Divine Sugar Sticks for December 2002

What's the background behind Sugar Sticks? Click here to find out.

Tuesday, December 31, 2002

Strong Meat!

When Paul uses the emblem of “meat,” he has in mind the idea of the more profound teaching of the Word of God to those who delight to follow on to know the Lord in a fuller and richer measure.

Are we among those who are content to paddle along the shores, or are we in the company of those who love to launch out into the deep?

The Bible is no mere milk and water Book. True, there are parts of It which are so simple that a little child may understand them, 2 Tim 3:15, yet they contain Truths so profound that the mightiest intellect cannot fully grasp.

Dwell deep! Jer 49:8.

Bread – The Third Food Product of the Word

The Lord Jesus Christ sanctified ( set apart) the Scriptures by appealing to them as He did when implying that the Word was “Bread,” Matt 4:4, Luke 4:4, also Mark 12:10, John 7:42.

He also spoke of Himself as the Bread of life, John 6:33, 35.

Such a description offers us the Promise of daily sustenance. Ordinary bread is our staple food. We can do without fancy pastries, so long as we have plenty of wholesome bread.

What nourishing bread is Scripture!

It is to be hoped that we know what it is to cut off a large, daily slice of God’s loaf, providing thereby Its strengthening and satisfying qualities.

That is, breaking off a piece of God’s bread. You never slice it.

Honey!

This aspect of the Bible suggests the promise of pleasure and delight. How sweet and delightsome is a piece of bread covered with honey!

God satisfied His people of old with honey out of the rock. Psa 81:16.

David could write of the delight he found in God’s Law. Psalm 1:2.

The study of His Word then is pleasurable as well as profitable. Do you find Bible meditations delightful or is it drudgery?

Honey!

The emblem of honey breaks down however at one point, for one can eat too much natural honey.

But the redeemed soul can not have too much of God’s Honey, His Word. He furnishes a rich table, not only with necessary food, but also with sweets, luxuries of such a kind that they cannot make us spiritually sick.

There are still many Promises in the Word Itself which we can lay up in our souls. They are now listed for the comfort they impart.

“There is the Promise of profit.”

The Word is Profitable!

Thought for the Day!

“What are you doing New Year’s Eve?”

When I was growing up around WW II, this was an important question. If you didn’t have anything to report New Year’s Day that you did that was special, well it was like you had committed some great sin. In fact there was a song written about it which became very popular, “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?”

Well, I had to hide most of the time when it came to New Year’s Eve, and if you asked me what are you doing this New Year’s Eve? I would have to say, well I am in my apartment sending out Promises to those who may or may not be interested.

“What are you doing New Year’s Eve?”

Monday, December 30, 2002

Both the Living Word and the Written Word Are the Sources of Life

Both are light.

Both are truth.

Both are food for the soul.

Both must be received before salvation is possible.

Both the Living Word and the Written Word Are Associated with Irreparable Laws

Both are despised and rejected by the natural man.

Both are able to judge men.

We Now Come to those Emblems Related to “Food,” Indicating as They Do, the Promise of Sustenance

Job and Jeremiah confess:

If only the spiritually-starved multitudes could discover the nourishment the Bible affords! When an awakened soul cries “I perish with hunger,” then in the Word he finds food convenient for his soul.

Food is of varied kinds. There are four items necessary for our physical and spiritual maintenance which we can group under the title:

The Bible is as food.

The Bible is as Food

Milk

The Bible is so designed that many of its Truths can be understood by the youngest. Within Its sacred pages there is much to interest little children.

The apostolic use of the emblem of milk is related to those who are young in faith and not necessarily to those who are young in years.

Milk stands for the simplicities of the Gospel which the younger believer can grasp. Paul chided the Corinthians for the carnal condition preventing them from going on from the A.B.C.s of the Gospel to the deeper, doctrinal Truths.

While milk is the only necessary food for a baby, it would be tragic if it tried to grow up on nothing else but milk. The day comes when a child is weaned and is given more solid fare so that he can develop a sturdy human frame.

The Milk of the Word

Too many professing Christians are dwarfed. Separation from the world and dedication to God have not been thorough, so there is little taste for the deeper things of the Word.

All the teaching about the great and wonderful Doctrines of God are over their heads and consequently their souls are not nourished and built up.

They never get away from rudimentary spiritual teaching. It is sometimes remarked that milk is good for infants and invalids.

“Feasting on the strong meat of the Word,” our minds will never be corrupted from the “simplicity that is in Christ,” 2 Cor 11:3.

Weary seekers of the best,
We come back laden from the quest.
To find that all the sages said,
Is in the Book our mothers read.

Sunday, December 29, 2002

The Bible as a Mirror!

A mirror reveals and reflects. Standing before a mirror we see ourselves as we are. A mirror never lies unless it is warped like those crazy mirrors used in shows to give people a humorous distortion of their figure.

The Promise of a perfect revelation of both God and ourselves is ours when we accept the Bible as the Divine mirror.

People shrink from the Word of God because it tells them the Truth about their sin and reveals to them not what they think they are, but what It declares them to be.

The Bible as a Mirror

A missionary tells the story of visiting a heathen village where an aged woman was recognized as its head. In order to win his way, the missionary carried with him a bag of expensive gifts. As he stood before the heathen chieftainess, he wondered what kind of a present he could give her and thereby gain her interest. Turning over his gifts he came across a small mirror, something the woman had never seen.

Instructing her to hold it up and look at it, the missionary soon discovered his mistake. The woman was horrified as she looked at her face and flung the mirror to the ground. Poor mirror, it could not help it. It only told the truth.

Are there not those who would destroy the Bible because of the revelation it provides of their own sinful life? We love the Bible because “It found us.”

There is no need to fear the revelation of God’s mirror, for what the light reveals, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ can cleanse.

Within that awful volume lies,
The mystery of mysteries.
Happiest they of human race,
To whom their God has given Grace.

To read, to fear, to hope, to pray,
To lift the latch and force the way.
And better had they never been born
Who read to doubt, or read to scorn.

The Bible is as a Laver

How full of promised cleansing is the laver of the Word. The very Book, which as the mirror reveals my sin, is likewise the laver showing me how every stain can be cleansed.

In the outer court of the tabernacle there stood the brazen altar and the laver.

After serving at the first, the priest, having dealt with the sacrifice, had to wash his hands and his feet, and thereby remove all defilement as he sought to enter the Holy Place to worship God.

The Bible is the medium of cleansing in that It leads us to the only fount of cleansing, namely the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:7, 9.

“Be Ye Clean That Bear the Vessels of the Lord”

Too often we maintain the whole round of Christian activities, but nothing happens. Progress and power are not ours, simply because we are not fit for God to use us.

It is only as “we keep walking in the light as He is in the light” that the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ constantly cleanses us before He can be effective through us. 1 John 1:7, 1 John 1:9.

Because “if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me.”

The Bible is as Gold or Silver

As gold is the most costly metal we have, the reference to the Bible as “gold” indicates the Promise of preciousness.

Peter speaks of Its “exceeding great and precious Promises,” 2 Pet 1:4.

The believers at Smyrna who loved and kept God’s Word, were poor materially but rich spiritually.

“Thou Art Rich”

What real and lasting wealth the Lord has provided for us in the Scriptures. Within it are riches to which the treasures of earth are trash. But the tragedy is that with so much gold at our disposal, we yet live as spiritual paupers.

Heirs of such abundant wealth as the Word contains, we live as children cast off without a penny to our name.

Oh for Grace to possess our vast possessions in God and in His Word!

Possess your possessions.

The Bible is as a Word

“Words are the garments of thoughts”

While it is true that a thought can exist in the mind without words, such a thought can only be communicated to other minds through the media of words, whether spoken or written.

The Bible, therefore, as “God’s Word” is the outer expression of His inner thought. Scripture is the revelation of the Divine mind.

Because of the widespread use of the emblem of “the Word,” it is beyond our limits of our space to cite all the references where it is employed.

Over and over again it is found in the Psalms, particularly in Psalm 119.

The Bible as “the Word”

With the aid of a concordance you can trace the passages where “My Word,” “the Word of God,” “His Word,” “Thy Word,” “this Word” are found and you will light upon an abundance of Promises revealing the Grace and love of God.

We have noticed in our study the mystic union between the Lord Jesus Christ, the living Word, and the Bible, the written Word. It is with profound reference that we bow before Him seeing

The Bible, then, and the Lord Jesus Christ, through the Bible, both reveal and express the mind and purpose of God.

Having and knowing the mind of God, the Lord Jesus Christ was able to declare in language men could not fail to understand the deep things of God.

The Word of God

Think of all that is promised for our souls in the following combinations. Both are the expressions of the mind of God.

Both have an eternal existence.

Both came as God’s Messengers to bless a needy world.

Both partake of the human and the Divine.

Both are infallible.

Saturday, December 28, 2002

The Bible is as a Hammer

The above references reveal the dual yet opposite function of a hammer. It makes and breaks.

What a useful implement the hammer is in the hands of a carpenter. With it, he can unite separate fashioned pieces of wood into a chair, a table, or some other article.

Does not the Bible as God’s hammer exercise unifying influences? Where you have a group of people intent on studying and loving the Bible and above all applying it to their daily life, there you have not merely several individuals but a united body who are all one in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible as a Hammer

The other function of the Bible, which Jeremiah illustrates, is that of breaking hard substances into pieces.

Souls and minds are indeed hard. The Gospel and Truth hardened and endeavors to break them are sometimes slow and discouraging. Yet, in the end, regular blows tell.

One solemn task is to keep on wielding the Divine Hammer and praying that God will use it to break rock-like minds.

It was thus that the Word of God acted in the conversion of the jailer. Acts 16:25-34. What a brutal, hard-hearted man he was. He had to be insensitive to human feelings to retain his position.

He could lash the backs of prisoners till the blood oozed forth and yet never turn a hair. But the hammer struck hard on that adamant heart, and out came the broken-hearted cry, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

The Promise then, in this emblem, is that in God’s own way and time the mighty weapon of the Word will be effective.

The Bible is a Fire!

Fire, being a symbol of Divine holiness, Divine hatred of sin, Divine empowerment, holds much promise of blessing for our cold hearts.

Fire destroys, and the Bible, when believed and obeyed, destroys everything alien in your life and mine. Fire purges, refines, cleanses, and the Bible is the medium of purification.

Is Not My Word Like a Fire Unto You!

Fire energizes. What is the power producing the steam so necessary for the loaded train, traveling over miles of track? It is the fire around the boiler.

On the day of Pentecost, God the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples as fire, empowering them to turn the world upside down.

Words from their tongues of fire burned their way into the cold hearts of the multitudes.

Touch them with a living coal the life,
That shall proclaim Thy Word.
And bid us all devoutly keep,
Attention to the Lord.

The Bible is as a Lamp

Promises of illumination and guidance are associated with this expressive symbol of Scripture.

It will be noted that the psalmist uses the double figure of “Lamp and Light” while we look upon these as one, yet there is a distinction. What is the use of a lamp, costly and ornamental though it may be, if there is no light within to radiate forth?

The internal life is necessary to the external lamp. The Bible as a whole is the external Lamp, but without God the Holy Spirit, the Divine light, illuminating Scripture and shining through it, it remains dark.

The Bible as a Lamp

The darkness of the natural heart is likened to the chaos that existed on the earth before light, life, and order were established.

Such gross darkness however, can be dispelled by the unfailing light of God’s Word.

Like the star in the east, It can lighten those who seem to be further away, and will lead an honest seeker to the Lord Jesus Christ. Like the seven-branched candlestick in the tabernacle, it shines with a perfect light.

Sooner or later all earthly lights upon which men are prone to rely, fail. While God’s lamp shines on more and more unto that perfect day.

“The Word of the Lord Endureth For Ever,” 1 Peter 1:25

The Spirit breathes upon the Word,
And brings the truth to sight.
Precepts and Promises afford
A sanctifying light.

A glory gilds the sacred page,
Majestic like the sun.
It gives a light to every age,
It gives, but borrows none.

Guidance and direction were also in the minds of the sages of old when they wrote of Scripture as a Light unto our paths.

Just as the fiery pillar marked out the way for the Israelites, so the Bible lights up the whole pathway of God’s children in their wilderness journey. And in the light of the life they must walk, “till traveling days are done.”

This old Book is my guide,
It is a friend by my side.
It will brighten and lighten my way,
And each Promise I find,
Soothes and gladdens the mind,
As I read it and heed it each day.

Friday, December 27, 2002

Showers of Blessings

Such a Promise of accomplishment of the shower of blessings can be found in these verses.

God has declared that His life-giving Word will not return unto Him void. What authority there is in the declaration!

Here, then, is a Promise to cheer our drooping souls when we feel that our teaching of the Word of God is in vain.

The Word Shall Accomplish

Then, as to the rain and the snow of which Isaiah speaks. Here we have wonderful symbols for the Bible, rising like a vapor from the mighty ocean of God’s eternal love, wafted by the breath of the Holy Spirit over this world of ours, regarded by men as a dark cloud which only seems to mar their enjoyment.

Yet falling on barren souls at all seasons, with enriching showers from the bounteous hand of Him who “sendeth rain in the just and the unjust,” Matt 5:13.

How beautiful also to remember that the sun and the rain together make the rainbow of God’s covenant Promise.

The Bible is as a Seed

The symbol of the Bible as a Seed carries with it the Promise of fruitfulness and reproduction.

Seed sown in good soil multiplies itself. At times we are discouraged for the Seed seems to fall on uncongenial soil. Sometimes we are guilty of the folly of scattering the Seed indiscriminately. Yet our responsibility as sowers is clearly stated. We must never withhold the precious Seed.

The Seed is the Word of God

What we must not forget is the fact that God holds us responsible for the sowing, not for the harvest. The latter is God’s responsibility.

The Seed is the Word of God

The ground, however, must be duly prepared by the warmth of our love and the tears of our compassion. Then we can claim the Promise of a harvest.

In faith, sow the Seed of the Lord
A blessing He will surely bestow.
And souls shine like stars for your crowning,
You will reap whatsoever you sow.

The Bible is a Sword!

In this militant weapon we have the Promise of conquest, victory, and dominion.

The Word of God is like a Sword
That pierces souls, thus saith the Lord.
And like a hammer, weighty, strong.
Can break the rocks of sin and wrong.

The Bible as our Sword is the weapon we use as soldiers against spiritual foes. It was thus that the Lord Jesus Christ used the Scriptures in His contest with Satan in the wilderness temptation.

In three different ways he assailed the Lord Jesus Christ, but all He did was to give the enemy three thrusts of the Sword.

The three “it is written” were sufficient to defeat Satan. Matt 4:4, 7, 10.

The Sword of the Spirit, Which is the Word of God

The Word as a sharp Sword in the hand of the good soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ can accomplish mighty victories.

2 Tim 2:15. This is the Sword which pierces the conscience and leads to an awakening. It is the sharp two-edged Sword, meaning it can cut both ways.

If the Bible does not save, then it slays. If it fails to convert, then it condemns. Acts 2:37, 41; Acts 7:51, 54, 57.

Finally, the Sword bathed in Heaven, signifying its Divine origin, will smite with an eternal stroke all those who persist in their rejection of the Word’s authority.

Tuesday, December 24, 2002

Psalm 119

Psalm 119

It is a most profitable exercise to run over all the references to God’s “faithfulness” in the book of Psalms.

We have the Promise that God’s will is reliable and eternal.

What a beneficial aspect of Bible meditation is the gathering together of the symbols It employs to describe Its message and Its ministry, Its sublimity, simplicity, and sufficiency.

Here are the outstanding and attractive symbols It uses of Itself and which, taken together, constitute a claim to the Divine authorship of the Bible. How full of spiritual and practical teaching are these figures of speech.

The Bible is a Critic!

While the word “discern” frequently occurs in the Bible, this is the only reference in which the particular Greek word KRITIKOS, from which is derived our English word “critic,” is used.

The adjective used signifies that which relates to judging, fit for, or skilled in, judging, hence, “critic.”

The Bible is critical of our thoughts and intents, meaning Its authority to discriminate and pass judgment on our thoughts and feelings. Because of the nature of the Bible, the idea of It as our critic carries the Promise of criticism which is just and deserved.

Mental attitude sins are the worst. “As a man thinketh, so is he.”

The Bible is a Critic!

Presumptuous men call themselves “critics” of the Bible and sit in judgment upon It. They forget that the Bible is the “infallible critic” of their actions. We recognize that Biblical criticism is of two kinds.

There are those devout and honest Hebrew and Greek scholars who bow before the authority of the Scripture, and who, with much patience and prayer, search the ancient manuscripts in order to give us, as nearly as possible, the actual words used by the inspired writers of old. How we thank the Lord for the painstaking labors of such scholars. Ours is a debt of gratitude which can never be adequately repaid for the translations before us.

The Bible is a Critic!

The other kind of critics are those who represent what is known as “destructive criticism,” their activities are unlawful and fraught with the most soul-ruining and God-dishonoring consequences.

These so called “higher critics” endeavor to give us a revived and improved Bible. Rejecting Divine inspiration, these unworthy critics doubt the accuracy of the Bible, and they strike out passages as being uninspired and leave us with nothing better than a piece of patched up forgery.

Such false handlers of Scripture never reveal any of its treasures nor inspire us to grasp more firmly any of its Truths.

How blessed we are when we refuse to sit in judgment upon the Bible, but accepting it as a Holy Critic, submit to its mysterious soul-searching power.

The Bible as Tender Grass!

Here we have a striking symbol drawn from nature of the refreshing and reviving influences of the Scriptures.

What a Promise of spiritual quickening there is in the Truths of the Bible being able to revive and quicken our parched souls and the dry barren condition of the church, just as the continuous rain brings new life to fields and lawns. How we need these showers of blessings.

Monday, December 23, 2002

Christ is the Incomparable Storyteller

The parables of the Lord were actually His Promises of accomplishment. But what a matchless Storyteller the Lord Jesus Christ was. For naturalness, simplicity, conciseness, and effect, His parables, metaphors, and illustrations are without equal.

If a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, then the Lord Jesus Christ knew how to draw from a wide range of subjects – parables so full of spiritual import.

No Man Ever Spake Like This Man

The story of the husbandman smote the consciences of the Pharisees, who listened to it with deep conviction. Then knew that the Lord Jesus Christ had spoken the parable against them.

And had it not been for His popularity among the common people who heard Him gladly, they would have taken Him prisoner.

The Lord Jesus Christ’s answer as to the question of the tribute caused the people to marvel and wonder.

Those who are called to teach the Word of life, can learn from the Lord Jesus Christ as to the art of illustration. He never used stories merely for the sake of telling them. They were always windows to let the light in.

Promises Related to the Scriptures

An outstanding characteristic feature of the Bible is that It is not only a Book laden with Divine Promises for Christian pilgrims, but It also contains a multitude of descriptions and emblems of Itself, each of such being a latent Promise.

These manifold references the Bible uses of Itself proclaim what the Lord is prepared to do in us, for us, and through us.

While the prime mission of the Bible is to testify to the Lord Jesus Christ, It has no hesitation whatsoever in testifying of Itself. The greatest minds have witnessed to the influence and integrity “of the impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture.”

What will interest us in this study is the remarkable way in which the Bible extols Its own virtues. It is Its own best advocate.

The Bible’s Testimony of Itself

One of the most prominent portions in which the Bible magnifies Its nature and power is the marvelous acrostic Psalm – Psalm 119.

Made up of 176 verses, every verse, with the exception of verses 121, 122, and 132, praises the varied ministry of God’s most blessed Word.

How this long and noble Psalm is devoted to the praise of the Word, and what a rich aid in meditation it is.

“It is strange that of all the pieces of the Bible which my mother taught me, and which cost me most to learn, and which was to my child’s mind chiefly repulsive, has now become of all most precious to me in its overflowing and glorious passion of love for the Law of God.”

That is what Ruskin wrote of Psalm 119.

The Bible – Its Own Best Advocate

What impresses us about Psalm 119 is first of all Its unique construction. It is an alphabetical acrostic and certainly the most remarkable of the acrostic Psalms.

Doubtless It was thus composed in order to aid the saints of old in the memorizing of the Psalms.

To make it easy to remember, Its contents are broken up into 22 short divisions or sections – all the verses in each section beginning with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Another feature of the Psalm is an apparent monotony and sameness in ever-recurring phrases, which under slightly different expressions state the same fact.

It is a pleasant and profitable exercise to take up these phrases and keywords of the Psalm, occurring throughout its texture, and dwell on them in all the varying lights flashed thereon by the context in each case.

Psalm 119

Here are some of the outstanding terms pastor-teachers could use as sermon material. The play upon words is conspicuous.

These references indicate the different ways in which the Lord is able to manifest His vitalizing power through His Word. It is “the Word of life.”

“Word” occurs 42 times in this Psalm. In 23 cases standing for “DABA” meaning “Word.”

And in 19 cases for “IMRAH,” meaning, “saying.”

An example can be seen of this in verse 103, which should read,

Both terms are related to the Word “Promise.”

“As the Word,” there is the thought of the will of the Lord as an actual utterance expressing the Divine mind.

“Saying.” In this repeated term there is the idea of the will of God as an actual utterance of the Divine mind.

Sunday, December 22, 2002

The Lord as a Blessed Sanctuary

How good of God it is to promise Himself as a sanctuary. In the Old Testament He provided a temple for His people. In the New Testament He has redeemed people as His temple.

But the wonder of wonders is that He is also our temple. How consoling it is to know that amid all the turmoil of the street, and the busy cares of home, and the hurry and confusion of our modern life, we have a “little sanctuary” closer than breathing, and nearer than hands or feet.

A Little Sanctuary

No sanctuary ever surpassed the temple Solomon built. For its marvel and magnificence it was incomparable, yet where is it today?

But blessed be our Sanctuary. He still abides. While it is fitting to gather in a house of worship, and not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, whether it be a simple or cathedral-like structure, the sphere makes little difference.

Many dear shut-in ones cannot journey to a sanctuary of stone. Yet hidden from “earth’s eyes, they can take advantage of Him who offers Himself as a sanctuary.”

Blessed, is it not, to have a Person as well as a place we can draw nigh to?

A Little Sanctuary

“A little Sanctuary” art Thou to me,
O Lord, Beloved, I live with Thee.
My soul has found its everlasting home,
Its sure abiding place wherever I roam.

“A little Sanctuary” art Thou to me,
No fable shrine, but deep reality.
Thou saidst it should be so when at Thy call,
I rose and followed gladly, leaving all.

The Undiscouraged Christ!

What a most unusual Promise of the Lord Jesus Christ Isaiah gives us.

Because of this virtue is the Lord of all discouragement. The Bible warns us against discouragement.

The spies, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, “discouraged the heart of the children of Israel.”

But the One Isaiah portrays will never be discouraged until His final task is completed, then what satisfaction will be His. Slowly, surely, He is reaching His goal to set judgment on the earth.

“He Shall Not be Discouraged”

Think of the Lord Jesus Christ while among men. Surely He had enough to discourage Him. What with the failure of His own and hostile foes around Him, it would have been human if He had faltered by the way.

But, no, courageously, He set his face toward Jerusalem. No one and nothing could keep Him back.

Presently it would seem that the world is out of His control. But He is not discouraged, because He knows His day is coming. What an incentive He provides for those of us who become discouraged.

Marcus Aurelius said, “Be not uneasy, discouraged, or out of humour because practice falls short of precept in some particulars. If you happen to be beaten, return to the charge.”

Saturday, December 21, 2002

The Lord as a Compassionate Father

The Bible abounds in Promises of the tender-heartedness of God. How kind, gentle, and understanding He is. And His gentleness is able to make us great.

The Lord Jesus Christ exhibited His Divine tenderness, especially as He died, when Grace was His to pray for His enemies.

What a Precious Portrait of the Lord This is, “Father”

His tenderness and patience as such carried Him to great lengths to extricate His wayward children out of trouble. All strength, wisdom, and provision are His as the “Father of the fatherless,” Psa 68:5.

While in the sense of creation, He is the Father of all, we cannot look up into His face and speak to Him as our heavenly Father unless the Lord Jesus Christ is our personal Saviour.

“Abba, Father”

The fatherhood of God is based upon the Saviourhood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Once regenerate, we have the right to cry, “Abba, Father.”

It was His compassion as a Father that led Him to surrender His Son for the redemption of a prodigal world. Are we resting in a Heavenly Father’s compassion and provision, and can we say:

I know my Heavenly Father knows,
How frail I am to meet my foes,
But He my cause will ever defend,
Uphold and keep me to the end.

The Lord is a Rejoicing Bridegroom

Here is another gracious Promise and likewise a sacred glimpse into the tender heart of the Lord.

How does a Bridegroom rejoice over a bride?

In the first place, union is the consummation of love. The Church is the bride, Rev 22:17, and believers are joined to the Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, in a union death cannot break.

As the Bridegroom claims His bride at the altar, so Christ has possessed us forever. As the Bridegroom promises to endow the bride with all His worldly goods, so the Lord Jesus Christ makes His own the sharers of all He possesses.

Bridegroom

For His Church, the joyful marriage of the Lamb is not far away. How He will rejoice over His bride when He returns for her future bliss.

And what joy will be the bride’s when she eyes not His garment, but her dear Bridegroom’s face. With His own around Him and eternally united to Him, “He will see the travail of His soul and be satisfied.”

When the Bridegroom cometh by and by,
When the Bridegroom cometh by and by
Will your wearied heart rejoice
At the sound of the Bridegroom’s voice?
When the bridegroom cometh by and by.

Thursday, December 19, 2002

Christ the Provider of Songs

Is it not encouraging to have these Promises of singing and of the Lord as our constant Song? Many of us do not have musical voices, yet we can learn how to make melody unto the Lord. Eph 5:19.

We know that the Lord Jesus Christ was one of the singing company that went out to the Mount of Olives. He had just broken bread with His disciples, and having explained the significance of the bread and the wine, He turned aside from the chamber and went out with His own into the dark night. Where were their footsteps taking them?

“When They Had Sung a Hymn”

Their faces were set toward the Garden of Golgotha, but the marvel was that they faced the sorrowful future with a song. Surely it is not irreverent to suggest that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself led the chorus that night.

Possibly some of the “degree Psalms,” Psa 120-134, He knew so well, formed the hymn they sang.

This we know, that we might have songs in the night and therewith prove that pain need not silence praise.

Paul and Silas in their prison,
Sang of Christ, the Lord risen.
And an earthquake’s arm of might,
Brake their dungeon gates at night.

–Longfellow

Christ is the Ever-Present All-Sufficient Friend

How privileged to be called the Lord’s friends, and to have Him as our never-absent, all-bountiful Friend.

Promises of His nearness to relieve and bless abound in Scripture. He is always at hand cheering us, and reproving us as any true friend should.

As the Lord, our Friend, He is the Master of every situation and able to undertake accordingly.

A Friend Loveth at All Times

How comforting to know that the Lord is with us all. “All.” This includes you, no matter how simple, ordinary, and inconspicuous you may be.

All He is and has can be appropriated by each and all. How tragic it is when we neglect to take advantage of the abundant provision of such a constant Friend. Or, when we become His enemy through courting the friendship of the world. James 4:4.

One there is One above all others,
And oh, how He loves.
His is love beyond a brother’s,
And oh, how He loves.

Earthly friends may fail or leave us,
One day soothe, the next day grieve us.
But this Friend will never deceive us.
And oh, how He loves.

Christ is Our Unerring Guide

Promises associated with Divine guidance are as prolific as they are precious. How the Lord loves to reveal Himself as a safe and sufficient Guide. All of which He is.

What more pleasing profile of Him could we have as to step out upon the untrodden pathway of the future. We have no conception of what tomorrow may hold for us, but He has.

If we do not know the way, we certainly know the Guide. And with our hand in His, all will be well. Has He not promised to guide us continually, even over death?

Then may Grace be ours to live near this infallible Guide who never takes a wrong turning, and Who is our Guardian at all times.

Christ, Our Ever Welcome Visitor

Some visitors are always welcome, others are not. When certain people visit us, we wish they would prolong their stay. But with others, the sooner they leave the better.

Have you ever thought of the Lord Jesus Christ as a visitor, Whose visits are sometime gladly welcomed and at other times unwanted?

When the Lord Visits ...

When He visited the sin of His people upon them, they resented such a visitation. Yet how warmly He was received when He came down to deliver them. Ex 13:19.

Are we grateful that the “Dayspring from on high,” visited the world with His salvation?

We Gentiles, of all men, would have been most miserable had He not visited us. Acts 15:14.

When the Lord Visits

A dreadful day of visitation awaits this godless earth. And His visit in judgment will not be an appreciated one.

Do we welcome the daily visits of the Lord? Have we the joy of “opening the door to Him” every morning for fellowship?

He comes to abide. Luke 24:29.

Visiting our souls in salvation, He closes the door, as it were, behind Him and remains.

Christ is Our Commanding Captain

The word that Paul uses in the Greek for “captain” means princely, leader, or originator. That is, one who initiates and carries through. It is the same word used of “author,” Heb 12:2.

It was the Lord Jesus Christ, the Captain who initiated and carried through our so great salvation.

The Man Joshua saw, and who declared Himself to be the Captain of the Lord’s host, was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in Theophanic form. Immediately Joshua recognized the superior command of the One intercepting him and wisely accepted His Divine leadership.

Christ is Our Guiding Star

There is no more beautiful Promise and profile of our Lord Jesus Christ than this.

With undimmed light and radiance, He will provide directions to all who follow Him.

As, the Morning Star, He is the Promise of a better day, both for Israel and the world at large.

The old philosopher has told us to “hitch our wagon to a star.” We never lose our way when the Wagon of our life is hitched to the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the ever-shining Star.

Christ as the Prudent Husband

What a tender Promise this is of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as a Husband.

Isaiah speaks of Him both as “Maker and Husband.” He is our Maker.

We speak of those who are self-made, but actually there are no self-made men, for Christ is the Maker of us all. Would that men knew how to bow before their marvelous Maker.

As the Husband, He is related both to Israel and the Church, both of whom are referred to as “His wife.” How unfaithful have both proved to be.

But as a Husband, the Lord Jesus Christ will win back the faithless ones to His side and will forgive them their evil wanderings. Isa 54:5-10.

Christ Our Husband

Is there yet not another phase of His Husbandhood? Had He not promised to be “a Husband to the widow,” and “as a Father to the fatherless?”

Has death robbed you of a loving, provident husband? Is your heart and home terribly vacant?

Take courage. The Lord is near, Who offers to fill that dear one’s place, and be more to you than ever a Husband could be.

The Lord is my Shepherd and the Lord is my Husband.

The Captain of Our Salvation

The hosts of Israel stood before the gateway of the Promised Land. No swords were drawn on their part. Yet Jericho and all the giants of the land were forced to submit as Israel went forth under the leadership of the Divine Captain.

As the Captain of our salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ valiantly met the satanic foe and triumphed gloriously over him.

Now, as our Prince-Leader, He waits to lead us out of bondage into liberty.

As our Captain, His orders must be obeyed, and His plans gladly executed.

Captain of the hosts of God,
In the path where Thou hast trod,
Bows my soul in humble awe,
Take command ... Thy Word is law.

Wednesday, December 18, 2002

Thought for the Day

Don’t cross Christ out of Christmas (i.e., Xmas ...)

Christ is the Redeemer-Interpreter

The scene before us in the Book of Revelation is that of a worshipful host singing a new song in which the Lamb is extolled for His worthiness to take the Book and open its seals.

Such ability and authority to open this Book of judgment, or any other Book of the Bible, are based upon His redemptive work.

It was as the crucified, risen One He was able to expound in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. His life, death, and resurrection enabled Him to prove that all the Old Testament Promises concerning Him had been fulfilled.

He Opened the Seals

If we would know how to take the Book and open its seals, then a death is necessary. Sin and self must be slain if authority is to be ours to lead others into the Truth.

Are we worthy to take the Book and handle its sacred Truths? Is ours the practice corresponding to all its Promises and Precepts?

Disobedience closes the door of revelation. Implicit obedience is ever the key to open the seal.

Open my eyes that I may see,
Glimpses of Truth Thou hast for me.

Christ is a Wizard When it Comes to Words

As the Prince of preachers, the Lord Jesus Christ knew how to seek out acceptable Words. His Words were as “goads” and as “nails fastened in a sure place,” Ecc 12:10-11.

Paul reminds us that His Words were sound Doctrine, wholesome and wonderful Words of life. His lips were like lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. S.O.S. 4:3, 5:13, 16.

What would we not give to listen to the “gracious Words” proceeding out of His mouth? And every Word of His is a royal Promise to believe and prove.

Grace Was Poured From His Lips

Vain and idle words never left the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ, into which Grace had been poured. Every Word was a benediction. The Lord Jesus Christ was never verbose.

He was never guilty of using unnecessary words or exaggerated speech. Each word, as it left His lips, was rightly coined and timed and was shot as an arrow to a given target.

Life would be saved much of its friction if only we would set a watch upon our lips, and utter words acceptable in His sight. Psa 19:14.

Christ the Homeless One

Tragic is it not, that Christ, Who created all material homes that are built of, was yet denied a home of His own?

He, Himself, declared that He was less fortunate than the foxes with their sheltering holes and the birds with their warm nests.

The people would retire to their comfortable homes at eventide, but there was no one with decency enough to offer the Lord Jesus Christ a bed.

Out He went to the Mt. of Olives, where with the darkness of the night as a blanket to cover Him, He spent the lonely hours in fellowship with His Father, in whose bosom He had dwelt.

What privation, ostracism, and humiliation He willingly endured for our sakes.

Merry Christmas!

How privileged we are to offer our souls as His home and our homes as His dwelling place. How blest we are when He takes His abode with us.

What Did Jesus Christ Get for Christmas?

The Cross! Not too good for Him.

But what about you? What did you get for Christmas?

If you don’t get the Cross, nothing you get for Christmas will suffice.

Don’t cross Him out!

Jesus Christ, My Shepherd, Husband, Friend,
My prophet, Priest, and King.
My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,
Accept the thanks I bring.

At Christmas, Christ is the One the Saints Remember

The Lord assures us that He ever remembers us. He never forgets the humblest of His own. But how gracious it is of Him to ask us to remember all He has accomplished on our behalf. And to attach so many rich Promises to such a remembrance.

Truly, every day ought to be a “Remembrance Day” in a believer’s life.

Knowing how faulty the human memory is and how soon we are apt to forget, the Lord Jesus Christ has left us blessed tokens of remembrance.

Lest we forget!

There is the story of a mother who lost her longed-for baby. And who would constantly go to a drawer and take out the baby's shoes and clothes, fondly remembering the little one taken from her by death.

The Lord Jesus Christ left us the bread and the wine, biding us to remember His dying love as we partake of the elements.

If remembrance is a paradise from which we need not be driven, then our unfailing remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ and of all He has accomplished on our behalf can bring us a daily paradise. He always has us in His mind. “Yet will I not forget thee.” May we never be guilty of forgetting Him who died in our place.

Remember Me!

According to Thy gracious Word,
In meek humility,
This will I do, my dying Lord,
I will remember Thee.

Remember Thee, and all Thy pains,
And all Thy love to me.
Yea, while a breath, a pulse remains,
Will I remember Thee.

Tuesday, December 17, 2002

Christ is Our Burden Bearer!

Promised as a Burden Bearer when He came, the Lord Jesus Christ went about lifting the loads of others.

It was His law or custom to shoulder the heavy loads of others. He carried our sorrows. He bore the sin of the world. Our iniquities were laid on Him. That heavy burden of the Cross He was made to carry, was our load, but He died as our substitute.

Bearing shame and scoffing, rude,
In my place, condemned He stood.

What Do We Know Experientially About Casting Our Burdens Upon Our Burden-Bearing Lord?

There is no load too heavy for His shoulder, now that He has borne the heaviest load of all, namely, the sin of the world.

Can we say that we are emulating His example? Is our daily delight to lift another’s load? True, there are some burdens we cannot share, yet, there are others we can help to carry. We live twice over when, Christ-like, we make it easier for burdened ones to walk with a lighter step.

Share with him thy bread of blessing
Sorrow’s burdens share.
When thy soul enfolds a brother,
The Lord is there!

He is Omnipotence in Action!

Promises of the manifestation of Divine power are too numerous to mention. Among the captivating profiles of the Lord Jesus Christ, is that of the human personification of Divine power.

He moved among the sons of men as the Son of God having all power to enforce His Word. Christ’s omnipotence extends to every realm.

He upholds, not some things, but all things by His authoritative Word. Where the word of a king is there is power, and our sovereign Lord holds the reins of creation, redemption, prophesy, history, and our personal life in His all-powerful hands.

“To as Many as Received Him, to Them Gave He the Power to Become the Sons of God”

Sometimes we hear despondent souls moan, “the whole world is going to pieces.” Broken it may be by wickedness and terror, but it is still among “the all things” upheld by His power.

He overrules as well as rules, and is able therefore even to make the “wrath of man to praise Him.”

Coming to the narrower world of our own individual life, do we believe that He is able to uphold all things by the Word of His power?

As of old, He can still speak and it is done. Trouble comes when we take the control out of His hands and transfer it to our hands. The Almighty One, alone, is the sole Source of our strength.

I rest upon Thy Word,
The Promise is for me.
My help and salvation, Lord,
Shall surely come from Thee.

He is the Worthy Lamb!

The last Book of the Bible is “the Book of the Lamb.” In it, the Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of more than 20 times, in different connections, as the Lamb.

Promised as the Divine Lamb, in the fullness of time Christ was provided as the Lamb. John reminds us of how the vast angelic host, along with the living creatures, and elders, exalt His worthiness as God’s Lamb.

How worthy He was as the Lamb freshly slain, to receive power. All power is His now in Heaven and on earth:

Monday, December 16, 2002

He is the Word That We Can Handle

John’s contact with the Lord he dearly loved was blessed and intimate. He had leaned upon the bosom of the Lord Jesus Christ and is always spoken of as the disciple Jesus loved.

After His resurrection, our Lord invited His somewhat frightened followers to handle Him or touch Him and hold Him, to prove clearly that He was no spirit or apparition, but the very same Jesus Christ whose human form was familiar to them.

Handle Me and See!

John, more than the others, knew what it was to have such a close contact with the Lord Jesus Christ.

He it is who gives us several glimpses of the intimate fellowship he enjoyed. He had heard Him, seen Him with His own eyes, and shared some of His innermost secrets.

No wonder John goes on to say that having seen Him, he lived to show Him to others.

While our actual hands have not touched Him, yet ours can be the touch of faith. As the Holy Spirit makes Him real through the Word of God, we can lay hold of Him and make Him our very own.

Sometimes we receive a package marked “Handle with care” and the contents are either fragile or valuable, and must not be thrown about carelessly.

As we handle the Lord Jesus Christ, it must be with pure hands.

Handle with care the gift of eternal life that you may receive this Christmas.

He is Tranquility Supreme

All that the Lord Jesus Christ is in Himself holds for us the Promise of participation in His attributes so that it becomes true in more senses than one.

“As He Is, So Are We in This World”

While the first reference above depicts the nature of Solomon’s reign, surely a greater than Solomon is here.

A Son was born of Mary, Who came as a Man of rest, ever tranquil in Himself and therefore able to give others rest.

As a result of Calvary, He has rest from all His enemies and the trend of prophecy proves that He will yet give peace and quietness to Israel in the days of His kingdom and also peace in the world.

As He is in the World, So Are We

It is impossible to meditate upon the earthly side of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ without being impressed with His serenity of soul. He was never ruffled, harassed, or put out.

Nothing every disturbed him. He was never worried, flurried, or agitated. He was “a hidden calm repose.” He could sleep in a storm. Can we say that this rest of faith is ours? Can we truthfully sing:

Things that once were wild alarms,
Cannot now disturb my rest.
Closed in everlasting arms,
Pillowed on Thy loving breast.

He is the Mighty Prophet

Coming as the promised Prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ was without honor in His own country. The nation of which He was a part would not recognize Him as the Sent-One of God.

Yet the marks of a true prophet were His. His works, His words, His ways, testified to His authority as the Representative of God.

Prophets of old brought God down to men and raised men up to God. Before God and all the people, Christ revealed Himself to be a mighty Prophet.

Jesus Christ, a Prophet of God in Word and Deed

In ancient times, prophets functioned in a two-fold direction. They were “foretellers” and “forthtellers.”

As to the first, they were “seers,” declaring a message for an age beyond their own. By the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, they testified of coming events beforehand. 1 Pet 1:11.

As to the second, they were “preachers,” proclaiming stirring messages for their own times. How their utterances blistered consciences of men and nations.

The Lord Jesus Christ as a Prophet was both “Foreteller” and “Forthteller.” He, more than any other prophet, lifted the veil and revealed things to come. But for those around Him in the days of his flesh, “He had wonderful words of life.” Without fear or favor, He told forth the whole Counsel of God.

God’s Word declares that Jesus came
A Prophet of God’s Grace.
To cover sin “hath He appeared.”
His love redeemed the race.

Sunday, December 15, 2002

The Expert Carpenter

What a suggestive profile of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who came to mend a world broken by sin. If legend be true, Joseph died when Jesus Christ was but a lad, and the burden of the carpenter’s shop in Nazareth fell upon His young shoulders.

If this be, so then at that bench we see the toil of Divinity revealing the Divinity of the toil.

For something like 15 years the Lord Jesus Christ earned His own bread, and it may be the bread of others, by the strength of His own arms and the sweat of His brow. Can we not imagine how the farmers would bring their implements for repair? And how perfectly He would mend the broken goods of the housewives and the broken toys of children?

Thus, He was not removed from the toils and trials of life, for He touched it at every point.

Is Not This the Carpenter?

How fitting it was to give Him wood and nails when He died. As the Carpenter, He was used to them as He made and mended things.

More than ever, this broken world of ours needs the encouraging, skillful workmanship of the Carpenter of Galilee. If only men would allow His pierced hands to repair all that sin has broken, what a different world ours would be!

Can it be that yours is a broken life, or a broken home? If so, then why not call in Heaven’s Carpenter to repair the damage. He is willing and able to mend the broken things of life, and His service is free. This High Priest can repair any breach.

Read 2 Kings 3:5; 22:5, 6; 2 Chr 24:9-12; Ezra 9:5-9; Isa 61:1-3; Eph 2:10.

Christ is the Affluent One

These, and many other similar Promises, emphasize the great truth of our Lord’s affluence. We read of this one and the other being the richest person in the world. But the wealth of any man fades into insignificance alongside Christ’s vast possessions.

Who is rich in every sphere? What inexhaustible treasures are His, and how He loves to share them with His own. Giving never impoverished Him just as withholding could not enrich Him.

Paul, who was poor yet possessed all things, was forever drawing on his Lord’s bank. The apostle proved what a large heart the Lord Jesus Christ has, and that there are no barriers or restrictions when it comes to the scattering of His wealth. Jew and Gentile can share in His bounty.

Further, giving with Him is not conditioned by the merit of the recipient. All is so freely given because of His Grace. There is one condition that must be observed, however, if we desire to possess His bounty. We must call upon Him.

Is spiritual impoverishment yours? If so, believe His Promise and claim all you need from His inexhaustible riches of Grace.

He is the Unselfish Christ

Our gracious Lord not only preached self-abnegation, He practiced it. He never pleased Himself. Self interests were never first with Him.

In His life and death self was crucified.

Had He wished He could have saved Himself from the Cross, He could have come down from it and with a word destroyed His enemies. But had He saved Himself from those final agonies, there would have been no salvation for a sinning race.

The Unselfish Christ

Because He stayed on the Cross and died, we can live. With this virtue in mind Paul gives it a very personal and practical application.

If we bear His name, then we must reflect His character. Like the Lord, we, too, ever strive to please God, and please our weak neighbors for their good to edification.

Too many of us please ourselves. God is not first, but self, selfish like. We live for the gratification of our own desires, forgetting the nobler path of self-denial. If we live for self, we live in vain. If we live for God, we live again.

He is the Invincible Lion

Grouped around the tabernacle, each of the 12 tribes had their own particular flag. That which distinguished Judah was the lion, a flag Britain uses.

The Lord Jesus Christ came from the tribe of Judah and came as its Lion. As the king of beasts, the lion is known for its strength, fearlessness, and invincibility.

Satan is also likened as unto a lion, “a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour,” 1 Pet 1:8, but he is no match for Judah’s Lion.

At Calvary all the hatred of hell and men was heaped upon the Lord Jesus Christ as Heaven’s strong Lion. But He prevailed.

The Promise is that we too can tread upon the Lion, Psa 91:13. Why should we tread any foe? Satanic forces may combine to tear us to pieces, but standing over us is God’s majestic Lion who wants to deal with any who dare to touch His redeemed ones. Who also through Grace can be bold as a Lion, Prov 38:1.

Biblical Certainties of Christianity

Some Christians seem to have a lack of confidence and security in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here are some assurances for those who are uncertain.

What we know!

1. “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but that He that is begotten of God keepeth Himself and that wicked one toucheth Him not,” 1 John 5:18.
   
2. “We know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness,” 1 John 5:19.
   
3. “And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ,” 1 John 5:20.

Notice the repetition of the words “We know.”

That ye may know!

Saturday, December 14, 2002

Christ is Our Imperishable Rock

Similar to the similes of our Lord we have just considered is that of the Conspicuous One, “The Rock,” and such a figure of speech is used to express durability, shade, rest, and refreshment.

The Hebrew of the last two words reads, “The Rock of Ages,” the phrase which inspired Toplady to write his famous hymn, “Thou blest Rock of Ages, I’m hiding in Thee.”

A writer describes many of the ancient buildings of Oxford University as being “leprous with age,” meaning that many of them are seriously crumbling away. But the Lord, as our Rock, is unchanged by age. He cannot crumble or decay, but is ever new and whole.

“He is Our Rock, His Work is Perfect ... Just and Right is He,” Deuteronomy 32:4

Because He is perfect, just, and righteous, we can trust the salvation He has provided to offer sufficient protection.

In Him and upon His merit and atoning Grace we rest. And we know that shelter from wrath is ours.

“The Lord is My Rock and My Fortress,” Psalm 18:2

Altogether there are seven profiles of our Lord in this great Promise. Perhaps it was this verse which inspired Martin Luther to write that renowned battle hymn of his, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”

No evil can reach the soul sheltering in the Rock-Fortress.

“Be Thou My Strong Rock,” Psalm 31:2

Since He is a strong Rock, in Him we have a strong and safe defense from ourselves, the world, and the devil.

The storms may rage, but He who has endured throughout the ages will shield us.

Therefore We Pray ...

How blessed it is to realize that He is higher than all our needs and the cares and the crises of this world and the threats of men.

“The Shadow of a Great Rock in a Weary Land,” Isaiah 32:2

To desert travelers, a massive rock affords much needed protection from the burning sun in the shadow it casts.

At such, the traveler can shelter and rest. One such traveler writes “Journeying one night in the wilderness of central Africa, in a section plagued by ravenous beasts, we found no place of safety till we came to the shadow of a great rock where we sat down with our backs to the rock and building at our feet a fire, found rest and refreshment for the next day’s still weary journey.”

As travelers in this desert below, when our strength fails and we feel that we cannot go any further, how refreshing it is to lean back in His shadow and upon Him.

Resting in Him, Building in Prayer the Fire of Faith, We Find in Him

The shadow of a mighty Rock,
Within a weary land.
A home within the wilderness.
A rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat,
And the burden of the day.

To the Israelites the Smitten Rock Represented Refreshment to Slake Their Thirst in Their Wilderness Pilgrimage

Out of the Rock there flowed the life-giving water.

There are those expositors who suggest that the water supernaturally supplied as Moses smote the rock, Num 20, flowed and followed the people all through their 40 years of wandering.

This we do know, that the Lord Jesus Christ, as our Spiritual Rock, follows us over life’s journey so that at any moment we can stop and drink and live.

Read Deut 32:12-20, Psa 18, 1 Cor 10:1-6.

Friday, December 13, 2002

Jesus Christ is God’s Display Cabinet

Raised from the dead according to the Old Testament Promise, God boldly revealed His Son to worshipping souls.

How glad they were when they saw their Lord. Something lived in every hue of Him, Christless eyes could not see.

“But He Could Not be Hid,” Mark 7:24

The believer is a mysterious cabinet of the Trinity. And how true it is of the Lord Jesus Christ, Heaven loves to display that He is a Mysterious Cabinet.

As a show case of gems in a jeweler’s establishment indicated the precious goods that can be purchased within, so reverently the Lord Jesus Christ is Heaven’s show case.

God is Not Ashamed Nor Afraid to Expose His Victorious Son to View

“He shewed Him openly.”

Proudly He displayed Him as the Conqueror of Satan, sin, and sickness. The Father loved to draw attention to His Son Who could not be holden of death, Who was raised from the dead by the power of God. Such a conquest cannot be hid.

Are we showing Him openly? Or, are we ashamed to confess we are His, hiding such a light under a bushel? If He has undisturbed sway over our lives, then all unconsciously, they will exhibit His wealth and worth. His beauty will be seen in all of our ways.

Read John 14:8-12, Col 1:15, 16, Heb 1:3.

Christ is Our Abiding Companion

The Promises of the Lord are all precious. He will not be slack fulfilling any one of them. There is something better, however, better than His Promises, namely, His revealed presence.

Amid all the separations life may hold for us, there is One of whose companionship we can be certain until traveling days are done.

“Thou remainest.”

As the Lord promised Moses that He would favor His servant with His presence, so we can experience how the same presence is our glory, yielding us support under losses, crosses, and bereavements.

The Lord was with Moses and he persevered. The Lord was with Joshua, and he conquered. The Lord was with David and he reached his throne. The Lord was with Paul and he was more than a conqueror.

No one and nothing can act as a substitute for the Lord’s abiding presence. Did not the Lord Jesus Christ say that the Father and He would make Their abode with us?

We Have the Gracious Promise That He Will Never Leave Us, Never Leave Us Alone

Anyone but the Lord would have left us long ago, but He is so longsuffering. We can rely on Him to go through the whole journey of life with us and to be our Support in every trial, our Comfort in every sorrow, and our Deliverer in every danger.

He will never forsake His redeemed people, for His great name’s sake. Having loved His own, He will love and accompany them unto the end. Read Exodus 33:12-23, Matt 28:16-20, Heb 13:5-8.

Christ is Heaven’s Breach Repairer

Promise: “The Repairer of the breach, the Restorer of paths to dwell in,” Isa 58:12.

Actually, Isaiah gives us two profiles of Christ, whose skilful hands can bind up that which is broken.

He is a “Repairer and a Restorer.”

Who else could have repaired the terrible breach sin caused between God and man? But at Calvary the breach was repaired and the broken-hearted Saviour provided a world bruised and broken by sin with a perfect salvation. Now there is access into the Holiest of all by His sacrifice.

Is There Someone Who Has a Breach That Needs to be Repaired?

Is there some torn relationship in a home, business, or church that requires mending?

Then why not seek the aid of the heavenly Repairer whose loving, tender care can bring broken ends together and make fellowship whole again?

Read Eph 2:11-18, Col 1:20-23, Gen 33:8-15.

Saviour, we wait Thy healing hand,
Diseases fly at Thy command.
Now let Thy sovereign touch impart,
Life, health, and vigour to our heart.

Christ is Our Eternal Refuge

Outstanding among the many metaphors describing the provision and preservation the Lord makes possible for His own are those portraying Him as our Refuge, Tower, Pavilion, Fortress, Hiding Place, and Covert.

As these glimpses of the Lord Jesus Christ are manifold, we cite some of the more prominent ones, leaving the Bible student to pursue this cameo of Him with the aid of a concordance.

Common to all these Promises is the thought that in the Lord we have an impregnable Fortress or Hiding Place, and that in Him we are safe and unassailable.

Six cities of refuge were provided by Joshua for Israel. Joshua 20. Any Jew slaying another unwittingly could flee to one of these cities and know what it was to be safe from the avenger all the time the high priest lived.

Because our Refuge is our great High Priest, we have the assurance that ours is an eternal security. John 10:28. In Him we are both saved and safe.

How comforting it is to know when pursued by sin, doubt, perplexity, and sorrow that we have in Him, who became the Man of Sorrows, a safe hiding place.

Having such an omnipotent Person as our Fortress or Tower, what adequate protection is ours against all foes and fears assailing us!

Read Deut 33:24-29, Joshua 20, Psa 45, 48.

Be Thou my Shield and Hiding Place,
That, sheltered near Thy side,
I may my fierce accuser face,
And tell him Thou hast died.

Thursday, December 12, 2002

Promises and Performances

As to His identification with transgressors

As to His intercession for the crucifiers

As to His ultimate death

As to His bones not being broken

As to His being pierced

Thought for the Day!

It is not what you do that sends you to Hell, it is not some terrible thing you do that sends you to Hell.

It is something you don’t do.

You don’t accept Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour. That is what sends you to Hell, which is designed for the devil and his angels. Acts 16:31, Matt 25:41.

Promises and Performances

As to His demeanor in suffering

As to His being smitten on His cheek

As to His marred visage

As to His scourging

As His being nailed to the Cross

As to His being forsaken by God

As to the mocking of His crucifiers

As to the opiates offered to Him

As to His parted garments

Thought for the Day

They who crucified the Lord Jesus Christ mocked Him, but in their mocking, they express the fact that they heard the Gospel. Notice the verses.

“They that passed by wagged their heads saying, “He trusted in God. Let Him deliver Him now, if He will save Him,” Matt 27:39-44.

Trusted in God. Deliver Him now, if He will save Him.

If you put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, He will deliver you and save you.

The Person Promised!

Having considered the indissoluble union between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Scriptures, we now think of the Promised Person Himself.

Throughout Scripture there are hundreds of profiles of our Lord, both direct and implied. It takes them all to declare all that He is in Himself and all that He is willing to accomplish in and through His own followers.

No matter what gate of Scripture you open, you will always scamper over the fields to the Lord Jesus Christ. May such a holy scamper be ours!

To look for Christ in all we read is to add delight to our Bible study.

Cameos of the Lord Jesus Christ are before us in Truth and in type, in Promise and in Parable, in fact and figure. As we now look at a few conspicuous profiles, may our love for Him be intensified and our zeal to serve Him be quickened by God the Holy Spirit Who ever glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ.

Wednesday, December 11, 2002

Promises and Performances

As to His betrayal by a friend

As to His disciples forsaking Him

As to Judas’ successor

As to His sale for 30 pieces of silver

As to the price of the potter’s field

As to His extreme suffering

As to His substitutionary sufferings

Tuesday, December 10, 2002

Promises and Performances

As to Christ’s accepted proverty

As to His tender compassion

As to His guileless nature

As to His unflagging zeal

As to His parabolic teaching

As to His miraculous ministry

As to His undeserved reproach

As to His rejection by His brethren

Promises and Performances

As to His Galilean ministry

As to His entrance into Jerusalem

As to His appearance in the temple

Promises and Performances

As to Christ’s encounter with Jewish hatred

As to His rejection by Jewish rulers

As to His rejection by Jews and Gentiles

Thought for the Day!

With all the “hate crimes” going on ...

Here is a choice one for you! Speaking about hate crimes. What about this one?

Monday, December 9, 2002

Promises and Performances

As to Christ’s anointing with the Spirit

As to His likeness to Moses as a prophet

Promises and Performances

As to His Melchizedek succession

As to His entrance into public ministry

Sunday, December 8, 2002

Thought for the Day!

Don’t forget to keep “Christ” in “Christmas!”

Saturday, December 7, 2002

Old Testament Promises with New Testament Performances

The Seed of Isaac

As the Seed of David

As to His birth at a set time

Promises and Performances of the Promises

As to His birth of a virgin

As to His being named Immanuel

As to His coming in the Lord’s name

As to His birth in Bethlehem

Promises and Performances of the Promises

As to those adoring Him

As to the massacre of infant innocents

As His being called out of Egypt

As to His forerunner

Thursday, December 5, 2002

How Christ and the Scriptures Are Similarly Presented

Seven: Both are written as being tried.

Eight: Both are presented as being everlasting.

Nine: Both are said to contribute to our salvation.

Ten: Both are channels of cleansing.

Eleven: Both are able to sanctify.

We Have a Complete Identification of the Lord Jesus Christ with the Word of God

The Scriptures and the Word,
Bear one tremendous name.
The living and the written Word,
In all things are the same.

Old Testament Prophecies of Christ Prove That “the Incarnate Word Was in the Prophetic Word Which is a Perpetual Witness to His Divine Origin and Character”

Prophecies are actually Promises. Any Divine prophecy is a Promise that God will perform all that the prophecy presents. Generally speaking, these Messianic Promises set forth three aspects of the Promised Person:

We Now Cite Outstanding Old Testament Messianic Promises Along with Their New Testament Performances

Count them! There are some 66.

As the eternal Son of God

As the Seed of the woman

The Seed of Abraham

Wednesday, December 4, 2002

Promises and the Christian World

Outline:

1. Promises relative to Christ.
2. Promises relative to Christian Scriptures.
3. Promises relative to the Christian church.
4. Promises relative to Christian Doctrines.
5. Promises relative to Christian literature.
   
1. Promises relative to Christ.

Because there are hundreds of definite prophecies or Promises of Christ in the Bible, as well as hundreds more of implied references and types and symbols displaying His glory and His Grace, it would require a book in itself to rightly arrange all these Messianic references sparkling with diamond rays upon the sacred page. A two-fold general division will prove serviceable.

First of all we have the Promised Person. Under this section we will consider many of the specific predictions of Christ along with their definite fulfillment.

Second, the Person Promised. In this category we can place a few of the many names, types, and metaphors, all of which are necessary to extol His matchless worth and beauty. Everywhere there are hidden Messianic intimations which are not clearly visible on the surface of the verse.

The Promised Person

After God’s first Promise of Christ as “the Seed of the woman” (Gen 3:15), He is never lost sight of in the Old Testament as the “Promised One.”

In all of the 39 books, there is the air of expectancy that “Someone is coming.” Hundreds of years before Christ came, God graciously unveiled Him. It has been asserted that exclusive of numberless typical predictions of Him that “the prophecies and references to Jesus Christ in the Old Testament Scriptures, which are expressly cited as predictions fulfilled in Him, or as provisions applied to Him, number not less than 333.”

Therefore, it is with utmost confidence that we can affirm He dominates the Old Testament and is before us as the One who is the substance of its messages and the goal of all its hopes. All its avenues lead to Him. He is the golden thread binding the diverse books together, giving them an amazing unity.

“In the Volume of the Book it is Written of Me,” Hebrews 10:7

We have our Lord’s own authority for the fact that He is the key to the Old Testament Promises, profiles, and pictures.

Commenting on this verse, Martin Luther said, “What Book? And what Person?” He answered his own question – there is only one Book, the Bible, and only one Person, Christ.

The pre-eminent purpose then, of the pre-eminent Book is to magnify and extol the pre-eminent Person, the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Beginning at Moses and All the Prophets, He Expounded Unto Them in All the Scriptures the Things Concerning Himself. All Things Must be Fulfilled, Which Were Written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms Concerning Me,” Luke 24:27, 44.

Christ and the Bible then are inseparably wedded. The Written Word and the Living Word are one. Christ is the secret of the structural, historical, prophetical, doctrinal, and spiritual aspects of the Bible.

In our quest for Truth, whether we deal with facts or figures, prophecies or Promises, let us realize that the secret of interpretation is to find the Man Christ Jesus, because all Scripture exists to reveal Him.

It brings substance to our souls when we discover Christ and the Scriptures are similarly presented. For instance, think of these features:

One: Both are called the Word of God.

Two: Both are spoken of as the Truth.

Three: Both are described as light.

Christ and the Scriptures Similarly Presented

Four: Both are defined as life.

Five: Both are praised as being precious.

Six: Both are extolled as being wonderful.

More to come ...

Tuesday, December 3, 2002

“Evil Arrows”

While Ezekiel makes it clear that famine is one of the Divine judgments for sin, what impresses us in this verse is the promised evil arrows.

What are these arrows, disastrous in their mission? Gnawing of the bowels, unappeased hunger, wasting of body, loss of sleep, torture of mind, a living death, extreme inertia, and anguish over others similarly smitten. What evil arrows!

Surely it is better to be slain than to starve, to die suddenly than gradually as the famine stricken do. The redeemed are promised deliverance from these evil arrows.

“I Will Send a Famine in the Land, Not a Famine of Bread, Nor a Thirst for Water, But of Hearing the Words of God,” Amos 8:11

Amos, along with other prophets, declares that there is a worse famine than scarcity of food. Surely there are days when there is a famine of hearing the Word of God. Hardly 10 percent of the people darken a church door.

There are plenty of Bibles about and there are churches in abundance, but what a famine of the Word!

We have a glut of pleasing, inoffensive sermonettes, book reviews, political and topical talks, and religious homilies, but there is a famine today of sane Scriptural exposition. What a nation of spiritually starved souls our is.

An abundance of bread, water, and money, but an empty spiritual cupboard. Hungry souls wait to be fed with the Bread of life, but pulpits, in general, lack pastors who are able to feed a hungry flock.

“There Shall be Famines in Many Places,” Matthew 24:7

If famines are one of the signs heralding the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth, then surely coming events are casting their shadows before them.

What horrible famines stalk different parts of the earth. We can think of millions who have hardly enough to keep body and soul together in heathen countries. Famines past and present are not to be compared with the sorrows about to overtake a Godless world. What a trinity of grief awaits a world from which the body of Christ will be missing – famines, pestilence, earthquakes.

Earth’s travail, however, will come when the Lord Jesus Christ comes to usher in His reign of peace and prosperity. Throughout the Millennium the earth will bask in plenty – no more pinched faces, starved bodies, living skeletons, when Christ is here “as King of kings and Lord of lords.”

“Who Can Separate Us From the Love of God Which is in Christ Jesus Our Lord ... Shall Famine,” Romans 8:35

Away from his father, the prodigal son found himself without food or friends.

But hunger helped to drive the wayward boy home, where the fatted calf awaited him.

Many a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has had to endure pangs of starvation through no fault of his own. For Christ’s sake “they were killed all the day long.”

Being His did not bring immunity from the terrible end the gaunt figure of famine produces.

They had the Promises of their bread and water being sure, yet in Divine providence suffered want. Yet triumph was theirs. Dying of empty stomachs and parched lips and emancipated frames, they were victorious. Famine could come and reap its cruel harvest, but these valiant warriors had hidden manna to feed upon.

“The Bread of Life” was their stay. And no one and nothing could separate them from Him. Whatever lack may afflict us, He remains as our sufficiency.

Thou bruised and broken bread,
My life long wants supply.
As living souls are fed,
Oh fed me, or I die.

Monday, December 2, 2002

“He Called for a Famine Upon the Land: He Brake the Whole Staff of Bread,” Psa 105:16

There is another aspect that must be dealt with before we leave this study of the natural world and its specific Promises.

While we have seen that God has promised seed time and harvest with food sufficient for mankind, He has likewise promised famine and destitution for those who disobey His Word, as well as the laws of nature. Wherever there is life, food in some form or another, is absolutely necessary for the nourishment and continuance of that life. Without food, both man and beast die. Thus Bible facts as to famine are worthy of our study.

Famine is Divinely sent.

Famine Comes as One of Four Sore Judgments of God

Bible famines were the result of different causes – an interesting study.

1. The withholding of God’s blessings. Hosea 2:8, 9, Haggai 1:6.
2. Want of seasonable and necessary rain. 1 Kings 17:1, Jer 14:1-4, Amos 4:7.
3. The rotting of seed in the ground. Joel 1:17.
4. Swarms of destructive insects. Deut 28:28, 42, Joel 1:4.
5. Blasting and mildew. Amos 4:9, Haggai 2:17.
6. Devastation by enemies. Deut 28:33-51.
   

Among Bible Promises Are Those Indicating That God is Able to Provide for His People During a Period of Famine

The Bible presents distinguishing features of famines.

In this first recorded famine we have an insight into the grievousness of such a blight. Widespread scarcity of food, disease, misery, and death are famine features. At all times, famines are indeed dreadful and are to be feared. No end is so terrible as that of being slowly starved to death.

“When All the Land Was Famished, the People Cried to Pharaoh for Bread,” Genesis 41:55

Since Abraham’s day the world has witnessed many a sore famine. What tragic stories history holds of multitudes in different lands perishing from starvation.

We have the record of a Bible famine when parents were forced to eat their own children. 2 Kings 6:24-31. the question arises, how can God be a god of love and compassion and allow such a terrible situation to prevail?

If only Elimelech had had these Promises before him he would have remained in Bethlehem and not have gone down to Moab for bread. Ruth 1:1, 2.

Need can never throttle God. He is able to provide a table in the wilderness. Psa 23:5.

As we have seen, Elijah came to experience that God is able to use ravens as food carriers, when it comes to feeding a hungry prophet in a time of famine. No matter what scarcity prevails, God is able to preserve His own. Crops may fail, or be destroyed by blight or war, but God’s larder is never empty.

“I Will Punish Them ... by the Famine,” Jeremiah 44:13

Some famines came as the manifestation of Divine wrath. For his sin in numbering the people, David was given a choice of punishment. “Famine, flight, or pestilence.”

The latter fell upon 70,000 men, 2 Sam 24:10-25. Famine as a medium of judgment proves the omnipotence of God as the Creator as well as that of a Righteous Judge.

Scattering food so bountifully for the physical good of men and beasts, God can also withhold the fruits and forces of nature upon which all are dependent.

With a regal hand God bestows, and with a righteous hand God blasts. Would that the hordes of earth, who, although fed with amazing regularity by God’s almighty hand, yet sin with impunity, might learn His power to transform plenty into poverty. Famine can replace His favor.

Sunday, December 1, 2002

Thought for the Day!

Who plants a tree
Plants not what is, but is to be.
A hope, a thought for future years,
A prayer, a dream of higher things,
That rise from out our doubts and fears,
As seed, or acorn, from the cold,
To lights up springs.

Who plants a tree,
Blesses earth’s children yet to be.
Toilers shall rest beneath its shade,
The dreamers dream of golden hours,
And from youth and winsome maid,
Shall bless the shadow that it gives,
So, happy birds among its leaves,
And lowly flowers.

Who plants a tree,
Plants beauty where all eyes may see.
In mirror of her loveliness,
How nature fashions beauteous forms
Through sunny calms and darksome stress,
A parable of human life,
That grows to excellence through strife,
Of beating storms.

“He That Gathereth in the Summer is a Wise Son, But He That Sleepeth in Harvest is a Son That Causeth Shame,” Proverbs 10:5

Among the proverbs of Solomon, all of which are potential Promises, there are striking illustrations of the contrast between the wisdom of righteousness and the folly of wickedness.

To gather harvest as the summer fades is an evidence of wisdom. We speak of “making hay while the sun shines.”

When the harvest is ripe, there is little time for sleep or indulgence in pleasures associated with slacker days. To sleep in harvest, then, brings loss and shame to the reaper.

We are still in the summertime of Grace. Before long, the bitter winter of the Great Tribulation will overtake a guilty world. While the Saviour tarries, it is harvest time for soul-winning. God forbid that shame should be ours when we see the Lord of the harvest. The fields are white unto harvest. But are we at ease in Zion? Are we sleeping instead of gleaning? Because of the need and peril of loss, we dare not sleep as others do.

“The Harvest is Past, the Ingathering of Summer Fruits is Ended,” Jeremiah 8:20

Jeremiah, the prophet of tears, had a unique way of employing forceful metaphors in his endeavor to bring a back-sliding nation, back to God.

In spite of his weeping tears, however, it was a fruitless task. Ceaselessly he taught that if the people would change their minds, God would save them from the aggressions of the Babylonians.

But, hopelessly and fanatically attached to their idols, the people were doomed. The harvest of Grace and the summer of acceptance were ended, and those to whom he had addressed his tear-drenched messages were not saved from their idolatry and consequent destruction. The Promises of reconciliation to God was spurned.

In this Gospel age, an incentive to a more aggressive evangelism is the fact that the harvest is not past, and the summer of salvation is not ended. The door of Grace is still ajar. May the Grace of God be ours to “rescue the perishing and care for the dying, and weep over the erring one and tell them that the Lord Jesus Christ is mighty to save.”

“Put Ye in the Sickle for the Harvest is Ripe,” Joel 3:13

The Bible likens a people ripened by sin for destruction to a harvest ready for the sickle of God’s vengeance.

What a bloody harvest awaits a guilty, Godless earth. The vision of Armageddon is terrible to contemplate. Ezek 39.

What destruction will overtake the multitudes when “the harvest is ripe,” Rev 14:15. The promised sickle of judgment will be in the pierced hand of the Son of man.

Rejecting Him, men thrust a reed into His hands, and then drive those cruel nails through them.

But when those scared hands lay hold of the sickle, woe betide the rejecters thronging the earth. None will escape the dread vengeance of those days. Blessed be the Lord, all who are His will escape such a horrible harvest. Having been reaped in Grace, they will not experience the sickle of slaughter.

“I Will Keep Thee From the Hour of Trial, That Hour Which is to Come Upon the Whole World, to Try Them That Dwell Upon the Earth,” Revelation 3:10

A great ingathering of souls is called a harvest. Since the inception of the church, the harvest has been plenteous. Unnumbered multitudes in Heaven and on earth have been garnered.

As the corn or wheat, the Lord Jesus Christ fell into the ground and died. But much fruit is now the Lord’s. What we presently fail to realize is that the fields of opportunity are white unto harvest. The ingathering is slow, for the laborers are few.

The burden of our Lord should be for Him to thrust forth laborers into the field.

Are we interceding as we should for more godly ministers? More flaming evangelists? more sacrificial missionaries? More dedicated Christian workers? Whether we sow or reap, let us keep the judgment seat before us where sowers and reapers are to rejoice together. John 4:35-38.

“The Harvest is the End of the Age,” Matthew 13:39

The day of final reckoning is likened unto a “harvest” when both nature and the wicked will be ripe for Divine judgment.

In 2 Pet 3:5-7, in the parable of the tares, our Lord makes it clear that angel-reapers are to gather in the wicked for burning. The wheat, all who are the Lord’s, will have been gathered in.

At the end of this Gentile age, when the Lord returns to earth to consummate the age and usher in the Millennial Reign, all offensive to His mind and will is to be judicially dealt with. A similar judgment-harvest awaits the wicked dead at the setting up of the Great White Throne, Rev 20:11-15.

Satan, the enemy sower of tares, is eternally to suffer with his dupes as they wail and nash their teeth.

“They That Sow in Tears Shall Reap in Joy. He That Goeth Forth and Weepeth, Bearing Seed for Sowing, Shall Doubtless Come Again with Joy, Bringing His Sheaves with Him,” Psalm 126:5, 6

What a contrast is here presented! Tears and joy. The tears are to be the media of the joy. If we sow in weeping, we have the Promise of a joyful harvest. When your eyes are dim with silver tears think of the golden corn.

Bear cheerfully the present toil and disappointment, for the harvest day will fully recompense you. Seed seeped in the tears of earnest anxiety will come up all the sooner. Our heavenly seed could not fitly be sown laughing. Deep sorrow and concern for the souls of others are a far more fit accompaniment of truthful teaching than anything like levity.

God’s choicest wreaths,
Are wet with tears.

“Jesus wept.”

Check back tomorrow for more Divine Sugar Sticks!

Comments about this web site? E-mail me.

Back to my home page

Page updated 06/26/05 10:27 PM.

This page has been viewed  times since December 2, 2002.