Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever… I. Let us endeavour to illustrate the first truth here stated — "SECRET THINGS BELONG UNTO THE LORD OUR GOD." 1. In reference to the nature, character, and perfections of the Deity, there are many secret things which belong exclusively to the Lord our God. It is true that God has told us something of His own nature; but it is equally true that there is much more that He has not told us. Something He has revealed;. but much still remains concealed. 2. Not only in the doctrines of revelation, but in science, in natural operations, and in the ordinary occurrences of life, we find many things which exceed the comprehension of reason, and which we must class among the secret things belonging to the Lord our God. 3. In the dispensations of Divine Providence there are many things secret and mysterious. To this subject we may apply those declarations: "Thy judgments are a great deep"; "The Lord reigneth; "Clouds and darkness are round about Him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne." 4. All those events which lie in futurity are to us secret things. We have the means of acquiring some knowledge of things past and off things present; but we have no faculty by which we can penetrate into the future. We know not what a day will bring forth; we know not what shall be on the morrow. 5. We may very properly inquire, "Why is our knowledge confined within such narrow limits? Why are so many things kept secret from us, and reserved for the exclusive cognisance of the Lord our God?"(1) To this inquiry it may be replied, Such a mode of treatment is proper and necessary in reference to creatures like us, who are at present in the mere infancy of our being. (2) These secret things are also designed to exercise our faith. (3) By keeping many things secret, the Almighty designs to humble us, under a consciousness of our ignorance and weakness. (4) Finally, it is our heavenly Father's purpose in keeping these secret things to Himself, to teach us that we should be diligent and faithful in the discharge of the various duties incumbent on us, and, at the same time, should be in a state of habitual preparation for death and eternity. II. Let us turn our attention, therefore, to the second truth stated in our text, namely, "THE THINGS THAT ARE REVEALED BELONG UNTO US AND TO OUR CHILDREN FOREVER, THAT WE MAY DO ALL THE WORDS OF THIS LAW.'' 1. Among the "things revealed" we are to include the whole of the sacred Scriptures. This Divinely-inspired volume comprehends all that God has been pleased to reveal to man. And, oh! what a cause of gratitude is it that we possess this heavenly treasure! Possessing the Word of God, we are laid under the most solemn obligations to read it, so that we may, by Divine assistance, understand its meaning, apply its principles, and obey its precepts. 2. "Those things which are revealed," says the man of God in our text, "belong unto us and to our children forever." It was Jehovah's design that the deposit of Divine truth with which the Jews were favoured should be carefully guarded and transmitted from parents to children, from one generation to another, as long as that dispensation continued. And professed Christians are under equal obligations to perpetuate the knowledge and influence of Divine truth from age to age, by instructing their children in these revealed things. (W. P. Burgess.) Parallel Verses KJV: The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. |
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