If our attitude about the church is not in line with Christ’s attitude about His church, everything will go wrong. If our attitude matches Christ’s, it will go right. It may not go the way we think it will, but that’s okay because God’s will for His church matters more than our will for our church. Having the right attitude sets the stage for everything that follows.

Karl Vaters

It is a curious feature of the experience of human living, that the public accusation of the sins or crimes which we have committed is easier to bear, emotionally and spiritually, than the false accusations concerning crimes of which we are innocent. When an evil act or sin is committed, there is at least justice in the accusation; there is a path of restoration and repentance possible. But the false accusation is harder to bear, partly because it brings with it the experience of injustice, and partly because there may seem to be no escape from its consequences. We cannot repent of something we have not done, nor can we make restoration, and it is in the nature of false accusers that they do not easily depart and leave us in peace. The genuine anxiety evoked by false accusations, whether of a subtle and personal nature or an open and legal nature, is partly legitimate and partly illegitimate. It is legitimate in the sense that false accusations can do real damage, whether to reputation, family, or means of livelihood. But it may be an illegitimate anxiety if it is tied too intimately to pride, for such anxiety assumes that the opinion of other persons is of more significance than the opinion of God. Yet it is in the nature of false accusation, that whereas it may deceive and convince our fellow human beings, it cannot deceive God. False accusation never undermines a person’s standing in the sight of God, though it may provide a testing ground for the accused’s strength of character.

The psalmist begins his prayer in just such a state of anxiety, precipitated by the false charges laid against him; the anxiety is real, and for the most part legitimate, for the accusations create genuine danger. As the psalmist begins his prayer, things have understandably grown out of proportion; the false accusers appear to have gained the upper hand and turning to God is a last and desperate resort. It is only at the end of the prayer that balance is restored, and the balance involves a proper appreciation of God’s righteousness and the nature of evil. It is the judgment of God that matters more than the machinations of wicked persons; and it is better to stand in integrity before God who is a righteous Judge, than to share the slippery foothold with sinners on the edge of the pit they have dug for themselves. . . . It is better to maintain integrity and continue to suffer injustice, than to sell out to evil and form ranks with the unrighteous.

PETER C. CRAIGIE AND MARVIN TATE, PSALMS 1-50, VOLUME 19: SECOND EDITION (WORD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY), 103.

Men must handle the Word of God with great tenderness of heart, in fear and trembling, but in particular with regard to this book of Revelation. So men should not exclude, add, or change the meaning of anything out of prejudice, nor out of passion, nor out of recklessness, nor out of willful ignorance, nor out of lack of prayer or research, even less out of pride. For the judgments upon these will be terrible.

NOT TO BE IGNORED: REV. WILHELMUS À BRAKEL’S COMMENTARY ON REVELATION, LOC. 6547.

In Paradise, the tree of life was a sacrament of the eternal life, on condition of man’s own obedience. Since the covenant of works is broken by disobedience, both Paradise and the tree of life as a sacrament are destroyed. But the Lord Jesus Christ, the Surety of the Covenant of Grace, gives to the chosen ones eternal life, which is the matter the tree of life sealed. Therefore, the Lord Jesus is called by way of application – and not as the antitype – the Tree of Life.

NOT TO BE IGNORED: REV. WILHELMUS À BRAKEL’S COMMENTARY ON REVELATION, LOC. 6432.

It will be glorious that all kinds of people will be in heaven: the rich, the poor, the modest, the prestigious, the servants, and the masters, who will all be equal there. The great shall not be more magnificent than the small. All glory that they had on earth will be expired in heaven. Men shall then see that the most grandiose glory on earth cannot be compared with the glory that even the least one will experience in heaven.

Not to be Ignored: Rev. Wilhelmus à Brakel’s Commentary on Revelation, Loc. 6390.

In the Bible, the book of Psalms is traditionally located between Job and Proverbs, roughly in the center of the Old Testament. This placement in the middle of the Old Testament can give a wrong impression, however, if we thereby come to view the Psalter as a book formed in the midst of the Old Testament period. The book of Psalms is actually one of the later products of the Old Testament era. If we were to arrange the books of the Old Testament according to their dates of compilation, we would have to put the Psalter among the post-exilic volumes toward the very end of the collection. Many of the songs contained in it are, to be sure, much older, but the particular selection and arrangement of Hebrew hymns into the volume we call the book of Psalms is a post-exilic work. In fact, rather than looking at the Psalter as an Old Testament worship hymnal, it is probably more appropriate to regard it as a final product of the Old Testament temple, compiled in preparation for New Testament worship.

“The Hymns of Christ: The Old Testament Formation of the New Testament Hymnal” by MICHAEL LEFEBVRE in Sing a New Song: Recovering Psalm Singing for the Twenty-First Century, editors Joel R. Beeke and Anthony Selvaggio, Loc. 2012.

God does not give all abilities to one teacher, but there is something special in each, which is not in another. All these abilities do not fight one another, but they all serve to the building of the church.

Not to be Ignored: Rev. Wilhelmus à Brakel’s Commentary on Revelation, Loc. 1767.

Revelation 4:3 “And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.”

The shine and color of these stones cause a special affection in the beholding, so that hereby the awesome and glorious shine of God is signified. The beams of the light cause a rainbow, as we see in the sun when it shines on a thick cloud through a thin cloud; or in a burning candle. Thus also in this sight a rainbow is caused by and showing the shine of him that sat upon the throne. This probably looks upon the rainbow of Noah, which is given as an everlasting token, not of the covenant of grace, but of the unchangeable promise that the world would not perish by water anymore. So that the unchangeable steadfastness of God in the executing of both all His decrees and of His promises, threats, and prophecies is signified by the rainbow here.

Not to be Ignored: Rev. Wilhelmus à Brakel’s Commentary on Revelation, Loc. 1707.

Psalm 5 offers not only a prayer that may be used in the worship of God, but also a mirror of mankind without God. And it is important to note that the principal characteristic of evildoers in this psalm is to be found in their speech: they are “boasters,” they speak “falsehood,” “there is no truth in their mouth,” “their throat is an open grave,” and “they speak flattery.” Ancient Israel was not a primitive society where the only ills were acts, but—like our own society—it was an age in which the more sophisticated sins of speech abounded. And the sins of speech were not only an affront to God, but also caused pain in the lives of fellow human beings. Thus, from a NT perspective, it is difficult to limit this psalm as a prayer for protection; it must also be perceived as a prayer of self-examination and a request for forgiveness and deliverance.

PETER C. CRAIGIE AND MARVIN TATE, PSALMS 1-50, VOLUME 19: SECOND EDITION (WORD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY), 89.

[M]odern Christians need to learn again how to be a prophetic voice in the midst of a hostile world where the Church lacks substantial cultural influence or power. Prior generations may have enjoyed a time when the modern Church was in a situation akin to the Church of the fourth or fifth centuries, the current generation finds itself in a situation that looks a lot more like what the Church experienced in the second. We are entering into (and in some ways are already in) a post-Christian world. In order to interface with this world, we do not necessarily need a new apologetic but perhaps an old one — a second -century one. Our apologetic response to our post-Christian world has much to learn form the writings of the second-century apologists.

Michael J. Kruger, Christianity at the Crossroads: How the Second Century Shaped the Future of the Church, 230.