Divine Sugar Sticks for December 2000

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Friday, December 1, 2000

Four Categories of People in the Parable of the Sower

1. Category one. Luke 8 – unbeliever, hardened soil, i.e., Judas.
   
2. Category two. Luke 8 – believers, rocky soil, i.e., the rest of the disciples.
   
3. Category three. Luke 8 – believers, thorny ground, i.e., Simon the Pharisee represents the believer chocked with the details of life. Simon had invited Christ over for dinner because of the status symbol grid.
   
4. Category four. Luke 8 – believer, good soil, i.e., Mary Magdalene characterizes the believer who inhales and exhales the Word of God.

Application of the Parable of the Sower, Luke 8:16-18

1. Category one. Not represented, no light.
   
2. Category two. Light, but covers it with a vessel, verse 16. This represents believers who can’t take trials. They are emotional and have no manifested glory.
   
3. Category three. Light, but puts it under a bed, verse 16. This represents the believer who daily does not take in the Word of God. So, the soul breathing apparatus is choked, suffocated with the details of life, which results in calluses on the soul.
   
4. Category four. Light, but sets it on a lampstand, verse 16. This represents the believer who can take trials, is not choked with the details of life, and is inhaling and exhaling residual Doctrine. God is glorified because the believer is reflecting the glory of God, His light.
   He is Grace oriented.
   He has a relaxed mental attitude.
   He has inner happiness.
   He has a capacity for life and love.
   He has mastery over the details of life.
   

Isa 50:7 – “I Have Set My Face Like a Flint”

Expresses the positive volition in the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ as He faces the Cross.

As Deity He can’t die. As humanity, it had to use His volition. The whole plan of God could have been ruined if the volition of the humanity of Jesus Christ had been negative.

1. “Flint” – Arrowhead
   Isa 49:2, “Polished shaft” that will go true to its mark. Polished, no blemish.
   
2. “I know” – key phrase. He knew from the Word that He had what it took to go through the six hours on the Cross.
   
3. “I shall not be ashamed” – I will carry through and accomplish the mission of bearing the sins of the world.
   His friends couldn’t help Him.
   God the Father and God the Holy Spirit couldn’t help Him.
   The Word of God sustained Him, Psa 138:2
   
4. Isa 50:8, “He is near” – God the Father is near to judge.
   ”That justifieth Me” – vindicated Him.
   A. He judged Him.
   B. He was satisfied with what the Son was doing on the Cross.
   The person of Jesus Christ satisfied the righteousness of God.
   The work of Jesus Christ satisfied the justice of God.

Now, the Father is free to love every member of the human race.

God is righteousness and justice and love. Righteous and justice is satisfied. Now comes love – John 3:16.

Love – AGAPE and PHILEO

AGAPE is Mental Attitude and PHILEO is Rapport

Rapport love is exhaled in three categories:

1. Category one. Rapport toward God. Exhale.
2. Category two. Rapport toward opposite sex. Exhale.
3. Category three. Rapport toward friends. Exhale.

AGAPE love is prior to rapport love. Why? Because rapport love is based on AGAPE love. As a man thinks. Rapport love cannot exist when there are mental attitude sins.

Both AGAPE and PHILEO are Divine love, if the believer is controlled by God the Holy Spirit.

The key to fueling rapport love is growing in Grace, which feeds on the Word of God and is the basis of rapport with God.

PHILEO is two people thinking the Word of God. You build your life around the Word of God. You talk about the Word of God. You love the Word of God. You even do your kidding around the Word of God. The Word of God is your life.

This rapport is built around the Word rather than compatibility of old sin natures. Behind this rapport love is thinking. You still have a relaxed mental attitude.

As one grows, his capacity for God and family and friends grows.

God’s Love to Mankind – Stage Two to the Believer in Christ

A. By providing a defense attorney when Satan accuses the believer.
B. By Divine discipline when out of fellowship.
C. By giving more Grace.
When you are out of fellowship, you have 1 John 1:9. More Grace, so that you can get back into fellowship and utilize all the assets of time that God has provided.
D. By enabling the believer to produce Divine love.
In fellowship is the place of mental attitude love produced by the filling of the Holy Spirit. You can love other believers when filled with the Spirit because:

1. They have eternal life like you do.
2. They are “in Christ,” just as you are.
3. God’s love for them never changes either.
4. So you stand upon this Doctrine and have a relaxed mental attitude minding your own business before the Lord.

Alternative of God’s love: John 3:36, “The wrath of God abideth upon you.”

God is just to forgive: love.
God is just to condemn: wrath.

Why We Should Love the Lord!

1. God is perfect. God is love. Therefore, His love is perfect Divine love.
   
2. The Cross was the greatest manifestation of His love that the world has ever seen, Rom 8:32
   
3. At the Cross, you connect with His love which is extended to all in salvation, John 3:16
   
4. God’s Divine love toward the unbeliever is a mental attitude love, John 3:16
   
5. God’s Divine love to the believer is in the area of mental attitude and in the area of rapport love – AGAPE and PHILEO.
   
6. Every believer is loved by God with exactly the same amount of love that He has for His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
   
7. “Beloved,” when used for believers, refers to all kinds of believers – mature, immature, spiritual, and carnal. Eph 1:6, 1 John 3:1-2
   
8. Regardless of your status as a believer, God loves you with an infinite amount of love.
   
9. Love plus eternal life plus immutability means that God never changes His attitude toward you.
   
10. You can change your attitude about God, but He never changes His attitude toward you. God loves you knowing everything you think, do, and are.
    
11. It is your response to His love at salvation that begins the possibility of love to you as a believer. The filling of the Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the Holy Spirit, Divine love, AGAPE. This is spirituality. This is the start.
    
12. The Word of God in the human spirit produces the assurance of the love of God. This assurance grows as a frame of reference and reaches maturity and stability.
    

God’s Manifested Love to His Son – God’s Love to Mankind

God’s love to His Son – John 3:35, John 5:20
God’s love to mankind – Stage one – Salvation

1. In His plan. Eph 2:8-9, 3:11
2. In sending His Son, 1 John 4:9
3. By giving His Son, John 3:16, 1 John 4:10
4. By sparing not His Son, Rom 8:32
5. When mankind was dead in sin, Eph 2:4-5
6. While they were yet sinners, Rom 5:8-11, Christ died for them showing that Jesus Christ loved His enemies as well as His friends, John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down His life.”
7. The Father’s reaction to the Son’s love for mankind.
   A. Matt 17:5, well pleased with His Son.
   B. Mark 9:7, Luke 9:35, Tell us “to hear Him.”
   C. 2 Pet 1:17, The Father gave Him honor and glory.
   

   

The Love of Man for God!

A. Pre-salvation: attractive love. Response to the Cross. Attracted to the Saviour, John 3:16, resulting in:
B. Point of salvation: positional love. Rom 8:28, when you make a one-time decision, a mental love.
C. Post-salvation love: knowing love.
1. Start: the filling of the Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit. AGAPE love, Gal 5:22
2. Continuance: growing to maturity, developing a capacity for love of the Lord and others.

Two problems when it comes to loving God. The Christian way of life:
Am I filled with the Spirit, in fellowship? Eph 5:18, 1 John 1:9
Am I functioning under the principle of growing in Grace? 1 Pet 3:18

No member of the human race can come to know God until he comes to the Cross.

The unbeliever does not have the equipment to love God. He must have a Holy Spirit and a human spirit.

God is the initiator and the believer is the responder. Consequently, the believer fulfilling the principle of having a human and holy Spirit is reflecting the love of the Father.

If growing in Grace is functioning, you will be relaxed about the Lord, your wife, and people. The great enemy to proper love response to God is false Doctrine – emotionalism, legalism, and religion. Both legalism and emotionalism disorient the believer to the Grace of God and distort love to God.

Three Hebrew Words Translated “Make” or “Create”

1. BARAH – To create something out of nothing.
2. AHSAH – To create something out of existing material.
3. YATZAR – To fashion or to mold.

Work of the Trinity

Work of the Lord Jesus Christ’s original creation:
Eph 3:9, “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.”

1. Universe, Gen 1:1. Created is “BARAH.” The universe originally was created out of nothing.
   

2. Man.
   A. Inner, invisible part of man, Gen 1:27. Created is “BARAH,” something created out of nothing.
   B. Structure of the body. Organic part. Created out of existing material, chemicals, Gen 2:7, “Formed” is “YATZAR” which means “shaped,” “molded out of existing material.”

Work of the Holy Spirit

Reconstruction of the Earth – “AHSAH”, which is made out of existing material.

1. Gen 1:2b, “The Spirit moved upon the face of the waters.”

2. Psa 104:30, “Thou, God the Father, sendeth forth Thy Spirit,” Holy Spirit. They, men, are created and because thy Holy Spirit renewest the face of the Earth.”

Summary

A. Man. Isa 43:7
1.”I have created Him for My glory” – BARAH
2. “I have formed Him” – YATZAR
3. “I have made Him” – AHSAH

B. The universe. Isa 45:18
1. ”The Lord that created the heavens,” BARAH
2. “God Himself that formed the Earth,” YATZAR
3. “And made it,” AHSAH.

What is Man? There are Three Types of Men

1. Immoral man.
2. Moral, self righteousness.
3. Religious, self righteous.

All categories of the human race are guilty before God. Rom 3:23, “All have sinned,” when Adam sinned, imputed sin, “and come short of the glory of God,” God’s essence.

The unbeliever cannot develop to the point where he reflects the glory of God. All are behind a barrier, essentially spiritually dead. All are condemned under the concept of absolute of good and evil. John 5:28-29

A. “Does good,” literally, done the good. Accepting Christ as personal Saviour.
B. “Done evil,” literally, does the evil, i.e., rejecting Christ as personal Saviour.

The immoral man is a sinner overtly. His sins are obvious. The immoral man is described in Rom 1:21-39.

The moral, self righteous man is described in Rom 2:1-16.

The religious, self righteous man is described in Rom 2:17-29.

God is absolute perfect righteousness, Psa 145:17.
Man is minus righteousness, Isa 64:6.
Righteousness is an absolute and God demands absolute righteousness.

Provision for acceptability in God’s sight was made by Jesus Christ at the Cross, where God’s righteousness and justice were satisfied.

Therefore, God’s absolute righteousness is imputed to man at the point of salvation, 2 Cor 5:21.

Saturday, December 2, 2000

The Religious Man of Romans 2:17-29

1. The religious man has the self-righteousness of the moral man and in addition, he observes certain rituals of religion.
   
2. The religious man regards himself as being superior to all others because he has done more in order to sustain a relationship with God. This is an illusion.
   
3. The purpose of the Mosaic Law is to show man that he is a sinner and the need of a Saviour. Keeping the law never saves.
   
4. The religious man says he is saved by keeping the Mosaic Law and yet he cannot keep it.
   
5. They were condemned by their own teaching. The religious man broke the law, Rom 2:21-23.
   
6. The religious man is guilty of teaching others a way of salvation which he himself cannot execute.
   
7. Religion is inconsistent. Rom 2:18-23
   
8. A religious man observes rituals but without reality.
   
9. Principle: Ritual without reality is meaningless.
   
10. Reality can be counted for ritual, but the ritual cannot be counted for the reality.
    
    Example: Ritual – water baptism
    Reality – baptism of the Spirit
    
11. Jesus Christ condemned religion. He called the scribes and Pharisees whitewashed tombstones. Matt 23:27
    
12. Every self-righteous person has an area of hypocrisy. He puts a facade over something whitewashing it. Christ called the religious people hypocrites – hiding under a mask.

Religion kills. The worst person in the world was a religious person.

Christmas is Cancelled in Bethlehem!

Peace on Earth and good will to all men?????????

”Wars and rumors of wars till I come!!”

”I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword ... neighbor against neighbor.”

Mediator

Adam and Eve were innocent, living in perfect environment, in fellowship with the Lord. Gen 1:28-2:25. Jesus Christ was walking and talking with them in the Garden. Sin, negative volition, separated them from the Lord. Gen 3:7, 8, 19. They lost fellowship with the Lord and died spiritually. They did not need to hide.

Isa 59:2, “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid His face from you.”

First Act of Legalism

Sewed fig leaves together – Gen 3:7. Man tried to help himself.

First Act of Grace

Gen 3:8 – the Lord came to them

Adam and Eve were created in the image of God, Gen 1:26, Gen 5:1. His children were in His own likeness after His image, Gen 5:3

The human race is “in Adam,” 1 Cor 15:22. Imputed sin, spiritually dead, and with an old sin nature, inherent sin from which comes all personal sin. This puts the human race behind a barrier, Rom 3:23.

Man could come to God if someone would stand in the middle – A Mediator, a man in the middle. Man is completely hopeless to help himself. John 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them gave He the power, the authority, to become the sons of God.”

A decision in the past to send a Mediator, 1 Pet 1:20. Gen 3:15 is the first promise of salvation. ”There is one Mediator between man and God, the man Christ Jesus.”

Sunday, December 3, 2000

The Secret to the Impact of Christianity is Thinking Divine Viewpoint

1. The only source of Divine Viewpoint is found in the Word of God.
   

2. 1 Cor 2:16 tells us that the Bible is “the mind of Christ.”
   

3. Therefore, I must know the Word of God to know the mind of Christ.
   

4. And then to apply it to realize His will.
   

5. Christianity is not a religion. And religion does not agree here.
   

6. The Bible is a critic of the thoughts and intents of the mind.
   

7. Heb 4:12, “The Word of God is alive and powerful.”
   

8. Our thinking must align with Christ’s thinking. We can’t have peace without it.
   

9. Four representative areas of mental attitude:
   
   A. Worldliness, Rom 12:2
   Worldliness is not what you do, it is what you think.The only answer to mental attitude worldliness is replacing human viewpoint with Divine Viewpoint. This is done through growing in Grace.
   One can have a beautiful outward life, the Pharisees did, and yet be completely shot through with human viewpoint. Col 3:12, “Set your affections on things above, not on things of the Earth.”
   
   B. Peace. Isa 26:3, Phil 4:6-8
   1. Peace is an inner mental attitude.
   2. Peace is not laying down arms and inviting some other foreign power to walk all over you.
   3. This relaxed mental attitude enables one to really enjoy the Christian walk regardless of outward people or circumstances.
   4. What do you do under pressure? When you get upset, think Divine Viewpoint and apply it. Relax. Be calm. Enjoy the battle.
   
   C. Giving – this is always backed up by a basis mental attitude. If you are not in fellowship as a believer, then your mental attitude is not right.
   Don’t give until you use 1 John 1:9 and don’t give because someone pressures you. The right mental attitude will express the fruit of joy. In giving it is the mental attitude that counts.
   
   D. Stability. This is a mental attitude resulting from a frame of reference by growing in Grace.
   Example: David and Goliath. David in his mental attitude thought Divine Viewpoint. He knew that “the battle was the Lord’s,” 1 Sam 17:27. He had that relaxed mental attitude that comes from knowing the mind of Christ.

”As a man thinketh in his mind, so is he.”
”Guard your mind with all diligence, for out of the mind are the issues of life.”
”With the mind man believeth unto salvation.”
”My thoughts are not your thoughts, saith the Lord.”

”What think ye of Christ?”

Four Characteristics of One Mind

1 Pet 3:8, “Finally be ye all of one mind. Having compassion one of another. Love as brethren. Be pitiful. Be courteous.”

1. Characteristic one.
   ”Having compassion” – sympathizes. The Greek word SUMPATHES is literally, “suffering with,” from which we get our English word “sympathy.”
   Believer number one thinking Divine Viewpoint from his frame of reference in a pressure point. Believer number two is under pressure but short circuits. Believer number one communicates the Word to believer number two by which he is helped in orienting to suffering. This connects with “one mind” because you are thinking for them, because at this point they are unable to think.
   
2. Characteristic two.
   “Love as brethren” – PHILADELPHOS. The Greek word PHILEO means rapport love. ADELPHOS is brother.
   This rapport love is a part of maturity, growth, and edification, which is based on knowledge of the Word of God in all facets of the soul – not just the mental attitude. In its application there is compatibility between two believers.
   
3. Characteristic three.
   “Pitiful” – EUSPLAGTHNOS. The Greek word EU is “good.” SPLAGTHNOS means “guts,” i.e., emotions, appreciators.
   A. Success – Mind thinking over emotions.
   B. Failure – Emotions over the mind, not thinking.
   
4. Characteristic four.
   “Courteous” – mental attitude grace. Grace thinking leads to Grace action. A believer who has good manners, which comes from thinking humility of mind, free from pride, gracious, orientation to Grace. We are to treat people in Grace.

In all four characteristics, the believer who has one mind thinks Doctrine. This one mind is the stabilizing factor.

Monday, December 4, 2000

Commands for Victory of the Mental Attitude

A New Mental Attitude is Commanded

Col 3:1-2, 2 Cor 10:4-5, 1 Cor 2:16

The swaying between two viewpoints must be fought from within. Through:
A. Knowledge of the Word of God
B. Application of the Word of God to experience
C. Maintaining fellowship, 1 John 1:9

We are commanded to “let this mind be in us which was also in Christ Jesus,” Phil 2:5. We are to have Divine Viewpoint, the Word of God, in our mind.

In order to know the mind of Christ, 1 Cor 2:16, we must be students of the Word of God. Looking at life from the Divine Viewpoint will give the believer victory, peace, power, and stability. Weapons of our warfare are given in Eph 6:10 and following.

1 Pet 1:13, gird up the loins of your mind.

1 Pet 4:1, be armed with the same mind as the Lord Jesus Christ.

Heb 12:3, lest ye be weary and faint in your mind.

Eph 4:32, mental attitude forgiveness.

Phil 2:3-4, mental attitude consideration of others.

”As a man thinketh in his mind, so is he.”

”Guard your mind with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.”

Grace – The Mental Attitude of Forgiveness

God treats the believer in Grace in salvation, spirituality, and resurrection. Grace means we do not earn or deserve this treatment. God treats us in Grace because of His character, because of who and what He is, not what we are.

The most important mental attitude of one believer toward another is that of Grace, Matt 18:23-28. Grace thinking leads to Grace action. When someone wrongs you, you should forgive as Christ forgave, Col 3:13, Luke 23:34.

A. Put it in the Lord’s hands, Psa 55:22, 1 Pet 5:7
B. No retaliation, Rom 12:9
C. Forgive as Christ forgave, Col 3:13
D. Forget it, Phil 3:13

When another believer hates you, you keep on thinking Doctrine. They have the same position in Christ as you have. They are subject to the same Divine discipline that you are and God can do His own disciplining. He does not need our help. If you interfere, you are subject to triple-compound Divine discipline, Matt 7:1-3.

We treat people in Grace because of who and what we are. We are what we think, Prov 23:7 and we are thinking Grace. You don’t treat them on the basis of their actions, but you treat them on the basis of what you think, not on the basis of what they think. You are in control of the situation when you think Grace, Divine Viewpoint. But you are out of control when you get down on the mental attitude sin level, their level.

”Guard your mind with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.”

December 7, 1941 – Remember Pearl Harbor!

God prepares believers for basic training. 2 Sam 22:35, Psa 18:34, 144:1

Psalm 18:14, “He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.” Psa 144:1, “Blessed be the Lord God, my strength, which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight.”

Note here how the Lord enters into these verses. “A bow of steel” is speaking of decisive defeat and annihilation of the enemy. These two verses are dedicated to the conscientious objectors who enjoy the freedom of a land where men have died to keep it free.

Believers are protected in war by God, Job 5:20. ”In famine,” economic depression, “He shall redeem thee from death. And in war from the power of the sword.” Of course, if it is God’s will for a believer to depart in battle, it is a privilege. But if the believer is to live through the darkest hours of battle, he will.

Remember Pearl Harbor!

Peace propaganda is used as a weapon of warfare, Micah 3:5-7.
Micah 3:5, “False prophets” – these would be like the liberal unsaved clergymen of today.
“People err” – makes them wander, no leadership, literally.
“Bite with their teeth and cry” – means to be childish or unrealistic, lack of common sense, which tells us that they are monsters trying to destroy us.
”Peace” – they are crying peace and the Communists cry peace. But they prepare unjust warfare at the same time. Pearl Harbor.

Micah 3:6, “Therefore, night shall be unto you” – when a nation listens to a bunch of liberal theologians, they are blinded to the Gospel, 2 Cor 4:3-4, and they are blinded as to the danger of war. Liberalism always means non-preparedness. Blinded by peace propaganda, the blind leading the blind.

Micah 3:7, “All cover their lips, for there is no answer of God.” These blind leaders will reach the end of themselves. They have no answer. Nothing at all! One of the greatest invitations to the Communists are the peace platitudes coming from many of the pulpits of America. These pulpits advocate disarmament, world peace movement, visualize world peace. This peace movement is apart from the Word of God and all the time the Communists are planning to destroy us!

War is Used in Scripture as a National Discipline

Judges 5:8, 2 Chr 16:9, Isa 16:3-26, Jer 4:19-31

Judges 5:8 – three principles in one verse:
1. The Jews went apostate – “Choose new gods.”
2. For discipline, they found themselves in a war – “War in the gates”
3. They were caught unprepared, disarmament – “Was there a shield or spear seen?”

2 Chr 16:9 – The Lord is on continuous patrol. “Herein thou hast done foolishly, therefore, from henceforth thou shalt have wars.”

They didn’t take in the Word and apply it, therefore war is brought on for disciplinary purposes.

Isa 3:16-26. Notice in this passage what apostasy does to the women and notice what apostasy does to the men. This is national discipline.

Tuesday, December 5, 2000

Judgment of Satan at the End of the Millennium – Rev 20:10

“Devil” means “accuser.” Satan is a lawyer who pleads “not guilty” for himself and the fallen angels at the first fall of Satan. God sentenced Satan and the fallen angels, Matt 25:41. The sentence is carried out at the end of the Millennium. They are cast into the Lake of Fire, Rev 13.

First, the first beast, the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire. Second, the second beast, the dictator of the Holy Land during the Tribulation. Judgment of the fallen angels is apparently at this time and the sentence is the same, Matt 25:41. Judgment of unbelievers is at the Great White Throne judgment, Rev 20:11-15. They are judged according to their works.

Judgment of the universe, destruction, Rev 20:11, 2 Pet 3. Rev 20:11, “From whose face the Earth and Heaven fled away.” Destruction is prophesied in 2 Pet 3:10-12. Apparently everything goes into a gaseous form and will be used to enlarge the Lake of Fire, to accommodate all the fallen angels and unbelievers, Rev 21:1.

There are believers in physical bodies on the Earth during these judgments, and they will come through unscathed, which is the faithfulness of God. They will receive resurrection bodies before eternity is ushered in.

We Know That All Believers Are Saints and They Are All Priests, But …

Did You Know That All Believers Are Ministers?

The word “minister” is used three ways in Scripture:

1. Those who are in authority in a national entity, believer or unbeliever, for example. A judge, Rom 13:4, ministering a Divine Institution, nationalism.
   
2. Every believer is a minister, 2 Cor 3:6, 6:4
   
3. Pastor of a local church, Eph 3:7, 6:21, Col 1:23, 4:7

The context will determine which one is intended.

When it comes to pastors as ministers, several words are used:

The Second Advent of Satan

Satan is released, goes on parole, after 1,000 years of perfect environment is accomplished, after everyone has had a chance to be saved, and some have turned it down.

Comparison

The first advent of Satan was in the Garden, Gen 3. He found man in perfect environment and spoiled perfect environment.
The second advent of Satan is at the end of the Millennium, Rev 20:7. He finds man in perfect environment and spoils it.

While Satan always promises perfect environment as the solution to man’s problems, as do politicians, he always manages to destroy it with his system based on lies. Satan always promises more than he can perform, and so do politicians.

The devil promotes the idea that man by man’s own efforts can introduce a golden age. So do politicians. And the methods he uses:

Both the termination of 1,000 years and the release of Satan are under the control of the Lord. The purpose of God in letting Satan loose is to demonstrate at the end of time, as was demonstrated at the beginning of time, that the answer to man’s problem is regeneration and Satan cannot accomplish this.

There is no such thing as collective solutions to man’s problems apart from the personal solution to man’s problem, which is regeneration.

Thinking Divine Viewpoint

This is not a warmed-over version of the power of positive thinking. This is a Biblical technique for believers only. It has to do with fellowship based on meditation. It is “looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith,” Heb 12:2.

Occupation with Christ is for believers only. A believer is what he thinks. And this opens up the whole realm of the mental attitude. Prov 23:7, “As a man thinketh in his mind so is he.”

A believer’s physical beauty, success, depends on what he thinks. Often you equate a tough person with a profane vocabulary or someone with a strong physical stature. But toughness is mental attitude. You are not beaten till you give up mentally. This was brought out in Korea where some had “give-up-itis.” They had no desire to live, and if they were left alone for a day or two, they were dead.

There are two ways of thinking. Divine Viewpoint and human viewpoint. Isa 55:7-9 says. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, saith the Lord.” The believer today needs mental attitude Divine Viewpoint. The believer can’t get it without Bible study. Bible study today is rare. The Christian public has stopped studying. It is interesting to note that where the Bible is taught, the believers learn to concentrate, to think, and to be stabilized.

A new believer has mustard seed faith and mustard seed Divine Viewpoint. Maturity is when a believer replaces human viewpoint with Divine Viewpoint and in this way the mind is renewed, Rom 12:2.

Wednesday, December 6, 2000

“The Self-Same Spirit”

We have the Holy Spirit described for us in His unity and sovereignty as the Administrator in the body of Christ. We read, “He divides His gifts to every man severally as He will.”

But, while there is a diversity of gift and administration, He is referred to seven times over as “the same Spirit,” 1 Cor 12:4-11.

The deliberate will here described to God the Holy Spirit implies His personality as the act of giving expresses His Divinity. His will is never self-will, nor is His independence selfishness, as so often in the case with us. He is absolutely disinterested in His actions, and unbiased in His determinations. His claims and His calls are never for His own aggrandizement. They are always for our blessing and benefit.

Night before Christmas, and all through the world,
A message was heard and a challenge was hurled.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,
The sacrifice on the Cross is the way in which Heaven is paved.

Israel and the Promised Land

In Ezek 11:16-17 there are three things to notice in this passage:

1. First, the fact of the dispersion of the nation of Israel. They are a people without a land, scattered abroad like feathers of a pillow that has been torn apart and blown here and there by a mighty wind.
   
2. Secondly, the promise of the Lord “to be a little sanctuary” to the people of His choice, assuring them of His love, care, and protection in spite of all their distress and disloyalty.
   
3. Thirdly, He pledges Himself to recover His people and gather them back to their own land, even as the mother bird gathers her brood under her protecting wing.

Notice how emphatic the Lord is: “I will gather.” “I will be.” “I will give you the land of Israel.” And the authority – “Thus saith the Lord God.”

In View of the Mid-East Crisis – Look at This Promise

Ezek 20:34, 40, 41. The Lord says, “I will bring you out from the peoples (nations), and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm.”

”For in My holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall be all the house of Israel, all them in the land, serve Me.”

”There will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.”

Is there anything clearer?

The Fat is the Lord’s!

The fat and the inwards were specially the Lord’s portion. Lev 3:3, 4.

These are typical of Christ’s inward excellence. In speaking of the “fat,” the word “fat” denotes the excess of excellence. “Who filleth thee with the fat of the wheat?” Psa 147:14. “All the best fat of the wine,” Num 18:12.

Where there is vigor in the powers of the inward being and where that inward vigor is found meet for the altar, there must indeed be perfectness. But where was such perfectness found? Only in Him who gave Himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.

No room at the inn, He died for my sin.

The Gospel of “Unto” is Emphasized in the New Testament Over and Over

”Unto the Lord” is found also in Lev 2:2, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16.

There Are Three Kinds of Offerings

The first was expressive of the gratitude for blessings received, Psa 116:16-17

The second was in fulfillment of promise, Psa 66:13, 15, Psa 116:14,18

The free-will offering generally offered in asking special favor of God, Jud 20:26, 2 Sam 24:25

All this is typical of Christ, who freely gave Himself, John 10:15
Who answered for all our broken vows, Psa 69:4
And Whose sacrifice was gladly rendered on our account, Psa 40:6-8.

Hebrew Honey

The Hebrew word “SHELEM,” meaning sacrifice, is confined to the peace offering. Or, the peace offering should be called, “peace sacrifice.”

In Psa 40:6, where all the four offerings of the first four chapters of Leviticus are enumerated, as side by side as being fulfilled in Christ Himself, the word “sacrifice” stands for “peace sacrifice.” The word “peace” is in the plural number, which is peace of every kind, perfect peace, peace, peace.

Peace that will answer every doubt or uncertainty.

Thursday, December 7, 2000

Melvin Cannon Went Into the Presence of the Lord Wednesday Afternoon

The Lord stood up and pinned on Melvin the medal of honor with the inscription, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

”This isn’t darkness, it’s light.
It’s not groping, it’s sight.
It is not even pleading for my last pain to be wiped away,
It’s sunrise, it’s morning, of my eternal day.”

”How did I ever bear this earthlife before I came up higher?
Before I knew my very own soul’s desire?
Of seeing face to face
The One who loved me
The One who sought me
The One who saved me
By His Grace.”

”Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”

As begotten children of God, we become His heirs and joint-heirs with His Son, Jesus Christ, Rom 8:17 and thus come into an inheritance.

This inheritance is incorruptible because it belongs to the future life, which the risen saints share with God Himself. It is undefiled as our Great High Priest is undefiled, Heb 7:26. The same word it is “non failing,” “not able to whither away,” as a flower would.

The word “reserved” is from TEREO, which means “to watch, to observe, to guard, to protect, to reserve, set aside.” Heaven is the safe deposit box where the Lord is guarding our inheritance for us under constant surveillance.

The participle is in the perfect tense, speaking of a past completed action having present results. We should translate it, “has been laid up and is now kept guarded in safe deposit,” 1 Pet 1:4.

1 Peter 1:5

“Kept” is from PHROUOMENOUS, a present participle implying action constantly going on. It is a military term meaning to guard or protect. Illustrations of its use as “belonging to the guard at SOENOPAEI NESUS at KERKEOSIRIS, which is unguarded and not situated upon the great river.”

While our inheritance is being kept guarded in Heaven under the watchful eye of the Lord, we are being garrisoned about by God’s protecting care for it. This guard is never changed or relieved. No relieving of the guard here. It is on duty 24 hours a day, year in and year out until we arrive safely in Heaven.

This protection is God’s response to our faith, which we have exercised in the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour and which now rests in Him as our Preserver. Our faith lays hold of this power and this power strengthens our faith and thus we are preserved, not pickled.

The salvation spoken of here is the glorification of our bodies. We receive our justification the moment we believe. We are receiving our sanctification, namely victory over sin and growth in the Christian way of life now. We will yet receive that part of salvation which awaits us in glory.

Friday, December 8, 2000

The Pope announced since it has been stated that the Catholic Church is the only way to heaven, any one can go to Heaven “as long as they are good.” But, since there are “none good” (Mark 10:18), then none go to Heaven!

The Pope is like Santa Claus – you have to be good.

But naughty or nice, Christ paid the price!

1 Pet 1:6 – “Wherein”

The word “wherein” is most naturally render by the English readers to the word ”salvation” in verse 5. And it is true that we rejoice in our salvation. But, here the Greek text helps us to the correct interpretation. For the word goes back to “time” since the Greek word “salvation” is feminine in gender, and the word “time” is neuter referring back to the neuter antecedent.

Here we have the value of the Greek. The rules of Greek grammar are just as clear and definite as those of mathematics. It is as simple a matter as putting a round peg in a round hole and square peg in a square hole.

The saints are to rejoice in the last time. That is when they receive their glorified bodies in the Rapture.

”Rejoice” is from a Greek word that means extreme joy expressing itself externally in the exuberant triumph of joy.

Whom Having Not Had a Glimpse, Yet We Believe

We read Thy Word, O Lord, each passing day and in the sacred pages find glad employ, but this we pray, save from the killing letter. Teach my heart, set free from human forms, the holy art of reading Thee in every line, in precept, in prophesy, and sign, till all my vision filled with Thee, Thy likeness shall reflect in me.

Not knowledge, but Thyself my joy, for this we pray.

It is as we free ourselves from the conception of an artist may have of what he thinks the Lord Jesus Christ looked like in His life on Earth and depend upon God the Holy Spirit through the Word to reveal to us the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ that we might come to some true conception of Him in His glorified state.

We will recognize Him in the glory over there. Not by what human artists have conceived Him to be, but by the Holy Spirit’s portrait of Him.

Whom Having Not Seen Yet Ye Love

These saints loved the Lord Jesus Christ even though they had not a glimpse of Him with their physical sense of sight. But one cannot love another unless one has some clear cut conception of that person. One must know the person in order to love him. It was the clear cut conception of the Lord Jesus Christ which God the Holy Spirit had given these saints through the Word of God that caused them to love Him.

The distinctive Greek word for “love” here, AGAPE, refers to a love that is called out of one’s soul by the preciousness of the One loved, but even the preciousness of the Lord would not have made these individuals love Him, if God in salvation had not produced in them the love which He is, with which to love Him. Rom 5:5, Gal 5:22-23.

One must have the nature of an artist to really appreciate and love art. One must have the nature of God, 2 Pet 1:4, to appreciate and love the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is this ideal combination of the study of the Word of God and a definite subjection to the Holy Spirit that results in the clear, vivid, portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ in the spiritual vision of the saint.

To know Him is to love Him.

The Greek Word for Women in Scripture is GUNE – Feminine Gender

The Greek word for soul is PSUCHE – feminine gender
The Greek word for salvation is SOTER – feminine gender.

All three are designed to respond. The woman is designed to respond to her man. The soul is designed to respond to her Lord.

Women are never told to love their husbands in Scripture, because they are responders and respond to received love. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it.

As the bride of Christ, we respond to His love. As a soul, we respond to our Saviour. Salvation is something we receive, but never work for.

1 Pet 1:6-9, “Whom Having Not Seen … Whom Having Not Seen”

The secret of an intimate fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ

The secret of knowing Him in an intimate way is in the moment by moment control of the Holy Spirit over the life of the Christian believer.

Then here in context, Peter draws the same contrast between the present sorrow and future joy, of verse 6, in this verse where he contrasts our present seeing Him with the eye of faith and our future seeing Him face-to-face at the Rapture, at which time we will rejoice with an unspeakable and glorified joy. And at which time we will receive the consummation of our faith, namely the salvation of our souls. Delivered from the presence of sin in the glorification of our physical bodies.

1 Pet 1:7-8, “Whom Having Not Seen”

The Christians to whom Peter was writing were not the personal disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. But they were the converts of the disciples. They had not seen the Lord Jesus Christ on Earth during His incarnate residence here, either when in His humiliation or at the time of the post-resurrection ministry. The Greek says, “Of whom of not having had a glimpse.” Yet they loved Him.

They never saw the Lord Jesus Christ with the physical sense of sight, but what vivid portrait of Him did God the Holy Spirit paint for them on the canvas of their spiritual vision. And that is the perfectly proper order for this age of Grace.

The picture of the earthly Lord in His mortal body seen by human eyes is supplanted now by the picture of the glorified Man in glory painted by the Holy Spirit for the spiritual vision of saints.

Saturday, December 9, 2000

1 Peter 1:7

In this verse we are informed as to the reason and purpose of our trials, namely that the trial of our faith might result in praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

The word “trial” is a translation of DOKIMION – the noun, DOKIMAZO – being the verb of the same root, the latter referring to the act of putting someone or something to the test with a view of determining whether it be worthy of being approved or not – the test being made with the intention of approving, if possible. The word was used of the act of examining candidates for the degree of Doctor of Medicine.

It is the approval of our faith that is to resound to the praise of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Testing times put out faith to the test. And as we are submissive to God and remain faithful to Him and are ready to have Him teach us the lessons He would have us learn through them.

We demonstrate by our actions that the faith we have is a genuine God-given, Holy Spirit-produced faith. This faith and its working in our lives is to be the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is not the testing of our faith that is to be the glory of God, but the fact that our faith has met the test and has been approved that resounds to His glory.

1 Peter 1:7 – The Trial of Your Faith

The fact is that the Lord finds our faith to be one which He can approve is of far more value to Him and His glory than the approved faith. For He has something to work with, a faith He knows can stand the testings and the trials which may come to the Christian.

The fact that God can trust a Christian as one that is dependable is of great value to Him. God is looking for faithful, dependable workers, not necessarily gifted, or educated, or cultured ones.

It is a “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” that will greet the ears of the saint at the judgment seat of Christ. Peter tells us that this approval of our faith is much more precious than the approval of gold, even though that gold be approved through fire-testing.

The word “precious” is TIMÉ, which means most valuable, most costly, most worthy, desirable, and most highly praised.

1 Peter 1:10-12 – Prophets, Angels, and Believers Study the Word of God

Prophets in the past looking forward to the coming of the Lord, angels above looking into the Word of God, and believers in the future looking into the Word of God. Peter says the angels desire to look into these things. The word “desire” is a strong one, referring to a passionate desire.

To “look into” is the translation of a compound verb, PARAKUPTO, used in Luke 24:12 and John 20:5, 11, of Peter and John and Mary stooping down and looking into the empty tomb. The word means to look at with the head bent forward and to look into with the body bent to stoop and look into. Metaphorically it means to look carefully into, to inspect curiously. It is used in the latter sense in this passage. The preposition PARA prefixed to the verb means, “beside” and it is used at times with a case denoting separation.

Thus, the angels peer into the mysteries of the Church Truth from beside it like cherubim bending over the mercy seat, where man has access to God through a substitutionary Sacrifice that cleanses him from sin. They are not participants in salvation but are spectators of it.

I wish we had the intense desire for the Word of God that angels do.

To Depart to be With the Lord is Better

Two of our Christian friends departed to be with the Lord. We know of Melvin Cannon and we now understand that Mrs. Nesbitt also when home to be the Lord almost at the same time.

Mrs. Nesbitt is the mother of Allen Nesbitt, a good friend of ours for years and a supporter of our ministry.

Melvin left here from Seguin, Texas and Mrs. Nesbitt left here from Dallas, Texas.

They finished their course. They kept the faith. And they fought a good fight. And now no more sorrows no more pain and no more death and mo more tears. This Christmas with Christ.

Angels Are Watching You!

Paul says that the apostles are “made a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men,” 1 Cor 4:9.

How the angels watch the saints. How they wonder at creatures once totally depraved now living holy lives that glorify God.

It is in the Church that they catch the supreme view of God’s love, sinners saved by Grace, raised to a seat in the heavenly places in Christ. The Church is God’s university for angels. “To the intent that now to the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be made know by the instrumentality of the Church the manifold wisdom of God.”

If you are unable to leave the house or the hospital, you can still witness and that is to angels. They can learn from you the Grace of God.

Sunday, December 10, 2000

Wise Men Seek Him!

Wise Men Still Seek Him!

After all, you don’t want to be lying to your children like some do about Santa Claus.

Matt 2:7-8, “Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and search diligently for the Young Child, and when you have found Him, bring me word again and I will come and worship Him also.”

Wise men: It doesn’t say three! In fact, there were more than three!

Matt 2:11, “When they were come into the house, they saw the Young Child with Mary, His mother, and fell down and worshipped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts – gold and frankincense and myrrh.”

”And when they come into the house” – They never made it to the manger.
”They saw the Young Child” – Not a babe any longer.

It took the Maji about two years to find Christ. They went seeking Him. But He came seeking you. “To seek and save those who are lost.”

You will have to take those three wise men out of the nativity scene.

But don’t take Christ out of Christmas.

1 Pet 1:15, “It is Written”

This is a translation of a verb in the perfect tense in the Greek which tense speaks of a past completed action having present results. ”It has been written and as a present result is on record.”

Peter is quoting from Lev 11:44, which was written by the stylus of Moses, the inspired man of God, 1500 B.C., and probably on clay tablets. At the time of the writing of this letter, A.D. 60, Peter spoke of Moses’ words as still on record, the eternal, unchangeable Word of God.

Our Lord used the same expression in Matt 4:4, 7. And Satan used it in Matt 4:6 when misquoting Psa 91:11-12, “It is written … It is written … It is written.”

1 Pet 1:17, “If”

This “if” does not introduce a hypothesis, but a fulfilled condition. Since, or in view of the fact, is the idea in the word, a first class condition: if and it is true. These to whom Peter was writing were Christians and they were calling upon the Father. The idea in the Greek is this:

In view of the fact that you call on Him as Father, that is that they recognized God as their Father since they had been brought into the family of God by salvation, they appealed to Him as a child would to his Father.

What a blessed thought to give us encouragement in our prayers. Faith that the answer is sure and a sweet feeling of nearness to God.

To think that He is our Father and we are His children. To think that He regards us as His children and thus the objects of His special care and love.

1 Pet 1:17-21

Peter describes the Father as being one, “Who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work.”

”Without respect of persons” is the translation of one word in the Greek that means literally, “Does not receive face.” That is God does not receive anybody’s face.

He is impartial. Outward appearance, wealth, culture, social position, family background, education, beauty, intellect, all things that more or less sway the opinions of men, do not count with God when it comes to appraising a person’s character of worthiness.

”The Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the mind,” 1 Sam 16:7.

Peter says that God judges each man’s work with impartiality. His impartiality is an honest appraisal.

1 Pet 1:19, “Precious”

The Greek word “precious” has a two-fold meaning:

The blood of Christ is costly, essentially and instrinsically precious because it is God’s blood, Acts 20:28. For Deity became incarnate in humanity. For that reason it is highly honored by God the Father.

The order of the words in the Greek text is beautiful. It was not little silver and gold coins which set these Christians free from sin, but the blood of Christ.

Monday, December 11, 2000

A Mixed Marriage!

At physical birth the soul is joined to the body. This “marriage” may last some hundred years. The soul is from the Lord, the breath of the Lord. The body is of the ground, earthly. The soul is eternal and the body is temporal. The soul is immaterial and the body is material.

The soul’s desire is to leave this body, this mixed marriage. For as long as this soul is in this body, the soul is absent from the Lord. But when the soul leaves the body, it is face-to-face with the Lord.

The soul wants to leave this body and be with the Lord and receive its right body – a resurrection body – because while in this body we do groan, waiting to be clothed upon with our house from Heaven. The body does not want to let the soul go and it hangs on tenaciously because when the soul goes, the “tent” falls to the ground. The life of the flesh is in the soul.

So then death, departure, or the Rapture is the Lord just separating this soul from this body and breaking up this mixed marriage and making the right marriage for the soul.

And they live happily forever … Eternally ... Then there is domestic tranquility.

1 Peter 1:18 – Tradition

This manner of life they had received by tradition from their fathers. The phrase “received by tradition from their fathers” is the translation of one Greek word that means literally, “given from Father.” This is this futile manner of life that was passed down to the son from the father through the channels of heredity, teaching, example, and environment.

The child is born in sin, that is, comes into being with a totally depraved nature. If the parents are unsaved, it comes into a home where evil customs and practices are observed. What the child inherits, Peter calls a futile manner of life.

From this futile manner of life the recipients of this letter were delivered.

1 Peter 1:21 – Believe

The words translated in the Greek text “do believe” refer to the identity of the recipients, speaking of the fact that they were believers, rather than the act of believing.

”From” is the translation of a preposition meaning “out from.”
”Dead” refers not to the state of death, but to individuals who are dead. It is a plural noun in the Greek.

Our Lord was raised out from among those who were dead. They stayed in that condition called death, whereas He was given life.

This belief in God, of which Peter speaks, is faith in the Lord who saves sinners in answer to their faith, in the resurrected Lord who died for them.

1 Peter 1:22-25, “Love for the Brethren”

The recipients of this letter had purified their souls with the result that they came to love their Christian brethren with an “unfeigned love.”

The implication being clear that at one time these Christians were guilty of feigning love for certain of their brothers in Christ. The word “unfeigned” is the translation of the Greek word from which we get our word “hypocrite,” with the letter alpha prefixed which means not a hypocrite.

The Greek word of “hypocrite” was used of an actor on the Greek stage, one who played the part of another. The word means literally “to judge under” and was used of someone giving off his judgment from behind a screen or a mask.

Some of these to whom Peter was writing had put a mask of feigned love over their usual countenance when associating with certain others of their brethren.

Thought for the Day!

“Where sin abounded Grace did much more abound.”

Sin: “By the sweat of the brow, thou shalt work.”
Grace: “By the crown of thorns on His brow, thou shalt rest.”

1 Peter 2:3, “If You Have Tasted”

The “if” is a fulfilled condition, a first class condition. They, as new-born babes, had tasted the Word of God and had found in it that the Lord was Gracious. The word “Gracious” is the translation of a Greek word used in Luke 5:39 where it is translated, “better.”

The word means literally, “excellent.”

”Taste and see that the Lord is excellent.”

2 Pet 2:1, “Laying Aside …”

“Laying aside” is from a participle that has an imperative force.

In view of the fact that the Divine life has been imparted to the believer, it is imperative that he once and for all put away any sins that may be in his life.

The preposition prefixed to the verb implies separation. The believer is commanded to separate himself from sin. This act of separating himself from sin is a once and for all action as the tense of the participle suggests.

Peter then singles out five sins that the recipients of this letter were guilty of:

Taken over into the New Testament, it refers to a person we call a hypocrite, one who assumes the mannerisms, speech, and character of someone else, thus hiding his true identity.

Christianity requires that believers should be open and above board. They should be themselves. Their lives should be like an open book, easily read.

The words “evil speaking” are in the Greek text “speaking down” – a person referring to the act of defaming and slandering and speaking against another.

1 Peter 2:8, “A Stone of Stumbling”

The words “a Stone of Stumbling” are a translation of “LITHOS,” a loose stone in the path. And “PROSKOMMATOS,” meaning to cut against, which altogether means an obstacle against which one strikes.

The words “Rock of Offence” are from “PETRA,” a ledge rising out of the ground. And “SKANDALON,” a trap set to trip one. Our word scandal comes from this word.

These who are disobedient, the literal Greek word has it “non-pursuable,” are appointed to stumble at the Word, which is the penalty for refusing to believe it.

By faith we understand Heb 11:3 is the God-ordained way. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”

Thus, unbelievers find the Living Stone, which is precious to believers, an Obstacle against which they strike, and a Scandal that which offends them.

Wednesday, December 13, 2000

A Veteran at Christmas

Before Christmas
He lived all alone
In a one bedroom house
Made of plaster and stone.

I had come down the chimney
With presents to give
And to see just who
In this house did live.

I looked all about
A strange sight I did see
No tinsel, no presents
Not even a tree.

No stocking by mantle
Just boots filled with sand
On the wall hung pictures
Of far distant lands.

With medals and badges
Awards of all kinds
A sober thought
Came through my mind.

For this house was different
It was dark and dreary
I found the home of a soldier
Once I could see clearly.

The soldier lay sleeping
Silent, alone
Curled up on the floor
In this one bedroom home.

The face was so gentle
The room in such disorder
Not how I pictured
A United States soldier.

Was this the hero
Of whom I just read?
Curled up on a poncho,
The floor for a bed?

I realized the families
That I saw this night
Owed their lives to these soldiers
Who were willing to fight.

Soon round the world
The children would play
And grownups would celebrate
A bright Christmas day.

They all enjoyed freedom
Each month of the year
Because of the soldiers
Like the one lying here.

I couldn't help wonder
How many lay alone
On a cold Christmas Eve
In a land far from home.

The very thought
Brought a tear to my eye
I dropped to my knees
And started to cry.

The soldier awakened
And a heard a rough voice
”Santa don’t cry”
This life is my choice.

I fight for freedom
I don’t ask for more
My life is my God,
My country, my corps.

The soldier rolled over
And drifted to sleep,
I couldn’t control it
I continued to weep.

I kept watch for hours
So silent and still
And we both shivered
From the cold night’s chill.

I didn’t want to leave
On that cold, dark, night
This guardian of honor
So willing to fight.

Then the soldier rolled over
With a voice soft and pure
Whispered “Carry on Santa”
”It’s Christmas Day, all is secure.”

One look at my watch
And I knew he was right
”Merry Christmas, my friend,
And to all a good night.”

1 Peter 1:24 – “Bare”

The word “bare” is the translation of a word used in the LXX, of the priest carrying the sacrifice up to the altar. The brazen altar was four and a half feet high. And was approached by an incline up which the priest bore the sacrifice. LXX is the Greek translation of the Old Testament Hebrew. This word belongs to the idea of sacrifice and it is not to be disassociated from it.

The Greek word translated “tree” does not refer to a literal tree, but to an object fashioned out of wood, in this case, the Cross. Thus, our Lord Himself, the High Priest, and the Sacrifice, carried our sins as a burden of guilt up to the Cross.

This phrase “being dead to sins” is literally, “having become off with respect to sins.” It speaks of the action of God in breaking the power of the sinful nature in the sinner when he puts his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Saviour. Henceforth, he need not be a slave to sin.

1 Pet 1:24 – “By His Stripes”

The word “stripes” in the Greek presents a picture of our Lord’s lacerated back after the scourging He endured at the hands of the Roman soldier. The Romans used a scourge of cords or throngs to which were attached pieces of lead or brass, or small, sharp-pointed bones.

Criminals condemned to crucifixion were ordinarily scourged before being executed – Capital punishment Roman style.

The victim was stripped to the waist and bound in a stooping position, with the hands behind the back, to a post or a pillar. The suffering under the lash was intense. The body was frightfully lacerated.

The Christian martyrs at Smyrna about A.D. 155 were so torn by the scourges that their veins were laid bare and the inner muscles and sinews and even the bowels were exposed.

The Greek word “stripes” refers to a bloody wale trickling with blood that arises under a blow. The word is singular not plural.

Peter remembered the body of our Lord after the scourging. The flesh so dreadfully mangled that the disfigured Form appeared in his eyes as one single bruise.

1 Peter 1:24 – “Stripes”

Thus we have the picture of the Suffering Servant of the Lord. His blessed face so pummeled by the hard fists of the mob, that it did not look like a human face anymore. His back lacerated by the Roman scourge so that it was one big mass of open, raw, quivering flesh, trickling with blood. His heart torn with anguish because of the bitter, caustic, malevolent words hurled at Him. On that bleeding lacerated back was laid the Cross.

This was all for the unsaved, just as if there were only one lost person in the universe. The Lord Jesus Christ died for you, in your stead, and took your place on the Cross. He paid your penalty. So that God could offer a salvation from sin based upon a justice satisfied. Right now you can appropriate Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour.

The blood of Christ heals our sin in that He, by one offering, put away sin forever. There is no room here for the healing of illness through the blood of Christ. The Cross was a purely judicial matter.

One goes to a hospital when one is ill, and to a law court to take care of legal matters. In the great law court of the universe, the Great Judge offers mercy on the basis of justice satisfied at the Cross. The matter of bodily illness is not mentioned in the context.

The Greek word used here is not confined in its meaning to physical healing. In Luke 4:18 it refers to the alleviation of heartaches, and in Heb 12:13, to the rectifying of one’s conduct. In Matt 13:15 it means “to bring about one’s salvation.”

This passage, therefore, cannot be made to teach the erroneous Doctrine that healing of the body is to be found in the atonement, as salvation from sin is found at the Cross. The context in which the word is found clearly decides the meaning of the word here, not that of the healing of the body, but that of the salvation of the soul.

1 Pet 2:25 – “Bishop”

The word “bishop” is the translation of the same Greek word rendered “visitation” in verse 12. God is the bishop of the souls of Christians in the sense that He is the Overseer of their spiritual welfare. We have the all-seeing eye of our loving Lord always upon us, watching tenderly over us in order that He may nurture our spiritual growth and keep us from falling into temptation which the world, the flesh, and the devil are ever placing before us.

It is for us to be ever mindful of the Lord’s loving care over us and of the responsibility we have to take in and obey His Word. The Right-Man for the Right-Woman is also called the bishop of your soul.

A great and mighty wonder
A full and blessed cure.
The rose has come to blossom
Which shall always endure.

The Word has dwelt among us
The true Light from on high.
And cherubim sing anthems
to shepherds, from the sky.

While thus they sing your monarch
Those bright angelic bands
Rejoice, ye vales and mountains
Ye oceans, clap your hands.

Since all He comes to succor
By all be He adored,
The Infant born in Bethlehem
The Saviour and the Lord.

And idol forms shall perish
And error shall decay.
And Christ shall wield His sceptre
Our Lord and God today.

Angels from the realm of glory
Wing your flight over all the Earth
Ye who sang creation’s story
Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.

Shepherds in the fields abiding
Watching over your flocks by night,
God with man is now residing
Yonder shines the Infant Light.

Sages, leave your contemplations
Brighter visions beam afar
Seek the great desire of nations
Ye have seen His natal star.

Saints before the altar bending
Watching lone in hope and fear
Suddenly the Lord, descending
In His temple shall appear.

Though an infant now we view Him
He shall fill His Father’s throne
Gather all the nations to Him
Every knee shall then bow down.

1 Pet 3:12 – God and Our Prayers

The word “over” is literally, “upon.” The eyes of the Lord are directed in favorable sense for the good of those are righteous.

”Unto” is literally, “into.” God’s ears are “into” the prayers of the righteous. What a picture of God bending down “into” the very prayers of His children, earnestly listening to their petitions, eager to answer them and come to the aid of those who pray.

We have no far-off Deity to make petitions. We do not have to plead with God to make Him willing to answer our prayers. He is more desirous of answering them than we are to have them answered.

1 Peter 4:13 – Suffering

Instead of thinking as alien to them, they are exhorted not only to expect such suffering, but to rejoice in the fact that they can be partakers of Christ’s sufferings.

The word “inasmuch” is rather “in so far as” that is the Christian has no cause for rejoicing because of suffering that is brought out by his own misdoing. But in so far as suffering is the result of doing well, he has cause for rejoicing.

His rejoicing arises from the fact that he shares in common with Christ, in suffering for righteousness sake. These sufferings of Christ which we share in common with Him are not His expiatory sufferings on the Cross.

But His suffering for righteousness’ sake while enduring the opposition of sinners previous to the Cross.

Paul speaks of the same things in Col 1:24.

1 Peter 5:6 – Humble Yourselves

The words “humble yourselves” are not in the aorist middle, but the passive voice, which is the voice of Grace, which means that the subject of the verb is passive in the hands of God and acted upon by Him.

The exhortation is “be humbled” or “suffer yourselves to be humbled.”

The humbling process which God was using was the persecution and suffering through which these Christians were passing.

Peter exhorts these believers to react towards these in a God-honoring way. To be submissive to the discipline which God was using to make them more humble, gracious.

But with this exhortation comes also a note of comfort and hope in that the prerequisite that God demands before he will exalt that Christian to a high place of privilege and honor in His service.

He must take a low place before God, who would take a high place before men.

Thursday, December 14, 2000

Luke is the Gospel for the Sinner

It brings out the compassionate love of Christ in becoming man to save us. It traces our Lord’s descent back to Adam. And shows Him as the Son of man and the Son of God, the Saviour for the whole human race. “The Son of the Highest” and the Son of the lowly virgin.

Instead of the visit of the Magi, Luke tells us of the humble shepherds to whom was announced the tidings of peace to all people. “To you is born a Saviour” and there among the cattle, the Saviour’s first quests would feel themselves at home. “Mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation,” said the aged Simeon as he took the Holy Child in his arms. And Anna “spake of Him to all that looked for redemption in Israel.”

We find Him beginning His ministry by taking His place in the synagogue at Nazareth, and applying to Himself the Gracious Words of Isaiah, which proclaimed His ministry of mercy to the broken hearted.

Luke Alone Tells Us ...

Luke Records the Lord’s Compassion to the Widow of Nain …

One of the Chief Features of John’s Gospel is our Lord’s Personal Interviews With Individuals

The Lord deals with the individual, not the masses. Christianity is a personal relationship with God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ.

In all these He disclosed Himself as the Friend of the soul.

”Greater love hath no man than to lay down His life for His friends.”

”Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. I have called you friends.”

The “I Am” in John’s Gospel Shows How Perfectly He Meets the World’s Need.

What does the world need?

In the Greek is it “EGO EIMI,” I am. This identifies Him with the JEHOVAH of the Old Testament.

Christmas 2000 A.D.

We celebrate Christmas and miss the bliss.
We exchange gifts with a mistletoe kiss.
We drink and sing and have a good time.
And miss the message of Isaiah’s sign.

The Baby in the manger, no room in the inn.
That is not where salvation for us did begin.
Long before the Babe was born
Long before the heavens were torn.

God existed in eternity past.
The plan for man was already cast.
God took on flesh and we beheld Him,
The One who came and died for our sin.

The wise men followed His star from the east.
The good news of peace will never cease.
Angels, shepherds, loudly all proclaim
There is salvation in no other Name.

They called Him “Immanuel,” God with us.
Now there is one that we all can trust.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
The streets of Heaven with His blood are paved.

Merry Christmas to you and all of yours.
Hope for the new year with Christ just soars.
Gifts which were exchanged remind us of Him.
The victory of the Cross He did win.

Happy new year, also you can share
Because Christ your sins He did bare.
He is coming again to take us home
No longer as pilgrims will we roam.

Absent from the body and face to face with the Lord,
It is all promised and written for us in His Word.
Behold I show you a mystery, we shall not all die.
Christ will descend and we will fly high in the sky.

The Purpose of the Book of John is Stated and Illustrated!

What is the purpose of the book of John?

John 20:31, “But these things are written that (purpose clause) ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, they might have life through His Name.”

Accordingly we find the word “believe” (PISTEUO) occurring nearly 100 times through John’s Gospel. And the word “witness” nearly 50 times.

For beginning with the Baptist, John 1:6, 7, John called in one witness after another to give evidence in proving the case. See especially chapter 5:31-40.

1 and 2 Corinthians and the Foolishness of the Message

1. The foolishness of the message.
   Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Gentiles foolishness.
   
2. The power of the message.
   Christ, the power of God to those who are saved.
   
3. The foolishness of the Messenger.
   His weakness from the human side.
   
4. The power of the Messenger.
   The all sufficiency of Christ.
   

The Theme of Paul in the Book of Corinthians

1. Christ crucified – 1 Cor 1:13-24
   
2. He determined to know nothing else among them – 1 Cor 2:2
   
3. Christ, the only Foundation – 1 Cor 3:11
   
4. Christ our Passover sacrificed for us – 1 Cor 5:7
   
5. Christ our smitten Rock – 1 Cor 10:4
   
6. One Lord Jesus Christ – 1 Cor 8:6
   
7. The blood of the New Covenant – 1 Cor 10:16, 11:25
   
8. His death for our sins according to the Scriptures – 1 Cor 15:3
   
9. We preach Christ Jesus the Lord – 2 Cor 4:3
   
10. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ that the life also of Christ may be manifested – 2 Cor 4:10-11
    
11. Christ died for all – 2 Cor 5:15
    
12. He was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him – 2 Cor 5:21

I think there is enough in the theme of Corinthians to last a life time!

The Power of the Cross as the Ground for Our so Great Salvation

1. The power of Christ’s Cross to deliver from sin – Gal 1:4, 11, 21; 3:22
   

2. The power of Christ’s Cross to deliver from the curse of the law – Gal 3:13
   

3. The power of Christ’s Cross to deliver from the self life – Gal 2:20, 24
   

4. The power of Christ’s Cross to deliver from the world – Gal 6:14
   

5. The power of Christ’s Cross in the new birth – Gal 4:4-7
   

6. The power of Christ's Cross in receiving the Spirit – Gal 3:14
   

7. The power of Christ’s Cross in bringing forth the Spirit’s fruit – Gal 5:22-25
   

Friday, December 15, 2000

One of the Many Things You Receive at the Point of Salvation Is:

“Fellowship with the Lord in time,” found in 1 John. John wrote his Gospel in order “that men might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing, they might have life through His Name,” John 20:31.

He wrote his epistle in order that “those who believed on Christ might know they have eternal life,” 1 John 5:9-13. Consequently, we find the word “believe” running through and always characterizing his Gospel.

So in 1 John we have the word “know” running through his epistle. John gives the evidence for his own knowledge that he “has heard and seen and handled the Word of life,” Jesus Christ.

So, he seeks to bring his hearers “into intimate knowledge and fellowship with the Father and with the Son that their joy may be full.” 1 John 1:3, 1 John 1:4, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:13, 1 John 2:14.

Fellowship with God in Time Rests on Salvation Through the Atoning Work of Christ

Found in these passages:

1 John 1:7, 9; 1 John 2:1, 2, 12; 1 John 3:5, 16; 1 John 4:9, 10, 14; 1 John 5:11-13

It is received by faith – 1 John 3:23, 1 John 5:1, 2

And this faith results in:

The result of faith.

The Book of Jude and What to “Keep” and/or Guard

First we are told to keep the faith. “Contend earnestly.” The word is the same as “strive, agonize” found in Luke 13:24, “for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints,” verse 3.

Secondly, “We are to keep ourselves in the love of God” “that He may be able to keep us,” verse 21. Jude uses the word “keep” ironically in verse 6. The angels “which kept not their first estate are kept in chains unto judgment.” In verse 13, the same word “kept” is used of sinners is “kept the blackness of darkness forever.”

Third, “The Lord is able to keep us from falling.” It is a stronger word used here, “guard,” showing Christ’s power to protect us from the perils Jude has been enumerating and finally to “present us faultless before the presence of His glory in that great day.”

The Book of Revelation – Christ the Lamb of God

The majestic presence of the eternal Son of God fills the last Book of the Bible with the glimpses it gives us of His glory throughout the eternal future. “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

One with the Father and one with the Holy Spirit. ”Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” The Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel’s land.

Notice in particular these two verses. Rev 13:8 takes us back to the earliest ages. “The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Rev 5:6, John’s vision of the future shows us till all eternity “a Lamb as it had been slain.” Between these two verses we have the progressive teaching of the whole Bible with regard to the Lamb of God.

John 1:29, “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.”

The Eternal Lamb of God

God’s eternal purpose for our salvation is seen behind all these Scriptures.

It is the Book of Revelation, which contains the title “Lamb” no less than 26 times, emphasizing thereby the increasing value of the sacrificial nature of Christ in the last dark times. Revelation is not hard to understand it is a study of the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Approach it that way.

Revelation and the Lamb of God Which Taketh Away the Sin of the World

Rev 5:6, the Lamb is one with the Lion of the tribe of Judah. John looked up expecting to see a lion, and “He saw a Lamb as it had been freshly slain.”

The same thought is brought out in that remarkable expression, “The wrath of the Lamb,” Rev 6:16.

When ever you look up, you will always see a Lamb freshly slain. For there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Where others may see a Lion, we always see a Lamb ... slain.

Revelation, in Connection With Some of the Strongest Words Relative to the Future Judgment, Also Has These Words Which Also Fell From the Lips of the Lord of Love

Rev 7:14, “Salvation through the blood of the Lamb.”
Rev 12:11, “Victory through the blood of the Lamb.”
Rev 5:12, 13, “The new song of eternity will be ‘Worthy is the Lamb which was slain’.”
Rev 5:8, “The worship of the Lamb.”
Rev 7:17, The Lamb identified with the Good Shepherd of John’s Gospel.
Rev 13:8, “The Lamb’s Book of Life,” 21:27, 22:19.
Rev 14:1-4, “The faithful followers of the Lamb.”
Rev 17:14, ‘The victory of the Lamb over all His enemies.”
Rev 19:13, 16, The Lamb is identified with the Word of God of John’s Gospel.
Rev 19:7, 9 and 21:1-9, The bride of the Lamb and the marriage supper of the Lamb identifying Him with the Bridegroom of John’s Gospel.
Rev 21:22, The Lamb and the Lord God Almighty are the temple of the New Jerusalem.
Rev 21:23, The Lamb is the Light of the Heavenly City identifying Him with the Light of the world in John’s Gospel.

The Holy Spirit and the Scriptures will not let us forget that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.

The last chapter contains Christ’s thrice-uttered Word. His last recorded Word to His Church, “Behold I come quickly, Amen.” “Even so, Come Lord Jesus.”

Saturday, December 16, 2000

Jeremiah’s Questions and Jesus Christ’s Answers

“How shall I pardon thee?” Jer 5:7, Eph 1:7

”How shall I put them among the children?” Jer 3:19, John 1:12

”Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no Physican there?” Jer 8:22, Matt 9:12

”Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” Jer 13:23, Acts 8:37, 2 Pet 3:14

”How will thou do in the swelling of the Jordan?” Jer 12:5, 1 Cor 15:55-57

”Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?” Jer 13:20, Col 1:28, Heb 13:17

Texts in Jeremiah Which Supply for Gospel Messages

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved,” Jer 8:20

”There is nothing too hard for Thee,” Jer 32:17

”The time of their visitation,” Jer 8:7, 12

”My people have been lost sheep, they have forgotten their resting place,” Jer 50:6

”They shall ask their way to Zion, with their faces thitherward,” Jer 50:5

”Ask for the old paths and ye shall find rest for your souls,” Jer 6:16

”Ye shall seek Me and find Me when ye shall search for Me with all your heart,” Jer 29:13

”I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee,” Jer 31:3

”I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil,” Jer 29:11

”My Word is like a fire and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces,” Jer 22:29

”The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked,” Jer 17:9

The Book of Jeremiah Throws Much Light on the Subject of Inspiration

It is a helpful study to take your Bible and beginning with the first verse, to mark all the expressions which assert or imply that God spoke by Jeremiah, such as, ”Thus saith the Lord.” “The Lord said unto me.” “The Word of the Lord came.” Such expressions occur sometimes a dozen times in one chapter and in them Jeremiah unhesitantly claims inspiration.

As we read on, a scene arises before us. We see Jeremiah in prison. The rulers have bound him that they be no longer troubled by the Word of God. God tells him to take a roll and write in it all the Words that He had spoken unto him, from the days of Josiah unto that day. We can picture the prophet in the dimly-lighted dungeon with his faithful friend, Baruch, at his side, busily writing down the Words on the roll as the prophet spake them. ”And Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord which He had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.”

And Jeremiah commanded Baruch saying, “I am shut up. I cannot go into the house of the Lord, therefore, go thou, and read in the roll which thou hast written from my mouth ‘the Words of the Lord’ in the ears of the people, in the Lord’s house upon the fasting day.”

Sounds like a Bible class to me.

Jeremiah chapter 14, verses 1-9 talk about a grievous famine which may be applied to a spiritual picture of the soul that has known the Saviour and has backslidden from Him, broken fellowship. ”It is a parched land, no water, no rain, no grass, no herbage.”

The Lord is as a stranger in the land. “As a mighty man that cannot save.” How graphically this describes many a soul whose own sin and unbelief are “limiting the Holy One of Israel.”

Jeremiah is the book for backsliders. It reveals the tenderness of the Lord’s love and contains His Gracious invitation to them, and their resolve with regard to Him.

”Return ye backsliding children and I will heal your backslidings.”

”Behold we come unto Thee, for Thou art the Lord our God,” Jer 3:22

Inspiration and the Book of Jeremiah – Part Two

After Baruch has read the Word to the people, he was sent for by the Royal Council and commanded to read it to them. The great officials of Jerusalem said unto him, “Tell us now, how didst thou write all these words at his mouth?” Then Baruch answered them, “He pronounced all these words with his mouth and I wrote them with ink in a book.”

They afterwards brought the roll to the king. And here another scene arises. We are no longer in the dark dungeon, but in the winter palace of Jehoiakim, surrounded by all the magnificent luxury of an eastern court. When the monarch had heard three or four leaves of the roll, he had heard enough. And he asked for the roll and cut it into pieces with a penknife, and cast it into the fire that was upon the hearth.

It was his last chance, his last offer of mercy. As he threw the torn fragments of the roll on the fire, he threw there, in symbol, his royal house, his doomed city, the temple, and all the people of the land.

Jeremiah and Baruch were ordered to be taken and would no doubt have been treated with like ferocity. “But the Lord hid them.”

Iin their seclusion, another task was set them. The Lord commanded Jeremiah to take another roll and to write in it. “All the words of the Book which Jehoiakim, King of Judah, had burned in the fire and there were added besides unto them many like words.”

The Word of God abideth and liveth for ever.

Sunday, December 17, 2000

There is a very beautiful representation of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Book of Ezekiel that may have been missed by some. We have not far to seek to find “Christ in Ezekiel.”

The prophet beholds Him in a vision in the very first chapter. For surely the “Man” upon the throne can be none other than the Only-Begotten Son, the Representative of the only invisible God. We recognize in this vision the prophetic announcement of the Holy Incarnation. The details of the vision seen by the captive on the banks of the Chebar correspond minutely with the details of the vision of the captive in the isle called Patmos.

Over 80 points of contact may be found between the two books. As there is no doubt Who is designated by John, we cannot but recognize in the vision of Ezekiel the glory of God in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ezekiel saw “a throne as an appearance of a sapphire stone, and the likeness as the appearance of a Man above upon it.” John saw “a throne set in the Heavens and one sat on the throne.” They both saw the rainbow, the token of the covenant. They both saw “the terrible crystal” of the purity of God’s presence, which nothing can evade.

To Ezekiel it appeared as a firmament. To John, as a sea of glass. They both had a vision of burning lamps of the fire of God’s Spirit. And of the four living creatures whose sound was as the sound of many waters, Ezek 1:24, Rev 19:4-6.

Christ is seen in Ezekiel without a doubt.

A Watchman

The Lord sent Ezekiel to be a watchman. He told him not to be afraid of the people, but to give them warning. And that if he did not so, He would require their blood at his hands.

Chapters 3 and 33:
These chapters set before us very plainly our personal responsibility in giving the Lord’s message and warning to men of sin. Paul was as faithful in doing this that he was able to say, “I am pure from the blood of all men,” Acts 20:26.

A Sign

The Lord Sent Ezekiel to be a Sign

”Ezekiel is unto you a sign,” Ezekiel 24:24, 4:3, 12:11. This portrayal of the imaginary siege of Jerusalem was no doubt exactly calculated to make the men of those times “think.” For God fits His signs to the times. “Behold I give you a sign, a virgin …”

In the British museum, a part of a similar tile of the same date may be seen, with a plan of Babylon drawn upon it. To be God’s sign to the people, Ezekiel willingly sacrificed all his private interests. He was willing to lie in any position God told him. To smite with his hand or strike with his foot, to go forth into the plain or to shut himself up within his house. To sacrifice his personal appearance and to eat his food by the weight, to move house at a day’s notice.

The severest test of all was when God took away the desire of his eyes and commanded him not to weep. He who wept by the grave of Lazarus understands the sorrow of our human souls and does not rebuke us for it. But He needed Ezekiel as a sign and so He commanded him not to weep for his own private grief, but to weep bitterly for the sins of his people. Ezekiel 24:15, 16, Ezekiel 21:6, 7.

The Glory of the Lord!

The key note of the book of Ezekiel is “the glory of the Lord,” that is His manifested presence. It occurs 12 times in the first 11 chapters. Then there is a great gap. And we do not meet with it again till the 43rd chapter.

The glory of the Lord was grieved away from the temple at Jerusalem by the idolatry of the people, and not till the city had been overturned to the uttermost could the glory come back and take up its abode in the new temple. The message was “Ye have defiled My sanctuary,” therefore, “I will make thee waste.”

Through several chapters the prophet is commanded to declare the judgments that were coming on the land on account of the “detestable things” and the “abominations” which the people had introduced into the sanctuary.

In the 8th chapter, Ezekiel is spiritually transported from the land of Chaldeans to Jerusalem, and in a vision sees the four kinds of grievous idolatries which were practiced in the courts of the Lord’s house. Even to the worshipping of the sun, with their faces to the east and their backs to the sanctuary.

Ezekiel’s Vision of a River – Chapter 47

If we are filled with the Spirit, there must be an overflow to others. This brings us to the vision of the river in Ezekiel 47. Whatever in the future application of this chapter to Israel, its spiritual application is to us today.

The Lord wants to make His rivers of blessing flow out through every saved soul, John 7:37-39, “Are we as workers for the Lord ministering the spirit,” to others.

The rivers issued out from the sanctuary. It is only from the presence of the Lord that we can go forth to bless others. It was from the “south side” of the altar, pointing again to the place of sacrifice as the source of the blessing.

”A pure river of water of life, clear as a crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” “A Lamb as it had been slain.”

Monday, December 18, 2000

In the Book of Ezekiel, “Son of Man” is Used Over and Over for Ezekiel

The principle is a Grace principle.

God addresses Ezekiel as “the son of man,” which is a part of His wondrous Grace that He has chosen man to be His messenger to his fellow man, instead of choosing angels. The greatest exhibition of this Grace is the fact that the “Son of God” became the “Son of man” to fit Him to be God’s Messenger to us. “For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels, but He took on Him the Seed of Abraham.”

”In all things made like unto His brethren, that He might be able to succor and to save us.”

The Book closes with the promise of God’s continual presence, “The name of the city from that day shall be JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH” – ”The Lord is there.”

In the Book of Titus We Have Illustrated For Us Our so Great Salvation

Titus 2:11-14 – God’s Grace brings salvation, verse 11.

Past – Christ gave Himself to redeem us from all iniquity, verse 14.
Present – To purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works,” verses 14, 12
Future – Looking for the appearance of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Christ’s personal, premillennial coming, of which Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about 13 years before, was still his blessed hope as he neared the close of his life. See also 1 Tim 6:14 and 2 Tim 4:8 – almost his last words.

The Book of Philemon is a beautiful personal letter from God’s aged servant in bonds for the Gospel, foreshadowing the time when the bonds of Christ’s love should break the bonds of slavery.

The story it contains is an exquisite picture of what the Lord Jesus Christ does. He not only intercedes for us with Him from Whom we have departed and against Whom we have sinned, but knowing to the full how much we have wronged God, and how much we
owe Him. He says “put that on Mine account.”

What It Means to be Rich!

It is a remarkable fact that while Paul uses the expression, “rich in good works,” (1 Tim 6:18), James uses, “rich in faith” (James 2:5).

James exalts faith, its trial worketh patience, James 1:3. His epistle opens and closes with strong encouragement to pray the prayer of faith. James 1:6, James 5:14-18.

He exposes the spurious faith which does not produce works by the question so emphatically rendered, “Can that faith save him?” Paul is one with him in when he says we are, “created in Christ Jesus unto good works,” Eph 2:10.

James compares God’s Word to a mirror, revealing the natural depravity of man. His description of the sins of the tongue, one of the worst, is unequalled. “The tongue can no man tame.”

But God can. For He can bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 2 Cor 10:5.

Most Superficial People, Like Politicians and TV Producers, Always Start With a False Premise and End Up With a False Conclusion

They often say, we are all created equal and we are not. The only equality in creation is that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. A politician the other night was talking about how we have to reach across the aisle and join hands. He stated, “since we are all the children of God.” But we are not all the children of God, only some are.

John 1:10-12, “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But they that received Him, gave He the power (the authority) to become the sons of God.” Gal 3:26, “We are all the children of God ... By faith in Christ Jesus.”

Christ is called the Son of God. Angels are called the sons of God. And believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are called the sons of God. But the unbeliever is not a son of God. They are enemies of Him and aliens, and against Him. Eph 2:1.

1 John 3:1, “Now ye are the sons of God.”

In Ecclesiastes 1:7 We Read,

“All the rivers run into the sea and yet the sea is not full. Unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.”

What an accurate description of the facts of the absorption and condensation of waters from sea into the clouds and then into rain, by which the equilibrium of sea and land is maintained. That is not mother nature.

We have a similar description in Psa 104:8, 9, where we read of “the waters going up by the mountains as well as down by the valleys.” The facts are still further explained in Psa 135:7, “He causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the Earth. He maketh lightnings for the rain. He bringeth the wind out of His treasuries.”

The watery vapor is rising from the ocean’s breast in such volume as no pumps ever imagined by man could produce. In the upper sky, the cold air condenses watery vapor and holds it in clouds. If left there, the waters will fall again upon the sea. But the verse tells us how this is averted. God has made preparation. “He bringeth the wind out of His treasuries.”

The clouds are borne in silent majesty. “He prepareth lightnings for the rain.” This shock precipitates the rain upon the waiting Earth.

Here is language in these Psalms which science today is revealing.

Psalm 23

This is the first Psalm we learned to love as children, the last to comfort us in our passage through the dark valley. It contains three secrets.

The setting of the 23rd Psalm should not be overlooked it does not stand by itself, but in a group of three.

Psa 22 – The Good Shepherd
In death – John 10:11
My Saviour, the Cross
Past, Grace

Psa 23 – The Great Shepherd
In resurrection – Heb 13:20
My Shepherd, the crook
Present, Guidance

Psa 24 – The Chief Shepherd
In glory – 1 Pet 5:4
My King, the crown
Future, Glory

What is His Son’s Name?

“Who hath ascended up into Heaven, or descended? Who hath gathered the wind in His fists? Who hath bound the waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends of the Earth? What is His Name, and what is His Son’s Name, if thou canst tell?” Prov 30:4.

This is a most marvelous verse. If we ask a Jew the first question, “What is His Name?” he would at once reply JEHOVAH. But if we would go further and say “What is His Son’s Name?” The Jew is silent or replies “It is blasphemy to say God has a Son.”

But here is a verse which attributes ascension to Heaven and the creation and the control of the world to God and to His Son.

1 John 5:20, “And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true.”

Christmas 2000

Christians awake and salute the happy morn
Whereon the Saviour of the world was born.

Rise to adore the mystery of love
Which hosts of angels chanted from above.

With them the joyful tidings first begun
Of God’s Incarnate and the virgin’s Son.

Then to the watchful shepherds it was told
Who heard the angelic herald’s voice, “Behold.”

”I bring good tidings of a Saviour’s birth
To you and all the nations upon Earth.”

This day hath God fulfilled His promised Word
This day is born a Saviour, Christ the Lord.

Tuesday, December 19, 2000

The Dangers That Threatened the Church at Colosse

The deceitful philosophy of the gnostics which set God on one side, worship of angels, legalism, forced asceticism, called for this marvelous description of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians dwells on the body of Christ. Colossians on the Head.

1. Christ is the image of the invisible God, the Son of His love, Col 1:13.
   
2. The abode of His fullness, Col 1:15, 19, 2:3, 9.
   
3. Christ is the sovereign Creator of the universe, Col 1:16, 17.
   
4. He is from all eternity and has all preeminence, Col 1:17.
   
5. He is the Reconciler of the universe through the blood of the Cross, Col 1:20, 22, 14, 2:14.
   
6. He is the Head of all principalities and powers, Col 2:10, 15.
   
7. He is the Head of the body, Col 1:18, 24, 2:19, 3:14.
   
8. He is all in all, Col 3:11.

The Church’s position is united to Christ, complete in Him. Dead, buried, risen with Him. Therefore, she is to put off the old and to put on the new, Col 1:27, 2:10, 12, 3:1-10.

Like Paul’s other epistles, the doctrinal section is followed by practical rules for daily life. As if he said, here is the principle, now see how it works out.

1 Thessalonians – The Coming of Christ, the Rapture

1. Christ’s coming – an incentive to conversion – 1:9, 10
   This mainly was a Gentile Church and they turned to God from idols to serve the living God and to wait for His Son from Heaven.
2. Christ’s coming – an incentive to faithful ministry – 2:19-20
   Paul’s conduct had commended his preaching. The Thessalonians became an eager missionary Church.
3. Christ’s coming – an incentive to Christian love – Col 3:12-13
   They were already “taught of God to love one another,” 4:9, but Paul’s prayer for an increase of that love was answered, 2 Thess 1:3
4. Christ’s coming – the ground of comfort in bereavement – 4:13-16
   When Christ comes those who have fallen asleep believing in Him, will be the first to rise to meet Him. The mystery of His coming is set forth. Compare 1 Cor 15:51, 52
5. Christ’s coming – an incentive to watchfulness – 5:4-6. Compare Mark 13:33-37
6. Christ’s coming – an incentive to holiness – 5:23, 24. Compare 2 Pet 3:14.
   

2 Thessalonians and the Coming of Christ

Christ’s coming supplies comfort under persecution, 1:7-10

”Rest with us” – the Greek word is “aspirin.” This was a much persecuted Church and this passage also foretells the judgment of the carnal believer.

Christ’s coming in connection with the growth of apostasy, chapter two, and the revelation of the man of sin, who shall be destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming. Chapter 3:5 – practical preparation for His coming. “And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.”

In Titus We Find This Expression

The words “God our Saviour” and “Christ our Saviour” both occur in the same order in each of the three chapters of this epistle in order to emphasize the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This epistle embodies two rich and comprehensive outlines of salvation by Grace – 2:11-14, 3:4-5

The Book of Hebrews and Christ’s Two-Fold Nature

Perhaps no other short space in the Bible so emphasizes both our Lord’s Deity and humanity as does Hebrews chapters one and two. As our Great High Priest. Jesus Christ is able to understand all our needs because He is perfect man. He is able to meet all our needs because He is perfect God.

Throughout this epistle we note that whatever Christ touches, He makes eternal. Trace the word “eternal” throughout. Also, the words “perfect,” “once,” “blood,” “without” “better” and the expression, “We have ... Therefore, let us.”

The Book of Micah

Micah was a contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah, and prophesied in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and the earlier years of Hezekiah. He prophesied concerning both Samaria and Jerusalem, but the burden of His prophecy was for Judah. But for us the great interest of the prophet Micah centers round its clear prophecies of our Saviour who was to come.

”Bethlehem of Judah.” It was from this book that “all the chief priests and scribes of people” gathered by Herod and proclaimed unhesitantly that it was at Bethlehem of Judah that the Christ, the King, should be born, Micah 5:2. This prophecy proclaims His eternity. He who was to go forth from Bethlehem as the Ruler, was He whose goings forth were, “From the days of eternity.”

Micah 5:3 is clearly connected with Isaiah 7:14. “Therefore will He give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of His brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.” “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a Sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His Name Immanuel.”

“He shall stand and feed or rule in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the Name of the Lord his God.”

Here we have the majesty of the Royal Shepherd caring for His flock. Micah’s picture of the restoration of Zion and many nations flowing into it, and the glory and the prosperity of Christ’s kingdom with its reign of universal peace was introduced by Isaiah into prophecy.

Habakkuk!

Habakkuk is the prophet of faith. His name means, “embrace” or “one who strongly unfolds.”

Through the mystery of sin and its apparent success, through the mystery of suffering and of God’s judgment, Habakkuk lays hold of God’s promises, and clings to Him with faith triumphant.

He tells us nothing about himself except that he was a prophet and we may infer from chapter three, which is evidently a Psalm for the temple, that he had to do with arranging its services and was probably a Levite, as he speaks of “my stringed instrument.”

Habakkuk opens his prophecy with a cry, “O Lord, how long shall I cry and Thou wilt not hear,” as he looks around upon the iniquity that prevailed in Judah. And the Lord’s answer is that He is about to bring a punishment upon this sinful nation in the form of the terrible Chaldean invasion.

Habakkuk again brings his questioning in confidence to God, “Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, Mine Holy One. We shall not die,” Hab 1:12.

Because “the just shall live by faith.”

Christmas

Behold, the Great Creator makes
Himself a house of clay,
A robe of human flesh He takes
Which He will wear all the way.

Hark, hark the wise eternal Word,
Like a weak infant cries
In form of Servant is the Lord
And God in cradle lies.

This wonder struck the world amazed.
It shook the starry frame.
Squadrons of spirits stood and gazed,
Then down in troops they came.

Glad shepherds ran to view the sight
A choir of angels sing.
And eastern sages with delight
Adore this King of kings.

Join then, all souls that are not stone
And all our voices prove,
To celebrate this Holy One
The God of peace and love

Isaiah’s Christmas Story

Isaiah is a glorious Book of salvation, which centers around a Person, the Coming One, the Messiah. There is something very remarkable in the way in which He fills the vision of the prophet, a certain abruptness with which the prophecies about Him are introduced, as if to get your attention.

And it is so in the sign that God promises to give in the birth of a Divine Person from a human virgin. Isa 7:14. And this promise is blended with the promise in Isa 9:6. In the two prophecies we see a picture of Christ, which was to be. He is identified with our race, for He is, “A Child born and a Son given.” He is so to be in the family of David, but He is much more. His birth is to be supernatural. He is to be Divine, “God with us,” Immanuel.

All these predictions have been met and fulfilled only in one event – the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, of whom the angels said to Mary, “That Holy Thing which shall be born of Thee shall be called the Son of God.”

”Unto us a Child is born” are the words of Isaiah. “To you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour” were the words of the angel to the shepherds.

The Courage of Jeremiah to Encourage!

Jeremiah’s fearlessness in the face of danger is shown most conspicuously in chapter 26, where the Lord sends him to give His message in the temple court and admonishes him not to diminish a Word.

So incensed were the priests and the people that they took him saying, “Thou shalt surely die.”

”As for me,” replied the prophet, “Behold I am in your hand. Do with me as seemth good and meet unto you. But know ye for certain, that, if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves.” ”For of a Truth the Lord hath sent me unto you, to speak all these Words in your ears.”

Wednesday, December 20, 2000

Heavenly Places

In Ephesians, the teaching of Paul reaches its spiritual climax. He unfolds God’s purpose of blessing for the Church, the body of Christ, redeemed and brought nigh by the blood of Christ, 1:7, 2:13, 5:23-32; which is built upon one Foundation, a holy temple in the Lord, with no middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile.

Its key note is Heavenly places in Christ.

1. The Heavenly places of blessing – 1:3
   Notice the words all and in Christ, the Inheritance of the Church, 1:11
   The Church, the inheritance of Christ, 1:18
   
2. The Heavenly places of power – 1:19-20
   The same power of God which raised Christ from the dead is to work in the believer.
   
3. The Heavenly places of rest – 2:6
   In Christ we enter into our Heavenly Canaan here below. This epistle corresponds with the Book of Joshua.
   
4. The Heavenly places of manifestation – 3:10
   The Church is to manifest Christ and His riches, wisdom, love, unity, and fullness.
   
5. The Heavenly places of victory – 6:12
   The wiles of the devil, 6:11, the enmity of the prince of the power of the air, 2:2, is as we might expect manifested in this epistle and is provided for us in the Christians armor.

The length and breadth and depth and height of the love of God in Christ comes out in every chapter – 1:4, 6; 2:4, 7; 3:17-19; 4:2-6, 15, 32; 5:2, 25; 6:23, 24.

Inner Joy – Joy to the World, the Lord is Come

Philippians is the Book of joy in Christ Jesus. The word joy or rejoice occurs 16 times. Throughout it is rejoicing in the midst of tribulation.

Thus had Paul rejoiced in jail in Philippi, when at midnight with bleeding backs he and Silas sang in prison. And he rejoiced when chained to a Roman soldier for his very bonds furthered the spread of the Gospel.

Therefore, he exhorted his Philippian converts to rejoice because they were allowed to suffer for Christ, 1:29.

He rejoiced in his converts, his joy and his crown, 4:1, and in their growth, 1:3-6, and in their again ministering to his necessities even in Rome, 4:10-19.

But above all he rejoiced in Christ, 4:4.

Philippians

Chapter 2:5-11 describes the Grace of God and the eternal Son of God descending step by step to the death of the Cross for our salvation and His glorious exaltation to eternal glory and universal homage.

Chapter 3 contains the heart of the epistle. Paul first counted all things but loss for Christ. And then actually suffered the loss of all things for Him, in order to be found in Him and to know the power of His resurrection. And the fellowship of His suffering being made conformable unto his death.

Rejoice, and again I say rejoice, 4:4.

Born Today in the City of David, a Saviour!

God had mercy upon man in his sin and hard bondage, and sent the Lord Jesus Christ to be our Saviour.

A saviour – Luke 2:11, “Unto you is born a Saviour which is Christ the Lord.”

The Saviour – John 4:42, “This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”

My Saviour – Luke 1:47, “My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”

It is not enough to know Him as a Saviour, or even as the Saviour of the world. We need each one of ourselves to be able to say, “He is ... my Saviour.”

Is He your Saviour?

Judges

In chapters 3 to 16 we have this record of failure and deliverance repeated seven times. Israel fell into idolatry and God raised up some one of the surrounding nations to carry out His punishment. Israel repented under the chastening and cried out to the Lord and the Lord sent a Deliverer.

God allowed the very sins the people indulged in to be their punishment. He allowed the Canaanites and other surrounding nations to oppose them and bring them into bondage. “He that committeth sin is the servant of sin.”

If we give quarter to any known sin and allow it to dwell with us, it is likely to become our master.

What a wonderful picture of man’s continued sin and failure and God’s continued patience and Grace. We read of deliverances by the hands of Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson. In these delivers, or saviours, of Israel, we can see the foreshadowing of the Great Deliverer who was to come.

The Lord’s promise in Isaiah is, “He shall send them a Saviour and a Great One,” Isa 19:20.

”Behold today in this city is born a Saviour.”

Judges and the Downward Steps of Israel

1. Israel sinned in not driving out the Canaanites.
   
2. They allowed them (the Canaanites) to dwell among them. Compromise instead of obedience.
   
3. The next step was that they intermarried with them, Judges 3:6
   
4. And next, that they were drawn into their idolatries, Judges 3:7. The result was that all the land became corrupt.

The Book of Judges contains the blackest picture of the condition of God’s people. Chapters 17-21 give us an illustration of the gross wickedness of the people during this period.

In the song of Deborah, we have a glimpse of the lawless state of the country. “The highways were unoccupied and the travelers walked through by ways the inhabitants of the village ceased,” chapter 5:6, 7.

Later in the book, four times the statement is repeated, “In those days there was no king in Israel.” And twice the words, “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

The key note of the book is anarchy.

While shepherds watched their flocks by night
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down
And glory shone around.

”Fear not” said he, for mighty dread
Had seized their troubled minds.
”Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To you and all mankind.”

”To you in David’s town this day
Is born of David’s line
A Saviour, who is Christ the Lord
And this shall be the sign.”

The Heavenly Babe you there shall find
To human view displayed
All meanly wrapped in swathing bands
And in a manger laid.

This spake the seraph and forthwith
Appeared a shining throng
Of angels praising God, who thus
Addressed their joyful song.

”All glory be to God on high
And to the Earth be peace
Good will from henceforth from Heaven to men
Begin and never cease.”

A New Testament Commentary on Jericho!

“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down.” That is the simple record in the New Testament of the taking of the city. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God pulling down of strongholds.”

Those who are living the Spirit-filled life have ceased to fight with carnal weapons. They have learned to wield the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And quench the fiery darts of the wicked one by the shield of faith.

The saint wins his victories beforehand, on his knees. And then stands still to see the salvation of the Lord. “Shout for the Lord hath given you the city.”

This Book may be compared to the Book of Acts where through the Spirit, Christ leads His Church to victory and heathen strongholds yield to the teaching of the Gospel and prayer.

”By faith Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies in peace.” The token for her was the scarlet cord with which she let down the spies tied to her window. It was like the token of the blood on the door posts in the Passover.

Thought for the Day!

In former days, in the British Royal Navy every rope and cord was marked with “a scarlet thread running through its entire length.” So, that wherever you cut the rope, you found the scarlet cord. The scarlet line of redemption through the precious blood of Jesus Christ runs through our Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

”The blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing us from our sins.” “Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.”

You All!

1. “There is none righteous, no, not one.”
   All have failed in something.
   
2. “There is none that understandeth.”
   All have become willfully ignorant.
   
3. “There is none that seeketh after God.”
   All seek their own.
   
4. “They are all gone out of the way.”
   They have deliberately turned their backs on the Truth.
   
5. “They are together become unprofitable.”
   They have dishonored God instead of glorifying Him.
   
6. “There is none that doeth good, no, not one.”
   Their practices are evil and they do not follow after that which is Good.
   
7. “Their throat is an open sepulcher.”
   Because of the corruption within.
   
8. “With their tongues they have used deceit.”
   Lying and deception are characteristic.
   
9. “The poison of asps is under their lips.”
   It is the poison inserted into the very nature of man “by that old serpent, the devil, and Satan” at the very beginning.
   
10. “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
    ”For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.”
    
11. “Their feet are swift to shed blood.”
    Hatred produces murder and in how many ways is it manifested.
    
12. “Destruction and misery are in their ways.”
    Because they have forgotten God, the Source of life and blessing.
    
13. “The way of peace have they not known.”
    For they have deliberately chosen the ways of death.
    
14. “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
    Therefore, there is no wisdom in them.

”Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.”

A Few Words About Grace For Christmas!

1. Grace is God acting freely, according to His own nature as love, with no promises or obligations to fulfill. And acting, of course, righteously in view of the Cross.
   
2. Grace, therefore, is uncaused in the recipient. Its cause lies wholly in the Giver, God.
   
3. Grace is also sovereign. Not having debts to pay, or fulfilled conditions on man’s part to wait for, it can act toward whom, and how it pleases. It can, and does, often place the worst deservers in the highest favors.
   
4. Grace cannot act where there is either desert or ability. Grace does not help. It is absolute. It does all.
   
5. Their being no cause in the creature why Grace should be shown, the creature must be brought off from trying to give cause to God for His Grace.
   
6. The discovery by the creature that he is truly the object of Divine Grace works the utmost humility. For the receiver of Grace is brought to know his own absolute unworthiness and his complete inability to attain worthiness. Yet he finds himself blessed on another principle outside of himself.
   
7. Therefore, flesh has no place in the plan of Grace. This is the great reason why Grace is hated by the proud natural mind of man. But for this very reason, the true believer rejoices, for he knows that “in him,” that is, in his flesh, “is no good thing,” and yet he finds God glad to bless him just as he is.
   

Thursday, December 21, 2000

Thought for Today

Jesus Christ came eating and drinking.
John the baptist came not eating and not drinking.

Jesus Christ performed many miracles.
John the baptist did not perform one miracle.

The message of both of them was rejected.

The message:
”Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.”
Principle: It is not the man, it is the message.
But in Christ’s case, He is the Man and He is the Message.

Thought for Today

John the baptist’s disciples said, “Christ eateth with sinners.”
If Christ ate at all with anyone, it had to be with a sinner. For “we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

The only way He could eat without eating with a sinner is to eat alone. Ain’t it??

The Proper Attitude of Man Under Grace at Christmas

1. To believe and to consent to be loved while unworthy is the great secret.
   
2. To refuse to make “resolutions” and “vows,” for that is to trust in the flesh.
   
3. To expect to be blessed though realizing more and more lack of worth.
   
4. To testify of God’s Grace at all times.
   
5. To be certain of God’s future Grace yet to be ever more tender in conscience toward Him.
   
6. To rely on God’s chastening hand as a mark of His Grace.
   
7. A man under Grace is like Paul who has no burdens regarding himself, but many about others.
   

Identification With Christ

Romans chapter six – our actual identification with the death of Christ

Verse 2, “We who died to sin.”

Verse 3, “We were baptized into His death.”

Verse 4, ”We were buried with Him through baptism unto death.”

Verse 5, “We became united with Him in the likeness of His death.”

Verse 6, “Our old man was crucified with Him.”

Verse 7, “He that hath died is justified from sin.”

Verse 8, “We died with Christ.”

Verse 11, “Reckon yourselves dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus.”

Verse 13, “Present yourselves unto God as alive from the dead.”

There Are Five Parts to Our so Great Salvation

1. Christ’s propitiatory work toward God through His blood bearing the guilt and condemnation of our sins.
   
2. Christ’s identification with us as connected with Adam, “Becoming sin for us,” releasing us from Adam, our federal head. “Our old man,” being crucified with Christ.
   
3. The Holy Spirit’s whole work in us, “The Spirit of Grace,” involving conviction, regeneration, baptism into Christ’s body, being in us as a “law of life” against indwelling sin. The Witness of our sonship, our Helper, Intercessor, and finally, the Mighty Agent in the Rapture.
   
4. Christ’s present work in Heaven leading our worship and our praise as our great High Priest and protecting us should we sin – as our Advocate with our Father as against our accuser.
   
5. Christ’s second coming to redeem our bodies, and receive us unto Himself in glory – the Rapture.
   

Instead of a Partridge in a Pear Tree
Christ Bore My Sins in His Body on the Tree

I once was a stranger to Grace and God
I knew not my danger and felt not my load
Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree
JEHOVAH TSIDKENU was nothing to me.

I oft read with pleasure to soothe or engage
Isaiah’s wild measure, and John’s simple page
But even when they pictured the blood sprinkled tree
JEHOVAH TSIDKENU seemed nothing to me.

Like tears from the daughters of Zion that roll
I wept when the waters went over His soul
Yet thought not that my sins had nailed Him to the tree
JEHOVAH TSIDKENU was nothing to me.

When free Grace awoke me with light from on High
Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die
No refuge, no safety, in self could I see
JEHOVAH TSIDKENU my Saviour must be.

My terrors all vanished before the sweet Name
My guilty fears banished with boldness, I came
To drink at the fountain, life-giving and free
JEHOVAH TSIDKENU is all things to me.

JEHOVAH TSIDKENU – my Treasure, my boast
JEHOVAH TSIDKENU – I never can be lost
In Thee I shall conquer, by flood and by field
My Cable, my Anchor, my Breastplate, my Shield.

JEHOVAH TSIDKENU is literally “The Lord our righteousness.”

“Hidden Among the Stuff”

When Israel inquired of the Lord about Saul, the son of Kish, who had been anointed as their king, for they could not find him, the Lord answered, you remember “Behold he hath hid himself among the stuff.” “And they ran and fetched him hence,” 1 Sam 10:22, 23.

How sad if some of us who have received the abundance of Grace and of the gift of righteousness and when God desires to be reigning in life in Christ, have gotten ourselves “hidden among the stuff” of earthly goods and ambitions, religious traditions, and the literature of this world.

Rom 5:12, “For by One Man”

The key word of this great passage is “one.” You will find it as follows 14 times in all.

”One man” “One man” “One man” – Verses 12, 15, 19
”The One” “The One” “The One” – Verses 15, 17, 19

”One” “One” “One” trespass, “One” righteous – Acts verse 16 and twice verse 18 twice

”Through” “one trespass” – Verses 15, 17, 18
”One man’s disobedience” – Verse 19

”Through” “One act of righteousness” – Verese 18
”The obedience of the One” – Verse 19

”In Adam all die. In Christ all are made alive.”

Friday, December 22, 2000

Seven Great Truths About God’s Judgment – Romans Chapter Two

1. God’s judgment is “according to Truth,” verse 2.
   
2. According to accumulated guilt, verse 5.
   
3. According to works, verse 6.
   
4. Without respect of persons, verse 11.
   
5. According to performance not knowledge, verse 13.
   
6. God’s judgment reaches the secrets of the heart, verse 16.
   
7. According to reality, not religious profession, verses 17-19.
   

In Romans One Verses 29-32, Three Things Are Seen

1. Some nine phases of the development of human sin, verse 29.
   
2. The kind of people it makes, verses 29-31.
   
3. The fearful human conspiracy or agreement of wickedness of man against God, verse 32.

The student of Greek may well study the roots of these 22 nouns and adjectives given here. And remember that God says that men are filled without restraint or limit “with all unrighteousness and all destructiveness.”

All injustice, destructiveness, covetousness, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, guile, malignant subtlety, secret slanderers, open slanderers, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boasters, inventors of bad things, without obedience, without moral understanding, without good faith, without natural affection, without consent to truce, without mercy.

This is called a life style.

Loyalty!

“Is thine heart right?” said Jehu to Jehonadab, the son of Rechab “Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?” And Jehonadab answered “It is.” ”If it be, give me thine hand and he gave him his hand. And he took him up with him into his chariot.”

The King of kings, our King, sees us toiling along life’s journey and He puts to us this question, “Is thine heart right towards Me?” “Lovest thou Me more than these.” If we can reply, “It is,” “Thou knowest that I love thee,” our King, as it were, stretches out His hand and draws us up and seats us with Himself in heavenly places, and makes us to ride in His chariot of power.

We have the same thought in the Book of Chronicles. ”The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole Earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards Him.”

“We Do Not Well to Hold Our Peace”

Witnessing

The four lepers who carried the good tidings of the plentiful supply in the deserted camp of the Syrians to the starving people of Samaria are an example for us as Christians. If we have discovered the riches of Christ for ourselves, “we do not well to hold our peace.”

We should make the same resolve they did. “Now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.”

Naaman the Leper

Before his cleansing, Naaman said, “I thought.” But now he could say “I know.”

In some such manner God has to remove, one by one, all our preconceived notions of how we will be saved, and bring us to the Cross. We may hear the message of salvation from a very humble source.

No good deeds or fancied merits of our own can purchase it. No earthly rivers of reformation or culture can remove the guilt of sin. There is only one thing in all of the universe that can do it.

”Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” “The blood of Christ keeps on cleansing us from all sin.”

“But” – It Is Where You Put Your But

Naaman and the Healing of Naaman

In him we see the Gospel in miniature. Naaman was a great man. He was honorable, gracious, and exalted as a victorious captain. He was a mighty man of valor. “But he was a leper.”

There is that “but” in every life that has not come to the Lord Jesus Christ for cleansing. “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.”

The leprosy of sin, be the outward show of it ever so slight, incurs God’s declaration “utterly unclean.” God says there is no difference for “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Naaman accepted the testimony of a little captive maid, “and he was clean.”

“Reigning Grace”

God’s plan the “reign of Grace” through Jesus Christ, Rom 5:12-21.

The two men:
Adam and Christ, verse 14

The two ways:
Adam: One trespass, verses 12, 15, 17, 18, 19
Christ: One righteous act, the Cross, verse 18

The two results:
By Adam, condemnation, guilt, death, verses 15, 16
By Christ, justification, life, kingship, verses 17, 18

The two differences:
In degree – God the Creator’s Grace by Christ abounds
Verse 15 – beyond the sin of the creature, Adam
In kind of one sin, by Adam, condemnation and reign of Death
Operation – many sins on Christ, justification and “reigning in life.”
Verse 16 – for those accepting God’s Grace by Him.

The two kings:
Sin, reigning through death, verse 17
Grace, reigning through righteousness, verse 21

The two abundances:
Of Grace, verse 17
Of the gift of righteousness, verse 17

The two contrasted states:
Condemned men, slaves of death, by Adam
Justified men, reigning in life by Christ

Saturday, December 23, 2000

A New Doctrine for Christmas – “The Doctrine of Ditches” – 2 Kings

The miracle by which water was brought to relieve the need of the hosts of Israel, Judah, and Edom, who had combined to put down the rebellion of Moab, also contains a lesson on the manner of the Spirit’s coming.

When the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha, he said, “Make this valley full of ditches.” It was a valley to begin with, a low place, a place of humility. God’s rivers choose the valley to flow in. Water always seeks the lowest level.

But “ditches” had to be cut, the humbling work carried still further. If we would be the means of blessing to others, we must allow the Lord to cut His channels deep in our souls.

”For thus saith the Lord, ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain, yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, and your beasts.” No sound but the water came. So it is with salvation and so it is with the Holy Spirit.

Water in Scripture represents salvation, the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit.

Soul Winning! You Don’t Hear Much About Soul Winning Today!

In the raising of the Shunammite’s son we have a lesson for the message of the Gospel. Gehazi had the outward symbol of office without the power. When he laid the prophet’s staff upon the dead child nothing happened. But with Elisha was the secret of the Lord.

”He went in and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord. And he went up and lay upon the child and put his mouth upon his mouth and his eyes upon his eyes and his hands upon his hands. And he stretched himself upon the child and the flesh of the child waxed warm.”

We see in the action of Elisha the secret of dependence upon God, of the power of prayer, and of personal influence. It gives us a picture of how much it costs to win souls. He seemed to give his very life, as Paul was ready to do when he said, “We were willing to have imparted unto you, not the Gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us,” 1 Thes 2:8.

Salt – The Healing of the Waters of Jericho! – 2 Kings

The healing of the waters of Jericho at their source by casting in salt from a new dish touched the people of Elisha’s day, and is full of significance for us. It shows the power of the Gospel to change men’s lives at their source. Christ brought this life-giving power in His perfect manhood.

But we may recognize “the new vessel” also in every renewed soul that brings the power of the Gospel to other lives. Christians are to be “the salt of the Earth.”

We are told that the fountain which tradition points out as the scene of this miracle, that the water there is abundant, transparent, sweet, and cool, and abounds in fish. On the margin of this delightful brook grow a great number of bushes.

Salt melts ice and snow up here in Indiana so we can travel the roads.

The Holy Son of God Most High
For love of Adam’s lapsed race
Quit the sweet pleasures of the sky
To bring us to that happy place.

His robes of light He laid aside
Which did His majesty adorn
And the frail state of mortals tried
In human flesh and figure born.

Whole choirs of angels loudly sing
The mystery of His sacred birth
And the blest news to shepherds bring
Filling their watchful souls with mirth.

The Son of God thus man became
That men the sons of God might be
And by their second birth regain
A likeness to His Deity.

”We are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”

Sunday, December 24, 2000

Passover Lamb

In the Passover lamb we have a picture of the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. With many of the types found in the Bible, we may feel that we might not have interpreted them correctly, but with this one there is no doubt. For God told us the meaning. It is in this case, and in most of the cases, in Exodus.

1 Cor 5:7-8, “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the feast.”

Ex 12:6, it was a slain Lamb not a living one, that availed the Israelites in the hour of judgment.

1 Cor 2:2, “Determined not to know anything among you save Jesus, and Him crucified.”

Ex 12:5, the lamb was to be without blemish.

1 Pet 1:18-19, “Ye were redeemed, with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot.”

Ex 12:7, His blood was to be shed and applied to the door posts.

John 19:36, “That the Scripture might be fulfilled, a bone of Him shall not be broken.”

Ex 12:3, 20, in every house that night there was one dead, either the first born or the lamb in the stead of the first born.

Rom 6:23, “The wages of sin is death.”

Rom 5:8, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Gal 4:3-6, “We were in bondage, but God sent forth His Son to redeem them that were under the law, that we might become the adoption of sons.”

Ex 13:2, all the first born, those who had been redeemed by the blood of the lamb, were to be sanctified, set apart, unto the Lord.

1 Cor 6:19, 20, “Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit which is God’s.”

Passover is the Hebrew Word “PASACH”

It is translated “pass over” in Exodus 12:13, 23, 27. And it is used in three other passages of Scripture so we can get its meaning.

2 Sam 4:4, translated “became lame.”
1 Kings 18:21, “halt,” verse 26, “leaped.”
Isaiah 31:5, “As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem.” He will protect and deliver it. He will “passover and preserve it.” How does a mother bird, this word is feminine, protect her nest? Not by passing over it in the sense of passing it by, but fluttering over it, spreading her wings in protection.

The Lord Himself preserved His people on that awful night when the destroyer was abroad in the land of Egypt. It was by the Lord’s command that the destroyer executed His judgment upon Egypt.

”All the first born in the land of Egypt shall die.” Being in Egypt, Israel came under Egypt’s doom. But the Lord Himself stood guard at every blood-sprinkled door. He became their Saviour. Nothing short of this is the meaning of the Passover. The first born in the land of Egypt were saved from death by the lamb slain in their stead.

God’s Word to them was “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” The blood of the lamb made them safe, and their trust in God’s promise made them sure. In the same way we have salvation through Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God slain in our stead, and assurance through believing God’s record that, “He hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son,” 1 Jn 5:10-13.

The Smitten Rock

Ex 17:6, “Thou shalt strike the rock and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink.”

1 Cor 10:4, “They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them “and that Rock was Christ.”

John 4:13-14, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

”Ho everyone that thirseth, come ye to the water and drink,” Isa 55:1.

Moses as a Type of Christ

There are two ways in which Moses is a type of Christ:

1. In delivering the whole people from an awful bondage. The bondage of sin from which Christ delivers us is far more terrible than the bondage of Egypt.
   
2. In the giving of a new law. How much greater that law is Christ Himself shows in the Sermon on the Mount. A law which touches the springs of character and conduct rather than the outcome. A law which he has summed up for us first in two commandments and finally in one word “love.”

”The law came by Moses, but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ.”

The Tabernacle – ”The Tent of Meeting”

You can draw a straight line from the center of the gate to the mercy seat.

1. You go through the altar
2. Through the laver
3. Through the door
4. You pass the table of shewbread on your right hand
5. And the golden lampstand on your left.
6. Through the altar of incense
7. Through the veil
8. To the ark covered by the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies.

This is the true pilgrim’s progress from the camp outside to the immediate presence of the Jord.

”Oh God, be merciful to me a sinner.” Literally, “O God, be mercy seated to me.”

The Court of the Tabernacle Was Entered Through a Gate – John 10:9

This was a curtain. A curtain is the very easiest means of entrance. It is not like a wooden door at which you have to knock. You can lift it or push it aside silently. At the time, no one need know of the transaction that takes place silently between the soul and its Saviour. When the curtain is dropped again, you are completely inside, not half in and half out, like a doorway. But completely shut off by a sharp dividing line.

Inside that gate you are completely surrounded by the spotless white curtains of the court. “Complete in Him” “Made the righteousness of God in Him.”

”I am the Door.”

“Jesus Wept”

Can we see another’s woe
And not be in sorrow, too?
Can we see another’s grief
And not seek for kind relief?

Can we see a falling tear
And not feel our sorrow’s share?
Can a father see his child
Weep, not be with sorrow filled?

God doth give His joy to all
He becomes an Infant small.
He becomes a man of woe
He doth feel the sorrow, too.

Think not that you can sigh a sigh
And thy Saviour is not by.
Think not that you can weep a tear
And your Creator is not near.

O, He gives to us His joy
That our grief He may destroy.
Till our grief is fled and gone
He doth sit by us and moan.

The Metamorphism of Christmas

“Meta” means change. “Morphe” means form a drastic change.

The first change that had to take place is that a woman had to become a child-bearer in order for the Saviour to come into the world. Gen 3:15, the Seed of the woman. John 1:14, Christ took on flesh. Isa 7:14, a virgin conceive and bear a Child. Isa 9:6, Child born, Son given.

The second change took place in God. God had to become man to die for the sins of the world on the Cross. God cannot relegate Himself to one place like the Cross, and God as eternal life can’t die. So God had to become man. The Son of God became the Son of man. Absolute God and true humanity in one Person. Heb 10:5, 10; John 1:14; Phil 2:5-10.

The third change that had to take place was in man. Man was lost and without Christ and without hope and was an enemy of God. So man becomes something he was not, a son of God, through the Son of God.

John 1:10-12; Gal 3:26, 1 John 3:1, 2 Cor 5:7. We are now new creatures in Christ, 2 Cor 5:17. Without these changes taking place, there is no way in which you can enjoy and appreciate Christmas.

1 and 2 Peter and What Peter Taught About the Lord Jesus Christ

These are the epistles of joy in suffering.

1 Peter is chiefly the suffering of persecution.
2 Peter is chiefly the suffering of temptation and surrounding apostasy.

He speaks of himself as a witness of the suffering of Christ, 1 Pet 5:1. As an eye witness of His majesty, 2 Pet 1:16. And the partaking of Christ’s sufferings and the partaking of His glory, 1 Pet 4:13.

Peter dwells on the sufferings of Christ and the sufferings of His followers. He to whom our Lord gave the commission, “Feed My sheep,” delights in his epistle to speak of Christ, the Chief Shepherd, 1 Pet 2:25 and of His servants as under-shepherds, verses 2, 3.

He speaks of Christ, the Precious Corner Stone and of believers as living stones in the same temple, 1 Pet 2:4-8. By implication he speaks of Christ as our Great High Priest by whom we offer spiritual sacrifices, and of the royal priesthood of the believers, 1 Pet 2:5, 9.

Peter brings out very fully the atoning work of Christ through His death and precious blood shed for us, 1 Pet 1:18-20, 1 Pet 2:24, 1 Pet 3:18, 2 Pet 1:4, 2 Pet 2:20.

And he closes his writings where Paul in his epistle to the Thessalonians began the blessed hope of the coming of the Lord, 2 Pet 3.

He throws radiant light on the inspiration of the Scriptures, 1 Pet 1:10-12, 2 Pet 1:4, 16-21, 3:15.

Notice the word “precious” in both epistles. Don’t you wish all popes taught like this???

Monday, December 25, 2000 – Merry CHRISTmas!

Gen 50:20, “They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good to deliver many souls alive.” The principle of Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good.”

In the Book of Acts, the last Words of the Lord before He ascended were “Ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the Earth,” Acts 1:8. The infant Church was slow to recognize the breadth of this commission and to lay aside its Jewish prejudices. And they confined their preaching to Jerusalem till persecution was allowed to scatter them.

The blood of the first martyr, Stephen, proved to be the seed of the Church. Those that were scattered went everywhere preaching the Word. Philip preached Christ in Samaria, with the result of a great ingathering, Caesarea, Acts 7:40; Phenice, Cyprus, Antioch, Acts 11:19; Damascus, Acts 11:2 heard the Word.

Scattered to serve the Lord with the Gospel.

The Book of Acts is the Best Guidebook to Missionary Enterprise

It tells us the true motive, the best plans, and the source of power. Guided by their risen Lord, the early Church pursued a definite program in its extension, always selecting some radiating center of the population for its operation, where the influence may spread to the surrounding districts. Jerusalem, Samaria, Antioch, Cyprus, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Rome.

Their methods were simple, straightforward, and successful. They went forth in dependence on the living God with unquenchable zeal and undaunted courage. Their one aim was to bring men to a saving knowledge of Christ. He was their one theme and the Word of God was their effective weapon. Christ was always and everywhere the center of their testimony and the Holy Spirit their power for service.

The Book of the Acts of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Thy King Cometh Unto Thee”

More than any other of the minor prophets, Zechariah foretells the Saviour. Twice He is announced as the “Branch” and God speaks of Him as “My Servant, the Branch,” Zech 3:8.

We have the predictions of His entry into Jerusalem riding upon an ass's colt, Zech 9:9. In contrast to the false shepherds, we see Him as the “Good Shepherd” saving His flock, caring for the poor of the flock, Zech 9:16, 11:11.

We see Him as “the Smitten Shepherd” with the sheep scattered, 13:7. In the words “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd and against the Man that is My Fellow, saith the Lord of hosts.”

We have a specially clear revelation of Christ both in His Divine and human nature, the Man, the Smitten Shepherd, is spoken of by God as His Fellow, on an equality with Him and yet distinct in His personality.

Zephaniah Means Literally, “The Watchman of the Lord”

”The Lord is in the midst.”

The third chapter contains a beautiful lesson taken spiritually. It describes the sinful condition of a soul apart from Christ.

Sins of commission and sins of omission

Commission – Zeph 3:1, “Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted to the oppressing city.”

Omission – Zeph 3:2, “She obeyed not the voice, she received not correction. She trusted not in JEHOVAH, she drew not near to her God.”

Those who should have been leaders in righteousness were leaders in iniquity. Princes, judges, prophets, priests. Then the Lord Himself takes the place of these leaders.

We see Him “in the midst,” fulfilling each office in turn.

”He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in His love. He will joy over thee with singing.”

Haggai

Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are the three prophets to the restored remnant that returned from Babylon. They all made frequent use of the title, ”The Lord of hosts.”

Haggai and Zechariah were probably among the first exiles who returned with Zerubbabel, from his words in 2:3. It is Solomon’s temple in which case he would be an old man at this time, while Zechariah was quite young, Zech 2:4.

The burden of Haggai’s message was, ”I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts,” Haggai 1:13.

To the prophet Haggai is given the privilege along with Zechariah of stirring the people by a few concise words summed up in the words, ”Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.”

He uttered four short prophecies during the last four months of the second year of Darius.

The Seeing Sightless – And the Sightless Seeing!

The Seeing Sightless

“Show us the Father and it sufficieth.”
”He who has seen Me hath seen the Father.”
”I and the Father are one.”
”If I can thrust my hand into Your side, then I will believe.”
”Blessed is he that hath not seen, yet believeth.”
”Having ears, they hear not, having eyes they see not.”

The Seeing Sightless

“Whom having not seen ye love.”
”Whom having not seen, yet ye rejoice with joy unspeakable.”
We walk not by sight but we walk by faith.

”The just shall live by faith.” “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.”

The Hebrew Word “SELAH”

In Habakkuk’s prayer, his description of the majesty of God is as fine as any in the Bible. He describes the wonderful history of God’s dealings with His people in bringing them into Canaan. Here again are the foreshadowings of a greater salvation yet to come, as we catch glimpses of the working of Him who is the brightness of His Father’s glory.

Three times in His prayer He uses the exclamation “SELAH,” found elsewhere only in the Psalms. It is a call to praise and be silent that the soul may, “Listen to the Divine illuming” as in the last verse of chapter two.

”The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the Earth keep silence of soul before Him.” And the Words of 2:1, “I will watch to see what He will say unto me.” How much we need this silence of soul before the Lord in these days, that we may give Him time to speak to us, that we may listen to His “Divine illuming.” In Job, the rays of light are vocal, but it needs a finely tuned ear to hear them.

”Be still my soul.”

Habakkuk Trembled at the Revelation of the Lord

Yet he stays himself upon Him in quiet confidence, knowing that he can rest in the day of trouble. He sums up in the finest poetical language the failure of everything of the Earth. And when all nature and every seeming hope is dead, he adds, “Yet I will rejoice as with exulting joy in the God of my salvation.”

It is almost the Name of Jesus Christ, for “Jesus is JEHOVAH – salvation,” or “JEHOVAH is salvation.” The words here rendered even by a Jew, “In God, the Author of my redemption.” And by Augustine, “In God, my Jesus.”

”You shall call His Name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.”

Possession!

The first half of the Book of Joshua is mainly occupied with the key note of victory, “Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.”

The second half of the Book of Joshua is occupied with the key note of possession. Though “all things are ours” in Christ, it remains for us to take possession of them experientially by faith. The promise was that every place that the sole of their foot should tread should be theirs.

In the 13th chapter of this Book, the Lord said unto Joshua, “There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.” There was a slackness on the part of Israel to possess the land which the Lord had given them, Joshua 18:3.

We are saved by faith and we walk by faith.

Joshua and the Division of the Land

The inheritance of the two and a half tribes beyond the Jordan and the inheritance of Caleb

That old warrior claimed the mountains of the Anakims, with its cities great and fenced, which God had promised him 40 years before. He said, “As my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war if so be that the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said.”

Caleb promised his daughter Achsah to whomsoever would take the city Kirjath-Sopher. Ohniel, his nephew, took it and won the prize. Achsah said to her father, “Give me a blessing, for thou hast given me a south land. Give me also springs of water.” And “he gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.”

Our Heavenly Father waits to bless us in like manner, and He “gave the Holy Spirit as a living spring of water within us.”

After the Faith Victory at Jericho, it was Followed by Defeat at Ai

We are most vulnerable after a great victory. Satan is a great counter puncher. All the spoil of Jericho was to be devoted to the Lord, Joshua 6:19, but someone had taken of the devoted thing.

Early in the morning all Israel had to appear before the Lord, tribe by tribe, and family by family, and man by man, until the quilt was brought home to Achan, and he confessed his sin. ”I have sinned, I saw ... I coveted ... I took ... I hid.” And the stolen treasure was found and judgment was executed on Achan and his house.

The defeat before Ai was caused by hidden sin. There is a very solemn lesson here. Sin always means defeat. All may look right outwardly, but God is not deceived. Absolute obedience is the condition of victory in the land. ”If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are Above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.”

After the sin of Achan had been judged, the Lord said, “Fear not. Take all the people of war with thee, and arise and go up to Ai.”

After sin had been confessed, God gives victory. 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sin, God is faithful and justice to forgive us of our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Tuesday, December 26, 2000

My Beloved and the Shadow of the Apple Tree!

“As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons, I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste,” S.O.S. 2:3.

There are “four marks of the apple.”

1. Pleasant and powerful perfume. S.O.S. 7:8.
   
2. Dense and delightful shade. S.O.S 2:3.
   
3. Sweet and luscious fruit. S.O.S. 2:3.
   
4. Golden color in the fruit, surrounded by a molten silver setting of white flowers. Prov 25:11.

Truly it is a very “tree of life” and above all others, a fitting image of our Saviour.

“He is the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the Valleys”

The Rose of Sharon is a highly perfumed and a very valuable, white variety of the Damascene Rose. The lily of the valley is the white crimson anemone. The one images our Lord’s spotless, sinless character. The other His blood shed for us.

The Lamb slain corresponds with. S.O.S. 5:10, “My Beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.”

The description of her beloved in these words and the verses that follow are drawn from the bride in response to the question of the daughters of Jerusalem. “What is thy beloved more than another beloved?” ”He is the chiefest among ten thousand. Yea, is altogether lovely.”

”This is my beloved and this is my friend.”

We Can Trace Through the Song of Solomon How the Bride’s Love Deepens Through Communion

Twice in the account communion seems interrupted for a season and this leads her to seek his presence more earnestly. These seasons when communion seems to be withheld may be the result of leading her to a deeper fellowship with her beloved. And the result
is accomplished.

”My Beloved is mine and I am His,” S.O.S 2:16. Here the chief thought is that of her possession of her Beloved. He is mine for He has given Himself to me.

The second thought, “I am His” – bought with His blood. “I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine,” S.O.S 6:3. Here the thought of His ownership holds the chief place.

”I am my Beloved’s and His desire is toward me,” S.O.S. 7:10. Here His ownership swallows up every other thought.

In these three verses we have the double thought which is given us in the first chapter of Ephesians. Christ, the Inheritance of the Church. The Church, the inheritance of Christ.

”In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance,” Eph 1:11. ”The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,” Eph 1:18.

Prophecy Fulfilled Regarding the Jewish Nation

1. Their rejection of Christ foretold. Isa 53:1-3, Isa 49:7, Psa 111:22.
   
2. Their rejection of Christ to be long continued. Isa 6:9-12, Rom 11:25.
   
3. The Romans to be used in the chastisement of Israel. Deut 28:49-50, Jer 5:15.
   
4. They were to be taken back to Egypt in ships. Deut 28:68.
   
5. The cities of Israel were to be besieged. Deut 28:53.
   
6. The method of attack “until thy high and fenced come down wherein thou trusteth.”
   
7. The extremities of famine. Deut 28:53, Jer 19:9.
   
8. Thou shall be left few in number. Deut 28:62-63, Jer 4:27.
   
9. Their universal dispersion, Deut 28:64, Hosea 9:17.
   
10. They shall be preserved as a nation. Lev 26:44, Jer 30:11, 46:28.
    
11. Separateness. Num 23:9.
    
12. They shall have no rest. Deut 28:65-67, Amos 9:4.
    
13. They shall be deprived of central government and temple. Hosea 3:4.
    

The Fulfillment of Prophecy in Christ

Many of the prophecies have long been fulfilled concerning the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. “In the volume of the Book it is written of Me,” Heb 10:5. There is only one Book, there is only one Person, to whom these Words point.

A perfect picture of the Messiah who was to come is traced for us in all its details in the prophecies of the Old Testament. A perfect picture of His life is given in the historical records of the New. Place these two portions one over the other and they correspond for they are separated from each other by the silence of 400 years.

The Old Testament gives a portrait of the mysterious Coming One. The New of One who has actually come. The Hand that drew them both must have been Divine. This irresistible conclusion is a double one. It leads us to accept the prophetic Scriptures as inspired. And to accept the historic Christ towards whom all those rays converge as a Divine Person.

The Book of Ruth Gives Us a Glimpse of the Christian Way of Life

For the individual believer the Book is full of teaching. First, the definite choice has to be made, the trust placed under the wings of the Lord God of Israel.

Second, the diligent gleaning in the field and the beating out of the corn and the feeding upon it, which represents the diligent feeding of our souls upon the Word of God. And the soul thus fed has food to pass on to others. Ruth 2:18. The work in the harvest field is also a picture of the wider service of the ingathering of souls in God’s great harvest field of the world.

We may well ask ourselves evening by evening, “Where hast thou gleaned today?”

The Royal Line!

“So Boaz took Ruth,” and she became his wife and she bore a son. “And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom and became nurse unto it.” ”And the women her neighbors gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name, Obed: He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.”

This story shows how unselfish devotion to God and to duty is rewarded. Orpah, who was content with the outward profession of affection, and returned to her people and her gods, forfeited her place in Israel. The kinsman who had failed to fulfill his duty because of his own interests, has not even his name recorded in God’s book.

Ruth, on the other hand, who gave up all to follow Naomi and Naomi’s God, and Boaz, who unhesitatingly fulfilled the kinsman’s part, have their names handed down to all time as worthy of praise. And are the ancestors, not only of David, but of David’s Greater Son.

In the line of Christ!

Union With Christ

Through the union of Ruth with Boaz is typical of the body of Christ. Yet there is for the individual believer the blessed experience of union with Christ, set forth under so many figures. Such as the abiding of the branch in the Vine.

If there has been any failure in our lives of the failure Israel experienced in Judges, a turning into our own way. The remedy for us is to seek a closer union with Christ.

Lest we be discouraged, God has placed the Book of Joshua and the Book of Ruth on each side of the book of Judges, as if to show that the victory of faith and the rest of faith is the experience we are to look for as followers of an Almighty Saviour.

Wednesday, December 27, 2000

Job Said “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth”

Job’s vision of the future life had been obscure at first for we find him asking the question, “If a man die, shall he live again?” Job 14:14.

But with his affliction, his faith grows and he answers his own question in the glorious words, “I know that my Redeemer liveth and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the dust and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself and on my side. Mine eyes shall behold Him and not a stranger.”

What a vision we have here of the future life! What a prophesy of the coming Saviour - sounding forth in the earliest ages. Job sees Him as the “GOEL,” the Kinsman Redeemer, not a stranger. The One, because He is the next of kin and has the right to redeem.

The principle found here is this. “Before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now it is good for me to be afflicted for therein have I learned more of Thy Word.”

One of the principles of why Christians suffer.

Again and Again in the Book of Job We Have the Foreshadowing of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

We see Him in the accepted sacrifices which Job offered for his children as the book opens, and for his friends as the book closes. We see Him in Job’s question, “How shall man be just before God?” A question answered only in Him who has justified us by His blood, Rom 5:9.

We see Him in the “Daysman,” the “umpire,” that Job longs for between him and God. ”For He is not a man as I am. That I should answer Him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any Daysman betwixt us that might lay His hand on us both,” Job 9:32-33.

The need of the human soul has only been met “in God our Saviour,” the “one Mediator between God and the man, Christ Jesus,” Himself a man who gave Himself a ransom for all, 1 Tim 2:4-6.

Words From a Miserable Comforter

We see Christ in the words of Elihu. “Then is He gracious unto him, and saith, deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom, atonement.” The ransom prophesied by Elihu and the ransom proclaimed by Paul are one.

Job had seen his Redeemer as a Living One who would vindicate him in the days of His coming, but let him now see Him as the Ransom, the One who would be gracious unto him, and deliver him from going down into the pit. Not on the ground of Job’s integrity, but on the grounds of His own shed blood as the price paid for the redemption of fallen man.

We See Christ Again in the Suffering of Job

Job’s sufferings were through the enmity of Satan. The suffering upright man pointed the way to the Suffering Sinless Man, the Man of sorrows.

Job was wounded by his friends. He was the song and the by word of base men. They spare not to spit in My face, My soul is poured out upon Me. My bones are pierced in Me. He hath cast Me into the mire and I am become like dust and ashes. I cry unto Thee, and Thou dost not answer me, Job 30. How closely all this answers to the description of the Suffering Saviour.

But while Job complained and justified himself, the Sinless Lamb of God was dumb before His shearers and opened not His mouth and poured out His soul as a sacrifice for our sins.

In Psalm Two We Have Three Titles for the Lord Jesus Christ

He is called the “Anointed,” that is the “Messiah,” verse 2.
He is the “King” of Zion, verse 6.
He is the “Son of God,” verses 6, 7.
He is then shown to be the Possessor and Lord of all the Earth, verses 8, 9.
And loyal submission to Him is shown to be the only way of safety and reconciliation with God, verse 12.

Here at the outset of the Book we see the Messiah, not in His suffering and humiliation, but in His ascended glory and in His victory over all the Earth.

Verses 1 and 2 had a first fulfillment at the time of our Lord’s crucifixion when “the heathen,” “the kings of the Earth,” that is Pontius Pilate and Herod on the one hand, and the Jews and the rulers of the Sanhedrim on the other, banded themselves together against Christ. But it awaits a final fulfillment in the hostility of the last days, a hostility to be overthrown forever, that the kingdoms of this world may become the kingdoms of the Lord and of His Christ.

Psalm 45 – The Marriage of the King!

It is a key to the Song of Solomon and a foreshadowing of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Christ calls Himself the Bridegroom. And thus defends the joy of His disciples who did not fast.

This word “bridegroom” is an epitome of the whole Scripture. This Psalm has a historical application connected with the marriage, probably of Solomon. But it is the sight of a greater King and a more glorious bride, which makes the heart of the psalmist to “bubble over” as he describes His eternal kingdom.

He has seen the face of glory, “Thou art fairer than the children of men,” and he seems to have heard His voice for he says “Grace is poured into thy lips.”

The bride, “the King’s daughter, is all glorious within.” Her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought in raiment of needle work. “Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him for the marriage of the Lamb is come and His wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted that she be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white.”

”For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.”
The King’s palace is to be her home for ever.
”In My Father’s house are many mansions.”

Psalm 72 is One of the Two Psalms Ascribed to Solomon

It celebrates the coronation of the king. The monarch grows fairer and larger then the sons of men. He is transfigured in the light of the promise made to David. Like a man standing on the high ground in a sunset, a glory not his own is on him. He casts a shadow much larger than himself.

In the One, alone, is the glorious ideal realized. Christ stands out as the true Prince of peace who is to reign from sea to sea, and whose dominion is to have no end. In Him all nations of the Earth shall be blessed.

”The handful of corn on the top of the mountains.” That group of unlearned and persecuted disciples sown in the unlikely soil of a corrupt Judaism, has already become like a forest of Lebanon. And the harvest one day shall fill the Earth.

Psalm 2:8

“Ask of Me and I will give Thee the Heaven for Thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for Thy possession.”

What a stimulus to all missionary effort to remember that the heathen are God’s gift to the Son, as part of His inheritance. Seeing the uttermost parts of the Earth are His possession, with what alacrity should we fulfill His last command to carry the Gospel there.

Psalm 2:12

“Kiss the Son lest He be angry.” Do homage to the Son lest JEHOVAH be angry.

Christ said, “The Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.” “He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent Him,” John 5:22-23.

”I and the Father are one.”
”He who has seen Me has seem the Father.”
”No one comes unto the Father but by Me.”
”No one has seen God at any time. The Only Begotten Son, He hath declared Him.”

Thursday, December 28, 2000

The Preservation of Israel as a Nation is Guaranteed Till the End of Time

“As long as the sun and the moon endure,” Jer 31:35-37.

David’s throne is secured as permanently with the added sign, “And as the faithful witness in the sky,” the rainbow, Psa 89:3-4, 27-37.

David’s Son shall sit upon David’s throne in Jerusalem. Jesus Christ is the only Person alive now as known to be of David’s seed and as possessing a right to David’s throne.

Census …

“When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shalt thou give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them. That there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them,” Exodus 30:12.

The half shekel of silver given by every man when he was numbered, was the token that the people belonged to the Lord. It was an acknowledgment of His right to their lives. And this was evidently omitted in David’s reign and the plague came upon the people. The plague was stayed at the threshing floor or Ornan the Jebusite on Mt. Moriah. David bought the threshing floor from Ornan for “50 shekels of silver.” And built there an altar unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings and called upon the Lord, and He answered him from Heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering, 1 Chr 21:26.

David’s Preparation

“Solomon, my son, is young and tender,” said David, “and the house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries.”

”So David prepared abundantly before his death” and the princes and the people brought their offerings. “Then the people rejoiced for that they offered willingly. Because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.”

It is a marvelous thought that it brings joy to the heart of our King when we offer willingly to His service, whether it be ourselves or our dear ones, or our substance that we give. David’s thanksgiving shows the right attitude of mind, the recognition that all indeed belongs to God.

”Who am I and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee,” 1 Chr 29:14.

What have we that we have not received it from the Lord? And why do we act as if we haven’t?

The Hebrew Word “MAKOAM”

David bought the MAKOAM, “place,” of the threshing floor of Ornan for 600 shekels of gold. These MAKOAMS were sacred places, the “places” of the Canaanites, Deut 12:2, 3. Similar to the “BAMOTH,” or “high places,” so frequently mentioned in Scripture.

They abound in Palestine today and are called by the same word in Arabic, “mukam,” “place” and are very valuable, often bringing in great gain to their owners through those who come to worship there.

This might account for David having to pay such a high price for the MAKOAM as recorded in Chronicles, though he only paid 50 shekels of silver for the threshing floor as recorded in Kings. The place was evidently a MAKOAM as long back as the time when Abraham was told to offer Isaac on what was probably the same spot, for the word occurs four times in the brief narrative applied to the summit of Moriah.

Afterwards, to be the Lord’s great MAKOAM where He would record His Name and place His temple. For the Lord would also have His MAKOAM.

Opportunity …

The great practical lesson for us in the Book of Esther is the all importance of using God- given opportunities. The power of life and death lies in these opportunities, both to ourselves and to others.

Mordecai was so sure of God’s working that he sent Esther this message. “If thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed, and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14.

We may be tempted to think that our opportunities are so insignificant and our circle of influence so small, that they are little of importance. But if we were a great queen like Esther, it would be a different matter.

But who knows whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? You, whoever you are and whatever your circumstances, you are called to reign in life by One, Jesus Christ.

See to it that you don’t miss the opportunity!

The King Held Out the Golden Sceptre to Esther

The king holding out the golden sceptre to Esther is an encouragement to many a saint of God in bringing their petitions to the King of kings. We need never fear that our King will refuse us an audience, or that we shall incur His anger by drawing nigh. But there are seasons when He seems in a special manner to hold out the golden sceptre and to give us more abundant access to Him in prayer.

Thou art coming to a King
Large petitions with thee bring
For His Grace and power are such
None can ever ask too much.

”Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to thee.”

Spectators of the Conflict

God has a deeper purpose in the suffering of His children than even their personal perfection. We have the clue in the words of Paul, “To the intent that now, unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God,” Eph 3:10.

An unseen cloud of witnesses is eagerly watching the conflict carried on in the arena of this little world. God is unfolding to the angels, to the host of darkness, and the angels of light, “the eternal purposes” of His Grace in His dealings with His redeemed children on the Earth.

The adversary had challenged the integrity of Job in the council of Heaven and God’s honor is in question. How little did Job realize the issues which hung upon his steadfastness when he said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord,” and again, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.”

How little the Church today realizes the issues which hang upon her faithfulness, or God would find among those who trust Him a larger number of saints whom He could trust.

The Adversary Must Ask Permission

Both the extent and the limit of Satan’s power are brought out in the Book of Job. He had power to bring up the hordes of hostile Sabeans and Chaldeans to carry off the oxen and the asses and the camels. He had power to manipulate the lightning to consume the sheep, to summon the wind to slay Job’s children. And to smite Job himself with a terrible disease.

”For is he not the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience?” And, did he not bring against Paul a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him?

But, on the other hand, he had no power at all except in so far as God permitted him to break through the protecting hedge with which He had surrounded His servant, Job 1:10.

What comfort there is here for the child of God. No calamity can touch him except as his Father permits it and he who has, “Shut up the sea with doors, shall thy proud waves be stayed,” Job 38:8-11 will never suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able or allow the furnace to be hotter than we can bear.

We have in the Book of Job not merely the theory of suffering, but a living example of one of God’s children placed in the crucible, and the effect of it upon his life.

Because God trusted Job, He assigned to him the ministry of suffering. Because He loved him, He chastened him. Even in the midst of his anguish, Job recognized that it is only the gold that is worth putting in the fire.

Job in his prosperity and uprightness and benevolence was in danger of becoming self confident and not recognizing that he had only held his power and position in trust for God. But as God deals with him, we see him broken, Job 16:12-14. We see him melted, Job 22:10. We see him softened, so that he could say, “The hand of God hath touched me,” Job 19:21.

”God maketh my heart soft,” Job 23:16.

“Now My Eye Seeth Thee”

It was the vision of God Himself that completed the work and brought Job into the very dust. He had protested that he was prepared to reason with God over his strange dealings with him. But when God took him at his word and said, “Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct Him?”

Job replied, “Behold I am vile, or contemptibly mean. I will lay my hand upon my mouth.”

God continued to deal with him until Job was brought to the very end of himself and cried out, “I have uttered that I understand not, things too wonderful for me, which I know not. I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear.” “But now my eye seeth Thee,” “wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes,” Job 42:1-6.

God’s “Afterward”

God’s chastened, softened servant is now ready to intercede at God’s command for the friends who had so aggravated his woe. Before his own misery is relieved, he offers the appointed sacrifice which they have brought and prays for them. As he does so, God turns the captivity of Job, and his prosperity returns to him, doubled in every particular. Twice as many sheep and camels and oxen and asses fell to Job’s portion as before, but only the same number of children, seven sons and three daughters, although he has seven sons and three daughters in Heaven.

We have here the most beautiful intimation of the certainty of the resurrection. Job’s prayers had evidently been answered. And his sacrifices accepted on his children’s behalf and the fact that he was only given the same number as before was God’s assurance that those who had been taken were safe in His keeping.

”Where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest,” Job 3:17.

”No chastening for the present is joyous, but afterwards it beareth the peaceable fruit of righteousness if exercised thereby.”

God’s Book and Science

Though the object of the Bible is not to teach science, its language is always abreast of the latest discoveries. This is nowhere more noticeable than in the Book of Job. “He hangeth the Earth on nothing,” Job 26:7. What could more accurately describe the poise of our world in space?

”Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades,” Job 38:31. Aleyone, the brightest of those seven stars, is actually so far as it is known, the pivot around which our whole solar system revolves. How mighty and at once how sweet must be its influence to hold these worlds in place at such a distance and to swing them round so smoothly.

”The morning stars sang together,” Job 38:7. Only modern science has discovered that the rays of light are vocal, and that if our ears were more finely tuned, we should hear them, Psalm 19:1-3.

”By what way is the light parted?” Job 38:24 Could language more exact be employed even after the discoveries of the spectrum analysis?

Had Bildad been taught the chemical absorption of chlorophyll by plants from light, he could have used no exacter term than this, “He is green, or full of juice, before the sun,” Job 8:16.

Friday, December 29, 2000

The Uniqueness of the Book of Psalms

Several of the Psalms are written in acrostic form, following the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Psa 9, Psa 10, Psa 25, Psa 34, Psa 37, Psa 111, Psa 112, Psa 119, Psa 145

This is especially the case with Psa 119, where each verse of the entire 22 parts begins with its own acrostic letter.

The Uniqueness of the Book of Psalms

Fifteen of the Psalms, from Psa 120 to Psa 134, are “songs of degrees,” which are pilgrim Psalms, probably sung by the caravan pilgrims as they went up to Jerusalem to keep the feasts.

The Uniqueness of the Psalms

“In the Psalms concerning Me”

We can never exhaust the treasures of the Book of Psalms. We see Christ in the Psalms frequently mentioned:

As the Good Shepherd – Psa 23, Psa 77:20, Psa 78:70-72, Psa 80:1, Psa 95:7, Psa 100:3, Psa 119:176.

As the Rock of Ages – Psa 27:5, Psa 40:2, Psa 28:1, Psa 31:2-3, Psa 71:3, Psa 42:9, Psa 61:2, Psa 62:3.

As the Light of the World – Psa 27:1, Psa 118:27, Psa 89:26, Psa 94:22, Psa 95:1.

In the redeeming work of the Kinsman Redeemer – Psa 19:14, Psa 69:18, Psa 72:14, Psa 77:15, Psa 78:35, Psa 103:4, Psa 106:10.

You Will Find in the Book of Psalms Several Psalms Which Are Confession …

Psa 6, Psa 32; Psa 38; Psa 51; Psa 102; Psa 130; Psa 143.

… bringing out the exceeding sinfulness of sin, as shown in the depth of the contrition of the psalmists. May we not in these see the Lord Jesus Christ as our Sin Bearer. He who did not sin was made sin for us.

Just as the righteous Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel confessed the sins of their people, as if they were their own. So in a much deeper and fuller sense we may see our Saviour’s estimate of sin in these confessions on their behalf.

”The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sins.” ”If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

A Broken Heart

“I am poured out like water, My heart is like wax, it is melted,” Psa 22:14. ”Reproach hath broken My heart,” Psa 69:20.

Here we are told the immediate cause of our Saviour’s death. He died of a broken heart. Six times in Psa 69 the word “reproach” occurs – reproach, shame, and dishonor borne for others. The bearing of our sins, the hiding of His Father’s face on account of them was what broke His heart.

Here we have the reproach of Christ, the offense of the Cross in all of its awful solemnity. No wonder that to hold this Truth still brings reproach upon His followers.

Death from a broken heart is very rare. It is caused by intense mental emotion, the loud cry, the fact of death occurring so soon, the effect of the spear thrust – all point towards this being indeed the cause of our Lord’s death. It tallies with His own Words. “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No man taketh it from Me but I lay it down of Myself.”

By wicked hands He was crucified and slain. By the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God He was delivered to death. By His own will He laid down His life. These three statements are all true in the mystery of the great sacrifice for our sins.

Surely we have in Psa 51 not merely the cry of the sinner, but a prophecy of this great sacrifice in these words. ”The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise,” Psa 51:17. This is the plural of majesty. In Hebrew the plural is often put where the word “great” is to be understood.

”The great sacrifice of God is a broken heart” and this was the sacrifice that our Saviour offered for us.

Saturday, December 30, 2000

The Church, the Body of Christ, Shining and Victorious

S.O.S. 6:10, “Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?”

The Church, which is really separated unto her Lord, will be a power for Him in this dark world. A glorious description of what the Church should be, shining with the reflected light of her absent Lord, a witness for Him in the night.

”Terrible as an army with banners.” An all-conquering victorious Church pulling down the strongholds of Satan with the weapons of her warfare, which are not carnal, but mighty through Christ.

How different the Church is today. The blot of worldliness is lying like the shadow of the Earth in an eclipse right across her fair face, preventing her from being a light bearer to the world. Instead of leading a victorious campaign against the enemy, she is suffering her walls to be broken by his advance.

”Love is strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave. The coals thereof are coals of fire, which has a most vehement flame of JEHOVAH,” S.O.S. 8. With a jealous love Christ yearns over His Church, that He may be able to present her to Himself a glorious Church.

“Make Haste My Beloved,” S.O.S. 8:14

Looking for His Appearing

The Church that is really separated unto her Lord will be watching with intensity of desire for His appearing. With this thought, the song closes, “Make haste my Beloved, and be Thou like to a roe (or to a young hart) upon the mountains of spices,” S.O.S. 8:14.

With the same thought, the last book of the Bible closes, “The Spirit and the bride say come, and He which testifieth these things saith, surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus.”

”Looking for that Blessed Hope and the glorious appearing of God our Saviour.”

Redemption in the Song of Solomon

In the Song of Solomon the Truth of redemption is brought out in the beauty, not her own, with which the bride is invested. She exclaims, “I am black, but comely, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.”

Black as the goat’s hair tents of the Bedouin and comely as the curtains of the temple. “Perfect through My comeliness that I had put upon thee,” said the Lord to Israel.

Our righteousness is as filthy rags, but He hath clothed us with the robe of His righteousness.

He made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

P.O.P. – Privileges of Parenthood

1. How are children to be regarded?
   Psa 127:3, “Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is His reward.”
   Each child born into the home is a sacred trust. God says to parents, “Take this child and bring it up for Me, that it may be an honour to My Name, and a channel through which My blessings shall flow to the world.”
   
2. How did Eve recognize her indebtedness to the Lord for her child?
   Gen 4:1, “And Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bare Cain and she said, “I have gotten a man from the Lord.”
   
3. In what beautiful way did Jacob acknowledge the blessing of God upon his home?
   Gen 33:4-5, “And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.”
   
4. What affection should children receive from their parents?
   Titus 2:4, “That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children?”
   2 Sam 18:33, “And the king was much moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he wept, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom! Would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son.”
   
   Young people look in those eyes and listen to that dear voice and notice the feeling of, even a touch that is bestowed upon you by that gentle hand. Make much of it while you have that most precious of all good gifts – a loving mother.
   
5. On what occasion did Jesus Christ show His love for the young?
   Matt 19:13-14, “Then were there brought unto Him little children, that He should put His hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto Me: for of such is the kingdom of Heaven.”
   
   More to follow …
   

   

   P.O.P – Privileges of Parenthood – Part Two

6. By who also are children loved and guarded?
   Matt 18:10, “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones for I say unto you that in Heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in Heaven.”
   
7. What blessings should children bring to a home?
   A. Comfort
   Gen 5:29, “And he called his name Noah saying this same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.”
   
   B. Happiness
   Psa 127:4-5, “As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed but they will speak with the enemies in the gate.”
   
   C. Strength
   Psa 144:12, “That our sons may be as plants grow up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones polished after the similitude of a palace.”
   
8. What is one of the crowning joys of aging parents?
   Prov 17:6, “Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.”
   
   More to follow ...
   

   

   Sunday, December 31, 2000

   P.O.P. – Privilege of Parenthood – Part Three

9. How grievously may children be led astray by sinful parents?
   Jer 9:14, “But have walked after the imagination of their own heart and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them.”
   
10. How is the importance of parental influence stressed?
    Ezek 16:44, “Behold everyone that useth Proverbs shall use this Proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother so is her daughter.”
    
11. What blessings may children receive through the prayers of Christian parents?
    A. 1 Chr 17:27, “Now, therefore, let it please Thee to bless the house of Thy servant that it may be before Thee for ever, for Thou blessest, O Lord, and it shall be blessed for ever.”
    B. 1 Chr 29:19, “And give unto Solomon, my son, a perfect heart, to keep Thy commandments, Thy testimonies, and Thy statutes, and to do all these things and to build the palace for the which I have made provision.”
    C. 1 Chr 22:12, “Only the Lord give thee wisdom and understanding and give thee charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of the Lord thy God.”
    Many stand today the loving witness of a mother’s faithfulness and a prayer-hearing God.
    
12. On the other hand, what sorrows may the iniquity of the parents bring upon their children?
    Ex 20:5, “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me.”
    
13. What tragic degradation of family life will mark the last days of Earth’s history?
    Mark 13:12, “Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.”
    
14. At the same time, what revival of family life will be found among believers before the end?
    Malachi 4:6, “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children. And the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the Earth with a curse.”
    Luke 1:17, “And He shall go before him in the spirit and the power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
    

New Years Eve!

For Thy mercy and Thy Grace
Faithful through another year
Hear our song of thankfulness
Lord and Remeemer, dear.

Lo, our sins on Thee were cast
Lo, to Thee we now arise
And, forgetting all the past
Press toward our glorious prize.

Dark the future; let Thy light
Guide us, Bright and Morning Star
Fierce our foes, and hard the fight
Arm us, Saviour for the war.

In our weakness and distress
Rock of strength be Thou our stay.
In the pathless wilderness
Be our true and living Way.

Keep us faithful, keep us pure
Keep us evermore Thine own.
Help, O help us to endure
Fit us for the promised crown.

What Would be the Results Today if the Church Had a Deepened Personal Love for the Lord Jesus Christ?

We are not left in any doubt about it.

1. Keeping His commandments.
   ”If ye love Me, keep My commandments,” John 14:15.
   Where there is a real love to Christ, there will be an intense sensitiveness not to grieve Him, but a great desire to become in fact what He sees us to be potentially.
   
2. Feeding His sheep.
   Three times He said to Peter, “Lovest thou Me? Feed My sheep … Feed My lambs.”
   The longing to be a blessing to others comes out in various ways in the Song of Solomon, in the bride’s care of the flock in chapter one, and of her care of the garden in chapters 4 and 6. And, in her care of the vineyard in chapters 7 and 8.
   
3. Fruit bearing to His praise.
   ”Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.”
   In the Song of Solomon, the thought of fruit bearing is brought out to perfection. ”A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a well shut up, a fountain sealed,” S.O.S. 4:12. In this fair picture of a garden, the Lord has given us an idea of His inheritance in the saints. A quiet spot where He can delight to dwell, enclosed for His use, full of all the manner of precious fruits and flowers. “Let my beloved come into His garden and eat His pleasant fruits,: S.O.S. 4:16.
   
   His response is, “I am come into my garden. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey,” verse one.
   

S.O.S. 4:15, “A Fountain of Gardens, a Well of Living Waters, and Streams From Lebanon”

How exactly does this verse correspond with the threefold description of the living water in John's Gospel?

1. “Whoso drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.”
   The soul’s thirst quenches at the Fountain.
   
2. “The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.”
   An unfailing supply in the soul of the believer.
   
3. “He that believeth on Me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water.”

”Streams from Lebanon” – flowing through the believer to a thirsty world.

“But This One Thing”

Jer 7:22-23, “I spake not unto your fathers nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices, but this one thing I commanded them, obey My voice.”

This sentence is a figure of grammar of frequent occurrence in both the Old and the New Testaments. The figure is this: That a negative followed generally, though not always, by an adversative participle, generally, the conjunction “but” is frequently not a negative at all, but a form of comparison.

For instance, “For I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings,” Hosea 6:6.
”You sent me not hither, but God,” Gen 45:8.
”Your murmurings are not against us, but against JEHOVAH,” Ex 16:8.
“They have not rejected thee, but have rejected Me,” 1 Sam 8:7.
”Receive My instruction and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold,” Prov 8:10.

”But” as a comparison and not as a conjunction of contrasts. Rightly dividing the Word of God.

“No Rest”

In Lamentations chapter one we have the description of desolation: “No rest.” “No pasture.” “No comforter.” Verses 3, 6, 9.

Such is the desolation of every soul that is without Christ.

We come into the world without hope, without life, and without the Lord Jesus Christ. “But now” by Grace we have been saved.

“For the Sins of Her Prophets and the Iniquities of Her Priests That Have

“Shed the Blood of the Just in the Midst of Her” – Lamentations We are reminded, first of all, of our Lord’s own Words, “O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee.”

And secondly, of Peter’s words of accusation to the people of Jerusalem, “Ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and killed the Prince of life.”

Jeremiah Weeping Over the City in the Book of Lamentations Reminds us of Our Lord

There are several verses moreover which seem to be a foreshadowing of Calvary.

“Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto My sorrow,” Lam 1:12.

”All that pass by clap their hands at Thee, they hiss and wag their head,” Lam 2:15-16.
Matt 27:39, “All Thine enemies have opened their mouth against Thee.”
”He shutteth out my prayer,” Lam 3:8, Matt 27:46.
”I was a derision to all My people and their song every day,” Lam 3:14, Psa 119:12.
”He giveth His cheek to him that smiteth Him. He is filled with reproach,” Lam 3:30, Isa 1:6, Psa 119:20.
”The wormwood and the gall,” Lam 3:19, Psa 119:21.

“It is Finished,” John 19:30

It is finished, Christ hath known
All the life of men wayfaring
Human joys and sorrows sharing
Making human needs His own.

Lord, in us Thy life renewing
Lead us where Thy feet have trod
Till the way of Truth pursuing
Human souls find rest in God.

It is finished, Christ is slain
On the altar of creation,
Offering for a world’s salvation
Sacrifice of love and pain.

Lord, Thy love through pain revealing
Purge our passions, scourge our vice,
Till upon the tree of healing
Self is slain in sacrifice.

It is finished, Christ our king
Wins the Victor’s crown of glory.
Sun and stars recite His story
Floods and fields His triumph sing.

Lord, whose praise the world is telling
Lord, to whom all power is given.
By Thy death, hell’s armies quelling
Bring Thy saints to reign in Heaven.

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Page updated 06/26/05 02:49 PM.