424 BRAND PLUCKED OUT OF THE FIRE
the accusing enemy. " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ? " That He chooses the sinner assures the righteousness of the choice. Even Satan is silenced. " Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ? It is God that justifieth."
T[ Certain theologians have placed the eternal sovereignty in the Divine will, asserting that God "out of His mere good pleasure" entered into a covenant of grace with men. Others with a greater reach have passed beyond the fiat of God to His infinite wisdom — " the counsel of His will." But the heart can- not rest until it finds behind the wisdom of God the eternal love. " God's first decree," said an ancient Dutch divine, " is the bestowal of Christ." This is in agreement with the teaching of St. Paul : " He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love." The election of the saints is for life and service, for holiness and glory. God's chosen ones are the Divine ambassadors ; they are witnesses to the preciousness of redeeming love. They are commissioned with the authority of the Master : " As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth." 1
Chosen not for good in me, Wakened up from wrath to flee, Hidden in the Saviour's side, By the Spirit sanctified, Teach me, Lord, on earth to show, By my love, how much I owe.2
2. Then the Lord appeals to what He has done for Joshua already. Of Joshua, as representing the people, the Lord said, " Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire ? " The same expres- sion occurs in Amos iv. 11, where it is applied to the people of Israel rescued by God from amidst the terrible judgments which had been sent upon them, and by which they had been consumed as in a furnace. The expression is probably proverbial, and was used to convey the idea of unexpected deliverance from imminent calamity. Satan would have had the brand kept in " the furnace of affliction " until it was utterly consumed ; but the Lord would not have it so ; His grace and power had interposed to rescue His people from captivity, and He would complete the deliverance He
1 D. M. Mclntyre, Life in His Name, 81. 2 R. M. McCheyne.
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had begun. The brand had been plucked from the burning, and was not again to be cast into the fire.
Israel in the Exile had been thrown into the fire of the Divine wrath. Much had been burnt, and perhaps all deserved to be. But at the critical moment the heart of God relented, and He snatched the burnt stump out of the fire. It was still defaced with what it had passed through, and bore the smell of burning. To gloat over the wretchedness of such a remnant was a shameful thing to do; and, for doing so, Satan received a sharp rebuke. But God Himself took up the brand tenderly, His repentings kindling together, to see what might still be made of it. Have I not already, He seems to say, snatched him from destruction ; and shall I not deliver him from sin ? I have delivered his soul from death ; shall I not deliver his feet from falling, that he may walk before Me in the light of the living ? I have done the greater, shall I not do the less ? What can Satan answer ? He is speech- less.
TJ When the prairie catches fire, if the wind is blowing very strongly the prairie fire will travel faster than a horse can gallop. Those who have settled on the prairies see the devouring flames come, and they know they can't run away from them. What do they do ? They burn a large space in the vicinity of their home ; in a short time a very large piece of ground is absolutely cleared and blackened. What do they do then ? For purposes of safety they go and stand on the ground where the fire has been already. When the great devouring prairie fire comes up it stops there — it can go no farther — there is nothing to burn. There is but one place where the fire has already been, and that is the cross of Calvary, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have only to come to the place where the fire has already been, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we shall hear these words : " I have caused thine iniquities to pass from thee." x
3. " And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take the filthy garments from off him." The speaker here is the Angel of the Lord, who gave the command to those that stood before Him, i.e., the attendant angels who waited to do His pleasure, to remove from Joshua the filthy garments in which he had appeared. That this symbolized the remission of sins, and the acceptance into favour of Joshua and the people whom he