00p The Preface to the Lord's Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer continue with tool tips By Thomas Watson The PREFACE to the Lord’s Prayer
Having gone over the chief grounds and fundamentals of true religion—and enlarged upon the decalogue, or ten commandments, I shall speak now upon the Lord’s prayer.
"This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven." Matthew 6:9 In this Scripture are two things observable: the introduction to the prayer—and the prayer itself. The introduction to the Lord’s prayer is, "This, then, is how you should pray." Our Lord Jesus, in these words, gave to his disciples and to us a directory for prayer. The ten commandments are the rule of our life, and the sum of our faith—and the Lord’s prayer is the pattern of our prayer. As God prescribed Moses a pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 25:9), so Christ has here prescribed us a pattern of prayer. "This, then, is how you should pray," etc. The meaning is, let this be the rule and model according to which you frame your prayers. [We ought to examine our prayers by this rule.] Calvin. Not that we are tied to the exact words of the Lord’s prayer. Christ says, "This, then, is how you should pray" that is, let all your petitions agree and harmonize with the things contained in the Lord’s prayer; and well may we make all our prayers consonant and agreeable to this prayer. Tertullian calls this prayer, "a breviary and compendium of the gospel!" It is like a heap of massive gold. The preciousness of this prayer appears in the dignity of the Author. This prayer has commendation from its Author; it is the Lord’s prayer. As the moral law was written with the finger of God, so this prayer was dropped from the lips of the Son of God. [The voice is not that of a man—but that of God!] The preciousness of the prayer appears in the excellence of the matter. It is "as silver tried in a furnace, purified seven times." Psalms 12:6. Never was prayer so admirably and intricately composed as this. As Solomon’s Song, for its excellence is called the "Song of songs," so may this be well called the "Prayer of prayers". The matter of it is admirable:
1. For its comprehensiveness. It is short and pithy—a great deal said in a few words. It requires most art to meticulously draw the earth in a little map. This short prayer is a system, or body of divinity.
2. For its clearness. It is plain and intelligible to every capacity. Clearness is the grace of speech.
3. For its completeness. It contains the chief things that we have to ask, or God has to bestow.
1. A Preface.
2. Petitions.
3. The Conclusion.
Though the Father alone is named in the Lord’s prayer—yet the other two Persons are not excluded. The Father is mentioned because he is first in order; but the Son and Holy Spirit are included because they are the same in essence. As all the three Persons subsist in one Godhead. So, in our prayers, though we name but one Person, we must pray to all. To come more closely to the first words of the preface, "Our Father." Princes on earth give themselves titles expressing their greatness, as "High and Mighty." God might have done so—and expressed himself thus, "Our King of glory, our Judge:" but he gives himself another title, "Our Father," an expression of love and condescension. That he might encourage us to pray to him—he represents himself under the sweet notion of a Father. "Our Father." [Sweet is the name of Father.] The name Jehovah carries majesty in it—the name Father carries mercy in it! In what sense is God a Father?
(1) By creation; it is he who has made us: "We are also his offspring." Acts 17:28. "Have we not all one Father?" Malachi 2:10. Has not one God created us? But there is little comfort in this; for God is Father in the same way to the devils by creation; but he who made them will not save them.
(2) God is a Father by election, having chosen a certain number to be his children, upon whom he will entail heaven. "He has chosen us in him." Ephesians 1:4.
(3) God is a Father by special grace. He consecrates the elect by his Spirit—and infuses a supernatural principle of holiness, therefore they are said to be "born of God." 1 John 3:9. Such only as are sanctified can say, "Our Father in heaven."
What is the difference between God being the Father of Christ—and the Father of the elect?
He is the Father of Christ in a more glorious and transcendent manner. Christ has the primogeniture; he is the eldest Son, a Son by eternal generation; "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth was." Proverbs 8:23. "Who shall declare his generation?" Isaiah 53:8. Christ is a Son to the Father, as he is of the same nature with the Father, having all the incommunicable properties of the Godhead belonging to him. But we are sons of God by adoption and grace, "That we might receive the adoption of sons. Galatians 4:5.
What is that which makes God our Father?
Faith. "You are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:26. An unbeliever may call God his Creator—and his Judge—but not his Father. Faith legitimizes us—and makes us of the blood-royal of heaven. "You are the children of God by faith." Baptism makes us church members—but faith makes us children. Without faith the devil can show as good a coat of arms as we can.
How does faith make God to be our Father? As it is a uniting grace. By faith we have union with Christ—and so the kindred comes in; being united to Christ, the natural Son, we become adopted sons. God is the Father of Christ; faith makes us Christ’s brethren—and so God comes to be our Father. Hebrews 2:11.
Wherein does it appear that God is the best Father?
Wherein lies the dignity of those who have God for their Father?
How may we know that God is our Father? All cannot say, "Our Father." The Jews boasted that God was their Father. "We have one Father, even God." John 8:41. Christ tells them their true pedigree. "You are of your father the devil!" ver 44. Those who are of Satanic spirits, and make use of their power to beat down the power of godliness, cannot say, God is their Father; they may say, "Our father, who is in hell." How then may we know that God is our Father?
[1] To melt in tears for SIN, as a child weeps for offending his father. When Christ looked on Peter, and Peter remembered his sin in denying him—he fell to weeping. Clement reports of Peter—that he never heard a rooster crow, but he wept. It is a sign that God is our Father when the heart of stone is taken away—and there is a gracious thaw in the heart; and it melts into tears for sin. He who has a childlike heart, mourns for sin in a spiritual manner, as it is sin he grieves for, as it is an act of pollution. Sin deflowers the virgin soul; it defaces God’s image; it turns beauty into deformity; it is called the plague of the heart. 1 Kings 8:38. A child of God mourns for the defilement of sin; sin has to him a blacker aspect than hell.
He who has a childlike heart, grieves for sin, as it is an act of enmity towards God. Sin is diametrically opposed to God. It is called walking contrary to God. "If they shall confess their iniquity—and that they have walked contrary unto me." Leviticus 26:40. It does all it can to spite God; if God is of one mind—sin will be of another; sin would not only unthrone God—but strike at his very being! If sin could help it—God would no longer be God! A childlike heart grieves for this; "Oh!" says she, "that I should have so much enmity in me, that my will should be no more subdued to the will of my heavenly Father!" This springs a leak of godly sorrow. A childlike heart weeps for sin, as it is an act of ingratitude. It is an abuse of God’s love; it is taking the jewels of his mercies—and making use of them to sin. God has done more for his children than others; he has planted his grace and given them some intimations of his favor; and to sin against kindness, dyes a sin in grain—and makes it crimson; like Absalom, who soon as his Father kissed him, and took him into favor, plotted treason against him. Nothing so melts a childlike heart in tears, as sins of unkindness. "Oh, that I should sin against the blood of a Savior—and the affections of a Father! I condemn ingratitude in my child—yet I am guilty of ingratitude against my heavenly Father." This opens a vein of godly sorrow—and makes the heart bleed afresh. Certainly it evidences God to be our Father, when he has given us a childlike frame of heart, to weep for sin as it is sin, an act of pollution, enmity and ingratitude. A wicked man may mourn for the bitter fruit of sin—but only a child of God can grieve for the odious nature of sin.
[2] A childlike disposition is to be full of SYMPATHY. We lay to heart the dishonors reflected upon our heavenly Father. When we see his worship adulterated—and his truth mingled with the poison of error, it is as a sword in our bones, to see his glory suffer. "I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved." Psalms 119:158. Homer describing Agamemnon’s grief when forced to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia, brings in all his friends weeping and condoling with him; so, when God is dishonored, we sympathize—and are as it were, clad in mourning. A child that has any good nature, is cut to the heart to hear his father reproached; so an heir of heaven takes a dishonor done to God, more heinous than a disgrace done to himself.
[3] A childlike disposition, is to LOVE our heavenly Father. He is unnatural, who does not love his father. God who is crowned with excellency, is the proper object of delight; and every true child of God says as Peter, "Lord, you know that I love you!" But who will not say that he loves God? If ours be a true genuine love to our heavenly Father—it may be known by the effects. Then we have a holy fear. There is the fear which rises from love to God, of losing the visible tokens of his presence. Eli’s "heart trembled for the ark." 1 Samuel 4:13. It is not said his heart trembled for his two sons Hophni and Phinehas; but his heart trembled for the ark, because the ark was the special sign of God’s presence; and if that were taken, the glory was departed. He who loves his heavenly Father, fears lest the tokens of his presence should be removed, lest profaneness should break in like a flood, lest Popery should make headway—and God should go from his people. The presence of God in his ordinances, is the glory and strength of a nation. The Trojans had the image of Dallas—and they had an opinion that as long as that image was preserved among them, they would never be conquered; so, as long as God’s presence is with a people they are safe. Every true child of God fears lest God should go—and the glory depart. Let us try by this whether we have a childlike disposition. Do we love God—and does this love cause fear and jealousy? Are we afraid lest we should lose God’s presence, lest the Sun of Righteousness should move out of our horizon? Many are afraid lest they should lose some of their worldly profits—but not lest they should lose the presence of God. If they may have health and wealth—they care not what becomes of the ark of God. A true child of God fears nothing so much as the loss of his Father’s presence. "Woe to them when I depart from them." Hosea 9:12.
Love to our heavenly Father is seen by loving his children. "Everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too." 1 John 5:1. If we love God, the more we see of him in any—the more we love them. We love then though they are poor, as a child loves to see his father’s picture, though hung in a poor frame. We love the children of our Father, though they are persecuted. "Onesiphorus was not ashamed of my chain." 2 Timothy 1:16. Constantine kissed the hole of Paphnusius’s eye, because he suffered the loss of his eye for Christ. They have no love to God, who have no love to his children; they care not for their company; they have a secret disgust and antipathy against them. Hypocrites pretend great reverence to departed saints; they canonize dead saints—but persecute living ones! I may say of these, as the apostle in Hebrews 12:8: they are "bastards, not sons."
If we love our heavenly Father, we shall be advocates for him—and stand up in the defense of his truth. He who loves his father will plead for him when he is traduced and wronged. He has no childlike heart, no love to God, who can hear his name dishonored and be silent. Does Christ appear for us in heaven—and are we afraid to appear for him on earth? Such as dare not own God and true religion in times of danger, God will be ashamed to be called their God; it will be a reproach to him to have such children, as will not own him. A childlike love to God is known by its degree. We love our Father in heaven above all other things; above estate, or relations, as oil runs above the water. Psalms 73:25. A child of God seeing a supereminence of goodness and a constellation of all beauties in God—is carried out in love to him in the highest measure. As God gives his children electing love, such as he does not bestow upon the wicked, so his children give to him such love as they bestow upon none else. They give him the flower and best of their love; they love him with a love joined with worship; this spiced wine they keep only for their Father to drink of. Song of Solomon 8:2, Song of Solomon 8:2.
[4] A childlike disposition is seen in HONORING our heavenly Father. "A son honors his father." Malachi 1:6.
We show our honor to our Father in heaven, by having a reverential awe of him upon us. "You shall fear your God." Leviticus 25:17. This reverential fear of God, is when we dare do nothing that he has forbidden in his Word. "How can I do this great wickedness—and sin against God?" Genesis 39:9. It is part of the honor a son gives to a father—that he fears to displease him. We show our honor to our heavenly Father, by doing all we can to exalt him and make his excellencies shine forth. Though we cannot lift him up higher in heaven—yet we may lift him higher in our hearts—and in the esteem of others! When we speak well of God, set forth his renown, display the trophies of his goodness; when we ascribe the glory of all we do to him; when we are the trumpeters of his praise—this is honoring our Father in heaven—and a sure sign of a childlike heart. "Whose offers praise, glorifies me." Psalms 123:1-4.
He who has God for his Father, resembles him in holiness, which is the glory of the Godhead. Exodus 15:11. The holiness of God is the intrinsic purity of his essence. He who has God for his Father, partakes of the divine nature; though not of the divine essence—yet of the divine likeness; as the seal sets its print and likeness upon the wax, so he who has God for his Father, has the print and image of his holiness stamped upon him. "Aaron, the saint of the Lord." Psalms 106:16. Wicked men desire to be like God hereafter in glory—but do not want to be like him here in grace; they give it out to the world that God is their Father—yet have nothing of God to be seen in them; they are unclean: they are not only without his image—but hate it.
(3) We may know God is our Father by having his SPIRIT in us.
[1] By having the INTERCESSION of the Spirit. He is a Spirit of prayer. "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father." Galatians 4:6. Prayer is the soul’s breathing itself into the bosom of its heavenly Father. None of God’s children are born dumb. [The Holy Spirit fills his instrument—and the Spirit of God touches the hearts of the saints like the threads of harp-strings. Prosper] "Behold, he prays." Acts 9:11. But it is not every prayer that evidences God’s Spirit in us. Such as have no grace, may excel in gifts, and affect the hearts of others in prayer, when their own hearts are not affected; as the lute makes a sweet sound in the ears of others—but itself is not sensible.
How shall we know our prayers to be indited by the Spirit? When they are not only vocal—but mental; when they are not only gifts—but groans. Romans 8:26. The best music is in concert: the best prayer is when the heart and tongue join together in concert. When they are zealous and fervent. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." James 5:16. When the eyes melt in prayer—and the heart burns. Fervency is to prayer—as fire to incense, which makes it ascend to heaven as a sweet perfume. When prayer has faith mingled with it. Prayer is the key of heaven—and faith is the hand which turns it. "We cry, Abba, Father." Romans 8:15. "We cry," there is fervency in prayer; "Abba, Father," there is faith. Those prayers suffer shipwreck, which dash upon the rock of unbelief. We may know God is our Father, by having his Spirit praying in us; as Christ intercedes above, so the Spirit intercedes within.
[2] By having the RENEWING of the Spirit, which is nothing else but regeneration, which is called a being born of the Spirit. John 3:5. This regenerating work of the Spirit is a transformation, or change of nature. "Be transformed, by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2. He who is born of God has a new heart: new, not for substance—but for qualities. The strings of a violin may be the same—but the tune is altered. Now, there are spiritual pangs, much heart-breaking for sin. It is called a circumcision of the heart. Colossians 2:11. In circumcision there was a pain in the flesh; so in spiritual circumcision there is pain in the heart; there is much sorrow arising from a sense of guilt and wrath. The jailor’s trembling was a pang in the new birth. Acts 16:29. God’s Spirit is a spirit of bondage, before He is a spirit of adoption. This blessed work of regeneration spreads over the whole soul; it irradiates the mind; it consecrates the heart—and reforms the life! Though regeneration is but in part—yet it is in every part. 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Regeneration is the signature and engraving of the Holy Spirit upon the soul, the new-born Christian is bespangled with the jewels of the graces, which are the angels’ glory. Regeneration is the spring of all true joy. At our first birth—we come weeping into the world—but at our new birth there is cause of rejoicing; for now, God is our Father—and we are begotten to a living hope of glory. 1 Peter 1:3. We may try by this our relation to God. Has a regenerating work of God’s Spirit passed upon our souls? Are we made of another spirit, humble and heavenly? This is a good sign of sonship—and we may say, "Our Father in heaven."
[3] We know God is our Father by having the CONDUCT of the Spirit. We are led by the Spirit. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Romans 8:14. God’s Spirit does not only quicken us in our regeneration—but leads us on until we come to the end of our faith. It is not enough that the child has life—but he must be led every step by the parent. "I taught Ephraim to go, taking them by their arms." Hosea 11:3. As the Israelites had the cloud and pillar of fire to go before them—and be a guide to them, so God’s Spirit is a guide to go before us—and lead us into all truth—and counsel us in all our doubts—and influence us in all our actions. "You shall guide me with your counsel." Psalms 73:24. None can call God Father but such as have the conduct of the Spirit. Try then what spirit you are led by. Such as are led by a spirit of envy, lust, and avarice--are not led by the Spirit of God! It would be blasphemy for them to call God their Father! They are led by the spirit of Satan, and may say, "Our father, who is in hell."
[4] By having the WITNESS of the Spirit. "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Romans 8:16. This witness of the Spirit, suggesting that God is our Father, is not a vocal witness or voice from heaven. The Spirit in the Word witnesses: the Spirit in the Word says—he who is a hater of sin and a lover of holiness—is a child of God, and God is his Father. If I can find such qualifications wrought in my heart—it is the Spirit witnessing with my spirit that I am a child of God. We may carry it higher. The Spirit of God witnesses to our spirit by making more than ordinary impressions upon our hearts, and giving some secret hints and whispers that God has purposes of love to us, which is a concurrent witness of the Spirit with conscience, that we are heirs of heaven, and God is our Father. This witness is better felt than expressed; it scatters doubts and fears, and silences temptations. But what shall one do, who has not this witness of the Spirit? If we lack the witness of the Spirit, let us labor to find the work of the Spirit; if we have not the Spirit testifying, let us labor to have him sanctifying, and that will be a support to us.
If God is a Father, then I infer—that whatever he does to his children, is in love.
(1) If he smiles upon them in PROSPERITY, it is in love. They have the world not only with God’s leave—but with his love. He says to every child of his, as Naaman to Gehazi, "Take two portions." So God says to his child, "I am your Father—take two portions. Take health—and take my love with it; take an estate—and take my love with it. Take two portions!" His love is a sweetening ingredient in every mercy.
How does it appear that God gives his children worldly things in love?
Because he has a good title to them. God is his father, therefore he has a good title. A wicked man has a civil title to the creature—but no more; he has it not from the hand of a father; he is like one who takes up cloth at the draper’s, and it is not paid for. But a believer has a good title to every foot of land he has—for his Father has settled it upon him! A child of God has worldly things in love, because they are sanctified to him. They make him better, and are loadstones to draw him nearer to God. He has his Father’s blessing with them. A little that is blessed by God, is sweet. "He shall bless your bread and your water." Exodus 23:25. Esau had the venison—but Jacob got the blessing. While the wicked have their food sauced with God’s wrath; believers have their comforts seasoned with God’s blessing. Psalms 78:30-31. It was a sacred blessing from God, which made Daniel’s vegetables nourish him more, and made him look fairer than those who ate of the king’s food. Daniel 1:15. A child of God has worldly things in love, because whatever he has is a pledge of more; every bit of bread is a pledge of glory!
(2) God being a Father, if he frowns, if he dips his pen in gall, and writes bitter things, if he DISCIPLINES—it is all done in love! A father loves his child as well when he chastises and disciplines him—as when he settles his inheritance on him. "Those whom I love—I rebuke and discipline." Revelation 3:19. "Afflictions are sharp arrows," says one—"but they are shot from the hand of a loving Father!" Correction is God’s gymnasium. Correction is God’s school of character. God afflicts His children--in love! He does it to humble and purify. Gentle correction is as necessary as daily bread; nay, as needful as ordinances, as Word and sacraments. There is love in all! God smites—that he may save. "For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and punishes every son whom He receives." Hebrews 12:6. "God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness." Hebrews 12:10
(3) God being a Father, if he DESERTS and hides his face from his child—it is in love. Spiritual desertion is sad in itself—it is a short hell. Job 6:9. When the light is withdrawn, the dew falls. Yet we may see a rainbow in the cloud—we may see the love of a Father in all this. God hereby quickens grace. Perhaps grace lay dormant. Song of Solomon 5:2, Song of Solomon 5:2. It was as fire in the embers, and God withdrew comfort to invigorate and exercise it. Faith like a star, sometimes shines brightest in the dark night of desertion. Jonah 2:4. When God hides his face from his child, he is still a Father, and his heart is towards his child. As when Joseph spoke roughly to his brethren, and made them believe he would take them for spies—his heart was full of love, and he was glad to go aside and weep. Just so, God’s affections yearn towards his children when he seems to look harshly on them. "In a little wrath I hid my face from you—but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you." Isaiah 54:8. Though God may have the look of an enemy—yet still he has the heart of a Father!
Learn hence the deplorable case of the wicked. They cannot say, "Our Father in heaven." They may say, "Our Judge," but not "Our Father." They fetch their pedigree from hell—"You are of your father—the devil." John 8:44. Such as are unclean and worldly, are the vile brood of the old serpent, and it would be blasphemy for them to call God their Father! The case of the wicked is deplorable; if they are in misery, they have none to make their moan to. God is not their Father! He disclaims all kindred with them. "I never knew you! Depart from me—you who work iniquity." Matthew 7:23. The wicked, dying in their sins, can expect no mercy from God as a Father. Many say, He who made them will save them; but "It is a people of no understanding; therefore he who made them—will not have mercy on them." Isaiah 27:11. Though God was their Father by creation—yet because they were not his children by adoption, therefore He who made them would not save them.
If you will now at last seek God by prayer, and break off your sins, he has the affections of a Father for you, and will never cast you out! When the prodigal arose and went to his father, "his father had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him!" Luke 15:20. Though you have been a prodigal, and almost spent all upon your lusts—yet if you will give a bill of divorce to your sins, and flee to God by repentance, know that he has the affections of a Father; he will embrace you in the arms of his mercy, and seal your pardon with a kiss. What though your sins have been heinous? Your wound is not so broad—as the plaster of Christ’s blood. The sea covers great rocks. Just so, the sea of God’s compassion can drown your great sins! Therefore be not discouraged, go to God, resolve to cast yourself upon his Fatherly compassion. He may be entreated of you, as he was of Manasseh. 2 Chronicles 33:13. "No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool!" Isaiah 1:18
Wherein lies the happiness, of having God for our Father?
He delights in their company. He loves to see their face, and hear their voice. Song of Solomon 2:14, Song of Solomon 2:14. He cannot refrain long from their company; let but two or three of his children meet and pray together, he will be sure to be among them. "Where two or three are gathered together in my name—there am I in the midst of them." Matthew 18:20. He bears his children in his bosom, as a nursing father does the sucking child. Numbers 11:12; Isaiah 46:4. To be carried in God’s bosom shows how near his children lie to his heart. He is full of solicitous care for them. "He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7. His eye is always upon them, they are never out of his thoughts. A father cannot always take care for his child, he sometimes is asleep; but God is a Father who never sleeps. "He shall neither slumber nor sleep." Psalms 121:4. He thinks nothing too good to part with, for his children; he gives them the honey out of the rock, and "wine on the lees well refined." Isaiah 25:6. He gives them three jewels more worth than heaven—the blood of his Son, the grace of his Spirit, and the light of his countenance.
Never was there such an indulgent, affectionate Father. If he has one love better than another, he bestows it upon them; they have the cream and quintessence of his love. "He will rejoice over you, he will rest in his love." Zephaniah 3:17. He loves his children with the same love as he loves Christ. John 17:26. It is the same love, for the unchangeableness of it. God will no more cease to love his adopted sons—than he will to love Christ, his Son.
[1] In case of infirmities. If the child is deformed, or has any bodily distemper—the father pities it. Just so, if God is our Father, he pities our weaknesses: and he so pities them as to heal them. "I have seen his ways, and will heal him." Isaiah 57:18. As he has affections to pity, so he has balm to heal.
[2] In case of injuries. Every blow to the child goes to the father’s heart; so, when the saints suffer, God sympathizes. "In all their affliction he was afflicted." Isaiah 63:9. He did, as it were, bleed in their wounds. "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" When the foot was trod on—the head cried out! God’s soul was grieved for the children of Israel. Judges 10:16. As when one string in a lute is touched, all the rest sound; so when God’s children are stricken, his affections sound. "He who touches you touches the apple of his eye." Zechariah 2:8.
"The Lord healed the people." 2 Chronicles 30:20. The tribes of Israel, being straitened in time, lacked some legal purifications; yet because their hearts were right, God healed them and pardoned them. He accepts of the good intention. 2 Corinthians 8:12. An earthly father kindly receives a letter from his young child—though there are blots and bad spelling in it. What blottings are there in our holy things! Yet our Father in heaven accepts them. "It is my child!" God says, "I will look upon him, through Christ—with a merciful eye!"
God will correct in measure—for duration; he will not let the affliction lie too long. "The rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous," Psalms 125:3. It may be there—but not rest there. "I will not contend forever." Isaiah 57:16. Our heavenly Father will love forever—but he will not contend forever. The torments of the damned are forever. "The smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever." Revelation 14:11. The wicked shall drink a sea of wrath—but God’s children only taste of the cup of affliction, and their heavenly Father will say, "let this cup pass away from them." Isaiah 35:10.
[1] As they set them praying. 2 Corinthians 12:8. Temptation is a medicine for carnal security.
[2] As they are a means to humble them. "Lest I should be exalted above measure, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan." 2 Corinthians 12:7. The thorn in the flesh was an affliction; but it was to pick the bladder of pride.
[3] As they establish them more in grace. A tree shaken by the wind is more settled and rooted; so the blowing of a temptation does but settle a child of God more in grace. Thus the evil one, Satan, shall not prevail against the children of God.
We have a Father to pray to.
We have the Spirit to help us to pray.
We have an Advocate to present our prayers.
God’s children should in all their troubles—run to their heavenly Father, as the sick child in 2 Kings 4:19: "He said unto his father—My head, my head." So pour out your complaint to God in prayer. "Father, my heart, my heart! My dead heart—quicken it! My hard heart—soften it in Christ’s blood! Father, my heart, my heart!" Surely God, who hears the cry of ravens, will hear the cry of his children!
[1] The angels are a numerous guard. "The mountain was full of horses of fire round about Elisha." 2 Kings 6:17. "The horses and chariots of fire" were the angels of God to defend the prophet Elisha.
[2] The angels are a strong guard. One angel, in one night, slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand. 2 Kings 19:35. If one angel slew so many, what could an army of angels have done?
[3] The angels are a swift guard; they are ready in an instant to help God’s children. They are described with wings to show their swiftness: they fly to our help. "As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you." Daniel 9:23. Here was swift motion for the angel, to come from heaven to earth between the beginning and ending of Daniel’s prayer.
[4] The angels are a watchful guard; not like Saul’s guard, asleep when their king was in danger. 1 Samuel 26:12. The angels are a vigilant guard; they watch over God’s children to defend them. "The angel of the Lord encamps round about those who fear him." Psalms 34:7. There is an invisible guardianship of angels surrounding God’s children.
They conquer the world. The world holds forth her two breasts of profit and pleasure—and many are overcome by it. But the children of God have a world-conquering faith. "This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith." 1 John 5:4.
They conquer their enemies. How can that be, when their enemies often take away their lives? They conquer—by not complying with them; as the three children would not fall down to the golden image. Daniel 3:18. They would rather burn—than bow. Thus they were conquerors. He who complies with another’s lust, is a captive; he who refuses to comply, is a conqueror. God’s children conquer their enemies by heroic patience. A patient Christian, like the anvil, bears all strokes invincibly. Thus the martyrs overcame their enemies by patience.
God’s children are more than conquerors. "We are more than conquerors." Romans 8:37. How are they more than conquerors? Because they conquer without loss, and because they are crowned after death, which other conquerors are not.
(17) If God is our Father—he will put honor and renown upon us at the last day.
[1] He will clear the innocence of his children. His children in this life are badly misrepresented. They are loaded with invectives. They are called factious, seditious; as Elijah, the troubler of Israel; and Luther, the trumpet of rebellion. Athanasius was accused to the Emperor Constantine as the raiser of tumults; and the primitive Christians were accused as "killers of their children, guilty of incest." Tertullus reported Paul to be a pestilent person. Acts 24:5. Wycliffe was called the idol of the heretics, and reported to have died drunk. If Satan cannot defile God’s children—he will disgrace then; if he cannot strike his fiery darts into their consciences—he will put a dead fly to their names! But God will one day clear their innocence; he will roll away their reproach. As he will make a resurrection of bodies, so of names. "The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth." Isaiah 25:8. He will be the saints’ vindicator. "He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light." Psalms 37:6. The night casts its dark mantle upon the most beautiful flowers; but the light comes in the morning and dispels the darkness, and every flower appears in its orient brightness. So the wicked may by misreports darken the honor and repute of the saints; but God will dispel this darkness, and cause their names to shine forth. "He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light." Thus God stood up for the honor of Moses when Aaron and Miriam sought to eclipse his fame. "Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" Numbers 12:8 . So God will one day say to the wicked, "Why were you not afraid to defame and traduce my children? Having my image upon them, how dared you abuse my picture?" At last his children shall come forth out of all their calumnies, as "a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold." Psalms 68:13.
[2] God will make an open and honorable recital of all their good deeds. As the sins of the wicked shall be openly mentioned, to their eternal infamy and confusion; so all the good deeds of the saints shall be openly mentioned, "and then shall every man have praise of God." 1 Corinthians 4:5. Every prayer made with melting eyes, every good service, every work of charity, shall be openly declared before men and angels. "I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was naked, and you clothed me." Matthew 25:35-36. Thus God will set a trophy of honor upon all his children at the last day. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father!" Matthew 13:43.