Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do:
​and the God of peace shall be with you. Php 4:8-9
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The Meditation and Practice of Holiness

A second time we have the conclusion of the whole matter. Before it was “finally, brethren, rejoice in the Lord.” The whole history of conversion with all its preliminary struggles, the terrors and sorrows of repentance, the hopes and fears of faith, finds its issue and rest in this. But here is a second “finally.” There is something beyond the exultation of deliverance through Christ; and that is the attainment of a perfect character in Him. We are urged--
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I. To fix our full and determinate thought upon perfection. The word is often used to signify due appreciation, and it bids us here with strong emphasis estimate rightly the place morality holds in the gospel.

• It was the glory of the apostle’s career to proclaim everywhere that for the sake of the sacrifice of the Cross the vilest transgressors repenting and believing in Jesus were assured of forgiveness and reputed as righteous. But it became the hard necessity of his life to have to defend it against perversion. The enemy everywhere followed him, sowing tares. The abuse which taught men to sin that grace might abound was the subject of his ceaseless protest. In the former part of this Epistle he had dwelt on the worthlessness of all good works as the ground of the sinner’s acceptance: and because he had so utterly disparaged human goodness in the third chapter, he now in the fourth vindicates the claims of Christian godliness. On the way to the Cross think not of any good in yourself; on the way from the Cross think of all the obligations of holiness.
• For all the provisions of grace have their issue in our moral perfection. Renouncing our own righteousness which is of the law, we are to attain a righteousness of faith, which in another sense must be “our own.” Pardon is the removal of an obstruction to holiness. The grace of God that brings salvation teaches us to aspire to all good works.

II. To ponder its unlimited variety of obligations. The apostle exhorts us to train our minds to a high and refined sense of this.

• The apostle exhorts us to train our minds to a high and refined sense of this. It is true that the regenerate are taught of God, and have the Spirit to guide them; but this is not to supersede the use of their own faculties. The Bible shows us “what is good” in its great principles, but leaves us to find out their illimitable application.
• The object of this study is excellence according to all its standards. “Whatsoever things” suggests that every Christian virtue has its own unlimited field of study. What a boundless field, is truth.
• The result of this constant study is the education of the spiritual taste into a high pitch of delicacy. The Christian’s standard of truth, dignity, etc., becomes higher than that of other men. Here lies the secret of the difference between Christian and Christian, between careless professors who are always stumbling themselves, and a cause of offence to others, and the educated disciples who adorn the doctrine of God their Savior. Receive this exhortation and you will come by degrees so accurate in your moral judgment as never to fail, and be in the best sense, “a law unto yourselves.”

III. To give it the fervent desire of our meditation. The “thinking” signifies that intent contemplation of perfection which feeds the soul’s regenerate longing to attain it.

• Mark with what exquisite skill the elements of perfection are combined into one lovely whole. We must look steadily at this assemblage of ethical graces until we are enkindled with its loveliness.
• And as the Christian is exhorted to delight in the thought of perfection as the aggregate of all excellencies, so also he must make every individual principle the object of affectionate contemplation. How beautiful are truth, religious dignity, etc.
• As the virtues of holiness are displayed in the Word of God, to think of them is to meditate on it. “O how I love Thy law.” To the soul that hungers and thirsts after righteousness, the Bible is an everlasting delight.
• Moreover, such an insatiate student delights to consider the lives of these who have gone before him in the narrow way—Christ the supreme standard and pattern of the result; Paul and others as examples of the process. Those who, like ourselves, have had to travel through all the stages of the ascent from sin to holiness leave their example for our encouragement. But while we imitate them we must aspire to Him.

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IV. To make it our practical concern. Let not thinking end, but turn your meditations to practice.

• Generally there is to be nothing visionary in our religion. Hence the abrupt “do.” There is a sentimental religion which thinks loftily and talks magniloquently about virtue, but ends there. Our religion must not be a barren homage to the saintly qualities of others. What man has been man may be, by the grace of God, even though the man may have been a Paul.
• Every scriptural ideal of excellence may be realized in practice. The pagan writers had their noble ideals, but nowhere outside the Bible is there such a consummate standard as this. And then, again, the highest moralists who sate not at the feet of Jesus despaired of their own teaching, imperfect as it was, “unless indeed,” as one said, “God should become incarnate to teach us.” Christianity alone has the golden link between thought and practice.
• As thinking must not terminate in itself, so practice must be the diligent regulation of our life according to all the principles of holiness. There is a sense, indeed, in which our religion from beginning to end is God’s work; but the formation of Christian character is our own task under His blessing, and its perfection is conferred upon us, not as a gift simply, but as the seal upon our efforts, and their exceeding great reward.
• We must work out our own salvation by governing our lives according to these holy principles particularly. If we would be perfectly true we must act out the truth in thought, word, and deed; so with dignity.

V. To think of it with the peaceful confidence of hope. There can be no encouragement more mighty than that the God of Peace shall be with us.

• God will be with us animating our pursuit by the assurance of reconciliation. There is no spirit for the pursuit unless we know that the guilty past is pardoned. The heart must be enlarged if we would run in the way of His commandments; and don’t narrow it and impede your progress by permitted sin.
• God will be with us crowning our effort. Peace is the full sum of His heavenly blessing. “Great peace have they who love His law.” Others may have a transient joy and superficial excitement.

(W. B. Pope, D. D.)

Whatsoever things are just- observant of the rule of right—equal. The original signification of the term was custom—order—social rule, in opposition to the unmannered life of wild tribes, who are swayed by inclination, passion, caprice. There is a Divine order in this world, amid all our confusions. He who walks in that order walks in the way of the Lord. That is right, just. “There is none righteous.” Christ is the “Just One.” There is His righteousness; we must be clothed with it. “Looking unto Jesus” is the loving study of God’s laws perfectly fulfilled in Him for us. Thus we are taught to repent of our deviations, sin, missing the mark, going out of the way. This leads us to acknowledge our weakness, and to cry mightily to God to bring us to Christ, “the Way.” The brief description of Christianity in apostolic times was “that way,” or “the way of the Lord,” “the way of life.” It is God’s way of working, saving, ruling, pardoning, that we want to walk in—the way of righteousness. Think on the things in society that are conformed to this rule of order and right. There is the way of the righteous King. He walks there. There He takes delight. In the family, in the Church, in the State; whatever is upright, observant of right, and struggles against wrong-doing, fraud, injustice, is the finger of God. Consciously or unconsciously it is doing His work; the vindication of human rights against oppression, ignorance, superstition, the devil, is working for and with Christ. Take a large and ample range over society, discover the right, the lawful, the just, making head against the wrong, the false, the licentious; think of these things; pray for them, and see God’s hand and way in them. Think on them; they are; God does not leave Himself without a witness; there are more signs of righteous government in the world than many of us suspect. They are about our path if we will but open our eyes, and observe, and desire to see them. There are flowers, and palms, and pools in the desert. “Think on these things.”

Whatsoever things are pure- unsullied, akin to holy. “Every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself”. “Ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” “Some preach Christ … not sincerely.” “Lay hands suddenly on no man … keep thyself pure.” Thus the word has reference to what may and does defile; influences in the Church and the world which tend to stain our consciences; connivance at sin, excusing evil, insincere statements; having a bad motive underlying right conduct; preaching such a gospel as Paul rejoiced to know was preached, and yet not with cleanness of conscience. Timothy is to let the candidates for the ministry consider their motives; he is to study their conduct for a while, lest love of money, or of applause, of vulgar fame, or ecclesiastical power and influence, should prove the determining influences, and thus he would be a partaker of other men’s sins. This suggests the need of “the blood of sprinkling,” that our actions, motives, powers, prayers, may be cleansed of all vile, base admixtures. A true Christian will bemoan nothing more feelingly than the constant detection of impure, low motive in his spiritual life. The apostle exhorts us to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” In the intercourse of the world one is in constant danger of a certain miasma, the pollution of low, selfish, interested motive; it is drawn in naturally as the pure air; and unless we think of “whatsoever things are pure,” and do like the Italian peasant, when the night comes on, get out of the low ground on to a hill above the reach of the miasma, we are in danger of losing the freshness and vigor of our spiritual life. When the day is over we should get us up to the mountains, and converse with our Lord concerning the conduct of the day, and ask Him to see “if there is any wicked way in us, and to wash us, not our feet only, but also our hands and our head.” “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” (B. Kent.)

Whatsoever things are lovely -
I. The union of strength and beauty in Christian character.

• The virtues of this verse are parts of one organic whole; they so hang together that the absence of one goes far to destroy the value of the other. This is especially true of “things honest and just.” The world is compelled to respect truth, however lacking in grace. The addition of “things lovely” elevates the righteous into the good man: but the righteous man may be honored and trusted though he is not admired or loved. The want of grace detracts from the symmetry of character; but in the moral world the beautiful has value only as underneath the outward charm there is the solid foundation of righteousness.
• There is a certain beauty even about the most rugged forms of moral strength. It is a sign of incompleteness of character when a man takes pleasure in putting the truth in an offensive form, or in enforcing the right with a contempt for the feelings of others. There are those who have no desire to conciliate, and who are too assertive, yet there is in them a strength of principle, a manly resolution, an unflinching devotion to the right which is far more admirable than the amiability which is profuse in outward signs of kindness, but shrinks from the service which justice requires.
• Still, when we think of things lovely, we refer to qualities by which the more severe attributes of character are softened. Standing alone they are a very poor possession. Those who employ all their art in order to have the outward clothing of gentleness, elegance, and grace have their reward. They are favorites of the social circle; and yet they may be lacking in the first elements of spiritual nobility. In the true Christian ideal the graces are only those elements which add tenderness and sweetness to the more masculine virtues which are essential to the toils and conflicts of this world of sin.

II. Note the varieties of spiritual beauty.

• There is a tendency to find beauty only in the feminine virtues—gentleness, patience, compassion, sympathetic kindness—and to regard those of a more masculine character—courage, firmness, resolution—as belonging to another region. But this is to forget that God has made everything beautiful in its time and place. There is beauty in winter as well as in spring, in the scarred, weather-beaten rock, as well as in the smiling landscape. In God’s works there is great variety, but everywhere beauty.
• Can we not apply the same law to character? Would we have all men of the same character? Can we find the things that are lovely only in peaceful homes and gracious ministries, and not also where hard battles are fought and victories won for Jesus Christ? We recognize the loveliness of simple trust and absolute devotion in Magdalen in Gethsemane; but is there no beauty in the lofty heroism of Peter and John declaring that they would serve God rather than men? Barnabas seems to gather up in himself the things that are lovely, but do we find no spiritual beauty in the lion-like courage of Paul? So with Melanchthon and Luther. There is moral beauty in all—different in type, but alike in origin and end.

III. Contemplate the things that are lowly (Col_3:12-15). Here is indeed a galaxy of virtues, yet when we come to examine them we find that they all turn on one point—the conquest of self.

• Selfishness is ugliness and deformity, because it is a violation of the Divine law. It may disguise itself, but when detected it is hated and despised. It is the foe of man, to be crushed by a Diviner force if we are to attain to spiritual beauty.
• The first lesson we have to learn is humility and unselfishness. So only can we follow Christ. Where His Spirit reigns the life will have this primary condition of true beauty; although at times it may be lacking in features which correspond to the popular ideas of grace.
• The word chivalry seems to embody most of the virtues included in the phrase of the text: reverence for God and for all that is godlike in man, sympathy for all goodness, pity for all weakness, courage to face all danger, generous consideration for others dictated by true respect for self. These are just the virtues which the Christian should strive by the grace of God to develop.   (J. G. Rogers, B. A.)

​Whatsoever things are of good report -(εὔφημα), auspicious, sounding well, of good omen; silent deeds that, nevertheless, sound like a trumpet, and awaken our admiration, making us think better of human nature; things that come to us like good news, and “make our bones fat,” and our eyes glisten, and our lips tremulous—“things of good report.” Like the soldier at Balaclava, who dismounted calmly in the hurricane of the fight, that his officer might ride. Like those noble women who watched day and night over the sufferers at Scutari. The poetry of life—the sphere music—audible amidst the groans of creation. Not done to be reported well of, but done for love and dear honor’s sake; and which can no more be hid than one can “hide the wind.” Such was Joseph’s conduct to his brethren; such David’s when he found Saul asleep, and took his spear away only and a piece of his garment; such Stephen’s dying prayer, “Lay not this sin to their charge”; such His glorious charge, “Begin at Jerusalem.” Magnanimity, the Christian pilgrim, man or woman, accompanied by “Greatheart”; the rising above the level and routine of giving, doing, loving, into the stature of the man in Christ Jesus—these are things of good report. Think of them—think that you never experience such a thrill of pleasure as when you read of such things—then what must it be to do them! Think that the capacity to enjoy the recital argues the ability to do them. Think and be thankful that you live in a world where these noble things can be done; and you can do them, if you suffer not little mercenary motives to blind your eyes and freeze your sensibilities. “And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them;” there is a sounding deed! David refusing to offer to the Lord “that which cost Him nothing”; the centurion’s, “Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only”; Mary, with her alabaster box of ointment (and “this that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her”); Paul’s, “though the more I love you, the less I am beloved”—“take back your runaway slave, Philemon, as a brother,” and what he owes thee put down to me; that greatest deed in the history of the universe, how that when we were yet sinners Christ died for us. (B. Kent.)

If there be any virtue—The clause is an emphatic and earnest summation. The term ἀρετή is only here used by St. Paul. In the philosophical writings of Greece it signifies all virtue, and not any special forms of it, as it does in Homer and others. The apostle nowhere else uses it—it had been too much debased and soiled in some of the schools, and ideas were often attached to it very different from that moral excellence which with him was virtue. It is therefore here employed in its widest and highest sense of moral excellence—virtues, that which becomes a man redeemed by the blood of Christ and tenanted by the Holy Spirit. From its connection with the Sanscrit vri—to be strong—Latin vir-vires-virtus; or with Ἄρης ἂριστος it seems to signify what best becomes a man—manhood, strength, or valour; in early times. But the signification has been modified by national character and temperament. The warlike Romans placed their virtue in military courage; while their successors, the modern degenerate Italians, often apply it to a knowledge of antiquities or fine arts. The remains of other and nobler times are articles of virtu, and he who has most acquaintance with them is a virtuoso, or man of virtue. In common English, a woman’s virtue is simply and alone her chastity, as being first and indispensable; and with the Scotch formerly it was thrift or industry. An old act commands schools or houses of “virtue,” in which might be manufactured “cloth and sergis,” to be erected in every shire. Amid such national variations, and the unsettled metaphysical disquisitions as to what forms virtue and what is its basis, it needed that He who created man for Himself should tell him what best became him—what he was made for and what he should aspire to. (Professor Eadie.)

If there be any praise—We all consider what is thought of us by those around us as a substantial good. Trust in our uprightness of character, belief in our abilities, and the desire that arises from this to be more intimately connected with us, and to gain our good opinion—everything of this kind is often a more valuable treasure than great riches. (Schleiermacher.)

​As Paul concludes his letter, he sums up Christian duties into a single paragraph.
Whatsoever things are true. Truth in word, in action, and in thought, must be cherished. Christ is THE TRUTH. His followers must be truth itself.
Honest. The Greek is "reverend." Whatever is worthy of reverence.
Just. Strict justice in all dealings; an upright life.
Pure. Chaste lives and clean hearts and thoughts.
Lovely. Such deeds as spring from love and inspire love in others.
Of good report. A life of which no evil thing can be truthfully said.
If there be any virtue. Lest he may have omitted some excellency he adds, "If there be aught else which is virtuous or praiseworthy, let these all be the things to which you give your minds."
The things which, etc. He turns from precept to example, the best of all teachers, and enjoins that they observe not only what he had taught, but what they had seen in his life.
The God of peace shall be with you. For he is with all who so live. ​(B.W. Johnson)

"Finally - To sum up all. Whatsoever things are true - Here are eight particulars placed in two fourfold rows; the former containing their duty; the latter, the commendation of it. The first word in the former row answers the first in the latter; the second word, the second and so on. True - In speech. Honest - In action. Just - With regard to others. Pure - With regard to yourselves. Lovely - And what more lovely than truth? Of good report - As is honesty, even where it is not practiced. If there be any virtue - And all virtues are contained in justice. If there be any praise - In those things which relate rather to ourselves than to our neighbor. Think on these things - That ye may both practice them yourselves, and recommend them to others."  [John Wesley]

When the Apostle wrote these words, he was filled with the best of all loves. These grand words were almost the last outpouring of the fulness of the Apostle’s love. Everybody knows them; everybody admires them; everybody is conscious of an undefined pleasure in them.

I. Observe that all the good and holy things of the text purify. St. Paul does not say, Do them, but what is far more: "Think on them." The word means literally, Take them into your mouths; dwell on them; imbue your very spirit with them; for there is life in them when fostered in the inner life of which the outer life is only a reflection. Every mind must have its thoughts, and every thought must have its food. Thought dies without food. Some men think too abstractedly; some men think much of the evils which they wish to avoid; that is vainness: the thought may take the bad character even from the wrong thing, which it is the object of that very thought to destroy. It is far safer, it is far better, and far more effective to think of the true, the holy, and the good.

II. The more you meditate upon the truth, the honesty, and the justice which regulate the sacred transactions between Heaven and man—that is, the more you see the Cross of Christ as the great embodiment of the mind of God and contemplate the highest truth as it is exhibited there—the more prepared you will be to go on to take a proper estimate of what is to be "the true, the honest, and the just" in the relations and dealings of the present life. Whenever you can form this lofty conception of the inner and beautiful principle, your standard will be very high, and you will be better able to take measure of the circumstances of life. He will always make the best prophet the eye of whose mind is the most familiar with a Divine and prompt obedience.
[J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 1874, p. 151]

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. Col 1:16-18
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The Plan of Redemption

Suppose a large graveyard surrounded by a high wall, with only one entrance by a large iron gate which is fast bolted. Within these wails are tens of thousands of human beings, by one disease descending to the grave. There is no balm to relieve them, no physician there: they must perish. This is the condition of man as a sinner. All have sinned, and the soul that sinneth shall die. While man was in this deplorable state, Mercy, an attribute of Deity, came down and stood at the gate, looked at the scene, and wept over it, exclaiming, “Oh, that I might enter! I would bind up their wounds; I would relieve their sorrows; I would save their souls.” While Mercy stood weeping at the gate, an embassy of angels, commissioned from the court of heaven to some other world, passing over, paused at the sight, and Heaven forgave that pause. Seeing Mercy standing there, they cried, “Mercy, Mercy, can you not enter can you look upon this scene, and not pity? can you pity, and not relieve?” Mercy replied, “I can see;” and in her tears she added, “I pity, but cannot relieve.”—“Why can you not enter?”—“Oh!” said Mercy, “Justice has barred the gate against me, and I cannot, must not, unbar it.” At this moment Justice himself appeared, as it were to watch the gate. The angels inquired of him, “Why will you not let Mercy in?” Justice replied, “My law is broken, and it must be honored: die they or Justice must.” At this there appeared a form among the angelic band, like unto the Son of God, who, addressing Himself to Justice, said, “What are thy demands?” Justice replied, “My terms are stern and rigid. I must have sickness for their health; I must have ignominy for their honor; I must have death for life; without the shedding of blood there is no remission.”—“Justice,” said the Son of God, “I accept thy terms. On Me be this wrong, and let Mercy enter.”—“When,” said Justice, “will you perform this promise?”
Jesus replied, “Four thousand years hence, upon the hill of Calvary, without the gates of Jerusalem, I will perform it in My own person.” The deed was prepared and signed in the presence of the angels of God. Justice was satisfied; and Mercy entered, preaching salvation in the name of Jesus. The deed was committed to the patriarchs; by them to the kings of Israel and the prophets; by them it was preserved till Daniel’s seventy weeks were accomplished; and, at the appointed time, Justice appeared on the hill of Calvary, and Mercy presented to him the important deed. “Where,” said Justice, “is the Son of God?” Mercy answered, “Behold Him at the bottom of the hill, bearing His own cross;” and then he departed, and stood aloof at the hour of trial. Jesus ascended the hill, while in His train followed His weeping Church. Justice immediately presented Him with the important deed, saying, “This is the day when this bond is to be executed.” When He received it, did He tear it in pieces, and give it to the winds of heaven?
​No: He nailed it to His cross, exclaiming, “It is finished!” Justice called on holy fire to come down, and consume the sacrifice. Holy fire descended: it swallowed His humanity; but, when it touched His divinity, it expired, and there was darkness over the whole heavens; but, glory to God in the highest! on earth peace, and good-will to men. (Christmas Evans)

​"Suppose there were twenty traitors in the Tower lay condemned; say again, the prince should yield his father such satisfaction for some whom he would save, wherewith the king his father should be contented, and give him their pardon thereupon; here the thing is done betwixt the king and his son, yet till the prince send to them, write to the keeper to deliver such and such to him, they are in the state they were in, and so continue. So it is with God, Christ, and us: the redemption is all concluded betwixt God and His beloved Son; yet till this is effectually made known to our hearts, so that they believe on this grace of Christ, we are as we were, in hold, in the fear of our condemnation. We are justified through the redemption in Christ, but so that before it can be applied in us we must have faith in His blood, being set forth unto us in the word preached. Can we have the strength of bread without eating bread? No more can we have any benefit by the bread of life without believing on Him. In Christ by faith we have these things." (P. Bayne, B. D.)

This is the most exhaustive assertion of our Lord’s Godhead to be found in St. Paul’s Writings. This magnificent dogmatic passage is introduced, after the apostle’s manner, with a strictly practical object. The Colossian Church was exposed to the attacks of a theosophic doctrine which degraded Christ to the rank of one of a long series of inferior beings supposed to range between man and the Supreme God. Against this assertion Paul asserts that Christ is:

I. The image of the invisible God. The expression supplements the title of “the Son.” As “the Son,” Christ is derived eternally from the Father, and of one substance with Him. As “the image” Christ is in that one substance, the exact likeness of the Father, in all things except being the Father. He is the image of the Father, not as the Father, but as God. The “image” is indeed originally God’s unbegun, unending reflection of Himself in Himself, but is also the organ whereby God, in His essence invisible, reveals Himself to His creatures. Thus the “image” is naturally, so to speak, the Creator, since creation is the first revelation God has made of Himself. Man is the highest point in the visible universe; in man, God’s attributes are most luminously exhibited; man is the image and glory of God (1Co_11:7). But Christ is the adequate image of God, God’s self-reflection in His own thought, eternally present with Himself.

II. As the image Christ is the first-born of all creation, not the first in rank among created beings, but begotten before any created beings. That this is the true sense of the expression is etymologically certain; but it is also the only sense which is in real harmony with the relation in which, according to the context, Christ stands to the universe. Of all things in heaven and earth, of things seen and unseen, of the various orders of the angelic hierarchy, it is said that they were created:

1. In Christ. There was no creative process external to and independent of Him; since the archetypal forms after which the creatures are modelled and the sources of their strength and consistency of being eternally reside in Him.

2. By Him. The force which has summoned the worlds out of nothingness into being, and which upholds them in being is His; He wields it; He is the one producer and sustainer of all created existence.

3. For Him. He is not as Arianism pretended, merely an inferior workman creating for the glory of a higher Master; He creates for Himself; He is the end of all things as well as their immediate source; and in living for Him every creature finds at once the explanation and law of its being. For He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.

III. After such a statement it follows naturally that the fulness, the entire cycle of the Divine attributes, considered as a series of forces, dwells in him. This not in any ideal or transcendental manner, but with that actual reality which men attach to the presence of material bodies which they can feel and measure through the organs of sense (Col_2:9). Although throughout this Epistle the word Logos is never introduced, it is plain that the Image of St. Paul is equivalent in His rank and functions to the Logos of St. John. Each exists prior to creation; each is the one agent in creation; each is a Divine person; each is equal with God and shares His essential life; each is really none other than God. (Canon Liddon)

​I. As related to God. “Image.” Some interpret this of the essential image; others as setting forth Christ as God’s messenger, or as perfect man, in allusion to Gen_1:26. But there is a great difference between man made “in,” “after,” or “according to” God’s image, and Christ “the image” itself.

1. An image--

• Differs widely from a shadow. The Old Testament discoveries of Christ are called “shadows,” and though a shadow presupposes substance, it is only a mere appearance (Heb_10:1).
• Is more than a similitude. One thing may be very similar to another in some things, and yet in others be very unlike. The sun is a similitude, but not an image of God.
• Corresponds entirely with that which it represents a perfect model and transcript. The cast is an exact sampler of the mold; the wax bears a correct impress of the seal, not merely in general figure, but in every line. The word therefore shows that Christ is the very form of God in whom are embodied all His perfections.

2. This suggests that

• The dignity of our Savior’s person stamps infinite merit on His work.
• Since it is to the Divine image that believers have to be conformed, we have some idea of the privileges and dignity to which we shall be exalted.
• In Christ’s glorious person we may read our own defects.

II. As related to the universe--

1. He is Creator: from which it is clear that all things had a beginning, and that nothing exists that does not owe its existence to Christ; and therefore Christ is the lawful proprietor of all things. That there may be no cavil we have a particular enumeration of His works:

• In their universality, “all things”;
• Their properties, “visible and invisible”;
• Their grades in the scale of being, “thrones,” Try to elevate your thoughts to the dignity of this subject. What an Almighty Savior you have. He is above all human portraiture. His name is “Wonderful.”

2. But if Christ be all this, then--

• Here is an end of Atheism, Deism, Unitarianism.
• What a claim have Christ’s meanest creatures on our consideration.
• How desperate their condition who will not have Him to reign over them.

III. As belated to His Church. “Head.”

1. By Divine appointment; and as the natural head is the highest part of the body, so Christ has in all things the pre-eminence.

2. In respect of His wisdom. The head is the seat of mind. There are all the organs and mental phenomena: the eye to see. “In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

3. As regards to sustaining and spiritual support. The head is where most of the vital functions are which impart energy through the system, and diffuse pleasure or pain, joy or sorrow. So Christ transmits whatever supplies are required for the Church’s welfare; through Him the whole body increases with the increase of God.
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Lessons: We have a Saviour--
1. Almighty.
2. Sympathizing.
3. Everlasting. (T. Watson, B. A.)

​I Christ in his pre-incarnate state. This dignity is represented by two brief clauses dealing with--

1. His relation to the God head, “image”. There is a distinction between image and likeness. Likeness represents superficial resemblance, as when two leaves from the same tree are said to be like each other; image indicates resemblance by participation in the same life by reproduction of essence. Likeness is that which is superficial and partial, image that which is essential and exhaustive. Our Lord is that representation of God which God could not but have. Whatever of glory dwells in the Eternal Father is eternally imaged in His Son.

2. His relation to the universe.

• “In Him all things were made,” the creative energy not only passed through Him, as the volume of a river’s waters passes through its rock-hewn channels, but the creative energy dwells in Him, belongs to Him, as the life of His life, essentially and eternally.
• In Him also all things consist, stand together; in Him the universe finds its unity and coherence. We talk about the laws of nature. If it were possible for us to trace the laws of nature and of history to their point of convergence, we should find that to be nothing less than the personal sovereignty of Jesus Christ.
• He is the universal Governor. For Him all things exist, to serve His purpose and to manifest His glory. Jesus Christ is the first, efficient, and final cause of all created existence.

3. Now these separate clauses are dove-tailed into the clause preceding them, “the firstborn,” for that expression does not mean that our Lord is the first creature, either in time or in rank. The emphasis must be put upon both adjectives, “firstborn.” The primacy of Jesus Christ in the creation is the primacy of birth. He alone is born, not made; all other things are made, not born; and there is a very marked distinction between these two. Our thoughts are born of our intelligence; our works are the product of our hands. The things that we make are outside of ourselves; they may perish, and our being be not affected; but the thoughts that are born within us and of us are a part of our being; when you touch them you touch yourself. Our Lord’s place in the universe is that of the firstborn; His own being is rooted in the very being of God, as inseparable from Him as thought is from being. Therefore He is called the Eternal Word of God. Thought always precedes achievement, just as a great cathedral is born in the mind of the architect before the click of a chisel is heard. Even so is Christ the first born of creation as holding in His living thought all the realms and ages. Thus far the essential majesty of the Divine Christ. This is a glory that blinds us, but does not kindle nor transfigure us.

II The apostle passes to the glory of Him who tabernacled in human flesh. As creation finds in Him its head, unity, and coherence, so also does the kingdom of grace. These are not two systems, joining each other as two circles might have their contact at a single point, or overlapping, but are one, because the sovereignty of each and both is invested in Christ.

1. In His relation to redemption Christ is “the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead,” not the first who came forth from the grave in rank or time. His relation to the kingdom of grace as to that of nature is birth, in Him the resurrection finds its original and eternal home. It is not merely said that He is risen, but that He is “the Resurrection and the Life.”

2. As He is said to be the source of spiritual creative energy, so also is it declared that the authority of spiritual control is vested in Him. He is Head of the Church, to whom alone our prayers are to be addressed, and through whom alone the answer of God can come to us. Between us and God there are no hierarchies of principalities and powers, no army of saints and martyrs. The way is clear through Christ. There is but one Mediator. Just as the head interprets, gathers up, and responds to the multitudinous demands of the body that are telegraphed along the nervous filaments of sensation, so also does Christ, as the Head of His Church, interpret her needs and respond to her prayers. The heart does not always pray as do the lips, and our wishes are sometimes very different from our wants: but the great Head of the Church knows how to interpret, and always pierces to the deepest need. And so when the strength of our hands fails us, and our wisdom is staggered by the problems that front us, a larger wisdom and a mightier hope come pulsing into our feebleness.

3. Great prerogatives are these, but they are not a temporary investiture. They belong to Him by eternal right, “for it pleased the Father that in Him all fulness should dwell.” Grace has in Him its eternal dwelling place. And so long as the redeemed shall endure will He be their loving and loved Head. For in Him both God and man find their sufficient and eternal reconciliation.

4. This great reconciliation is not merely problematical and partial, it is positive and universal. The tenses are in the past. We are living to-day, not in the dispensation of the wrath of God, but in the dispensation of His redeeming grace. God is sending forth His ministers, bidding all to repent, assuring them that the feast is ready, and that it is only waiting for the guests. The age of demoralization passed away eighteen hundred years ago. The age of reconstruction began when on the cross our Lord said, “It is finished!” That was the burial of the old, as it was the birth of the new; and ever since, and until the end of time, in spite of opposition and apparent defeat, all things have been and shall be working together for good, and surely, though slowly, advancing the cause of God’s eternal righteousness.

III Practical inferences.

1. We have been led by the apostle to the most exalted conceivable position whence we can look out on the works of God and upon the history of the world. We have been led through all the grades of being, from matter in its crudest form to mind in its loftiest manifestation, and we have seen that in Christ the whole universe of created existence finds its unity and coherence, while the awful struggle of right against wrong, truth against falsehood, find in Him its consummation and ending. This is something that neither science nor philosophy can give. In Him all contradictions are solved between the seen and the unseen, the created and the uncreated, the sin of man and the righteousness of God.

2. If it be true that both creation and redemption find in Christ their living center, then it is also plain that only in proportion as we enter into the mind of Christ can we understand aright either the works of God, or the history of the race, or the revelation of His character and purposes in Scripture.

3. Here, too, is the only solution of the vexed question of Christian union. How shall that unity be brought about? Certainly not by creeds nor by forms. There is only one name, one sign, that can subdue us all, and that is the sign that must conquer the world, the flaming cross of Jesus Christ. When we bow before that, and all our faces are turned reverently toward the One on the throne, then shall enmity perish, and we shall be one, even as He and the Father are one.

4. The incomparable dignity of our Lord should awaken in us a three-fold attachment.

• It should awaken in us a feeling of reverence. As no one of us would think of standing before a throned king without becoming humility, it behooves us when we come into our Creator’s presence to bow with reverence at His feet.
• But incomparable as is His dignity, it is for ever joined with our common nature; and therefore, while it calls for reverence it also calls for trust. He is the Head of the Church, and therefore we ought to come not only reverently, but confidently and boldly. There ought to be joy as well as reverence in our worship and in our service.
• This incomparable dignity ought also to fill us with assurance and courage.

​     (A. J. F. Behrends, D. D.)

I. Christ’s pre-eminence--
1. His supremacy in relation to God. “Image”
(1) The supreme likeness of God.
(2) The supreme representation of God.
(3) The supreme manifestation of God.

2. His supremacy in relation to nature. We have--
(1) His dignity. “firstborn,” telling of His age, heirship, authority.
(2) His creative and sustaining agency. All is made by Him and consists in Him. In His miracles He was the Divine Ulysses whose use of his love proclaimed him lord.
(3) His consummating glory. Creation exists for Him as well as by Him. He is its end as well as its origin.

3. His supremacy in relation to His Church. He is--
(1) Its sovereign, “Head”;
(2) Its force, “Beginning.”
(3) Life, “Firstborn from the dead.” His risen life is the life of the Church.

II. The explanation on His pre-eminence is his Divine plenitude. He is the Pleroma, the totality of Divine attributes and powers.
1. In Him are all the Divine resources. He is the fulness of wisdom, power, love.
2. In Him all those resources permanently “dwell.” Because He is thus full of God, He must in pre-eminence be fully God.

III. The work of Christ in His pre-eminence and plenitude is the work of reconciliation.
1. Reconcile what? “All things.”
2. How? “By the blood of His cross.” (U. R. Thomas)

​The Glory of the Son

​There are here grand conceptions of Christ’s relations.

I. To God. Paul uses language which was familiar on the lips of his antagonists. Alexandrian Judaism had much to say about the “Word,” and spoke of it as the Image of God. Probably this teaching reached Colossae. An image is a likeness as of a king’s head on a coin or a face in a mirror. Here it is that which makes the invisible visible.
1. God in Himself is inconceivable and unapproachable. “No man hath seen,” etc. He is beyond the sense and above understanding. There is in every human spirit a dim consciousness of His presence, but that is not knowledge. Creatural limitations and man’s sin prevents it.
2. Christ is the perfect manifestation of God. Through Him we know all that we can know of God. “He that hath seen Me”. The great fathomless, shoreless ocean of the Divine nature is like a “closed sea.” Christ is the broad river which brings its waters to men. Our souls cry for the living God; and never will that orphaned cry be answered but in the possession of Christ, in whom we possess the Father also.

To creation. “Firstborn.”
1. At first sight this seems to include Him in the great family of creatures as the eldest, but it is shown not to be the intention in the next verse, which alleges that Christ was before, and is the agent of, all creation. The true meaning is that He is firstborn in comparison with, or reference to, all creation.
2. The title implies priority in existence and supremacy. It applies to the Eternal Word and not to His incarnation.

​The necessary clauses state more fully this relation and so confirm and explain the title.
1. The whole universe is set in one class, and He alone over against it. Four times in one sentence we have “all things” repeated, and traced to Him as Creator and Lord.

• “In the heavens and earth” is quoted from Genesis, and is intended, as then, to be an exhaustive enumeration of the creation according to plan.
• “Things visible and invisible” includes the whole under another principle of division—there are visible things in heaven, and may be invisible on earth, but wherever they are He made them.
•  “Whether thrones,” an enumeration alluding to dreamy speculations about an angelic hierarchy filling the space between God and men.

2. The language employed brings into strong relief the manifold variety of relations which the Son sustains to the universe. The Greek means “all things considered as a unity.”

• “In Him,” regards Him as the creative center or reservoir in which all creative force resided, and was in a definite act put forth. The error of the Gnostics was to put the act of creation and the thing created as far away as possible from God, and is here met.
• But the possible dangers of that profound truth are averted by the preposition “through” Him. That presupposes the clear demarcation between creature and creator, and extricates the person of the firstborn from all risk of being confounded with the creation, while it makes Him the medium of the Divine energy, and so shows His relation to the Divine nature. He is the image of the invisible God, and accordingly through Him have all things been created. “The express image of His person by whom He made the worlds.”
• “For Him.” All things sprung from His will, and return thither again. These relations are more than once declared of the Father. What theory of Christ’s person explains the fact?

3. His existence before the creation is repeated. “He” is emphatic, “He Himself”; “is” emphasizes not only preexistence, but absolute existence. “He was” would not have said so much as “He is before all things.” “Before Abraham was I am.”

4. In Him all things hold together. He is the element in and by which is that continued creation which is the preservation of the universe. He links all creatures and forces into a co-operant whole, reconciling their antagonisms, and melting all their notes into music which God may hear, however discordant it may be to us.

To the Church. A parallel is plainly intended between Christ’s relation to the material creation and to the spiritual. As is the pre-incarnate word to the universe, so is the incarnate Christ to the Church.

1. Christ the Head and the Church His body. Popular physiology regards the head as the seat of life. So our Lord is the source of that spiritual life which flows from Him into His members, and is sight in the eye, strength in the arm, swiftness in the foot, color in the cheek, richly various in its manifestations, but one in its nature and all His. That thought leads to Him as the center of unity by whom the many members become one body. The head, too, is the symbol of authority.

2. Christ is the beginning of the Church. In nature He was before all, and the source of all. So “the beginning” does not mean the first member of a series, but the power which causes the series to begin. The root is the beginning of flowers, although we may say the first flower is.

3. He is head and beginning by means of His resurrection.

• He is firstborn from the dead, and His communication of spiritual life to His Church requires the historical fact of His resurrection, for a dead Christ could not be the source of life.
• He is the beginning through His resurrection, too, in regard to raising us from the dead. He is the firstfruits, and bears promise of a mighty harvest. Because He lives we shall live also.

​So Paul concludes that in all things He is first, and all things are that He may be first. Whether in nature or grace the pre-eminence is supreme. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

​Christ is the supreme Head of the Church—the new moral creation.--

1. The Church is the body of Christ. “The body, the Church.” Much controversy has prevailed as to what constitutes the Church; and the more worldly the Church became, the more confused the definition, the more bitter the controversy. The New Testament idea of the Church is easily comprehended. It is the whole body of the faithful in Christ Jesus, who are redeemed and regenerated by His grace—the aggregate multitude of those in heaven and on earth who love, adore, and serve the Son of God as their Redeemer and Lord. The word ἐκκλησία contains two leading ideas: the ordained unity, and the calling or separating out from the world. Three grand features ever distinguish the true Church—unbroken unity, essential purity, and genuine catholicity. (Cf. Eph_1:22-23; Eph_4:15-16; 1Co_12:12-27).

2. Christ is the Head of the Church.—“And He is the Head of the body, the Church.” That the world might not be considered this body, the word “Church” is added; and the materialistic conception of a Church organism thus refuted. As the Head of the Church--
(1) Christ inspires it with spiritual life and activity.
(2) He impresses and molds its character.
(3) He prescribes and enforces its laws.
(4) He governs and controls its destinies.
(5) He is the center of its unity.  

​Christ is the originating, fontal Source of the organic life of the Church.—In respect to the state of grace, He is the beginning; in respect to the state of glory, He is the firstborn from the dead. He gives to the Church its entity, form, history, and glory; except in and through Him, the Church could have no existence.

1. He is the Author of the moral creation.—“The beginning.” Christ has been before described as the Author of the old material creation. Here He is announced as the beginning of the new spiritual creation. The moral creation supplies the basis and constituent elements of the Church. In the production, progress, and final triumph of the new creation, He will redress all the wreck and ruin occasioned by the wrong-doing of the old creation. Of this new moral creation Christ is the source, the principle, the beginning; the fountain of life, purity, goodness, and joy to the souls of men.

2. He is the Author of the moral creation as the Conqueror of Death.—“The firstborn from the dead.” Sin introduced death into the old creation, and the insatiable monster still revels and riots amid the corruptions he perpetually generates. The Son of God, in fulfilment of the divine plan of redemption, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He descended into Hades, and placed Himself among the dead. On the third day He rose again, “the firstfruits of them that slept.” He was “the firstborn from the dead”; the first who had risen by His own power; the first who had risen to die no more. By dying He conquered death for Himself and all His followers. He can therefore give life to all that constitute that Church of which He is fittingly the Head, assure them of a resurrection from the dead, of which His own was a pattern and pledge, and of transcendent and unfading glory with Himself in the endless future.

The relation of Christ to the Church invests Him with absolute pre-eminence.—“That in all things He might have the pre-eminence.”
1. He is pre-eminent in His relation to the Father.—He is “the image of the invisible God”; the Son of His love, joined by a bond to us mysterious and ineffable, and related in a sense in which no other can be. He is the first and the last; the only divine Son.
2. He is pre-eminent in the universe of created beings.—He existed before any being was created, and was Himself the omnipotent Author of all created things. The whole hierarchy of heaven obey and adore Him. He is alone in His complex nature as our Emmanuel. Mystery of mysteries; in Him Deity and humanity unite!

3. He is pre-eminent in His rule over the realm of the dead.—He entered the gloomy territory of the grave, wrestled with and vanquished the King of Terrors, rose triumphantly from the dismal battle-field, and is now Lord both of the dead and of the living. “I am He that liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore; and have the keys of Hades and of death” (Rev_1:18).

4. He is pre-eminent in His relation to the Church.—The Church from beginning to end is purely His own creation. He sketched its first rough outline, projected its design, constructed its organism, informed it with life, dowered it with spiritual riches; and He will continue to watch over and direct its future until He shall “present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing”!

5. He is pre-eminent in the estimation and homage of a ransomed world.—He is the central figure of all history; around Him all events group themselves, and by Him are stamped with their true character, significance, and worth. The dream of the ages, the teaching of figures and symbols, the shadows and forecastings of coming events, are all dismissed in the effulgent presence of Him to whom they all point, like so many quivering index-fingers. Christ has to-day the strongest hold upon the heart of humanity. His perplexed enemies admire while they reject Him; the ever-increasing multitude of His friends reverence and adore Him; and the era is rapidly advancing when to Him a universe of worshippers shall bow the knee and acknowledge that “in all things He has the pre-eminence.” [Preacher's Homiletical]

Living as we do, far down the stream of time, when long ago the name of Christ has associated itself to all that is the most classical in literature, the most refined in art, the most exquisite in poetry, the most generous in chivalry, and the most advanced in civilization; when the cross, no more the word of shame or the brand of ignominy, has become the banner of progress, and the crest of honor, it is very difficult for us to throw ourselves enough into the spirit of the age of St. Paul, to estimate the grandeur of thought, and the strangeness with which the words must have burst upon the world, that Christ the Nazarene, Christ the Crucified, should in all things have the pre-eminence. And yet the whole expansion of the world’s history is but the fulfilment of that vision of St. Paul, that his spiritual eye saw, when he contemplated Christ and the Resurrection, and said, "that in all things He should have the pre-eminence."

I feel sure that no one who has been an accurate observer of life, has failed to notice the elevating and purifying influence of a true religion wherever it is received. Has it never occurred to you in life to know some mind of a rude and coarse texture brought under the power of the simple faith of the Lord Jesus Christ? You have, perhaps, watched the wonderful transformation. That intellect, once the dullest, has gone up, if not unto the very first class, yet certainly far beyond itself and above the ordinary rank. And that heart has taken a delicacy such as the best secular education rarely succeeds in giving. Christ is in him, and Christ, rising, raises the man to show that wherever Christ is, even in the poorest, darkest, lowest, most miserable sinner’s heart, He will have the pre-eminence.

Many persons are looking a great deal into their own hearts, as if they would ever find peace by looking down there. The way to arrive at peace is to examine Christ, to magnify Christ, to take grand views of Christ, to find your evidences in Christ. An uplifted Christ is the sinner’s rest.
[J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 8th series]

No One Can Know the Depths of His Preeminence 

This compilation of comments and studies by numerous bible scholars gives a glimpse of what these verses hold, but as John Wesley stated, in the form of a question-no one can reach the bottom of the preeminence of Christ Jesus-our Lord.

"And - From the whole he now descends to the most eminent part, the church. He is the head of the church - Universal; the supreme and only head both of influence and of government to the whole body of believers. Who is - The repetition of the expression Col 1:15 points out the entrance on a new paragraph. The beginning - Absolutely, the Eternal. The first begotten from the dead - From whose resurrection flows all the life, spiritual and eternal, of all his brethren. That in all things - Whether of nature or grace. He might have the pre - eminence - Who can sound this depth?"
[John Wesley]

For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens. Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people,
​give unto the LORD glory and strength. Psa 96:4-7

​This Psalm has no superscription in the Hebrew. But in the Septuagint and in the Vulgate it has the following, “When the house was built after the captivity. An ode by David.” There is a great similarity between this Psalm and the great festal hymn which “David delivered, to thank the Lord, into the hand of Asaph and his brethren” on the day when the ark was brought into the sanctuary in Zion. It indeed almost exactly corresponds to that portion of the Psalm, on the placing of the ark in Zion, which is contained in 1Ch_16:23-33. It is probable that the original Psalm was composed by David, for use on the occasion mentioned above, and that it is recorded in 1Ch_16:8-36, and that this Psalm was selected from it for use at the dedication of the second temple.
We regard the Psalm as setting before us a picture of--

We have here a picture of a day of blessing and glory for our world such as never yet has dawned upon it, but most assuredly will dawn in God’s own appointed time. The Poet portrays two grand features of the world’s most joyous day. It will be--
I. A day when the relations of the Lord to the world shall be rightly apprehended. What are those relations?

1. He alone is God of the world. This is clear from-
(1) The nothingness of heathen deities and the reality and power of Jehovah. “All the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.” The heathen deities were nonentities, nothings. They had no real existence. They existed only in the imaginations of their worshippers (Isa_41:23-24.) Even when the objects of the worship of the heathen have a real existence, such as the heavenly bodies, yet they have no existence as gods, no existence which renders them fit objects of homage. But the Lord is real and living and powerful. He “made the heavens.” In their creation He has manifested His power and glory to all the world, and given proof that He is the true God and entitled to the worship of His creatures.
(2) The greatness of Jehovah. “The Lord is great, and greatly to be praised.” God is great in His thoughts and purposes, in power and action, in glory and dominion. His greatness is so pre-eminent that Masillon well said, “God alone is great.”
(3) The glory of Jehovah. “Honour and majesty are before Him, strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.” Wherever He pleases to manifest Himself there true glory is displayed. All that is really mighty and majestic, glorious and beautiful, is found in Him in full perfection, and flows from Him. Holiness and wisdom, truth and love constitute His strength, beauty, and majesty. He has displayed His glory in the heavens which He created; but it shines most brightly “in His sanctuary,” in the Church militant and in the Church triumphant. In the world’s most joyous day the Lord shall be recognised throughout the world as the only true God, incomprehensibly great and glorious.

2. His salvation is for all the world. “Show forth His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the heathen, His wonders among all people.” In the bright day which is drawing near, His salvation will be published amongst all nations and all peoples. “Salvation” from the night of heathen darkness, from sin and all its terrible consequences. “Salvation” to holiness, love, life immortal, into the image of God, and to the vision of God. “Salvation” for all the world as opposed
(1) To the restrictions of Judaism. “Go ye into all the world,” (Mar_16:15-16). “God is no respecter of persons,” (Act_10:34-35).
(2) To the limitations of human creeds. Our narrow systems of theology cannot restrict the fulness of the grace of God. The river of the water of life refuses to be pent in the limited channels which men have scooped out for it. It flows in streams broad and deep, for the life and refreshment of all men. Salvation is free for all men. “Ho, every one that thirsteth,” (Isa_55:1-2). “Whosoever believeth,” “The Spirit and the Bride say, Come,” (Rev_22:17). In the glorious day approaching, the freedom and universality of salvation will be recognized,

3. He is the King of all the world. “Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth,”  ‘Jehovah is King,’ lit. ‘hath become King,’ hath taken to Himself His great power and reigned.”
“He shall reign from pole to pole
With illimitable sway.”
Under His reign the earth will become calm and stable. Agitated and shaken by the sins and strife of men, it shall become peaceful and orderly under the sway of Jehovah. In the joyous day of which our Poet sings, the reign of the Lord shall be proclaimed in all the world, recognized in all the world, and its blessings enjoyed in all the world.

4. He is the Judge of all the world. “He shall judge the people righteously. He cometh, He cometh to judge the earth,” Judging is probably used here for ruling. Two prominent features of the Divine rule and judgment are here specified--
(1) Righteousness. The laws of His kingdom and their administration harmonize with eternal truth and equity.
(2) Faithfulness. His administration will accord with the truth of His own character, and the declarations of His will. “It is a judgment which is to issue in salvation.” “It is not a retributive, but a gracious judging, by which controversies are adjusted and prevented, and the law of love is introduced into the lives of the people.” In the world’s most joyous day the Lord will be heartily recognised as the gracious Ruler and Judge of all men.

II. A day when the relations of the Lord to the world shall be duly celebrated. In the day portrayed by the Psalmist the gracious relations of Jehovah to all men will not only be understood, but appreciated and praised.

1. He will be universally worshipped. “All the earth” shall sing unto Him. “All flesh shall come to worship before Me, saith the Lord.” “From the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, My name shall be great among the Gentiles,” (Mal_1:11). “As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”

2. He will be enthusiastically worshipped. Three times the Poet calls upon the people to “Sing unto the Lord,” and three times to “Give unto the Lord glory,” The repetition indicates urgency and zeal. The whole soul of the Poet is in the exhortation. In the grand coronation day the Lord the King shall be worshipped with entire heartiness, and with intense  enthusiasm.

3. He will be joyously worshipped. “O sing unto the Lord a new song," The “new song” is “one which shall be the fit expression of all the thoughts and hopes and triumphs of the new and glorious age which is about to dawn. It is the glad welcome given to the King when He enters His kingdom.” So great is the joy of the world that even the inanimate creation is represented as sharing in it. “Let the heavens rejoice,” (Psa_96:11-12). “With the coming of Jehovah and the setting up of His kingdom, all the broken harmonies of creation shall be restored. Not ‘the sons of God’ only, but the whole creation, is still looking forward to the great consummation (Rom_8:21).”—Perowne.
​
4. He will be reverently worshipped. “O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, fear before Him, all the earth.” “ ‘Bow yourselves before Jehovah in holy pomp, tremble before Him all the earth.’ ‘Pomp,’ or ‘array,’ but the word denotes all that lent solemnity and impressiveness to the service.”—Perowne. In the glorious day which the Psalmist foresaw, the Lord will be worshipped with all that is expressive of admiration and veneration. There will be nothing unbecoming in the worship offered unto Him. All the earth will approach and pay homage to Him in the beauty of pure, loving, adoring spirits."

CONCLUSION.—1. Here is a word of Exhortation. For the advent of this most joyous day for the world, let us be untiring both in work and in prayer. 2. Here is a word of Inspiration. This bright day will surely dawn. The world advances not to the darkness of night, but to the splendors of a glorious and unfading noontide. Therefore, take heart, ye faithful watchers, and brave workers, and earnest suppliants. The cause to which you are devoted must triumph. The mountain tops are already bathed in glory; and soon the whole world will be flooded with radiance, and breakforth into the tremendous and exultant shout, “Hallelujah, the Lord reigneth.”  [Preacher's Homiletical]

I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great
a God as our God? Psa 77:11-13
Treasury of David
Charles Haddon Spurgeon​

Psa 77:11-“I will remember the works of the Lord.” Fly back, my soul, away from present turmoil's, to the grandeurs of history, the sublime deeds of Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts; for he is the same and is ready even now to defend his servants as in the days of yore. “Surely I will remember thy wonders of old.” Whatever else may glide into oblivion, the marvelous works of the Lord in the ancient days must not be suffered to be forgotten. Memory is a fit handmaid for faith. When faith has its seven years of famine, memory like Joseph in Egypt opens her granaries.

Psa_77:12-“I will meditate also of all thy work.” Sweet work to enter into Jehovah's work of grace, and there to lie down and ruminate, every thought being absorbed in the one precious subject. “And talk of thy doings.” It is well that the overflow of the mouth should indicate the good matter which fills the heart. Meditation makes rich talking; it is to be lamented that so much of the conversation of professors is utterly barren, because they take no time for contemplation. A meditative man should be a talker, otherwise he is a mental miser, a mill which grinds corn only for the miller. The subject of our meditation should be choice, and then our talk will be edifying; if we meditate on folly and affect to speak wisdom, our double-mindedness will soon be known unto all men. Holy talk following upon meditation has a consoling power in it for ourselves as well as for those who listen, hence its value in the connection in which we find it in this passage.
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Psa_77:13-“Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary,” or in holiness. In the holy place we understand our God, and rest assured that all his ways are just and right. When we cannot trace his way, because it is “in the sea,” it is a rich consolation that we can trust it, for it is in holiness. We must have fellowship with holiness if we would understand “the ways of God to man.” He who would be wise must worship. The pure in heart shall see God, and pure worship is the way to the philosophy of providence. “Who is so great a God as our God?” In him the good and the great are blended, He surpasses in both. None can for a moment be compared with the mighty One of Israel.

​"In mere apprehension, whether through reading or hearing, there is little or no profit. The profit begins when that which is apprehended is so pondered as to become part and parcel of the man’s inner nature. A man may run through a picture gallery so as to see every painting it contains, and to derive from the sight a certain amount of pleasure; but he alone profits by such an exhibition who pauses and studies each worthy work of art, and gathers ideas from it which enrich his mind, or learn lessons from it which refine his taste. “It is the settling of milk,” says an old writer, “that makes it turn to cream,” and it is the settling of truth in the mind that makes it turn to spiritual nutriment." (W. L. Alexander.)

​It is the Proper Occupation of the Mind
2. Our character in the sight of God depends on the character of our thoughts.
3. Meditation is essential to the success of God’s Word.
Subjects for Meditation
1. God’s existence and attributes.
2. His works.
3. His claims. Their comprehensiveness, their spirituality, their perpetual obligation.
Our guilt in neglecting them.
4. Your future.

"Go back to the past. Consider the manner in which God has stood by His saints in the days of old, in the years of ancient time. What He did for them He is prepared to do again. He cannot cast us off. When once He begins He will continue. The train may be lost in a dark tunnel, but it will shoot out again into the radiant daylight. Through the hard Wilderness God led His people into the land of milk and honey. It is thy infirmity that leads thee to doubt Him. Like John the Baptist, you may be enclosed in a dungeon-cell of adverse circumstances, but remember the long years in which the right hand of the Most High has wrought for His people.
Compare Psa_77:13 and Psa_77:19. God’s way is in the sea-it is impossible to track His footsteps-but it is also in the sanctuary! In other words, however perplexing His providences may appear, they are governed by His redeeming love for His own, and are consistent with His perfect holiness. His ways may be veiled in mystery, but He leads His people as the shepherd His flock. Do not look down at your path, but up into His face."    [F.B. Meyer]

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Php 2:9-11
The Exaltation of Christ

There are eternal meditations, and truths regarding the resurrected Christ, which are inexhaustible. Some that will be listed here, will give the reader some examples to begin with, that can lead to off-branches of many more.

I. Was a divine act.—“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him” Php_2:9). As a recognition of the humiliation and obedience of Christ, God exalted Him to the throne of mediatorial sovereignty. As Bengel puts it, “Christ emptied Christ; God exalted Christ as man to equality with God” (Compare Psa_8:5-6; Psa_110:1; Psa_110:7; Mat_28:18; Luk_24:26; Joh_5:27; Joh_10:17; Rom_14:9; Eph_1:20-22; Heb_2:9).

II. Was the acquisition of a name of pre-eminent dignity and significance.—“And given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus” (Php_2:9-10). Jesus is the same as Joshua, or Jehoshua, only framed to the Greek pronunciation and termination. Joshua, who brought the hosts of Israel into the rest of Canaan, was originally called Hoshea, but it was changed into Joshua or Jehoshua, by an addition of the first syllable in the divine name Jehovah, perhaps to intimate that not Joshua of himself, but Jehovah by him, would complete the deliverance and rest of Israel. The name Jesus means Jehovah-Saviour, or Jehovah-Salvation, and Jesus is so called because He saves His people from their sins. The name cannot be given to any other being; it belongs solely and absolutely to the one Jesus. “Here we should probably look,” says Lightfoot, “to a common Hebrew sense of name, not meaning a definite appellation, but denoting office, rank, dignity. In this case the use of the name of God in the Old Testament to denote the divine Presence or the divine Majesty, more especially as the object of adoration and praise, will suggest the true meaning; since the context dwells on the honour and worship henceforth offered to Him on whom the name has been conferred. To praise the name, to bless the name, to fear the name of God, are frequent expressions in the Old Testament.” The name of Jesus marks the pre-eminence of Jesus—it is the “name above every name.” That name wields the mightiest power in the world to-day. A modern writer of reputation has said: “There is a wave—I believe it is only a wave—passing over the cultivated thought of Europe at present, which will make short work of all belief in a God that does not grip fast to Jesus Christ. As far as I can read the signs of the times and the tendency of modern thinking, it is this—either an absolute silence, a heaven stretching above us, blue and clear and cold, and far away and dumb; or else a Christ that speaks—He or none. The theism that has shaken itself loose from Him will be crushed, I am sure, in the encounter with the agnosticism and materialism of this day.” The name of the exalted Jesus is the salvation of the world in more senses than one.

III. Entitles him to universal homage.—“Every knee shall bow … and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Php_2:10-11). Beings above, below, and on the earth shall acknowledge the supremacy and deity of Jesus, and unite in a universal and consentaneous act of praise and worship of His divine majesty. On the door of the old mosque in Damascus, once a Christian church, but now ranked among the holiest of the Mahometan sanctuaries, are inscribed these remarkable words: “Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.” For more than twelve hundred years the inscription has remained unimpaired by time and undisturbed by man. What is it waiting for? Already a Christian Church has been founded in that ancient city, and the gospel is preached there every Sabbath. The world’s submission to Jesus is drawing near.

Lessons.—The name of Jesus—1. Is unique in its reputation. 2. In its moral influence among the nations. 3. In its saving power. 4. In the homage Paid to it.

GOING ON FURTHER-GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES:

Php_2:9-11. The Name of Jesus: its Exaltation and Power.
I. The Savior’s exaltation (Php_2:9).—He was exalted by His resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven, and His glorious session at the right hand of God, whence He now discharges the high functions of Prophet, Priest, and King.
II. The Savior’s name.—“That at the name of Jesus” (Php_2:10). Jehovah, the Savior. 1. The supreme eminence of the name.—“A name which is above every name.” 2. Pre-eminent because no other being could receive the title. 3. Pre-eminent because there is no other name that has the mysterious virtue of saving as this.
III. The power of the Savior’s name.—1. In saving the sinner. 2. In commanding the homage and worship of all, and in eliciting the universal acknowledgment of His deity (Php_2:10-11).
We learn a lesson of humility.—1. Because Christ humbled Himself for us. 2. We should humble ourselves on account of past sins. 3. Humility leads to exaltation.

Christ Worthy of Universal Homage.—1. The Lord Christ, having abased Himself for our redemption, was exalted by the Father to the highest pitch of glory. 2. The name which is above every name is said to be given to Christ, because His divine majesty, before hid, was now manifested and the human nature so highly honored that that person who is man is true God, and is to be acknowledged as such. 3. However small a part of the world acknowledge Christ to be the Lord, His glory will grow till all reasonable creatures in heaven, earth, and hell subject themselves to Him, and the giving of divine honor to Him does in no way impair the glory of God the Father. [Fergusson]

​"In all Scripture-indeed, in all literature-there is no passage which combines such extraordinary extremes as this. The Apostle opens the golden compasses of his faith, placing one jeweled point on the throne of divine glory and the other at the edge of the pit, where the Cross stood; and then he asks us to measure the vast descent of the Son of God as He came down to help us. Mark the seven steps: He was in the form of God, that is, as much God as He was afterward a servant; being in the form of God… took the form of a servant. He was certainly the latter and equally so the former. He did not grasp at equality with God, for it was already His. He emptied Himself, that is, refused to avail Himself of the use of His divine attributes, that He might teach the meaning of absolute dependence on the Father. He obeyed as a servant the laws which had their source in Himself. He became man-a humble man, a dying man, a crucified man. He lay in the grave. But the meaning of His descent was that of His ascent, and to all His illustrious names is now added that of Jesus-Savior. This must be our model. This mind must be in us. In proportion as we become humbled and crucified, we, in our small measure, shall attain the power of blessing and saving men."  [F.B. Meyer]

In the former verses the Sun of Righteousness is eclipsed; here He shines forth in all His strength and splendor. The doctrine of Christ’s humiliation leads you to Mount Calvary; but this doctrine leads you to Mount Olivet. There you may see Christ standing at the bar; here you see Him sitting on the throne.

I. The doctrine of Christ’s exaltation.
1. It pleased God that He who humbled Himself should be “made higher than the heavens,” that He who appeared as a servant should now appear as the Lord of Glory.
The word “highly exalted” is emphatic and singular; His exaltation was super superlative. Jesus Christ in His resurrection was exalted; in His ascension “highly exalted;” in His sitting at the right hand of God “very highly exalted above all exaltation.” In His resurrection, He was exalted above the grave; in His ascension, above the earth; in His session, above the highest heavens. The steps of Christ’s exaltation answered the steps of His humiliation.

​(1) His incarnation is answerable to His resurrection, for by the first He was “manifest in the flesh” the Son of Man; by the second “declared to be the Son of God with power” (Rom_1:3-4).
(2) His poor, painful, and shameful life, and His painful and cursed death, is answerable to His ascension and sitting at the right hand of God. In the one He was disparaged, in the second honoured. In the disparagement He was lower than the angels; in the honour, far above them (Heb_1:5-13; Eph_1:20-22).
(3) His coming to judge the world answers His being judged by the world. The former is the completion of His exaltation as the latter was of His degradation (Isa_53:1-12; Joh_5:22-23). Jesus by His resurrection overcame His enemies (Heb_2:14); by His ascension triumphed over them (Corinthians 2:15); by His Judgeship He tries and condemns them. For the further demonstration of His exaltation note--

2. That God hath given Him a name that is above every name.
(1) What is to be understood by this name—the power, dignity, and authority with which Christ was invested.
(a) Sometimes name is put for glory and renown (Gen_6:4; 1Ch_5:24, Hebrews); thus Christ is invested with the glory of the only begotten of the Father
(b) for the power and sovereignty by which Christ is King of nations and of saints (Joh_10:25; Act_3:6; Act_4:7). Of this He spake at the ascension (Mat_28:18). And the glory of Christ’s name is such that shall be celebrated through all ages (Luk_2:10-14; Heb_1:6; Rev_5:12).

(2) How hath Christ obtained a name above every name. This name is a demonstration of Christ’s super-exaltation, and notes four things.
(a) That Jesus should be the only Saviour of the world (Act_4:11-12).
(b) In that He is exalted to sit at the right hand of God, which is a name or honour angels never had (Heb_1:3-4; Heb_1:13).
(c) Because it is through this name that the name of God becomes a comfort to us. The attributes of God are the “name of God.” To a Christless sinner all the attributes of God are against Him: wisdom (Jer_17:10; 1Jn_3:20); holiness (Hab_1:13); justice; omnipotence. But the name of Christ makes the name of God a sanctuary (Pro_18:10), and a comfort: wisdom (Psa_73:24; Mat_6:32); holiness (1Co_1:10); justice (Rom_3:25-26; Rom_8:1); omnipotence (Rom_8:31).
(d) Because His name should be most precious and powerful in His Church through all generations (Mat_18:20; Joh_14:13; 1Co_5:4; Mat_28:19).

(3) How are we to understand that God hath given Him a name? As Mediator; for so only was He capable of exaltation. Not as God, for that cannot be, nor in the sense of the manifestation of His glory, for the sun is not exalted when the cloud is removed; nor as mere man, for humanity is incapable of such exaltation and worship; but as God-man.

3. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.
(1) What is meant by bowing the knee. Some understand this literally, but if “name” stands for power then kneeling must mean submission (Gen_41:43; Joh_5:22-23).
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(2) Who shall bow?
(a) All knees in heaven voluntarily.
(i) The good angels who always obeyed and honored Christ (Dan_9:24-25; Luk_1:30-31; Luk_2:13-14; Mat_2:13; Mat_4:11; Luk_22:43; Mat_28:6; Act_1:11; Heb_1:6; Mat_25:31). All this service was performed unto Christ, not only as Creator (Col_1:16), but as Governor (Col_2:10; Eph_1:21-22).
(ii) The spirits of just men made perfect (Rev_5:9-10; Rev_4:8; Rev_4:10).
(b) On earth
(i) good men willingly (Psa_110:3). By nature they are children of disobedience (Col_3:6-7; Col_3:1; Col_3:21; Rom_8:7). But the grace of God removes that “iron sinew” (Isa_48:4).
(ii) Evil men under compulsion; because they do not willingly bear Christ’s yoke they shall become His footstool (Psa_110:1).
(c) In hell (Luk_10:17; Luk_8:28-32; Jas_2:19; Col_2:15; Heb_2:14).

4. That every tongue shall confess.
(1) What is meant by every tongue? Not simply every nation but every person.
(2) What is meant by Jesus is Lord? (1Co_2:8).
(a) As Creator (1Co_8:6; Rom_11:36).
(b) As Son of God (Heb_1:2-4).
(c) As such He is a Lord to command us and to save us.
(3) As every knee must bow to Christ’s dominion so every tongue must confess Him Lord.
(a) Devils and wicked men (Rev_6:14).
(b) Saints and angels (Rev_5:12-13).

II. The end of Christ’s exaltation. As God had no motive without Himself, so He had no end beyond Himself in giving Christ (Eph_1:6). For this Christ prayed (Joh_12:28).

III. Application.
1. Use of information. As Christ first suffered and entered into His glory (Luk_24:26), even so must we (Act_14:22; 2Ti_2:11).
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2. Use of exhortation. Is Christ exalted? Then let us, our tongues, knees, hearts, lives, acknowledge Him to be our Lord.
(1) What Jews, Pilate, and Herod did in scorn, let us do in sincerity.
(2) Let us take heed that we do not violate our allegiance to Him (Exo_5:2; Psa_12:4 : Luk_19:27).
(a) Christ is only a Saviour to those who submit to Him (Heb_5:9; Tit_2:11-12.
(b) Every knee must one day bow to Him.
(c) The sins of Christians are far greater than those of the Jews against Christ who sinned against Him in His state of humiliation (Heb_6:6). They did it in ignorance (Act_3:17; 1Co_2:1).
(d) Christ at last will be too hard for the hardest-hearted sinner.

3. Use of comfort to believers.
(1) Is Christ exalted? then we may comfortably believe that He hath perfectly satisfied God’s justice for us.
(2) Christ though exalted is still mindful of us (Heb_2:15-18).
(3) Christ is exalted to heaven, and so shall all believers be in due time (Joh_17:24; Col_3:4). (W. Taylor, A. B.)

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow:
I. To what period does the assertion refer.
1. Not the present, which would not be the fact, and besides the text is a prophecy. Many objects are now worshipped: riches, pleasure, etc.
2. At the judgment, when every usurper will be dethroned, and every rebel crushed.

II. The persons alluded to.
1. His willing and devoted servants.
2. Others will bow unwillingly.

III. The consequences of this event. Jesus will reign with undisputed sway.
1. Sin will be banished from His dominions.
2. There will be no more contention.
3. There will be no more weakness or sorrow.
4. There will be no more fear of death. (W. H. Davison.)

The supremacy of Christ:
I. Is universal.
1. In heaven and on earth.
2. In the control of providence and grace.
3. In the administration of mercy and judgment.
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II. Must be universally acknowledged.
1. By His enemies as by His friends.
2. To this end He is exalted at the right hand of God.

III. Secures the glory of God.
1. In the accomplishment of His purpose.
2. The revelation of His character.
3. The completion of His kingdom. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Christ’s claims:
I. The claims of Christ upon our faith; submission; obedience; love.
II. His power to enforce them. He is exalted; as Lord of all.
III. The certainty of their final acknowledgment. Every knee shall bow, etc.; to the glory of God the Father. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

And things under the earth - Beings under the earth. The whole universe shall confess that he is Lord. This embraces, doubtless, those who have departed from this life, and perhaps includes also fallen angels. The meaning is, that riley shall all acknowledge him as universal Lord; all how to his sovereign will; all be subject to his control; all recognize him as divine. The fallen and the lost will do this; for they will be constrained to yield an unwilling homage to him by submitting to the sentence from his lips that shall consign them to woe; and thus the whole universe shall acknowledge the exalted dignity of the Son of God. But this does not mean that they will all be saved, for the guilty and the lost may be compelled to acknowledge his power, and submit to his decree as the sovereign of the universe. There is the free and cheerful homage of the heart which they who worship him in heaven will render; and there is the constrained homage which they must yield who are compelled to acknowledge his authority.
[Albert Barnes]

The triumphs of Christ:
"Before many a Popish shrine on the continent one sees exhibited a great variety of crutches, together with wax models of arms, legs, and other limbs. These are supposed to represent the cures wrought by devotion at that altar; the memorials of the healing power of the saint. Poor miserable superstition all of it, and yet what a reminder to the believer in Jesus as to his duty and his privilege! Having pleaded at the feet of Jesus, we have found salvation; have we remembered to record this wonder of His hand? If we hung up memorials of all His matchless grace, what crutches, and bandages, and trophies of every sort should we pile together!" (C. H. Spurgeon.)

​"Wherefore - Because of his voluntary humiliation and obedience. He humbled himself; but God hath exalted him - So recompensing his humiliation. And hath given him - So recompensing his emptying himself. A name which is above every name - Dignity and majesty superior to every creature.
​That every knee - That divine honor might be paid in every possible manner by every creature. Might bow - Either with love or trembling. Of those in heaven, earth, under the earth - That is, through the whole universe."   [John Wesley]

And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings
and prayers night and day.  Luke 2:36-37

Focused on Eternity

Our text presents us with the picture of a lonely woman, old, and a widow. Could a less attractive subject be chosen? There is something interesting in a young widow; but who cares to look at an old one, whose charms have long since faded, whose eyes are dim, whose hair is white, whose face is wrinkled, and whose hands are tremulous? But there is a beauty that does not depend upon youth, a loveliness that wears well, and cannot be washed out even by tears, a charm that comes in answer to the prayer, “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,” Of this beauty Anna, the prophetess, had a full share; and the story of her life, briefly as it is told, is not devoid of interest. Anna, “the gracious,” as her name signifies, was the daughter of Phanuel, evidently a man who lived as one who saw the face of God. While still very young the maiden was wedded, and for seven happy years youth and love filled her heart with gladness. But at the end of that time the shadow of death passed over the Jewish home and hid the light, and stilled the song, and filled the house with mourning. What was she to do, that young widow with her life before her? She had surely some excuse for joining that innumerable company of disappointed women who talk of blighted lives, and are themselves a blight upon everything that comes near them. But she let “the useful trouble” of her life soften and sanctify her. She put her trust in the God of Israel, and received with meekness the chastening of His hand. She took herself and her sorrow to the Temple. And there a new longing and a new love took possession of her; for were they not all looking for the Messiah, and might not the time of His coming be near? She would consecrate herself to God and to His service in the Temple. Other women could not do it; the sweet clamour of the children, and the wishes of their husbands kept them at home; but she would have her pleasures too, and the joy of the Lord should be her strength. And so the young widow took her place, and day by day, and year by year, returned to it. The sun touched Olivet with golden beams and left it again in shadow more times than she could count. The fig trees blossomed and shed their fruit, the valleys drank up the early and the latter rain, the tender grapes became ripe and were gathered, the corn showed first the green blade, and then the full ears; the feasts came round with their joyous assemblings; and, year after year, Anna was in the Temple, neither wretched nor useless. God gave to her the gift of prophecy. She saw what some eyes could not see, and she had power to utter the Divine revelations which were made to her. Complacently and tranquilly she saw the years pass away until eighty-four had seamed her face, and bent her form. But He whom she had served with such fidelity and devotion had a wonderful joy in reserve for her yet. Coming into the Temple one day, as usual, she heard an unusual sound. Simeon, with tremulous voice, was singing that new song, which has been continued by the Church ever since. In his arms he held the Child Jesus; and, seeing Him, what could Anna do but take up the strain of thanksgiving, and pour out her soul in praise? And then she found that, after all, her work was not over. She had known what it was to wait long, and others were waiting still. She could not keep the good news to herself. She became the first evangelist of His advent in the city of her King, and “spoke of Him to all them”. We are taught at least three things by the brief biography which Luke has written of Anna.

1. What is the best cure for loneliness?—Something to do, and the determination to do it.
2. What is woman’s work in the Church, and who are the women to do it? More and more every year it is coming to be understood that there are departments which women can excellently fill. There are thousands of devoted women scattered about in different parts of our country who, in quiet places, and by womanly methods, are doing an immense amount of good. More Annas to spend their days in God’s Temple, and speak a kindly word to those who are in darkness: women who have a ready hand to take up any duty which would not otherwise be done—these are the women that are needed. But it is lonely women especially who are called to Christ’s work. The work goes on unseen by the world, but, carefully observed by angels, and the Omniscient God, who records all, nothing is overlooked.
3. God will most richly reward the services of the faithful. No one knows exactly what the reward will be, for He delights to give us surprises of joy. (Marianne Farningham)

It's certainly expected that she was dutiful in assisting in the upkeep and maintaining cleanliness within the temple, but, her main functions of employment were:
Fastings and prayers - Constant religious service. pending her time in prayer, and in all the ordinances of religion.
Night and day - Continually - that is, at the usual times of public worship and in private. When it is said that she departed not from the temple, it is meant that she was “constant” and “regular” in all the public services at the temple, or was never absent from those services. God blesses those who wait at his temple gates.
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Note: As a watchman, in the same service for 40+ years, I can say assuredly, that the more she engrossed herself in this employment, the deeper, and more intense the fellowship, and dialogue between her and God became. I can only surmise the depth of her walk with the Lord-I look forward to meeting her one day in heaven, and letting her share some of the ways He revealed Himself to her, during those years.

Let me recommend to all persons advanced in life her spirit of holy abstraction—an abstraction, not from duty, but from the sins, and cares, and vanities of the world. It is difficult to conceive a more unbecoming, or more pitiable object, than a person, whether male or female, far advanced in years, but still engrossed with the trifles of time. It will not be supposed that it is meant to say that aged believers should not be truly happy and cheerful; but very different is the joy of God from the gaiety of the world; very different is the rational and devout placidity from the unreflecting and ill-timed mirth. The vain attempt to go on as formerly, in defiance of the ravages of time, and the failing of nature; the affectation of the dress, manners, and enjoyments of youth, in the midst of the infirmities of age; the haunt of giddy amusement resorted to with feeble and tottering steps; the wreathy garland on the withered brow; the world still predominant at threescore and ten, or fourscore; the heart barricaded against the admission of serious thoughts, and full of the things of sense, when a very short space of time must shut the scene, and dispel every dream, and fix the destiny for ever’;—alas! alas! let who will admire this and call it pleasant, every wise man must feel disposed to exclaim, How incongruous, how absurd, how melancholy, how sinful. But an aged Christian, justly estimating the circumstances in which he is placed, contented, thankful, grave, pious, and consistent—how becoming, how engaging, and how venerable! A very little reflection, too, must suffice to show the impropriety of the aged spending the small remainder of their time in unprofitable amusements, and also the impropriety of others encouraging them to do so. If it be so that some who are far advanced into the vale of tears, spend some hours of almost every lawful clay in any such manner as merely kills the time, it is truly to be much lamented. If indeed their mind be in such a state of dotage as to unfit them for anything useful, there may be some excuse for the habit; but it must be criminal and very hurtful, as long as they are in possession of ability to distinguish right from wrong, and to make any preparation for the unseen world on which they are verging. Far other employments ought to engage them. It was not thus that aged Anna sought her amusement and solace. Let the aged get interested, deeply interested, about the things of God, and they will not then stand in need of any expedients which are, to say the least, of doubtful propriety. Let them, like Anna, as far as strength permits, regularly and devoutly frequent the temple of God. Let them be much in religious exercises at home. Let them speak to others on the subject of religion. Let their lips, which must soon be closed, speak for Christ while they can. Advices from persons of their experience may be well taken, when those from persons of less standing may be despised. Let them study in all things to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour, that their hoary heads may be crowns of glory, being found in the way of righteousness. Thus, that God who hath taught, guided, and blessed them from their youth, will not forsake them when they are old; they shall safely and happily come to their grave in their full age, like a shock of corn in its season. (James Foote, M. A.)

CONCLUSION:
PIETY IN THE AGED FURNISHES A BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATION OF THE MATURITY AND RIPENESS OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. Concluding inferences:
1. We should imitate the pious aged.
2. How thankful should the children of pious and aged parents be.
3. The departure of aged Christians from our midst reminds us who remain that the ranks before us are thinning out, and that we are pressing up to the forefront of the line. We should see to it, then, that we have their piety, and can honor their place. (Preachers’ Treasury)