And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh,
wherein is the breath of life. 
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh,
​as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. Gen 7:15-16

A long period elapsed between the commencement of the building of the ark and the actual flood. During that period we notice:
(1) the strength of Noah’s faith. God has told him of a deluge of which there is no appearance; he has commanded him to build a strange vessel for no apparent purpose; he has told him that one hundred and twenty years of toil must elapse before the vessel can be of any use to him. And yet, in the face of all these difficulties, Noah forms and keeps his resolution to obey God.
​(2) Notice the reception which Noah’s work and message probably met with. The first feeling excited would be one of derision and mirth, then would come wonder, then pity, then disappointment and disgust, and lastly, perhaps, a silent contempt.

I. The flood shows us:
(1) how absolute is God’s control over the natural world;
(2) it illustrates the evils of sin and the light in which it appears to the eye of God;
​(3) it reminds us of another deluge, of which all unreconciled sinners stand in jeopardy. No dove wings its way across that deluge; no mountains lift their tops through its departing billows. From this deluge let us all flee. Christ’s ark still waits for us; His door stands open, and His voice says, "Turn ye to your strongholds, ye prisoners of hope."

II. Consider the various purposes that were served by the deluge:
(1) it swept away an effete and evil generation, which had become of no use, except to commit sin and thus deprave and weaken the general stock of humanity;
(2) the flood was calculated to overawe mankind, and to suggest the idea that other such interpositions might be expected when they were required;
(3) the flood furnished an opportunity to God of coming more nearly and closely to men;
(4) the flood brought the human family nearer to the promised land of Canaan.
(G. Gilfillan, Alpha and Omega, vol. i., p. 241)

I. ​IT TEACHES US, AS GOD IS THE AUTHOR SO IS HE THE FINISHER OF OUR WORK. God implants in the mother’s heart the desire to teach her children of Himself, but He must apply the instruction. Paul may plant and Apollos water, but God must give the increase. The seeker after salvation may pray, and read the Word, and attend the means of grace, but God only can save the soul.
II. IT TEACHES THAT THEY WHO DO HIS WILL SHALL NOT GO UNREWARDED. Noah built the ark, so God insures his safety therein. Those who put their trust in God shall never be confounded.
III. IT TEACHES THAT THOSE WHO DO GOD’S WILL ARE PRESERVED FROM ALL DANGERS. The Lord shut him in, so that he might not perpetrate any rash act. Had he possessed the power of opening the door, he might have jeopardized the safety of the whole family by bringing down the vengeance of God. Noah’s had been a critical position but for this. Think of him as he hears the rush of waters; the shrieks of the drowning; the cries of the young and old. If you had been in his position, with the knowledge you could open the door and take some in, would you not have been tempted to do so? But God shut him in, and when He shutteth no man can open. So shall God fortify the soul at the great day of final judgment. Mothers, fathers, children, shall see their relatives cast out, and yet be preserved from one rash word or unbelieving act.
IV. IT TEACHES THAT THOSE WHO DO GOD’S WILL MUST NOT EXPECT IMMEDIATE REWARD. Noah becomes a prisoner, for five months he had no communication with God—for twelve months he resided in the ark. But God remembered Noah, and brought him out into a wealthy place.
V. IT TEACHES THAT THE HAND WHICH SECURES THE SAINT DESTROYS THE SINNERS. (R. A. Griffin.)

​​1. Who they were.
(1) A people that had been preached to.
(2) A people who had been prayed for.
(3) A people who had, many of them, been associated with Noah in his work.
2. What they did.
(1) Took delight in earthly things.
(2) Did not believe.
3. What came of it. Door shut. No hope. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Lord shut him in - This seems to imply that God took him under his especial protection, and as he shut Him in, so he shut the Others out. God had waited one hundred and twenty years upon that generation; they did not repent; they filled up the measure of their iniquities, and then wrath came upon them to the uttermost. (Adam Clarke)

WHO PUT HIM IN? “And the Lord shut him in.” Not Noah, for if he had shut the door perhaps he would have left something out; but God, who knew all about it, shut the door Himself; therefore, what He does is well done. So it is spiritually; God puts poor sinners into Christ, the Ark. How does He do it? By His Spirit, who shows unto them--
1. Their state as sinners, which He causes them to feel in a two-fold sense—in Adam and in themselves.
2. This teaching points out to them the greatness of their danger.
3. This teaching begets alarm and anxiety, for it breaks their hearts, subdues their will, causes tears of genuine repentance to flow from their hearts, and they cry out, “God be merciful to me a sinner!”
4. Then they see that He is the glorious Person who has “blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.”

 THEIR GREAT SAFETY. Being in the spiritual Ark by faith, they are safe--
1. From the wrath of God against sin; for God, having received at the hands of the Lord Jesus a full satisfaction, He having made the great atonement for sin by the sacrifice of Himself, has obtained for His people an eternal redemption from the wrath of God, and the right to all the blessings contained in this redemption.
2. From the malice and rage of Satan, who hates the Lord’s people, and would destroy them if he could; but, blessed be God, they are kept by the mighty power of God.
3. From a wicked world; for the Lord again addresses them, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and the tongue that riseth up in judgment against thee thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord.”
4. They shall be safe when God shall overthrow the world by fire, which will not be till all His people are in the Ark.
Lastly.
1. Learn for information that God has prepared an Ark, in the person of His Son, for the saving of poor sinners.
2. Are we in it?
3. Are we running to it? The steps which lead to and into it are conviction, repentance, and faith in Christ.
4. Happiness of getting into the ark.
5. Misery of being without when God shuts the door. (R. B. Isaac)

​"Noah was shut in away from all the world by the hand of divine love. The door of electing purpose interposes between us and the world which lieth in the wicked one. We are not of the world even as our Lord Jesus was not of the world. Into the sin, the gaiety, the pursuits of the multitude we cannot enter; we cannot play in the streets of Vanity Fair with the children of darkness, for our heavenly Father has shut us in. Noah was shut in with his God. "Come thou into the ark," was the Lord's invitation, by which he clearly showed that he himself intended to dwell in the ark with his servant and his family. Thus all the chosen dwell in God and God in them. Happy people to be enclosed in the same circle which contains God in the Trinity of his persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. Let us never be inattentive to that gracious call, "Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee, and hide thyself as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpast." Noah was so shut in that no evil could reach him. Floods did but lift him heavenward, and winds did but waft him on his way. Outside of the ark all was ruin, but inside all was rest and peace. Without Christ we perish, but in Christ Jesus there is perfect safety. Noah was so shut in that he could not even desire to come out, and those who are in Christ Jesus are in him for ever. They shall go no more out for ever, for eternal faithfulness has shut them in, and infernal malice cannot drag them out. The Prince of the house of David shutteth and no man openeth; and when once in the last days as Master of the house he shall rise up and shut the door, it will be in vain for mere professors to knock, and cry Lord, Lord open unto us, for that same door which shuts in the wise virgins will shut out the foolish for ever. Lord, shut me in by thy grace."

Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins. 
Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through
​fire and through water:
but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. Psa 66:11-12

​Paradoxical though it be, only that man is at rest who attains it through conflict. This peace, born of conflict, is not like the deadly hush preceding the tempest, but the serene and pure-aired quiet that follows it.

It is not generally the prosperous one, who has never sorrowed, who is strong and at rest. His quality has never been tried, and he knows not how he can stand even a gentle shock. He is not the safest sailor who never saw a tempest; he will do for fair-weather service, but when the storm is rising, place at the important post the man who has fought out a gale, who has tested the ship, who knows her hulk sound, her rigging strong, and her anchor-flukes able to grasp and hold by the ribs of the world.
​
When first affliction comes upon us, how everything gives way! Our clinging, tendril hopes are snapped, and our heart lies prostrate like a vine that the storm has torn from its trellis; but when the first shock is past, and we are able to look up, and say, "It is the Lord," faith lifts the shattered hopes once more, and binds them fast to the feet of God. Thus the end is confidence, safety, and peace. (Streams in the Desert)

The adverse winds blew against my life;
My little ship with grief was tossed;
My plans were gone-- heart full of strife,
And all my hope seemed to be lost--
"Then He arose"-- one word of peace.
"There was a calm"-- a sweet release.

A tempest great of doubt and fear
Possessed my mind; no light was there
To guide, or make my vision clear.
Dark night! ’twas more than I could bear--
"Then He arose," I saw His face--
"There was a calm" filled with His grace.

My heart was sinking ’’neath the wave
Of deepening test and raging grief;
All seemed as lost, and none could save,
And nothing could bring me relief--
"Then He arose"-- and spoke one word,
"There was a calm!" IT IS THE LORD..
 L. S. P.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon-Treasury of David
Psalm 66:11-12

Psa_66:11
​​“Thou broughtest us into the net.” The people of God in the olden time were often enclosed by the power of their enemies, like fishes or birds entangled in a net; there seemed no way of escape for them. The only comfort was that God himself had brought them there, but even this was not readily available, since they knew that he had led them there in anger as a punishment for their transgressions; Israel in Egypt was much like a bird in the fowler's net. “Thou laidst affliction upon our loins.” They were pressed even to anguish by their burdens and pains. Not on their backs alone was the load, but their loins were pressed and squeezed with the straits and weights of adversity. God's people and affliction are intimate companions. As in Egypt every Israelite was a burden-bearer, so is every believer while he is in this foreign land. As Israel cried to God by reason of their sore bondage, so also do the saints. We too often forget that God lays our afflictions upon us; if we remembered this fact, we should more patiently submit to the pressure which now pains us. The time will come when, for every ounce of present burden, we shall receive a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
+++++++
Psa_66:12
“Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads.” They stormed, and hectored, and treated us like the mire of the street. Riding the high horse, in their arrogance, they, who were in themselves mean men, treated the Lord's people as if they were the meanest of mankind. They even turned their captives into beasts of burden, and rode upon their heads, as some read the Hebrew. Nothing is too bad for the servants of God when they fall into the hands of proud persecutors. “We went through fire and through water.” Trials many and varied were endured by Israel in Egypt, and are still the portion of the saints. The fires of the brick-kilns and the waters of the Nile did their worst to destroy the chosen race; hard labor and child-murder were both tried by the tyrant, but Israel went through both ordeals unharmed, and ever thus the church of God has outlived, and will outlive, all the artifices and cruelties of man. Fire and water are pitiless and devouring, but a divine fiat stays their fury, and forbids these or any other agents from utterly destroying the chosen seed. Many an heir of heaven has had a dire experience of tribulation; the fire through which he has passed has been more terrible than that which chars the bones, for it has fed upon the marrow of his spirit, and burned into the core of his heart; while the waterfloods of affliction have been even more to be feared than the remorseless sea, for they have gone in even unto the soul, and carried the inner nature down into deeps horrible, and not to be imagined without trembling. Yet each saint has been more than conqueror hitherto, and, as it has been, so it shall be. The fire is not kindled which can burn the woman's seed, neither does the dragon know how to vomit a flood which shall suffice to drown it. “But thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.” A blessed issue to a mournful story. Canaan was indeed a broad and royal domain for the once enslaved tribes: God, who took them into Egypt, also brought them into the land which flowed with milk and honey, and Egypt was in his purposes en route to Canaan, The way to heaven is via tribulation.

​“The path of sorrow and that path alone,
Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown,”

​How wealthy is the place of every believer, and how doubly does he feel it to be so in contrast with his former slavery, what songs shall suffice to set forth our joy and gratitude for such a glorious deliverance and such a bountiful heritage, More awaits us. The depth of our griefs bears non-proportion to the height of our bliss. For our shame we shall have double, and more than double. Like Joseph we shall rise from the prison to the palace, like Mordecai we shall escape the gallows prepared by malignity, and ride the white horse and wear the royal robe appointed by; benignity. Instead of the net, liberty; instead of a burden on the loins, a crown on our heads; instead of men riding 'over us, we shall rule over the nations' fire shall no more try us, for we shall stand in glory on the sea of glass mingled with fire; and water shall not harm us, for there shall be no more sea. O the splendor of this brilliant conclusion to a gloomy history. Glory be unto him who saw in the apparent evil the true way to the real good. With patience we will endure the present gloom, for the morning cometh.
​Over the hills faith sees the daybreak, in whose light We shall enter into the wealthy place.

​And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 
Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they
​are hid from thine eyes. Luk 19:41-42

"Tears, looked at materially, admit a very ready explanation; they are secreted by a gland, they are drawn from the fluids of the body, and are rounded and brought down by the law of gravitation. The poets give the spiritual meaning, when they call tears the blood of the wounds of the soul, the leaves of the plant of sorrow the hall and rain of life’s winter, the safety valves of the heart under pressure, the vent of anguish-showers blown up by the tempests of the soul. If God had a body He would weep. Tears would not be inconsistent with all the recognized attributes of Deity. There is an eloquence in tears which is irresistible. There is a sacredness in tears which almost forbids the discussion of weeping. There is a dignity in tears which makes them consistent with the utmost intelligence and strength and nobility of character. There are men with hard heads, cold hearts, good digestion, and full purses, who know nothing of tears; but he who values true manhood and spiritual riches will not envy such men. “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
​
Jesus wept as a man, as the man Christ Jesus, as the perfect man Christ Jesus. “Behold the man.” To the utmost extent of human sadness was Jesus grieved, when “He beheld the city, and wept over it.”

Jesus wept as a Jew. The broadest love may be discriminating, and may include strong individual attachments. Jesus was interested in every land and in every race. No land or race was shut out from His heart. But there were special attachments to Palestine, and strong ties to the holy city.

Jesus wept as a teacher. Light had come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. And this was the condemnation. He was conscious of a pure heart in His teaching, and He saw the corruption of the human heart in the rejection and contempt of His instructions.

Jesus wept as a foreteller, as a prophet. He who was the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of His person, declared the mind and will and heart of God, when, beholding this doomed city, He wept over it.

Jesus wept as the Messiah. He was the woman’s seed promised in Paradise. He was the Shiloh seen by Jacob. He was the prophet revealed to Moses. He was the Prince of peace spoken of by Isaiah. To Him gave all the prophets witness. The law was His shadow. Much was written in the Psalms and prophets concerning Him. His history and character, His words and works, fulfilled various scriptures written by inspired men. His claim to the Messiahship was distinct and full and clear. Yet He was despised and rejected of men. Yet when He came to His own, His own received Him not. This was a sorrow for His Father’s sake. He was the fulfillment of His Father’s ancient and oft-repeated promise. He was His Father’s unspeakable gift. What a requital of infinite and eternal love! And this was a sorrow for the people’s sake. Instead of receiving Him they were looking for another. But Jesus knew that theft eyes would fail by looking in vain.

Jesus wept as a Savior. He looked upon those who would not be saved, and wept over them. Measure His sorrow by His knowledge and by His hatred of sin; measure His sorrow by His own freedom from sin; measure His sorrow by the love of His great heart. To see evil, and to be unable to remedy it, is anguish; but to see evil, and to be able and willing to remove it, and to be baffled by the willfulness and waywardness of the sufferer or of the evil-doer, is anguish keener and deeper still. Jesus knew all this when “He beheld the city, and wept over it.”

Jesus wept as God manifest in flesh. The God grieved and the man wept. The Divine nature does suffer, and these tears reveal the fact. The whole nature of the Christ, the Redeemer of men, was sad, when Jesus on this occasion wept. These tears, then, were the tears of a man, a patriot, a teacher, and a prophet. They were the tears of the Messiah and the Saviour and the God-man. They were both human and divine, tears of pity and patriotism, tears of sympathy and of displeasure, tears of a wounded spirit and of a loving soul." (S. Martin, D. D.)

​THE DOOM OF THE ROYAL CITY
 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 
And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. (Luk 19:43-44)

"Our Lord loved the city of His race; and when it finally rejected His appeals, He knew that nothing could avert its downfall. Hence His tears! Each nation, city and individual has one day which is the crisis of existence. We cross the equator without knowing it. There is one hour in each God-forsaken life when, as in the Temple before its fall, watchers hear the words, “Let us depart,” and there is the rustle of wings! Notice that God visits us in mercy before He comes to us in wrath.

It was a startling act when Christ cleansed the Temple for the second time, Joh_2:13, etc. If there had been daily papers in those days, they would have chronicled it in great headlines. Extraordinary that this meek and lowly man should break out so vehemently! But His zeal for God’s house sustained and bore Him along. Let us ask Him to cleanse the temple of our heart.

These priests and scribes had vested interests to conserve, which blinded them to the beauty and glory of Christ. If we place a coin, however valueless, against the eye, it will blind us to the sun." (F.B. Meyer)

"There are seasons of special privilege. Jesus here speaks of “a time of visitation.” Properly speaking, that means an overseeing. That is the strict meaning of the original word. It is thus used to describe the office of an Apostle, in the Acts of the Apostles, and the office of a bishop, in St. Paul’s First Epistle to Timothy; and, from this employment of the word in Scripture, it has come to be applied to the court—for such it is—which from time to time, a bishop is bound by the old law of the Church to hold, in order to review the state of his diocese. But this word is more commonly applied in the Bible to God’s activity than to man’s; and a visitation of God is sometimes penal or judicial, and sometimes it is a season of grace and mercy. The day of visitation of which St. Peter speaks, in which the heathen shall glorify God for the good works of Christians, is, we cannot doubt, the day of judgment. And Job uses the Hebrew equivalent to describe the heavy trials which had been sent to test his patience. On the other hand, in the language of Scripture, God visits man in grace and mercy—as He did the Israelites in Egypt after Joseph’s death; as He visited Sarah in one generation, and Hannah in another; as He visited His flock, to use Zechariah’s expression, in Babylon. It was such a visitation as this that our Lord had in view. He Himself had held it; and when He spoke it was not yet concluded.

This visitation was unobtrusive.—In the Advent of the Redeemer there was nothing outwardly remarkable to the men of that day. It was almost nothing. Of all the historians of that period few indeed are found to mention it. This is a thing which we at this day can scarcely understand; for to us the blessed Advent of our Lord is the brightest page in the world’s history; but to them it was far otherwise. Remember for one moment what the Advent of our Lord was to all outward appearance. He seemed, let it be said reverently, to the rulers of those days, a fanatical freethinker. They heard of His miracles, but they appeared nothing remarkable to them; there was nothing there on which to fasten their attention. They heard that some of the populace had been led away, and now and then, it may be, some of His words reached their ears, but to them they were hard to be understood, full of mystery; or else they roused every evil passion in their hearts, so stern and uncompromising was the morality they taught. They put aside these words in that brief period, and the day of grace passed.

There was nothing of the outward pageant of royalty to greet the son of David. There were no guards, no palace, no throne, no royal livery, no currency bearing the king’s image and superscription. All these things had passed into the hands of the foreign conqueror, or, in parts of the country, into the hands of princes who had the semblance of independence without its reality. There was not even the amount of circumstance and state which attends the reception of a visitor to some modern institution—a visitor who only represents the majesty of some old prerogative or of some earthly throne. As He, Israel’s true King, visits Jerusalem, He almost reminds us of the descendant of an ancient and fallen family returning in secret to the old home of his race. Everything is for him instinct with precious memories. Every stone is dear to him, while he himself is forgotten. He wanders about unnoticed, unobserved, or with only such notice as courtesy may accord to a presumed stranger. He is living amid thoughts which are altogether unshared by men whom he meets, as he moves silently and sadly among the records of the past, and he passes away from sight as he came, with his real station and character generally unrecognized, if indeed he is not dismissed as an upstart with contempt and insult. So it was with Jerusalem and its Divine Visitor. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” (H. P. Liddon)

"​The Savior’s tears were a startling contrast to the scene of rejoicing to which this incident is appended. It was in the midst of the Triumphal Entry that this occurred, when all were exulting and shouts of hallelujah thrilled the air. The simple pious hearts of the disciples were glad at this evident acceptance of their Master, and they anticipated a speedy capture of Jerusalem itself for Christ, when His cause would lay hold of the whole nation and great and glorious events would ensue. They hardly knew what they expected; but, in any case, it was to be a mighty triumph for Christ, and salvation for Israel. But as the joyful procession swept round the shoulder of the hill, and the fair city gleamed into sight, a hush came over the exulting throng; for the Lord was weeping. He had no bright and futile illusions. A wave of excitement like that which had transported the disciples could not blind Him to the actual facts of the case. He knew that He had lived, and would die, in vain, so far as that hard and proud capital was concerned. He knew that He was rejected of rulers and people; and that ears and hearts were deaf to His message. As He looked at the beautiful city, it was not with pride but with anguish. He knew that city and nation were doomed. They had had their day of visitation, and were still having it—but the sands were fast running out. In compassionate grief He yearned over them still, weeping for their blindness and hardness of heart. What a pathetic scene is here recalled to our imagination! The gay and careless city smiling in the sunlight, with eager crowds of busy men full of their interests and pleasures, full of their great religious celebration about to be kept—and the Savior looking down on it all, weeping. They were throwing away their last chance, following false lights, and dreaming false hopes, seeking false sources of peace, stopping their ears against the voice of wisdom and of love. “If thou hadst known in this day, even thou, the things which belong unto peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.”

Those who heard Him did not understand. Nevertheless He was right. He saw things as they were, not as they seemed. His was that prophet-power which is not so truly the vision of things future as of things present, a power which is less intellectual than moral, which in the sphere of the spiritual is the equivalent of the scientific faculty in the physical order—the power of discerning in human history the reign of law, that necessity by which effect follows upon cause, by which evil conduct must bring to pass evil fortune. He saw, and only He, how things really were with Jerusalem and its people, and therefore He saw what must happen to Jerusalem. So to Him the glowing landscape and the city shining on it like a gem were the illusion, and His doom-picture was the reality; the beauty and peace and glory were the mask; the features behind it were pain, horror, desolation. Jesus was right, and all He wept over came to pass in fullest and most bitter measure."  (​E. H. Plumptre)

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 
And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 
And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 2Cor 6:14-18
Separateness

In these passages Paul makes some clear distinctions and boundaries, that the Christian is to adhere to, in order to walk in this present wicked world, in fellowship with God, and under His protection. Let's take a look at these points.
1. All intimate associations are forbidden. The primary reference is to intermarriage and to association with heathens and pagan festivals. All close fellowship with unbelievers is included. Saints should choose Christian alliances and associations.
​1Co 15:33  Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. 
​Eph 5:6  Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. 
Eph 5:7  Be not ye therefore partakers with them. 
Eph 5:8  For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 

2. Belial, a heathen god like Beelzebub, is used as a synonym for Satan. See Mat_12:24. As Christ has nothing in common with Satan, how can a believer in him have a close intimacy with one who is still under the dominion of the prince of this world?

3. As God's temple has nothing in common with the idol temple, so the saints are to be separated from idolators.
​1Jn 5:20  And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. 
1Jn 5:21  Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. 
Note: If your attending a church, look around, what kind of decor is inside of it-is it full of idols, statues, candles? What do these verses tell you?

4. The Christian is himself the sanctuary of the Lord, as is proved by the passage quoted from Lev_26:12. God dwells in his people as the Shekinah dwelt between the cherubim.
1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. 

5. "Wherefore come out from among them", and be ye separate-A Quote from Isa 52:11. A call to Israel to cleanse itself from pagan pollutions-the Christian must do the same.
​
6. "And I will be a Father unto you"- Quoted from Jer 31:1, Jer 31:9, and Isa 43:6. These teach ​that it is the Divine will that his worshipers should be separate from the world; that if they are thus separate he will receive them, and will accept them as his own children. Compare Rom_12:2, and Jas_1:27.
Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 
​Rev 21:7  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
​
The sad reality is- most churches today do not touch on these passages, and when they do, they water them down, making them useless, and without the power of the Holy Spirit to reach the heart of those who sit in the pews and need to hear these truths. The result-the people sit and listen to the half hour/to one hour sermon, get up, and leave the same way they came, because there was no convicting power of the scriptures to cause them to look within themselves, and face the fact they may be inter-acting with the wrong people and being wrongfully influenced by them. It may cause them to examine their own conduct, and if they are practicing idolatry, or involved in the sinful practices of lust, sexual perversions,  adultery, or fornication, and out of fellowship with God. They are deceived, and deceiving other's, the blind, leading the blind.

The devil doesn't want these passages dwelt on, because it causes a wide range of emotions and reactions, that many pastors don't want to deal with. But, these are the kind of passages that God uses, to prick the hearts and minds of those who need it most, who sit in those pews. Preaching these verses, without compromise, brings discomfort, conviction, anger, and some will get up, and walk out, and perhaps not come back. Whatever they choose to do, it's better to preach/teach the truth, and let God deal with them, than preach only what they want to hear, and have them end up in hell. The servant of God, will also stand accountable to God on the day of Judgment, on how we used and preached His word. This should cause every minister-however lowly he may think of himself/herself-and consider that day, and pray that the Holy Spirit would give us the courage-to preach it like it is written, and be willing to face whatever opposition may come.
​
I know from personal experience, if somebody is offended, becomes angry, whether they lash out at me, or anyone else, it's because their conscience is pricked-God is dealing with them. There is a fight between the forces of evil, and God working on their hearts, and a war is going on inside of them. Pray for them, and leave them in God's hands-ask God to send the hounds of heaven after them, and keep dealing with them, until they make a final decision-and either repent and come to the Lord Jesus for salvation, or totally reject Jesus. That's the war that goes on inside people, when the word of God is preached, in the power of the Holy Ghost. Few today, want to rock the boat, and deal with these realities.
​Lorna Couillard

2Co 6:15  And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
What is this verse telling us?
​
And what concord - (συμφώνησις sumphōnēsis). Sympathy, unison. This word refers properly to the unison or harmony produced by musical instruments, where there is a chord. What accordance, what unison is there; what strings are there which being struck will produce a chord or harmony? The idea is, then, there is as much that is discordant between Christ and Belial as there is between instruments of music that produce only discordant and jarring sounds.
Hath Christ - What is there in common between Christ and Belial, implying that Christians are governed by the principles, and that they follow the example of Christ.
Belial - Βελίαλ Belial or Βελίαρ Beliar, as as it is found in some of the late editions. The form Beliar is Syriac. The Hebrew word בּליּצל beliya‛al means literally without profit; worthlessness; wickedness. It is here evidently applied to Satan. The Syriac translates it “Satan.” The idea is, that the persons to whom Paul referred, the pagan, wicked, unbelieving world, were governed by the principles of Satan, and were “taken captive by him at his will” (2Ti_2:26 compare Joh_8:44), and that Christians should be separate from the wicked world, as Christ was separate from all the feelings, purposes, and plans of Satan. He had no participation in them; he formed no union with them; and so it should be with the followers of the one in relation to the followers of the other.
Or what part - (μερὶς meris). Portion, share, participation, fellowship. This word refers usually to a division of an estate; Luk_10:42; Act_8:21 note; Col_1:12 note. There is no participation; nothing in common.
He that believeth - A Christian; a man the characteristic of whom it is that he believes on the Lord Jesus.
With an infidel - A man who does not believe - whether a pagan idolater, a profane man, a scoffer, a philosopher, a man of science, a moral man, or a son or daughter of gaiety. The idea is, that on the subject of religion there is no union; nothing in common; no participation. They are governed by different principles; have different feelings; are looking to different rewards; and are tending to a different destiny. The believer, therefore, should not select his partner in life and his chosen companions and friends from this class, but from those with whom he has sympathy, and with whom he has common feelings and hopes.  (Albert Barnes)

2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 
What is this verse teaching us?

What agreement hath the temple of God with idols - Nothing could appear more abominable to a Jew than an idol in the temple of God: here, then, could be no agreement; the worship of the two is wholly incompatible. An idolater never worships the true God; a Christian never worships an idol. If ye join in idolatrous rites, it is impossible that ye should be Christians.
Ye are the temple of the living God - God intends to make the heart of every believer his own house.
I will dwell in them, and walk in them - The words are very emphatic: ενοικησω εν αυτοις· I will inhabit in them. I will not be as a wayfaring man, who turns aside to tarry as for a night, but I will take up my constant residence with them; I will dwell in and among them.
I will be their God - They shall have no other God, they shall have none besides me; and if they take me for their God, I will be to them all that an infinite, eternal, and self-sufficient Being can be to his intelligent offspring.
They shall be my people - If they take me for their God, their supreme and eternal Good, I will take them for my people; and instruct, enlighten, defend, provide for, support, and bless them, as if I had none else to care for in the creation.  (Adam Clarke)

​2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 
2Co 6:18  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 
What do we learn from these verses?

​"And ye shall be to me for sons and for daughters, saith the Lord Almighty" - The promise made to Solomon, 1Ch 28:6, is here applied to all believers; as the promise made particularly to Joshua is applied to them, Heb 13:5. Who can express the worth, who can conceive the dignity, of this divine adoption? Yet it belongs to all who believe the gospel, who have faith in Christ. They have access to the Almighty; such free and welcome access, as a beloved child to an indulgent father. To him they may fly for aid in every difficulty, and from him obtain a supply in all their wants. Isa 43:6."
(John Wesley)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"And will be a Father unto you - A father is the protector, counselor, and guide of his children. He instructs them, provides for them, and counsels them in time of perplexity. No relation is more tender than this. In accordance with this, God says, that he will be to his people their protector, counsellor, guide, and friend. He will cherish toward them the feeling of a father; he will provide for them, he will acknowledge them as his children. No higher honor can be conferred on mortals than to be adopted into the family of God, and to be permitted to call the Most High our Father. No rank is so elevated as that of being the sons and the daughters of the Lord Almighty. Yet this is the common appellation by which God addresses his people; and the most humble in rank, the most poor and ignorant of his friends on earth, the most despised among people, may reflect that they are the children of the ever-living God, and have the Maker of the heavens and the earth as their Father and their eternal Friend. How poor are all the honors of the world compared with this!" (Albert Barnes)

When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh
through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. 
Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out;
and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. 
Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits
more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there:
and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
​Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.  Mat 12:43-45

It must be remembered that we all begin with certain faults—different persons with different faults. What we mean by a man’s character getting worse is that these faults in us strengthen and increase. But is it an unaccountable and strange process, that by which faults grow? By no means. It is the simplest process in the world; it is simply by repeating a faulty action or humor time after time. We have only to go on in the same way, and, at the end of the time, we have a worse fault; for that is the nature of habit, that it grows by mere repetition of the same conduct and becomes a stronger habit. But if the sinful habit is stronger, then the man is a worse man.
​
People often go on getting worse and worse, letting sin grow, but thinking it all the time quite impossible that they should be worse. That idea which they started with they never give up—the idea that they never can alter for the bad. All alteration, they think, must be for the better; if they have not improved, then they are the same they always were; but worse they cannot be. It is this deep ingrained assumption in men’s minds which blinds them to the most startling facts about themselves. They are now absorbed in covetous passions and worldly aims; they have fierce desires to get this and that earthly prize; they sacrifice honesty; they do the meanest acts; they are guilty of constant pieces of deception in order to win them. There was a day when they would have shrunk from this; now they do it all as a matter of course; but still they have no idea that they are at all worse than they were. It is always circumstances that change, never themselves. But Scripture everywhere says plainly that men do grow worse in this life, and that they grow worse out of themselves; and therefore it is that they reap the wages of death, because it is their own sin. Let us look to ourselves, to our own hearts, and watch and correct evil at its fount; for there is the fount of it.  (J. B. Mozley, Sermons Parochial and Occasional, p. 118)

Note: Today, in the 21st century, the demonstrations of demon possession is rampant, but, much of society does not recognize it, or have any desire to do anything about it-and indeed, is powerless to put a stop to it. Why? Because there is no law in the world that the devil respects, or will heed-and much of society has been given over to every kind of sin and vice, including law enforcement. The lawless has no power to deal with, or bring the demon possessed into subjection or provide them any source of help to free them from the demons that control them-because society is now at the point of total demonic saturation. Every form of sin is applauded, and broadcast in public, the stores are full of demonic merchandise, and pagan rituals are allowed, and celebrated. The way people dress and conduct themselves-shows the state of the world today-for those with eyes to see.  The sins of the nations are given over to depravity of every kind, and we are seeing the evidence of it now, in the wickedness in the streets, the constant chaos, riots, brutality, and social media broadcasts the worst forms of wickedness, vileness, blood and murder across cyberspace and the world loves it to be so. Now we have a president who has declared war on a nation that did not attack us, and has bombed numerous sites, killing hundreds of innocent girls in a school and has attacked Venezuela and kidnapped it's president, and paraded him in the streets of NYC-and this government does nothing to stop it. One of the biggest signs of someone who is demon possessed-is a person who cannot control their behavior, and repeats the same sins, and vices over and over. That is what you see in the streets of the country everywhere, and in the White House. These are the end of days-and Judgment is at the door. But, most are too deluded, and addicted to care, or believe it. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

When the unclean spirit- The application of these three verses is found in "even so it shall be unto this wicked generation," the Jews. With an occasional tendency to repentance, as under the preaching of John, they became worse and worse until they crucified the Lord and were destroyed. A man with an unclean spirit, a demon, is chosen to represent them. He goeth out (transient repentance), returns with seven other evil spirits worse than himself (a relapse into sin), and the last state is worse than the first, more wicked and more wretched. So generally with those who dally with sin.  (B.W. Johnson)

If you are involved in any of these practices, or have been-you have opened up your life, and your soul to demonic oppression, and possession. The only way to get free from it, is to openly confess your activity in these sins to the Lord Jesus Christ, repent of all of it, get rid of anything that has anything to do with these practices, and turn from it and follow Christ. You must renounce everything about these practices, and you will have to stop following people who are involved in any of it. If you really want to free your life, and your soul from Satan's traps you have to come clean, and turn away from all of it completely. No one can do this for you, you have to get real, and get honest with God, and stop all of it. If you don't, God will not force you to come to Him-it's your free choice. But, make sure you know where your choices are going to take you. 
Is what your living for, worth dying for?
Eternity is a long time, to be wrong. Hell is a very real place. 
​Lorna Couillard

​When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished — Mat_12:43-44

Christ's Insight into Secret Failures
Our Lord had a quick eye for moral tragedies, and in the pictorial setting of these two verses He has delineated one of the saddest of them all. One marvels at the sure touch of Christ in dealing with the disasters of the soul. Men felt instinctively that He would understand them, and so they came to Him when things were going wrong. And one of the inexplicable wonders about Jesus is this sure insight into secret failures. When we have failed, we grasp a brother's failure, and our insight is the child of fellow feeling. There are whole ranks of tragedies we never suspect, just because God has mercifully guarded us from them. But Christ, in the panoply of perfect manhood, was separated from every taint of sin, and yet had an exquisite understanding of the sinner. It is something to feel that you are known. Your tragedy is not so secret as you thought. You are haunted with a dull sense, that unless there is effort and clearing of your feet, your last state is going to be worse than your first; and Christ has spoken on that theme long ago.

Underground Tragedies
Now what strikes us first in this man with an unclean spirit is that all his tragedy was underground. I mean by that that his very nearest and dearest friends and relatives had never suspected what had been going on. If you had asked some villager about him, he would have answered, "He is an unclean beast." And if ten years later you had asked again, you would have been told he had been going downhill steadily. Steadily, gradually, so it had seemed to everybody. Always a little worse, a little lower. And only Christ knew that that view was false—the man had been standing at the gates of freedom once! He had played the man against his tyrannous vices. He had cast them out, and cried to God to help him. He had breathed liberty, and tasted the joy of triumph, and known what a noble thing it was to live! And when the ousted tenants came back again, and the old disorder began to reign within, none but Christ knew the struggle, the cry, the passion to be free, of the man whom all the village thought a prisoner.

Are not many of our tragedies underground? They are transacted in the hidden sphere. There are molten fires under the vines of Etna. There are hidden graves among the garden flowers. And we sow and water the flowers in our garden, just to conceal the sepulchre that is there. Who knows how you have dreamed, how you have struggled?—and men look at you and call you contented, merry! But there are memories of prayer stored in your heart, and of days when your life seemed utterly unworthy, and you stood up and cast the devils out. And they are all back again, and never a soul knows of it, except yourself and Christ.

But there is another feature in this story besides its secrecy. It is the story of an unused triumph. This man did not fail because he never won; there was one morning when his heart was clean. That was his day of victory, and the promise of final conquest was in that, but he misused his victory and was lost. One of the saddest stories ever written is just the story of our mismanaged triumphs. It is our little victories that curse us, because we have neither head nor heart to manage them. We are so apt to be self-centered in success; so ready to forget how weak we are; so prone to think that the campaign is ours, because in one skirmish the enemy has fled. Then we grow careless, we do not walk with God; we do not garrison our heart against assault; and in an hour when we think not comes the old temptation, strong, subtle, doubly sweet because forsworn, and we are taken unawares and mastered, and our last state is worse than our first.

How Wisely Christ Used His Triumph
I have often thought, on reading this little parable, of the wonderful wisdom of Jesus in His victory. I have often thought of the self-restraint of Christ, when He triumphed over sin and death. If there was ever a triumph in the history of man used for a lasting blessing, it was the triumph of Jesus when He rose. There was a sweet restraint in resurrection joy. There was no spectacle of a risen Savior for the crowd. There was a watchful reserve, a choosing of times and companies, a holy management of the resurrection glory, that marked the risen Savior as divine. Even Christ was guarded in His hour of triumph—how much more guarded should the Christian be? This man cast out the unclean spirit, and said all's well. And his last state was worse than his first!

A Soul That Is Empty Is an Open Invitation for the Devil
And you see what his peculiar danger was? It was the peril of the empty heart. His soul lay vacant, that was the pity of it. There was room for the ousted devil to return. Some men are tempted because their hearts are full. Life is so rich, so strong in a thousand interests, there is no room in it for Christ at all. But many are tempted because their hearts are empty, and the old ways creep back again to stay. It is not sufficient to expel the wrong. We must fill the emptied heart with nobler things. A tenantless heart—a soul that is to let—is a standing invitation to the devil.

Something Good Must Fill the Vacuum Created by the Expulsion of Evil
It was there the man of our story failed. Have you never failed just at that point? There was struggle with evil, and momentary triumph, there was an empty and swept and garnished house. And that was something; you were right proud of it, after the moral disorder of the past. But you forgot that a habit expelled is not by any means a habit slain. You forgot that new interests must fill the life if the old interests are never to lodge again. It was because no ruling passion had been begotten, that you began to hanker for the old again. It was because there was no new enthusiasm, no worthier tenants to occupy the soul, that you craved for the ousted things and drew them back. Had the empty house been filled with a new purpose, controlled by a new hand and nobler will, the cast-out spirit would have acknowledged defeat, and felt there was no room in that soul for him. It was the soul to let that did the harm.

Christ within You Saves You from the Peril of the Empty Heart
And so I bring you face to face with the great mystery of an indwelling Christ. I want you to set that truth in the light of all I have been saying, until you see how practical it is. These deepest doctrines of the Word of God were never meant to be speculative wonders —it is when we live them, we find how real they are —and it is Christ in you the hope of glory, that saves you from the peril of the empty heart. The Gospel does not merely come to you and say, "My brother, my sister, you must give up that sin." It does not bid you empty your heart of evil, and leave it empty and garnished to the end. It knows the danger of a soul unoccupied; the certain fall of a heart without a tenant. And so the Gospel is prepared to give you something far better than what it drives away. It is prepared to inhabit the temple of your heart with the Holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. Know ye not that your bodies are temples of the Holy Ghost who dwelleth in you? That is the glad exchange the Gospel makes. In place of the unclean spirit who is gone, the Spirit of the Lord comes in to dwell.

Christ in the Heart Means Freedom and Life
Now where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is life. And it is that new liberty and life within the heart that make us strong when old things steal back again. "I can do all things," cried the apostle—not through a barred door and an empty heart—"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me"; his empty and swept and garnished heart was full. You have been fighting out your sin. But what you want is a new enthusiasm in its place. And I wish to ask you seriously and simply, have you ever made room for Him to take Him in? There is love, there is power, there is liberty in Christ. Open your heart. Receive the gift of God. It is in the bitter hour of temptation that men find the worth of an indwelling Savior.

Old Sins Hang Around to Find Emptiness in You Again
For our old sins are hungering to get back. That truth is clearly written in our text. They are houseless and homeless, and restless and ill at ease. They crave their old shelter in our lives again. And you do not mean to give it to them. No! You are done with the past forever and a day. But so was the hero of our text, and yet his last state was to be lost. Your cast-off vices are not dead. They are going to return in subtle ways. Do not pride yourself on a swept and garnished house; there is no pledge of victory in that. But there is in a heart where dwells the love of Christ, and something of the high power of His passion. It is in Him that we are more than conquerors. It is in Him that our last state shall be our best.  (Devotional Sermons)

Some links to powerful teachings, and sermons on demonic possession:

Breaking Demonic Yokes Win Worley--
https://youtu.be/_vapi4PRrZw?si=CIq4cv1P639jeb8T​

Breaking Curses- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ppC4nUWnZg

​Discerning of Spirits- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-s8Ox2BT7U

​Win Worley-Spiritual Warfare with witches and witchcraft
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED6y8gc3qjI

For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength
is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory
in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2Cor 12:8-9

​"If none of God's saints were poor and tried, we should not know half so well the consolations of divine grace. When we find the wanderer who has not where to lay his head, who yet can say, "Still will I trust in the Lord;" when we see the pauper starving on bread and water, who still glories in Jesus; when we see the bereaved widow overwhelmed in affliction, and yet having faith in Christ, oh! what honor it reflects on the gospel. God's grace is illustrated and magnified in the poverty and trials of believers. Saints bear up under every discouragement, believing that all things work together for their good, and that out of apparent evils a real blessing shall ultimately spring-that their God will either work a deliverance for them speedily, or most assuredly support them in the trouble, as long as he is pleased to keep them in it. This patience of the saints proves the power of divine grace. There is a lighthouse out at sea: it is a calm night-I cannot tell whether the edifice is firm; the tempest must rage about it, and then I shall know whether it will stand. So with the Spirit's work: if it were not on many occasions surrounded with tempestuous waters, we should not know that it was true and strong; if the winds did not blow upon it, we should not know how firm and secure it was. The master-works of God are those men who stand in the midst of difficulties, steadfast, unmovable,-
"Calm mid the bewildering cry,
Confident of victory."
He who would glorify his God must set his account upon meeting with many trials. No man can be illustrious before the Lord unless his conflicts be many. If then, yours be a much-tried path, rejoice in it, because you will the better show forth the all-sufficient grace of God. As for his failing you, never dream of it-hate the thought. The God who has been sufficient until now, should be trusted to the end". (Charles Spurgeon)

That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith
​and patience inherit the promises. Heb 6:12

​​They (heroes of faith) are calling to us from the heights that they have won, and telling us that what man once did man can do again. Not only do they remind us of the necessity of faith, but also of that patience by which faith has its perfect work. Let us fear to take ourselves out of the hands of our heavenly Guide or to miss a single lesson of His loving discipline by discouragement or doubt.

"There is only one thing," said a village blacksmith, "that I fear, and that is to be thrown on the scrap heap.

"When I am tempering a piece of steel, I first beat it, hammer it, and then suddenly plunge it into this bucket of cold water. I very soon find whether it will take temper or go to pieces in the process. When I discover after one or two tests that it is not going to allow itself to be tempered, I throw it on the scrap heap and sell it for a cent a pound when the junk man comes around.
"So I find the Lord tests me, too, by fire and water and heavy blows of His heavy hammer, and if I am not willing to stand the test, or am not going to prove a fit subject for His tempering process, I am afraid He may throw me on the scrap heap."
​
When the fire is hottest, hold still, for there will be a blessed "afterward"; and with Job we may be able to say, "When he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold." 

Sainthood springs out of suffering. It takes eleven tons of pressure on a piano to tune it. God will tune you to harmonize with Heaven’s key-note if you can stand the strain. (Streams in the Desert)
​

"Things that hurt and things that mar
Shape the man for perfect praise;
Shock and strain and ruin are
Friendlier than the smiling days."

And when the messengers of John were departed, he began
to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into
the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? 
But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment?
Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled,
and live delicately, are in kings' courts. 
But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you,
and much more than a prophet. 
This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger
before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 
For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there
is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the
​kingdom of God is greater than he. Luk 7:24-28

"Such a eulogium at such a time is a wonderful instance of loving forbearance with a true-hearted follower’s weakness, and of a desire, which, in a man, we should call magnanimous, to shield John’s character from depreciation on account of his message. The world praises a man to his face, and speaks of his faults behind his back. Christ does the opposite. “When the messengers were departed,” He begins to speak of John:

1. He praises John’s great personal character. He recalls the scenes of popular enthusiasm when all Israel streamed out to see and hear him. A small man could not have made such an upheaval. What had given him such attractive power? His heroic firmness, and his manifest indifference to material ease. John was the same man then as they had known him to be.

​2. Our Lord next speaks of John’s great office. He was a prophet. The dim recognition that God spoke in his fiery words had drawn the crowds, weary of teachers in whose endless jangle and jargon of casuistry was no inspiration. The voice of a man who gets his message at first hand from God has a ring in it which even dull ears detect as something genuine.

3. Jesus goes on to declare that John is more than a prophet, because He is His messenger before His face—that is, immediately preceding Himself. Nearness to Jesus makes greatness. The closer the relation to Him, the higher the honor.
​
4. Next we have the limitations of the forerunner and his relative inferiority to the least in the kingdom of heaven. Another standard of greatness is here from that of the world. In Christ’s eyes greatness is nearness to Him and understanding of Him and His work. Neither natural faculty nor worth is in question, but simply relation to the kingdom and the King. He who had only to preach of Him who should come after him, and had but a partial apprehension of Christ and His work, stood on a lower level than the least who has to look to a Christ who has come and has opened the gates of the kingdom to the humblest believer. The truths which were hid from ages, and but visible as in morning twilight to John are clear as day to us. What a place, then, does Christ claim! Our relation to Him determines greatness. To recognize Him is to be in the kingdom of heaven, Union with Him brings the fulfilment of the ideal of human nature; and this is life, to know and trust Him, the King."  (Alexander Maclaren)

Christ testified to the entire accuracy of John’s doctrine (Mat_11:11). He proclaimed the full necessity of an atonement.

He declared that the necessary sacrifice was now to be accomplished by Himself (Joh_3:16-17).

It shocked and stumbled His disciples, but He persisted in declaring that He came into the world to die.

​He thus raised no new issue between men and God, but the rather narrowed down all the old into one; He made it clear that faith was to be the instrument of salvation. (Joh_6:28-29) (Biblical Illustrator)

The Works of the Father
Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand, 
And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode. 
​ And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true.
And many believed on him there. 
​Joh 10:39-42
​How Can We Apply this to Our Lives

​​You may be very discontented with yourself. You are no genius, have no brilliant gifts, and are inconspicuous for any special faculty. Mediocrity is the law of your existence. Your days are remarkable for nothing but sameness and insipidity. Yet you may live a great life.
John did no miracle, but Jesus said that among those born of women there had not appeared a greater than he.
John’s main business was to bear witness to the Light, and this may be yours and mine. John was content to be only a voice, if men would think of Christ.
Be willing to be only a voice, heard but not seen; a mirror whose surface is lost to view, because it reflects the dazzling glory of the sun; a breeze that springs up just before daylight, and says, "The dawn! the dawn!" and then dies away.
Do the commonest and smallest things as beneath His eye. If you must live with uncongenial people, set to their conquest by love. If you have made a great mistake in your life, do not let it becloud all of it; but, locking the secret in your breast, compel it to yield strength and sweetness.
We are doing more good than we know, sowing seeds, starting streamlets, giving men true thoughts of Christ, to which they will refer one day as the first things that started them thinking of Him; and, of my part, I shall be satisfied if no great mausoleum is raised over my grave, but that simple souls shall gather there when I am gone, and say,
"He was a good man; he wrought no miracles, but he spake words about Christ, which led me to know Him for myself." -- (George Matheson)

"THY HIDDEN ONES"
(Psa_83:3)
They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted
​against thy hidden ones.
​
"Thick green leaves from the soft brown earth,
Happy springtime hath called them forth;
First faint promise of summer bloom
Breathes from the fragrant, sweet perfume,
Under the leaves.

"Lift them! what marvelous beauty lies
Hidden beneath, from our thoughtless eyes!
Mayflowers, rosy or purest white,
Lift their cups to the sudden light,
Under the leaves.

"Are there no lives whose holy deeds--
Seen by no eye save His who reads
Motive and action-- in silence grow
Into rare beauty, and bud and blow
Under the leaves?

"Fair white flowers of faith and trust,
Springing from spirits bruised and crushed;
Blossoms of love, rose-tinted and bright,
Touched and painted with Heaven’s own light
Under the leaves.

"Full fresh clusters of duty borne,
Fairest of all in that shadow grown;
Wondrous the fragrance that sweet and rare
Comes from the flower-cups hidden there
Under the leaves.

"Though unseen by our vision dim,
Bud and blossom are known to Him;
Wait we content for His heavenly ray--
Wait till our Master Himself one day
Lifteth the leaves."

"God calls many of His most valued workers from the unknown multitude"
 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 
(Luk_14:23)

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by
the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good,
​and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Rom 12:2
From Conformity to Transformation

There are two terms in the original language for the expression the world. One of them regards the things that now are in reference to time, the other in reference to space. The one means the things that are seen, this material world, with all its enjoyments and gratifications, its riches, pleasures, and honors; the other means the time or age to which these things belong, and by which they are limited and circumscribed; the period, longer or shorter—we know not its duration, but God knows—previous to what we are taught to designate as the end of all things, that consummation of the old, that introduction of the new, which shall be the concomitant of the second Advent of Jesus Christ, the consequence of that second and greater Epiphany for which the Church on earth and in heaven is ever waiting and watching.
In the passage before us, the term rendered world means properly the period or age that now is. Therefore "Be not conformed to this world" becomes equivalent to "Be not conformed to time, but rather to eternity." Wear not the fashion of persons who belong to time and have nothing to do with eternity. Let not the garb of your souls, let not the habit of your lives, be that which befits persons whose home, whose dwelling-place, whose all, is in the passing unreal scene, which we call human life, and who have no part nor lot in the permanent and unchanging realities of the new heaven and new earth, which shall come into view with the return of Christ and the resurrection of the just. Wear not the garb of time, but invest yourselves  with the fashion of eternity.
No one can be conformed to, can fashion himself according to, that which he knows not. We are conformed to this world, not because it satisfies us, not because it makes us happy; not because we find rest or peace in living by its rules and principles, but because it is the only world we know, the only world, let me say, in which we know anyone. The way to escape from our worldliness is not so much to struggle with it hand to hand, but to supersede it, as it were, by the entrance into us of a new affection; by giving our hearts to another, even to Him who has already entered for us within the veil, and who now and ever liveth to be our Intercessor and our life. (C. J. Vaughan, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter, p. 1)

Notice:--
Where Paul begins—with an inward renewal, "the renewing of your mind." He goes deep down, because he had learned in his Master’s school who said, "Make the tree good, and the fruit good." This new creation of the inner man is only possible as the result of the communication of a life from without. That communicated life from without is the life of Jesus Christ Himself put into your heart, on condition of your simply opening the door of your heart by faith, and saying to Him, "Come in, Thou blessed of the Lord." And He comes in, bearing in His hands this gift most chiefly, the gift of a germ of life which will mold and shape our mind after His own blessed pattern.
The transfigured life which follows upon that inward renewal. What about the Christianity that does not show itself in conduct and character? What about men that look exactly as if they were not Christians? What about the inward life that never comes up to the surface? A certain kind of seaweeds that lie at the bottom of the sea, when their flowering time comes, elongate their stalks, and reach the light and float upon the top, and then, when they have flowered and fruited, they sink again into the depths. Our Christian life should come up to the surface and open out its flowers there, and show to the heavens and to all eyes that look. Does your Christianity do that? It is no use talking about the inward change unless there is the outward transfiguration. Ask yourselves the question whether that is visible or not in your lives.
Consider the ultimate consequence which the Apostle regards as certain, from this central inward change, the unlikeness to the world around. "Be not conformed to this world." The more we get like Jesus Christ, the more certainly we get unlike the world. For the two theories of life are clean contrary—the one is all limited by this "bank and shoal of time," the other stretches out through the transient to lay hold on the Infinite and Eternal. The one is all for self, the other is all for God, with His will for law and His love for motive. The two theories are contrary to one another, so that likeness with and adherence to the one must needs be dead in the teeth of the other.  (A. Maclaren, A Year’s Ministry, 2nd series, p. 17)

IN OUR texts the word rendered transformed, or changed, is the same as is used in Mat_17:2; and this must have been in the mind of the Apostle when he said, "Be ye transfigured," and "we are transfigured into the same image." How can this transformation be effected? First, from within, by the renewing of the mind; and second, by beholding the glory of the Lord.
The renewing of the mind. This is no matter for emotion or ecstasy, but of bringing our minds into close and constant contact with the truth as contained in the Holy Scripture. You have not to study yourself in the mirror, to see whether you are becoming transfigured; but as day by day you steep your mind in God's Word, without your realizing it, you will become transfigured. Moses wist not that his face shone. It was for the crowd that waited for him at the mountain-foot to see it, not for him.
Our Lord said: "Abide in Me and I in you." This is somewhat mystical and profound; but He said again: "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you"—that is surely within our reach. "It is not too high, not too deep, not too inward, not too mystical," said Dr. Whyte on one occasion; "and when the Master asks that His words shall abide in me, He can mean nothing else than that I shall often recall and recollect His words, and shall repeat them to myself at all times."
As a man thinketh in his heart so is he; and if we think those thoughts of self-giving, which characterized our Lord's forecast and determination on the Mount of Transfiguration—if we are animated by the resolve to present ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God; as we steep our minds in His mind—the transfiguring glory of that high resolve will insensibly pass into our faces, thus irradiating our meanest actions, our simplest speech.
Beholding and reflecting the Glory of the Lord. The mirror again is Holy Scripture. We find there the reflection of our Lord's highest glory, which is patent, not in His Creative but in His Redemptive work. As we gaze on Him who, for our salvation hid not His Face from shame and spitting, but became a willing Sacrifice on our behalf, we shall be changed.
​(Our Daily Walk)

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
​are changed into the same image from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2Cor 3:18

Note first what Paul means when he speaks of why Moses put the veil upon his face. You think it was because it was too bright that he did so. Not at all. When his face is shining with most radiance, then it is that he bares it before the assembled multitude. They dread to come near him, but they are persuaded to draw nigh, and with his face shining with the glory that it got from God, he talks to the people; when he has done speaking, he hides his face until he goes in again to speak to the Holy One of Israel; then he takes the veil off, and then it gathers fresh glory, and with this fresh glory he comes out and speaks again to the people. Moses, in his wisdom, judged it well to hide his face in between. The light began to grow shadowy and fade, until he went in again to speak to God. Where the Spirit of the Lord is not, there is slavery at all times, dullness and darkness and stupidity; people must often be left in that condition, just like the old Jews, because they would not make use of it if more was given.
As the picture of the sun dwells in the mirror, so the form of Jesus Christ, the idea of Him as we behold Him with unveiled face, dwells in us, as a power, as an indwelling force. The idea that you have drawn from seeing Christ, that is the mirror-form of Christ in your soul, and that is the Spirit dwelling in you and working in you in proportion as you have Him right and hold Him true. Give your souls to the Living One, and He will make them glorious. Let the love of God shine into your hearts and obey it, and then there is no limit to the eternal height to which you should rise, to the eternal breadth to which your souls should go up; nay, there is no limit to the depth into which your souls will be able to pierce the very Divine will of God, which is the universe, which is the life, which is the treasure of all existence.  (G. Macdonald, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 33)

​By a quick turn of thought, Paul passes from the idea of the fleshly tablets of the heart, where God writes His new name, to the Law graven on the ancient tables of stone, and to the Lawgiver, stern and veiled. He argues that if the glory which shone on the face of Moses was so beautiful, surely that of the gospel must be transcendently so. The one is transient, the other abiding; the one is reflected, the other direct.
Not only was Moses veiled, but the hearts of the Jews were covered with a thick covering of prejudice. They did not understand the inner significance of the Levitical Code; and when the Law was read, they listened to it without spiritual insight. Directly men turn to Christ, they see the inner meaning of Scripture. What liberty becomes ours when we live in Christ! We are free to love, to serve, to know, and to be. Note 2Co_3:18! We may gaze on the unveiled face of God in Christ. The more we look the more we resemble. The more we endeavor to reflect Him, in doing what He desires, the more certainly and inevitably we become like Him. Only remember that in all things we are deeply indebted to the gracious influence of the Spirit. He produces the Christ-life in us.  (F.B. Meyer)

And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 
And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me,
I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. 
And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid;
but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. 
And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me,
Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be
​told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. Act 22:7-10
The Apostle’s Autobiography

The apostle’s life, as he here sketches it, may be divided into three parts.

Paul persecuting Jesus. For in persecuting the disciples, he really persecuted their Lord. He persecuted--
1. Intelligently. When this hated sect was broken up in Jerusalem after the martyrdom of Stephen, he saw in a moment that the scattered fragments must be annihilated before victory was complete. In this he showed the true genius of a general. So he deliberately laid his plans to harass the scattered bands of disciples.
2. Relentlessly. All women as well as men who loved Jesus, Paul hated. He gave no quarter to any. Nothing short of Stephen’s death would satisfy his bloodthirsty soul. Extermination is the goal which he means to reach.
3. Consecrated. He gave himself to this work; not his means or his thoughts only, but himself. He scorned working by proxy. How the ecclesiastics in Jerusalem must have loved him! How the Christians must have dreaded him, even as the Saracens dreaded Richard the Lion-hearted.

Paul prostrate before Jesus. Yes, in the very dust, on the way to Damascus. Yes, before the very Jesus, whom with all his soul he had hated. In an instant all his cherished plans were dissipated, and he cries, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do”? Humanly speaking, the history of the world was more changed by that incident than by any of the “decisive battles of the world.” We love to tell of Platea, Thermopylae, Marathon, Tours, Waterloo, and Gettysburg, but all of these have not exerted so great an influence as this battle of Jesus with Paul his enemy. It lasted but a moment, and the Pharisee was conquered once and for all. Note: Certain sceptics explain this occurrence by Paul’s having been sunstruck, and that he mistook the blinding light of the sun for a Divine appearance. To which we answer, that if a sunstroke can make such preachers we had better close our theological seminaries, and set all their students out under a boiling sun. Such criticism is on a par with that of the German commentator, who says that when Jesus said to Martha, “But one thing is needful,” He meant, “Don’t cook too much, we really need only one dish.”

Paul praying to Jesus. When a man falls prostrate before Jesus, it will not be long before he begins to pray (Act_9:11). In this prayer he evidently asked for guidance as to what he could do for Jesus. A good prayer that for a young convert. Too many merely ask for pardon, and stop. Paul also asked for orders. (A. F. Schauffler)

A question for all:

I. For the sinner.—What shall I do, Lord, when thou risest up to judgment and callest me to account for my transgressions? Answer: “Only acknowledge thine iniquity and return unto Me.”
II. For the anxious.—What shall I do, Lord, when my soul is rent and torn by a consciousness of guilt and sin? Answer: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”
III. For the pardoned.—What shall I do, Lord, seeing Thou in Thy mercy hast redeemed and forgiven me? Answer: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.” Thou shalt “glorify God in thy body and thy spirit, which are His.” Thou shalt “go and work to-day in My vineyard.”
IV. For the afflicted—What shall I do, Lord, when tossed about and tempted? Answer: Thou shalt “flee unto Me to hide thee.”
V. For the dying.—What shall I do, Lord, when my strength faileth; when my “earthly house of this tabernacle” is being dissolved; when I am summoned to appear before Thy judgment-seat?
​Answer: “Thou shalt put thy trust in Me.”

The light.—It is not common light, nor does it operate in a common way.
I. It is light. A light; the light. 2. It is a great light. It was beyond the brightness of the sun. Noon was to it as midnight. 3. It was a sudden light. It did not slowly dawn. It blazed suddenly, but it remained till God’s purpose was served. 4. It was a spacious light. Not like a star or sun, but a body or globe of light compassing them round about, as on the transfiguration hill (Act_9:3; Act_22:6; Act_26:13). 5. It was a light from heaven. It was from above, not from beneath. The history of that light is the Christology of Scripture. No doubt this visible, physical light is connected with a higher and more spiritual light. The light which patriarchs saw, and Paul saw, was but a symbol of something more glorious—the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
II. Its effects.—The narrative presents several different results in the case of Saul. 1. It blinds. Paul is struck blind. Blinded by light! The light of heaven! 2. It illuminates. It does not blind in order to destroy the vision. It blinds in order to give clearer eyesight. 3. It prostrates. Saul is stricken to the ground. The vision is overwhelming. Man cannot stand before it.
4. It bewilders. It was here in the case of Saul worse than darkness, in the bewilderment produced. He needs now a guide. 5. It guides. We do not see this here, but in Saul’s after-history. This is his lamp. From this outward operation on men we learn the inward. For, doubtless, there were both these co-operating in the case of Paul. The first effect of the light of the gospel is often to blind and to strike down. The second is to enlighten, and to lift up, and to heal. It is with Divine light that our dark souls must come into contact. Till this takes place we are still unrenewed; still Saul's, not Paul's. The “Lamb” is the light thereof.  (H. Bonar, D.D)

An Open Door To Witness
But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia,
​a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me
to speak unto the people. 
And when he had given him license, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people. And when there was made
a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying,
Act 21:39-40

In these commentary devotions by F.B. Meyer, he gives an excellent description of the testimony and autobiography of his life, and his dramatic encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus, and his salvation and calling-as he faces the mob at the steps in front of the Temple at the Beautiful gate. This is a good example of what God can do with anyone-who surrenders their life to Christ, and chooses to walk in the calling God has for them.

"Four days passed and there seemed a hope that, as the number of pilgrims grew less, Paul might escape recognition till his vow was fulfilled. In fulfilling it he was required to live with four paupers in a chamber of the Temple, to pay for sixteen sacrificial animals and the accompanying meat offerings on their behalf, and to stand with them while the priest offered lambs and rams on their behalf.
But as the ceremonies were approaching completion, he was recognized by Jews from Ephesus and other cities of Asia-perhaps Alexander the coppersmith was one of them-and a cry of hatred and horror was raised. They had seen the Ephesian Trophimus walking with him in the streets of Jerusalem, and supposed that Paul had taken him into the holy precincts. The punishment for that crime was death. They therefore seized him and forced him through the Beautiful Gate and down the fifteen steps, that they might kill him outside the Temple. This outburst attracted the notice of the Roman garrison in the neighboring Castle of Antonia, and Lysias with his soldiers forced his way through the throng, rescued Paul from his would-be murderers, and bore him beyond their reach. God had other work for the Apostle yet to do." (F.B. Meyer)

The legitimacy of self defence
A man must not be always defending himself, or explaining his actions, to others. Life is too short, and time is too precious for that. But there are occasions when a man owes it to himself, to his friends, and to the cause of truth, to speak out, and to make clear what is now a tangle of inconsistencies, or a web of misconceptions. It is a great thing to know when to explain, and when to let things explain themselves. Paul had wisdom from above to enable him to do the right thing in this line. Any man with the faith of Paul can have wisdom on this point from the source of Paul’s wisdom. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)

​What a sermon Paul preached! His pulpit, the steps that ascended from the Temple level to the Castle of Antonia. His audience, the frenzied crowds who filled the court below him, but who were calmed to silence as they heard the venerable Hebrew speech, which was unintelligible to the Romans around them. His text, the real and personal interposition of the living Christ to arrest his course of persecution and convert him. Here was a fact, which to the Apostle was the greatest of all facts, namely, that he had seen Jesus Christ, and had been transformed by what he had seen and heard. No light thing could have revolutionized his life. His zeal for the Old Covenant and his persecution of the Christian sect were guarantees of his anti-Christian bias. He was not shallow or fickle, or likely to be moved by anything less than an imperative revelation.
We must obey a step at a time. God says much to us directly, but He loves to employ servants like Ananias, who live in immediate touch with Him. Paul never forgot that salutation, Brother. Be very careful how you treat young converts; they need the kindest and most sympathetic handling as they step out into their new life.
We are chosen of God for three things: to know His will; to see Him; and to hear His voice, Act_22:14-15.  (F.B. Meyer)
Act 22:14  And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. 
Act 22:15  For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. 
++++++++++++++++++++
​​Act 9:10  And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. 
Act 9:11  And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, 
Act 9:12  And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. 
Act 9:13  Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: 
Act 9:14  And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. 
Act 9:15  But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: 
Act 9:16  For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. 

​I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break
in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: 
And I will give thee the treasures of darkness,
and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I,
​the LORD, which call thee by thy name,
​ am the God of Israel. Isa 45:2-3

Man must go. Each man is accomplishing a journey, going through a process. The only question is—How? Man may go, either with God or without Him. Whether we go with God or without Him, we shall find crooked places; we had better clearly understand this, lest any one should turn round after he has walked the first mile of Christian life, and say he expected there would have been no such places in all the course. Life is crooked; we ourselves are crooked; there is nothing in all human experience of which we can certainly say, This is perfectly straight. God Himself often inserts a crook in the lot. We should regard the text as a warning. There are crooked places.

The text is also a promise. "I will go before thee." God does not say where He will straighten our path; He does not say how; the great thing for us to believe is that there is a special promise for us, and to wait in devout hope for its fulfilment. He who waits for God is not misspending his time. Such waiting is true living—such tarrying is the truest speed.

The text is not only a warning and a promise, but also a plan. It is in the word before that I find the plan, and it is in that word before that I find the difficulty on the human side. God does not say, I will go alongside thee; we shall go step by step: He says, I will go before thee. Sometimes it may be a long way before us, so that we cannot see Him; and sometimes it may be just in front of us. But whether beyond, far away, or here close at hand, the great idea we have to live upon is that God goes before us.
(1) Let us beware of regarding the text as a mere matter of course. There is an essential question of character to be settled. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord."
(2) Let us beware of regarding this text as a license for carelessness. Let us not say, "If God goes before me, and makes all places straight, why need I care?" To the good man all life is holy; there is no step of indifference; no subject that does not bring out his best desires. "The place whereon thou standest is holy ground" is the expression of every man who knows what it is to have God going before him.
(Parker, City Temple, 1870, p. 4)

This was a Divine promise made to Cyrus; and God has made the same promise to all who put their trust in Him. It is surely something to have a Father’s promise singing in the heart. Many know the inspiration even of a human promise. We need the triumphant faith that says definitely to God, “Thou didst promise this, and we wait for its fulfilment.” We need patience, too; patience that comes of faith, that God may, so to speak, have time to fulfil His promise. God does not say when He will straighten our path; nor how. He who waits for God is not misspending his time; such tarrying is the truest speed. If we could believe that, how calm, how quiet, how strong, how sublime would be our life.
​
AS A PLAN. We should regard the text as a scheme—a method, a special way of doing things; “I will go before thee.” The word before shows the plan; and it also expresses the difficulty on the human side. God does not say, “I will go alongside thee;” nor, “I will go behind thee;” but before thee. Sometimes, it may be, so far before, that we cannot see Him. There is sovereignty here; but there is love and tenderness too, as when the mother goes before her child that is just learning to walk. The idea of God going before every man, as if he were the only man in the world, does not dwarf God, but rather exalts Him exceedingly. “My Father and your Father,” said Christ, “my God and your God.”
​
CONCLUSION - Let us beware of regarding the truth of the text as a mere matter of course. There is an essential question of character to be considered: “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord;” “No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Let us beware of regarding this text as a license for carelessness. “The place whereon thou standest is holy ground,” is the expression of every man who knows what it is to have God going before him. 
​(Joseph Parker, D.D., The City Temple, pp. 4–12)

It ought not to be difficult for us to believe that there are spiritual treasures that we have never even got a glimpse of yet. Christ spoke of treasure “hid in a field.” That surely must have been among the treasures of darkness. And the Apostle Paul, long after, spoke of the “unsearchable riches of Christ.” What he had himself freely taken from this store made him feel himself rich indeed; so rich, that he had not the least inclination for anything that the world could give. One of the saddest and most mournful of all things for us would be to settle down contentedly with the notion that God had no treasures to bestow but what we see all about us with the utterly inexperienced eye! To think the common experience of life, to think our own experience, the limit of all things, would be to make life a very poor thing indeed.

​God must have infinite treasures and pleasures which He does not want to keep in darkness unused. That ought to be an axiom with us. If we should never dream of speaking of ourselves as spiritually rich, it cannot be because either God has nothing better to bestow, or that He grudges to bestow it.

We seem to believe readily enough that the future may reveal to us glories that we cannot forecast. But why be content to postpone to a future state the higher degrees of true blessedness? Why not possess some of the treasures now?

​The phrase suggests to us that what we deem empty, void, and even repellent as darkness, may contain things unspeakably precious. We speak of the “night of sorrow.” But it only requires a very moderate faith in God to believe that He is too good and kind ever to let a single sensitive being pass through such trials as are the lot of not a few, unless it were that only so can they be prepared for, and put in possession of, choicer good. But there is a darkness far blacker than the night of affliction and sorrow. It is this awful gloom, this darkness that may be felt, which we all feel at times to involve the moral world. This is a world of tremendous mystery to the morally sensitive soul. Let a man ever come to see that a world which he cannot but feel to be evil to the core, is nevertheless the very best possible school for man in the early stage of his training for immortality; that this discipline of evil is absolutely essential for a while; that he would clearly be a poorer creature without it; that it is the conflict with evil which brings out some of the most precious qualities of the soul; that without evil, good itself could not be known; that God Himself could not be so gloriously revealed to the heart as He is through the occasion that every man’s sin affords; that the greatest proof that God is Love must have been for ever wanting, had He, by restraint and force, mechanically prevented the entrance of evil into the universe. Only let one—this one—little ray of light fall upon the darkness, and you will feel how priceless are the treasures of darkness.

But the darkness can be made to yield up treasures only to those who will listen for the voice Divine. To the upright there will arise light in darkness. It is only the children of light who can go into the darkness, and from it fetch out the hid treasures. “God is light: in Him is no darkness at all.” Christ is the Light of the World: whoso walketh with Him shall have the Light of Life.   (H. H. Dobney)