Christ's peace and righteousness.
Illustrating the meditative and spiritualizing method of treating prophetic Scripture, the following outline, after R. M. McCheyne, is given.
I. THEIR PEACE WOULD HAVE BEEN AS A RIVER.
1. It has a source. It begins at the fountain of Christ's blood.
2. It is fed from above. Rains and showers feed the rivers. The shower of grace feeds the rivers of peace.
3. It has inundations, as the Nile. An awakening providence often makes it overflow. Afflictions and the consolations under them always, if the sufferings are the sufferings of Christ. Sacramental times also; hence the desirableness of frequency in the administration of the Lord's Supper.
4. It gets broader and broader to the sea. Illustrate by such a river as the Tay. "The path of the just is like the shining light"
5. It is fertilizing. It conveys nourishment. Egypt owes all its fertility to the Nile. The peace of Christ makes every grace grow. Holiness always grows out of a peaceful breast.
II. THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS WOULD HAVE BEEN AS THE WAVES OF THE SEA. The righteousness of Christ is compared to the waves of the sea, because:
1. It covers over the highest sins.
2. It covers again and again.
3. It is infinite righteousness.
You cannot count the waves of the sea. Application. God wants men to be saved. God sometimes pleads with men to be saved for his own pleasure; it would be pleasant to him; it would make him glad, as in the parable of the lost sheep. Sometimes he pleads for his own glory (Jeremiah 13:16; Malachi 2:1). But here it is for the happiness of sinners themselves (Psalms 81:13). And he pleads with men, because unwilling that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9).—R.T.