A View of God’s Glory

A View of God's Glory

(No. 3120)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1908.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK.

"And he said, I beseech You, show me Your Glory." Exodus 33:18.

THAT was a large request for Moses to make. He could not have asked for
more. "I beseech You, show me Your Glory." Why, it is the greatest
petition that man ever asked of God! It seems to me the greatest
stretch of faith that I have either heard or read of. It was great
faith which made Abraham go into the plain to offer up intercession for
a guilty city like Sodom. It was vast faith which enabled Jacob to
grasp the Angel. It was mighty faith which made Elijah rend the heavens
and fetch down rain from skies which had been like brass. But it
appears to me that this prayer contains a greater amount of faith than
all the others put together! It is the greatest request that man could
make to God–"I beseech You, show me Your Glory." Had he requested a
fiery chariot to whirl him up to Heaven. Had he asked to cleave the
water-floods and drown the chivalry of a nation. Had he prayed the
Almighty to send fire from Heaven to consume whole armies, a parallel
to his prayer might possibly have been found. But when he offers this
petition, "I beseech You, show me Your Glory," he stands alone–a giant
among giants–a colossus even in those days of mighty men! His request
surpasses that of any other man–"I beseech You, show me Your Glory."
Among the lofty peaks and summits of man's prayer that rise like
mountains to the skies, this is the culminating point. This is the
highest elevation that faith ever gained–it is the loftiest place to
which the great ambition of faith could climb–it is the topmost pillar
of all the towering structures that confidence in God ever piled! I am
astonished that Moses himself should have been bold enough to
supplicate so wondrous a favor. Surely, after he had uttered the
desire, his bones must have trembled, his blood must have curdled in
his veins and his hair must have stood on end! Did he not wonder at
himself? Did he not tremble at his own boldness? We believe that such
would have been the case had not the faith which prompted the prayer
sustained him in the review of it!

From where, then, came faith like this? How did Moses obtain so eminent
a degree of this virtue? Ah, Beloved, it was by communion with God! Had
he not been for forty days in the council chamber with his God? Had he
not tarried in the secret pavilion of burning fire? Had not Jehovah
spoken to him as a man speaks with his friend, he would not have had
courage enough to ask so large a favor. Yes, more, I doubt whether all
this communion would have been sufficient if he had not also received a
fresh testimony to the Grace of God in sparing the guilty nation
through his intercession. Moses had argued with God–he had pleaded the
Covenant–and although God had said, "Let Me alone, that I may destroy
them," he had still maintained his hold. He had even dared to say to
the Lord, "This people have sinned a great sin and have made them gods
of gold. Yet now if You will forgive their sin–and if not, blot me, I
pray You, out of the book which you have written." He had wrestled hard
with God and had prevailed! The strength gained by this victory, joined
with his former communion with the Lord, made him mighty in prayer! But
had he not received Grace by these means, I think the petition would
have been too large even for Moses to dare to carry to the Throne.
Would you, my Brothers and Sisters, have like faith? Then walk in the
same path! Be much in secret prayer. Hold constant fellowship with the
Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, and so shall you soar aloft on
wings of confidence! And so shall you also open your mouth wide and
have it filled with Divine favors! And if you do not offer the same
request, yet you may have equal faith to that which bade Moses say, "I
beseech You, show me Your Glory."

Allow me to refer you to the 13th verse of this Chapter, where Moses
speaks unto his God, "Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found Grace
in Your sight, show me now Your way. "Moses asked a smaller favor
before he requested that greater one. He asked to see God's waybefore
he prayed to see His Glory. Mark you, my Friends, this is the true mode
of

prayer. Rest not content with past answers, but go again and double
your request! Look upon your past petitions as the small end of the
wedge opening the way for larger ones. The best way to repay God, and
the way He loves best, is to take encouragement from past answers to
prayer and ask Him ten times as much each time! Nothing pleases God as
much as when a sinner comes again very soon with twice as large a
petition, saying, "Lord, You did hear me last time, and now I have come
again." Faith is a mighty Grace and always grows upon that on which it
feeds. When God has heard prayer for one thing, faith comes and asks
for two things! And when God has given those two things, faith asks for
six. Faith can scale the walls of Heaven. She is a giant Grace. She
takes mountains up by their roots and piles them on other mountains and
so climbs to the Throne of God in confidence with large petitions,
knowing that she shall not be refused. We are, most of us, too slow to
go to God. We are not like the beggars who come to the door 20 times if
you do not give them anything. But if we have been heard once, we go
away, instead of coming time after time, and each time with a larger
prayer. Make your petitions larger and larger. Ask for ten and if God
gives them, then for a thousand! Then for ten thousand, and keep going
on until at last you will positively get faith enough to ask, if it is
right and proper, as great a favor as Moses did, "I beseech You, show
me Your Glory."

Now, my Friends, since we have spoken a little upon the prayer itself,
we shall have to see how it was received at the Throne. It was
answered, first, by a gracious manifestation. Secondly, by a gracious
concealment. And, thirdly, by a gracious shielding.

I. First of all, this prayer which Moses offered was heard by God and
He gave him A GRACIOUS MANIFESTATION–"And He said, I will make all My
goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord
before you; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will
show mercy on whom I will show mercy."

I think that when Moses put up this prayer to God, he was very much
like Peter, when, on the mountaintop, he knew not what he said. I do
think that Moses himself hardly understood the petition that he offered
to God. With all the clearness of his ideas, however pure his
conception of the Divinity might be, I think that even Moses himself
had not adequate views of the Godhead. He did not then know as much of
God as he has now learned where he stands before the Throne of the Most
High. I believe that Moses knew that "God is a Spirit." I think he must
have been sensible that the mind of man can never conceive an adequate
idea of the incomprehensible Jehovah. He must have learned that the God
of Mount Sinai, the King whose feet glowed like a furnace and made the
mountain smoke, could never be grasped by the sense of a mortal. Yet it
is likely, with all this knowledge, that the great Lawgiver had a vague
and indistinct idea that it might be possible for Divinity to be seen.
My Friends, it is hard for creatures encumbered with flesh and blood to
gain a just conception of a spirit. We are so linked with the material
that the spiritual is above our reach. Surely, then, if a mere spirit
is above our comprehension, much more, "the Father of spirits, the
Eternal, Immortal, Invisible."

The poet sings most truly–

"The more of wonderful

Is heard in Him, the more we should assent.

Could we conceive Him, God He could not be–

Or He not God, or we could not be men.

A God alone can comprehend a God." These eyes are but organs to convey
to me the knowledge of material substances–they cannot discern
spirits! It is not their duty–it is beyond their province. Purer than
celestial ether of the most refined nature. Subtler than the secret
power of electricity. Infinitely above the most rarefied forms of
matter is the existence we call a spirit. As well might we expect to
bind the winds with cords, or smite them with a sword, as to behold
spirits with eyes which were only made to see gross solid materialism.

We find that Moses "saw no similitude"–no visible form passed before
him. He had an audience. He had a vision, but it was an audience from
behind a covering and a vision, not of a Person, but of an attribute.
Behold, then, the scene. There stands Moses, about to be honored with
visions of God. The Lord is about to answer you, Moses! God is come–
do you not tremble, do not your knees knock together–are not your
bones loosened? Are not your sinews broken? Can you bear the thought of
God coming to you? Oh, I can picture Moses, as he stood in that cleft
of the rock, with the hand of God before his eyes and I can see him
look as man never looked before, confident in faith, yet more than
confounded at himself that he could have asked such a petition!

Now, what attribute is God about to show to Moses? His petition is,
"Show me Your Glory." Will He show him His justice? Will He show him
His holiness? Will He show him His wrath? Will He show him His power?
Will He break yon cedar and show him that He is almighty? Will He rend
yonder mountain and show him that He can be angry? Will He bring his
sins to remembrance and show that He is Omniscient? No! Hear the still
small Voice, "I will make all My goodness pass before you." Ah, the
goodness of God is God's Glory. God's greatest Glory is that He is
good! The brightest gem in the crown of God is His goodness! "I will
make all My goodness pass before you." There is a panorama such as time
would not be long enough for you to see!

Consider the goodness of God in Creation. Who could ever tell all God's
goodness there? Why, every creek that runs up into the shore is full of
it where the fish dance in the water! Why, every tree in every forest
rings with it, where the feathered songsters sit and make their wings
quiver with delight and ecstasy! Why, every atom of this air which is
dense with animalcule is full of God's goodness! The cattle on a
thousand hills He feeds! The ravens come and peck their food from His
liberal hands! The fishes leap out of their element and He supplies
them! Every insect is nourished by Him! The lion roars in the forest
for his prey and He sends it to him! Ten thousand thousand creatures
are all fed by Him! Can you tell, then, what God's goodness is? If you
knew all the myriad works of God, would your life be long enough to
make all God's creative goodness pass before you?

Then think of His goodness to the children of men. Think how many of
our race have come into this world and died. We are of yesterday and we
know nothing. Man is as a flower–he lives, he dies, he is the infant
of a day and he is gone tomorrow–but yet the Lord does not forget him.
O my God, if You should make all Your goodness pass before me, all Your
goodness to the children of man, I must sit down on an adamantine rock
forever and look through eternity! I should wear these eyes out and
must have eyes of fire, or else I should never be able to see all Your
goodness towards the sons of men!

But then rise still higher and think of His Sovereign goodness towards
His chosen people. O my Soul, go back into eternity and see your name
in God's book of predestinating, unchanging Grace! And then come down
to the time of redemption and see there your Savior bleeding and
agonizing. O my Soul, there were drops of goodness before, but rivers
of goodness roll before you now! When you saw the Son of God groaning,
agonizing, shrieking, dying, buried in His grave and then rising again,
you saw the goodness of God! "I will make all My goodness pass before
you." I say again, what a panorama! What a series of dissolving views!
What sight upon sight, each one melting into the other! Could I stand
here this morning and borrow the eloquence of an angel. Could I speak
to you as I might wish–but, alas, I cannot break these bonds that hold
my stammering tongue! Could I loose these lips and speak as angels
speak, then could I tell you something, but not much, of the goodness
of God, for it is past our finding out! Since I cannot utter it myself,
I would invoke all creation to be vocal in His praise. You hills, lift
up your voices–let the shaggy forests upon your summits wave with
adoration! You valleys, fill the air with the bleating of your sheep
and the lowing of your cattle! You that have life, if you have voices,
tune His praise and if you walk in silence, let your joyful motions
show the thanks you cannot speak! O you trees of the field, clap your
hands! You winds, in solemn harmony chant to His Glory! You ocean, with
your myriad waves, in all your solemn pomp, your motion to and fro,
forget not Him who bids a thousand fleets sweep over you in vain and
write no furrow on your ever-youthful brow! And you, you storms, howl
out His greatness– let your thunders roll like drums in the march of
the God of armies! Let your lightning write His name in fire upon the
midnight darkness! Let the illimitable void of space become one mouth
for song and let the unnavigated ether, through its shoreless depths,
bear through the infinite remote the name of Him who is always good and
does good!

I can say no more concerning God's goodness. But this is not all that
Moses saw. If you look to the words which follow my text, you will see
that God said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you," but there
was something more. No one attribute of God sets God out to
perfection–there must always be another. He said, "I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show
mercy." There is another attribute of God, there is His Sovereignty.
God's goodness without His Sovereignty does not completely set forth
His Nature. I think of the man who, when he was dying, sent for me to
see him. He said, "I am going to Heaven." "Well," I replied, "what
makes you think you are going there, for you never thought of it
before?" Said he, "God is good." "Yes," I answered, "but God is just."
"No," he said, "God is merciful and good." Now that poor creature was
dying and being lost forever–for he had not a right conception of God.
He had only one idea of God–that God is good. But that is not enough.
If you only see one attribute, you only see part of God. God is good,
but He is a Sovereign and does what He pleases–and though He is good
to all, in the sense of benevolence, He is not obliged to be good to
any. "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show
mercy on whom I will show mercy."

Do not be alarmed, my Friends, because I am going to preach about
Divine Sovereignty. I know some people, when they hear about
Sovereignty, say, "Oh, we are going to have some terrible high
Doctrine!" But as it is in the Bible, that ought to be enough for you.
Is not that all you need to know? If God says, "I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show
mercy," it is not for you to say that it is high Doctrine. Who told you
it was high Doctrine? It is goodDoctrine. What right have you to call
one Doctrine high and another low? Would you like me to have a Bible
with "H" against high, and "L" against low, so that I should leave the
high Doctrine out to please you? My Bible has no mark of that kind! It
says, "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious." There is Divine
Sovereignty! I believe some are afraid to say anything about this great
Doctrine lest they should offend some of their people, but, my Friends,
it is true and you shall hear it! God is a Sovereign. He was a
Sovereign before He made this world. He lived alone and this thought
was in His mind, "Shall I make anything, or shall I not? I have a right
to make creatures, or not to make any." He resolved that He would
fashion a world. When He made it, He had a right to form the world in
what shape and size He pleased. And He had a right, if He chose, to
leave the globe untenanted by a single creature. When He had resolved
to make man, He had a right to make him whatever kind of creature He
liked. If He wished to make him a worm or a serpent, He had a right to
do it. When He made him, He had a right to put any command on him that
He pleased. And God had a right to say to Adam, "You shall not touch
that forbidden tree." And when Adam offended, God had a right to punish
him and all the race forever in the bottomless pit!

God is so far Sovereign that He has a right, if He likes, to save
anyone in this Chapel, or to crush all who are here. He has a right to
take us all to Heaven if He pleases, or to destroy us. He has a right
to do just as He pleases with us. We are as much in His hands as
prisoners are in the hands of Her Majesty when they are condemned for a
capital offense against the law of the land–yes, as much as clay in
the hands of the potter. This is what He asserted when He said, "I will
be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I
will show mercy." This Doctrine stirs up your carnal pride, does it
not? Men want to be somebody. They do not like to lie down before God
and have it preached to them that God can do just as He wills with
them. Ah, you may hate this Doctrine but it is what the Scripture tells
us. Surely it is self-evident that God may do as He wills with His own!
We all like to do what we will with our own property. God has said that
if you go to His Throne in prayer, He will hear you–but He has a right
not to do so if He likes. He has a right to do just as He pleases. If
He chooses to let you go on in the error of your ways, that is His
right. And if He says, as He does, "Come unto Me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," it is His right to do
so.

That is the high and awful Doctrine of DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY.

Put the two together, goodness and Sovereignty, and you see God's
Glory! If you take Sovereignty alone, you will not understand God. Some
people only have an idea of God's Sovereignty and not of His
goodness–such are usually gloomy, harsh and ill humored. You must put
the two together–that God is good and that God is a Sovereign. You
must speak of Sovereign Grace. God is not gracious alone, He is
sovereignly gracious! He is not Sovereign alone, but He is graciously
Sovereign. That is the true idea of God. When Moses said, "I beseech
You, show me Your Glory." God made him see that He was glorious and
that His Glory was His Sovereign goodness. Surely, Beloved, we cannot
be wrong in loving the Doctrine of free, unmerited, distinguishing
Grace when we see it thus mentioned as the brightest jewel in the crown
of our Covenant God! Do not be afraid of Election and Sovereignty. The
time has come when our ministers must tell us more about them or, if
not, our souls will be so lean and starved that we shall mutiny for the
Bread of Life! Oh, may God send us more thorough Gospel men who will
preach Sovereign Grace as the Glory of the Gospel!

II. The second point is, there was A GRACIOUS CONCEALMENT.

Read the next verse. "He said, You cannot see My face; for there shall
no man see Me, and live." There was a gracious concealment and there
was as much Grace in that concealment as there was in the
manifestation. Mark you, Beloved, when God does not tell us anything,
there is as much Grace in His withholding it as there is in any of His
Revelations. Did you ever hear or read the sentiment that there is as
much to be learned from what is not in the Bible as from what there is
in the Bible? Some people read the Scriptures and they say, "We wish we
knew such-and-such." Now you ought

not to wish such a thing, for if it were right for you to know it, it
would be there–and there is as much Divine Grace in what God has not
put in the Bible as in what He has put there. If He had put more in it,
it would have been our destruction. There is just enough and no more.
Do you know how Robert of Normandy lost his sight? His brother passed a
red-hot copper bowl before his face and burned his eyes out of their
sockets. And there are some Doctrines that men want to know, which, if
they could understand them, would be like passing a red-hot bowl before
their eyes! They would scorch their eyes out and their understandings
would be completely crushed. We have seen this in some ministers who
have studied so much that they have gone out of their minds. They have
gone further than they ought to have ventured. There is a point to
which we may rightly go, but no further–and happy is the man who goes
as near to it as possible without overstepping it. God said to Moses,
"You cannot see My face; for there shall no man see Me, and live."
There are two senses in which this is true. No man can see God's face
as a sinner–and no man can see God's face even as a saint.

First, no man can see God's face as a sinner There comes a guilty
wretch before the Throne of God. God has spread open His books and set
His seat ofjudgment. There comes a man before the Throne of God. Look
at him! He is wearing a robe of his own righteousness. "Wretch, how
came you in here?" And the guilty creature tries to look at God and
cries that he may live. But no, God says, "He cannot see My face, and
live." Thus says the righteous Judge, "Executioner of my vengeance,
come forth!" Angels come with crowns on their brows–they grasp their
swords and stand ready. "Bind him hand and foot and cast him into outer
darkness." The wretch is cast away into the fire of Hell. He sees
written in letters of fire, "No man can see My face, and live." Clothed
in his own righteousness, he must perish.

Then, again, it is true that no man, even as a saint, can see God's
face and live–not because of moral disability, but because of physical
inability. The body is not strong enough to bear the sight or vision of
God. I cannot tell whether even the saints in Heaven see God. God
dwells among them, but I do not know whether they ever behold Him. That
is a speculation. We can leave that till we get there–we will decide
it when we get to Heaven. I hardly know whether finite beings, even
when glorified, will be capable of seeing God. This much is certain,
that no man on earth, however holy, can ever see God's face and yet
live. Why, Manoah, even when he saw an angel, thought he should die! He
said to his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God." If
you and I were to meet an angel, or a troop of angels, as Jacob did at
Mahanaim, we would say, "We shall die." The blaze of splendor would
overwhelm us! We could not endure it. We "cannot see God and live." All
that we can ever see of God is what He called His "back parts." The
words, I think, signify "regal train." You have seen kings with regal
trains trailing behind them–and all we can ever see of God is His
train that floats behind Him. Yon sun that burns in the heavens with
all his effulgence, you think is bright–you look upon him and he
dazzles you–but all his splendor is but a single thread in the regal
skirts of the robe of Deity! You have seen night wrapped in her sable
mantle, woven with gems and stars–there they shine as ornaments worked
by the needles of God in that brilliant piece of tapestry which is
spread over our heads like a tent for the inhabitants of the earth to
dwell in! You have said, "Oh, how majestic! That star, that comet, that
silver moon, how splendid!" Yet they are nothing but just a tiny
portion of the skirts of God that drag in the dust!

But what are the shoulders, the girdle of Divinity, the bracelets of
Godhead, the crowns that adorn His lofty brow, man cannot conceive! I
could imagine that all the planets and constellations of stars might be
put together and threaded into a string and made into a bracelet for
the arm, or a ring for the finger of Jehovah–but I cannot conceive
what God Himself is! All I can ever learn, all that the thunder ever
spoke, all that the boisterous ocean ever could teach me, all that the
Heaven above, or the earth beneath, can ever open to my mind is nothing
but the "back parts" of God. I can never see Him, nor can fully
understand what He is.

III. Now, Beloved, we go to the third point and that is THE GRACIOUS
SHIELDING.

Moses had to be put into a cleft of a rock before he could see God.
There was a Rock in the wilderness, Moses smote it, and water gushed
out. The Apostle tells us "that rock was Christ." Very well, Paul, I
believe it was, but there is another thing that I believe–I believe
that this rock was Christ! I know it was not Christ literally. Moses
stood in a literal rock–he stood on the top of a high mountain, hidden
in a cleft of a real rock. But, O my Soul, what is the cleft of the
rock where youmust stand if you would ever see God's face and live? Oh,
it is the "Rock of Ages, cleft for me," where I must hide! Oh, what a
cleaving that was when Jesus died! O my Soul, enter into the hole in
Jesus' side! That is the cleft of the Rock where you must abide to see
God–

"Till God in human flesh I see,

My thoughts no comfort find. The holy, just, and sacred Three Are
terrors to my mind."

But when I get into the cleft of that Rock, O my Soul, when I get into
that cleft whose massive roof is the well-ordered Everlasting Covenant,
whose solid golden floor is made of the solemn decrees of the
Predestination of the Most High, and whose sides are called Jachin and
Boaz, that is, establishment and strength, I am in a cleft of a Rock
which is so enduring that time can never dissolve it! Precious Christ,
may I be found in You amidst the concussion of the elements when the
world shall melt away and the heavens shall be dissolved! Oh, may I
stand in You, You precious cleft of the Rock, for You are All-in-All to
my soul! Some of you, I know, are in that cleft of the Rock. But let me
ask others, "Where are you?" Let it be a personal question. I have
preached a long while about God. I have tried to mount the height of
this great argument and speak of the wondrous things of God. I may have
failed, but let me say to each one of you, "Are you in that cleft of
the Rock?" Can you sing this verse?–

"Jesus, Your blood and righteousness

My beauty are, my glorious dress!

Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,

With joy shall I lift up my head." In closing, I want to draw one
practical inference. What shall it be? Draw it yourselves. Let it be
this–There is an hour coming when we must all, in a certain sense, see
God. We must see Him as a Judge. It becomes us, then, to think
seriously whether we shall stand in the cleft of the Rock when He
comes. There is a passage I would mention before closing–"And I
looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was
Death, and Hell followed with him." There was Death on the pale
horse–and the original says, "Hades followed with him." You know that
the word, Hades, comprises both Heaven and Hell–it means the abode or
state of departed spirits. Yes, Death is after me and you. Ah, run!
Run! Run! But run as you will, the rider on the pale horse shall
overtake you! If you can escape him for 70 years, he will overtake you
at last. Death is riding! Here comes his pale horse! I hear his
snorting, I feel his hot breath. He comes! He comes! And you must die!

BUT, WICKED MAN, WHAT COMES AFTERWARDS? Will it be Heaven or Hell? Oh,
if it is Hell that is after you, where will you be when you are cast
away from God? I pray God to deliver you from Hell. Hell is coming
after you sure enough–and if you have no hiding place, woe be unto
you! See that cleft in the Rock? See that Cross? See that blood? There
is security there, but only there! Your works are but a useless
encumbrance, cast them away and with all your might flee to the
mountain! Cry to Jesus–

"Nothing in my hands I bring,

Simply to Your Cross I cling." Yes, more than this, you will need
Divine aid even in coming to Christ, so cry yet again–

"But oh, for this no strength have I,

My strength is at Your feet to lie." And, poor helpless one, if you are
but hidden in Christ, you are forever secure! Storms may arise, but you
cannot be overwhelmed! Old Boreas may blow until his cheeks burst, but
not a breath of wind can injure you, for in the cleft of the Rock you
shall be hidden until the vengeance is gone!

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: HEBREWS 11:1-21.

This is the Arc de Triomphe erected to the memory of the heroes of
faith, whose names are here recorded by the Apostle's Inspired pen with
a brief mention of some of their most memorable actions. If it had not
been for their faith, which moved them to accomplish such valiant
deeds, we might not have known anything about them.

Verse 1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. Though the "things" are only "hoped for" and "not
seen" at present, the eye of faith can see them and the hand of faith
can grasp them! Faith is more mighty than any of our senses, or than
all our senses combined!

2. For by it the elders obtained a good report It is noteworthy that
they obtained this "good report" by their faith. Doubt gives a man an
evil reputation–it is only Believers who obtain such a "report" as
even the Holy Spirit describes as "good."

3. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word
of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do
appear It is only by believing the Inspired record that we can obtain a
true understanding of the wondrous work of Creation. Science and reason
are of little or no use here, but the opening words of Divine
Revelation explain the great mystery–"In the beginning God created the
Heaven and the earth."

4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,
by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of
his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks. It was the sacrifice of
the believing Abel that was well pleasing in God's sight. And though
his brother, Cain, out of jealousy and malice, slew him, his good
reputation continues even to this day. That is the best way of living
which enables a man to go on speaking for God even after he is dead.

5. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death: and was
not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation
he had this testimony, that he pleased God. It was by faith, not by
works, that this truly gracious man, "was translated that he should not
see death." We never read of any unbeliever, "that he pleased God,"

but this is the Inspired testimony concerning Enoch. [See Sermons
#1307, Volume 22–ENOCH; #107, Volume 3–FAITH; #2100, Volume 35–
FAITH ESSENTIAL TO PLEASING GOD; #2513, Volume 43–HOW TO PLEASE GOD
and #2740, Volume 47–WHAT IS ESSENTIAL IN COMING TO GOD]

6. But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes
to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him. No one can come to God if he does not believe that
there is a God and that He justly dispenses rewards and punishments.

7. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved
with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of

his house. [See Sermon #2147, Volume 36–NOAH'S FAITH, FEAR, OBEDIENCE
AND SALVATION] By which he condemned the world, and became heir of the
righteousness which is by faith. There is an unholy fear which is cast
out by perfect love, but there is a holy fear, a filial fear, which
dwells most happily with faith. So was it with Noah, who, "by
faith…moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house."

8. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he
should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed: and he went out, not
knowing where he went Though Abraham did not know where he was going,
God knew, and that was quite sufficient for the Patriarch. As a little
child is willing to be led by his parent, so Abraham was willing to be
led by God, even though that meant leaving his own country and his own
people and going to the distant land which God intended to give him.

9. 10. By faith he sojournedin the land ofpromise, as in a strange
country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with
him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which has
foundations, whose Builder and Maker

is God. [See Sermon #2292, Volume 39–ABRAHAM, A PATTERN TO BELIEVERS.]

He was only a sojourner in the land of promise, he knew that even the
promised land was only a tenting-ground for him and his descendants,
but he also knew that he was on his way to a Divinely planned and
Divinely built city–not like the temporary cities of earth, which
shall all perish and pass away, but a city with everlasting
foundations, a city that will last as long as God, Himself, exists.

11. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed,
and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged
Him faithful who had promised. Sarah's faith was not like Abraham's,
yet it was true faith and, therefore, her name appears among faith's
worthies.

12, 13. Therefore sprang there even of one, andhim as good as dead, so
many as the stars ofthe sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by
the seashore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received
the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of
them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth. Though the promises could only be seen afar off,
faith has such long arms that it embraced them, clung to them as loving
relatives cling to one another and would not let them go. So may we see
the promises, and be persuaded that they belong to us, and embrace them
as we clasp to our bosom those who are nearest and dearest to us!

14, 15. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a
country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from which
they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. True
pilgrims never think of going back–they know that whatever
difficulties and trials lie ahead of them, there are far greater ones
in "that country from which they came out." Bunyan's Christian was
quite resolved not to go back to the City of Destruction whatever
perils he might have to face on his way to the Celestial City.

16. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly:
therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He has
prepared for them a city. Their desire for "a better country" has been
implanted within them by God, Himself, and "He has prepared for them a
city" which will more than satisfy their utmost desires.

17-19. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he
that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of
whom it was said, That in Isaac shallyour seed be called: accounting
that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also
he received him in a figure. However puzzled Abraham may have been by
the command to offer up the son in whom his seed was to be called, his
plain duty was to obey that command and to leave the Lord to fulfill
His own promise in His own way. Perhaps he had also learned, through
his mistake concerning Ishmael, that God's way of fulfilling His
promise might not be his way–and that God's way was always best.

20. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. He
was old and blind, so that he did not know which of his sons came for
the first blessing, yet he could see into the future sufficiently to
bless both his sons "concerning things to come." What wondrous power
there is in faith even when it is exercised by very imperfect
individuals!

21. By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of
Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.That staff
had been Jacob's companion on many memorable occasions, so it was most
fitting that he should lean upon it while blessing his grandsons!