Godbey's Commentary - Acts - Romans - Enter His Rest

the plan of salvation experienced in the blessing of first love in conversion, and made perfect in
sanctification, when all the antagonistic, malevolent affections are eliminated away. So long as this
divine love is truly dominant in the heart, you are actually under the “shadow of the Almighty,” as
safe on. earth as if in heaven, thus truly the “elect of God according to his purpose” that we should
be conformed to the image of His Son, which is perfect love. Thus we are actually invulnerable by
all the emissaries of Satan in earth and hell, the impregnable presence of God always intervening
between us and every peril, making. everything indiscriminately incidental to us a blessing. This
grand climactic truth is beautifully elucidated in the case of Balaam, Satan’s wicked, false prophet,
whom Balak, the King of Moab, had hired with a princely fortune to come to his aid and curse Israel
for him, as he feared to meet them on the battlefield, and believed that Balaam had such power with
the gods that the people whom he anathematized were destined to fade from the face of the earth.
If ever a man did his best to pronounce woes and curses on a people it was Balaam, when, the royal
sacrifices having been sumptuously offered on the altars of Moab to the gods whom he believed to
rule the universe, taking position on the pinnacle of Pisgah, and looking down upon the goodly tents
of Jacob, spread out over the plains of Moab, standing on tiptoe and invoking the gods of the Orient,
he opens his mouth with the avowed determination to pour the most withering and blighting
anathemas on Israel. But, behold, blessings instead of curses pour out of his mouth. Balak rallies
again and offers more sacrifices, thinking the matter will yet prove a success. Again Balaam, from
the summit of Pisgah, opening wide his mouth, endeavors to curse Israel; but benedictions, richer
and grander, only pour forth from his lips. Again they rally, offer sacrifices and try it again, thus
repeating their diabolical orgies six times, not a single anathema ever escaping the lips of the
prophet, but blessings, more and more copious, incessantly flowing from his eloquent lips. Finally,
the royal patience utterly collapsing, the king, giving up in despair, flies into a rage and orders the
prophet “be gone” like a dog. But he does not get rid of him so easily. Again he stands upon the
summit of Pisgah, overlooking the goodly tents of Jacob, and, opening his mouth, blessings, more
copious and eloquent than ever before, flow like rivers from his inspired lips. The spirit of prophecy
mightily resting on him, he sweeps down the intervening ages, hails with triumphant gaudeamus the
rising star of Bethlehem, and hears the seraphic song heralding upon earth the world’s Redeemer;
on through the ages flash the splendors of his prophetic fire, reveling in the glorious millennial
theocracy, girdling the world with the triumphs of the Second Advent. What lesson do we learn from
this? Why, the clear and ostensible fact that it is utterly impossible for men or devils to inflict
spiritual detriment on God’s true people, because he is always present with them, turning every curse
into a blessing. Hence it makes no difference whether men bless or blame, God will make it a
blessing to you if you truly love Him; hence the lonely pilgrim environed by millions of devils can
shout and sing with utter and eternal impunity, there being no power in earth or hell competent to
hurt him. You are truly immortal till your work is done. God can bless us through our enemies as
well as our friends, Himself being the only source of blessing in all the universe.
ELECTION, PREDESTINATION AND REPROBATION.
29. “Because whom he did foreknow, he did also predestine to be conformed to the image of his
Son, to be the firstborn among many brethren.” You must remember that the conclusions here
involved follow as a logical sequence from the preceding argumentation. What is the meaning of
“firstborn”? It means the first one in the glorification of spirit, mind and body, constituting the
trinity of humanity and representing the whole human race in the redemption, in contradistinction