The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 273

him, but only a sign of foolish prido which ,vill certainly bo humiliated. The.fear of God thus engendered is an awe, a rcverenco, not mcro terror. 'l'he gospel tempers this with the confident love of cliildren, but docs not destroy it, since perfect love, while casting out terror, infuses feelings of reverence. Vers. 10, 12, 13.-~e nature if God. The trua nature of God is seen in contrast ·v,ith the objects of heathen worship. Error is sometimes serviceable in furnishing an occasion for a clearer definition of truth. Christian theology has grown up through controversies with heresy and unbelief. I. THE NATURE OF Goo. 1. God is i·eal. Jehovah is the true God. He is not only superior to heathen deities. '!'hey are non-existent. He alone is. Religion is hased on facts. Its first affirmation is this-" God is." It is not a growth of the poetic imagination, a fabric of baseless speculation, nor merely "morality touched with emotion," without any object for that emotion to rest upon. It is the worship of a God who exists. Otherwise no poetic charm nor practical expediency can make it anything but a delusion, which all who venerate truth should abjure. 2. God is living. The word "God" is not a name for the totality of being, for the unconscious forces of the universe, for a blind "Not ourselves that makes for righttlousnesij,' All faith affirms more. No worship is justified without the belief that God is spirit, thinking, willing, living. God is, indeed, the one self-existent life, the lifo in which all other life is contained (Acts xvii. 28). 3. God is an everlasting King. He is eternal and changeless-not a God of the past alone, but equally active in the present. He is mot only the Creator who formed the world ages ago, but the King who now rules it. Our worship is not merely veneration for what he has done, but a constant appre- ciation of what he is doing, and prayer touching his future action-a real and effectual communion with a living and acting God. 4. 'l'hese thoughts of the nature of God should induce submission and reverence. None can compare with him. All are in his power. His eternal presence demands constant attention, and his ceaseless activity requires a correspondence in all our activity. II. THE MANIFESTATION OF THE NATURE OF Goo. 1. It is seen in creation. Power is revealed in the original formation of all things, wisdom in their orderly establishment (ver. 12). A real world can only come from a real God. A living world must derive its vitality from an original source of life. 'l'he less cannot produce the greater. All that we see in the universe must have been originally in the thought nnd power of God. 2. It is seen iu the present activities of the world. The tumult of waters flows in obedience to God's voice. Clouds, and wind, and lightning, and rain, follow his directions (ver. 13). The great energy of tho physical world testifies to an energizing power behlnd it. The universe is not a. beautiful crystal, nor a fossil relio of past life. It is replete with force, undergoing perpetual change, and constantly developing fresh forms of vitality. Such a condition of things implies that the real and living Creator must be also an ever-present Ruler, "an everlasting King." Ver. 16.-God the Portion of Israel. I. GoD IS PEOULIARLY RELATED TO BIS OWN PEOPLE. The previous verses describe the universal supremacy of God and the claims he has over all his creatures. He is not one among many gods, but the only God; he is the Creator of all things, in him all things consist, all men live only through him. He is gracious to all his human family, he is willing to give his richest blessings to all mankind. Still, there are other and special relations which God holds only with those who trust and love and obey him. They who seek God will find him as the uegligent will never do. They who choose God for their Portion will be chosc,n by him for peculiar favours. '!'bis is quite consistent with the universality of the being and activity of God. II. Goo's PECULIAR RELATION WITJI ms PEOPLE ADMITS 01!' NO RIVALRY. God must be the J>ortion of his people or in no sense peculiar~y theirs.. Israel cann~t. retal,D: the special privileges of the covenant with Jehovah while break.ing the cond1hons ot that covenant which require unwavering fidelity (Deut. xxviii. 14). He who would find his portion in God must not also seek it in the world. He may have many worldly advantages while pursuina higher aims, because these may be" added unto him;" but he must" seek firdt the "kingdom of God" (Matt. vi. 33). on, x. 1-25.J 'l'IIE DOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 273