a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones, to be feared above all those who are around him?
Parallel Translations
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a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones, to be feared above all those who are around him?
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God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.
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(89-8) A God dreaded in the great council of the holy ones, and feared of all them that are about Him?
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to Psalms 89:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 47:2 For Yahweh Most High is awesome. He is a great King over all the earth.
- Psalms 76:7-11 You, even you, are to be feared. Who can stand in your sight when you are angry? You pronounced judgment from heaven. The earth feared, and was silent, when God arose to judgment, to save all the afflicted ones of the earth. Surely the wrath of man praises you. The survivors of your wrath are restrained. Make vows to Yahweh your God, and fulfill them! Let all of his neighbors bring presents to him who is to be feared.
- Hebrews 12:28-29 Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that can’t be shaken, let’s have grace, through which we serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
- Jeremiah 10:7 Who shouldn’t fear you, King of the nations? For it belongs to you. Because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is no one like you.
- Isaiah 6:2-7 Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew. One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!” The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. He touched my mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.”
- Jeremiah 10:10 But Yahweh is the true God. He is the living God, and an everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth trembles. The nations aren’t able to withstand his indignation.
- Matthew 10:28 Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
- Luke 12:4-5 “I tell you, my friends, don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom you should fear. Fear him who after he has killed, has power to cast into Gehenna. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
- Acts 5:11 Great fear came on the whole assembly, and on all who heard these things.
- Revelation 15:3-4 They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God, the Almighty! Righteous and true are your ways, you King of the nations. Who wouldn’t fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you only are holy. For all the nations will come and worship before you. For your righteous acts have been revealed.”
- Leviticus 10:3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what Yahweh spoke of, saying, ‘I will show myself holy to those who come near me, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ ” Aaron held his peace.
- Isaiah 66:2 For my hand has made all these things, and so all these things came to be,” says Yahweh: “but I will look to this man, even to he who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain To the same effect is the following verse, in…
To the same effect is the following verse, in which it is affirmed, that God is very terrible in the assembly of the saints. In these words is censured that devilish superstition, to which almost all men are prone, of exalting angels beyond measure, and without reason. But if the angels themselves tremble, and are afraid before the Divine Majesty, why should they not be regarded as subjects, and kept in their own rank, that God alone may have the sovereignty entirely to himself? Farther, when they are represented as around God, the meaning is, that they surround his royal throne like body-guards, and are always ready to execute his behests. In the subsequent verse the same thing is repeated yet again, Who is a strong God as thou art? and this is done, that at least the fear of the Divine Majesty may teach us to beware of robbing him of the honor which belongs to him. That we may not, however, by too much fear, be prevented from approaching him, some portion of sweetness is intermingled with this description, when it is declared, that his truth is to be seen round about him on all sides; by which we are to understand, that God is always steadfast in his promises, and that whatever changes may happen, he nevertheless continues invariably true, both before and behind, on the right hand and on the left.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain If the Angels tremble before God’s majesty and infinite…
If the Angels tremble before God’s majesty and infinite justice, what earthly creature by oppressing the Church, dare set himself against God?
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 89:7 God is greatly to be feared in…
Psa 89:7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all [them that are] about him.
Ver. 7. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly, &c.] Heb. Daunting terrible in the secret of the saints very much. The holy angels make their addresses unto him with greatest reverence and self-abasement; for they know that he humbleth himself to behold things in heaven, Psa 113:4-6. How much more, then, should we set ourselves to serve him with reverence and godly fear, since our God is a consuming fire! Heb 12:28-29.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain God is greatly to be feared; with a fear…
God is greatly to be feared; with a fear of reverence; for dread and terror have no place in those blessed mansions and holy spirits.
In the assembly of the saints; to the whole society of angels, called saints, as Psa 89:5.
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Them that are about him; the angels, which are always in his presence, and encompass his throne.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain O Lord God of hosts,.... Of all the hosts…
O Lord God of hosts,.... Of all the hosts of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, and of all the heavenly hosts of angels, of all the armies in heaven, and the inhabitants of the earth:
who is a strong Lord like unto thee? he is Jah, or Jehovah, and he alone is so, and is the most High in all the earth, Psa 83:18 and there is none like him for his great power and strength, by which he has made the heavens and the earth, and upholds them in their being; and by which he has redeemed his people, plucked them out of the hands of sin and Satan, and preserves them safe to his kingdom and glory: see Job 40:9,
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or to thy faithfulness round about thee; none so faithful as the Lord, none to be trusted as he, either angels or men; some understand it of the faithful ones that are about him, his trusty servants the angels, who stand round about him ready to do his will; or the glorified saints that are with him, the called, chosen, and faithful; see Psa 103:19 or rather the words are to be read, "and thy faithfulness is round about thee"; and so the Targum,
"and thy truth (or faithfulness) surroundeth thee:''
look all around him, and his faithfulness is everywhere to be seen; to himself, and the perfections of his nature; to his Son, and agreements with him; and to his counsels of old, his purposes and decrees, and to his covenant and promises: he is as it were clothed with faithfulness, and it appears in all the dispensations of his providence and grace.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Feared - With a fear of reverence. Saints -…
Feared - With a fear of reverence. Saints - The whole society of angels. All that - That encompass his throne.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 7. God is greatly to be feared] In…
Verse 7. God is greatly to be feared] In all religious assemblies the deepest reverence for God should rest upon the people. Where this does not prevail, there is no true worship. While some come with a proper Scriptural boldness to the throne of grace, there are others who come into the presence of God with a reprehensible, if not sinful, boldness.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain God is greatly to be feared - There is…
God is greatly to be feared - There is that in him which is suited to fill the mind with solemn feelings, and this is a proper state of mind with which to come before him. Nature teaches us that God should be approached with awe; and all the teachings of revelation confirm this. His power is to be feared; his justice is to be feared; his holiness is to be feared; and there is much also in his goodness, his benevolence, his mercy, to fill the mind with solemn emotions.
In the assembly of the saints - The assembly of the holy; the assembly that is convened for his worship. The reference here may be either to worshippers on earth or in heaven. Wherever, and whenever, in this world or in other worlds, creatures are engaged in the worship of God, there should be deep solemnity and reverence. On the word rendered “assembly” here - סוד sôd - a council, or assemblage for counsel, see Psa 25:14, note; Psa 64:2, note; compare Job 15:8. The idea here is founded on what is said in the previous verse, that none can be compared with God.
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And to be had in reverence - In fear; in awe.
Of all them that are about him - That approach him; that are in his presence. The conscious presence of God should fill the mind with awe. When we feel that his eye is upon us, when we know that he sees us, how can we trifle and be thoughtless? How can we then be sinful?
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 7. Assembly of the saints—The council of his holy…
7. Assembly of the saints—The council of his holy ones. The idea is, that those who are admitted as a privy council to the most intimate knowledge of the divine purposes are those who reverence him most.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (7) It is better to take this verse in…
(7) It is better to take this verse in apposition with the foregoing:
“God sublime in the council of the holy ones,
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And terrible among those surrounding him.”
For a picture of the court of heaven see Job_1:6.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain God is greatly to be feared in the assembly…
God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints; rather, in the council of the holy ones (see the Revised Version). And to be had in reverence of all them that are about him; or, above all them, etc.
The fear of God.
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"God is greatly to be feared," etc. True religion contains three indispensable elements right beliefs concerning God; right feelings; right conduct. If either be deficient, our religion will be proportionately injured or worthless. Religion without faith is impossible. Religion without morality is a mockery. Religion without feeling is lifeless and powerless. Preaching commonly deals more with faith and duty than with feelingi.e. , affection, desire, emotion for two reasons:
(1) Faith and duty supply the motives to feeling; faith works by love.
(2) If we concentrate too much attention on our feelings, and cultivate them for their own sake, they grow morbid or exaggerated.
Yet this vast region of Christian experience is far too important to be left unexplored, uncultivated. The affection referred to here is often spoken of in Scripture as synonymous with true religionthe fear of God. Consider
(1) its nature;
(2) its motives.
I ITS NATURE.
1. It is not terror; the fear which "hath torment," which "perfect love casteth out". (1Jn_4:18) Terror would drive us from God; the fear the Bible teaches begets trust, and draws us near to him. (Psa_115:11 Psa_22:23 Psa_25:14, etc.) Ungodly men, in the presence of sudden danger or impending death, often pass in a moment from impious carelessness or defiant blasphemy to abject terror; but there is no more religion in the latter than in the former.
2. It is not a passing feeling, but a permanent habit of mind. It is central and fundamental; for without it love, trust, gratitude, hope, obedience, would lack their truly religious character. Yet we cannot sum it up in any single, simple phrase. It is the temper which prompts and inspires worship. (Psa_95:6) It is awe of God"s greatness, reverence of his majesty. It is reverence for his authority, prompting obedience to his Law, submission to his will. It is sensitiveness to his praise and blame, making the thought of displeasing him intolerable. There is in it ever some mingling of that sort of terror with which we contemplate tremendous power or awful danger, though in safety; the precipice over which we nearly fell; the avalanche that swept by without touching us; the storm in which our frail boat would have been wrecked had we not come ashore in time. (Luk_12:5)
II ITS MOTIVES.
1. The revelation of God"s omnipotence, omnipresence, infinite wisdom, eternal being in the vastness, order, variety, unity, of the universe. (Psa_8:3, Psa_8:4)
2. Our personal relation as creatures to our Creator. (Act_17:28) By "saints" ("holy ones") angels may here be meant; they share with us this awful, incomprehensible, ineffably intimate relation to God.
3. God"s holiness, in itself and in contrast with our selfishness. (comp. Exo_3:5)
4. God"s goodness and mercy. (see Hos_3:5, where Revised Version is a paraphrase, Authorized Version more literal; Jer_33:9) Our Saviour"s presence, gracious as it was, inspired intense awe. (Luk_5:8)
In former times, harsh and terrible views of God were often preached, out of all harmony with not only New Testament, but Old Testament teaching. (1Jn_4:8 Exo_34:6) At present an exaggerated reaction tends to thrust out of view the awe-inspiring teaching of both Law and gospel as to the evil of sin and its penalties, and to lose sight, in curious speculation about the nature and duration of future punishment, of the two most important facts its certainty, and its righteous severity. (Rom_1:18 Rom_2:4 Rom_2:12)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 7. God is greatly to be feared in…
Ver. 7. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints. The holiest tremble in the presence of the thrice Holy One: their familiarity is seasoned with the profoundest awe. Perfect love casts out the fear which hath torment, and works in lieu thereof that other fear which is akin to joy unutterable. How reverent should our worship be! Where angels veil their faces, men should surely bow in lowliest fashion. Sin is akin to presumptuous boldness, but holiness is sister to holy fear. "And to be had in reverence of all them that are about him." The nearer they are the more they adore. If mere creatures are struck with awe, the courtiers and favourites of heaven must be yet more reverent in the presence of the Great King. God's children are those who most earnestly pray "hallowed be thy name." Irreverence is rebellion. Thoughts of the covenant of grace tend to create a deeper awe of God, they draw us closer to him, and the more his glories are seen by us in that nearer access, the more humbly we prostrate ourselves before his Majesty.
Ver. 7. God is greatly to be feared. Ainsworth reads, "God is daunting terrible." The original word is Uren, from Ure arats, he was broken, bruised, terrified. "An epithet of God", says Bythner, "as though breaking all things." Editorial Note to Calvin in loc.
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Ver. 7. God is greatly to be feared. The worship of God is to be performed with great fear and reverence: "God is greatly to be feared." Piscator translates it, Vehementer formidandus, to be vehemently feared; and opposes it to that formal, careless, trifling, vain spirit, which too often is found in those that approach the Lord in the duties of his worship. John Flavel.
Ver. 7. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints. Those saints of his who walk close with him, have a daunting power in their appearance. I appeal to guilty consciences, to apostates, to professors who have secret haunts of wickedness: sometime when you come but into the presence of one who is a truly gracious godly man or woman whom your conscience tells you walks close with God, doth not even the very sight of such an one terrify you? The very lustre of that holiness you see in such an one strikes upon your conscience. Then you think, such an one walks close with God indeed, but I have basely forsaken the Lord, and have had such a haunt of wickedness, I have brought dreadful guilt upon my soul since I saw him last. Ecclesiastical stories tell us of Basil, when the officers came to apprehend him, he being then exercised in holy duties, that there was such a majesty and lustre came from his countenance, that the officers fell down backward (as they did who came to apprehend Christ), they were not able to lay hold of him. Surely, when the saints shall be raised in their holiness, when every one of them shall have their hearts filled with holiness, it will cause abundance of fear even in all hearts of those that converse with them. Jeremiah Burrows.
Psalms 89:8*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain God is greatly to be feared in the assembly…
Psa_89:7
God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints.
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A model social gathering
Men meet in vast multitudes for pleasure, for counsel, and for worship. The text indicates a social gathering of the highest type.
I. The characters united in this gathering. The word saint means a sanctified or godly person.
II. The Divine presence in this gathering. God is in this assembly. All the members are about Him.
1. There is more of God seen in these assemblies than can be seen elsewhere on earth. There is more of God seen in the thoughts, emotions, and aspirations of the holy soul than the brilliant firmament can reveal.
2. There is more of God felt in these assemblies than can be felt elsewhere on earth.
III. The heavenly spirit pervading this gathering. God is great--great in kindness there, and they have reverent gratitude; He is great in glory there, and they have reverent adoration. (Homilist.)
On the fear of God
I. The reasons which render a great fear of God, in religious services, necessary and becoming.
1. The mysteriousness and un-searchableness of God, and of all those things which employ our mind in worship.
2. The infinite fulness of peculiar glory, which resides in the Divine Being.
3. His Majesty, as the Creator, Law-giver, and Judge of mankind.
4. The sublime majesty which appears in the character and procedure of God in the work of redemption.
(1) Its first projection in the sovereign counsels of God.
(2) The terrible events that have come to pass in subserviency to this work, and, as it were, to make room for its glory.
(3) How shall we think or speak of that unspeakable majesty, which beams forth from the Son of God, when we contemplate Him as descending into our low nature, and accomplishing the mysterious purchase of salvation!
(4) The awful majesty which attends the Spirits work in applying redemption to the souls of the elect.
II. The quality of this holy fear.
1. Our fear of God, in solemn approaches to Him, is not worthy to be called great fear until it begins almost to overwhelm the strength both of soul and body.
2. Those who fear God greatly are brought to a pressing sense of their need of shelter and support by a fresh and powerful application of Christ to their souls.
3. This great fear makes the soul exceedingly deliberate, cautious, and diligent in preparation for the more solemn seasons of communion with God.
4. This fear gives such an impulse to the soul as makes it break through all reluctance in the exercises of self-denial and the mortification of sin.
5. Where God is greatly feared there will be much regard to His sacred institutions, even in their minutest circumstances.
6. There will also be much coolness and indifference as to those outward circumstances in religious duties which engage the chief attention of carnal minds.
7. This great fear of God raises the soul above the cowardly fear of man, or of outward sufferings in the cause of Christ.
8. The greatness of this fear of God is manifested by an undaunted adherence to the people of God in the most hazardous times.
9. This great fear keeps a man at an awful distance from the pollutions of the world. Unhallowed pleasure, unjust gains, profane witticisms, are no better, in such a mans eyes, than a cup of sweetened poison.
10. The great degree of this holy fear is manifested by the vehement transports of joy, gratitude, and triumph which accompany a refreshing sense of the love of Christ.
Application:--
1. To those who are concerned and troubled in spirit, for their being destitute of the true fear of God.
(1) Beware of stifling your convictions, or suffering them to be blown out by others.
(2) Beware of resting in convictions, or of thinking yourselves safe, merely because you see the misery of your state.
(3) Use your utmost endeavour to put yourselves in the hands of Christ, unreservedly, that He may powerfully draw you to Himself, and bring you to the true fear of God.
(4) Do not conclude that your state is good till you find in yourselves a holy light, and a holy propensity of soul, leading you out to desire and to delight in the fear of God for its own sake (Neh_1:11).
2. To those who know experimentally what it is to fear God and to fear Him greatly.
(1) Glorify the distinguishing mercy of God. You might have been hardened, as others are.
(2) Beware of resting in your attainments and frames. These are precious effects of grace; but they are not your righteousness before God.
(3) Beware of losing what you have attained. Hold fast that which thou hast, etc.
(4) Press forward, after a higher perfection in the service of God. They who think themselves perfect are not, yet sincere.
(5) Strive for the conversion of others. Seek earnestly that the power and majesty of God may be more gloriously visible in His sanctuary and in the lives of professed Christians. (John Love, D.D.)
Reverence
Reverence is defined as that spiritual susceptibility of our nature by which we touch and realize the sacred in life. Comparing reverence with awe, there is the element of fear in both. Fear enters into reverence, and fear enters into awe. But there is this important difference: the fear in reverence is born of love. The child that reveres its father fears because it loves. But reverence has in it, respect as well as fear. A lad respects his mother, but you cannot respect a mountain or the sun. You can admire these. So that in awe there is admiration, while in reverence there is respect; and respect can only be moral in its nature and personal in its object. Now, what are those objects which alone can inspire true reverence, objects in which the age has too truly lost faith, and in the going of faith there has been the going of reverence?
1. There is the highest of all objects--God. But what has been the teaching of the age? The answer is Material Science. The age has produced vivisection (in the interests, of course, of science), and not, only physical but literary vivisection, and this has made for irreverence. The most sacred things in life are cut up on the dissecting-tables of our literature, such as marriage, chastity, woman, truth, the Sabbath. The result of all this is that the age has lost real faith in God--I mean such a faith as Oliver Cromwell had. Much of the faith which remains is half-hearted, unreal, and semi-atheistic or semi-agnostic.
2. From the Divine Being--the highest possible object--we come to the revelation of this Infinite Being contained in the Holy Scriptures. The only fitting reverence, according to the notion of too many people, is to put the Holy Book on a shelf by itself, and never to commit the sacrilege of opening its pages with unholy hands; and when the dust gathers thick on its covers, not to commit the sacrilege of removing the dust with so secular a thing as a duster. That is the way too many people show their reverence for this holy Book. Besides, in this generation there has grown up a great Biblical literature--i. e., a literature on the Bible, books of exposition and commentary and theology on the different books of the Bible, and the result is that even the student of the Bible is face to face with a great temptation--a temptation peculiar to our times--viz, of reading those books on the Bible, and neglecting to read the Bible itself. Furthermore, we no longer believe--to put, the matter extremely--that this Book dropped from the sky, as the Koran is said to have done. The spirit of the age has convinced us that it is the production of earth. Man, under Divine inspiration, was the penman; man as prophet, priest, psalmist, apostle; man in many places, at many times; man with his powers lifted to the highest--but, still man, exhibiting everywhere the human hand; man, real man, and not a mere machine. We have the treasure in an earthen vessel. Our day has brought out into bold relief the sarthenness or the earthiness of the vessel, that there is danger in us forgetting the treasure, or in making the treasure to be earthen too.
3. After the object of the Bible we come to the object of man. Man ought to inspire reverence in man. But our age is essentially democratic, and while we heartily believe in democracy, this spirit, nevertheless, has been making for irreverence. Democracy preaches the doctrine of the rights of man on the broad basis of manhood, irrespective of his place in society. And in transferring the emphasis from mere place, birth, station, belongings, rank to character, sterling worth, brains, service, wisdom, it has tended to destroy reverence based on the former things, and to create a reverence based on the latter things. But while the democratic spirit has been tending thus, teaching us that brain and heart, life and character, spirit and service, hitherto underrated perhaps, or even entirely neglected when not linked to social status, ought to be, wherever found, the object of our respect and homage, and that no man with a spark of self-respect should bemean himself to act the snob, and bow down to wealth and position for their sole sake, at the same time this democratic spirit has had an unhealthy tendency in many, unable to discriminate between man and man. You hear the phrase, Jack is as good as his master, and One man is as good as another. All this tends to the destruction of faith in man, and therefore of reverence to man. When faith in man disappears, reverence to him cannot continue. How can I reverence man if every man is on my own level? To reverence man I must be able to look up to him, and neither down upon him nor at him on my own level.
4. The fourth object is human nature, and this comes after that of man; and I ask, Is not the temper of the times cynical? What faith is there in disinterestedness? The question of Satan is constantly repeated, Does Job fear God for nought? The pure and disinterested motivity of Christian service is questioned. The cynical spirit is fatal to any faith in human nature. We cannot reverence that in which we have no faith. But we ought to reverence human nature, and therefore we ought to have faith in it. Degraded human nature may become--as it often has become--redeemed, sanctified human nature. No man is so low in the pit that he cannot be dug out. The worst we need not despair of. Disinterested goodness is a grand possibility to every man, as it is a blessed actuality to some. When we think of the great souls of the earth like Francis or Elizabeth Fry or John Howard, who readily renounced ease and comfort and refinement and civilized life, and even life itself, because they had a passionate love for Christ and for men, we are filled with a new respect for our nature, and a new hope for the world.
5. The last object I will mention as a legitimate source of reverence is the past. The mighty past ought to call forth in me the feeling of respect; not all the past, for much there was in the life of yesterday which we can only renounce and denounce in our life to-day. Still the roots of our life to-day are in the soil of yesterday. The present always has its roots in the past. Let us remember--
(1) That our day is not perfect. There is very much to deplore all round; there are dangerous tendencies in the air.
(2) What good there is in our life to-day has its roots in the life of yesterday. The knowledge that the life of our day is better than the life of yesterday ought not to rob us of respect for the day of our beginnings. But our real beginning is God. God is our source as well as our goal. Religion goes backward as well as forward. Behind us are the reformers, the fathers, the apostles, the prophets, the patriarchs, God. (P. McPhail.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 He is a God who is greatly honored in…
He is a God who is greatly honored in the council of the holy ones
This can be stated in active form. AT: "The council of the holy ones greatly honors God" (See: Active or Passive)
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the council of the holy ones
"the gathering of heavenly beings" or "the gathering of angels"
who is strong like you, Yahweh?
The writer asks the question to emphasize there is no one as strong as Yahweh. (See: Rhetorical Question)
Your truthfulness surrounds you
Yahweh always dong what he promises to do is spoken of as if his truthfulness were a cloak or garment that wraps around him. (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
God
honor
council
awe
Yahweh of hosts
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.