Peter used uplifting terms in a prophecy regarding our day. He identified members of the Church as “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.” The adjectives chosen, royal, and holy we recognize as elevating. But what about peculiar? A modern dictionary defines peculiar as “unusual,” “eccentric,” or “strange.” What kind of compliment is that?
But the term peculiar as used in the scriptures is quite different. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew term from which peculiar was translated is segullah, which means “valued property,” or “treasure.” In the New Testament, the Greek term from which peculiar was translated is peripoiesis, which means “possession,” or “an obtaining.”
Thus, we see that the scriptural term peculiar signifies “valued treasure,” “made” or “selected by God.” For us to be identified by servants of the Lord as his peculiar people is a compliment of the highest order.
(1990s, 1995, April, Nelson, Children of the Covenant, ¶42–44 • CR)
Jonathan Edwards:
[We] shall briefly show how Christians are God's peculiar people in the following respects: first, in the value God set upon them; second, in the mercy he bestows upon them; third, in the interest he has in them; fourth, in what they do for God.
First. True Christians are God's peculiar people with respect to the value God sets upon them, in that he sets a higher value upon one true Christian than upon all the wicked in the world. God sets a high value upon his saints. They are his "jewels," as they are called [Malachi 3:17]. God's high value of them appears in all the ways wherein persons are wont to show a great value that they set upon any possession. God keeps them as the apple of his eye [Deuteronomy 32:10].
He will by no means lose one of his saints; not one of all the number shall fail. He by no means will suffer any to do them harm. His almighty power is thoroughly engaged for them to defend them.
The life, the happiness, and welfare of the saints is precious in God's sight. God values one saint more than thousands of ungodly men, yea, more than all the ungodly in the world. God shows the higher value that he sets upon the godly than others by giving the wicked for them, making them subservient to them, and destroying them when they stand in the way of the welfare of the godly; Proverbs 21:18, "The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright."
This is to show how much more highly God values the righteous than the wicked, as if a man had a child in the hand of an enemy and should be willing to give a hundred slaves to redeem that one child. This would show that he set a higher value upon that child than upon all those slaves.
So God, whenever the life or welfare of the wicked stands in the way of the welfare of the righteous, God is wont to procure the welfare of his people, though it be at the expense of the lives or welfares of never so many of them; so Proverbs 11:8, "The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead."
Thus God sets forth the value that he set upon the patriarchs. Though there were but very few of them, yet even kings were rebuked for their sakes; Psalms 105:12–15, "When they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it; when they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people; he suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; saying, Touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm."
So he sets forth the value he sets upon the children of Israel by that, that he gave nations for them; Isaiah 43:3–4, "For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Sheba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life."
When the Egyptians stood in the way of the welfare of the church, God brought plagues upon them one after another where he sorely distressed them. When their lives stood in the way, God destroyed all the first born of Egypt; and when Pharaoh and his host sought their destruction, he drowned them in the Red Sea.
And when the nations of Canaan stood in their way, God destroyed them, destroyed many of them miraculously by sending hailstones from heaven upon them [Joshua 10:11].
God will sooner at one blow destroy all the wicked of the world than that one of his saints should be lost.
There are many great men of the world, noble men and kings and men of great power and policy, men of noble blood and honorable descent, men of great wealth, men of vast learning and knowledge in the world, that are greatly honored and make a great figure, and great account is made of 'em in the world, that are wicked men and reprobates; and they all ben't of so great value in God's sight as one poor saint.
God has shown the great value that he has for his saints and how much he sets by them by several remarkable providences. He has changed or interrupted the course of nature for their sakes many a time, as in the miracles that were wrought for them in dividing the Red Sea, but especially in causing the sun to stand still [Joshua 10:13].
God don't change or stop the course of nature upon slight occasions. Nothing except God himself is more constant and unchangeable than the course and laws of nature. But yet so great a value doth God set upon his saints, that the procuring of their welfare he did not look upon as too slight an occasion for stopping the sun in his course.
But above all, hath God shown how great a value he sets upon his saints by the great price which he has paid for them: the price with which he bought them was the blood of his own Son. 'Tis very fair arguing from hence, as we may fairly argue how greatly a man values that which he buys by the price that he pays for it. God values every saint so highly that he bought him with the blood of his own dear Son.
God doubtless values the blood of his Son more than the lives of all ungodly [men] and reprobates. There is no price of gold or silver that can be equaled with the price of the blood of Christ.
Second. They are his peculiar people with respect to the mercy that he bestows upon them, in that he bestows more mercy upon one godly man than upon all the world of ungodly men. God bestows abundance of mercy upon ungodly men; he bestows great temporal mercies upon them. God is kind to the evil and the good, to the just and the unjust.
God is good to wicked men in preserving their lives, in providing for their subsistence, in giving them many things that are for their comfort in the world. Wicked men receive a great deal of goodness from God that they have cause to admire and be thankful for every day, and [there are] but few that live any considerable time but what are the subjects of special instances of God's goodness and mercy to them in deliverances from trouble, and danger, and otherwise.
Ungodly men especially receive great kindness from God. God heaps temporal good things upon them; he gives them wealth, and ease, and honor, and great temporal prosperity. God distributes the world amongst them.
And they show their great ingratitude in that they, notwithstanding all God's bounty to them, will not learn righteousness; Isaiah 26:10, "Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness." Thus Samuel reproves Saul for his great ingratitude, that he took no more notice of the great kindness of God to him; 1 Samuel 15:17, "When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?" So there are many other wicked men that are advanced to the state of princes and nobles.
But God bestows more goodness upon one godly man than upon all the ungodly in the world. Put all their preservations, all their deliverances, all their wealth, all their comforts that have been heaped upon them by providence together: these things are but trifles that God bestows on ungodly men.
But they are peculiar blessings which he bestows on the righteous; they are precious things that God has in reserve for his own favorites, in comparison of which all earthly treasure is but dirt and dung.
As for the saints, Christ has died for them. They have all their sins pardoned. They are delivered from a hell of eternal misery. They have a title to eternal life bestowed upon them. They have God's own image conferred on them. They are received into favor and everlastingly to enjoy God's love.
Third. They are God's peculiar people with respect to the interest God has in them. God has a peculiar interest in a godly man.
As we have observed already in a former discourse, they are God's peculiar propriety; they are God's as they are redeemed by him and as they have given themselves to him. God has an interest in a godly man's heart. They have a true love and respect to God. They have true honor to God. God has a greater interest in their hearts than anything else, greater than the dearest friend on earth, greater than the world or any earthly enjoyment.
They are of a spirit to prefer God before all other things. They reserve the throne of their hearts for God. They are of a spirit to exalt him as the greatest and highest, to love him as the most excellent, to praise him as the most gracious and merciful.
God has no interest in the hearts of natural men. There are many of them that seem to show respect to God outwardly. The Pharisees of old pretended to an extraordinary devotion, to a great love to God. And so many hypocrites in these times, they come before God as God's people come.
They seem as though they delighted to draw near to God, and many make a high profession of respect to God and religion. But God has indeed no interest in their hearts.
They give God the outward appearance; they give God the words of their lips; but their hearts are far from him. The show which they make is from a principle of self-love; 'tis from respect to something else and not from respect to God. They have not one jot of love to God.
But God has an interest in the hearts of true Christians. However small it is, and inconsiderable in comparison of what it ought to be, yet they are of a spirit to prefer God above all.
And God has an interest in them as they offer up their bodies a living sacrifice to him. They do serve God and actively glorify him with their bodies and with their spirits.
God is glorified in wicked men as they are occasions of the manifestations of God's glory, or as God glorifies himself in them; but these do devote themselves to serve and glorify God. Though 'tis but a small interest that God has in the hearts of the Christians in this world in comparison of what ought to be, yet he hath a greater interest in one godly man than in all the ungodly and hypocrites that are in the world.
Fourth. They are God's peculiar people with respect to the complacence God hath in them. God takes delight in his saints; Psalms 11:7, "For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; and his countenance doth behold the upright."
God doth, as it were, rejoice over a convert. He delights in beholding that beauty and those ornaments of mind which he hath given them. God takes delight in the graces of a godly man's heart, and he delights in the good works and religion of the Christian; Psalms 37:23, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way." God takes delight in the godly man's prayers; Proverbs 15:8, "The prayer of the upright is his delight."
God takes more delight in the sincere, humble devotion of one true saint than in all the moral virtue and outward religion of all the natural men in the world.
If wicked [men] that are rich should offer to God ten thousand sacrifices, or if they should devote never so much of their substance to religious uses, if they should give all their goods to feed the poor, it would not be so acceptable to God as one cup of cold water given by a saint with a spirit of true charity [Matthew 10:42].
Ungodly kings may do a great deal in many respects for religion. They may build stately churches for the worship of God. They may encourage religion in their dominions by their power and influence. Cyrus, a heathen prince, he restored the people of God from captivity and restored the state of the Jews [Ezra 1:1–4].
But [God] has a greater delight in the sincere, secret devotion of a poor, obscure Christian than in all this.
Thus they are God's peculiar people.
http://edwards.yale.edu/archive?path=aHR0cDovL2Vkd2FyZHMueWFsZS5lZHUvY2dpLWJpbi9uZXdwaGlsby9nZXRvYmplY3QucGw/Yy4xNjoxNi53amVvLjg4NDQzMQ==
No comments:
Post a Comment