The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 241

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHOR& Ver. 20.-Man's stubbor1l wi1l. "And the rest ••• yet repented not." The fata obstinacy of wicked men, the dreadful hardness of the human heart, sin's searing of the 8118ccptibilities of the soul,-such is the mournful fact that the te.x.t, repeated again in the next verse, as if to sumlllon our special attention, vividly reveals. Implied or stated in it are such truths as these- I. ALL MEN NEED REPENTANOB. The judgment fell only on some, but all deserved it; all had sinned, and all should have repented. When we see God's judgment falling on any one, our reflection should be not, "How evil he must have been I" but " How merciful of God to spare me I " II. GoD PLEADS WITH MEN TO BRING THEM TO REPENTANCE. These judgments of which we read are not God's primary dealings with men. He does not begin in this manner. There has been much that has preceded this. God has pleaded with men by his Spirit in their consciences. By his goodness, giving them all manner of providential mercies. 'l'hen, more especially by his Word, delivered by revelation, through his mel!llengers, etc. .And in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, in the memge of the gospel. Men always knew that their deeds were evil; the sense of sin was everywhere; and they knew that God would have them repent. .And there were some who did, and therefore held aloof from the abominations of the rest. .And since Christ has come the Divine pleadings have been more than ever heard. III. BUT THESE MILDER METHODS OFTEN l!'AIL. All history shows this, as well as the Bible, and our own experience confirms it. See our Saviour weeping over Jeru- l!!llem. That sorrow had been known before, and has been since. IV. STERNER METHODS ARB THEN TRIED. In these .Apocalyptic visions we have portrayed over and over again these more awful means which God employs to bring men to repentance. In Israel's history how often they were tried I and they often succeedeil, as, blessed be God, they often succeed now. This is their purpose. V. BUT EVEN THESE, AT TlllES, AND FOB LONG '.l'IME, FAIL. This is the declara- tion of our text (cf. also Jer. v. 3; viii. 6; Rom. ii. 4, 6). So was it with Pharaoh, when the plagues one after another, wliich in many respects resembled these trumpet- plagues, came upon him. The invariable effects of the Divine law, wl;iich ordains that sin persisted in becomes fixed habit which cannot be shaken off, and of which, there- fore, the writer of the Book of Exodus says, "The Lord hardened Phamoh's heart;"- this Divine law was illustrated in him. So again and again in Israel's history, "until the wrath of the Lord arose against them, and there was no remedy." In men, too, like that wicked King Amon, of whom it is said, "But Amon sinned more and more." True, the psalmist says, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy W~." But though it might have been true of him, it is as often as not, if not more often, true that men go astray after affliction just as they did before, "Though thou bray a fool in a mortar, yet will not his folly depart from him." So, with equal, if not greater truth, does the proverb assert that opp011ite and most melancholy fact of which the Bible, all life, and our text here say so much. "God's visitations pass lightly ov• CB, IX. 1-21.] THE REVELATION 01!' ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. 269