Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.
The call was addressed to Israel to actively pursue what is good rather than what is evil, with continued life set before them as the outcome of that choice. Such seeking of good would bring the presence of the Lord, the God of hosts, to be with them in reality, corresponding to their own profession that He was with them. That seeking cannot be separated from inward affection and outward action, for it belongs together with loving the good, hating the evil, and setting up justice in the gate where public judgment is rendered. Faithfulness in this course held open before the remnant of Joseph the possibility that God would show them favor. The same word stands among the prophecies that portray the state of the world immediately before the second coming of the Lord, a time marked by abounding iniquity and by transgression of the divine law and the everlasting covenant.
The call was addressed to Israel to actively pursue what is good rather than what is evil, with continued life set before them as the outcome of that choice. Such seeking of good would bring the presence of the Lord, the God of hosts, to be with them in reality, corresponding to their own profession that He was with them. That seeking cannot be separated from inward affection and outward action, for it belongs together with loving the good, hating the evil, and setting up justice in the gate where public judgment is rendered. Faithfulness in this course held open before the remnant of Joseph the possibility that God would show them favor. The same word stands among the prophecies that portray the state of the world immediately before the second coming of the Lord, a time marked by abounding iniquity and by transgression of the divine law and the everlasting covenant.