THERE are many wonderful things told us in the Bible, and often put in such simple words that a child has no difficulty in understanding them.
I wonder how many of the readers of this little magazine have considered the simple yet wonderful story told us in these few verses in Ecclesiastes. God is very gracious to us, and in His Word has caused to be recorded these narratives, that they might be like pictures from which we may learn great and important truths.
We read in the fourteenth verse that “there was a little city, and few men within it.” Now, what is that the picture of? I can fancy I hear some one say, “Well, I am sure it cannot mean this world, because it says a little city and a few men within it, and this world is very big, and a great number of people in it.” Nevertheless I think it does mean the world, and when we compare our earth with the other worlds that are circling round our sun, and that shine so brightly on a clear night, which we often hear people speaking of as little stars, but many of which are really planets, worlds a great deal bigger than our earth, we must own that the earth on which we live is a very “small city” after all; so I think that we shall not be far wrong if in this little city spoken of in Ecclesiastes we see a picture of our own earth.
And we learn that a “great king came against it.” Who could that be? At any rate it is a picture of some one very powerful, and who must have hated the city and the men that dwelt in it very much, or he would not have taken the trouble to “besiege it,” and “build great bulwarks against it.”
There is only one that hates us and this earth like that, and that one is our great enemy, Satan—a very powerful, cunning, and cruel enemy, and who would have easily overcome us if we had been left to fight against him alone. Oh! dear reader, beware of Satan, and ask God to deliver you from such an enemy, and His Holy Spirit will point you to the One who has overcome him, and who will give you the victory.
“Now there was found in it (the city) a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city.” This surely was just what the city needed, and has there been in the world one that I can recognize as this “poor wise man”? Ah! yes, indeed; who was it that in Isa. 4 is spoken of as “despised and rejected of men”? It was Jesus, the Son of God and Son of man. Jesus says, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head” (Matt. 8:2020And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. (Matthew 8:20)). Yes, dear reader, when Jesus was here He was indeed poor, and we read also the reason why He was poor—and surely such love should break the hardest heart—for it says, “That though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich” (2 Cor. 8:99For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)). And in Proverbs 8 it is the same Jesus that is spoken of, and there He is spoken of as Wisdom; so I am sure that this “poor wise man” is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, He who came down to deliver us from the power of Satan. And how did He do it? Look in the Epistle to the Hebrews, for there we read about Jesus again; it says of Him, “That through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:1414Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Hebrews 2:14)).
Now, I would speak very personally to you who have taken up this magazine, to perhaps just casually glance at what is inside it: Have you felt the power of Satan against you; have you felt the power of sin, and longed to be rid of the terrible burden of your sins? If so, have you asked in simple faith this wonderful Saviour to deliver you from Satan, and from your sins? If not, go into your own room alone, and pray that simple yet ever effectual prayer of faith, “Lord, save me,” and He will, for God cannot deny Himself, and Jesus has said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)).
W. E. W.