God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all; how shall He not with him freely give us all things' (Romans 8:32)? How is it imaginable that God should withhold, after this, spirituals or temporals, from His people? How shall He not call them effectually, justify them freely, sanctify them thoroughly, and glorify them eternally? How shall He not clothe them, feed them, protect and deliver them? Surely if He would not spare this own Son one stroke, one tear, one groan, one sigh, one circumstance of misery, it can never be imagined that ever He should, after this, deny or withhold from His people, for whose sakes all this was suffered, any mercies, any comforts, any privilege, spiritual or temporal, which is good for them.
There’s a good and vital reason Paul said, “Lay hands suddenly on no man” (1 Tim. 5:22). The biblical qualifications for elders are all characteristics of godliness and giftedness that must be proven over time. A man may instinctively know how to make a good first impression. He superficially appears to be keen-thinking, knowledgeable, mature, or supremely gifted as a teacher. But he could actually have serious character flaws that would disqualify him from eldership, and these sometimes become plainly evident only through long-term patterns of behavior. It is vital therefore that church leaders “first be proved; then let them use the office” (1 Tim. 3:10).
