I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
The laughing and mocking voice is God Himself, the Saviour who died for men, speaking as Wisdom to those who refuse when He calls, disregard His outstretched hand, set at naught His counsel, reject His reproof, hate knowledge, and will not choose the fear of the Lord. His laughter is no amusement at suffering but the righteous judgment that leaves persistent refusers to reap the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices. Their fear comes as desolation and their destruction as a whirlwind, with distress and anguish upon them, and then they will call and He will not answer, and seek Him early but will not find Him. What is spoken here points forward to the great day of final judgment and the coming of Christ in glory, when those who resisted His Spirit and rejected His counsel turn in pain from His glorified face and plead too late for mercy, after probation has closed. Therefore the warning presses the need to be ready now, to make peace with God and repent and confess wholeheartedly while mercy remains, lest heaven be lost.
Meaning of the Warning
The voice that laughs at calamity and mocks when fear comes is God Himself, the Saviour who died for men, speaking as Wisdom to those who slight instruction and despise the great salvation offered them. When wisdom's call is rejected and its correction refused, calamity and fear come, and wisdom answers the earlier refusal with laughter and mockery rather than help. Those who face the Saviour's glorified face after despising His counsel and refusing His reproof will turn from it in pain.
It is spoken to those who refuse when He calls, pay no regard to His outstretched hand, set at naught all His counsel, will have none of His reproof, hate knowledge, and do not choose the fear of the Lord. It falls on those who slight the instruction and warnings of the Word, despise offered salvation, resist messages sent to turn them from error, and reject efforts made to save them. Their suffering is the result of having rejected clear and repeated warnings and light, leaving themselves without excuse and unable to recognize further truth.
The laughter and mockery are not amusement at suffering but the judgment that follows knowing, persistent refusal, when persistent refusers are left to reap what they sowed. Those who chose sin and worldly things instead of God's call and reproof will know at Christ's coming in glory that their refusal has left them without a share in that glory, and they suffer the fruit of their own choices. They eat of the fruit of their own way and are filled with their own devices.
Their fear comes as desolation and their destruction as a whirlwind, with distress and anguish upon them. Then they will call upon Him but He will not answer, and they will seek Him early but will not find Him. Their earlier opportunities to respond will have passed, and they will find no answer and no help from the wisdom they despised when they finally cry out.
Rejecting repeated light and correction brings moral darkness, hardness, and self-deception. Those who refuse to humble themselves, put away what is reproved, and repent trust in themselves, become blind to the true character of sin, flatter themselves that they had some good object and did no wrong, and do despite to the Spirit of grace until its voice is no longer heard. They are left to the delusions they have chosen, surprised and taken by the enemy, and left without excuse.
Fulfillment and Application
The saying looks forward to the great day of final judgment, and to the last days that lead to it, when rejecters of mercy and despisers of grace are brought face to face with justice to render an account for God-given talents of time, means, and intellect spent serving the gods of this world. It meets those who forsook their true and loving Friend to follow convenience and worldly pleasure while intending sometime to return, until follies and deceptions, frivolous amusements, pride of dress, and indulgence of appetite hardened the heart, benumbed the conscience, shut out truth, despised duty, lightly esteemed things of infinite value, and quenched desire to sacrifice for Him who gave so much. In the reaping time they gather what they sowed, having been called and refusing, having had the hand stretched out with none regarding, having set counsel at naught and refused reproof, so that when fear comes as desolation and destruction as a whirlwind with distress and anguish they call without answer and seek early without finding, because they hated knowledge, did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of counsel and despised reproof, and therefore eat the fruit of their own way and are filled with their own devices.
It was fulfilled in the resurrection triumph of Christ, when the priests, rulers, kings, and judges of earth who opposed Him found their power and guard made impotent. Neither they nor the prince of darkness could keep the tomb sealed against the divine purpose, for God set His King upon Zion. It will be fulfilled again at the coming of Christ in glory, when those who resisted His Spirit and rejected light and counsel turn in pain from the Saviour's glorified face. Though they then plead for mercy, they will know their persistent refusal has left them without share in that glory and that they suffer the fruit of their own choices, a judgment and not amusement at suffering.
It will be fulfilled in the soon coming time of distress and perplexity of nations, when minds are torn from dress and appearance and hearts fail for repining and fear. Those who despised and trampled the truths of God's word, refused Him as refuge, and spent life in extravagant dress, hilarity, glee, and self-indulgence will have no consolation or refuge from Him, having sown to the wind and now reaping the whirlwind, with the emptiness of trusted things exposed. Yet many in that distress who have not given themselves wholly to corrupting influences, the world, and the service of Satan may still humble themselves before God with the whole heart and find acceptance and pardon. That abandonment comes when probation closes, as in the days of Noah, when the Spirit is less and less manifested until angels fold their wings and cease watchcare over resisters and it is too late for wrongs to be righted. After warning has been given to cities filled with wickedness, kindly and faithful admonitions to be zealous and repent end, mercy's sweet voice is heard no more, no more words of peace are given and no more prayers prevail for rejecters of light, for the Spirit grieved away for the last time leaves the merely formal to be spewed out as disgusting and thrust away to their own ways and doings, though while probation continues Christ is ever willing to help resist evil.
The terror aboard a storm-tossed boat illustrates that day of the Lord's fierce anger, when cries, confessions, and pleas for mercy come too late and are not answered. Fear-driven sorrow, vows made in danger, and deathbed repentance do not amount to lasting conversion when people forget or mock those vows once safe and return to rebellion after danger passes. The saying also explains present misery wrongly charged to God, which is the sure harvest of serving self, making a god of the stomach and appetite, abusing the body to gratify lustful appetite and debased passion in married or unmarried life, and violating nature's laws. The sower to fleshly lusts bears it in the countenance, becomes a slave to passion, is at last left without conviction, mercy, and hope to destroy himself by the natural process of corrupting practices that degrade him beneath the brute creation, ruin the living machinery, and turn transgressed law into tormentors.
Therefore the warning presses readiness now for the Lord's coming, making peace with Him and not robbing Him of purchased service by idle talk and foolish amusement, lest heaven be lost. It calls professed Christians and all who resist messages sent to turn them from error to repent and confess wrongs while mercy remains, before they are found wanting and later anguish brings no relief. Those who repeatedly refuse calls, counsel, and correction grow increasingly unwilling to heed, until calamity and fear leave them to follow their own way, while the transgressor who turns wholeheartedly and repents will be pardoned.
The laughing and mocking voice is God Himself, the Saviour who died for men, speaking as Wisdom to those who refuse when He calls, disregard His outstretched hand, set at naught His counsel, reject His reproof, hate knowledge, and will not choose the fear of the Lord.
His laughter is no amusement at suffering but the righteous judgment that leaves persistent refusers to reap the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices.
Their fear comes as desolation and their destruction as a whirlwind, with distress and anguish upon them, and then they will call and He will not answer, and seek Him early but will not find Him.
What is spoken here points forward to the great day of final judgment and the coming of Christ in glory, when those who resisted His Spirit and rejected His counsel turn in pain from His glorified face and plead too late for mercy, after probation has closed.
Therefore the warning presses the need to be ready now, to make peace with God and repent and confess wholeheartedly while mercy remains, lest heaven be lost.
Meaning of the Warning
The voice that laughs at calamity and mocks when fear comes is God Himself, the Saviour who died for men, speaking as Wisdom to those who slight instruction and despise the great salvation offered them. When wisdom's call is rejected and its correction refused, calamity and fear come, and wisdom answers the earlier refusal with laughter and mockery rather than help. Those who face the Saviour's glorified face after despising His counsel and refusing His reproof will turn from it in pain.
It is spoken to those who refuse when He calls, pay no regard to His outstretched hand, set at naught all His counsel, will have none of His reproof, hate knowledge, and do not choose the fear of the Lord. It falls on those who slight the instruction and warnings of the Word, despise offered salvation, resist messages sent to turn them from error, and reject efforts made to save them. Their suffering is the result of having rejected clear and repeated warnings and light, leaving themselves without excuse and unable to recognize further truth.
The laughter and mockery are not amusement at suffering but the judgment that follows knowing, persistent refusal, when persistent refusers are left to reap what they sowed. Those who chose sin and worldly things instead of God's call and reproof will know at Christ's coming in glory that their refusal has left them without a share in that glory, and they suffer the fruit of their own choices. They eat of the fruit of their own way and are filled with their own devices.
Their fear comes as desolation and their destruction as a whirlwind, with distress and anguish upon them. Then they will call upon Him but He will not answer, and they will seek Him early but will not find Him. Their earlier opportunities to respond will have passed, and they will find no answer and no help from the wisdom they despised when they finally cry out.
Rejecting repeated light and correction brings moral darkness, hardness, and self-deception. Those who refuse to humble themselves, put away what is reproved, and repent trust in themselves, become blind to the true character of sin, flatter themselves that they had some good object and did no wrong, and do despite to the Spirit of grace until its voice is no longer heard. They are left to the delusions they have chosen, surprised and taken by the enemy, and left without excuse.
Fulfillment and Application
The saying looks forward to the great day of final judgment, and to the last days that lead to it, when rejecters of mercy and despisers of grace are brought face to face with justice to render an account for God-given talents of time, means, and intellect spent serving the gods of this world. It meets those who forsook their true and loving Friend to follow convenience and worldly pleasure while intending sometime to return, until follies and deceptions, frivolous amusements, pride of dress, and indulgence of appetite hardened the heart, benumbed the conscience, shut out truth, despised duty, lightly esteemed things of infinite value, and quenched desire to sacrifice for Him who gave so much. In the reaping time they gather what they sowed, having been called and refusing, having had the hand stretched out with none regarding, having set counsel at naught and refused reproof, so that when fear comes as desolation and destruction as a whirlwind with distress and anguish they call without answer and seek early without finding, because they hated knowledge, did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of counsel and despised reproof, and therefore eat the fruit of their own way and are filled with their own devices.
It was fulfilled in the resurrection triumph of Christ, when the priests, rulers, kings, and judges of earth who opposed Him found their power and guard made impotent. Neither they nor the prince of darkness could keep the tomb sealed against the divine purpose, for God set His King upon Zion. It will be fulfilled again at the coming of Christ in glory, when those who resisted His Spirit and rejected light and counsel turn in pain from the Saviour's glorified face. Though they then plead for mercy, they will know their persistent refusal has left them without share in that glory and that they suffer the fruit of their own choices, a judgment and not amusement at suffering.
It will be fulfilled in the soon coming time of distress and perplexity of nations, when minds are torn from dress and appearance and hearts fail for repining and fear. Those who despised and trampled the truths of God's word, refused Him as refuge, and spent life in extravagant dress, hilarity, glee, and self-indulgence will have no consolation or refuge from Him, having sown to the wind and now reaping the whirlwind, with the emptiness of trusted things exposed. Yet many in that distress who have not given themselves wholly to corrupting influences, the world, and the service of Satan may still humble themselves before God with the whole heart and find acceptance and pardon. That abandonment comes when probation closes, as in the days of Noah, when the Spirit is less and less manifested until angels fold their wings and cease watchcare over resisters and it is too late for wrongs to be righted. After warning has been given to cities filled with wickedness, kindly and faithful admonitions to be zealous and repent end, mercy's sweet voice is heard no more, no more words of peace are given and no more prayers prevail for rejecters of light, for the Spirit grieved away for the last time leaves the merely formal to be spewed out as disgusting and thrust away to their own ways and doings, though while probation continues Christ is ever willing to help resist evil.
The terror aboard a storm-tossed boat illustrates that day of the Lord's fierce anger, when cries, confessions, and pleas for mercy come too late and are not answered. Fear-driven sorrow, vows made in danger, and deathbed repentance do not amount to lasting conversion when people forget or mock those vows once safe and return to rebellion after danger passes. The saying also explains present misery wrongly charged to God, which is the sure harvest of serving self, making a god of the stomach and appetite, abusing the body to gratify lustful appetite and debased passion in married or unmarried life, and violating nature's laws. The sower to fleshly lusts bears it in the countenance, becomes a slave to passion, is at last left without conviction, mercy, and hope to destroy himself by the natural process of corrupting practices that degrade him beneath the brute creation, ruin the living machinery, and turn transgressed law into tormentors.
Therefore the warning presses readiness now for the Lord's coming, making peace with Him and not robbing Him of purchased service by idle talk and foolish amusement, lest heaven be lost. It calls professed Christians and all who resist messages sent to turn them from error to repent and confess wrongs while mercy remains, before they are found wanting and later anguish brings no relief. Those who repeatedly refuse calls, counsel, and correction grow increasingly unwilling to heed, until calamity and fear leave them to follow their own way, while the transgressor who turns wholeheartedly and repents will be pardoned.