Verse 27
A GOOD TIME COMING
‘The days come.’
I. The hopefulness of God’s message to Israel.—The kingdom was doomed, but yet there were good times coming. The characteristic of true religion is that it has always more future than past. An ill day for a people, a church, or any one person when they look back. Henceforth, said St. Paul ( 2 Timothy 4:8); our Golden Age is ahead of us—
(1) ‘The prophet catches a glimpse of blessing in the future. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord.” The Lord sees hope for us when we can see none. This suggests the value of the Divine promises. They are always glimpses into the future. They are given to cheer us in our present darkness. There is no hour so full of gloom in the life of any child of God, but if he will only open his Bible he will see gleams of light bursting through the overshadowing clouds. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” “For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee.” What a blessed thing is hope! “Behold, the days come.” Yes; it will not be always dark and sad. We can say this in every time of misfortune, adversity, or sorrow. Better days are coming. We ought to learn this truth well. We ought never to grieve inconsolably, however bitter the sorrow; we ought never to despair, however hopeless the circumstances appear. God calls down to us in His words of promise, telling of light that already gilds the far-away hill-tops.’
(2) ‘Fathers may well beware of eating sour grapes, and so setting the children’s teeth on edge. “I wish,” says Bunyan, writing of the time when, as a young man, he was reproved for profanity, “that I might be a little child again, that my father might learn me to speak without this wicked way of swearing; for, thought I, I am so accustomed to it that it is in vain to think of a reformation, for that could never be.” ’
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