EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE Volume 17 by ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. (1826-1910) 2 PETER, 1, 2, 3 JOHN, JUDE, REVELATION EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE Volume 17 by ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. (1826-1910) 2 PETER, 1, 2, 3 JOHN, JUDE, REVELATION As Published By Grace-eBooks.com In the Public Domain EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE CONTENTS II. PETER...........................................................................................9 2 Peter i. 1— LIKE PRECIOUS FAITH.......................................9 2 Peter i. 3— MAN SUMMONED BY GOD'S GLORY AND ENERGY......................................................................................16 2 Peter i. 4— PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE.........25 2 Peter i. 5— THE POWER OF DILIGENCE............................32 2 Peter i. 11, 15— GOING OUT AND GOING IN.....................39 2 Peter ii. 1— THE OWNER AND HIS SLAVES......................46 2 Peter iii. 14— BE DILIGENT..................................................54 2 Peter iii. 18— GROWTH..........................................................62 I. JOHN............................................................................................73 1 John i. 5-ii. 6— THE MESSAGE AND ITS PRACTICAL RESULTS....................................................................................73 1 John i. 7— WALKING IN THE LIGHT..................................78 1 John ii. 7, 8— THE COMMANDMENT, OLD YET NEW....85 1 John ii. 14— YOUTHFUL STRENGTH..................................92 1 John ii. 17— RIVER AND ROCK.........................................101 1 John iii. 1— THE LOVE THAT CALLS US SONS..............109 1 John iii. 2— THE UNREVEALED FUTURE OF THE SONS OF GOD.....................................................................................119 1 John iii. 3— THE PURIFYING INFLUENCE OF HOPE.....127 1 John iii. 7— PRACTICAL RIGHTEOUSNESS....................135 1 John iv. 10— CHRIST'S MISSION THE REVELATION OF GOD'S LOVE............................................................................143 1 John iv. 17— THE SERVANT AS HIS LORD.....................151 1 John iv. 18— LOVE AND FEAR...........................................158 1 John iv. 19— THE RAY AND THE REFLECTION.............165 2 JOHN...........................................................................................173 2 John 1:3--GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE..........................173 3 JOHN...........................................................................................178 3 John 1:2--A PROSPEROUS SOUL........................................178 3 John 1:7.--FOR THE SAKE OF THE NAME........................184 3 John 1:8.--FELLOW-WORKERS WITH THE TRUTH........192 3 John 1:12.--THE CHRISTIAN’S WITNESSES TO CHARACTER............................................................................200 JUDE..............................................................................................206 Jude 1:3, Titus 1:4--COMMON SALVATION.........................206 Jude 1:20, 21--KEEPING OURSELVES IN THE LOVE OF GOD...........................................................................................214 Jude 1:24, 25--WITHOUT STUMBLING.................................222 REVELATION..............................................................................229 Revelation 1:4, 5--THE GIFTS OF CHRIST AS WITNESS, RISEN AND CROWNED.........................................................229 Revelation 1:5--CHRIST’S PRESENT LOVE AND PAST LOOSING FROM SINS............................................................239 Revelation 1:6--KINGS AND PRIESTS...................................247 Revelation 1:9-20--THE KING OF GLORY AND LORD OF THE CHURCHES......................................................................254 Revelation 1:9 --THE THREEFOLD COMMON HERITAGE 260 Revelation 1:13--LIVING ONE WHO BECAME DEAD........270 Revelation 2:1--THE SEVEN STARS AND THE SEVEN CANDLESTICKS......................................................................277 Revelation 2:7-- I. THE VICTOR’S LIFE-FOOD...................291 Revelation 2:11-- II. THE VICTOR’S LIFE-CROWN............299 Revelation 2:17-- III. THE VICTOR’S LIFE-SECRET...........307 Revelation 2:12--THE FIRST AND LAST WORKS................315 Revelation 2:26-28-- IV. THE VICTOR’S LIFE-POWER......322 Revelation 3:1--LORD OF THE SPIRITS AND THE STARS.330 Revelation 3:4--WALKING IN WHITE...................................339 Revelation 3:5-- V. THE VICTOR’S LIFE-ROBE..................345 Revelation 3:10--KEEPING AND KEPT..................................352 Revelation 3:11 --‘THY CROWN’............................................360 Revelation 3:12-- VI. THE VICTOR’S LIFE-NAMES...........366 Revelation 3:15, 19--LAODICEA.............................................373 Revelation 3:18--CHRIST’S COUNSEL TO A LUKEWARM CHURCH...................................................................................381 Revelation 3:23--CHRIST AT THE DOOR..............................388 Revelation 3:21-- VII. THE VICTOR’S SOVEREIGNTY......397 Revelation 5:6--SEVEN EYES OF THE SLAIN LAMB..........405 Revelation 7:9--THE PALM-BEARING MULTITUDE..........413 Revelation 15:2, 3--THE SONG OF MOSES AND THE LAMB ....................................................................................................421 Revelation 21:1-7; 22-27--THE NEW JERUSALEM ON THE NEW EARTH............................................................................429 Revelation 21:1-- NO MORE SEA............................................434 Revelation 22:1-11--THE CITY, THE CITIZENS, AND THE KING..........................................................................................443 Revelation 22:3, 4--THE TRIPLE RAYS WHICH MAKE THE WHITE LIGHT OF HEAVEN..................................................447 Revelation 22:14--LAST BEATITUDE OF THE ASCENDED CHRIST......................................................................................456 Revelation 22:17--CHRIST’S LAST INVITATION FROM THE THRONE....................................................................................465 II. PETER 2 Peter i. 1— LIKE PRECIOUS FAITH '... Them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.'—2 Peter i. 1. Peter seems to have had a liking for that word 'precious.' It is not a very descriptive one; it does not give much light as to the quality of the things to which it is applied; but it is a suggestion of one-idea value. It is interesting to notice the objects to which, in his two letters—for I take this to be his letter—he applies it. He speaks of the trial of faith as being 'precious.' He speaks (with a slight modification of the word employed) of Jesus Christ as being 'to them that believe, precious.' He speaks of the 'precious' blood of Christ. These instances are in the first epistle. In this second epistle we have the words of my text, and a moment after, 'exceeding great and precious promises.' Now look at Peter's list of valuables; 'Christ, Christ's blood, God's promises, our Faith, and the discipline to which that faith is subjected.' These are things that the old man had found out to be of worth. But then there is another word in my text that must be noted, 'like precious.' It brings into view two classes, to one of which Peter himself belongs—'us' and 'they.' Who are these two classes? It may be that he is thinking of the immense difference between the intelligent and developed faith of himself and the other Apostles, and the rudimentary and infantile faith of the recent believers to whom he may be speaking. And, if so, that would be beautiful, but I rather take it that he is tacitly contrasting in his own mind the difference between the Gentile converts as a whole, and the members of the Jewish community who had become believers in Jesus Christ, and that he is repeating the lesson that he had learned on the housetop at Joppa, and had had further confirmed to him by the experience of Cæsarea, and that he is really saying exactly what he said when he defended himself before the Council in Jerusalem: 'Seeing that God had given unto them the like gift that he did unto us, who was I, that I should withstand God?' And so he looks out over all the Christian community, and ignores 'the middle wall of partition,' and says, 'Them that have obtained like precious faith with us.' I wish very simply to try to draw out the thoughts that lie in these words, and cluster round that well-worn and threadbare theological expression and Christian verity of 'faith' or 'trust.' I. And the first thing that I would desire to point you to is, what we learn here as to the object of faith. Now those of you who are using the Revised Version will notice that there is a very slight, but important, alteration there, from the rendering in the old translation. We read in the latter: 'Like precious faith with us through the righteousness, ...' and that is a meaning that might be defended. But the Revised Version says, and says more accurately as far as the words go, and more truly as far as Christian thought goes, 'them that have obtained like precious faith with us in the righteousness.' Now, I daresay, it will occur to us all that that is a departure from the usual form in which faith is presented to us in the New Testament, because there, thank God! we are clearly taught that the one thing which faith grapples is not a thing but a Person. Christian faith is only human trust turned in a definite direction. Just as our trust lays hold on one another, so the object