"...Even the hairs of your head are all numbered..." What does this mean? No one dies apart from the Father's will, but does this mean that those who die die by His will? This is a very difficult question, and the abyss of unbelief lies very close here...
"...Even the hairs of your head are all numbered..." What does this mean? No one dies apart from the Father's will, but does this mean that those who die die by His will? This is a very difficult question, and the abyss of unbelief lies very close here. But it can be avoided if we trust our heart and the Word of God.
Priest Georgy Chistyakov writes in his work "Martyrdom as a Phenomenon":
"To endure September 11, the almost daily explosions in Israel, and other horrors. Or does He behave the way a strict teacher sometimes does? No, that too is impossible! If God is merciless, then Job's wife is indeed right when she advises him to curse God and die. How can one not remember Voltaire here? 'How could God create this terrible cesspool of misfortunes and crimes? It is supposed,' says Voltaire, 'that God is powerful, just, and good, while we see madness, injustice, and malice on every side. Therefore people prefer denying God to cursing Him.' At the same time Voltaire himself believed in God, although he said that he preferred to believe in a God who was not almighty and was limited in His possibilities, but good. [...]
Yet despite everything, and above all despite what is obvious, we somehow feel God's presence in the world. [...] We feel this precisely, not knowing it, and understand not with the mind but with the heart, that the Lord shares with us every misfortune of ours in all its fullness. He is with us where things are bad. And this is the main thing. Descending with us as if into hell, into the depths of our misery and despair, He also leads us out of those depths, giving us wisdom and patience. As this is depicted on the Paschal icon 'The Savior's Descent into Hades'..."
10
10:24 Luk 6:30; Joh 15:20.
10:25 How much more - This cannot refer to the quantity of reproach and persecution: (for in this the servant cannot be above his lord:) but only to the certainty of it. Mat 12:24.
10:26 Therefore fear them not - For ye have only the same usage with your Lord. There is nothing covered - So that however they may slander you now, your innocence will at length appear. Mar 4:22; Luk 8:17; Luk 12:2.
10:27 Even what I now tell you secretly is not to be kept secret long, but declared publicly. Therefore, What ye hear in the ear, publish on the house - top - Two customs of the Jews seem to be alluded to here. Their doctors used to whisper in the ear of their disciples what they were to pronounce aloud to others.And as their houses were low and flat roofed, they sometimes preached to the people from thence. Luk 12:3.
10:28 And be not afraid - of any thing which ye may suffer for proclaiming it. Be afraid of him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell - It is remarkable, that our Lord commands those who love God, still to fear him, even on this account, under this notion.
10:29 The particular providence of God is another reason for your not fearing man. For this extends to the very smallest things. And if he has such care over the most inconsiderable creatures, how much more will he take care of you, (provided you confess him before men, before powerful enemies of the truth,) and that not only in this life, but in the other also?
10:30 See note ... Mat 10:29 Luk 12:7.
10:32 Whosoever shall confess me - Publicly acknowledge me for the promised Messiah. But this confession implies the receiving his whole doctrine, Mar 8:38, and obeying all his commandments. Luk 9:26.
10:33 Whosoever shall deny me before men - To which ye will be strongly tempted. For Think not that I am come - That is, think not that universal peace will be the immediate consequence of my coming. Just the contrary. Both public and private divisions will follow, wheresoever my Gospel comes with power. Ye - this is not the design, though it be the event of his coming, through the opposition of devils and men.