We cannot fail of acknowledging the interposition of Heaven in the history of Benhadad: let us be willing also most thankfully to acknowledge it in the events which we have just recited.]
Great also is the spiritual deliverance which God will vouchsafe to all who look unto him —
[The power of our spiritual enemies is infinitely more dis- proportionate to ours, than that of Benhadad to the king of Israel^ But God has instructed us how to overcome
^ Eph. vi. 1?.
them, and wall enable us to do if No enemy shall
prevail against us, if only we rely on him, and follow his direc- tions'^ His people in every age have been made victo- rious^ and we also, if we fight manfully vmder the
banners of the cross, shall have " Satan himself shortly bruised under our feet" ]
In this connexion it is highly requisite to con- template,
II. The fidelity we should exercise for him —
God punished Ahab for not executing faithfully the work assigned him —
[As Agag, king of Amalek, had formerly been delivered into the hands of Saul in order to his destruction, so was now Benhadad into the hands of Ahab. But Ahab, elated with vanity, spared the captive monarch, and restored him to his throne ; and thus brought upon himself and upon his own people the destruction which was primarily intended for their Syrian enemies.
The way in which this sentence was denounced against him was very remarkable. A prophet was required to personate a wounded soldier, and by a well-contrived parable to get Ahab to condemn himself. The artifice succeeded; and Ahab did unwittingly condemn himself, and thereby justify God in exe- cuting upon him the sentence which he had passed upon the supposed offender. And it was but about three years after- wards that Ahab himself was slain in battle with the Syrian monarch, whom he had so inconsiderately spared.]
And shall not me he called to account for the manner in which we execute his commands in rela- tion to our spiritual enemies ?
[As to what may be God's will in reference to our great temporal foe, we presume not to judge : and where an express revelation is wanting, we must be guided by justice and poli- tical expediency. But respecting our sjnritual enemies we have no doubt. He requhes them all to be slain without exception : not one is to be spared. The great master-sin, whatever it be, " the sin that most easily besets us," must be the object of our more determined hostility^. If one sin be spared, our life must go for the life of that : if it be dear as " a right eye," or necessary as " a right hand," we have no alternative, but to destroy it utterly, or to perish eternally
«= Eph. vi. 13—18. '' Isai. liv. 17. Rom. viii. 31—39.
<^ Heb. xi. 32—34. f ITeb. xii. 1.
f352.] AIIAB AND ELIJAH IN NABOTIl's VINEYARD. 4^9
" in hell lires" Shall we then rest content with any
victory, whilst so much as one lust remains to be mortified and subdued? ]
Address,
1 . The proud and presumptuous —
[Let not any imagine it an easy thing to get to heaven : our foes are exceeding numerous and powerful ; and the more secure we are in our own conceit, the more certain we are to be
subdued before them — "Let us not be high-minded, but
fear."]
2. The timid and desponding —
[Our weakness, though a reason for crying mightily to God for aid, is no reason for despondency. " When we are weak, then are we strong," because God will then interpose to " perfect his own strength in our weakness." If, as we are told, " a worm shall thresh the mountains ^," then need not any man fear, if only he go forth in Jehovah's strength, and follow the directions which God has given him. The lan- guage of the feeblest saint should be, " Who art thou, thou great mountain ? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain'."]