Text: “God shall likewise destroy thee forever, He shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living.”
Psalm 52:5.
Good morning, righteous Christian! ‘All those that are ‘...in Christ Jesus..’,
and seeking to fervently, and actively serve the Lord, ‘...shall suffer
persecution...’. It is a direct promise
from God, and has been evidenced to be continually at work down throughout the history
of Christ’s Church. If YOU have not
suffered such attendant ‘persecution’, hindrance, oppositions; and betrayals –
perhaps you should examine yourself and prove to yourself, whether ye be in the
true Christian faith at all! Sobering
thought on this Lord’s Day.
“Yea, and all that will live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12)
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the
faith; prove (test) your own selves.
Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye
be reprobates (rejected of God)? But I
trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.” (2 Corinthians 13:5-6)
Doeg was such a reprobate, passed over by
God in election for Salvation; rejected of God according to His own Sovereign
will and Eternal purpose. He proved
himself to be so when he, not only sought to inform Saul on the whereabouts of
God’s anointed king, David; but then took the sword to the God-fearing priests
of Nob, and put 85 servants of the Living Lord God to death!
“A good tree cannot bring forth evil
fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit
is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matthew 6:18-20)
Psalm 52, verses 5 to 7 – in the
inspiration of God the Spirit – clearly portrays the absolute doom of such
persons as the sycophantic flatterer and cruel persecutor, Doeg. It is a doom that will be shared by all who,
not only despise the Word of God, but who dare to cause hurt and hindrance to
Christ’s active servants. All potential
Doegs, beware!
“God shall likewise destroy thee forever,
He shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root
thee out of the land of the living.” (Psalm 52:5)
“Selah (now think on this). Let us pause and look at the proud,
blustering liar. Doeg is gone, but other
dogs bark at the Lord’s people. Saul’s
cattle-master is buried, but the Devil still has his drovers who fain would
hurry the saints like sheep to the slaughter.”
(C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 243)
Matthew Henry expounds this Scripture in this manner:
Verse 5: "Thou hast destroyed the priests
of the Lord and cut them off, and therefore God shall likewise destroy thee forever.’’
Sons of perdition actively shall be sons
of perdition passively, as Judas and the man of sin. Destroyers shall be destroyed; those
especially that hate, and persecute, and destroy the priests of the Lord, his
ministers and people, who are made to our God priests, a royal priesthood. They shall be taken away with a swift and everlasting destruction.
“Doeg is here condemned: To be driven
out of the church: He shall pluck thee out of the tabernacle, not thy
dwelling-place, but God’s (so it is most probably understood); "thou shalt
be cut off from the favour of God, and his presence, and all communion with
him, and shalt have no benefit either by oracle or offering.’’ Justly was he deprived of all the privileges
of God’s house who had been so mischievous to his servants; he had come
sometimes to God’s tabernacle, and attended in his courts, but he was detained
there; he was weary of his service, and sought an opportunity to defame his
family; it was very fit therefore that he should be taken away, and plucked out
thence; we should forbid anyone our house that should serve us so.
“Note: We forfeit the benefit of ordinances if
we make an ill use of them. To be driven out of the world; "He shall root
thee out of the land of the living, in which thou thoughtest thyself so deeply
rooted.’’ When good men die they are transplanted from the land of the living
on earth, the nursery of the plants of righteousness, to that in heaven, the
garden of the Lord, where they shall take root for ever. But, when wicked men die, they are rooted out
of the land of the living, to perish forever, as fuel to the fire of divine
wrath. This will be the portion of those that contend with God.” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Bible, by
Matthew Henry, 1662-1714)
What a doom awaits those that act like a
Doeg! What Eternal horror awaits those
that dare to harm God’s anointed and Eternally chosen servants! God’s dire warning is made very clear: “He
(God) suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, He reproved kings for their sakes,
saying, Touch not Mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” (1 Chronicles 16:21-22)
Every true Spiritually regenerated soul
is anointed by God to be so in Eternity, and given to Christ then as the
Father’s gift to His only begotten Son, Christ Jesus.
“All that the Father giveth Me, shall
come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37)
“Now He which stablisheth us with you in
Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the
earnest (guarantee) of the Spirit in our hearts (inner being).” (1 Corinthians 1:21-22)
The Doegs of this world do not seem to
realise for a moment what infinite cost it took to redeem us, God’s people,
from our sins, and to grant us Eternal life in Christ Jesus. God the Father had to cruelly sacrifice His
only begotten lamb; His Eternal Son; upon that ruthless Roman gibbet Cross, to
purchase us back from our vile sins, by Christ’s sinless and Holy Blood. What an infinite Sacrifice to make, that we
might become God’s anointed people!
Having paid such a Divine and infinite
price for ‘His people’ – woe betide any would-be a Doeg to do harm to God’s
anointed Christian people. An Eternal
Hell of horrors awaits such would-be tyrants and persecutors of those whom God
dearly loves. Anti-Christians beware!
Thought: He/she who strikes/hurts the Christian – seeks to strike/hurt the Christ!
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