4. Who shall not--Greek, "Who is there but must fear
Thee?" Compare Moses' song,
Ex 15:14-16,
on the fear which God's judgments strike into the foe.
thee--so Syriac. But A, B, C, Vulgate, and
CYPRIAN reject "thee."
all nations shall come--alluding to
Ps 22:27-31;
compare
Isa 66:23;
Jer 16:19.
The conversion of all nations, therefore, shall be when Christ
shall come, and not till then; and the first moving cause will be
Christ's manifested judgments preparing all hearts for receiving
Christ's mercy. He shall effect by His presence what we have in vain
tried to effect in His absence. The present preaching of the Gospel is
gathering out the elect remnant; meanwhile "the mystery of iniquity" is
at work, and will at last come to its crisis; then shall judgment
descend on the apostates at the harvest-end of this age
(Greek,
Mt 13:39, 40)
when the tares shall be cleared out of the earth, which thenceforward
becomes Messiah's kingdom. The confederacy of 'the apostates against
Christ becomes, when overthrown with fearful judgments, the very means
in God's overruling providence of preparing the nations not joined in
the Antichristian league to submit themselves to Him.
judgments--Greek, "righteousnesses."
are--literally, "were": the prophetical past for the immediate
future.
JFB.
Picture Study Bible