Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_500.lzh/6_593.TXT

Text File | 1994-11-17 | 7KB | 128 lines

power, and for fear of his judgments: and shall fear
because of thee; 0 God, or Israel, as Kimchi; the
church of God, whom they despised and reproached
before; but now shall be seized with a panic, and live
in the utmost dread of, because of the power and glory
of God in the midst.of them, and lest they should fall
a sacrifice to them.
Vet. 18. lVho is a God like unto thee, &c.] There is
no God besides him, none so great, so mighty, as he;
none like him for the perfections of his nature; tbr 'the
works of his hands; for the blessings of his goodness,
both of providence and grace; and particularly for his
pardonifig grace and mercy, as follows: thatpardoncth
iniquity: that lifts it up, and takes it away, as the
word t signifies; thus the Lord has taken t'he sins of
his people off of them, and laid them on Christ, and
he has bore them, and carried them away, as theanti-
type of the scape-goat, never to be seen and remem-
bered any more; and whereas the guilt of sin lies
sometimes as a heavy burden upon their consciences,
he lifts it up, and takes it away, bysprinkling the blood
of Christ upon them', and by applying his pardoning
grace and mercy to them: pardon of sin is peculiar to
God; none can forgive it but he against Whom it is
committed; forgiveness of sin is with him, promised
by him in covenant, proclaimed in Christ, by him ob-
tained and published in the Gospel: and passeth by the
transgression of the remnant of his heritage ? the people
of God are his portion, his lot, and his inheritance;
they are a remnant according to the election of grace,
chosen of God, taken into his covenant, redeemed by
Christ, and called by grace, and brought to repent and
believe; these God forgives, even all their transgres-
sions, sins, and iniquities of every kind; which is here
expressed by another word,passing them by, or passing
over them: sin is a transgression or passing over the
law, and pardon is a passing over sin; God taking no
notice of it, as if he saw it not; not imputing it to his
people, or calling them to an account for it; or con-
demning and punishing them according to the desert of
it; but hiding his hce from it, and covering it: he re-
taineth not his anger for ever; that which he seemed to
have against his people, and appeared in some of the
dispensations of his providence, is not continued and
lengthened out, and especially for ever, but it disap-
pears; he changes the course of his providence, and
his conduct and behaviour to his people, and ,hews
them his face and fayour,. and manifests his forgiving
love; which is a turning himself from his anger; see
· Psal. lxxxv. 2, 3. Isa. xii. 1: because he delighteth in
mercy; which is natural to him, abundant with him,
and exercised according to his sovereign will and plea-
sure, very delightful to him; he takes pleasure in shew-
ing mercy to miserable creatures, and'in those that
hope in it, Psal. cxlvii. 11. this is the spring of par-
don, which streams through the blood of Christ,
Ver. 19. He will turn again, &c.] From his anger,
and shew his face and fayour; which is not inconsistent
with his everlasting and unchangeable love; for anger is
not opposite to love, and is only a .displicency at sin,
and not at the persons of his people; and,. properly
speaking, is not in God; is rather in appearance than
in reality; when his people sin against him, he ,hews
himself as 'if he was angry; he turns away from them,
and withdraws his gracious presence and sensible com-
reunion fi'om them; but when they are brought to a
sense of sin, and acknowledgment of it., he returns to
them, manifests his love to them again, and applies
his pardoning grace, which is the thing believed would
be done; it is only another expression of that, as all
the rest that' follow are: the prophet, or the church,
dwells on this article of grace, and heaps up words to
express it by, as if they could never say too much or'
it, or sufficiently explain it. The Targum is, "his
"word shall return." He will have compassion upon us;
the Lord is naturally compassionate; he is full of com-
passion, he has bowels of compassion; these are tender
mercies, and never hil, and which are exercised in a
sovereign way; pardon of Sin flows from hence; every
manifestation or it is a display thereof: sin brings
afflictions on the saints, and then the Lord pities them,
and is afflicted with them; sin grieves them, and he is
as it were grieved for them; it wounds them, and then,
as the good and Compassionate Samaritan, he pours in
the oil and wine of pardoning grace, and heads'them;
they are, whilst in this state, in' Such circumstances
often asneed his compassion, and they may be assured
of it, Psal. lxxviii. 38. He will subdue our iniquities;
which maybe understood also as a further explanation
of the grace of pardon: sin is an enemy to God and his
people; it is too strong and mighty for them; .it reigns
over them in a state of nature; they are under the
power of it, and can't get rid of it, its influence, guilt,
and punishment; Christ has conquered it, made an end
of it, and took it away; God tramples upon it, as a
conqueror does upon the necks of his enemies; it ii
subdued by him, and is under his feet; which he treats
with contempt, disdains to look upon, keeps it under,
so that it shall never rise again to the condemnation of
his people; he overcomes the provocation of it, re-
moves the guilt by pardon, and secures from the pu-
nishment of it: or this may be considered as the effect
of pardon; as what is done in consequence of it, by
the spirit and grace Of God in sanctitication; when not
only the deeds of the body are mortified through the
spirit, or the outward conversation reformed, but the
inward power of sin is weakened; it is laid under the
restraints of efficacious grace, and is kept under by it;
so that it shall not and cannot have the dominion over
the saints again, of which. they may be confident,
Rom. vi. 14. And thou wilt cast all their sins into the
depths of the sea ;\-never to be seen any more; though
they are seen with the eye of omniscience, and taken
notice of by the eye of providence, yet not beheld with
the eye of avenging justice, that being satisfied by
Christ; besides, all the sins of God's people have been
removed from. them to Christ, and by him carried
away into the land of oblivion; so that they are no
more to be seen on them, who are through his blood
and righteousness without fault, spot, or wrinkle, or
any such thing; and, being out of sight, they are out
of mind, never remembered any more, and like things
cast into the sea, destroyed and lost: perhaps there
may be some allusion to the Egyptians drowned in the

{t} \^avn\^ tollens, Montanus, Tigurine version, Calvin;
auferens,Drusius; qui aufers, Grotius.