was nothing as I gazed ahead but mist—mist puffing, circling, swirling, like steam from the depths of some tremendous caldron. But I watched, and there was a break for a moment far down to the left, and a flash of emerald green; it was meadow-land. Then there was a break to the right, and a cluster of houses appeared, with a white church steeple you could almost have hit with a well-aimed stone. Then they were covered, and the mist hid the scene as before, till it parted again, this time in front; and there was blue sky, and against the blue sky a vision of glittering snow peaks. So it went on, peep after peep, rift after rift, here a little and there a little, till at last, as if worked on unseen pulleys the mist curtain slowly drew up, and from east even unto west there stretched the chain of the Italian Alps, sun-smitten, glorious, white as no fuller on earth could white them. Have your faces to the sunrise. Be ye children of the dawn. Then “though the vision tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” Though the revelation be fragmentary here, it will be perfect hereafter. Now we see through the mists darkly, then, when the mists have vanished, face to face, with the eyes that are purged by God’s Spirit, in the light that streams from His throne.