"Those who are without Christ, and so have no interest in the Mediator of the covenant, have none in the promises of the covenant. They had no hope, that is, beyond this life…no hope of spiritual and eternal blessings. Those who are without Christ, and strangers from the covenant, can have no good hope; for Christ and the covenant are the ground and foundation of all the Christian's hopes. They were in a state of distance and estrangement from God…. They were far off from Christ, from his church, from the promises, from the Christian hope, and from God himself; and therefore from all good, like the prodigal son in the far country: this had been represented in the preceding verses. Unconverted sinners remove themselves at a distance from God, and God puts them at a distance: He beholds the proud afar off.…By virtue of union with Christ, and interest in him by faith, you are made nigh. They were brought home to God, received into the church, taken into the covenant, and possessed of all other privileges consequent upon these…. Salvation is far from the wicked; but God is a help at hand to his people; and this is by the blood of Christ, by the merit of his sufferings and death. Every believing sinner owes his nearness to God, and his interest in his favor, to the death and sacrifice of Christ." – Matthew Henry |
