The Forbearance of God.
By Francis Gould
THE goodness and forbearance of God as manifested toward his erring creatures is truly great. After Adam had forfeited all right to the tree of life and was driven from the presence of God, a plan was devised by which himself and his posterity could recover what they had lost. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 5:16. Paul says, in speaking of Christ, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” Rom. 3:25. The Lord takes no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, nor is he “slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Pet. 3:9. When the Lord has purposed to punish any nation or people for their sins, he has always given them warning and ample time to turn from their sins and to escape the righteous judgments of God. And it is evident that mankind often take the advantage of the long-suffering and forbearance of God, and thus are in danger of placing themselves beyond the reach of hope. “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” Eccl. 8:11. I will mention a few instances in which the forbearance of God is shown in the salvation of men. The people who lived before the flood became very wicked. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Gen. 6:5. The Lord purposed to destroy them. He told them his Spirit should not always strive with man, yet his days should be an hundred and twenty years. This length of time Noah preached to them by precept and example. Peter says, “The long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing,” and Christ preached to the spirits in prison; that is, Christ preached through Noah to those wicked persons who were shut up in the prison-house of sin. There was no hope for them only by obeying the truth that Noah preached to them. One hundred and twenty years in which to turn from their sins! Will they have any excuse in the day of Judgment? There is also the case of the Ninevites. Their wickedness came up before the Lord; and he sent Jonah to proclaim: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.” Their past course justly merited the displeasure of God and immediate destruction; but by repentance and contrition of soul they were spared. Again the case of the Jews, and God’s dealings with them, is a striking instance of God’s love and forbearance. Notwithstanding they were God’s chosen people, they became a rebellious and stiff-necked people. “But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.” Rom. 10:21. God warned them by the prophets and apostles, and last of all “Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” Acts 13:46. The present generation is exceedingly wicked and is rife with sin and crime. The last message of mercy and warning is sounding that the world will ever hear. All the honest, and those who have any desire for eternal life, will have an opportunity to escape the things that are coming on the earth. God loves those that love him and keep his commandments. He pities those who trample upon his righteous laws. He even bears long with them. The angels are holding the four winds until the servants of God shall be sealed in their foreheads. Oh! may the people of God wake up to the duties of the present time, seek righteousness, seek meekness, that they may be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger. And may sinners flee to the outstretched arms of Jesus ere they take up with the sad lamentation, “The harvest is past, the summer ended, and my soul is not saved.”