Life and Mission of John
35
wicked works had disqualified them to claim the promises God made
to the children of Abraham. John assured them that God would raise
up children unto Abraham from the very stones, to whom he could
fulfill his promise, rather than to depend on the natural children of
Abraham who had neglected the light God had given them, and had
become hardened by selfish ambition and wicked unbelief. He told
them that if they were really the children of Abraham, they would do
the works of their father Abraham. They would have Abraham’s faith,
love, and obedience. But they did not bear this fruit. They had no
claim to Abraham as their father, or the promises God made to the
seed of Abraham. “Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is
hewn down, and cast into the fire.” While they were professing to be
God’s commandment-keeping people, their works denied their faith,
and without true repentance for their sins they would have no part in
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the kingdom of Christ. Justice, benevolence, mercy, and the love of
God would characterize the lives of his commandment-keeping people.
Unless these fruits were seen in their daily life, all their profession
was of no more value than chaff which would be devoted to the fire of
destruction.
The Jews had deceived themselves by misinterpreting the words of
the Lord through his prophets, of his eternal favor to his people Israel.
“Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and
the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which
divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is
his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord,
then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me
forever. Thus saith the Lord: If heaven above can be measured, and the
foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all
the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord.”
Jeremiah
31:35-37
.
These words the Jews applied to themselves. And because God had
shown them so great favor and mercy, they flattered themselves that,
notwithstanding their sins and iniquities, he would still retain them as
his favored people, and shower especial blessings upon them. They
misapplied the words of Jeremiah, and depended for their salvation
upon being called the children of Abraham. If they had indeed been
worthy of the name of Abraham’s children, they would have followed