VER. 7-11.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 63
into his rest. From that day he took hold of all occasions to exer- cise severity against them, flooding them away, Ps. xc. 5, until that whole evil generation was consumed. And so it was with their pos- terity as to their church and national state. God sent unto them, and dealt variously with them, by his prophets, in several genera- tions. Some of them they persecuted, others they killed, and upon the matter rejected them all, as to the main end of their work and message. But yet all this while God spared them, and continued them a people and a church,—their provocation was not come unto its height, its last day was not yet come. At length, according to his promise, he sent his Son unto them. This gave them their last trial, this put them into the same condition with their forefathers in the wilderness, as our apostle plainly intimates in the use of this example. Again, they despised the promises,—as their fathers had done in the type and shadow, so did they when the substance of all promises was tendered and exhibited unto them. This was the day of their last provocation, after which God would bear with them no more in a way of patience; but enduring them for the space of near forty years, he utterly rejected them ;—sending forth his servants, “he slew those murderers, and burned up their city.” This is that which our Saviour at large declares in his parable of the householder and his husbandmen, Matt. xxi. 33-41.
And thus in God’s dealing with the antichristian state, there is a season wherein the angel swears that “there shall be time no longer,” Rev. x. 6; that God would no longer bear with men, or forbear them in their provocations and idolatries, but would thence- forth give them up unto all sorts of judgments spiritual and tem- poral, unto their utter confusion,—yea, “send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness,” 2 Thess. ii. 11,12. And concerning this day two things may be observed :— [1.] That it is wncertain; [2.] That it is wnalterable.
[1.] It is wncertain. Men know not when their provocations do come or will come unto this height. Jerusalem knew not in the entrance of her day that her sin and unbelief were coming to their issue, and so was not awakened to their prevention; no more than the men of Sodom knew when the sun arose that there was a cloud of fire and brimstone hanging over their heads. Men in their sins think they will do as at other times, as Samson did when his locks were cut, and that things will be made up between God and them as formerly,—that they shall yet have space and time for their work and duty; but ere they are aware they have finished their course, and filled up the measure of their sins. “For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of
64 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. IIT.
men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them,” Eccles. ix. 12. For the day of the Lord’s indignation comes “as a snare on them that dwell on the face of the earth,’ Luke xxi. 35. And men are often crying, “ Peace, peace,” when sudden destruction comes upon them, 1 Thess. v. 3. When Babylon shall say “ she sits as a queen, and is no widow” (her sons being again restored unto her), “and shall see no sorrow; then shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire,’ Rev. xviii. 7, 8. Hence is Christ so often said to come as a thief, to manifest how men will be surprised by him in their sins and impenitency. And if the outward peace and the lives of men in this condition be respited for a while, as ofttimes they are, yet they are no longer under a dispensation of patience. There is nothing between God and them but anger and wrath. If men knew when would be their last trial, and which were it, we think they would rouse up themselves to a deep consideration of it, and a serious compliance with the call of God. But this, in the holy will and wisdom of God, is always hid from them, until it be too late to make use of it, until it can produce no effects but a few despairing wishes. God will have none of his warnings, none of his merciful dispensations put off or slighted with the hope and expec- tation of another season, by a foolish promising whereof unto them- selves men ruin their souls every day.
[2.] It is unalterable and irrecoverable. When the provoca- tion of unbelief comes to this height there is no space or room left for repentance, either on the part of God or the sinner. For men, for the most part, after this they have no thought of repenting. Hither they see themselves irrecoverable, and so grow desperate, or become stupidly senseless and lie down in security. So those false worshippers in the Revelation, after time was granted unto them no longer, but the plagues of God began to come upon them, it is said they repented not, but bit their tongues for anger, and blasphemed God. Instead of repenting of their sins, they rage against their punishment. And if they do change their mind in any thing, as Esau did when he saw the blessing was gone, it is not by true re- peutance, nor shall it be unto any effect or purpose, So the Is- raelites finished their sin by murmuring against the Lord upon the return of the spies, and said they would not go up into the land, but would rather return into Egypt, Num. xiv. But after a while they changed their minds, “and they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the Lorp hath pro- mised,” verse 40. But what was the issue? Their time was past, the Lord was not among them: “The Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discom-