A Sermon on Deuteronomy 32:39-43, Or, On Wednesday the 17th of June, 1556, The 188th Sermon which is the Eleventh Upon the Two and Thirtieth Chapter, by John Calvin.

See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.
~ Deuteronomy 32:39-43

The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole. He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death. Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
~ 1 Samuel 2:6, Job 5:18, Psalm 68:20, Hosea 6:1

Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?
~ Isaiah 43:13

I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
~ John 8:24

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
~ Revelation 1:17-18

And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
~ Hebrews 5:9, Hebrews 12:2

We say yesterday how it is not enough to know that there is nothing but vanity and leasing in idols, and in all the superstitions that men have devised of their own heads: but that the chief point is to know God to do him homage, to walk in his fear, and to consider how dreadful his majesty is. Now herewithal we must mark also, that when we once know God to be too great a Lord to be dallied withal, if he chastise us for offending him, we must taste of his mercy to return freely unto him, being thoroughly persuaded and resolved, that we shall find mercy at his hand, though we be unworthy of it. And that is the cause why he says, That it is he which kills and quickens, and that it is he that wounds and heals again. Now we have always these two things to mark: The one is that we shall be held in awe by considering (as I said afore) how dreadful God’s majesty is, according to the Apostles treating thereof in the fore alleged tenth chapter to the Hebrews.

Again we ought to weigh well the words of Moses, It is I (says he) it is I myself that am the everlasting, and there is not any other God. For hereby we see how hard it is to hold men to the knowledge of the true God, because they be ever swerving after to their own foolish imaginations. For we be naturally inclined to the forging of idols, and to corrupt ourselves with superstitions, so as falsehood does always bear sway in us rather than truth. A man would wonder how so many errors should be in the world. But let him consider what a workhouse our own brain is, and what things it forges and yields forth; and surely he shall find that we never cease forging of lies and deceits to corrupt ourselves withal, and to turn us away from God’s pure truth. And so, because men are so wholly bent, yea and given over to leasing: therefore does God confirm this matter the more by saying, It is I, and there is not any other: It is here on we must wholly rest. Now seeing it is so, it behooves all of us to know what every of us had need to hold himself as it were by force in the pure singleness of God’s word, or else we shall be overcome by Satan’s illusions, and he will have carried us away here and there out of hand. And by the way, if we see the world entangled in never so many disorders, and all men possessed with false and wicked opinions: let us not be too much troubled at such a stumbling block. For why? We see there is nothing harder than to hold men in the pure knowledge of God.

https://takeupcross.com
takeupcross