vii. 17-25. _The Lord shall bring upon thee, and upon thy
people, &c._
+I. God is sovereign in the whole earth.+ He is the great controller
of all nations. All governments are but instruments which He uses
when and as He pleases (vers. 17-21). A thought full of comfort for
the righteous, of terror for the unrighteous.
+II. The consequent insecurity of all prosperity that is not based
upon, and promotive of, righteousness+ (ver. 23). True of nations:
Britain will be "_Great_ Britain" only so long as God pleases. True
of individuals: (H. E. I. 3991, 4403-4406).
+III. Whatever chastisements God may have inflicted, He has always a
more terrible one behind+ (ver. 17).
IV. Seeing that all these things were threatened against and
inflicted upon God's chosen people, learn that +no mercy that God
has shown us will furnish any immunity for us, if, notwithstanding
that mercy, we sin against Him.+ There is a tendency in our evil
hearts to think, that because God has been spiritually good to us, we
may sin with less risk than others; but the teaching of the Bible is,
that those who "turn the grace of God into lasciviousness" shall be
visited with a sorer doom than others (H. E. I. 4564, 4568, 4570).