And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it.
The destroying angel
Lessons:
I. That idleness is the parent of sin. It was when David was living as king in ease at Jerusalem that he was tempted of Satan.
II. That one of the best remedies for woe is work. The angel of destruction stayed his steps at the threshing-floor of Ornan, even as the angel of salvation visited Gideon as he was threshing wheat.
III. That prayer, even at the eleventh hour, may be by God’s grace efficacious. When the sword was actually drawn in the hand of the destroyer it was kept from further execution when David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.
IV. That our gifts to God, as to men, should be bestowed in a generous spirit.
V. That we should not offer to God what costs us nothing.
VI. That God sanctifies efforts, however weak they may be, if they be sincerely made; accepts gifts, however humble they may be, if bestowed from the heart.
VII. That the best proof that we can have that our offering is accepted by God is not that we experience a sense of inflated importance or self-satisfaction, but that we are filled with an abiding sense of peace.
VIII. That though we may worship God anywhere and everywhere, yet that in His duly consecrated sanctuary, it is fittest to do Him reverence. (R. Young,M. A.)
Man, through the devil, bringing tremendous evils on the world
That men suffer for the sins of others is a fact written in every page of history, obvious in every circle of life, and recognised as a principle in the government of God. “The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” That this principle is both just and beneficent, consider--
1. That no man is made to suffer more than he deserves on account of his own personal sins.
2. The men of Israel now for their own sins deserved this stroke of justice.
3. That the evil which descends to us from others is not to be compared to that which we produce ourselves.
4. The sufferings that come to us from others can give us no remorse, which is the very sting of the judgment--our own sins do this.
5. That the knowledge that we can injure society by our own conduct has a strong tendency to restrain vice and stimulate virtue. (Homilist.)
David and Israel
I. The progressive course of sin.
1. Temptation. Satan the black fountain of all transgression.
2. Transgression (1Ch_21:2). In face of warning (1Ch_21:3). Its desperate folly seen by others (1Ch_21:6). The deadening, hardening power of any lust.
3. Punishment (1Ch_21:10-12). As soon will the magnet escape the influence of the pole, the sea the influence of the moon, an atom the binding force of gravitation, as the sinner escape punishment. “Be sure your sin,” etc.
II. The progressive course of reconciliation with God.
1. The messenger, God’s afflictive stroke (1Ch_21:7). The prophet, Gad (1Ch_21:9). Every person or circumstance that reproves is God’s messenger.
2. Conviction. (1Ch_21:8). The true convict, always confesses, never excuses. Not only owns the sin, but acknowledges its greatness.
3. Penitence (1Ch_21:16).
4. Acceptance.
5. Grateful acknowledgment (1Ch_21:24).
III. Underlying truths.
1. Though man be tempted, sin is his own act.
2. Our sins affect others. How many widows and orphans!
3. Though sin be pardoned, it leaves terrible scars behind. In David’s memory. Gaps in the families and homes of the people. Avoidance of sin is infinitely better than pardon. Christ the only sin-healer. (R. Berry.)
The sin of one may involve the suffering of others
When the father of the house goes down in character he carries down with him, to a considerable extent, the character of his innocent children. The bad man is laying up a bad fortune for those whom he has brought into the world; long years afterwards they may be told how bad a man their father was, and because of his iniquity they may be made to suffer loss and pain. (J. Parker,D. D.)
Suffering through others
Our sin affects others as well as ourselves. A man whose garden was injured by a troublesome weed said it was due to a neighbour’s neglect. He had let his garden run wild, and when the seeds of this particular weed were ripe, the wind blew them over thefence. So one sin may make many innocent people suffer.
