But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Matthew 9:13.) Now, the Lord here instructs the Pharisees to go and learn what the above quotation means but it shall not harm us (or anyone) to also take heed to this instruction from the Lord Jesus, and to go and learn what it means ourselves. But where do we look? In Hosea chapter 5 and 6. In chapter five the LORD takes the initiative and makes his people sick so as to prepare them to acknowledge their need of a physician, For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. (Hosea 5:14,15.) This speaks of the preparatory work of God in smashing up all false confidence in the flesh and in this world. It takes a great deal of affliction to a man to make him come to an acknowledgement of his offence; without affliction (in varying measures) no one would ever acknowledge it and consequently seek the LORDs face. Not until all self-righteousness is shown up to be futile; not until all of the strength of the fleshly arm is utterly withered, until then you cannot be an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. This is the chastening of the Lord and it is entirely gracious and for a very good reason and purpose, My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then ye are bastards, and not sons. (Hebrews 12:5-8.) And who would want to be a bastard even if it means you are without the harsh chastisement of the Lord in this life? I certainly would not want to be a bastard because it would mean that my chastisement would come on the day of judgment, and it would last forever rather than just a short time for my profit, observe, Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us,and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. (Hebrews 12:9-11.) This chastening produces a profitable reaction from those exercised thereby, it is shown in Hosea 6:1, Come, and let us return unto the LORD: This is the end and reason for chastisement, to bring men to repentance and make them return to the LORD just like the prodigal son. It is not to dish out punishment as if the LORD delights in judging and punishing men and women as an end in and of itself. The LORD delights in mercy which is something that the law totally and utterly obscures. In fact mercy is the last thing in view when looking through the perspective of the law. The law does not reveal the nature of God; it is the gospel that does that. The law of Moses is as far from being a transcript of the divine nature as cold is from hot. Did anyone know that God was one in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost under the law and in old testament times? No. No one even dreamed of it under the legal dispensation, so how can the law be a transcript of the divine nature when this core truth is mentioned nowhere in it? Surely it would have had to have been the first truth that was written in the law if it was truly a transcript of the divine nature? But it isnt. Instead this core truth is revealed at the beginning of the Son of mans ministry, at his baptism, in the gospel according to Matthew; which is right where it should be! The nature of God is declared at the end of the third chapter in the first book of the gospel; but in the law and prophets it is not declared at all, not in hundreds of pages. It is hidden from view, and we can only draw it out now from the poetry, figures, allegorys, and patterns of the old testament by the Spirit of God since Pentecost, and with the benefit of hindsight. So it is mercy to be chastised to the end that men might turn to the LORD and be saved instead of being left to their own devices and be damned for eternity at the end of the world instead. And those that are sick have faith in this condition, though it is little faith. This can be ascertained by what those smitten say next after saying to return to the LORD, For he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. (Hosea 6:1.) They are conscious that it is the LORD that has torn and smitten them. They know it within themselves that it is his hand that has wounded them. But they know and believe more than this, they know also that they will be healed and bound up. They have faith: they do not trust in their own works as the Pharisees did (and as their modern equivalents do nowadays,) they look to the one who has smitten them to be the one who heals them. Because when it comes to salvation it is true that the one who first smites thereafter is the one who heals those that are smitten. Also, if these that are conscious of the Lords dealings with them have true experimental faith than they will also know of their election. They know that they are chosen in Christ to sonship in the eternal counsels of God from before the creation of the world, despite the mighty chastening of the LORD upon them. In fact the rod comforts them because it is a token to them of Gods love for them. This confuses the bastards. Bastards see the chastening of the LORD on his people and think it is because they are forsaken by him. They see the punishment that is meted out to the sons and presume that God has given them up; and they relish rubbing salt in the wound. Look at the children of Edom who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof when the nation of Judah was humbled and chastised by the LORD; they could not contain their glee at the judgment of those that they despised. Bastards think that because they are void of any chastisement from God - in this life - it must mean that they are approved of God; they are very wrong, their chastisement will come at the end of the world, and will be utterly unbearable. What about when David was thrust out of the kingdom after Absalom rose up against his father, how Shimeis enmity came out at Davids judgment (which was because of his sins regarding Uriah the Hittites wife) when he cast stones at him, saying, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial: The LORD hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the LORD hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and, behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man. (II Samuel 16:7,8.) He supposed that David was forsaken utterly because of Saul, yet it was because of Uriahs wife and his sins with her and against Uriah, and against God in that David had given great occasion for the heathen to blaspheme because of it, and it was actually nothing to do with Saul as to the reason why this judgment fell upon David. It just shows that the wicked always get it wrong. And David was not utterly cast off, he was restored back to the throne, and Shimei cowered before him pleading for his life upon his return knowing his wickedness the day that he threw those stones. But whilst Gods people are under the chastening rod of the LORD the bastards just absolutely love it saying, Aha, aha and, So would we have it and, We have swallowed him up, God has forsaken him. They just can not celebrate it enough, it really brings joy and gladness to their hearts, they have more than heart can wish. They are fat and full. The more that Gods people are cast down the happier they are. But when God revives his people, this they cannot abide as can be seen when the Jews returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and city, after their chastisement was finished, by the opposition that they received and constant attempts to stop the work that they received. Verse 2 of Hosea 6 has even more insight into the faith of these elect chastised and penitent people, After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. (Hosea 6:2.) After two days have passed it is the third day. This is the resurrection day! Then it says in the third day he will raise us up. Notice the in. It does not say on the third day he will raise us up. I think this is hinting at the truth that all of the elect seed are seen as raised in Christ since that resurrection day, the third day. Because it is verily true that all of those who were purchased and redeemed by Christ, and are thus in union with him, are seen to be in him by God. In Gods eyes since the resurrection truly we live in his sight as it says in the verse. All the fruit of the resurrection to come at the end of the world is seen in Christ. All of it is seen in him; that is how he is the resurrection because it is all in him! When God looks in Christ he sees his people as utterly clean and perfect in him; this is why after the Lords baptism the Father says, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17.) The Father is pleased with those in him. The Son presents them to the Father and says, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. (Hebrews 2:13.) God gave them to him and joined them to him purifying them in him, and the Lord presents them afterwards without spot to the Father perfectly sanctified in him. Then it says in verse 3 of Hosea 6, Then shall we know. But when shall we know of these things? After his resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Holy Ghost from on high, Then shall we know. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: (Hosea 6:3.) What is it to follow on to know the LORD? It is to know the power of his resurrection and to know of the fellowship of his sufferings, as it says here, That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. (Philippians 3:10,11.) It is to be a disciple of the Lord and follow him despite the suffering that comes because of it. If you turn back at the beginning of suffering for his namesake then you will not follow on to know the LORD. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. His going forth is prepared like the set time of sunrise, there is a set time to bestow his favour on his people. It could be in the early part of your life, in the middle, or even right at the end of your life; right on your death bed! His coming at the end of the world is also prepared and at a set time, and will be the morning of the world to come. This scripture shows how he comes as rain, Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. (Deuteronomy 32:1-3.) So it is evident that the Lord comes to us through the doctrinal teaching of himself through speech. Faith comes by hearing the word of God, and how shall we hear without a preacher? This is the ordained way in which Christ manifests himself to his people, it is via the preached doctrine of Christ applied by the Holy Ghost: never ever forget this. Preaching and teaching is essential, without it we have nothing. So those who are chastened of the LORD are first broken to any hope within themselves and then are taught of the one who has all the hope in him, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the reason for such harsh chastening through hearing the preached gospel. It is the reason why, observe, Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. This light that convicts by going forth to reveal the state of the sinner does not present man with a good view of himself. But it leads to mercy because it causes men to call upon the name of the Lord. All of it is merciful, all of it is grace, nothing is malicious or censorious, it is entirely lovely to be brought through this chastisement: and why does the LORD do it? This is why, For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. That is why. The censorious Pharisees could not understand this, they thought the LORD desired sacrifices and offerings according to the law, as if animal sacrifices pleased him. They thought that the rigour which the law demanded of man was his delight. They thought that God delighted in being a harsh task master with a whip at mans back. They thought that God liked it when they judged others (yet not themselves.) They thought that God approved of the zeal of their traditions which they had gotten from their fathers. They thought that God was well pleased when a stoning was going on. Basically they thought that the LORD God was totally like them; but he was not altogether such an one as themselves, on the contrary he delights in mercy, something which these Pharisees had no conception of at all. That is why they could not learn this lesson, and the Lord points it out to them later on in Matthew (Matt 12:7.) They still had a condemnatory spirit, and continually found fault because their conceptions of God were utterly false. But know this reader, and be sure about it from now on, even though God will justly judge the wicked yet his delight is not in this (necessary as it is,) it is in mercy as my text says, For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 00:01:48 +0000
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