Exodus 34:6-7 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering… I. MAN THINKS OF GOD AS IF GOD WERE SOMETHING LIKE HIMSELF: and hence he would make God a changeable and capricious Being; he would make Him connive at sin and make light of transgression, accepting a few tears, or a few resolutions, or a few alms, as satisfaction enough for him to receive pardon. All such ideas of God are base and unwarrantable, and will cover those who entertain them with everlasting confusion. The nature of God makes it impossible for Him to clear the guilty. If the positive be true, that God loves holiness, the negative must be true, that He hates iniquity. II. And now some will probably say, "WHY, THIS IS CONTRAVENING THE VERY GOSPEL; IT IS SURELY FAVOURING THE NOTION THAT NONE CAN BE SAVED, for who can be saved, when there is no guiltless man? And if God will not clear guilty men, how is any one to meet his Maker in peace?" The view I have of it is this — that God does not clear the guilty; no, but I will tell you what He does, which is infinitely more to His glory, and of necessity more for our peace — He makes the guilty guiltless, and He makes the unrighteous perfect in righteousness. He does this in virtue of the life laid down for the guilty, for all who in Him have believed; in Him all have paid the penalty, all have satisfied God's justice, and all have perfect righteousness. (H. Stowell, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, |
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