FROM this attribute of the infinite power of God, we have a ground of comfort in the lowest estate of the Church. Let the state of the church be never so deplorable, the condition never so desperate, that power that created the world, and shall raise the bodies of men, can create a happy state for the church, and raise her from an overwhelming grave. Though the enemies trample upon her, they cannot upon the arm that holds her, which by the least motion of it can lift her up above the heads of her adversaries, and make them feel the thunder of that power that none can understand. ‘By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of His nostrils they are consumed,’ Job, iv. 9; they shall be ‘scattered as chaff before the wind.’ If once He ‘draw His hand out of His bosom,’ all must fly before Him, or sink under Him, Ps. lxxiv. 11; and when there is none to help, His own arm sustains Him, and brings salvation, and His fury doth uphold Him, Isa. lxiii. 5. What if the church totter under the underminings of Hell! What if it hath a sad heart and wet eyes! In what a little moment can He make the night turn into day, and make the Jews that were preparing for death in Shushan triumph over the necks of their enemies, and march in one hour with swords in their hands, that expected the last hour ropes about their necks! Esth. ix. 1, 5. If Israel be pursued by Pharoah, the sea shall open its arms to protect them; if they be thirsty, a rock shall spout out water to refresh them; if they be hungry, Heaven shall be their granary for manna; if Jerusalem be besieged, and hath not force enough to encounter Sennacherib, an angel shall turn the camp into an Aceldama, a field of blood. His people shall not want deliverances, till God want a power of working miracles for their security. He is more jealous of His power than the Church can be of her safety; and if we should want other arguments to press Him, we may implore Him by virtue of His power; for when there is nothing in the church as a motive to Him to save it, there is enough in His own name, and the illustrations of His power, Ps. civ. 8. Who can grapple with the omnipotency of that God who is jealous of, and zealous for, the honour of it? And, therefore, God, for the most part, takes such opportunities to deliver, wherein His almightiness may be most conspicuous, and His counsels most admirable. He awakened not Himself to deliver Israel till they were upon the brink of the Red Sea; nor to rescue the three children till they were in the fiery furnace; nor Daniel till he was in the lions’ den. It is in the weakness of His creature that His strength is perfected; not in a way of addition of perfectness to it, but in a way of manifestation of the perfection of it; as it is the perfection of the sun to shine and enlighten the world. not that the sun receives an increase of light by the darting of his beams, but discovers his glory to the admiration of men, and pleasure to the world. If it were not for such occasion, the world would not regard the mightiness of God, nor know what power were in Him. It traverses the stage in its fulness and liveliness upon such occasions, when the enemies are strong, and their strength edged with an intense hatred, and but little time between the contrivance and execution. It is the great comfort that the lowest distresses of the church are a fit scene for the discovery of this attribute, and that the glory of God’s omnipotence, and the church’s security, are so straitly linked together.—Charnock.
“The two methods of justification cannot be united. They are as inconsistent as wages and a free gift. If of works, it is not of grace; and if of grace, it is not of works.”—Dr. C. Hodge.