1 Peter 5:5-7 Likewise, you younger, submit yourselves to the elder. Yes, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility… I. THE TEXT INSISTS UPON THE RECOGNITION OF THE AGENCY OF GOD IN ALL OUR AFFLICTIONS. "The mighty hand of God." 1. Now, observe that this recognition embraces, not second causes, but the immediate hand of God. We must go at once to the First Cause; or else we dishonour God under every trial. 2. Then observe, again, that this recognition must be of the hand, from which there is no escape: "the mighty hand of God." I see His "mighty hand" in creation, forming the beautiful world in which I live; and in providence I see that same hand regulating every event in the universe. And if I recognise that hand aright, I shall see it no less in, and bringing to pass, every affliction with which I am assaulted. It could not have come to me without a "mighty hand." And while I see this, it is in vain to resist it. 3. But, then, this recognition must be of the hand of God, "the mighty hand of God." And how sweet is this! "the hand of God." Power alone would make me afraid, but it is not the hand of a tyrant — it is the hand of God; my covenant God; my God, who gave His dear Son for me; my God, who has promised to keep and to bless me, and to take me eventually to His kingdom of glory. What infant feels alarmed when its mother's hand is upon it? II. THE TEXT SHOWS US THE SPIRIT IN WHICH THAT DIVINE AGENCY IS TO BE RECOGNISED. "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God." This includes a deep sense of the malignity and evil of sin, which brings all our sorrows, as committed against a holy God and a righteous law, and also especially its aggravation, as against a God of love and of grace, as revealed in the gospel. III. A PROMISE TO ENCOURAGE AND TO ENFORCE THIS RECOGNITION OF THE HAND OF GOD: "That He may exalt you in due time." There is a threefold exaltation, of which the Scripture speaks. 1. The first is an exaltation in the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. To stand complete before my God, with a justification in which His own eye can see no fault; to feel that I am an "heir of God," a "joint heir with Christ," and that eternity with all its blessings is my own forever. 2. But, secondly, there is an exaltation also from the deepest woe and trial into which we can be brought, and of which the Scriptures speak. David says, "I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me and heard my cry; He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings; and He hath but a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God." 3. And then there is exaltation to the throne of glory. And the first is connected with the last; he that is exalted by the imputed righteousness of Christ, shall eventually be exalted to the throne of glory. (James Sherman.) Parallel Verses KJV: Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. |
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