In all their distress, He too was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. In His love and compassion He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. He bore them, and carried them all the days of old.In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.
4 sermons cite this verse
the Holy Spirit is not some minor issue. By how you live your life, you set the course of what the Spirit does in your life. If you grieve the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit turns against you to discipline you. If you please the Holy Spirit, He blesses you. You say, does the Holy Spirit really get sorry about my life? Yes, the Holy Spirit grieved, and the term used here means severe grief. Look, we know God in the book of Jeremiah shed tears, and Christ in the gospel of John chapter 11 shed tears, and the Holy Spirit is sorrowful. That word means sorrow as well. The primary work of the Holy Spirit is to secure your eternal salvation. So the Scripture's not saying, don't sin or the Holy Spirit might let you go. He's saying, don't sin because He will never let you go. So it's not that you're not sinning out of fear, it's that you're not sinning out of love. The One who has done the most for you is God the Holy Spirit, and your motive for holiness is gratitude and worship. …
And then, last of all, you must consider that He who went through this to get to His crown is very Man akin to us all. He loves us tenderly. He considers us now. He knows all the sorrows that tempt men, for He has felt the same. You are not alone—He is with you. Three of you in the furnace? No, there is a fourth, and that fourth is the Son of God! Into your griefs He enters, for His own griefs have put into His hand a master-key to fit the locks of every human grief that ever can be known. He can comfort us with all consolation seeing that He, Himself, has passed through all tribulation. He is never forgetful of you. He is with you now. If you smart, He smarts. If you are despised, He suffers. "Paul, Paul, why do you persecute Me?" He cried. Why, it was but a few poor men and women being hauled away to prison or to be scourged in the synagogue, but Christ takes it as being done to Himself! "Why do you persecute Me?" Oh Christian, with such nearness to Christ, and such sympathy flowing from Him, be of good courage! Then hear Him say, "In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His Presence saved them." So may you lift up the hands that hang down and confirm the feeble knees and go on your way rejoicing in Him! …
Remember, too, that everything that happens to Believers is working for their present and lasting good. "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." If you could have chosen your own circumstances and condition in life, you could not have made so wise a choice as God has made for you! The gardener knows where his plants will flourish best. Some of them might wish to grow in the sunshine, although like the fern family, they are better in the shade. Some of them would prefer to be on yonder mossy bank, but the gardener puts them in sandy soil because he knows that it is better suited to the requirements of their nature. You may depend upon it that there never was any earthly father who was so attentive to the needs of his child as your Heavenly Father is to you! When you decide as to the occupation you think is best for your son to follow, you may select the very career that will prove to be his ruin—but when God plans your future, He takes more care in arranging for you than you do in arranging for your boy and, as He sees the end from the beginning—which you cannot see either for yourself or for your child—He chooses for you with Infinite and Unerring Wisdom! Do not wish to have it otherwise, dear Brother or Sister in Christ! Be not only content with such things as you have, but say with David, "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: You maintain my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yes, I have a goodly heritage." So drink this Divine Cordial and forget your poverty and remember your misery no more! …
1. Christ is one that is ready to pity the afflicted. It is natural for persons that are bereaved of any that are dear to them, and for all under deep sorrow, to seek some that they may declare and lay open their griefs to, that they have good reason to think will pity them, and have a fellow-feeling with them of their distress. The heart that is full of grief wants vent, and desires to pour out its complaint; but it seeks a compassionate friend to pour it out before. Christ is such an one, above all others. He of old, before his incarnation, manifested himself full of compassion towards his people; for that is Jesus that is spoken of, Isa. lxiii. 9. “In all their affliction he was afflicted; and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.” And when he was upon earth in his state of humiliation, he was the most wonderful instance of a tender, pitiful, compassionate spirit, that ever appeared in the world. How often are we told of his having compassion on one and another! So Matt. xv. 32. “Then Jesus called his disciples, and said unto them, I have compassion on the multitude.” So he had compassion on the man possessed with devils. Mark v. 19. “Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done to thee, and hath had compassion on thee.” So we read of his pitying the mother, that was bereaved of her son. Luke vii. 13. There we have an account, when Christ went into the city of Nain, and met the people carrying out a dead man, the only son of his mother, that was a widow, that when he saw her, he had compassion on her. So when the two blind men that sat by the way side cried to Jesus, as he passed by, saving, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David, ” we read that Jesus had compassion on them. Matt. xx. 39 . So we read of his being moved with compassion. Matt. xiv. 14. “And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and when he saw them he was moved with compassion.” His speeches to his disciples were full of compassion; especially those that he uttered a little before his death, of which we have an account in the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th chapters of John. His miracles were almost universally deeds of pity to persons under affliction. …