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Divine Sugar Sticks for July 2002Buddy develops these on a daily basis. I'll try to keep up with his creations as often as I can, so check back often for the latest treats of the day.  What's the background behind Sugar Sticks? Click here to find out.
Wednesday, July 31, 2002 “We Walk by Faith,” 2 Corinthians 5:7Abraham’s walk was certainly one of faith, for he went out not knowing where he went. As we walk through the wilderness of this world amid all the clouds and crises, trials and tribulations, we must rest and claim God’s sure Promises, and believe that He is ever near and trust His immutability. We may not know the road ahead, but He does. And if He leads, all will be well.
One Step at a Time!No matter how long a walk we may take, we take it step by step. Some of the original words used of “walk” in the Bible imply
So we have Promises and instructions connected with the steps we take as we seek to walk with the Lord.
Steps and Stops!Both our steps and our stops are ordered of the Lord.
“The Wicked Fall and Are Not Able to Rise,” Psalm 36:12We have to confess, and that with shameAlthough we are the Lord’s, we yet falter and fail. The wicked fall and are not able to rise, but a Christian, however, is upheld by the Lord’s hand and so if he fails, he is not utterly cast down, Psa 37:23, 29.
We are moving along the great highroad of God’s providence and Grace when we keep to the way of His law.
“The Steps of a Good Man,” Psalm 37:23We have here a qualified Promise. We cannot expect our goings to be established of the Lord if our ways are not fully committed to the Lord’s keeping. Suppose we had to travel for one single hour through a region to which the government of our Father did not extend. We could never emerge from the wilderness and we must die in desolation. But it is a baseless fear.
Tuesday, July 30, 2002 “As Ye Have Therefore Received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so Walk Ye in Him,” Colossians 2:6How did we receive Him as our personal Saviour? Was it not by faith? We must therefore continue as we commenced, namely in faith.
Having believed, we keep on believing. Fellowship with the Lord is precious and vital when we have full confidence in Him and our faith centers around all that He has promised.
“They Shall Walk Up and Down in His Name, Saith the Lord,” Zechariah 10:12The prophet here gives not only a Promise as a solace for saints who are physically sick, but one for those whose spiritual walk has been hindered because of frustration. Are there not those who have become faint and fearful that they will never rise from their bed of doubt? The Lord, as the Great Physician, can banish the disease and sin of fear and taking the weak one by the hand say, “Arise and walk.” He can give His people liberty to walk with Him in holy contemplation, and inward leisure to exercise such liberty.
“He That Walketh Uprightly Walketh Surely,” Proverbs 10:9In the above situation of passages there are those suggesting the true walking posture. We are to walk with God – uprightness. The One we walk with was upright in all His ways. No guile was found in His mouth. None could convince Him of sin. We too must be firm in our integrity if our walk with our righteous Lord is to be amiable and profitable. We must walk in the Light as He is in the Light, and is the Light.
“If We Live in the Spirit, Let Us Also Walk in the Spirit,” Galatians 5:25Is not the thought of God the Holy Spirit always at hand as a Personal Companion a cure for all loneliness? Lonely moments will never be ours if we continually think of God the Holy Spirit as our ever-present Friend with Whom we can walk and talk. It is God the Holy Spirit, and Him alone, Who enables us to persevere to the end. In Him and with Him, we walk and we are not faint. He enables us never to turn our back but to march forward. It is a grander thing to walk resolutely and untiringly on than to mount up with wings of an eagle.
“If We Live in the Spirit, Let Us Also Walk in the Spirit,” Galatians 5:25If we endeavor to experience such a privileged walk in God the Holy Spirit, then we will strive to entertain nothing in the life that should grieve God the Holy Spirit, Eph 4:30. If grieved, then the walk is halted and His influence is suspended. But if we sow to the Spirit, the Promise is that we shall reap life everlasting. Walking with Him and in Him, there must be perfect agreement between us. As the Holy One, He must have likeness to Himself in those who seek to walk in Him.
“Walk Circumspectly,” Ephesians 5:15The Christian must be careful where he treads. His own heart (mind) is deceitful and desperately wicked, literally, incurably sick. He lives in an enemy’s land surrounded by temptations which the god of this world seeks in the diversion of the saints into by-pass meadows. Thus as a loving child, he must keep near to his Father’s side, walking in the midst of unsuspecting snares, watchfully, prayerfully, cultivating a more precious fellowship with his Guide and his Companion. His constant aim should be to honor the Lord in all things. There must be the avoidance of the very appearance of evil. So in our lips and lives express,
“Walk Humbly With Thy God,” Micah 6:8Because God hates pride, how can He walk with one who emulates what He abhors? A vision of His august holiness produces self-abasement.
If we walk as the Lord Jesus Christ walked, it must be in all humility of mind. It is only thus that we can possess the utmost God has promised.
Sunday, July 28, 2002 The Way to Walk“The walk of the believer” means his whole manner of life before the Lord and before men. The Bible also stresses the importance of talk as well as walk. Several Promises are related to our lips as well as our life. Any student of the Bible will find it profitable to go over the verses in the Bible dealing with speech. The first reference among the almost 400 verses dealing with walk or walking as related to man is found in Genesis where twice we are told:
“Enoch Walked With God”This beautiful cameo sets the pattern for the further revelation of the believer’s privilege of having the Lord as his walking Companion. In spite of his family responsibilities and the degenerate age in which he lived, Enoch maintained unbroken fellowship with his Heavenly Companion.
“Enoch Walked With God”In the second occurrence of this phrase, it says that “God took him.” They were in the habit of having a daily walk together and that at the end of one day, the Lord said, “Enoch, why should we part now? Come home with Me.” And so he walked all the way to Heaven with his Friend.
The Way to WalkVarious aspects of our walk should be clearly studied by the Bible student. The Bible indicates how we are to walk.
The Way to Walk
An examination of the setting of the above exhortations will reveal a variety of Promises for the Christian whose walk is well pleasing to the Lord.
How to Walk and How Not to Walk
Full fellowship with God is impossible if there are those things in our life contrary to the Lord’s will. We cannot walk in step with Him unless there is perfect agreement between us. Harmony of thought, desire, and action make for a most pleasant walk together. Shakespeare wrote:
As Enoch walked, so let my step
He Who Hath a Merry Heart Hath a Continual FeastWhat kind of a car did the prophets drive?
Saturday, July 27, 2002 “The Lord Knoweth How to Deliver the Godly,” 2 Peter 2:9, Jeremiah 39:18If only we could experience more fully the Lord’s promised deliverance in the hour of conflict. How magnificently would our lives glorify Him! We may not know how to overcome our enemies, but He does. True faith is bound to be tested, but in the trial, the Lord is present personally undertaking the victory of the tried one. Have we learned to leave the “how” with Him? With no desire to pry the Lord’s secrets, we leave the crushing of the tempter to Him. James 1:12.
“Sin Shall Not Have Dominion Over You,” Romans 6:14There is no reason why a Christian should not be constantly victorious over sin. The Lord has made infinite provision for him. Has He not promised that sin shall not reign in this mortal body? Is not God the Holy Spirit within us to keep us from sin? If the Lord, Who is stronger than Satan and sin, is enthroned within the life, then all our foes feel the power of His mastery. Nothing and no one can triumph over Him.
“Resist the Devil and he Shall Flee From You,” James 4:7The secret of successful resistance is clearly defined by James. As the text as a whole implies, it is by submission to God. Thus yielded to Him, we have Him to deal with our antagonist, who has no fear of us but who greatly fears our victorious Lord. Divinely-inspired resistance spells the retreat of the devil. Defeated, he returns with greater fury to overcome us. But clad in the whole armor of God, we are able to withstand all satanic assaults.
“The Victory That Overcometh the World, Even Our Faith,” 1 John 5:4, 5John informs us that there are three pronounced characteristics of the victory in the battle against all principalities and powers arrayed against Christians.
Truly such a three-fold cord makes us invincible. The three-fold repetition of “overcoming the world” indicates certainty of perfect victory. If we would be found among the valiant overcomers, we must be assured of our regeneration. We must be “strong in faith.” And, we must have a firm grasp of “all the Lord is in Himself.”
“The Son of God Was Manifested That He Might Destroy the Works of the Devil,” 1 John 3:8
This combination of passages proves that Christ’s victory by His death and resurrection were secured for us. So a perfect deliverance can be ours through Him who laid hold of the cruel forces of darkness and stripped them of their vaunted authority. His victory was a bare one. He triumphed gloriously. He was more than a conqueror. Is it not comforting to know that His triumph can be ours? The question is, have we appropriated faith which makes actual in our lives all that our glorious Victor, Prince Divine, made possible by His death?
“Faith, the Victory That Overcometh the World”Too many of us are frustrated and defeated. We seem to have no might against the enemy. At times we try to struggle against those things alien to God’s will. But all too easily we yield. If Grace would only be ours to “possess our possessions.”
The Importance of the Original Languages of Scripture
This phrase “God forbid” occurs over and over again both in the Old and the New Testaments. But the word “God” in every case does not appear in the original language. The Greek word for God is “THEOS,” but the word that is here is “ME GENITO,” which means, may it never happen. It is found Rom 3:4, 6, 31, 6:2, 7:1, 9:14, 11:1, and many other passages.
Friday, July 26, 2002 The Pathway to VictoryGod not only expects His people to live, but to live victoriously. Has He not made full provision for conquest as well as conversation? A defeated Christian gives the lie to the Divine Promise of becoming more than conqueror.
Promised dominion over sin and Satan can be found not only in specific Promises themselves, but also in all that the Lord is in Himself.
Victory!The Lord Jesus Christ is All-VictoriousHe waits to make us sharers of His victory. Almighty, He seeks to clothe us with His invincible might. Which such an omnipotent One to gird us, there is no reason for weakness, defeat, and spiritual impoverishment. As He is, so should we be. Promises concerning the overcoming life are found in Rev 2:5, 11, 12, 21, 12:11, 21:7.
Victory!Encouragements for Christians to live triumphantly
With All These Glorious Promises Before Us, What Else Can We Do but Claim
Victory!An impressive fact that looms largely in all that the Bible has to say about personal dominion is that it is all of Him who went forth “conquering and to conquer.” Apart from Christ we are nothing, have nothing, and can do nothing. As of old the people were reminded that victory over their enemies “came not by sword, by battle, by bow, by horsemen,” Hosea 1:7. God delivered His people, and that not by ordinary means. Thus all the honor was His, for He was able to give victory without battle. It is for this reason that God often determines to deliver us without second means, that the glory of conquest might be His alone.
Thought for Today“The God of peace shall bruise Satan.” Peace bruises. “The wrath of the Lamb.” A lamb, wrathful?
Thursday, July 25, 2002 Certain, Strong, Unmistakable Characteristics of Trust Appear as We Compare Scripture with Scripture...Enabling us to test the reality and quality of our personal reliance upon the Lord
Trust is Only in Divine Resources
Such a wonderful array of Promises and prayers assure us that we shall never be confounded nor disappointed if we are found hiding under His soft feathers. So, as we rest in the Divine Promises, we are secure while the Lord covers and protects. We trust and are safe.
Not only is it necessary for us to trust in the Lord at all times, the witness of the Scripture is that He graciously responds to, and rewards, our reliance upon Him. He is the Rewarder of all those whose confidence reposes in Him. Think of these Promises of blessing accruing from a personal trust.
“He that Putteth His Trust in the Lord Shall be Made Fat,” Proverbs 28:25, Psalm 44:4The fat to which Solomon refers as one result of trust represents prosperity, spiritual or material. But, as we are thus blessed, we must guard ourselves against trusting in our increase. Psa 62:10. Our trust must ever be in God and not in any uncertain riches He may permit us to have. Gifts must never take the place of the Giver.
“Trust in the Lord and do Good,” Psalm 37:3, 34:8, 2:12The psalmist’s exhortation to “trust and do” is the Divine order. Faith then works salvation, then service. We do not sit still because we trust, but arouse ourselves and expect the Lord to work through us and by us. We neither trust without doing, nor do without trusting. “Verily” in the Promise is the assurance that God will supply our every need as we trust and do. We trust God for good, and then we do good.
The Bible is Not Silent Regarding the False Objects in Which the Wicked Trust, Which is Evident From Many ScripturesCheck these out!
Our souls come not nigh their dwelling!
Thought for the DayThe first Adam was rich and became poor because of “sin.” The Second Adam was rich and became poor because of “sinners.”
What Does Trust Protect Us From?
God is not the God of Nahor, Ishmael, and Esau, Who Were the Brothers of Abraham, Isaac, and JacobSame home, same environment. What made the difference? Regeneration! God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Tuesday, July 23, 2002 “Call Upon Me in the Day of Trouble; I Will Deliver Thee,” Psalm 50:15Multitudes of troubled minds have found consolation in this most blessed Promise. An exposition of the Psalmist’s words: One: An urgent occasion. “The day of trouble.” Two: Condescending advice. “Call upon Me.” Three: Reassuring encouragement. “I will deliver
thee.” Fourth: An ultimate result. “Thou shalt glorify Me.”
Trust“Trust” occurs around 200 times in the Bible and it is easy to see its importance and the value the Lord places upon it. Blessed Promises shining like a galaxy of stars are also offered to those who trust in the Lord. While there is a similarity between faith and trust, several interesting meanings are attached to trust.
“Trust in Him at All Times,” Psalm 62:8Here we are given the True Object of our trust, “Him,” and also when trust in Him proves to be all sufficient and satisfying, “at all times,” not sometimes. When the sun is shining, and all is well, and our lives are so radiant with the favor of Heaven. But “all times,” includes even those times when trials, disappointment, and adversity, fill our lives.
Some Encouragements for Those Who Trust“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,” Prov 3:4. God’s everlasting strength. God’s beautiful goodness. God’s excellent lovingkindness. God’s gracious liberality. God’s former deliverances. God never fails to honor the trust and confidence of those believe and appropriate His Promises. No matter how turbulent the waters, He is with us as our Confidence and Deliverer. Isa 43:2, Psa 65:5.
“He That Hath a Merry Heart Hath a Continual Feast”Who was the most flagrant lawbreaker of all the servants of the Lord in the Bible.
Monday, July 22, 2002 What Are Some of the Rewards to be Earned?
Glory is the portion of all believers in Christ, but the crown of glory is for those who “lay down their lives for their brethren,” or who are “ensamples to the flock,” “who feed the flock,” and share the Chief Shepherd’s loving interest in each and all who compose “the little flock,” Heb 6:10, Mark 9:41, Jer 31:16.
Crowns!
The crown presented to a successful runner was a garland of palm leaves, which after a few days would change color and become dry. For such a valueless and temporary reward an athlete was willing to endure weeks of self-denial and arduous training. The apostle looks upon himself as a runner in a more glorious race. In order not to win a few leaves, but a reward eternal in value and nature, and he was willing to “buffet his body” and “lead it captive.”
“An Incorruptible Crown”Paul expressed the fear that unless he observed all the rules of the race, he would be utterly disapproved, lose his reward, which is the meaning of “becoming a castaway.” A teacher asked the boys in Sunday School class how one could keep the body under. A bright-eyed boy immediately replied, “by keeping the soul on top.” It was thus that Paul fought not as one “beating the air,” but as one who was victorious over all the passions and lusts of the flesh.
“A Crown of Righteousness”This particular crown Paul expected for loving Christ’s appearing is so named because it is based upon the merit of Christ, “the Righteous One.” It is only given to those He makes righteous, and who consequently live and long for His return. All the judgments of the bema will bear the character of the Judge. No saint need stand in fear of favor or partiality. As the Righteous Judge, He will do and bestow that which is right.
“A Crown of Righteousness”It is interesting to observe that the word “love” occurs in verses 8 and 10 in different connections. We have a study in contrasts. “Love His appearing,” “loved this present world,” and the one “love” blasts the other. If we truly love Christ’s appearing, the love of the world is not in us. But, if like Demas, we allow the world to capture our affections, then we have little desire for the coming of the Lord. Are we determined to earn the reward the Lord has for those who long for His appearing?
“He That Hath a Merry Heart Hath a Continual Feast”What kind of automobiles are in the Bible?
Sunday, July 21, 2002 The Promise of RewardsWhat holy ecstasy will be ours when we see Him whom we love and serve. This will be our gathering together unto Him. Reasons for all the body of Christ being caught up are:
How elated we will be when the Promise of our future meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ is realized. What a joyous return His will prove to be. We know that in Grace and Truth He comes to us again and again. But these spiritual comings of His will be eclipsed by His personal return when He comes the next time to claim His own. Once He and we meet, what can we expect to take place?
What Can We Expect to Take Place When the Lord Jesus Christ Comes to Take Us Home?It would seem that first of all there would be the bema, or Christ’s judgment seat, with its promised rewards as predicted by the apostle Paul.
“We Must All Appear Before the Judgment Seat of Christ,” 2 Corinthians 5:10When Paul used the pronoun “we,” he was referring to those who “are the Lord’s,” Rom 14:8. That is, to all those saved by Grace. This particular judgment seat must not be confused with that of the Great White Throne, Rev 20:11-15, which is for the wicked dead. The Bible does not teach a general judgment when saints and sinners will be arraigned before the august Judge and then parted left and right. No born again believer will be found at the Great White Throne judgment seat of Christ.
The Bema SeatThe bema seat was a raised up place where the judge sat as he witnessed the Grecian games and then distributed the prizes won. It is in this capacity that the Lord Jesus Christ will act after the body of Christ meets Him. Why is such a judgment necessary? And what is to be judged? It is necessary to determine our place and our position in our Lord’s coming kingdom, since the saints are to assist Him in the governmental control of all things. What will not be judged is our past sin, which God has promised to “remember no more,” Heb 10:17.
What Will be Manifested at the Bema Seat?
There Are Rewards For Us in This Present Life
Our Lord tells us that “even a cup of water” given in His Name earns a reward, Matt 10:42.
Rewards at the Bema SeatRewards obtained at the bema seat are those we earn here on earth for faithfulness. We dare not do anything merely for the sake of a reward. Such an attitude earns the rebuke of our Lord’s displeasure. Micah 3:11, Isa 45:13.
Rewards as CrownsIt is because He has redeemed us and made us His own that we serve Him. The rewards promised us are spoken of as crowns.
We bear in mind that each soul’s biography is being written in Heaven, and will be revealed in “that day.” Will ours be a “full reward” or are we to stand before the Judge with saved soul but a lost life? Nothing to our credit, no stars in our crown because there is no crown for us. Saved, yes, but only as by fire.
Saturday, July 20, 2002 Reunion!
Together! Now we are not together, for death results in painful and sorrowful separations. Life may be lonely because half of your soul is in Heaven. The dear dust of your loved one rests in God’s green acre, but here is a comforting Promise. When the Lord Jesus Christ appears, the dead raised and the living changed are to meet and rise together as a complete body to greet the Saviour.
“The Glory Which Shall be Revealed in Us,” Romans 8:18.How Paul love the Truth of our Lord’s appearing. It is from his letters that we have the fuller revelation of “the Blessed Hope,” which Truth came to him “as the Word of the Lord,” 1 Tim 4:15. The apostle lived with eternity’s values and realities in view. He hoped for that which he was not privileged to see. Rom 8:15.
“The Glory Which Shall be Revealed in Us,” Romans 8:18What amazed Paul was not so much the fact that he was bound for Heaven, as the thought that all of God’s children, once together would function as reflectors of Heaven’s glory. Presently we reflect sorrows and trials of earth. Our bodies are mirrors, reflecting pain, anguish, and sin. But when the redemption of the body is experienced, then our glorified bodies will become glory reflectors. At the glorious meeting in the air there will be realized “the general assembly and the church of the firstborn which are written in Heaven,” Heb 12:23.
RaptureWhat a marvelous event and experience this will prove to be. No wonder it is referred to as “the Rapture,” which word represents a Biblical Truth. The original word “RAPIO,” means to snatch or remove away suddenly. As used of the union and removal of the body of Christ, the word “Rapture” means to carry away to sublime happiness. And that was doubtless what Paul had in mind when he wrote it as the Blessed Hope, the happiness hope.
“We Together”Further, when Paul said, “we together,” he referred to all Christians who died and all Christians alive at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ will not leave behind one hoof in the egypt of this world. “All who are Christ’s at His coming,” 1 Cor 15:23. Such is the blessed Promise.
Christ’s ReturnAnother aspect of Christ’s promised return is the thought of all God’s children being brought together as one family.
Positionally, we are now one family. But when the Lord Jesus Christ comes to take us home, then all Christians will be together in a family forever. We could not be members of the same glorified family around His royal table and yet not recognize each other. The question is sometimes asked, “Shall we know one another in Heaven?” Well, if Heaven represents perfect bliss, how could we be happy in such a place if everyone and everything were strange to us? Even now we are not happy if we are out of tune with those among whom our lot is cast.
We Shall Know as We Are Known!In Heaven there are no social distinctions and no restraints. Thus, when we see Moses, we will be able to speak to him as well as to all other Bible and church saints. The Promise is that we will know the Lord Jesus Christ “as a Lamb freshly slain,” by the nail prints in His hands. Yes, we will know each other better when the mists have rolled away.
When Abraham Died, We Read...
As memory is immortal, Luke 16:25, and identity is never destroyed, in our glorified bodies recognition will be intensified. Moses raised from the dead on the Mount of Transfiguration was still recognizable as Moses. When the Lord Jesus Christ came forth with His resurrection body, identity was not destroyed by death.
Friday, July 19, 2002 “Neither Can They Die Any More,” Luke 20:36The Sadducees differed from the Pharisees in that they rejected resurrection. In reply to their catchy question about the woman with the seven husbands, the Lord Jesus Christ had some important things to say.
“Neither Can They Die Any More”Going back to Moses, the Lord Jesus Christ clinches His answer by reminding the Sadducees that Moses called God, “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Because He is the God of the living and not of the dead, the implication was that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were still alive and somewhere, when Moses declared they had his God as their God. Eternal separation from God is called “the second death,” but having died once, the believer dies no more. He ever lives with the Lord Jesus Christ.
“He Which Raised up the Lord Jesus Shall Raise us up also by Jesus,” 2 Corinthians 4:14In John 11:25 we find the Lord Jesus Christ saying, “I am the Resurrection and the Life; he that believeth on Me though he were dead, yet shall he live.” Here Paul is confirming the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and declaring that all believers are to share in it.
Paul makes it likewise clear that God the Holy Spirit was identified with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“The Spirit of Him That Raised up Jesus From the Dead”The selfsame Spirit will have something to do with our resurrection. In fact, His indwelling is a proof and a pledge of our triumph over death. As the Lord and Life-Giver, the Spirit will operate upon our dust and produce the glorified body. There is, of course, a spiritual union with the Lord Jesus Christ in death and resurrection to be realized here and now.
Is this risen life yours?
“Our Saviour Jesus Christ Who Hath Abolished Death,” 2 Timothy 1:10The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is one of the most important facts recorded in the New Testament. The Truth is indeed that the whole system of Christianity stands or falls by it. 1 Cor 15:14, 15. The resurrection was God’s respect for Calvary. And that no one is truly saved if the resurrection is discredited is clear from Paul’s teaching.
We need more than a dead Christ. If Christ be not raised, we are yet in our sins, and faith is vain, 1 Cor 15:17. Christ is alive forevermore. As the risen, glorified, reigning One, He is well able to resurrect those who have accepted Him as their personal Saviour.
The Instant Transformation of All Living Saints When the Lord Jesus Christ Appears
These precious Promises prove that all saints of God (believers) living on the earth at the time of Christ’s “return to the air” will be transformed immediately.
Does such a Promise thrill your soul? Just think of it! One day as you are busy here and there living and laboring in the Lord. He will suddenly appear and just as suddenly your body will be glorified and you will meet Him in the air.
“He That Hath a Merry Heart Hath a Continual Feast”Who was the greatest female financier in the Bible?
Thursday, July 18, 2002 “The Dead in Christ Shall Rise First,” 1 Thessalonians 4:16In connection with our Lord’s promised return there are several features in it necessary to distinguish as He descends.
This phase of the resurrection must not be confused with the resurrection of the martyred saints as the Millennium is inaugurated. Rev 20:4. The Bible nowhere teaches a general resurrection, when saints and sinners alike are raised and parted right from left. What is promised at Christ’s coming in the air is a particular resurrection–a resurrection out from among the dead, only the dead in Christ.
“The Dead in Christ Shall Rise First”The wicked dead are left in their graves until later when they will be raised to bear their final doom. When Paul refers to the “dead in Christ,” he was, of course, describing the bodies of believers who had died. The soul never dies, nor sleeps. Believers themselves never die. The real you never dies. The moment we leave the body we are face to face with the Lord. At present all saints in Heaven, whose bodies rest in graves, do not have their eternal, glorified body. Believers who have died will return with Him to meet us in the air, if we are alive at the time of the Rapture.
“The Dead in Christ Shall Rise First”The Promise is that when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, all believers in His presence will descend with Him. And that at that moment, their dust or ashes, no matter where buried or scattered, will be wrought upon by the power of God and body will meet the soul on that wonderful resurrection morn. The further Promise is that it will be a body “like unto His glorious body,” Phil 3:21.
“The Dead in Christ Shall Rise First”“In Christ” is a characteristic phrase of Paul’s and it represents all those who are saved by Grace and regenerated by God the Holy Spirit. These are those who “died in the Lord,” Rev 14:15.
“This Corruptible Must Put on Immortality,” 1 Corinthians 15:52, 53In this great resurrection chapter, called “the Magna Charta of Resurrection,” Paul deals with the “marvel of marvels” that the sleeping ashes of the sepulcher will stir at the times of the archangel’s trumpet. Dishonored dust will rise with a glorified body like its risen Lord. Writing to the Thessalonians of their blessed dead, Paul said, “Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” Or literally, “through Jesus,” who is “the resurrection and the life.”
“I Will Ransom Them From the Power of the Grave,” Hosea 13:14
When we see Him, we shall be as He is...and where He is.
“All That Are in the Grave Will Hear His Voice,” John 5:28Here we have a confirmation and elaboration of Daniel’s contribution to the Doctrine of the resurrection. All are to leave the graves either for a resurrection of life or a resurrection of damnation. What is striking in our Lord’s declaration is the fact that the resurrection will be at the command of Christ and accomplished by His power. Having vanquished death and all its powers, He now carries the keys of death and Hades at His girdle.
“All That Are in the Graves Will Hear His Voice”An illustration of His commanding voice resounds through the graves compelling death to obey. We have only to turn to the record of Lazarus at Bethany. The voice of the Lord Jesus Christ will have a two-fold majestic effect.
The important thing before the grave, is to hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ saying, “Believe on Me.” “Lazarus, come forth.”
“He That Hath a Merry Heart Hath a Continual Feast”Who was the greatest baby sitter in the Bible?
Tuesday, July 16, 2002 “Of That Day and That Hour Knoweth No Man,” Mark 13:32How wise it is of the Lord to keep us in ignorance regarding the exact day and hour of His appearing. If we knew for certain that it was far away, we might be tempted to put off our preparation for such a day. Negligent and unwatchful, we would not be found living with “belt, sword, and spur on heel.” If, on the other hand, we knew that the day was very near, there might be the tendency to overlook and neglect all things else. We might become too heavenly minded to be of any earthly use.
“Of That Day and Hour Knoweth No Man,” Mark 13:32The angels had to reprove the disciples for gazing up into Heaven,” Acts 1:11, “Why stand ye here gazing up?” Because we do not know when Christ is to return for us, such ignorance is bliss. Faith is tested and developed. Love for His appearing is intensified. Vigilance is maintained. Daily we live as those who may hear the heavenly voice, at any moment saying, “Come up higher; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
“At Even or at Midnight, or at the Cock Crowing, or in the Morning,” Mark 13:35Because we cannot tell when He will manifest Himself, we must always be watchful spiritually. Whether He comes at evening, when the day’s work is done; or at midnight, when the world slumbers; or at the cock crow, when dawn appears; or in the morning, when the day is bright and strong, may the King find us ready when He summons us home. Meantime, as we rest in our invisible Lord, let us likewise rest in the hope that we shall see Him whom our souls love.
“They All Slumbered and Slept,” Matthew 25:5, Matthew 25:13, Psa 130:6“I say unto all, watch,” Mark 13:34-37, Luke 12:36, Isaiah 21:8-12, 1 Thessalonians 5:6Because of the Promises the Lord Jesus Christ made and the precepts He left us, and the warnings He uttered, we must always be watchful and active. But can we say that we are awake to our responsibilities or privileges or expectations? Are we looking, longing, and praying for the Lord’s coming? Do we love the thought of His appearing? Is it high time to awake out of sleep? Both our departure and the return of the Lord Jesus Christ are uncertain, so we must watch. He has purposely concealed the time of His coming in wisdom, in mercy, and for our good. He commands us to “awake” and keep awake. We are to watch the events of the time, and seeing His nearness, be ready to hail His appearing.
“The End of All Things is at Hand; What Manner of Persons Ought Ye to be in All Holy Manner of Life and Godliness,” 1 Peter 4:7, 2 Peter 3:11, 12We cannot live just any kind of life if we believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming again. Such a hope is a sanctifying one. 1 John 3:1-3. The end is at hand when labors must cease, commerce terminate, earthly relationships, pleasures, and sorrows end. And the last Bible class will be held. Therefore, let us be temperate in all things, watch unto prayer, and serve the Lord in the limit of our ability and capacity.
“He That Hath a Merry Heart Hath a Continual Feast”Who was the greatest financier in the Bible?
Sunday, July 14, 2002 “Surely I Come Quickly,” Revelation 22:20It is more than 2,000 years since the Lord Jesus Christ left us with this Promise of a speedy return. And sometimes we feel like asking, “Why tarry the wheels of Thy chariot, O Lord?” But “who” is proposing and promising to come quickly? Is it a foe threatening us? No, it is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of our souls. He is coming for the completion of His salvation, and to claim us as His bride. John, elated by the Lord’s Promise, echoed the desire of the true living church of God, down through all the ages, “Even, so, come Lord Jesus.” With such a certain Promise before us may we be found living as children of the dawn with our faces toward the sun rise. Soon, soon, very soon, His redeemed ones will hear His musical voice, saying, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.”
“They Shall be Mine, Saith the Lord of Hosts,” Malachi 3:17When Christ comes for His redeemed, jealous of His honor, and concerned for His glory, He is to trust them as His jewels, prized and acknowledged before the vast angel host as His own precious possession. If we are His, then we can claim His Promise to receive us and preserve us and place us among His jewels forever.
“The Blessed Hope...This Hope...Rejoicing in Hope,” Titus 2:13, 1 John 3:1-3, Romans 12:12, Joel 3:16Such a glorious Hope will be realized to the full some golden daybreak. As we linger amid the shadows, the trials encountered may tend to rob us of our joy, yet we always rejoice in Hope. We know that an eternal inheritance is reserved for us, and this excites desire, produces patience, prevents despondency, and fills us with peace. The Blessed Hope was freely given, plainly promised and is carefully preserved and we are not ashamed of such a Blessed Hope. Let us lift up our heads for sooner than we think ours may be the joy of partaking of this Hope, which is the Anchor of our souls, sure and steadfast.
“We Look for the Saviour,” Philippians 3:20Who are those who eagerly expect the Lord from Heaven? Paul tells us in the narrative where this Promise is found, “all who are found in Him.” The One we look for is the Promiser Himself. Presently He is at the right hand of God, where He waits, expecting to make a footstool of His enemies. But before He comes to earth to punish His foes and silence the groans of creation, He is to appear for His people to deliver them altogether from the bondage of corruption, and to crown them with glorious liberty. Coming as the Saviour, He will save us from sin within and around. Then and not till then, will the church be saved to sin no more. The foundation of such a Hope is a sure one. His oath, His Promises, His covenant character, His finished work, assure us of its fulfillment.
“Ye Know Not on What Day Your Lord Cometh,” Matthew 24:42While the fact of Christ’s coming is certain, the time of His appearing is uncertain. Thus to predict dates is contrary to our Lord’s explicit teaching. Our obligation is to live that if He should appear in the next hour, we would not be ashamed before Him at His coming.
“Ye Know Not on What Day Your Lord Cometh,” Matthew 24:42What day! Life is made up of all kinds of days and our Lord may come on any one of them. Probably in April. Surely this thought should hallow all our days. He may come on a day when we are immersed in our legitimate ordinary business and toil. If we seek to glorify Him in our daily work, then if He should appear while at our usual tasks, His smile of approval will be ours. If He should come on a day of weakness and suffering, when because of pain the day seems long, then what relief will be ours from the burden. If He comes on a day when joy and success are ours and we find ourselves basking in His favor, we shall not be sorry to leave earth’s blessings for greater ones above. This day, let us live as though our Lord were to show Himself to us as it closes.
“They That Wait on the Lord Shall Renew Their Strength,” Isaiah 40:31God the Holy Spirit could have again chosen one of five or six Hebrew words for the word “wait,” but this is the one He chose. “KAVAH,” which is translated “wait.” But this does not convey the whole idea here. The word was originally used for making rope. First there is just a little strand which is easy to break. But as this little strand is woven in with other strands, it becomes a rope which cannot be broken. Therefore, this word meant to be a strand twisted into a great rope and therefore made strong. And it came to mean “trust.” Even though they are weak, those who “wait” on the Lord or keep on trusting in the Lord, become like a powerful rope which nothing can break.
Christian Humor!“A merry heart doeth good like medicine,” Proverbs 17:22What kind of a man was Boaz before he married?
“He That is a Merry Heart Hath a Continual Feast,” Proverbs 15:15What excuse did Adam give to his children of why he no longer lived in Eden?
Saturday, July 13, 2002 “The Glorious Appearing of Our Savior,” Titus 2:13Paul makes it clear that every relationship of life profits when Christ’s return is believed and lived. Could anything be more practical than the denial of ungodliness and worldly lusts, and a life characterized by stability and righteousness and Godliness in a corrupt world like our own? Surely a Truth that lifts us above sordid passions and makes us better persons and more profitable to the Lord and men cannot be deemed impractical.
“Changed in the Twinkling of an Eye,” 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52Behold I show you a mystery!One of the mysteries unfolded by the apostle Paul is the Truth that not all believers will die. Not all are to sleep, but all are to be changed, and what a sudden transformation it will be. Quicker than the unexpected flash of lightning will our change into Christ’s likeness take place. We are told by men of science that the winking of an eye is the quickest movement of the human body. Greek scholars affirm that the original implies “half” a wink. If this is to be so, then God help us to live as those who are ready to leave the earth at any moment. Christ went away suddenly, and because He is coming in like manner as He went into Heaven, we must remain loose to things of earth. Since the dawn is purpling in the east, we must stand as men that wait. Our complete change may be nearer that we realize. God forbid that the sudden appearance of our Lord should overtake us unawares.
“Unto Them That Look for Him Shall He Appear the Second Time,” Hebrews 9:28
When He comes again He will reap the reward of all the anguish, sorrow, disappointment, and sacrifice related to His first coming. As myriads of the saved gather to meet Him in the skies, He will see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.
Friday, July 12, 2002 The Second Coming of Christ!First the Lord Jesus Christ will come and believers in the church age will be caught up to meet Him in the air. 1 Thes 4:13-18. This will be His private manifestation when He will return as the Bridegroom for His bride. Then after a period of seven years, the period symbolized by Daniel’s 70th week, or the period know as “Jacob’s Trouble,” the Great Tribulation, Christ will stand on this earth, at the Second Advent.
“This day” will inaugurate our Lord’s millennial reign as the King of kings and Lord of lords and Prince of the kings of the earth. Rev 1:5.
The Rapture of the ChurchThe aspect presently concerning us is that of the Rapture, which is the pre-millennial teaching of the New Testament. Before Christ comes to establish His kingdom on earth, He must receive His church unto Himself as He promised.
This reception will take place when the church is caught up to meet the Lord in the air. 1 Thes 4:13-18.
The Promise of the Rapture of the Church
Some people will not experience death. Roses are sweet on the stalk, but it is only when you distil them that you
get their full strength. So it is with the wide heaven of any of the Promises as with the evening skies, at first we see only a single star, but as we look again and again, clusters and galaxies shine out as the darkness deepens, till the whole night is radiant. How true is this sentiment as we consider the glorious Promises of His advent. In the world’s gathering darkness, these advent promises seem to shine with a greater brilliance. A stone is as a precious gift and each way it turneth it saith, prosperity.
A Promise for Christ’s ReturnIf we had no other Promise of Christ’s coming, the one He left His own would be sufficient. “Because He is faithful who promised,” we know that He will not go back on His Word. Then, was it not His dying wish that His church should be with Him. John 14:3, 17:24. In a sinless Heaven, the whole of the redeemed family, the Head with all its members, and the Vine with all its branches, the Shepherd with His flock, will be together forever. Therefore, the necessity of the fulfillment of His own precious Promise.
“I Will See You Again,” John 14:22Are we found claiming that Promise? Here and now we dimly see Him through the “lattice of Scripture,” but before long He will return to take us to His abode for the vision of His glory that will never fade.
“I Will Come Again,” John 14:3As the character of the Person has a great deal to do with the fulfillment of any Promises He may make, so we can count on His return. “I will come again.” We are among the number who believe when the Lord Jesus Christ said “I,” He meant “Himself.” Had He had in mind the gift of Pentecost, or the destruction of Jerusalem, or the spiritual experiences of the believers, or death as some expositors affirm, Christ would have been explicit and said so.
“I Will Come Again,” John 14:3We are simple hearted enough to believe that He is coming again according to His Word. And, that when He appears, He is to receive us unto Himself. It is esteemed a single honor if one is received by an earthly potentate or ruler. But an audience with a king or president is insignificant beside the honor which the humblest believer in the Lord Jesus Christ will have of being received by the King of kings and Lord of lords.
“This Same Jesus...so Shall Come in Like Manner as ye Have Seen Him go into Heaven,” Acts 1:11Why did the Holy Spirit put in the Word “same?” It can be omitted without altering the sense of the passage. Eventually He knew of the doubters of His personal return and so to make His message more emphatic, He declared that the Christ that just left the men of Galilee would be the Christ to return. It is Christ for whom we look, and none other. What comfort it must have brought to those amazed disciples to learn that the Lord was coming back.
“The Same Shall Come in Like Manner”It was this hope that inspired some of those disciples to write as they did of “the Blessed Hope.” Peter, for example, lived the rest of his life under the impact of the Truth of Christ’s personal return. Those disciples of old witnessed His ascent, but He went up and left them behind. His descent will be more blessed for when He comes, He will draw His own up to Him in the air. 1 Thes 4:13-18.
“For the Lord Himself Shall Descend From Heaven...Comfort One Another With These Words,” 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 18It is interesting to note that the New Testament writers approach the Truth of the Advent of Christ from their own angle.
Truly there is no theme calculated to console our hearts like that of Christ’s return for us.
“Comfort Ye One Another with These Words”It is not comforting to know that all of earth’s sorrows are to vanish when the Lord Jesus Christ comes? Yet is it not sad to think that multitudes of people in so many of our churches are denied the heart-warming influence of the Truth of the Blessed Hope? The pulpit does not accept such a message of consolation. Hazy ideas about a kingdom or a golden age, are sometimes preached to people with aching hearts. Are we exercising the ministry of comfort by telling the sorrow laden that the King is coming back for them?
Thursday, July 11, 2002A Promise of Heaven
While the rest may be a rest of faith, yet we can give the verse a larger application. Heaven is the eternal rest for the people of God. After the cares and burdens and perplexities of life, we have the unruffled calm of the Lord’s immediate presence. But such an eagerly anticipated rest will not mean eternal inactivity. For John tells us that in the new Paradise, the servants of God and of the Lamb are to serve. And what restful service that will be. Service without complaint, weariness, cessation, and thought of self glory. Resting from our earthly labors we will enter upon labors more glorious, magnificent, and glorifying to God. For serving Him we are constantly to see Him and bear His name in our foreheads. Presently our best work for the Lord is marred by ulterior motives. But upon seeing Him, we shall offer perfect service. What a day!
A Promise of Heaven
The word “blessed,” as we know, means happy or happinesses. So says the Spirit, because they rest from their labors, from the toils of earth, and have works that follow them into Heaven. “From henceforth,” which means from this time. Is a beatitude for the Tribulation. This is held out as a special source of strength to those who hold out against the beast and who would rather die than receive his mark, or his name, on their forehead. Who can imagine what this will mean to the suffering ones in the dreadful days of the Tribulation? There is a special beatitude of benediction pronounced upon them, to steady, stay, and secure them in that day. Blessed beatitude. Blessed benediction.
A Promise of Heaven
It would seem as if Paul teaches that once we leave this earth, our souls are to have a temporary covering or tent house, until the reception of the glorified body at the coming of Christ, when the body of our humiliation will be changed into a body like unto His own glorious body. God has a tent for each of us until we “receive a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens.”
A Promise of Heaven
In our present tabernacle we groan being burdened–and what groans the old body gives us, the ills to which our flesh is heir to. It gives us weary days and long nights. Truly the whole creation groans and travails together in pain. But a glorious emancipation is at hand. At times we get a little impatient. Our bodily ailments get us down. Health is denied to us. And we long for our exit from a body of sickness and sin. And how we thank the Lord because we know that the redemption of the body is not far distant.
A Promise of Heaven
King Solomon typifies the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ, in many ways. In the narrative before us, the Queen of Sheba is pictured as being amazed at the magnificence of Solomon’s wisdom and wealth. She had heard of his fame, and she came to witness his greatness and prove his wisdom. Once she saw and heard everything, we read that “there was no more spirit in her.” The queen did not believe what she heard in her own land of Solomon’s might and majesty. But once her eyes had feasted upon Solomon’s glorious kingdom, she confessed that Solomon’s wisdom and prosperity exceeded the fame she had heard. This will be with us. Here on earth we read and hear a great deal about the Lord Jesus Christ, and of His marvelous provision of Heaven, but when we immediately reach the palace of the King of kings and gaze upon His glory and discover how He is adored by the vast hosts above, we will be found confessing, “the half was not told us.”
Wednesday, July 10, 2002The Promise of Heaven!We hardly know where to begin when it comes to a brief classification of all that awaits the Christian when he or she comes to prove “that to die is gain” – and what a gain Heaven is. No wonder Paul said that, “To depart and be with Christ was far better than anything earth could offer.” What a wonderful Promise to sustain us as we continue battling against the forces that are hostile to our faith here below. Under its inspiration we press toward the glorious goal. In Heaven our unfinished service, incomplete consecration, partially approved Divine gifts, undeveloped capacities will all reach perfection. So far in our study we have seen that our daily course, from first to last, is skirted with fair borders of Promises that are green and blossoming when all around is bare. But as we are to see, our life to come is also rich with Promises of an exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
The Promise of HeavenWe know that Heaven is a “definite place,” as well as “a state,” simply because the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the Truth, said so.
The kind of place He is preparing for His own in His Father’s house will be worthy of Himself and will suit us admirably. Our present abode may be incommodious and uncomfortable, but Heaven will be spacious, magnificent, and worthy of our Great Architect and Builder. That was the Promise Abraham received. “He looked for a city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God,” Heb 11:10.
The Promise of Heaven
Grace is our present possession–glory our future gift. It is Grace that prepares us for glory. God’s saving, sanctifying, sustaining, and satisfying Grace carries with it the Promise of glory, in which God will perfect that which concerns us. After we have eaten the bread of Grace, we will drink the wine of glory.
The Promise of HeavenAs your eye runs over the following list of Promises remember to look up the context in each case for a full understanding of each Promise.
The Promise of HeavenThe revealing Truth, however, is that the Bible, when describing the glories of Heaven, deals in negatives rather than in positives. In the majority of passages we are told what is not in Heaven, instead of what is in the heavenly realm. Job, with his dim revelation of the hereafter, thought of Heaven as the place where “the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary be at rest,” Job 7:17, Rev 14:13.
The Promise of HeavenThere are three ways of describing to others scenes with which they have no previous acquaintance.
All three methods are employed by the sacred writers in their presentation of Heaven.
A Promise of HeavenJohn gives us a specimen of the first method in his comforting portrayal of Heaven. Think of his array of negatives, his “no mores.”
The certain things here mentioned as belonging to our earthly sphere have no existence in Heaven. Yet this very negative description has a power to make on us a deep impression that Heaven is a scene of transcendent blessedness.
A Promise of HeavenIn Heaven there is no specialty in forms of worship, no temple. This Promise would give the orthodox Jew the idea of a city to be avoided, for of old the temple was His glory. But through the ages, temples and their methods of worship have helped to nourish superstition and sectarianism. The absence of the temple in Heaven however does not mean the cessation of worship. “No temple” really means “all temple,” united worship everywhere.
God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, are to be not only the Objects of heavenly worship, but the very Temple of perpetual devotion. Worship is not only to be rendered, the saints are in the Father and the Son in their worship.
A Promise of HeavenIn Heaven there is no necessity for second-hand knowledge. The sun and the moon are but secondary organs of light. For God is the Fountain of all light. He is the Father of lights. The sun catches His radiance and spreads it abroad. Here and now, second-handed knowledge is indispensable. We learn from the Bible, which comes to us from holy men of God. We learn from pastor teachers and authors and parents and teachers. But in Heaven our spiritual intelligence will be perfected by direct contact with the Source of all true knowledge.
A Promise of HeavenIn Heaven there will be no apprehension of danger.
All that causes fear, affliction, death, will never mar the peace of the celestial host.
A Promise of HeavenIn Heaven there will be none of the inconveniences of darkness–“no night there.” Presently, night is the symbol of ignorance and interrupts labor. Night hides the beauty of the world and provides a cover for thieves. No twilight, no darkness, will shorten the eternal day. The Promise is that “the sun shall no more go down...the Lord shall be thy everlasting Light.” Wondrous secrets of a nightless world in which the everlasting light of “Three in One” will supercede all material luminaries.
A Promise of HeavenIn Heaven there will be no admission of sin.
Included are all those who are registered on the grand roll of redemption, the saints of all ages. Excluded are all impurities of all kinds and degrees and all sinners. What a blessed promise the nightless, sorrowless, tearless, sinless Heaven is. Do we not long for the glorified state in which there is no exhaustion?
A Promise of Heaven
That the saints of God thought of Heaven as a city is evident from Heb 11:10, 16, and this eternal city will be the temple of His Divine majesty in which His excellent glory will be revealed in the most conspicuous manner. It will be the sacred center of light, joy, and glory. How we long for the descent of this glorious city of God and the Lamb. No sun by day, no moon by night, and likewise no more artificial illumination. Darkness will be forever gone when sunlight floods the Heavens, glaring neon signs are scarcely noticed and are certainly not wanted. Thus will it be when the glory of God and of the Lamb illumine the heavenly city. God is Light and Christ is the Light of the world, and together They will afford ample illumination for the glorified to walk and serve by. Are we not lost in wonderment as we think of the city without darkness?
“Absent From the Body, Face to Face With the Lord,” 2 Corinthians 5:8The Lord is ever up to date. He is always “at home” as believers arrive from the dusty lanes of earth. And not only so, but there is no transition, no purgatory, no awaiting outside in some ante-chamber until we are ready to enter our Father’s home on high. As soon as the soul leaves the body, he enters immediately into presence of the Saviour. It was this certainty the Lord Jesus Christ gave the dying thief.
Thus, there is no Biblical warrant for the cruel invention of “Rome’s purgatorial fires,” which provides her corrupted form of Christianity with high financial resources. Purgatory means “cleansing place,” which is another cleansing place other than the Cross, which is wrong. Neither is there any warrant for the soul sleep theory. The moment we take our last breath on earth we take our first breath in Heaven. As soon as farewells are said on earth, we experience re-union in Heaven. One moment we are absent from earth, the next moment we arrive in Heaven.
“To Die is Gain,” Philippians 1:21If we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, then death will be gain indeed. And when He calls us, we will go to Him with the gladness of a boy bounding home from school. Paul affirms that to him Heaven was the presence of the Lord. Where is Heaven? The answer to that ever-asked question is, “Thou shalt be with Me in Paradise” and surely that will be the greatest gain of death. Our eyes have never seen that radiant form of His. The veil of flesh brings darkness between His blessed face and ours. Now we walk by faith, but before long we will see Him face to face. If we could only live continually anticipating the thrill of seeing the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time, what joy will fill our glorified souls. No wonder that Paul says that to depart and be with Christ, is far, far better.
Tuesday, July 9, 2002No Step for a StepperNo matter how long a walk we may take, we take it one step at a time. Some of the original words used for “walk” in the Bible imply to “step rightly,” Gal 2:14. “To walk or step in order,” Phil 3:16. “To go on habitually,” Gen 5:22, 24. So, we have Promises and instructions connected with the steps we take as we seek to walk with the Lord. Both our steps and stops are ordered of the Lord.
The Christian Walk is One Step at a Time
We have to confess that although we are the Lord’s we yet falter and fail. David says that the wicked fall and are not able to rise, Psa 36:12. A Christian, however, is upheld by the Lord’s hand, and so if he falls, he is not utterly cast down.
“The Law of His God is in His Heart: None of His Steps Shall Slide,” Psalm 37:31He walks surely who walks righteously. We are moving along the great highroad of the Lord’s providence and Grace when we keep to the way of His law.
We are here given a qualified Promise. We cannot expect our goings to be established of the Lord if our ways are not fully committed to the Lord’s keeping. Suppose we have to travel for one single hour though a region to which the government of our Father did not extend. We could never emerge from that wilderness. We would die in desolation. But it is a baseless fear.
Worry and fear were two little men At last moved to pity, I opened the door, And, deaf to entreaty and callous to threat, But, these troublesome guests “worry and fear” can be expelled if only the Promise is believed, “That all things work together for good” to those who are the Lord’s. Does He not superintend every moment of every one of His own, and have their best and highest interests at heart? If we therefore worry, we are not trusting His love and wisdom and providence. When we worry, we sin against Him and His Promises.
A Formula for WorryPaul’s medication is the very best for all kinds of mental agitation. No care, but all prayer.
Joyful communion with the Lord produces a heavenly peace which garrisons the mind, preventing the intrusion of foes like worry and fear. He who directs angels, feeds sparrows, and calms storms is our Lord, Who is able to keep us in perfect peace. To think on all the noble virtues also makes for an untroubled mind, Phil 4:8, 9, as does the blessed contentment Paul practiced, Phil 4:1, 11. Why should we worry when the Lord has promised to supply our every need according to His riches in glory? Phil 4:19.
Sunday, July 7, 2002“As You Have Therefore Received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so Walk Ye in Him,” Colossians 2:6How did we receive Christ as our personal Saviour? Was it not by faith? We must, therefore, continue as we commenced, namely in faith. Having believed, we keep on believing. Fellowship with the Lord is precious and vital when we have full confidence in Him and our faith centers around all that He has promised.
“They Shall Walk up and Down in His Name, Saith the Lord,” Zechariah 10:12.The prophet here not only gives a Promise, but a solace for saints who are physically sick, but one for those whose spiritual walk has been hindered because of frustration. Are there not those who have become faint and fearful that they will never rise from their bed of doubt? The Lord, as the Great Physician, can banish the disease of fear, and taking the weak one by the hand say, “Arise and walk.” He can give His people liberty to walk with Him in holy contemplation, and inward leisure to exercise such liberty.
“He That Walketh Uprightly Walketh Surely,” Proverbs 10:9In these passages on walking there are those suggesting the true walking posture. We are to walk with God, uprightly. The One we walk with was upright in all His ways. No guile was found in His mouth. None could convince Him of sin. We too must be firm in our integrity if our walk with our righteous Lord is to be amiable and profitable. We must walk in the light as He is in the light. And is the Light.
“If We Live in the Spirit, Let Us Also Walk in the Spirit,” Galatians 5:25Is not the thought of God the Holy Spirit always at hand as a personal Companion a cure for all loneliness? Lonely moments will never be ours if we continually think of Him as our ever-present Friend with whom we can walk and talk. It is the Holy Spirit, and Him alone, who enables us to persevere to the end. In Him, and with Him, we walk and are not faint. He enables us never to turn our back but to march forward. It is a grander thing to walk resolutely and untiringly on than to mount up with wings of eagles.
If we endeavor to experience such a privileged walk in the Spirit, then we shall strive to entertain nothing in the life that would grieve Him, Ephesians 4:30. If grieved, than the walk is halted and His influence suspended. But if we sow in the Spirit, the Promise is that we shall reap life everlasting. Walking with Him, and in Him, there must be perfect agreement between us. As the Holy One, He must have likeness to Himself in those who seek to walk in Him, and by means of Him.
“Walk Circumspectly,” Ephesians 5:15The Christian must be careful where he treads. His own heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, and he lives in an enemy’s land, surrounded by temptations which the god of this world seeks to use in the diversion of the saint. Thus, as a loving child, he must keep near to his Father’s side, walking in the midst of unsuspected snares, watchfully, prayerfully, cultivating a more precious fellowship with his Guide and Companion. His constant aim should be to honor the Lord in all things. There must be the avoidance of the very appearance of evil.
“Walk Humbly With Thy God,” Micah 6:8Because God hates pride, how can we walk with one who emulates what He abhors? A vision of His august holiness produces self abasement.
If we would walk as the Lord Jesus Christ walked, it must be in all humility of mind. It is only thus that we can possess the utmost God has promised.
Saturday, July 6, 2002“The Walk of the Christian Means His Whole Manner of Life–Both Before God and MenThe Bible also stresses the importance of “talk” as well as “walk.” Several Promises are related to our lips, as well as our life. Any student of the Word of God will find it profitable to go over the verses dealing with speech. The first reference among the 400 verses dealing with “walk” and “walking” as related to man, is found in Genesis where twice we are told “Enoch walked with God,” Gen 5:22, 24. This beautiful cameo sets the pattern for the further revelation of the believer’s privilege of having God as his “walking Companion.” “Two cannot walk together unless they agree.”
WalkVarious aspects of our walk should be closely studied, for the Bible tells us how we should walk.
Walk
An examination of the setting of these exhortations will reveal a variety of Promises for the Christian whose walk is well pleasing to the Lord.
WalkThere are a few particular aspects we can pause over. For example:
What a fitting insight into the spirit of this question relative to consecrated fellowship Shakespeare gives us in the line: “In companions they do converse and waste time together Full fellowship with God is impossible if there are those things in our life contrary to His will. We cannot walk in step with Him unless there is perfect agreement between us. Harmony of thought, desire, and actions make for a most pleasant walk together. It must have been so between Enoch and the Lord.
Enoch Walked With GodIn spite of his family responsibilities and the degenerate age in which he lived, Enoch maintained unbroken fellowship with his Heavenly Companion. The second recurrence of the phrase “Enoch walked with God”...”God took him,” means that God and Enoch were in the habit of having a daily walk together. At the end of one day, God said, “Why should we part, Enoch? Come home with Me.” And so He walked all the way home with His friend.
Friday, July 5, 2002“The Victory That Overcometh the World, Even Our Faith,” 1 John 5:4, 5John informs us that there are three pronounced characteristics of the victory in the battle against all principalities and powers arrayed against the Christian–born of God, personal faith, belief in Christ’s Deity. Truly such a three-fold cord makes us invincible. The three-fold repetition of “overcoming the world” indicates certainty of personal victory. If we would be found among the valiant overcomers, we must be assured of our regeneration. We must be strong in faith. And we must have a firm grasp of all the Lord is in Himself.
“The Son of God Was Manifested That He Might Destroy the Works of the Devil,” 1 John 3:8
This combination of passages proves that the Lord Jesus Christ’s victory by His death and resurrection was secured for us. So a perfect deliverance can be ours through Him who laid hold of the cruel forces of darkness and stripped them of their vaunted authority. His victory was not a bare one. He triumphed gloriously. He was more than a conqueror. Is it not comforting to know that His triumph can be ours? The question is, have we been appropriating faith which makes actual in our lives all that our glorious Victor, Prince Divine, made possible by His death?
“This is the Victory That Overcometh the World, Even Our Faith”Too many of us are frustrated and defeated. We seem to have no might against the enemy. At times we seem to struggle against those things alien to God’s holy will, but all too easily we yield. If Grace would only be ours to possess our possessions.
The Following Expression is Used Four Times Only by Elijah and Elisha“As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand,” 1 Kings 17:1We never find it used by anyone else but Elisha and Elijah, and both of them employ it under similar circumstances, unveiling the very secret of their lives and the reason for their strength, and for their undaunted bearing and bold fronting of all antagonism. We find four instances in their lives of the use of this phrase.
“As the Lord God of Israel Liveth, Before Whom I Stand,” 1 Kings 17:1Four instances in which this is used only in the life of Elijah and ElishaOnce, when Elijah bursts abruptly on the stage and opens his mouth for the first time to proclaim to Ahab the coming of that terrible and protracted draught and he bases his prophecy on that great oath, “As the Lord liveth, before Whom I stand.” Again when he is sent to confront Ahab once more at the close of the period, the same mighty word comes, “As the Lord of hosts liveth, before Whom I stand, I will surely show Myself unto him this day.” And then again Elisha, when he is brought before the three confederate kings who taunt, threaten, and flatter to try to draw smooth saying from his lips and get his sanction to their mad warfare. He turns upon the poor creature that calls himself the king of Israel with a superb contempt that stayed itself on that same great name and tells him, “As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, were it not that I had regard for this king of Judah, I would not look toward you or see you.” And lastly, when the grateful Naaman seeks to change the whole character of Elisha’s miracle and to turn it into the coarseness of a thing done for reward, once again the temptation is brushed aside with that solemn word, “As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, will I receive none.” So at every crisis where these prophets were brought full front with hostile foes, where a tremendous message was laid upon their hearts and lips to utter, where natural strength would fail, where they were likely to be daunted or dazzled by temptation by either the sweetness or the terrors of material things, these two great heroes of the Old Testament, out of sight the strongest men in the old Jewish history, steady themselves by one thought,
Thursday, July 4, 2002Certain Strong Unmistakable Characteristics of “Trust” Appear as We Compare Scripture with ScriptureEnabling us to test the reality and quality of our personal reliance upon the Lord.It is not of the flesh!
It is not in carnal weapons!
It is only in Divine resources!
“Under His Wings Shalt Thou Trust,” Psalm 91:4, 9Such a wonderful array of Promises concerning trust assures us that we shall never be confounded nor disappointed if we are found hiding under those great wings of the Lord. All chicks trust the mother bird as they nestle under her soft feathers. So, as we rest in the Divine Promises, we are secure. While the Lord covers and protects us, we trust and are safe.
“He That Trusteth in the Lord, Mercy Shall Compass Him About,” Psalm 32:10Not only is it necessary for us to trust in the Lord at all times, the witness of the Scripture is that He graciously responds to and rewards our reliance upon Him. He is the Rewarder of all those confidence rests in Him. Think of these Promises of blessings accruing from a personal trust.
“He That Putteth His Trust in the Lord Shall be Made Fat”The fat to which Solomon refers to as one result of trust represents prosperity–spiritual or material. But as we are thus blessed, we must guard ourselves against trusting in our increase. Psa 62:10. Our trust must ever be in God, and not in any uncertain riches He may permit us to have. Gifts must never take the place of the Giver. In this connection it is necessary to follow what trust can keep us from–fear, sliding, desolation, hope.
July 4th
“Sin Shall Have no Dominion Over You,” Romans 6:14There is no reason why a Christian should not be constantly victorious over sin. God has made infinite provision for him. Has He not promised that sin shall reign in our mortal body? Is not God the Holy Spirit within us to keep us from sin? If the Lord, Who is stronger than Satan and sin, is enthroned within the life, then all our foes feel the power of His mastery. No one and nothing can triumph over him.
“The Lord Knoweth How to Deliver the Godly,” 2 Peter 2:9, Jeremiah 39:18If only we could experience more fully the Lord’s promised deliverance in the hour of conflict, how magnificently would our lives glorify Him. We may not know how to overcome our enemies, but He does. True faith is bound to be tested, but in the trial, the Lord is present, personally undertaking the victory of the tried one. Have we learned to leave the “how” with Him? With no desire to pry the Lord’s secrets, we leave the crushing of the tempter to Him. James 1:12.
“Resist the Devil and he Will Flee From You,” James 4:7The secret of successful resistance is clearly defined by James. As the text as a whole implies, it is by submission to God. Thus yielded to Him we have Him to deal with our antagonist, who has no fear of us, but greatly fears the victorious Lord. Divinely-inspired resistance spells the retreat of the devil. Defeated, he returns, with greater fury to overcome us, but clad in the whole armour of God, we are able to withstand all satanic assaults.
Tuesday, July 2, 2002“Call Upon Me in the Day of Trouble and I Will Deliver Thee,” Psalm 50:15
In days when He shall seem to hide His face,
Trust!Occurs around 200 times in the Bible, so it is easy to see its importance and the value the Lord places upon it. Blessed Promises shining like a galaxy of stars are offered to those who trust in the Lord. While there is a similarity between faith and trust, several interesting meanings are attached to the word “trust.”
“Trust in Him at All Times,” Psalm 62:8Here we are given the true Object of our trust–“Him.” And when trust in Him proves to be sufficient and satisfying “at all times,” not sometimes when the sun is shining and all is well, and our lives are radiant with the favor of Heaven; but “all times,” even those times when trial, disappointment, and adversity fill the life.
Encouragement Offered to Those Who Trust in the Lord. Proverbs 3:4God’s overwhelming strength.
God’s bountiful goodness. God’s excellent lovingkindness. God’s gracious liberality. God’s former deliverances. God never fails to honor the trust and confidence of those who believe and appropriate His Promises. No matter how turbulent the waters, He is with us as our Confidence and Deliverer. Isa 43:2, Psa 65:5.
Monday, July 1, 2002 The Balm for Trouble!Troubles and trials are as old as the human race.
Whether our troubles are self caused or produced by others, or permitted by the Lord, the Bible is full of grand Promises regarding God’s ability to preserve from, and in trouble.
Balm for Trouble!
“Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag, and smile, smile, smile.” The Christian can afford to smile–not a mere artificial smile, but one born of deep joy. Because all his troubles are packed up in the bag of resignation in the sweet and perfect will of God.
“The Just Shall Come Out of Trouble,” Proverbs 12:13, 11:8If all our days are troubled ones, the Promise is that all present troubles will end in everlasting peace. We are to look beyond our troubles and this troubled world, to the world above where the wicked cannot trouble us. As we wait our release, God forbids our fear and commands our faith, since our life is hid with Christ in Him.
“Why Are Ye Troubled?” Luke 24:38A good deal of our trouble is unnecessary. Often we are troubled without cause. “Let not your heart be troubled” was the Lord Jesus Christ’s message to His own.
“Call Upon Me in the Day of Trouble; I Will Deliver Thee,” Psalm 50:15Multitudes of trouble souls have found consolation in this most blessed Promise. An exposition of the psalmist’s words.
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