The Pulpit Commentary — Obadiah — Section 35

unless it be themselvtJS, or in the sense of testimony as regards the evil that is In tho world. Through the cross of Obrist the world has been orucified to them and they 111.re crucified to the world. "And this is the judgment, that the light is co~e into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil." The Christi.an has now to bear witness to this judgment, but the full and great assize is future. IV. We may now tum our thoughts to THE LoRD JESUS CUBIST. He is the almighty and most merciful Saviour ; he is the most worthy Judge eternal. 1. Let us think of him as a Saviour. " Behold, I stand at the door and knock." He comes to the sinner's heart, He knocks by his Word, by his providence, by his Spirit. He has knocked long. The heart, like the inn at Bethlehem, has no room for Christ, or the bolts of ignorance and unbelief bar him out. How long shall he be kept away? He may have given his last knock. You and I need a Saviour. Shall we not welcome him? Shall we not accept his offer? Oh, "how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" 2. Let us think of him as a Jud,ge. "Behold, the Judge standeth at the door," If wo open not to the Saviour, we must open to the Jndge. I have read of a man of immense w~lth wh_o built f~r himself a magnificent maJ?,si_on, and then shut himself up in it. His sovereign, passmg that way, asked for adm1ss1on. He refused it. Time went on. A change took place. There had come a great depreciation of West Indian property. The proud man, who would not receive his king, saw bis gates yield to the law-officers of the crown. " Behold, the Judge standeth at the door." If we welcome not the knocking Saviour, how can we meet the Judge? May the Ho1y Spirit be our Helper that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, and not be ashamed at Christ'~ appearing! May we say with Luther- " Beneath the cross I view the de.y When heaven o.nd earth shall pass away, And so prepare to meet him " I A.O.T. Ver. 21.-The kingdom. "The kingdom shall be the Lord's." What fulness of brightest morning glory after a long night of blackest darkness I The kingdom longed for, the kingdom prayed for, the kingdom promised, the kingdom prophesied of, shall be the king- dom come. The kingdom. Not many kingdoms, but one. Now there are many, and these diverse from each other, and often at war one with another. The Prophet Daniel spoke of this when he said, "The Lord God shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed." The fulfilment is presented to us in Rev. xi. 15, "The seventh angel sounded; and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said, The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he shall reign for ever and ever." " The kingdom shall be the Lord's." 1.·ow the world lieth in the wicked one. The kingdom iB Satan's. Look at its sins, its miseries, its darkness, its degradation, its ruin. The kingdom is Satan's. See the heathen world bowing to wood and stone, or worshipping devils. Look at the vast millions carried away by the Mohammedan delubion. Tum to the multitudes hardened by Jewish infidelity. View so-called Christendom, with teeming myriads rejecting the truth. See also the millions that have not so much as the profession of any religion. Is not Sat.an the prince of this world? Is not the great enemy of souls usurping the seat of power? Oh, then, as we think of Israel not gathered home; as we think of Babylon drunk with the blood of saints; al' we think of the infidelity and ignorance which stalk abroad in the professing Church arid in the world; as we think of war and bloodshed deluging the earth; as we think of nations di.~comfited by the frailties of human governments; as we think of the Church torn by contentions; as we think of Rachels weeping for their lost ones; as we think of the tears which bedew the cheeks of orphans aud widows ; as we think of the sorrows in our hospitals; as we think of the bitter poverty in our large cities; as we think, too, of the groans of the poor brute creation ; and as we think of the sad partings, the great disappointments, the strong animosities, and the cruel wrongs common to earth ;-shall we not pray for the fulfilment of our text'? shall we not cry," Thy kingdom come"? shall we not exclaim, with St. John," Come, Lord Jesus: come quickly"? It is a cry for the end of toil, the end of suffering, the end of tears, the end of temptations, the end ,11f sin, the end of gloom, the end of darkness, the end of death, It is a loud 1-21.] THE BOOK OF OBADIAH. ,31