Divine Sugar Sticks for September 2000

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Saturday, September 30, 2000

For For For

1 Pet 3:18, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”

”For Christ” – the word is HOTI, which means “because,” not “for”
”Suffered for sins” – the word is PERI, which means “concerning,” not “for”
”The Just for the unjust” – the word is HUPER, which means “on behalf of,” not “for”

”Because Christ also hath once suffered concerning sins, the Just on behalf of the unjust, bringing us to God.”

The key, “for” is HUPER, which is “on behalf of us” or “as substitute for us.” Salvation is a substitutionary death. He took our place.

”He made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

“Thou Hast Given a Banner to Them That Fear Thee, That it May be Displayed Because of the Truth,” Psa 60:4

After the victory at Rephidim, Moses built an altar and called the name of it JEHOVAH-NISSI, that is, “the Lord our Banner,” our Flag. And that indeed was the banner of Israel.

The nation existed to display the glory of the Lord before the nations, when in her appointed warfare against the forces of evil she was victorious, that banner was honored. When she was defeated, it was disgraced.

This song was written in a day when the hosts of the Lord had been defeated. The conception of the meaning of the national life of Israel revealed in these words accounts for the anguish of the singer as he contemplates the discomfiture and defeat of the people of God. The sorrow of the singer was caused by the disgrace to the banner by the dishonor done to the Name of the Lord.

This conception accounts also for the change in the Psalm to the note as to the ultimate victory. This sense of responsibility for the Truth about God, for the honor of the Holy Name is the surest guarantee of victory.

When the people of God are overcome by the enemies of God, the ultimate tragedy is not that they are disgraced, but all that they stand for is dishonored. Because it is that so often we forget this that we know defeat, and so wrong God. The body of Christ is the pillar and the ground of the Truth. When she fails, that Truth suffers.

Holding forth the Word of God.

“Make Haste” – Psa 70:1

These words reveal the mental mood of the singer of this Psalm. They have been supplied by the translators as an introduction and these must be omitted. They occur however immediately and they are repeated in our last verse and there reinforced by the words, ”make no tarrying.”

The circumstances were those of suffering. And of that made more poignant by the gloating gladness of enemies, as revealed in their exclamation, ”Aha, aha.” The troubled soul knew that help could only be found in the Lord.

His difficulty was that God did not seem to be acting with sufficient speed. He was at least leisurely when the need seemed pressing. He was not hastening in spite of the urgency.

So, it appeared to this troubled soul and so it has constantly appeared to those who have suffered. One of the supreme glories found in the Psalms is that it gives us a Psalm like this expressing a common human experience. Even though it reveals a mistaken conception of the Lord.

God never needs to be called upon to hasten. He is never tarrying uselessly or carelessly. Through the thick darkness He is hastening, that is, through the very darkness which makes us imagine He is inactive, or unduly delaying His help. Nevertheless, He understands our cry.

We may use any terms in our prayers if they are directed to God knowing that He will understand and interpret our faulty terms by His own perfect knowledge and give us His best answers to our deepest need.

Friday, September 29, 2000

God Understandeth – Job 28:33

These are the strong and central words of this chapter. After his protestation of innocence and passionate revelation of the need of some solution of his sufferings other than that which his friends had suggested, Job discussed the question of wisdom.

He first described man’s ability to obtain possessions of precious things of the Earth. Silver, gold, and iron are mined, and the description of how man does the work is full of beauty.

Having thus declared man’s ability, he asked, ”But where shall wisdom be found?” And the answer is in these words, ”God understandeth.”

The evidence of the Truth of this is to be found in the impossible things which God does.
”He looketh to the ends of the Earth.”
”He makes a weight for the wind.”
”He meted out the waters by measure.”
”He makes a decree for the rain.”

Job arises at his conclusion that for man, “The fear of the Lord,” that is wisdom. And “to depart from evil is understanding.” This is at once our confidence and our comfort.

”God understandeth.”

The things that perplex us do not perplex Him. The mysteries by which we are surrounded, are no mysteries to Him and there is more in the Truth than that ”God understandeth” us also. He knoweth our frame and He remembereth that we are but dust. When our best friends interpret our experiences and therefore misunderstand our complainings, ”God understandeth.”

“But Now” – Job 30:1

The supreme sorrow was that when he cried to God, there was no answer. He claimed that in such suffering as he endured, there was ample justification for all his complaining.

It is impossible to read this section without feeling that protest was approaching revolt in the soul of this man. He did definitely charge God with cruelty, verse 21, and in his question, ”Did not I weep for Him that was in trouble?” ”Was not my soul grieved for the needy?” verse 23.

He was contrasting God’s attitude toward him with his own attitude about suffering men in the days of his prosperity and strength.

How often when ”but now” is the starting point of our thinking, and we contemplate only the things seen and near, we are driven to exactly the same agonized outcries?

Then for our comfort, let us remember that God still watched over His servant, uttered no word of rebuke, but sustained Him even when he was unconscious that He was doing so.

“The Words of the Lord are Pure Words, as Silver Tried in a Furnace on the Earth Purified Seven Times,” Psa 12:6

The Psalm is burdened with the singer’s sense of the darkness of the circumstances in the midst of which he found himself. On every hand he was conscious of dishonesty, deceit, and the power of evil.

The song opens and closes on this note. But its heart consists of an affirmation of faith in the Lord. This faith fastens upon what God has said, and upon the fact that the Words of God are pure Words. That is to say that God is a God of Truth. The affirmation is intended to put the Words of God into complete contrast to those of the men who “speak falsehood,” who speak with “flattering lip and a double mind.”

The figure employed is of the strongest ”silver purified seven times,” it has in it no trace of alloy. So is the Word of God! This is ever the sure resting place of those who know the Lord.

Over and over again hours have come which have seemed to be characterized by the ceasing of godly men, by the failure of the faithful from among the children of men. In all such hours, the soul is assured as to the issue. For the Word of God has clearly declared the will and purpose of God to be that of the triumph of good over evil, of Truth over falsehood, of righteousness over every form of wickedness.

The Word of the Lord is the Word of eternal Truth. It abides forever. In it there is no dissimulation, duplicity, deceit. It is never void. It must accomplish that which He pleases.

Here then in our place of quietness and confidence, whatever the appearances of the hour may be, the Word of the Lord is not to be tested by them. But they are to be tried by the Word of the Lord.

Thursday, September 28, 2000

Christianity is Personal and it is a Personal Relationship with God the Father Through the Lord Jesus Christ. Psa 86:11, ”Unite my heart to fear Thy Name.”

This Psalm is peculiar because it is made up of almost entirely quotations from other psalms. It is singularly individualistic.

There are at least 30 occurrences of the personal pronoun in the first person singular. It is a very interesting exercise to read the Psalm putting special emphasis upon these pronouns.

To do that will reveal that the Psalm alternates between a series of petitions, verses 1-4; first affirmation, verse 5; second series of petitions, verses 6-7; second affirmation, verses 8-10; third series of petitions, verse 15; final series of petitions, verses 16-17.

The occurrences of the personal pronouns are all in the petitions and thus the process of the Psalm is revealed. It is that of a soul in prayer seeking to be brought into personal relationship with the great Truths about God which have general application.

The complete quest of the singer is revealed in the great sentence at the heart of the song. ”Unite my heart to fear Thy Name.”

Here is someone who had intellectual apprehension of the Truth about God. But knew that something more was necessary and that is that the whole personality had to be united in devotion.

And this is only done as the heart, the mind, is united to fear His Name with the mind, then the whole personality is brought under His sway.

”As a man thinketh in his mind so is he.” “With the mind man believeth unto salvation.”

In the Book of John We Are Told the Purpose of the Book

”But these things are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing, you may have life in His Name.”

There are four things to meditate upon in this verse: The Root, the Tree, the Blossom, the Fruit.

The root: “But these things are written.”
The signs and wonders which are written in the Book of John are many. There are several fibrous roots found in what had been written.

Here are roots from which the gigantic tree of Truth grows.

The Tree – What is Said of Christ’s Personality is the Tree

It is said, “That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”

The, Jesus, of Nazareth is the Sent One and the Saviour of the world, John 3:16-18
He is “The Christ,” the Messiah of the Old Testament, John 4:42
He is the Anointed One with the Spirit, John 3:34

He is the Sent One of the Father and He is also the Son of God, God the Son, in His eternal existence, and as the Only Begotten One in His love and Grace and power, the embodiment of Deity.

The Blossom, the Blossom is Faith

“These things were written that we might believe what is said about Christ.

Faith embodies the assent of the mind, the consent of the will, and the accent of the life. Faith by the act of the will unites us to Christ. It is more than believing Christ. It is believing “into Him.” Faith in Him brings us to God and God to us.

The Fruit, the Fruit is the Life, “Eternal Life”

”His Name” stands for Himself, therefore, believing through His Name puts us in association with Him.

The “life” of what the apostle speaks finds its source in God, its spring in love, and its embodiment in Christ, its power in the Holy Spirit, its sustenance in His Word, its confession in service, its consummation in glory, and its channel in faith.

Wednesday, September 27, 2000

See if you can fathom this verse. Can you imagine the results of this attitude in individuals and in our country? But it probably exists.

Jer 8:9, “Lo, they have rejected the Word of the Lord, and what matter of wisdom is in them?”

Notice the context here carefully. The prophet was dealing with the fact that rendered the situation of Judah so utterly hopeless. That, namely of their fatal and persistent lack of changing their mind about the Word of God. He showed that this was due to the misinterpretation of the scribes. It is of these scribes this statement was made, ”Lo, they have rejected the Word of the Lord.” And this is more arresting in view of the fact that they were saying, ”We are wise and the Word of the Lord is with us,” verse 8.

Here is a situation that startles us into attention. Men had the Word of God and it was their occupation to interpret it, and apply it to the people. Yet they had rejected the Word of God. Sounds like our pulpits. They were rejecting the very thing they were possessing and claiming to teach.

”They were handling the Word of God deceitfully.” Lowering the standard of its requirement to meet the degenerate condition of men, compromising its requirements, devitalizing its message. Than this, there is no more heinous sin. It is the sin of corrupting the streams of life at the source.

The question of the prophet is persistently pertinent. When men reject the Word of God, what manner of wisdom is in them?” James says it is “earthly, sensual, devilish,” James 3:15

Great indeed in its revelation of the manner of the wisdom which rejects the Word of God.

Told Not to Pray! A Time Not to Pray!

Jer 14:11, ”And the Lord said unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.”

Under the figure of the drought, the judgment determined against Judah was foretold and this is followed immediately by the account of controversy in communion between JEHOVAH and Jeremiah.

The prophet urged excuses for the people and cried out for mercy upon them. And that persistently again and again the Lord replied showing His servant the uselessness of all such praying.

In this particular verse, the prophet recorded the command of the Lord that He should not pray for the people for their good. In view of this, there are some principles:

That is in spite of it all, Jeremiah continued to plead for the people. And the Lord permitted him to do so, patiently arguing with him, until at last he brought Him to submission when he cried out, “O JEHOVAH, Thou knowest.”

The other principle is that the Lord did know and it is possible for men to persist in evil so thoroughly and persistently, that God cannot have mercy upon them and that prayer on their behalf, which seeks the exercise of mercy, is unavailing.

The Word of God is Definite in its Claim

Thessalonians illustrates the claims of the Word.

”The Word” in its authority. 1 Thess 1:6, “And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the Word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit.”

”The Word of the Lord” in its message, 1 Thess 1:8, “For from you sounded out the Word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.” 1 Thess 4:15, “For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.” 2 Thess 3:1, “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the Word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:”

”The Word of God” in its power, 1 Thess 2:13, “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in Truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”

The Word claims the faith of our obedience and the loyalty of our love and the desire of our hope.

What Thessalonians Says About the Bible

The Doctrine of the Bible

”Our Gospel came not in Word only,” 1 Thess 1:5, “For our Gospel came not unto you in Word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spiri, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.”

”Received the Word,” 1 Thess 1:6, “And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the Word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit.”

”The Word of the Lord,” 1 Thess 1:8, “For from you sounded out the Word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.”

”The Gospel of God,” “The Gospel,” 2:2, 4, 8-9, “But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the Gospel of God with much contention.” “But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.” “So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the Gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the Gospel of God.”

”The Word of God,” 1 Thess 2:13, “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in Truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”

”The Gospel of Christ,” 1 Thess 3:2, “And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the Gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith:”

”The Word of the Lord,” 1 Thess 4:15, “For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.”

The Doctrine of the Last Times in Thessalonians

“Hope,” 1 Thess 1:3, “Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.”

”Waiting for His Son from Heaven,” 1 Thess 1:10, “And to wait for His Son from Heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.”

”Crown of rejoicing at His coming,” 1 Thess 2:19, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?”

”The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints,” 1 Thess 3:13, “To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.”

”Them that sleep will God bring with Him,” 1 Thess 4:14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.”

”Unto the coming of the Lord,” 1 Thess 4:15, “For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.”

”The Lord Himself shall descend,” 1 Thess 4:16, “For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:”

”Dead in Christ shall rise,” 1 Thess 4:16, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.”

”Caught up together,” 1 Thess 4:17, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

”For ever with the Lord,” 1 Thess 4:17, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

”Day of the Lord,” 1 Thess 5:2, “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.”

”Salvation,” 1 Thess 5:9, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”

”Be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord,” 1 Thess 5:23, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

All these vital and vitalizing Truths were known in the early Church, therefore, knowing when they were written, we can see their importance and significance.

Role Models!

If you would look for the highest example of meekness, you would not look to Moses, but the Lord Jesus Christ because “He was unapproachably meek and lowly in heart.”

If you would look for the highest example of patience, you would not look to Job, but to the Lord Jesus Christ, because “When He was reviled, He reviled not again.”

If you would look for the highest example of wisdom, you would not look to Solomon, but to the Lord Jesus Christ who is “the power and the wisdom of God.”

If you would look for the highest example of soul-consuming passion, you would not look to Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, but to the Lord Jesus Christ “Who wept alone over the ill-fated city of Jerusalem.”

If you would look for the highest example of zeal, you would not look to the apostle Paul, but to the Lord Jesus Christ of whom it is written, “the zeal of Thine house has eaten me up.”

If you would look for the highest example of love, you would not look to John, but to the Lord Jesus Christ, “Who laid down His life for His friends. Greater love hath no man than this.”

The world could not and did not produce Jesus Christ. If it did, He could have produced another, but there is no other Son of God.

If you know of any friends or family who are suffering physically from a fatal disease like cancer, I recommend that you hit our web site and look for “From Cancer to Christ." It is a true story of how my wife died of cancer. But before she departed, she made sure that I had become a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. I am not recommending this booklet because I wrote it, but because of the way in which this Christian woman handled her suffering. I think it will be a source of encouragement to you and yours.

”Fear thou not, for I am with thee,”
“Be not dismayed, for I am thy God,”
”I will strengthen thee; yea,”
“I will help thee, yea,”
”I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness,” Isa 41:10

Tuesday, September 26, 2000

Fact and Factor

Everything that happened in our Lord’s life should come to pass in our lives.

1. He died for sin that we should die to sin. 1 Pet 2:4, “To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious.”
   
2. He suffered uncomplainingly that we should follow in His footsteps. 1 Pet 2:21, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps:”
   
3. He rose from the dead that we should seek those things which are above. Col 3:1-2, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the Earth.”
   
4. He was born for us that we might be born in Him. Gal 4:4, 19, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.”
   
5. He went about doing good that we might do good to all men. Heb 13:16, “But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”
   
6. He loved us even unto death that we might love one another. 1 John 3:16, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
   
7. He intercedes for us that we might make intercession for all men. 1 Tim 2:1, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.”
   
8. He trusted in God in life and death that He might be the Prince and Pattern of faith within us. Heb 12:1-2, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
   
9. He lived and died in doing the Father’s will that we might delight to do the same. Psa 40:8, “I delight to do Thy will, O M God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.”
   
10. He gave up all He had to benefit us and He expects the same mind to be in us. Phil 2:4-8, “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.”

”Be ye imitators of God as dear children, beloved.”

The Law of Details

Little things are often of great moment. We are exhorted to yield our members in detail as well as yielding our bodies as a whole. Rom 6:13, 18. Therefore, the Lord calls for:

“I want not yours, but you!!!”

The Law of Resemblance!

The resemblance between the living Word and the written Word both are said to be “sure” “living” “eternal” “wonderful” “perfect.”

The same law holds good in the resemblance between Christ and the believers.

”Be ye imitators of God as dear children, beloved,” Eph 5:1

P.S. The word “followers” is “imitators.”

The Mouth of a Specific Utterance!

Without discussing the general subject of the inspiration of the Scriptures, our attention is called to notice three principles:

1. A Divine impossibility.
   ”That there should precede out of the mouth of the Most High evil and good,” Lam 3:38
   A holy utterance must ever proceeded from Him who is holy.
   
2. A Divine statement.
   Isa 55:11, ”The Word that goeth forth or proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord shall not return unto Him void, but it must accomplish the thing that He has determined.”
   
3. Christ has endorsed the fact that the Word which proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord must be of benefit to those who receive it is by means of it that man lives to purpose.

Matt 4:4, Luke 4:4, “Man cannot live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Three great verses to preface Bible Study.

God’s Affirmation in His Word That He Has Spoken

There was no doubt in the minds of the prophets and apostle that God had “spoken” to and through them. Peter’s declaration about Christ in His past advent and His future return was, ”And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you. Whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began,” Acts 3:21

And in his second epistle, Peter is equally emphatic when he charges those to whom he wrote to, “Be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour,” 2 Pet 3:2

So. you turn to the Word of God to see how it affirms the fact that God has definitely spoken to us.

For example, there is a recurring sentence in Matthew’s Gospel and that is: “That which is spoken of the Lord by the prophets saying.”

”By the prophets” — The hinge which causes the door of the sentence to open up with definite meaning is the preposition DIA rendered “by,” which when found with the genitive, signifies something which is accomplished “by means of an active agent.”

The importance of this preposition is seen when Christ speaks of Himself as the Medium through whom we can be saved. John 3:17, 10:9

And when He also says that “No man can come to the Father but by (DIA) Me.” John 14:6. That is “through Me,” “Through the instrumentality of Me.”

What Was Spoken by the Lord Through the Prophets in Matthew!

We have detailed particulars. Here are some of the instances.

We are sometimes told that the prophet made known certain things by use of the preposition DIA, which means “by means of.”

In Heb 9:15, where it is thus translated, puts the prophet on one side and leads us to see that it is the Lord Who is the Speaker, and the prophet is only the instrument through whom He conveys His mind. Heb 9:15, “And for this cause He is the Mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.”

Notice “by means of” ... “through the instrumentality of” death.

”God, who in sundry times and divers manners spoke to the fathers by means of the prophets has in these last days spoken unto us by means of His Son.”

God has spoken. There is no doubt!

“Then Said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the Word of the Lord of Hosts,” Isa 39:5

This brief chapter is full of dramatic force, and it is principally interesting in its revelation of the relation existing between the king and the prophet. It is record of a deflection on the part of Hezekiah due largely to his vanity, and his failure to realize the full meaning of what he was doing. It is the kind of mistake that good men make when they fail in every detail of life to seek for the Light and the guidance and the will of the Lord.

The wrong having been done, Isaiah sought out the king and the conversation between them is revealing. In it we see who in those days was really the representative of the Divine authority. The prophet instituted inquisition and the king responded without questioning. In that the better side of Hezekiah was manifested, and also in his acceptance of the finding of the prophet as he said, ”Good is the Word of JEHOVAH which thou hast spoken.”

This abides in the true function of a prophet. He asks no favor of kings, and accepts no patronage from them. He is the messenger of God and it his work to break in upon all the doings of men whether kings or lords, or commoners, with this self same formula, ”Hear the Word of the Lord of hosts.”

And the answer should be from all of us, ”Good is the Word of JEHOVAH which thou hast spoken.”

That is the way we should feel about the written and the spoken Word.

The Purpose of Peace!

“There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked,” Isa 48:22

These words really stand separate from the chapter and they constitute a conclusion to the first section. We will find them again at the conclusion of the second section, Isa 57:21

In this chapter, the prophetic Word celebrates in a very remarkable way the Grace of God whose majesty and might had already been described and whose manifesto and message had been given. Grace emphasizes the failure and unworthiness of the people of God, who are the house of Jacob, even Thou called by the name of Israel who do swear by the name of JEHOVAH. And talk about the God of Israel. But not in Truth and/or Righteousness.

Their obstinacy is declared to be the reason of the predictive element in prophetic teaching, verses 3-8.

Nevertheless, in spite of all this, for His own sake the Lord spares His people and He laments over their disobedience and their consequent lack of prosperity, but He is their Redeemer and will deliver them, and all this having been said there breaks in this great prophetic announcement. “There is no peace, saith the Lord, to the wicked.”

This is said to believers, not the world, and from beginning to end the motive has been of revealing the purpose of God to bring peace to His troubled people.

Peace for believers is His message.

The Purpose of Peace – Part Two

Isa 57:21, “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.”

The wicked could be the unbeliever, or in this case, the believer. The believer looking for peace apart from “the peace of God which passeth all understanding.” We have seen words similar to this before in Isaiah and they concluded the great prophecy concerning the purpose of peace. And in closing there was a double value.

First, it reveals the reason why we lack peace today.
Secondly, it suggests the only conditions upon which peace can ever come to men.

Now, in our passage we come to the end of the second section, in the process of which can be seen the Prince of Peace, the Servant of the Lord, Who through the travail, passes through to triumph of establishing peace.

And this second closes with a message to men in view of the nearness of salvation and righteousness. And again we find the two notes we found in the previous verse.

First, fierce demonstration of an apostate community, which had given itself to all evil practices in its forgetfulness of God.
Then a message for those of a contrite and humble spirit, who are loyal to the Lord.

In the first verse, the title of God was JEHOVAH and in the second one, it is God. That is ELOHIM. In the section dealing with the purpose of peace, the affirmation is made by JEHOVAH. That is the title of Grace.

In the section dealing with the Prince of Peace, the affirmation is made by ELOHIM, and that is the name of Absolute Might.

God in Grace purposes peace. When He makes it possible through His suffering Servant, His might insists on the terms.

In spite of all of the travail of the Suffering One, men persist in wickedness and there is no way of peace for them, even by the way of that travail.

Phil 4:19, “But My God Shall Supply All Your Need According to His Riches in Glory by Christ Jesus”

The original language reads like this: “And the God of me will fill every need of you according to the riches of Him in glory in Christ Jesus.” “Fill” is PLEROMA, which means to fill full, to completely possess, and to fill full with a quality. ”According to” is the preposition KATA, which is “according to the Divine norm or standard.” “In Him,” “In Christ Jesus.” EN means “in the sphere of Him.”

Now, I must be the slowest, dumbest Christian in all of Christianity. Because if all our need has already been provided for, why is it that we are constantly looking for and working for something that has already been provided?

Illustration: Peace

Every one is crying for peace, and we have bumper stickers crying out and saying ”Visualize World Peace.” It has already been provided, and it will occur at the Second Advent of Christ, when the Prince of Peace returns to this Earth.

And then there’s Christmas “peace on Earth and good will to all men.” The passage doesn’t say that, but it says, ”Peace on Earth to men with whom God is well-pleased.”

Individual peace comes from Christ, who broke down the middle wall of separation and so provided peace with God. That is where peace begins individually and God only deals with individuals. That is salvation peace.

And then for Christians, peace is provided for them in time simply by receiving “the peace of God which passeth all understanding.” That is the Christian way of life. “The fruit of the Spirit is peace.”

Everything has been provided and we are searching for our need when it has already been provided. We just don’t really want peace, because if we wanted peace, we would appropriate the Prince of Peace.

For time and for eternity – “He is our peace.”

Phil 4:19, “But My God Shall Supply All Your Need According to His Riches in Glory by Christ Jesus”

He has provided the Right Man and the Right Woman in marriage. We are not only looking for peace in the wrong places, but we are looking for love in the wrong places. On Mars and Venus ...

God in eternity past provided a Right Man or a Right Woman, one of the opposite sex, for you. He or she has already been provided. But, no, we beat the bushes, or the bars, mars, or computer dating, or Internet chat rooms?

There are over 100 ways in which you can recognize the Right Man or Right Woman God has provided for you in marriage.

But, we don’t want God’s peace and we don’t want God’s choice for us in marriage. You trusted Him for the greatest of all things, your own personal salvation. Can’t you trust Him to supply a partner for you?

While you wait, He will take the place of your partner, till you recognize the one He has designed specifically for you. And you don’t have to buy the book!

Can you imagine people charging to enhance your relationship with the Lord and with each other in marriage? That is surely not a Grace concept and if it is not Grace, it is not God.

Monday, September 25, 2000

When Jesus Christ Visited Hagar!

“BEER-LAHAI-ROI,” Gen 16:14

This was the name given to the well by the site of which Hagar, the bondwoman in Abram’s household and the mother of Ishmael, had been visited and comforted by the “Angel of the Lord,” which is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is significant as revealing her experience. The actual translation must recognize the combination of three words.

”BEER” = a well “LAHAI” = life “ROI” = a seer or a vision

Now, to understand the suggestiveness we need the context. The previous verse shows that she had seen God as the One who saw her. He therefore, was the Living One who cared for her life and comforted her. These, then, were surely the ideas given rise to the name. God was discovered as the Living One who sees. And that vision brought life to Hagar.

This whole incident is most illuminative showing us that God is not unmindful of those who are outside the commonwealth made with the people called to carry out His purpose. He is always the God who sees. And He is ever the Living God who acts according to what He sees.

In many ways which are beyond those of His special covenants with His chosen, He is giving life to those who see Him, however dimly.

This name of a well stands out upon the pages of this ancient story like a great shaft of light in darkness, suggesting great thoughts about God, and His ways with men, and filling the soul with confidence in His justice and in His Grace.

P.S. The Angel of the Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Surely the Lord is in This Place and I Knew it Not,” Gen 28:16

These were the words of Jacob when he awoke from his sleep, and the record of the result of the revelation that had been granted to him through the dream of the ladder and the ascending and descending angels. The particular tenses of the verbs are interesting.

”The Lord is in this place.” This is a present tense. “I knew it not.” This is past tense.

Through the experience of the night, he had come to the consciousness of an abiding fact the Lord is in this place, of which he had been ignorant when he had gone to sleep. ”I knew it not.”

The fact was of the abiding presence and the constant nearness of God. He did not say that the Lord was in this place as though he had received a visit from God. The revelation that had come to him was far more wonderful and better than that. Those ascending and descending angels had shown him the perpetual nearness of Heaven to Earth and the voice of God which he had heard was the voice of One ever nigh at hand.

He had traveled away from home and from the place of the altar, but he had not traveled away from God, notwithstanding that the journey had been made necessary by his own wrongdoing. Seeking a stone for a pillow in utter loneliness, he had laid him down to rest, not knowing that the God of his fathers was with him yet.

He woke to the realization of the fact and that very place became to him Bethel, the house of God.

“EL ELOHE ISRAEL,” Gen 33:20

The naming of this altar was certainly significant. It will be noticed that the name of God appears three times. EL, ELOHE, ISRAEL. It means “God, the God of Israel,” or if we further translate ”God, the God of the one ruled by God.”

The naming of this altar was Jacob’s act of faith appropriating his new name. ”Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel,” Gen 32:28, but also claiming ELOHIM in the new sense as the God through whom alone he could walk according to his new name. Israel, prince with God.

This is a vital truth and the fundamental of all true life is that we must be ruled by God. But there is a further lesson that needs to be learned, and that is that it is only possible for us to walk according to the Divine rule in the Divine strength. Yielding to God is far more than an act. It is an attitude.

As the act of yielding is ever that of a response to the Divine call, so the attitude of yielding is only maintained in the measure in which we depend constantly and entirely upon the Lord.

Tremendous Grace Verse!

”Esau, the same is Edom,” Gen 36:1

This is a special chapter about Esau’s descendents. He now is to pass out of the story. We read no more about him, but his descendants, remain the people of Edom, persistently in opposition to the descendants of Jacob. They appear again and again, especially in the prophetic writings. One brief but revealing book is Obadiah. In it the judgment of God upon Edom is declared. And the peculiar nature of its sin is described.

It is chiefly remarkable, however, for its closing movement which foretells a day of ultimate redemption even for the mount of Esau, a day when saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge it, a day when the kingdom shall be the Lord’s,” Obadiah 21.

It is good in our study sometimes to glance ahead, for in so doing, we may be guided and helped in our attitude in much that is happening around us. Esau was a profane person who sold his birthright. And from his loins there sprang a profane nation, which filled the cup of iniquity to the brim. Therefore, their judgment was inevitable. But that is not the last word, however.

The last word is one of saviours and salvation within the one and only kingdom of the Lord. Those who watch with God see this always. Sin must work itself out. Punishment is inherent in sin. But God is greater than sin. And His eyes are ever fixed upon the issue and toward that He is ever working.

Those who watch with Him, therefore work with Him and they wait with Him, enduring the travail, assured of the triumph.

A Human Interest Story!

”She called his name BENONI, but his father called him Benjamin,” Gen 35:18

The human elements in these words are very suggestive and full of pathos. Rachel was Jacob’s one love. For her, during the years of his exile, he had served 14 years, seven while waiting for her, and seven in comradeship with her. Now they were back in his own country, and in giving birth to her second son, she died. Before she passed, she expressed her soul as she named him BENONI, son of sorrow.

Because of the love that existed between her and Jacob, she was thinking not of herself, but of him. He would have the son, but at the cost of the mother. And so he would be to him the “son of sorrow.”

Jacob changed the name to “Benjamin,” the son of my right hand and here there seems to be his agreement with Rachel rather than disagreement. Only he emphasized the other side of the Truth. If he was to be bereft of his loved one, Rachel, yet the son born to him would be his comfort and consolation.

The story is that of sorrow, but it is sorrow transfigured by love. Two who have journeyed together in the joy of true love are about to be separated. But amid the deep shadows of death, there is the light of this new life.

Rachel expresses her understanding of what the boy will ever be to his father, the son of sorrow. Jacob understanding also, and desiring to give her comfort as she passed on, reminded her that the boy would be to him a strength in his sorrow, the son of his right hand. The human touch of its first natural meaning is full of beauty.

It reminds me of when Teddy Roosevelt lost his mother and his wife in the same day, while she was giving birth to their daughter.

“When I Found Him Whom My Soul Loveth, I Held Him and Would Not Let Him Go,” S.O.S. 3: 4

This is the language of the bride. It is a part of her account of her memories of those days in which her shepherd lover was wooing her. And in particular, it is the record of a dream. After her beloved had come, 2:8-14, and passed, 2:15-17, the night came and in her dreams she thought she had lost him. She rose and searched the city for him inquiring from the watchmen. At last she found him and then she held him and would not let him go.

On the human level, as a story of love, this is very natural and very beautiful. Love creates a perpetual dread, lest the loved one should be lost. And this dread, often only subconscious in the day time, takes the form of actual experience in the dreams of the night. Then follows the search and the new grip on the loved one when he is found.

This is a poetic and true interpretation of the power of love when it masters a life, when we make the story figurative and interpretative of those highest relationships of the soul. With the Lord Jesus Christ, it becomes a wonderful revelation, the sensitiveness of the life that is really in love with Christ.

We are safe only so long as we dread the loss of our Beloved, that keeps us ever sensitive and watchful. When either in a dream on in reality we lose our sense of His presence, let us search for Him, and then in the finding, with new devotion, let us hold Him and refuse to let Him go.

“I am My Beloved’s and His Desire is Toward Me,” S.O.S 7:10

This is the voice of the bride, following the musing of the bridegroom. It is the full, final, ultimate words of love. It expresses complete satisfaction, absolute rest, the uttermost of contentment and peace.

There are two elements in it. The first is that of complete abandonment. “I am my beloved’s.” The second is that of the realization that the beloved is satisfied. “His desire is toward me.”

There are no words in literature so completely, and perfectly, and yet simply, setting forth the highest experience of human love. And therefore they are words that justify the mysterical interpretation of this song to the full.

This is the language of the soul when it has found final rest and satisfaction in the love of God, both His love for the soul and the soul’s love for Him. This, of course, finds its fulfillment in and through Jesus Christ.

To be able to use these words as defining the relationship between the soul and the Lord is to have found the highest joy, the profoundest peace, the complete experience of love.

We can say without a doubt, wonderful as the fact is, “that His desire is toward us,” but can we say, each personally, “I am my Beloved’s?”

“My Rock,” Psa 28:1 — This is Not Peter

Here these words, ”my Rock,” are directly synonymous with the title JEHOVAH, and they constitute a proper name. In this case, the figure is positively employed as a designation for God.

This then may be an excellent place at which to pause to consider the suggestiveness of this title, “ It is the one figure within the realm of nature that suggests abiding strength and immutability. The story of the rocks, as we are able to read it, is the story of the principle of the complete victory of principle over passion. At last the fixed is reached, the unchangeable, and so the ultimate is strength.

It is a remarkable fact that in all the Old Testament literature ”ROCK” is reserved as a figure of Deity. It is used for false gods, as well as for God, but never for men. Isaiah the prophet declared that a man shall be as a shadow of a rock in a weary land. And that Man is Christ. And this is a prediction of the deepest fact concerning the Person of the Messiah.

All this should be in our minds when we consider the words of our Lord in which He declared that He would build His Church on the Rock.

Notice in this Psalm the conception of the character of God as the Immutable One gave this singer perfect confidence in the midst of grave perils, and inspired his prayer for his people.

“Lead Me to the Rock That is Higher Than I,” Psa 61:2

This is the song of one who was away from the city and the temple of God. It is said that David wrote it when he was an exile for a time, as the result of the rebellion of Absalom. From that distance which seemed to him to be the end of the Earth, he called upon God when his soul was overwhelmed and this was the very heart of his prayer.

”Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.” And once more we have the employment of the “Rock,” not Peter, as symbolic of God. And the reference here being to its strength and to its height, as constituting a place of refuge and security.

The illuminative phase of this petition is that it puts God as a Rock in contrast with self. Peter ...

These were the words of a man who was supremely conscious of his own insufficiency. From the perils and the sorrows in the midst of which he was living, he found neither help nor a hiding place in his own wisdom or strength. His prayer was for elevation above self to God. It was a great cry, and it is one we constantly need to pray.

It is only when we find refuge in the Rock that is higher than ourselves that we are safe from the enemies without or the foes within. There is no such things as self-sufficiency. Our sufficiency is ever of God, our Rock.

“Thy Saving Health,” Psa 67:2

This phrase constitutes a poetic interpretation of the thought of the one word of which it is a translation. The Hebrew word is one, and signifies quite literally ”salvation.” It is salvation in the sense of deliverance, aid, and so nationally of victory.

The conception in its national significance is very beautifully expressed in the phrase “saving health” of the Authorized Version. The Psalm is a brief one, but it breathes the very spirit of a clear understanding of the real meaning of the Hebrew nation, according to Divine purpose. Its opening prayer is that God will bless and cause His face to shine upon His own people in order that “salvation may be known among all nations.”

Its closing affirmation is that God will bless His own people and that as a result, ”all the ends of the Earth shall fear Him.” This is the true interpretation of privilege. The people of God exist for the sake of all the nations. They constitute the illustration of His “saving health.” Their prosperity is due to His aid, His deliverance, His salvation.

Dancing Christians! How About a Dance??

“They that sing as well as they that dance shall say, All my fountains are in Thee,” Psa 87:7

In all of the Psalms, there is no song more perfect than this in its celebration of the ultimate establishment of the kingdom of God on Earth. The city of God is seen as the metropolis of that kingdom. It is the city of the King and so the city of the law. It is the city of the foundation, that is our Righteousness. It is the city in which citizenship at last shall be enrolled even of those who have been the enemies of the people and purpose of God. That is the city of peace.

Therefore, it is the city which inspires all song and dancing. The expression of happiness – that is the city of joy. These are the things of the kingdom of God. Righteousness, peace, and joy.

The first application of this Psalm is earthly and the city it celebrates is a city of men which yet will be the tabernacle of God. There is no doubt that this city will be actually the Jerusalem of the Holy Land. There the dream of men will be realized and that under the rule of our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s anointed King. King of kings!

Salvation is God’s Work!

“His right hand and His holy arm hath wrought salvation for him. The Lord hath made known His salvation,” Psa 98:1-2

In these words at the beginning of the song, two great truths concerning human salvation emerge. The first statement is that salvation is God’s work. “His right hand and His holy army hath wrought salvation for him.” The idea is that salvation was in His purpose. He desired it. He willed it. And that being so, it was imperative that He should provide it. Whatever needed to be done, He must do.

The singer rejoiced that the Lord had provided what He desired. And here the heart of truth concerning salvation, in all the Gospel fullness of the term, is revealed. God desired the salvation of men. Men could not provide salvation. Then He wrought it a mystery of love and holiness and power and so salvation is made possible.

The second statement is that He has made known His salvation. He has revealed to men and in its victories, He makes it known more and more perfectly. Thus the Hebrew singer celebrated a truth, the full value he hardly recognized.

Here we have in the first statement, a declaration concerning those profound activities within the Deity, out of which human salvation is possible. And in the second, a declaration which covers the ground of the life and death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Phil 2:5-11 we have the New Testament light on this passage.

What a passage!

Sunday, September 24, 2000

“Where Sin Abounds, Grace Does Much More Abound”

One of the greatest of all illustrations of this “abounding Grace’ is found in the worst time ever in human history. In the Tribulation, Jacob’s Trouble, with Satan cast out of Heaven to the Earth and knowing that his time is short, it is the worst time in history and a picture of sin abounding.

”But where sin abounds, Grace does much more abound.” How?? In the worst time in history it is the greatest time of evangelism. And God is not willing that any should perish, so He “pulls out all the stops” and not only people are witnessing, but also angels. And the result is the greatest evangelism ever.

Rev 7:9, “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.”

Verse 10, “And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.”

Where sin abounds, Grace does much more abound. You can believe it.

God Speaks to Us in His Word in Many, Many Unsuspected Ways!

The words of Neco, from the mouth of God,” 2 Chr 35:22

This is one of those arresting illustrations which we find in the Old Testament Scriptures. The fact that the nations and the kings outside of the people of the Theocracy were under the government of God, and at some time conscious of the fact.

These words constitute a simple statement which admits to the accuracy of what Neco had himself claimed in the message he sent to Josiah by ambassadors, when he said, ”God hath commandeth me to make haste; forbear with me, that He destroy thee not.”

The fact that Josiah did not hearken to the message cost him his life.

Such a story to say the least, gives us pause and makes us enquire as to how far we are ever justified in refusing to consider a word which is claimed as a Divine message, even when it comes from sources from which we should least expect to receive it.

How do we know that which claims to be Divine authority has any right to make the claim? Well, in this story the answer is plain. Josiah had no right of any sort to be helping the king of Assyria. The only reason for doing so was some political advantage.

A word comes from God forbidding what was already forbidden. It has a weight of moral appeal amounting to certainty. If the message agrees with the Word of God, we do well to heed it, for God may speak in many an unexpected way.

The Word of God is like gold. It has intrinsic value no matter where you find it.

Prayer and Practice

“So I prayed unto the God of Heaven and I said unto the king,” Neh 2:4-5

This is practical and that in both facts. Prayer is always practical for it reaches and apprehends the actual and final forces. Prayer ever demands action which is in harmony with its desire.

Having sought the help of God, he spoke to the king with perfect honesty when the opportunity came. In the presence of the king, the sadness of Nehemiah’s soul could not be wholly hidden. He had not been naturally or habitually a sad man, as he himself
declared, but his sorrow for his country was so real that it was manifest to the king. And when the king evidenced his sorrow, the king was filled with fear.

Yet having audience of God, courage splendidly overcame fear and he told the king the cause of his grief and boldly asked to be allowed to go up and help his brethren. His request was granted, for his prayer was answered, and he took his departure for Jerusalem.

All this is very illuminating … In all our endeavors, prayer is our first and principle line of activity. But more is necessary. God expects our co-operation. He will touch the soul of the king, but Nehemiah must make his venture.

There is a profound truth in the commonplace and hackneyed statement that “God helps those who help themselves.” It is along the line of the use of our reason or common sense that God works for us and with us, for the accomplishment of all that we ask of Him.

A Divine Expression of Unity!

Neh 3:2, “Next unto them.”

This is the first expression in this chapter of this phrase, or its equivalent, ”next unto them” runs on through the first half of it, occurring no less than 15 times. Then another pair of phrases ”after him” and ”after them” emerges and one or the other continues to the end – occurring 16 times.

These phrases mark the unity of the work.

By this linking up of workers, the whole wall was built. The description is in itself orderly and proceeds around the entire enclosure of the city, including all the gates and the connecting parts of the wall. Beginning at the sheep-gate, which was near the temple and through which the sacrifices passed, we pass the fish-gate, in the merchant quarter. Then we go on by the old gate in the ancient part of the city. Then successfully come to the valley-gate, the dung-gate, the gate of the fountain, the water-gate, the horse-gate, the east-gate, the gate of Miphad, until we arrive again at the sheep-gate, when the chapter ends.

All of this is supremely interesting in its revelation of method. The unifying fact was the wall. All were inspired by the one desire and intention to see it completed. In order to realization, the work was systematically divided. Each group was united as to its own workers in the effort to do the particular portion allotted to them. All the groups were united to each other in the effort to complete the wall.

It is a striking picture of unity of diversity and it has its lessons for us. There was no sense of separation. Each worked “next to” or “after” some other. And so the complete union of workers and work was realized.

A Light From God’s Word

Gen 2:7, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.”

That statement contains an account of the nature of man from which no Biblical teaching ever departs. In the previous chapter, we were told the fact of his creation, and that he was created in the image of God and placed in dominion over the restored order.

Here we are distinctly told how God did the work. Look for a moment at the last sentence. ”Man became a living soul.” The Hebrew verb rendered ”became” is HAYAH, which is always emphatic, and it means, “came to be, or came into existence.”

The statement is not that man, already existing, was by some act of God changed into a living soul. The words ”a living soul” describe man as God created him. This sentence would be clearer if it was written like this: ”Man became ... a living soul.”

In His creation, God employed dust and ”the breath of lives,” plural.

This man is composed of the material and the spiritual. The physical is not all of him and neither he is complete as a disembodied spirit. His body is of the dust. His spirit and soul is of the Breath of God. Nothing is told here as to the condition of dust when God breathed into it. What processes were included in the forming are not declared. It is a simple statement as to the original material of the physical.

Let it be remembered that dust is also a Divine creation and no particle of it is ever lost, though it may pass through many changes as did the body of our Lord Jesus Christ in resurrection.

Saturday, September 23, 2000

“David Tarried at Jerusalem” – 1 Chronicles 20:1

Every once in a while you come across a passage like this. You may have read it before. It would be interesting to know how many people through the years have read this verse. You know those who read through the Bible once a year, etc.

But there are times in your life as a Christian that something in the Word of God just gets your attention. And it maybe an obscure verse, like this one. But you can’t leave it. It holds your attention, and you don’t want to leave it.

Jesus Christ endorsed every letter of the Word of God and this is more than one letter and the context of this verse shows us once again how gracious and faithful and full of compassion is the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you have never seen the Grace of God or His compassion, or if you think, like some people do, that your sin is so great it is impossible for God to forgive you, this verse is for you. If you think your sin is so bad God can’t forgive you, this verse is for you.

”David tarried at Jerusalem”
This is the “only” reference made in this Book to the greatest sin and failure in the history of David. This is the Lord’s reference to that sin. The insertion of the full story as given, as in 2 Samuel, would not have served the purpose of the writer of this Book, would not serve the purpose of God the Holy Spirit who is its Author. But we ought not to allow ourselves to forget the warning it affords.

The story in Samuel is introduced by exactly the same statement of the tarrying of David at Jerusalem at the times when kings go out to war. This was the first stage in that swift passage of shameful sin.

There is nothing more full of subtle danger in the life of any believer in the Lord Jesus Christ than that he should remain inactive when the Plan of God demanded that he be out on the fields of conflict, at the front.

How many have found the peace of ease, peace at any price, to be that of deadly peril, when the demands of the Divine service were calling for strenuous endeavor?

There is a very old adage and very simple, at perhaps we are inclined to smile. But it is well to remember it. Not only in childhood, but in the end of the pathway it declares that “Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.”

If I ought to be at Rabbah with the army, and U am tarrying at home, in ease, then almost certainly some “Bathsheba will present herself by whom we may be utterly undone.

And that is not to blame Bathsheba. She also sinned and shared the wrong of David. But neither would have been involved had David been in his true place on the battlefield.

P.S. Notice the omission of listing David’s sins.

P.P.S. We remember David’s sins, but God forgives and forgets them.

And all He says is, “David tarried at Jerusalem.” Grace – the faithfulness of the Lord – forgiving Grace and faithfulness. Never mentioning your sins to the public.

“As Well the Small as the Great” – 1 Chr 26:13

David seems to have neglected nothing in his arrangements concerning the temple. Not only Levites, priests and singers, but porters also. And such as had charge of all their stores were set apart for this work. Nothing connected with the house of God was considered in any way as unimportant. Everything was most sacred.

Those who were appointed to these offices were chosen from the sons of highest in the national life as well as from the sons of those less known. In the casting of lots, a principle was observed full of revealing light. The names were selected not with reference to any privilege of position, due to wealth or official standing.

”They cast lots as well the small as the great.” Whatever grading of society into “small and great,” “high and low,” may be inevitable in the arrangement of affairs on the human level.

It ceases to operate when the service of the Lord in any department is in question. ”The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.”

God has chosen the weak, the base.

David’s Final Counsel to His Son Solomon!

“Know thou the God of thy Father, and serve Him with a perfect mind and with a willing mind,” 1 Chr 28:9

These words occur in the final charge of David, the greatest of the Hebrew kings, to his son, Solomon. In this charge, he first makes an impressive declaration of his recognition of the government of God to his own appointment as king, and in that of his son.

Here is revealed the deepest thing in his makeup, his devotion to and his passion for the recognition of Theocracy. Out of that conviction came his charge to his son as to the principles which were to govern him in his rule of the people in the future. In these words, the true attitude toward God is revealed, and the condition of the soul which makes these attitudes possible.

The duty toward God is two-fold. “Know Him and serve Him.” And the condition of the soul making this possible is also two-fold. “A perfect heart and a willing mind.”

To know God is to serve Him. All failure in service is the result of the loss of vision of God, misapprehension of Him due to some distance from Him.

The condition of knowing Him is an undivided soul and a willing mind. And to this attitude we make it possible for God to reveal Himself to us.

Peter followed afar off, so he denied Him.

Solomon’s Prayer!

“That Thine eyes may be open toward this house day and night,” 2 Chr 6:20

Solomon, in this great prayer of dedication, reveals his true understanding of the greatness of God and he said, “Will God in very deed dwell with men on the Earth? Behold Heaven and the Heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee. How much less this house which I have builded.”

Realizing the inadequacy of any houses built by man to contain God, he uttered this suggestive and beautiful petition, that the watching eyes of God might ever rest upon the house he had built.

The vision of the king created his prayer. He saw the temple perpetually watched by the eyes of God, so that whatever worshippers approached, they were seen by the God, Whose help they sought.

That this might be so he prayed. It was a figure of speech, but one full of suggestive beauty. For us, the great ideal has found perfect fulfillment through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, ”Who has passed through the Heavens,” “Now to appear before the face of God for us.”

We draw near with boldness unto the “throne of Grace.” The eyes of God are ever upon him in satisfaction and delight.

So, in our approach, we are ever seen, but we are seen in Him and so accepted.

The Only-Mentioned Principle!

The following verse is chiefly remarkable, for this word of Azariah who uttered it, only appears here ...

He is mentioned nowhere else. “The Lord is with you, while ye be with Him; and if ye seek Him, He will be found of you; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you,” 2 Chr 15: 2

But yet it is an introductory word, so brief that it only occupies half a verse in our Bibles. He reveals an inclusive philosophy of life under the control of God.

Suddenly anointed by God the Holy Spirit, this man appeared to the king and in his message gave direction to all his life and reign. If the message was brief, it is indeed weighty. The rest of the message consisted of illustration of the application of the principle.

It declared to the then-existing conditions and of a direct appeal to the king. The principle declared is of perpetual application. Let it be well-considered it represents God as unchanging. All apparent changes on His part are really changes in the attitude of men toward Him.

A man with God finds God with Him. Man forsaking God finds that he is forsaken of God. If a man seeks God, He will be found of that man.

A recognition of these things must at once give direction to life and inspire the soul with courage. It certainly did so in the case of Asa. “Ask and it shall be given unto you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you.” A.S.K. Ask Seek Knock

When the President of a Country Sent Bible Teachers to All the Cities

“Then went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught among the people,” 2 Chr 17:9

With the ascension of Jehosphaphat to the throne of Judah, a period of very definite reformation commenced within the kingdom. In this chapter we have first, the account of his own relationship to God, and the resulting blessing that came to him.

Then follows the most interesting account of how he made known the Word of the Lord anew throughout the land. The method adopted was what in these modern times we might describe as the holding of special Bible conferences throughout the cities of Judah for the specific purpose of proclaiming and interpreting “the Book of the law of JEHOVAH.” 2 Chr 17:9, “They taught in Judah, and had the Book of the law of the Lord with them and went about through all the cities of Judah and taught the people.”

Can’t you see this coming from the White House????

Jehoshpaphat put into practice himself and by these Bible teachers, provided for his people to put into practice the principle that Azariah declared to his father.

Coincident with this Bible teaching activity within the kingdom, a remarkable fear of the Lord fell upon their enemies round about so that they ceased to make war upon Jehoshaphat.

Thus God was with the man who was with him. And the result was that there was an opportunity for strengthening of the kingdom within, by building of castles and cities, by commerce, and by the carrying out of many works.

This story has a present value. No better service can be rendered to our nation than that of having Bible classes in cities, towns, villages, and hamlets. By such Bible teaching, the soul of the people may be turned to the Lord and so He will be enabled to do for them all that is in His heart.

To the Unknown Solider or the Unknown Ordinary Believer

Who is Not Ordinary Because of Christ

“A certain man drew his bow at a venture,” 2 Chr 18:33. A very, very interesting story probably lost in history. This is a most suggestive and significant statement, revealing great facts of life that are too often unrecognized by men.

Ahab had done everything he could think of to secure his own safety in the day of battle. In arrant cowardice, he had caused Jehosphaphat to enter into the field in his kingly robes, thus rendering him conspicuous, while he had disguised himself. Like when they painted broad white stripes down your helmet in WW II so the enemy could see you were a officer and pick you off. The ruse was completely successful as far as Syria was concerned. The captains of the king of Syria were deceived.

Ahab was safe, if there were no other eyes than those of men watching him. But he was not hidden from the eyes of the Lord. And one nameless man “drew his bow at a venture,” that is literally “in his simplicity.” So, it was not even a venture in the sense of an attempt, or a gambling against odds in the hopes of killing the king of Israel. It was done in “his simplicity” – that is artlessly, without any special intention other than that of “carrying on” in the ordinary sense of that word.

This man had probably, during the course of the day, shot many arrows and he went on in his simplicity little knowing that this particular arrow was to be guided through all the confusion straight to its mark by the unerring knowledge and power of God.

Yet so it was. Thus it is seen how the refuge of lies never hides from the eyes of the Lord. Men may secret themselves so that other men may not find them. But when their hour of judgment is come, God takes hold upon some ordinary event and makes it the highway upon which he comes to carry out the sentence of His purpose.

”It just happened” says the man of the world. “God did it” says the man of faith.

Friday, September 22, 2000

Greek Grace Gem
TAGMA

The Saints at Christ’s Coming

1 Cor 15:23, “Each in his own order, Christ the First-Fruits, then they that are Christ’s at His coming.”

The Greek word TAGMA means anything arranged in order, as a body of troops that is marshaled in ranks. It is a military term.

The adverb of time “then” indicates the next rank, which includes all who participate in the first resurrection. Rev 20: 4-6.

”The rest of the dead.” The rendering of this text is unfortunate. It is not “then cometh the end.” The word “cometh” is not in the original, as is indicated by the italicized word.

Then the other words are afterwards the last. The word “end: is rendered “finally” in 1 Pet 3:8. The last of what? The “rest of the dead” corresponds to Rev 20:5, 11-13, the last rank in the resurrection of the dead “in the dead.”

The first-fruits are raised before the Tribulation. The next in order are the tribulational saints before the Millennium. And the last rank is the wicked dead who are raised at the end of the thousand years.

“Behold I Show You a Mystery”

Greek word MUSTERION. You can see that it is not translated, but transliterated. MUSTERION was used for Greeks being initiated into a secret society and only the members of the society knew the secrets of the society.

The cause of the believers’ initiation into God’s secrets is because God makes them known by the Holy Spirit in His Word.

There are several mysteries made known in the New Testament. The place where each is mentioned must determine the application.

1. The mystery of Israel’s blindness, which is no mystery regarding the blindness of Israel, but its duration is made known in the fact that it is until the fullness of the number of the Gentiles be gathered in, Rom 11:25
   
2. The mystery of godliness, is that God was made in the flesh, hence His greatness and His glory, 1 Tim 3:16
   
3. The mystery of the Church, is that God in His electing Grace is blessing those who receive Christ and making them, whether Jew or Gentile, one in Him, Rom 16:25, Eph 3:3, 4:9, 5:32, 6:29, Gal 1:26-27, Gal 4:3, 1 Tim 3:9. Hence it is called the mystery of what was kept secret since the world began.
   
4. The mystery of lawlessness, it is the end of hell’s working in the self-will of man which will develop the production of the lawless one, 1 Thes 2:7
   
5. The mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ, is the centralization of everything, whether in Grace government in Christ, and that in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, Eph 1:9, Col 2:2, Rev 10:7
   
6. The mystery of the seven stars, is that Christ holds all those who are in places of responsibility in God’s assembly by His almighty power, Rev 1:20
   
7. The mystery of Babylon, is that behind all that all the abominable mixture of the world's religions and its commercial spirit there is the satanic spirit that governs it, Rev 17:5.
   
8. The mystery about the glorified saints, is that we shall not all sleep, but that we shall all be changed and be make like to our glorified Christ, 1 Cor 15:51.
   
9. The mystery of the kingdom of Heaven, in a general sense is that behind the body of the outward meaning of revealed Truth, there is a soul of secret explanation, Matt 13:11.

You have been initiated into a secret society ... MUSTERION … fraternity.

The Significance of Two Little Letters

“In” are the two little letters, and the Greek is EN, also only two letters. Notice the significance of these two letters. This preposition is found 2,700 times in the New Testament. The whole force of the revelation that we have from God is contained in two Greek letters, EN.

”He made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him,” 2 Cor 5:21.

”But we are found in Him not having our own righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness which is of God by faith in Christ,” Phil 3:9.

To the faithful in Christ, Eph 1:1.

All spiritual blessings in Christ, Eph 1:3.

According as He has chosen us in Him, Eph 1:4.

Made us acceptable in the Beloved, Eph 1:6.

Who first trusted in Christ, Eph 1:12.

When we accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, God the Holy Spirit placed us in union “in Christ.”

Now that we are “in Christ Jesus our Lord,” nothing can touch us, nothing can get to us. It would have to go through the Rock of Ages first.

Just two little letters: “in” – much better than “out” of Christ.

The Greek Preposition PROS Means Face to Face

2 Cor 5:8, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”

The word translated “present” is the preposition PROS, which means face to face with the Lord. When you depart from this life you are face to face with the Lord. No such thing as Purgatory in Scripture! Purgatory to some means a “cleansing place” after you die. And than it is either a high or a low mass. Purge atory. No, it is a mess.

But there is only one cleansing and it takes place in time. And it is not a place. It is a Person.

”The blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing us from all sin,” 1 John 1:7

”To Him give all the prophets witness, for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins,” Acts 10:43

But notice the significance of this same preposition PROS. The coming of God the Holy Spirit to the believer is called PROS and it occurs twice in connection with the Holy Spirit, and signifies the coming of one person to another. Just as Nicodemus came to Christ, John 3:2. And Christ said of God the Holy Spirit, “The Comforter will not come unto you (PROS). I will send Him unto you (PROS), John 16:7

So, as the Holy Spirit came face to face with you when you accepted Christ as your personal Saviour, so will you be face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ when your ministry is over and you depart.

God is Love!

The revelation of all revelations is “God is love.”

The religions of the world have no such revelation. Therefore, their light is darkness in the light of Christianity.

The Greeks say, “God is beauty.”
The Romans say, “God is strength.”
Barbarians say, “God is a despot.”
”God is law,” say the Jews.
”God is everything,” says the pantheist.
”God is force,” says the scientist.

But, “God is love,” reveals the Spirit.

“The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes us free from the law of sin and death,” Rom 8:2

The Spirit-filled life is extensive in its meaning. There are several phrases and phases which have to do with a Spirit-filled life.

1. Baptism
   Is the immersing word and denotes the Spirit’s power. Acts 1:5
   
2. Anointing
   Is the qualifying word and speaks of His consecrating Grace. 2 Cor 1:21
   
3. Sealing
   Is the claiming word and avows His proprietary rights. Eph 1:13
   
4. Enduement
   Is the endowing word and proclaims His empowering ability. Luke 24:49
   
5. Earnest
   Is the assuring word and guarantees the coming glory, 2 Cor 5:5
   
6. Full
   Is the sufficient word and tells of His satisfying efficiency, Acts 6:5
   
7. Filled
   Is the overflowing word and represents His constant inflow and overflow in the life and service, Acts 2:4

”Filled in the spirit,” not “with,” is the most extensive word which is used of His ministry.

The preposition EN should read “in” and not “with.”

2 Sam 23:5, “An Everlasting Covenant, Ordered in All Things, and Sure”

According to the chronicler, in these words we have the last which the king spoke. It was the Psalm that he wrote and it is a wonderful song, in that it breathes the consciousness of his own failure and sets forth with confidence the Divine faithfulness.

In verses 1-4 he declares in most exquisite language, the true ideal of the kingship.
In verse 5 he recognizes that he has not retained the ideal but he declares that nevertheless God is faithful to His covenant.
In verses 6-7, in words which must have been full of fire, he announces what the fate of the wicked must surely be.

There is no doubt but that when the man of faith reaches the bound of life where burdens are laid down and looks back over the way he has come. He realizes that the covenant of God with him has not only been kept, ”but it has been ordered in all things and sure.”

In the Divine dealing with us, there is no mistake, no lapse. Nothing has been permitted which has not been made to serve the highest purpose.

This is so even of our failures, if, like David, we have acknowledged our sin.

“This” is a Very Distinctive Word in Scripture

Christ emphasized not only the words, but each letter. “Every jot and tittle,” which was the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, which is JOD, and it means hand, in His hand.

The word “this” in John’s first epistle, and noticing that the same word is translated “herein” and “hereby” if you will notice the associations, you will find it to be a gracious unfolding that is found in distinctive words.

Just notice the Doctrines you can learn from the word “this” here.

There Will be No Dancing Unless it is Absolutely Necessary!

”She despised him in her heart,” 2 Chr 15:29

This is a revealing word. The circumstances were those of the greatest joy of David. Michal, having no understanding of the reasons for that joy, despised her husband for his dancing, which gave expression to his joy.

The ark was brought at last into the city. This account of how this was done shows that David learned the lesson which the death of Uzziah was intended to teach. He declared that the work must be of the Levites only.

After careful preparation of the tent for its reception, the ceremony of bearing it to its resting place was carried out. A company of instrumentalists and singers were appointed and with high jubilation, the ark was borne by the priests into the prepared tent. David, full of holy gladness, accompanied the glad procession playing and dancing. Michal looked at him and despised him.

The incident illustrates the perpetual inability of the worldly minded to appreciate the gladness of the spiritually minded.

Most churches would not approve of playing and dancing and instruments.

Thursday, September 21, 2000

Eph 3:21, “Unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

His presence is marvelous in its display. All God’s acts of Grace to and in us are leading up to the display of His glory through us. Grace never acts with the intent of bringing glory to itself. Grace is its own glory.

There is no glory so glorious as Grace acting in its disinterestedness. The beauty of Grace is, it loves to beautify others to its own loss and displacement. But therein its beauty and glory are enhanced.

Dan!

Jacob in blessing his sons on his death-bed says when he comes to Dan, Gen 49:16-18, “Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path that biteth the horse’s heels, so that the rider shall fall backward. I have waited for thy salvation, O JEHOVAH.”

One of the greatest words in the sacred pages is salvation, from the simple fact God Himself is its center and circumference. Any salvation short of God Himself is no salvation at all.

Now this prophecy of Dan is wrapped up in the meaning of his name. “Dan” means judgment. He was predicted to be the judge of his people and that he would be treacherous in his dealings. Therefore, he is compared to a serpent and an adder which bites the heels of the horse and causes the rider to be thrown to his hurt.

Then the patriarch immediately exclaim, ”I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord,” as if he said, by Thy salvation I am saved from judgment and from the evil of the old serpent acting through Dan.

Rom 8:1, There is therefore no condemnation in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Salvation

“Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other Name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved,” Acts 4:12.

There is no word which is so large in its meaning, lofty in its conception, and lasting in its blessing as this word “salvation.”

As the New Jerusalem will have will have 12 foundations, so the city of God’s salvation has 12 foundations.

1. God in His Grace is its Author – Titus 2:11, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.”
   
2. The Cross in the vicariousness of its atonement is its basis – 1 Pet 1:9-11, “Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the Grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.”
   
3. Man in his need as a sinner is its object – Acts 13:26, “Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the Word of this salvation sent.”
   
4. Faith in its reception of Christ is its inception – Rom 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
   
5. Deliverance is the many-sidedness of its blessing in its meaning, therefore, the word “salvation” in the Old Testament is translated ”help” in 2 Sam 10:11; ”welfare” in Job 30:15; ”health” in Psa 42:11; and ”deliverance” in Psa 18:50.
   
6. God’s Word is the Witness of its promise in its assurance – 2 Tim 3:15, “And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
   
7. Joy in the secret of its gladness by obedience is its exultation – 1 Sam 2:1, “And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in Thy salvation.”
   
8. The Spirit in the Grace of His strength is its power – Phil 2:12-13, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”
   
9. Holiness of heart and life in their correspondence to Christ is its fruit – 2 Thess 2:13, “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth:”
   
10. Christ in the beauty of His character is its embodiment – Luke 19:10, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Isa 12:2, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation.”
    
11. Fellowship with the Lord in all the partnership of His love is its privilege – 2 Cor 1:5-7, “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.”
    
12. Glory in its likeness to Christ is its consummation – Heb 9:28, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

There maybe a sermon there, or a message.

Gen 15:6, “Abraham Believed in God; and He Counted it Unto Him For Righteousness.”

The word “believed” is rendered “nursed.” Isa 60:4, “Thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side,” referring to the Eastern custom of the mother carrying her child astride upon her hip and with her arms around the body.

What better picture could we have of the act and attitude of faith that the child resting on the mother’s hip and being supported by her?

Abram believed the Lord and JEHOVAH undertook all the responsibilities of His salvation and His need. Faith is the Grace that receives from the Lord what He has to offer and rests in the will of His Word. Faith depends upon the living God. It has no reliance upon itself. All the merit is in the Object, which is Christ.

Believed!

“Believed” is translated:
“Brought up” in Lam 4:5
”Sure” in Psa 93:5
”Verified” in Gen 42:20
”Established” in 2 Chr 1:8
”Faithful” in Num 12:7
”Stand fast” in Psa 89:28
”Assurance” in Deut 28:66
”Steadfast” in Psa 78:8
”Trust” in Job 4:18

Reading these words into the meaning and association of faith, we may say of the man of faith:
He is brought up by the Lord’s ministry
He is sure of the Lord’s love
He is verified in the Lord’s Truth
He is established in the Lord’s Grace
He is faithful in the Lord’s service
He stands fast in temptation for the Lord’s glory
He is assured by the Lord’s promises
He is steadfast in the Lord’s ways
He trusts in the Lord himself

Is that us???

How could the Ishmaelites be Midianites and the Midianites be Ishmaelites?

Gen 37:25-28, 36; Gen 39:1

Ishmael and Midian were born of the same father, but by different mothers.

Abraham was the father of both. (“My father is your father.”)
Hagar was the mother of Ishmael – Gen 16:11-12
And Keturah was the mother of Midian – Gen 25:2

They shared the same country and life. The only difference being the Ishmaelites by their nose or earrings. Judges 8:24, “I would desire a request from you that ye would give every man the earrings of his prey” because they had golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites. Gideon speaking.

Righteousness!

The word “righteousness” in Romans is used in seven different ways. And while its primary meaning means “to be right,” the context suggests the sense in which it is to be understood.

1. Personally. What God is or His acts consistent with His nature, hence that which is right. Rom 3:5, 9, 25
   
2. Righteousness of the law. Or, what God demands from man, Rom 10:5, 9:31
   
3. Righteousness displayed in the Gospel. That is, God’s Grace consistent with His character. Rom 1:17, 3:21-26, 5:17, 21, 8:10
   
4. The righteousness of God personified in Jesus Christ. That is He is all that God wishes and has fulfilled all He required. Rom 10:3-4
   
5. The righteousness of faith, or what God puts to our account when we believe in Christ. Namely, we are made the righteousness of God in Christ. Rom 4:3-22, 9:30 10:6, 10
   
6. The righteousness of the Spirit, or what He produces in the life of the believer. Rom 14:17
   
7. The righteousness of the believer or the practical outcome of union with Christ. Rom 6:13, 16, 18, 19, 20
   

Life!

“Alive unto God.” The Greek word rendered “alive” in Rom 6:11 is ZOA, and it is a primary verb. It means “to live.”

An interesting study is suggested by the use of the word as applied to the spiritual life, the Christian way of life, a supernatural way of life. It is a God-imparted and a Christ-secured life, for Christ came by way of the Cross that we, “might live through Him,” 1 John 4:9

It is a Christ-identified and a Christ-associated life for He says, “Because I live, ye shall live also,” John 14:19

It is a God-derived and Christ-sustained life as Christ declares, “As the living Father hath sent Me and I live because of the Father. So, he that eateth Me, even he shall live because of Me,” John 6:57

It is a self-displacing and a Christ-centered life, for all those who know Him cease to, “live unto themselves but unto Him,” 2 Cor 5:15

It is a Spirit-inscribed and a Spirit-indicted life, for believers are the epistles of the living God and He inscribes His character on their inner being, 2 Cor 3:3

It is a Christ-indwelt and a Christ-revealing life, for each indwelt believer recognizes what the apostle said, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me,” Gal 2:20

It is a brethren-considerate and a Lord-controlled life, hence believers “Who live unto the Lord” do not despise nor judge each other. Rom 14:7-9

It is a saint-helping and a missionary-loving life, for it ever hears the voice of the missionary plea.

”Now we live if ye stand fast in the Lord,” 1 Thes 3:8

It is a God-controlled and a God-goaled life, for “Being alive from the dead,” we recognize we are “alive unto God,” Rom 6:11, 13

Wednesday, September 20, 2000

New Testament Summary of the Ten Commandments

The first five of the Ten Commandments are our attitude about God and the second five are our attitude about each other.

New Testament Summary

1 John 3:23, “And this is His commandment that we believe on the Name of His Son Jesus Christ.” The first five, which are our attitude about God.

1 John 3:23, “And love one another as He gave us commandment.” The second five, which are our attitude about one another.

When God Gives a Command, He Also Gives Instructions How to Fulfill That Command

God told Moses to build a tabernacle. God also gave Moses a pattern to build it with.

The Holy Spirit, both in the Old and the New Testaments, emphasized the fact that a pattern was given to Moses by the Lord and that he did everything according to that plan.

Exodus 25:40, 26:30, 27:8, Lev 7:38, Num 8:4, Acts 7:44, Heb 8:51

God has a plan for your life. Here is the blueprint: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” “Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.”

The Heavenly Blueprint for Building the Tabernacle

As the Tabernacle was constructed according to God’s plan, so we see the Divine Architect’s hand in all the structure of God’s Word.

If we take the dimensions of the Tabernacle, we find the number five is stamped on all measurements.

Twenty sockets = 4 fives
Twenty pillars = 4 fives

South side is 100 cubits long = 20 x 5 = 100. The same on the north side.
West side is 50 cubits = 10 x 5 = 50 and ten pillars.
The height was 5 cubits, length and breadth repeated.
East side is 50 cubits = 10 x 5 = 50

The number five as used in Scripture is full of spiritual suggestion. Five as associated with the Lord is the number of Grace.

This is made known in the five sections of the Name of the Lord.

”His Name shall be called wonderful”
”Counsellor”
”Mighty God”
”Everlasting Father”
”Prince of Peace.”

Also - the five marks on His body.

One of the Words for “God” in the Old Testament is EL

It occurs about 250 times. It denotes God as the Strong One, the First and Only Cause of things.

Being in the singular it emphasizes the essence of the Godhead. The attributes of God are generally associated with this title. Hence,

As to His duration, He is the “everlasting God.”
Gen 21:33, “And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.”

As to His power, He is the “Almighty God.”
Gen 17:1, “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect.”

As to His exclusiveness, He is the one “jealous God.”
Ex 20:5, “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me;”

As to His holiness, He is “a consuming Fire.”
Deut 4:24, “For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.”

As to His pity, He is a “merciful God.”
Deut 4:31, “(For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He sware unto them.”

As to His fidelity, He is a “faithful God.”
Deut 7:9, “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations;”

As to His vitality, He is the “living God.”
Joshua 3:10, “And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.”

As to His greatness, He is the “terrible God.”
Neh 1:5, “And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of Heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love Him and observe His commandments:”

As to His compassion, He is “the Gracious God.”
Jonah 4:2, “And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that Thou art a Gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.”

This is God as the EL.

One of the Names for God Which Hardly is Ever Taught is the Name “ELAH,” Which is Chaldee

ELAH is corresponding to Eloah in the Chaldee language. It occurs 90 times, 43 times in the Book of Ezra, 46 times in Daniel, and once in Jeremiah 10:10.

”The living and the true God” is identified with His people in captivity.

The first occurrence of ELAH is in Ezra 4:24, where attention is called to the fact that the work of rebuilding ”the house of ELAH” was made to cease, and called forth the ministry of Haggai and Zechariah for we read, ”Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of ELAH of Israel even unto them.”

And the effect was “Then arose up Zerubbabel and began to build the house of ELAHAH.” “Ah” is emphatic. With them were the prophets of ELAHAH helping them. The authorities tried to make them cease working, but “the eye of ELAHAH was upon the elders of the Jews” and they were conscious of His presence and His help.

Here is your introduction to “ELAH,” but the next one following will blow your mind.

“Elah Part Two – One of the Names for God!

The most interesting verse in which the name of “ELAH” occurs is in Dan 6:23, “He believed in His ELAH.” The book of Daniel strikingly illustrates “Faith in God as ELAH” in connection with Daniel and the three Hebrews.

1. The worship of ELAH.
   ”Daniel blessed ELAH,” Dan 2:19
   
2. The unconcern of faith.
   ”Our ELAH is able, but if not,” Dan 3:17-18
   
3. The companion of faith.
   ”Four....forth like the son of ELAH,” Dan 3:25
   
4. The prayer of faith.
   ”Daniel... Prayed...before ELAH,” Dan 6:10
   
5. The finding of faith.
   ”Found Daniel praying ... before ELAH,” Dan 6:11
   
6. T
   ”My ELAH has shut the lion’s mouths,” Dan 6:22
   
7. The honour of faith.
   ”The ELAH of Daniel,” Dan 6:26-28

The history and use of this title of God is most instructive. Earthly mandates, fiery furnaces, scheming courtiers, persecuting men. And lion’s dens cannot deter God’s servants, to whom He is the Living One.

The cause goes ever on, when it is the cause of the Lord.

P.S. Be honest. You didn’t see this when you read your translation. You didn’t know that Daniel prayed to ELAH.

What Does the “Name of the Lord” Remind You of ?

The Name of JEHOVAH reminds us of His immutability! He says to you, “I am JEHOVAH.” Then He explains what He means. “I change not.” Then He gives the application. “Therefore the sons of Jacob are not consumed,” Mal 3:6. Being what He is He cannot do other than He does.

How often in the Psalms do we find the Holy Spirit playing upon the words, “JEHOVAH is” as coupled with the believer’s faith.

He is the Rock upon which we rest.
”JEHOVAH is my Rock,” Psa 18:2

He is the Defense in which we can hide.
”JEHOVAH is my Defense,” Psa 94:22

He is the Garrison by which we are preserved.
”JEHOVAH is my Keeper,” Psa 121:5

He is the Shield behind which we are protected.
”JEHOVAH is my Shield,” Psa 28:7

He is the Deliverance by which we are saved.
”JEHOVAH is my Light and Salvation,” Psa 27:1

He is the Shade by which we are refreshed.
”JEHOVAH is thy Shade,” Psa 121:5

JEHOVAH is the Pastor to shepherd.
”JEHOVAH is my Shepherd,” Psa 23:1

Since the Lord is What He Is

Then in response we may well come to the conclusion of faith as expressed in Psalm 37.

”Trust in JEHOVAH,” verse 3, for He supplies all needs.
”Delight in JEHOVAH,” verse 4, for He fulfils all desires.
”Commit unto JEHOVAH,” verse 5, for He accomplishes all things.
”Rest in JEHOVAH,” verse 7, for He looks after all His saints.
”Wait upon JEHOVAH,” verse 9, for He bestows all blessings.
”Look to JEHOVAH,” verse 34, for He rewards all waiters.
”Trust in JEHOVAH,” verse 40, for faith sees all Grace.

The relative titles found in connection with the name of JEHOVAH proclaim the manifold service of His Grace.
I like the one where He rewards all waiters ... waitresses, too!

What Man Does and What God Does

The Work of Man and the Work of God

“Man changes the glory of the incorruptible God into man-made images of their own creation and causes them to walk in all unholy and unnatural living,” Rom 1:23-32.

The Holy Spirit can change the mind of thought so that we are “transformed” into the likeness of Christ, even as He was transformed in His body.

See the words:
“Transfigured” in Matt 17:2
”Transformed” in Rom 12:2
and “Changed” in 2 Cor 3:18.
These words are all one and the same in the original language.

The Holy Spirit can cause to come forth from Himself the Graces of His holiness, the Spirit of Grace.

Do you want the changes that man makes or do you want the changes that the Lord makes? Choose this day …

“THEOPNEUSTOS”

THEOS means God
PNEO means to breathe

2 Tim 3:16, “inspiration” is literally “God breathed.”

God breathed in His life that He may breathe out His blessings to others. Through His in-breathing life and His indwelling presence He out-breathes what He asks us to do.

All the Holy Spirit can breathe into us and out-breathe from us is by means of the Word of God, which is said to be “God-breathed.”
”For all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” 2 Tim 3:16. The word “inspired by God” is literally “God breathed.”

The Scriptures are the breath of God. Therefore, if we would in-breathe God, we can only do so by breathing in the Word of God.

We do well, therefore, to in-breathe the Word of God, for it is not only God-breathed, but “God breathing.” And as we do so, we shall become like it.

This is why Jesus Christ said, “Man cannot live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matt 4:4, Luke 4:4. That is why Christ “has magnified His Word above His Name,” Psa 138:2.

Greek Grace Gem!

“SOMATIKOS” occurs in two places in the New Testament and in each case, the Word is applied to a body. In referring to the exercise of the body, the apostle has said, “Bodily exercise profiteth little,” 1 Tim 4:8.

And in calling attention to the corporate of Christ being the treasury of Deity we read, “In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” Col 2:9.

Now, when it comes to the personality of God the Holy Spirit, each of the evangelists records that the Holy Spirit was seen in “organic form.” When John saw the Holy Spirit descending upon Christ, he beheld Him as a dove. That is it was no vapory, shadowy, apparition as emphasized by Luke, for he says, ”The Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape,” Luke 3:22. The same word as used before in bodily exercise and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We cannot be too emphatic, or emphasize too often the personality of God the Holy Spirit. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so the Father and the Son are not without Him. For God is a Spirit. All that the Father is, all the Son is, is because the Spirit is.

The Personal Pronouns Used for God the Holy Spirit Not Only Emphasize His Personality, but also What He and the Lord Jesus Christ Promise

Personal pronouns found in John 14 and John 16:

These personal pronouns tell us plenty of the personality of the Holy Spirit, especially when we remember their connection and association.

He was to take the place of Christ – “another Comforter.”

The Great Lifting Power of God the Holy Spirit

There is no more manifest fact in the Book of Acts than the great lifting power of God the Holy Spirit. He lifted the early disciples from the low level of creature sufficiency on to the high level of Christ-like actions. And in all He did, His personality is brought out in a personal way. He dealt with individuals.

He who lifted them in the time of their need, is able and willing to lift us in the need of our time.

“He Gave Gifts Unto Men,” Eph 4:7, 8, 11

Grace is the source of the Divine provision. God’s giving is based upon His love to give. Such expressions illustrate as: ”Given Grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.”

“He gave gifts unto men.” “He gave,” verses 7, 8, 11

Verse 6 is the keynote of Grace’s action.
”Father of all” – for all come from Him.
”Above all” – for He alone is in the place of authority.
”Through all” – for He alone is the life of all.
”And in all” – for He alone can sanctify and qualify for all things in life and labor.

“The One Spirit”

The Holy Spirit is spoken of in His sovereignty as “the one Spirit.”

Eph 1:6, “Accepted in the Beloved …”

Means to be the object of God’s favor. The Greek word is CHARITOO and it comes from CHARIS, to be gracious. Therefore, its meaning is to Grace, namely to endue with honor and to highly favor.

The word CHARITOO only occurs in one other place and that is in Luke 1:28, “The angel said to Mary, ‘Thou art highly favored',” or “much Graced.”

The word CHARIS, Grace, occurs 12 times in Ephesians. When you read the word in the light of God’s gracious act in making us accepted, then the word becomes like a beautiful necklace which adorns the wearer.

The salutation of Grace blesses us – Eph 1:2
The glory of Grace adorns us – Eph 1:6
The riches of Grace endow us – Eph 1:7
The power of Grace saves us – Eph 2:5, 8
The exceeding riches of His Grace elevate us – Eph 2:7
The dispensation of His Grace enlightens us – Eph 3:2
The gift of Grace qualifies us – Eph 3:7
The call of Grace sends us – Eph 3:8
The Christ of Grace places us – Eph 4:7
The holiness of Grace separates us – Eph 4:29
The benediction of Grace companions us – Eph 6:24

That is how God made us acceptable in the Beloved.

Growth is the Outcome of the Divine Provision

The expressions

“Walk worthy,” Eph 4:1
”Perfect man,” verse 13
”No more children,” verse 14
”Grow up,” verse 15
”Maketh increase,” verse 16

indicate progress, advancement, and care.

”To walk worthy of the Lord in the lowliness of humility” is the evenness of meekness in the “longsuffering of endurance” and in the love of “forbearance,” we need the worthy Lord Himself.

To walk well for the Lord we need the Lord to walk in us. “The perfect man” of God’s ideal is consummated in the ideal of His Son.

The baby state of spiritual experience is characteristic of instability and inefficiency. While the man of Grace is known by the Spirit’s efficiency and steadiness.

Tuesday, September 19, 2000

How God’s Love and Grace Blesses and Solves the Mid-East Crisis

Seven Blessings He Will Give!

1. Life from the Lord
   Ezek 37:5, “Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live.”
   
2. Cleansing from the Lord
   Ezek 36:25, “Then shall I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from your filthiness and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.”
   
3. Love from the Lord
   Ezek 36:26, “A new heart will I also give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh.”
   
4. Sanctification from the Lord
   Ezek 36:23, “And I will sanctify My great Name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.”
   
5. Identified with the Lord
   Ezek 36:28, “And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and ye shall be my people and I will be your God.”
   
6. Power from the Lord
   Ezek 36:27, “And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.”
   
7. Supplied through the Lord
   Ezek 36:29, “I will also save you from your uncleanness. And I will call for the corn and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.”

What a beautiful picture of God’s love and Grace solving the Mid-East crisis.

”I will call the corn and increase it” — Goodbye mother nature.

Are You Not Sick of Hearing About “Mother Nature?”

Mother Nature doing this and Mother Nature doing that. Nature does not have a mother. God does not have a mother.

The word “nature” when it appears in Scripture means “germination.” Who is the Cause of germination??
Ezek 36:29, “I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.” “I will call for the corn” … like He called for Lazarus to come forth.

Who is the Lord of the harvest? Well, your Saviour-Creator-Sustainer!

A Part of God’s Plan is to Make One King Over All Israel!

There are two great trunk lines of prophecy in God’s prophetic Word. One associated with Abraham and the “land” and the other connected with David and the “throne.”

We find David and the throne mentioned in 2 Sam 7:4-29. There is the covenant that the Lord made with David that had to do with great David’s greater Son and not merely with Solomon. Solomon’s throne has crumbled to the dust and his sons waned under the clouds of disgrace.

But, the future dynasty, “shall move no more.” “The throne of His kingdom shall be forever.” “The mercy of JEHOVAH shall not depart from Him” and it shall be established. Ezekiel focuses on the same covenant with David when the Lord through him declares,

Ezek 37:24-25, “David, My servant, shall be king over them. And they shall have one Shepherd. They shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob, My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children and their children’s children and My servant David shall be their prince forever.”

When that comes to pass, then will be fulfilled the prediction which was given to Mary relating to David’s Lord, Christ,
”He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David. And He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of His kingdom there shall be no end,” Luke 1:32-33

Mary said that. Someone ought to tell the pope!

“The King of the Jews”

When the King Reigns – The King of Kings – Over Israel

They will not want to say as the Jews said to Pilate, when they wanted to reverse the inscription on the Cross, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

”Write not, The King of the Jews,” but that He said “I am the King of the Jews,” for then they will exclaim.

”O clap your hands, all ye people, shout unto God with the shout of triumph. For the Lord Most High is terrible. He is a Great King over all the Earth. He shall subdue the people under us and the nations under our feet. He shall choose our inheritance for us the excellency of Jacob, whom He loved,” Selah.

”God is gone up with a shout, JEHOVAH with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the Earth: sing ye praises with understanding. God reigneth over all the nations: God sitteth on the throne of His holiness. The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham, for the shields of the Earth belong unto God. He is greatly exalted." Psa 47:5-9

Enough said. Notice Christ went up with a shout and He will come back with a shout. He is consistent. The shout of victory.

The King went up and the King O Kings will come down.

What goes up must come down.

The Lord’s Plan is to Make Israel a Medium of Blessing to the World

A pamphlet on Zionism, issued by the authorities of the movement, affirms in speaking of the “mission of Israel” was “not in his developing his own full national life on the ancient soil, but in his being scattered among the peoples, there to teach the unity
of God and His demands for a righteous life.”

This quotation recognizes that the nation will have a mission in being a blessing to others.

The same pamphlet affirms, “The Jewish people have a spiritual history, as well as a material history, and they hope, therefore, for a spiritual future as well as for mere existence as a separate unit.”

And this is according to the first promise given to Abraham which was, “In Thee shall all the nations of the Earth be blessed,” Gen 12:3

Apart from many passages of Scripture in the Old Testament, Ezek 34:26, 39:21, Zeph 3:19, 20, we have God the Holy Spirit’s utterance through the apostle Paul when he says, ”For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?” Rom 1:15

Israel’s rejection for the time being has allowed Gentiles, who have no covenant of promise, to come in. But when the Lord’s purpose is completed in relation to His Church, then Israel will be blessed again, and their blessing will mean salvation to the world, as it once was.

Dispensations

Most people are confused about the dispensation of Israel and the dispensation of the Church. God never has both of His missionaries, the nation Israel and the Church, on the Earth at the same time.

If you think of the purpose and plan of God as a railway track, there are two trains on the track: The Jewish train, with the star of David on the front – and the Church train with the star of David over the Cross.

The Jewish train was shunted on to a siding to let the express train of the Church pass through. It was pulled off on the side to get some water – the water of the Word. And when it was passed, the Jewish train would come on to the main track again.

That is another way of saying what the apostle declared when he said the Lord would bring in Israel again, after the Church was completed.

”All Israel shall be saved.”

“Hath Quickened”

Eph 2:5, “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by Grace ye are saved.”

The Divine power that raised Christ from the dead is the same which operates in our “so great salvation,” for no other power can meet the case.

Chapter two of Ephesians opens up with the significant words, “and you.” If the italicized words are left out, “hath He quickened,” it will give clearness to the thought that as the dead body of Christ was quickened by the powerful act of God. So, the same power is needed to quicken from the death of sin.

What the Lord has wrought for us is brought out in chapter two. If only we ponder “what we were,” “and what we are.”

There is an early Christmas message. Every day is Christmas. Keep the tree up!

Monday, September 18, 2000

God’s Love for the Mid-East

The past, the present, and the future of the Mid-East!

The Jewish plan, as stated in Scripture, will surely be carried through, for the Lord has assured His people, by His own immutability, He will do it.

The Lord referred to the past scattering of the nation, for did He not predict through Jeremiah what He would do? And has He not done it? His word was, “They shall know that I am JEHOVAH when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.” And He affirmed “The Word that I speak shall come to pass” and “the Word which I have spoken shall be done,” Ezek 12:15, 25, 28

The Word of the future shall equally be fulfilled and the nations have to acknowledge the Truth of His prophetic Word, for the Lord says, ”Then the nations shall know that I, JEHOVAH, will build the ruined places and plant that that was desolate, I, JEHOVAH, hath spoken it, and I will do it,” Ezek 36:36

There is a Jewish legend which represents two venerable rabbis musing among the ruins of Jerusalem after its destruction. One laments as he views the situation, “Alas! Alas! This is the end of all. Our beautiful city is no more. The holy temple is laid waste. And our brethren are driven away.”

The other is animated with hope, and has a bright outlook, and replies cheerfully, ”True, but let us learn from the verities of God’s judgments, the certainty of His mercies. He hath said “I will destroy,” and we have seen He has done it. But He has also said, “I will rebuild Jerusalem” and shall we not believe Him?

Seven times in the book of Deuteronomy He declared His love for Israel, which may be taken in a predictive sense.

Next email will show the seven ways in which God loves Israel.

”Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated.”

Love Will Solve the Mid-East Crisis!

Not peace treaties. Not armed combat. And not the dividing of the land – but love

1. The love of God in his sovereign choice.
   ”Because He loved thy fathers, therefore He chose their seed,” Deut 4:37
   

2. The Lord’s love is selective in its object.
   ”The Lord did not set His love upon thee nor choose thee because you were more in numbers than any people, for you were the fewest of all people,” Deut 7:7
   

3. The Lord’s love is sacred in its remembrance.
   ”Because the Lord loved and because He would keep His oath, which He had sworn by your fathers,” Deut 7:8
   

4. The Lord’s love is sanctified in the outcome.
   ”The Lord had a delight in the fathers to love them, circumcise therefore the foreskin of their hearts,” Deut 10:15-16
   

5. The Lord’s love is supplying in its bestowment.
   “He loveth the stranger,” Deut 10:18
   This is found in His love for Israel, therefore they are to do the same. This again is in keeping with His love for the nation because of Gen 12:1-3, “I will bless thee and in thee shall all the families of the Earth be blessed.”
   

6. The Lord’s love is strong in its determination.
   Balaam’s curse was overturned into a blessing because Deut 23:5, “Because the Lord thy God loveth thee.”
   

7. The Lord’s love is singular in its benediction.
   ”Yea, He loveth the people.”

This statement is the crystal sentence in the midst of a cluster of blessings. Israel is the object lesson which commands our attention, stirs our love, animates our faith, and feeds our devotion.

Seven ways in which love solves the Mid-East crisis!

Sunday, September 17, 2000

One of the Many Titles for God the Holy Spirit is “The Spirit of Christ”

1. He is the Spirit of Christ because He rested on Him, Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”
   
2. He is the Spirit of Christ because He testified of Him, 1 Pet 1:21, “Who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.”
   
3. He is the Spirit of Christ because He unites to Him, 1 Cor 12:12-13, “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”
   
4. He is the Spirit of Christ because He is given by Him, John 1:33, “And I knew him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon Whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Spirit.”
   
5. He is the Spirit of Christ because He acts for Him, John 14:16, “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever.”
   
6. He is the Spirit of Christ because He will gather us to be with Him, Rom 8:11, “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
   
7. He is the Spirit of Christ because He makes us like Him, 2 Cor 3:18, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Especially in the latter sense, He communicates Himself to us and in so doing communicates Christ and makes all He did and with not only facts to be believed, but living factors to form our life, Eph 3:16-17, “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love.”

The Gospel!

The Gospel reveals not only Christ acting as our Substitute, but of Him becoming so one with us in our sin, that He speaks of our sin as His own. And therefore in Him we have answered for it.

In Psalm 38, which is a Messianic Psalm, we hear Christ speaking of:

”My sin” in verse 18, “For I will declare Mine iniquity; I will be sorry for My sin.”
”My salvation” in verse 22, “Make haste to help me, O Lord My salvation.”
”My iniquity” in verse 18, “For I will declare Mine iniquity; I will be sorry for My sin.”
”My wounds” in verse 5, “My wounds stink and are corrupt because of My foolishness.”
”My sore” in verse 11, “My lovers and My friends stand aloof from My sore; and My kinsmen stand afar off.”
”My sorrow” in verse 17, “For I am ready to halt, and My sorrow is continually before Me.”
”My enemies” in verse 19, “But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.”

Identified with us in our sin.

When Christ Became a Man!

He was born in a manger
He was thirsty and asked for a drink
He was dependent upon others for His needs to be met
He taught from a borrowed boat
He slept in a tired body
He was buried in a borrowed tomb

And the only place He had to lay His head was upon the Cross.

The word for “lay,” which occurs in the sentence, “He had no where to lay His head” is the same word as rendered “bowed” in referring to the fact that on the Cross “He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit.”

How true it was. He emptied Himself of His glory that He might go on to the gore of the Cross.

Christ on the Cross

Christ in His sufferings on the Cross exclaimed in prophecy

Psa 42:7, “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy waterspouts. All Thy waves and Thy billows have gone over me.”

Jonah in the sea monster quotes this Psalm when he exclaimed, “the flood compassed me about. All Thy waves and billows passed over me,” Jonah 2:3

Christ affirms Jonah’s incarceration was a type of His death and resurrection, therefore, we are warranted in applying the Words of the psalmist to Him.

Love was whirled in the rapids and whirlpool of Calvary.

I Lay Down My Life!

Christ deliberately and of His own choice laid down His life for us. His declaration in John 10, about his life was, ”The Good Shepherd layeth down His life.”

”I lay it down of Myself. No man taketh it from Me.”
”I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.”

His death was not an accident. His star of destiny was His death on the Cross.

”The deep called unto deep” on Calvary.

”The deep” of man’s sin and Christ’s answer to it.

”The deep” of God’s purpose.

”The deep” of Christ’s fulfillment of it.

”The deep” of God’s justice.

”The deep” of God’s mercy.

”The deep” of God’s righteous requirement.

”The deep” of Christ’s satisfaction in matching it.

”The deep” of God’s being of light called to the depths of His love in mutual action.

The World’s Sins

A man said, “If I were God, the sorrows of the world would break my heart.”

The sorrows of the world did not break the heart of God. Physically the heart of Christ was not broken, but spiritually His spirit was anguished in death.

And yet He opened not His mouth until salvation was accomplished.
”It is finished.”

Saturday, September 16, 2000

“How”

Lam 4:1, “How is the gold become dim?”

This fourth song commences with the exclamatory “how” the prophet has been meditating, considering, pondering. He was about to give expression to the things that occupied his mind.

The first word of the message of interpretation is one which means that the facts defy expression “how” this one sentence tells the whole story.

”The gold has become dim” and that which follows expresses the same fact in slightly varying forms.
”The most precious gold is changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the top of every street.”

And when you follow the prophet, the next statement interprets the figure.
”The precious stones of Zion, of fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!”

That is the appalling spectacle compelling the introduction “how” this was the vision of a man who saw the facts in true perspective and proportion. The tragedy of Israel broken down and desolation was created by the glory of the Divine purpose for that nation among the nations of men.

”Gold the most pure gold, fine gold.” These were the words and phrases fittingly expressing the glory of the Divine thought and purpose for that nation among the nations of men. But the gold had become dim. The most pure gold was changed. The fine gold had become common earth.

This is the deepest note of calamity whenever the people of God break down in loyalty and so are broken down in necessary judgment.
The failure to fulfill an appointed function in the Divine plan is a more terrible thing than personal shortcomings and personal sufferings.

The believers in the Church Age are also called “precious stones.”

Famine!

One of the Worst Verses in the Bible!

Amos 8:11, ”I will send a famine of hearing the Words of the Lord.”

After the encounter with Amaziah, Amos proclaimed the fact that judgment was nigh at hand. So he described the vision of a ”basket of summer fruit.”

The figure reveals the ripeness of the hour, as to the fullness of Israel’s sin, as to the harvest of Divine wrath. In an impassioned address he denounced the money makers for their greed and cruelty and described the terror of the Divine judgment.

Then in one of the most striking passages in prophetic literature he describes the curse which follows courses of willful wickedness, such as the nation has been guilty of.

They would experience a famine, not let it be observed of the Words of the Lord but of “hearing the Words of the Lord.” The condition described is that of being deaf to the Word of God, not able to hear them. It is the death of spiritual sensibility.

It is not a case of God withholding His revelation, but of people being in such a state that they do not see it – do not hear the words.

When this is so, the soul does not cease to need what the Word only can supply and so men hunt for it and search for it. But to no avail. The issue is that of the failing of strength, even in the strongest. ”The fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst.”

Here we have an explanation of the feverishness and the restlessness of human life. Men wander and travel and seek for any and every new sensation, to satisfy the craving of their deepest life.

But all to no purpose only the Word of the Lord can meet the need. And when there is a famine of hearing the Word of God, the end is destruction.

Where are we as a nation in light of this principle???

Obadiah 21!

”The Kingdom Shall be the Lord’s”

That has ever been the ultimate hope of the men of faith. The prophets of God have always insisted upon his present and active sovereignty but they have also declared with perfect unanimity that the day will come when that sovereignty will have its perfect victory in the subjugation of all things to Himself in the minds and souls and the will of all men.

That victory is not yet. Men are in His kingdom but not willingly. And they know nothing of the peace and the joy which are His will for them. They fight against His righteousness and so fail to find peace. Righteousness always precedes peace. You can’t have peace without righteousness. Righteousness is a handmaiden of peace.

They fail to find peace and joy because righteousness fights against them. When in the final order, righteousness is the condition of human life, peace and joy will inevitably follow.

”Thy kingdom come.” Faith is the assurance that this prayer will be answered.

These final words of Obadiah’s prophecy are the more remarkable seeing that the burden of his message was that of the doom of Edom, the people who had persistently opposed Israel and practiced cruelty towards her.

For this sin, God would bring her down from her high and proud place and utterly despoil her. And Israel shall be given possession of her rightful inheritance. Having uttered this message the prophecy rose to a greater height.

And saw the outworking of the Divine sovereignty bringing deliverance even to Edom. That remains the hope for the world and it is the one sufficient secret of confidence in all the days of darkness and travail which lead to the victory.

Even so come!

Confession of Sin!

Micah 7:9, “I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him.” These words occur in a section of the controversy in which the nation personified is speaking. Micah 7:1-10 It is the language of the nation realizing the truth concerning itself both as to its experience of suffering and its purpose in the Divine plan.

It is a speech in which confession of sin and of punishment merge into hope and confidence in the redemptive victory of God. The same principle is found in:
1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

This is the language of genuine confession. The indignation of the Lord is recognized as being just. It is also confessed as beneficent. Through it the sufferer sees the light breaking and the righteousness of God becoming manifest.

Herein is discovered the difference between remorse and confession. In remorse, a man is sorry for himself and he mourns over his sin because it has brought suffering to him. In confession, he is grieved over by the wrong that sin has done to God. “Godly sorrow worketh repentance” – a change of mind. So, he yields to his personal suffering in the confidence that by it God is setting him free from his sin. This is a vital distinction.

Heb 12:11, “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby.”

David said, “I acknowledge my sin to Thee.” “He restoreth my soul.”

O Holy Ghost!

You always hear people say, O Holy Ghost. Well, God is not a ghost, and there is no word in Scripture for ghost. He is the Holy Spirit, “PNEUMA,” not ghost.

Furthermore, we don’t pray to the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us and prays to the Father and Jesus Christ prays to the Father. But no. People keep on saying, and praying, O Holy Ghost and O sweet Jesus.

The interesting thing is that there are many titles for God the Holy Spirit that are never mentioned and should be mentioned because they have a great deal of significance and application.

”He is called the Spirit of Truth,” John 14:17, John 16:13, 1 John 5:7
He is the Spirit of Truth in His Word and His veracity. He is the Author of Truth. He is its Essence and He is also its Communicator.

”He is called the Spirit of Life,” Rom 8:2
He is the Spirit of Life in His operation of His vitality. He is the source of life in Christ. He is the strength of life in Himself. He is the sustainer of life by His Word and He is the goal of life in Christ.

”He is called the Spirit of Grace,” Heb 10:29
He is the Spirit of Grace in the pleading of His ministry. He acts in Grace, to communicate Grace, to place in the sphere of Grace, and to make us to correspond to Grace.

”He is the Spirit of Love,” 2 Tim 1:7
He is the Spirit of Love in the glow of His intensity. He unfolds the God of Love. And sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts. All the fruit of the Spirit is love in a nine-fold character.

”He is the Spirit of Wisdom,” Eph 1:17
He is the Spirit of Wisdom in the revealing of His mystery. He is the Initiator into the full knowledge of God Himself. To know Him is eternal life, eternal love, eternal peace, and eternal satisfaction.

He is also called the Spirit of Holiness. The Spirit of a sound mind. The Spirit of adoption. The Spirit of burning. The Spirit of prophecy. The one Spirit. The Spirit of understanding. The Spirit of counsel and might. The Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. The good spirit. Thy free Spirit. The Spirit of Grace and supplication, the Spirit of living creatures. The Comforter, the Promise of the Father, etc. And there are verses for all of them.

How come we never hear these names taught about God the Holy Spirit?

The Lake of God’s Love and Grace is Deeper Than Man’s Sin

The prodigal had a glimmer of this when he said, “How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare?” At least he did not get “the enough.” He got was found in the “to spare.” What a poor conception he had of the father’s bounty.

When God gives, He does not give us a crust. He gives us the bread of life – the Lord Jesus Christ.

What wonderful contrast Christ reveals of the lake of God’s love and Grace in the parable of the Prodigal Son.

Where sin abounded, Grace did much more abound.

The Prodigal Son – A Believer Out of Fellowship

Out of fellowship – not controlled by God the Holy Spirit, but controlled by the old sin nature and the results.

All the decisions he made out of fellowship:

1. Self-will – demanded his portion of the goods
2. Self-destination – he went into a far country
3. Self-waste – wasted his substance in riotous living
4. Self-folly – he spent all
5. Self-destitution – began to be in want
6. Self-associations – joined himself to a citizen of that country
7. Self-servitude – was sent into a field to feed the swine
8. Self-longing – fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine ate
9. Self-collapse – I perish!
10. Self-misery – found no one to help him – “No man gave unto him.”
11. Self-condemnation – confessed that he was unworthy and content with the place of a hired servant
12. Self-confession – “I have sinned.”

The only decision that he made that was worth anything was the last one. He confessed his sin and was restored back into fellowship.

He was dead, spiritually, and now he is alive, spiritually.

The Prodigal was a son. Once a son, always a son – even though he’s out of it.

Christ – The Fulfillment of all Scripture!

Christ Himself reminded the two disciples as He journeyed to Emmaus, his sufferings
and glory are the two river beds on which the stream of Truth flow.

A composite picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament!

In Our Lord’s Teachings, He Continually Used Similes

Again and again He said, “The kingdom of Heaven is like…” this and that. See the eight parables in Matt 13. A simile is one thing said to be like to another.

1. Sinners in their stupidity and straying are said to be “like sheep going astray,” Isa 53:6. Straying sinners get away from God because of the strain and willfulness in their hearts.
2. The Saviour, in His submission in giving Himself over to die for our sin, is “brought like as a lamb to the slaughter” and “like a sheep before his shearers is dumb,” Isa 53:7.
3. The Lord’s love for His people is “like a father who pitieth his children,” Psa 103:13. His love is true, tender, providing, constant, and eternal.
4. The Lord’s care and discipline is “as an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth in her wings,” Deut 32:11.
   What an appropriate and beautiful simile of the Lord’s tender service.
5. The Lord’s ministry and mindfulness is like a shepherd for his sheep, “for He shall feed His flock like a shepherd,” Isa 40:11. He tends His own tenderly, watchfully, constantly, and well.
6. The Lord’s ability to secure His saints is happily expressed in David’ testimony when he says “He maketh my feet like hinds feet,” 2 Sam 22:34. When we trust Him, He makes our goings secure as we tread the difficult places in life.
7. The psalmist uses the word “like” in expressing his loneliness, sadness, and trial.
   ”My days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned like an hearth. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert; like a sparrow alone; a shadow that declineth and I am withered like grass,” Psa 102:1-11.
   Could a more mournful dirge be composed?

Christ teaching similes.

Repetition is Theological Glue!

Three times Christ uses the sentence, “Ye cannot be My disciples,” Luke 14:26, 27, 31 in laying down the conditions of discipleship.

Three times Christ reminded the Jews of the consequence of their unbelief, namely,

”They would die in their sins” and
”Whither I go, ye cannot come,” John 8:21-24

And three times Christ asked Peter the question,
”Lovest thou Me?” John 21:15-17

Repetition is theological glue.

Friday, September 15, 2000

The Offerer of the Sin Offering!

There are three principles associated with the offerer of the sin offering namely:
presentation ... identification ... substitution

1. Presentation
The offerer had to bring, or to offer, his offering unto the door of the tabernacle (Lev 4:4 , 14, 23, 28, 32) evidently for examination to see that it was “without blemish.”

Typical of Christ in His personal worth being fit to undertake the propitiatory work. His “obedience unto death” is the Spirit’s summary of His work and worth. Phil 2:8

2. Identification
The offerer had to “lay” his hand upon the head of the offering (Lev 4:4, 15, 24, 29, 33) as identifying himself with it. The word “lay” means “to lean upon” and it is rendered “lieth hard” in Psa 88:7, “stayed” in Isa 26:3, and “sustained” in Gen 27:37.

Typical of Christ identifying Himself with His people in that He stood with them in their guilt and speaks of their sins as “My sins” in Psa 69:5

3. Substitution
The offering had to be killed by the offerer (Lev 4:4, 15, 24, 29, 33) – the life’s blood had to be shed.

Typical of Christ who, as He said, “poured out” His blood for the many for the remission of their sins. Matt 26:28, Luke 22:20

Christ’s substitutionary work is the basis of salvation, the Procurer of blessing, the Spring of service, the Igniter of love, the Soul of faith, the Glory of Heaven, the Overcomer of hell, the Supplier of need, and the Song of the saint.

Our so great salvation, Saviour!

Atonement!

Seven times over in Lev 4 and 5, in connection the sin offering, we are told it was “to make an atonement concerning sin,” Lev 4:20, 26, 31, 35, Lev 5:6, 10, 13

The meaning of atonement is “to cover” – to put a propitiatory covering over him because of his sin.

Atonements speaks of Christ giving to God on our behalf a perfect sacrifice and by that perfect sacrifice we and our offences are hidden from view.

Godward, the atonement of Christ is a work done for us, by means of which blessing comes to us.

Underlying all these offerings there is the conception that the persons offering are covered by that which is required as a sufficient and satisfactory to the Lord.

The Blessing of the Offering!

The blessing which comes to the offerer is simply expressed in the sentence:

”It shall be forgiven.” Lev 4:20, 26, 31, 35, Lev 5:10, 13

But, how intimately the atonement and the blessing are associated may be gathered from the meaning of the word “to forgive.” The atoning lies behind the “forgiving.” It is the very soul of forgiveness. God’s forgiveness is sure. For “there is forgiveness with Thee,” Psa 130:4

It is complete for ”He forgiveth all our iniquities,” Psa 103:3

And, it is waiting for all who will have it for He is “ready to forgive,” Psa 86:5

The Practical Application of the Death of Christ to our Daily Lives

Romans chapter Six

1. We have quit sin’s service as a master, its influence is destroyed as a power. Verse 6
2. We are freed from its claim as a penalty. Verse 7
3. We are unresponsive to its suggestions so that we do not yield to its voice. Verse 12
4. We rejoice in the “shall not” of the Lord’s deliverance from its dominion. Verse 14
5. We are separated from sin’s pollution as we reckon we are dead to its sway. Verse 11
6. And we no longer partake of its rations. The word “wages” means rations. And is rendered, “charges” in 1 Cor 9:7 in speaking of a soldier’s rations of allowance.
7. And we have our fruit unto holiness. Verse 23

The Cross that frees us from condemnation cuts off all sin’s associations with
the world, Gal 1:3
he flesh, Gal 5:24
the devil, 1 John 3:8
and self, Gal 2:20

The Reason for the Trespass Offering!

The reason was because of the trespass in two directions. Trespass towards God in holy things, and trespass against others in personal things. Trespass against the Lord in holy things is a solemn subject. Here are some cases in point.

1. The adoption of one’s own methods in God’s service, as in the case of Moses.
   He struck the rock when God told him to speak to it. Therefore, the Lord said to him,
   ”Because ye trespassed against Me ... ye shall not go into the land,” Deut 32:51
   
2. Taking to one’s own self anything that has been devoted to the Lord, as exemplified in the case of Achan.
   Taking the devoted things of Jericho for it is said to have committed a trespass in the devoted thing, Joshua 7:1, 22:20
   
3. Compromising with God’s specific directions as is sadly illustrated in King Saul and Amalek.
   For in not obeying the Lord, he committed a trespass against Him, 1 Chr 10:13
   
4. Failure to inquire of the Lord in prayer, as seen in Saul when he inquired of a familiar spirit instead of the Lord.
   For in so doing, he committed a trespass against Him, 1 Chr 10:13, 14
   
5. Relying on one’s own strength instead of resting on God’s Word, as in the case of Israel under Rehoboam.
   Who trespassed against the Lord, 2 Chr 12:2
   
6. Presumption in the worship of God in acting on self-authority, as in the case of Uzziah.
   When he presumed to act in the priest’s office as Azariah reminded him when he said, “Thou hast trespassed,” 2 Chr 26:18
   
7. Failure to render to the Lord what is His right, as when Judah did not worship Him and gave to Him what His law required.
   As Hezekiah confessed “our fathers have trespassed,” 2 Chr 20:6-7
   
8. And distinct disobedience to the commands of the Lord as when the people of Israel under Ezra, married strange women of the nations.
   Which action is designated as “the trespass,” Ezra 9:2, 10:2, 10

In each of the above passages, the word “trespass” occurs.

Trespass Against Others is Given in Specific Detail

There are five illustrations given to us in Lev 6:2, 3.

1. Unfaithfulness to a trust.
   As when one entrusts something to the keeping of another and the entrusted one unlawfully uses for himself the deposit committed unto him. As the Word says, ”Deal falsely with his neighbour in a matter of deposit,” Ex 20:16
   

2. The second case is that of two persons in a business transaction. The text says “in fellowship.” The original says “of bargain.”
   In every true business transaction there should be fellowship, but when one takes advantage of another’s ignorance and sells an article beyond its worth, or represents it to be what it is not, then he deals falsely.
   Too many are like the man in Proverbs 20:14 and not like Abraham who would give Epphron the price of the land, Gen 23
   ”It is naught, it is naught sayeth the buyer, but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth,” Prov 20:14
   

3. The third instance is called “robbery.”
   A case in point would be when one under the plea of legal form takes from another more than is due him as did Ahab with Naboth’s vineyard. 2 Kings 21:1-6
   

4. The fourth instance is when a man “oppressed his neighbour.” An employer exacting more than his due from his employee illustrates it.
   Or, taking from a neighbour more than the law allows when in personal need. Deut 23:24, 25. Or as Zaccheus did when like the tax-gatherer he unlawfully took taxes from them. Luke 19:2-8 – The first I.R.S. man!
   

5. The last example is when one finds something which belongs to another and then declares that he has not found it.

In each of these cases the important thing to notice that there is not only a trespass against a neighbour, but a trespass against the Lord.

There were three things that were required before forgiveness could be obtained.
A full restitution
A double tithe
And a trespass offering

Lev 5:15, Lev 5:16, Lev 6:4-6 were requisite in order that the priest might “make an atonement for the offence committed.”

Christ’s atoning work is the only thing which can adjust things before God whether wrong be done to another or offence against himself.

Life!

The Purpose of the Book of John

“That we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing we might have life in His Name,” John 20:31

The blessing which comes to the believer is “life.” Life is the one thing that throbs through the Gospel of John so that the whole telegraphy of thought runs along this wire of connection.

Some phase of life is seen in each chapter:

1. Life shining – 1:4, “In Him was life; and the life was the Light of men.”
   
2. Life acting – 2:11, “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory; and His disciples believed on Him.”
   
3. Life loving – 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
   
4. Life giving – 4:14, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
   
5. Life communicating – 5:24, 26, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” “For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself;”
   
6. Life feeding – 6:35, “And Jesus said unto them, I am the Bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.”
   
7. Life satisfying – 7:37-39, “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”
   
8. Life instructing – 8:12, “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
   
9. Life illuminating – 9:25, 35-38, “He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.” “Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped Him.”
   
10. Life abounding – 10:10, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
    
11. Life quickening – 11:25, “Jesus said unto her, I am the Resurrection, and the Life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:”
    
12. Life communing – 12:2, “There they made Him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him.”
    
13. Life serving – 13:1, “Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.”
    
14. Life comforting – 14:16, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”
    
15. Life producing – 15:4, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the Vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.”
    
16. Life guiding – 16:13, “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all Truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come.”
    
17. Life interceding – 17:9, “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine.”
    
18. Life rejected – 18:40, “Then cried they all again, saying, Not this Man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.”
    

19. Life accomplished – 19:30, “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the spirit.”
    

20. Life assuring – 20:31, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His Name.”
    

21. Life commissioning – 21:15-19, “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these? He saith unto Him, Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith unto him, Feed My lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me? He saith unto Him, Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith unto him, Feed My sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me? Peter was grieved because he said unto Him the third time, Lovest thou Me? And he said unto Him, Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed My sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake He, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He saith unto him, Follow Me.”
    

By Comparing One Scripture with Another, We Get a Full Meaning

Four times it is stated “The just shall live by faith.”

Hab 2:4, “The just shall live by faith” – emphasis is on “shall” – a principle
Rom 1:17, “The just shall live by faith” – emphasis on justification
Gal 3:11, “The just shall live by faith” – emphasis on live.
Heb 10:38, “The just shall live by faith” – emphasis on faith.

”Without faith it is impossible to please Him.”

Probably to most casual readers, it is not evident that in the Book of John the expression “I am” appears some 20 times. Sometimes we read “I am He” and the “He” is italics. Therefore, it should be omitted.

Sometimes the “I am” is coupled with additional words, such as “I am the Way” and the “I am” takes us back to what the Lord said to Moses, ”I am that I am,” Exodus 3:14

Pondering these suggestive “I am’s,” we can see how much they suggest and contain.

1. The unparalleled Speaker
”I that speak unto thee am,” John 4:26

2. The unique Food
”I am the Bread of life,” John 6:35

3. The heavenly Manna
”I am the Bread from Heaven,” John 6:41

4. The Bread of life
”I am that Bread of life,” John 6:48

5. The wonderful Illuminator
”I am the light of the world,” John 8:12

6. The revealing One
”I am from above,” John 8:32

7. The independent Lord
”If ye believe not I am,” John 8:24

8. The dependent Son
”Ye shall know that I am and that I do nothing of Myself,” John 8:28

9. The eternal Lord
”Before Abraham was, I am,” John 8:58

10. The darkness Dispeller
”As long as I am in the world, I am the Light,” John 9:5

This is only a sample. You can see how each one of this has a message all its own.

P.S. There are at least 10 more.

“Behold the Lord Cometh”

Enoch long ago prophesied, “Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment,” Jude 14, 15

Three things of importance in the prophesy of Enoch:

1. The Person who is coming
   ”The Lord.” The word is KURIOS, which speaks of ownership, authority, and power.
   
   The Lord as owner has a right to exact an account from His creatures. As Lord, He also has the authority to demand a statement and also has the power to see it is given.
   
2. Second, the purpose of His coming is to execute judgment upon those who misused His gifts and who have sinned against Him.
   
3. Thirdly, the partners who are said to come with Him are His “saints”
   God’s holy ones made so by His Grace in Christ and by His Spirit in His Truth will execute judgment with Him.

We must distinguish between the Lord “coming for His saints in Grace,” and the coming “with His saints” in judgment.

The Difference Between the Lord Coming for His Saints and the Lord Coming with His Saints

”We are looking for the Blessed Hope and appearing of our great God and Saviour,” Titus 2:13

Mark the word “and” which is in the Greek “KAI.” It points to something in addition to “the blessed hope.” It connects it with “the glorious appearing.”

Christ coming for His saints is described in 1 Thess 4:13-18. And His coming with His saints in 2 Thess chapter one.

There is all the difference in the world in the scene in the upper room when Christ promised to come and receive His own to Himself.
And the scene depicted in Rev 19:11-16 where the white horse riders are seen accompanying the white horse Rider.

Perhaps the Most Significant Words Relative to the Death of Christ Are the Words of Jesus Christ Himself

When He speaks of “eating His flesh and drinking His blood,” John 6:53-56

Participation with Christ in His death not only brings untold blessings, but it results in:

Relative Words Which Emphasize the Truth

Think of the many Calvary’s words which proclaim the fact of atonement and sacrifice. Sometimes generally words are derived from the root word that colors, elucidates, and illustrates the Truth.

But there are many different words which shine with the ruddy color of Calvary. One of the many words is “died.” There are six references in Romans.

”Christ died for the ungodly.”
”Christ died for us.”
”He died unto sin once.”
”It is Christ that died.”
”To this end Christ both died,” etc.
”For whom Christ died.”

Rom 5:6, 8 Rom 6:10 Rom 8:34 Rom 14:9, 15

Notice it does not say that Christ lived for us, but that He died for us!

Purchased!

The key verse on “purchase” is found in Rev 5:9. The word is AGORAZO, where we read of those who are said to be “redeemed to God by the blood,” literally “did purchase unto God.”

There are four thoughts here:

1. The Person who redeems – the Lamb
2. How He redeems – by His blood
3. To Whom the redeemed are redeemed – to God
4. The identity of the Purchaser with the price of the purchase, with those who are purchased and the permanent value of all, as suggested by the preposition EN, which is rendered “by.”
   

The Word Bought!

1 Cor 6:20, where believers are exhorted to remember that they have been “bought.” The Greek word is AGORAZO, “with a price.”

The apostle is talking about the excesses of the saints at Corinth by means of the body. There are seven references to the body in 1 Cor 6:15-20 and forbids the same and gives in the “for” and “therefore” the reason of obedience.

”For ye were bought with a price. Glorify God, therefore, in your body.”

Greek Grace Gem

AGORAZO is derived from AGORA, which signifies a market place. So, the word means, “To go to a market place for a purchase.”

But, when the prefix EX is added to AGORAZO, which is EXAGORAZO, it signifies to buy out of the market, that is, to buy in order to release. This word is used in referring to believers as being the purchase of Christ and it is rendered “redeemed, purchased, bought.” 1 Cor 6:20, 1 Cor 7:23, Rev 5:9, 14:3-4

Purchase as applied to believers reminds us of the price which has been paid for us. And that as a consequence, we do not belong to ourselves, but to Him who has purchased us. And further since we have been set at liberty from the bondage which held us, we are to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ made us free.

Yet once again we are to buy the opportunities in holy living and consecrated service and thus to be redeeming the time.

We have only one life to live and only the present opportunity to serve the Lord, so let us fill up the time than no chance may be lost to do something for Him, Whose we are and Whom we serve.

The First Occurrence of the Word “Redemption” in the New Testament

“Redemption” is found in Luke 21:28, where the Lord tells the disciples to “lift up” their heads “for their redemption draweth nigh.”

A time would come when they would be freed from Earth’s conditions and woes, and that is, at His return. The word in its meaning and usage covers the whole blessing of salvation. Believers are freed from the condemnation and control of sin, and self and Satan.

By virtue of the atoning death of Christ and by virtue of His expiation, they will be emancipated from the body, sin, and death.

1 Tim 1:11, “According to the Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God”

Now in the original language we have it rendered this way, “According to the Gospel of His glory.”

That the Gospel is glorious we all know, but this phrase draws our attention to the fact that the Good News is that of the “Glory of the blessed God.”

Knowing that it is the Gospel of His Grace, we are thus reminded Grace and glory in God are one. That which is the very essence of His splendor and beauty is the infinite love of His heart. And we may with perfect accuracy render the description of God as ”the happy God.” “Blessed” means happiness. What unfathomable depths of suggestiveness are in the words, ”the Gospel of the glory of the happy God!”

But notice how the words are introduced. Immediately before them are the words ”according to.” When we go back to see what the Gospel is the standard of, we find a remarkable denunciation of evil things. Some of the most fearful being named. And all others being included in the words, ”and if there by any other thing.”

All these things are “contrary to the sound doctrine” ”according to the Gospel of the glory of the happy God.”

We ought to draw God with a happy face!

2 Tim 2:4, “No Soldier on Service Entangleth Himself in the Affairs of This Life”

This word of Paul took on new meaning for many of us during WW II. Indeed today it seems as though some of us have never seen it at all before.

Of course, we had seen it, and had given to it a certain interpretation. Our thinking however of what was included in the phrase ”the affairs of this life” was very superficial in many cases. We thought of certain liberties and comforts, which the soldier is denied, and of course that thinking was correct so far as it went. We needed the stern and awe-inspiring experience of those dread years to enable us to apprehend the full content of the phrase.

Now we know that nothing is left out. The soldier on active service breaks with everything except the war. We saw them go in millions, leaving father, mother, brother, sister, wife, and lover. We saw them marching away from promising careers, loved occupations, high ambition, and the finest things of responsibility. Nothing was permitted to entangle them, to hinder them, or in any way to interfere with the one thing.

This new understanding has brought a new revelation of the claims which our Lord’s campaign makes upon us. He only asks His people to do what the sons of America did ungrudgingly. Does not the consideration bring a sense of shame with it?

How often those who should constitute the sacramental host of God have played at war! May the Lord forgive us and give us another chance. And in His Grace He will. May we be worthy of it!

Thursday, September 14, 2000

The Sin Offering

Christ has answered for our sin and our sins. Sin is the root, sins is the fruit.

The Different Animals of the Bible That Were Offered Up!

“A young bullock” was offered for a priest, Lev 4:3, “If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering.”

And for the whole congregation, Lev 4:14, “When the sin, which they have sinned against it, is known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation.”

”A male kid” for a ruler, Lev 4:22-23, “When a ruler hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD his God concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty; Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish:”

”A female kid or lamb” for the common people, Lev 4:32, “And if he bring a lamb for a sin offering, he shall bring it a female without blemish.”

”A female of the flock” for specific sins, Lev 5:1-6, “And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity. Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcase of an unclean beast, or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the carcase of unclean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty. Or if he touch the uncleanness of man, whatsoever uncleanness it be that a man shall be defiled withal, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty. Or if a soul swear, pronouncing with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these. And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing: And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD for his sin which he hath sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin.”

”Two turtle doves” if the offeror was too poor, Lev 5:7-8, “And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring for his trespass, which he hath committed, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the LORD; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering. And he shall bring them unto the priest, who shall offer that which is for the sin offering first, and wring off his head from his neck, but shall not divide it asunder:”

Or an “Ephah of fine flour”

Typical of Christ is the many-sidedness of His character answering for our sin.

The strength of His Deity, Gal 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”

The manliness of His humanity, Heb 12:3, “For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”

The tenderness of His love, the gentleness of His manner, and the perfection of His life are all exhibited in Him who died for us. 1 John 3:16, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”

Outside the Camp!

When the blood of the offering was brought into the tabernacle, the sin offering was wholly consumed, except the fat, “outside the camp.” Lev 4:12, “Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out shall he be burnt.”

Lev 4:21, “And he shall carry forth the bullock without the camp, and burn him as he burned the first bullock: it is a sin offering for the congregation.” Lev 8:17, “But the bullock, and his hide, his flesh, and his dung, he burnt with fire without the camp; as the LORD commanded Moses.”

Typical of Christ who in the place of judgment suffered “outside the camp” for us. Heb 13:11-12, “For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.”

The death on Earth is recognized in Heaven.

The Sin Offering!

When the blood was not brought into the tabernacle, the sin offering was eaten by the priests in the Holy Place.
Lev 6:26-30, “The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it: in the Holy Place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation. Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy: and when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment, thou shalt wash that whereon it was sprinkled in the Holy Place. But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken: and if it be sodden in a brazen pot, it shall be both scoured, and rinsed in water. All the males among the priests shall eat thereof: it is most holy. And no sin offering, whereof any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation to reconcile withal in the holy place, shall be eaten: it shall be burnt in the fire.”
Lev 10:16-20, “And Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin offering, and, behold, it was burnt: and he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron which were left alive, saying, Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin offering in the Holy Place, seeing it is most holy, and God hath given it you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD? Behold, the blood of it was not brought in within the Holy Place: ye should indeed have eaten it in the Holy Place, as I commanded. And Aaron said unto Moses, Behold, this day have they offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD; and such things have befallen me: and if I had eaten the sin offering to day, should it have been accepted in the sight of the LORD? And when Moses heard that, he was content.”
Heb 13:11, “For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.”

The sin offering was either wholly burnt outside the camp, or wholly eaten by the priests in the Holy Place. It was wholly consumed either way.

Typical of Jesus Christ and God finding perfect satisfaction in the offering for sin.

Where the sin offering was not wholly burned, it was eaten by the priests who offered it. And it typifies Christ’s satisfaction in His death as He said, “With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer,” Luke 22:15

The Eating of the Sin Offering

The eating of the sin offering signifies entering into that which makes atonement for sin, hence of necessity into the sin itself.

In Christ it was necessarily found, when bearing our sins in His body on the tree, and in this way part of the atonement itself. Lev 10:17, “Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin offering in the Holy Place, seeing it is most holy, and God hath given it you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD?”

But the fact that the priests could partake of it shows that it is not to be limited to this.

Daniel, confessing his sin and the sin of the people, was surely eating the sin offering.

And just such identification of ourselves with the sins of God’s saints is a great need for all of us. A realization which the knowledge of the Cross that we have as Christians will intensify and not in any way lessen.

Who can treat lightly what brought Him to the Cross!!

Wednesday, September 13, 2000

Believers in Time!

Once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, we have eternal life and we can’t lose it and no one can take it from us. John 10:28, 29, Rom 8:38-39. But, as believers in time, though we can’t lose our salvation, we can be out of fellowship with the Lord in time.

Here is a description of a believer in time out of fellowship:

1. Carnal and not spiritual – 1 Cor 3
2. Walking in darkness – 1 John 1
3. Grieving or quenching the Holy Spirit – Eph and Gal
4. Under Divine Discipline – Heb 12:6
5. Producing dead works – 1 Cor 3 – Hay, wood, and stubble
6. Lack of domestic tranquility – 1 Pet 3
7. Prayers cannot be answered – Isa 59:1-3, Psa 66:18
8. Shortening your life, the sin unto death – 1 John

Sin causes the believer to get out of fellowship – pride, mental attitude sins, sins of the tongue. The cure: Be restored back to fellowship. How? 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Psa 23, “He restoreth my soul.”

Greek Grace Gem!

Matt 9:2, “Forgiven” – the word is APHIEMI and it signifies to let go.
It is used to describe the disciples “who left their nets,” Matt 4:20
It is used of “sent away” in speaking of Christ sending away the multitudes, Matt 13:36
It is used of Lazarus being “let go” from the bonds which held him, John 11:44
It is used of Christ when “He yielded up His spirit into the hands of His Father,” Matt 27:50

The Bible is interpreted in its words as they are found used in Scripture.

Only God Can Forgive Sin

1. The Gospel is the Proclaimer of forgiveness. Luke 24:47, “And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Acts 13:38, “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:”
   

2. God is the Author of forgiveness. Acts 5:31, “Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” Mark 2:7, “Why doth this Man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?”
   

3. Man is the receiver of forgiveness. Matt 9:2, “And, behold, they brought to Him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.”
   

4. The blood of Christ is the ground for forgiveness. Col 1:14, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” Eph 1:7, “In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His Grace;”
   

5. Faith in Christ is the instrument to obtain forgiveness. Acts 10:43, “To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His Name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.” Acts 26:18, “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me.”
   

6. The Word is the assurance of forgiveness. 1 John 2:12, “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His Name’s sake.” Jas 5:15, “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” Luke 7:47, “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.”
   

7. Liberty is the meaning of forgiveness. Luke 1:77, “To give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins.” Luke 3:3, “And He came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”
   The words “remission,” “deliverance,” and “liberty” in Luke are the same word as is rendered “forgiveness” in Eph 1:7, “In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His Grace.”
   

8. The condition of forgiveness is a forgiving spirit. Matt 6:12-15, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Eph 4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
   

Fools!

Prov 14:9, “Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour.”

Fools make a mock of sin. This is literally trespass offering. The word “sin” is the same as trespass offering.

But the righteous hold with favour the Truth of Christ as their trespass offering. For they feel the need of His Grace and atonement. But the fools, like Ishmael mocking Isaac, mock at the vicarious work of Christ.

What a lot of fools there are in the Church and out of it.

The Drink Offering

Num 28 and Num 29

The purpose Christ had in view of pouring out His soul in death for us was infinitely greater than to save us from hell and bring us to Heaven. It was to bring us to God.

The Holy Spirit emphasizes this again and again in the New Testament when He speaks of Christ’s death and sacrifice. Therefore, believers are said to be:

“Reconciled to God.”
Rom 5:10, “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
2 Cor 5:19, “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the Word of reconciliation.”
”Alive unto God.”
Rom 6:11, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

”Redeemed to God.”
Rev 5:9, “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;”

”Priests unto God.”
Rev 1:6, “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

”For His offering unto God.”
Eph 5:2, “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”
Heb 9:14, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

”To bring us to God.”
1 Pet 3:18, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:”

To know we have been brought to the center of all blessing is to be in touch with all God is, does, promises, and will yet do.

Joy of Salvation

But none of the ransomed ever knew
How deep were the waters crossed
Nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed through
Ere He found His sheep that was lost

The Joy of the Lord!

There was no joy or gladness when Christ was passing through the wilderness of Gethsemane and suffering on the rugged hill of Calvary.

”His soul was exceedingly sorrowful even unto death.” And His “I thirst” and “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” tell us how He suffered and the hell of agony He endured.

The joy was in the afterward of His Easter and His ascension, as He seemed to indicate it would be as He passed the sacramental cup and said to His disciples, “I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come,” Luke 22:18.

While we recognize the fulfillment of this Word of Christ points to the joy which He will have in His millennial glory, still there was a fulfillment of it on the day of Pentecost as the gladdening Spirit came upon the disciples, as even the world recognized when they tauntingly said, “These men are filled with new wine.”

The Spirit-Filled Life!

We have seen what it is like to be out of fellowship. Now look at what it is like to be in fellowship and filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit-filled life is always a gladdening life, which glows with the Lord’s joy.

1. “Gladness of heart was the outcome of Pentecost,” Acts 2:46, “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.”
   
2. “Rejoicing they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name,” in consequence upon a Spirit-indicted testimony. Acts 5:41, “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name.”
   
3. “The face of an angel” is the outcome of the Spirit possessing Stephen, Acts 6:15, “And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.”
   
4. “He went on his way rejoicing” is the result of the Spirit’s working through Philip to the eunuch, Acts 8:39, “And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.”
   
5. Barnabas was “glad” when he saw what God had been doing through others, and the secret cause was because “he was full of the Holy Spirit,” Acts 11:24, “For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.”
   
6. The disciples were “filled with joy” because they were filled with the Holy Spirit when persecuted at Antioch, Acts 13:52, “And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Spirit.”
   
7. And the consequence of being filled with the Holy Spirit is “speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart unto the Lord,” Eph 5:19.

”The fruit of the Spirit is joy.”

Hebrew Honey!!!

The Hebrew word “pleased” in Isa 53:10 means “to be inclined to and to bend towards an object with ardent desire and delight.” ”It pleased the Lord to bruise Him.”

The word is frequently translated “delight,” Num 14:8
The use of the word as associated with the Father and the Son in relation to atonement illustrates the joy of fellowship they had in Calvary – Mutual delight. ”Christ delighteth to do the Father’s will” and the Father delighted in Him as He did it.

We are such creatures of sense and circumstances that we are more concerned with consequences than terminals. But Christ’s aim was to glorify His Father by doing His will. He died to have us that we might have Him!

The Father delighted in the Son when He was crushing Him in death for us. And now the Father can honour the Son and delight in Him in a way He never did before.

The eyes of carnal reason seen only a bloody scene of cruel enactment on the Cross. But the eyes of appreciating love behold a consecrated fulfillment of Divine intent.

The Sinless One!

There was no blot on Christ’s character, nor blemish in His nature.

1. Hell testified to His holiness. Mark 1:24, “Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? art Thou come to destroy us? I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God.”
   
2. Paul testified to His sinlessness. 2 Cor 5:21, “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”
   
3. John testified to His freedom from sin. 1 John 3:5, “And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin.”
   
4. Peter testified to His spotlessness. 1 Pet 1:19, “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
   
5. The Father testified to His well-pleasingness. Matt 3:17, “And lo a Voice from Heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
   
6. The Holy Spirit testified to His perfection. Heb 7:26, “For such an High Priest became us, Who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.”
   
7. And Christ could challenge men and hell to find anything defiling within Him. John 8:46, “Which of you convinceth Me of sin? And if I say the Truth, why do ye not believe Me?” And said, “The prince this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me,” John 14:30
   

The Ultimate Triumph!!

–Theodore Roosevelt

Tuesday, September 12, 2000

A President’s Sorrows!

“Life brings sorrows and joys alike. It is what a man does with them, not what they do to him. That is the true test of his mettle.”

”The real trouble began when a telegram was sent to Roosevelt. The next morning it noted that while his baby was in good health, the mother was ‘only fairly well.’ A few hours later he received another message ominously bidding him to return to New York ‘immediately.’

When at last he reached home, he was met by his distraught brother with dire words, “There is a curse on this house. Mother is dying and Alice is dying, too.” The doctor’s had diagnosed Alice as suffering from Bright’s Disease, a severe renal ailment, which had gone undetected throughout her pregnancy.

Mother Bullock Roosevelt, who had fallen ill with what appeared to be a cold a few days before, was diagnosed as suffering from the final stages of typhoid. The two people dearest to him in all the world were now on the threshold of death, at the same time in the same house.

Roosevelt rushed up the stairs and disconsolately held Alice in his arms for several hours while she hung on to life by a slender thread. He was beckoned downstairs where his mother was drawing her final breath.

Sometime after midnight she died. And Roosevelt ran back up the stairs to Alice. His vigil continued through the long night and into the next day. Alice was just 22 years old.

Two days later Roosevelt sat in the front pew of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, where he and Alice had worshipped together so many times, for the double funeral.

The next day they were back in the same pew for the baptism of Roosevelt’s little daughter. She was christened Alice Lee.

Later he would write in his journal “The light has gone out of my life.”

The Word of God is Definite and Specific as Illustrated by the Repeated Words of the Lord – “These Things”

1. The Holder of the stars
”These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand,” Rev 2:1

2. The First and the Last
”These things saith the First and the Last which was dead and is alive,” Rev 2:8

3. The Possessor of the two-edged sword
”These things saith He which hath the sword with two edges,” Rev 2:12

4. The Eyes of fire
”These things saith the Son of God who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire,” Rev 2:18

5. The Possessor of the Spirit
”These things saith He that hath the seven spirits,” Rev 3:1

6. The Holy One
”These things saith He that is holy, he that is true,” Rev 3:7

7. The Faithful Witness
”These things saith the Amen, the Faithful and the True Witness, the beginning of the creation of God,” Rev 3:14

The Amen comes first and the Beginning comes last and between the two He is revealed as the Faithful and true Witness. Does this not reveal to us Christ in His life and ministry as the revelation of God?

And as such He is the Amen, literally, “So let it be.” And as the Beginning, He can make it to be, as He did in the beginning.

The Conciseness of the Word of God!

There is a soul of meaning in the great star words which shine out in the sky of the Scriptures. Take but three …

”Ebenezer” “Mizpah” “Maranatha”

”Ebenezer” was the name which Samuel gave to the stone which he set up as a memorial of the Lord’s help against the Philistines, and of His victory over them hence, its meaning, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped me,” 1 Sam 7:12.
What a Helper the Lord is. All other helpers fail, but He is the Helper that meets every need and conquers every foe.

”Mizpah” was the name of the heap of stones which Laban and Jacob erected as a witness and a watchword between them. As the meaning testifies, “The Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent the one from the other,” Gen 31:49.
When the Lord is the soul of a compact, how binding our obligations are the one to the other.

”Maranatha” is what Paul said in the close of his first letter to the Church in Corinth. Our version reads, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha,” 1 Cor 16:22. There are no punctuation marks in the original language. The verse should read “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, “accursed,” maranatha, “the Lord cometh.”
The fate of those who do not love the Lord Jesus Christ is to be accursed, then the apostle in a jubilant note says, “The Lord is coming,” maranatha. “The Lord cometh” settles all questions, Paul says. So there is no need to worry about anything.

The conciseness of the Word of God.

The Home-Going of a President

On February 9, 1919, a memorial service was held in Congress and afterwards a reverent prayer vigil was held. Henry Cabot Lodge spoke in halting tones of a man like no other man any of them had ever known.

The following is just a small portion of what he had to say.

”Indeed, the absolute purity and integrity of his family life, where those ideals first met the test of authenticity, tell us why the pride and interest which his fellow countrymen felt in him was always touched with the warm light of love. In the home so dear to him, in his sleep, death came, and, so Valiant-for-Truth passed over and all the trumpets sounded before him on the other side.”

P.S. Contrast this with our present president and see where we are.

The Gravitation of Grace

This is a law is a power which causes objects to draw to a center, like the law of gravitation, which causes the falling apple to fall to the Earth.

The bride in the Song of Solomon prays to her beloved, “Draw me and we will run after thee,” S.O.S. 1:4
The drawn one draws others. Mark the “me” and the “we” – “Draw me and we will run after thee.”

Of the early disciples when the authorities let them go, it is said, “They went to their own company,” Acts 4:23

When Peter was let out of prison, he went immediately to the company who were ”gathered together praying,” Acts 12:12

One of the first things that Saul of Tarsus did, after his conversion was, ”He assayed to join himself to the disciples,” Acts 9:26

When Ananias knew that Saul was converted and he was bidden by the Lord to help him, then the one he had called ”this man” became to him ”Brother Saul,” Acts 9:13, 17

The very names of believers demonstrates how they gravitate the one to the other such as, brethren, disciples, branches, members, saints, sheep, and children.

Grace gravitation!

Bible Topics

One profitable study is to trace out in an epistle, the Gospel, or a Book, how a theme is repeated or a word used. The following are a few of the many.

Now you have an index!

Lord!

The Gospel of John ends with chapter 20, and chapter 21 is an appendix. It reveals Divine intent by way of emphasis. What is emphasized? The lordship of Christ in contrast to the self action of man.

Eight times Christ is called, “Lord,” KURIOS, in the chapter.

John was first to recognize the Lord on the beach and he said, ”It is the Lord.”

Peter reverenced the Lord when “he saw it was the Lord.”

The disciples “knowing that it was the Lord.”

Peter responded twice to the Lord when he said, ”Yea Lord” and further remarked to Him ”Lord Thou knowest all things.”

Reference is made is to the question of John when he asked the Lord at the table, ”Lord who is he that betrayeth Thee?”

Lastly, Peter’s inquiry to what John was to do is recorded in his ”Lord and what shall this man do?”

Christ is Lord. Christ is God. The God-man!

The cults choke on this.

Three Applications in Recognition of Christ as Lord!

1. Ownership.
”Ye serve the Lord,” Col 3:23, as slaves.

2. Authority.
Therefore, the Lord’s Supper is to be kept, 1 Cor 11:20

3. Power.
Therefore we read, ”The hand of the Lord was with the disciples,” Acts 11:21

All these thoughts are brought out in John 21.
”Ownership” is claimed when Christ speaks of “My sheep.”
”Authority” is heard in Christ’s command to “cast” and to “come” and to “follow.”
And His “power” is evidenced when He caused 153 great fishes to be caught in the net.

Peter learned his lesson to recognize Christ as Lord, for in his first epistle, 1 Pet 3:15, he urged those to whom he wrote to, “Sanctify Christ as Lord in their hearts,” i.e., to set Him apart, hallow Him.

P.S. That is hard for a pope to do.

Jesus Christ!

Christ’s goal was His death. His star of destiny was His death on Calvary. His death was no accident. On many an occasion Christ in His teaching referred to His death on the Cross.

If the Gospel of John alone is read with this thought in mind, it will be found that Christ directly and indirectly was indicating the nature and the necessity of His death. There loomed before Him the momentous hour when He would pass through the awfulness of suffering for human guilt. Till the hour was come, He could not die. But when it did arrive, He gave Himself to the answer for sin. John 17:1

There is one special occasion when Christ indicated the nature of His death. In the 10th chapter of the Gospel of John, four times over we find He stated that, ”The good Shepherd lay down, gives, His life for the sheep,” John 10:11, 15, 17, 18

And it is in the Gospel of John that we read of Christ’s triumphant cry when He, in His sixth utterance on the Cross, exclaimed, “It is finished.” Literally, He only uttered one word, “accomplished.” In the Greek the word is TETALESTAI, which means finished in the past with the results it remains finished for ever.

How much was accomplished in that death! If He had stopped one step short of the Cross, His mission would have been a failure. For the Holy Spirit has declared that the climax of Christ’s ministry, as well as nature, was... “That He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself,” Heb 9:28

The Mediator – the God-man!

Seven Facts About God and His Acts in Conjunction With Jesus Christ

1. The first fact is that God has set forth Jesus Christ to be the propitiation for our sins and that by means of His sacrifice. Rom 3:25
2. Second fact: God’s love is commended to us because Christ has died for us, Rom 5:8
3. The third fact is that God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, Rom 8:3
4. Fourth fact: God condemns sin in the person of His Son on the Cross, Rom 8:3
5. The fifth fact is that God did not spare His Son when dealing with sin, Rom 8:32
6. Sixth fact is that God delivered Christ up for us when He gave Him over to death, Rom 8:32
7. Seventh fact: The death and resurrection of Christ are God’s answer to every charge that might be brought against us, Rom 8:32, 34

Therefore, at the Cross God is seen at His best in giving His Son for the worst. And in all that Christ did, God was acting. Therefore, in that death there is all the value of what He is in Himself.

God cannot die, but He who died for us is God.

Monday, September 11, 2000

The Son of God

Christ is called “the Son of God” and “the Son of man.” But that word TEKNON, a descendant, is not used when He is so called. He is not a descendant of man for His humanity was the product of the Holy Spirit, Luke 1:35.

The word HUIOS, used of Christ as the Son of God and the Son of man, denotes adoption and therefore, refers to the place He filled as the “only begotten Son,” and to take the place He assumed as the Son of man who came to seek and to save lost humanity.

The importance of understanding the meaning of the words of the Holy Spirit is to have the key to unlock their secrets.

Another Hebrew Word for Prayer

We have had one word which meant Grace in prayer and another that means individual prayer. And then one which means secret, silent prayer and then Daniel with his boiling prayer.

Now we have the fifth Hebrew word for prayer: ATHAR. This word, which is rendered “pray” in Elihu’s statement has wrapped up in it the thought of its meaning not only entreaty, but also that of fragrance. Like the aroma of a violet with the plant. To entreat, to make earnest and fervent prayer which ascends like incense before God.

The same word is rendered “entreated” four times. Gen 25:21, Ex 8:30, 10:18, Judges 13:8. And “be entreated” eight times.

The entreaty of the soul’s expressed need is always a fragrance to the Lord. When our prayers ascend to the Lord perfumed with the wealth and worth of Christ’s fragrance, He can do no other than answer whatsoever is asked in His Name.

Christ has said that whatsoever we shall ask in His Name shall be granted. To pray in Him is to be perfumed by Him and the aroma of His fragrance is ever pleasing to Himself.

To Follow the Lord!

To study the strata of the Earth and to understand its formation is always of captivating interest. And to study the Words of Scripture and to get to know the soul of their meaning is of paramount importance.

What a world of clinging meaning is made known in Psa 63:8, “followeth hard,” when the psalmist exclaims “My soul followeth hard after Thee.” This is literally, “My soul is glued to Thee.” That is the thought not only of following close, but so close that nothing can come between.

The same word is used of the scales of the sea monster Leviathan of which it is said, “His scales are his pride shut up together as with a close seal, one is so near to the other they stick together that they cannot be sundered,” Job 41:15-17

When the soul is so joined to the Lord, no blighting air of the world can contaminate and nothing of self or sin can come between.

P.S. I will bet your knew that verse in Job and you have it as your life verse. Right?

“Wait on the Lord”

Blessings from the Lord, the blessing of strength comes to those who wait on the Lord. For the Word says,

”But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint,” Isa 40:31

The meaning of the word “wait” is “to bind together by twisting.” or “to collect in one place.” The term is rendered “gathered together” in speaking of the waters under Heaven being gathered in one place, Gen 1:9.

When our weakness is bound together with God’s strength, His strength is made perfect in our weakness. His omnipotence is displayed through our impotence.

Before we meet the Goliaths of opposition, we need to be like David, who had learned in secret to overcome the lion and the bear.

Twist the thin thread of your weakness into the rope of God and the thread becomes a part of the rope. That is another word for faith.

What Can We Say?

Christ is the fact of facts, the Bible’s theme
Who stands alone, august, unique, supreme.

The Man of pain who feels all human pain
And slakes the thirst and turns all loss to gain.

He is the God, all light from Him doth gleam
He is the man of men beyond all dream.

He is the God of love, all love Divine
He is the hand of power and strength sublime.

To him all things come forth, in Him consist
To him all tend and all by Him subsist.

The Book, it speaks of Him, the Christ reveals
The eyes that close to Him all truth conceals.

He is the Gospel’s theme/ He died for all
His death alone can free from sin’s enthrall.

The resurrection life the might of might
His reign within the soul, His life of right.

The peace within the soul, the calm of love
His joy untold the thrill from realms above.

The Spirit came, the outcome of His death
The power of God His Grace and living breath.

He’s all, the visibility of God
And so we sing of Him and onward plod.

His love, the fire that burns within the brain
His promises, the Word’s refreshing rain.

The Superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ

Col 1:5-19

This explains His pre-eminence because He is:

1. Superior in order—“First Begotten before all creatures”
2. Superior to all—For He is “the Image of the invisible God”
3. Superior in creation—“In Him were all things created”
4. Superior in power—“In Him all things consist”
5. Superior in resurrection—“First Begotten from the dead”
6. Superior in place—“Pre-eminent”
7. Superior in possessions—“All fullness dwells in Him”

No subject so glorious as He.
No theme so affecting to us.

Animals of the Bible

“Behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah”
”Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world”

The Lion and the Lamb are the notes upon which the Holy Spirit plays as the music of Heaven sounds forth the glory of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The lamb in his gentleness and the lion in his powerfulness.

As the Lion, Christ has prevailed to open the Book of God’s purpose and to unloose the seal thereof. Therefore, He is worthy because of what He is and has done to adjudicate in overthrowing the wrong, and to establishing the right.

When men try to get rights, they seek to acquire them by the force of might. But Christ obtains His by the conquest of right.

Not without meaning are the lion and the lamb found together in Rev 5:5-6. One of the elders told John that the Lion had prevailed to open the books.” And yet in response to the elder’s direction to “behold,” he saw not a lion but a lamb – and a Lamb as He had been slain.”

The slain Lamb becomes the slaying Lion. The Bruised One becomes the Bruising One.

The wrath of the Lamb!

Behold!

“Behold the man,” John 19:5
”Behold the Lamb of God,” John 1:29
”Behold a king,” Isa 32:1
”Behold thy Saviour,” Isa 62:11
”Behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah,” Rev 5:5
”Behold the Lord cometh,” Jude 14, 15

How shall we behold Him????

Only the pure in heart shall see Him. A cataract on the eye will obscure the sun. So, the impure heart and the fogs of the world will hinder us from seeing the Lord.

We should behold Him with the intense love of an ardent affection. It was after Isaiah saw the king that he responded to the Lord’s call. “Who will go for Us? Here I am. Send me.” Love never counts the cost. It is a delight to give whatever the cost may be.

We should behold the Lord with the full faith of absolute confidence. Abraham’s vision of the Lord enabled him to fulfill his vocation as a pilgrim and a stranger. He did not know where he was going, but he knew with Whom he was going. Faith does not look at its confidence, but it looks to the Lord with unswerving joy.

We should behold the Lord with the loyal hands of right action. The turning point in the life of Zacchaeus was when he saw the Lord and His look of love drew out the response of the tax-gatherer’s avowal that he would restore aught he had wrongly taken, and to give to others in pressing need. There is a message for the I.R.S.

When the heart is beating healthily, it will cause the hands to act righteously.
Behold the Lord. “Look unto Me all the ends of the world and be saved.”
”Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.”

The President and His Lady

Distracted by the call of duty back to Albany, Roosevelt was forced to leave Alice several times during her pregnancy, much to the distress of both of them. Each day he would write tender letters to her expressing his deepest affections.

”I have to read my Bible all to myself without my pretty Queenie standing beside me in front of the looking glass combing out her hair. There is no pretty, sleeping rosebud face to kiss and love when I wake in the morning.”

“Behold I Make All Things New”

Rev 21:5

When we look out on the world, it is like a cauldron of boiling metal—the fire of hell beneath as it is being stirred up by the devil with the poker of hate. There is only One who can remedy matters and that One is the One who says, “Behold I make all things new.”

The nailed hand of Calvary is the only hand that can arrest the hard hand of might. The love of Christ is the only power that can fuse the mass of mankind into the common interest of brotherhood.

The selfless Lord who emptied Himself is the only One who can give the disinterestedness of mutual good.

When He begins to remake ...
The iron hand of anarchy will be broken.
The willful mind of lawlessness will be ended.
The lusting heart of greed will be suppressed.
The harmful fist of cruelty will be crushed.
The covetous eyes of selfishness will be put out.
The stinging tongue of blasphemy will be rebuked.
And the order of “Get all you can for yourself” will give place to “Give all you have for others’ benefit.”

This is no delusive hope, but a promise of Divine revelation. Three times in Revelation 21:5-6 we have the declaration of “He said.” His promise, “He said, I make all things new.” His assurance, “He said, These Words are faithful and true.” And His accomplishment, “He said, It is done.”

Even so come Lord Jesus!

“Behold I Come Quickly”

Three times in the Book of Revelation He makes this announcement, and once He says, “Surely I come quickly.”

In each case it is with a different association:
First, with the exhortation to “hold fast” lest the crown of reward should be lost.
Second, with the promise of blessing to those who keep the sayings of the Book.
And third, with the promise of reward for work done.
Fourth with the assurance, “Surely I come quickly,” Rev 3:11, 22:7, 12:20

“Quickly”

”I come quickly” may be taken in three ways:

1. Meaning “at once.”
   As when the servants were told to go on their master’s mission “quickly” and as Mary rose up “hastily,” Luke 14:21, John 11:31. “Hastily” and “quickly” are the same words.
   
2. Quickly also means “suddenly,” as the word is given in 1 Tim 5:22
   
3. The word also describes the way a person does a thing, as the woman who “departed quickly” to tell that Christ was risen. Matt 28:8, that is with speed.

”Quickly” does not seem to mean at once. From the time Christ gave the word, therefore the suggestion is when He rises to come. He will do it suddenly and His method in coming will be with speed.

Mephibosheth!

When David became king, because of his love for Jonathan, he wanted to do whatever he could for Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth. But, there was a problem.
2 Sam 4:4, “And Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.”

David inquired of there were any left of Jonathon’s sons so he could bless them.
2 Sam 9:3, “And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet.”

He is a cripple.
2 Sam 9:13, “So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem: for he did eat continually at the king’s table; and was lame on both his feet.”

Handicapped. We are all cripples and handicapped. But, as believers we sit at the Lord’s, the King’s table, and no one can see our lame feet, because they are under the King’s table.

When you are handicapped, you know you can’t do certain things. So there is another empty place for the Lord to fill. Christ looks for empty places to fill. Let Him fill it.

President’s Pride

“I can quite legitimately claim to be a proud son of the south.”

The Manifestation of Christ

The Holy Spirit travels along many lines in His distinctive ministry to bring us to the terminus of God’s revelation about His Son. And one such line is found in what He says regarding the purpose of Christ’s manifestation.

The Greek words are PHAINO, PHANEROS, and PHANEROO. They are rendered “appear” and “manifest,” “signify,” “to show,” “to lighten,” “to shine upon,” “to disclose,” “to exhibit,” and “to reveal.”

The words are used to describe “a light that shineth,” 2 Pet 1:19. “To give a reward openly,” Matt 6:4, for what has been done in secret, to come “abroad.” Mark 4:22, to make a person “known” by announcing his presence. Mark 3:12, to exhibit anything to another so that it can be said it has been “shewed” unto him. Rom 1:19, to reveal as when the apostles said “the life of Jesus was made manifest in our mortal flesh,” 2 Cor 4:10. And to appear before another as when Christ “appeared” unto the 11 disciples in the upper room, Mark 16:14

There are at least 14 truths brought here before us, covering a complete course of Bible Study in connection with Christ’s manifestations.

They are God, sin, love, atonement, substitution, resurrection, salvation, life, power, Satan, emancipation, the Holy Spirit, the Father, immortality.

Greek Grace Gems

There are two words in the New Testament that are rendered “son.”
One meaning the kinship of the same nature.
And the other the position of adoption.

Believers are said to be “the children of God” because they are “begotten of Him,” John 1:12-13, 1 John 5:1-3

They are akin to Him and owe their spiritual being to Him, even as a child owes his being to his parents.

But we are waiting for the adoption. Rom 8:23. Although we know that we are predestinated unto the adoption of the children. Eph 1:5

We are children of God now. But we have not the place of glory for which we are destined.

In Order to Understand the Ministry of God the Holy Spirit, You Must Understand His Many Titles

1. He is called the Spirit of Grace. Heb 10:20
   In the pleading of His ministry, He acts in Grace to communicate Grace, to place in the sphere of Grace, and to make us to correspond to Grace.
2. He is the Spirit of Truth, in the word and His veracity. John 14:17, 16:13, 1 John 5:7.
   He is the Author of Truth. He is its essence. And He is also its Communicator.
3. He is the Spirit of love in the glow of His intensity. 2 Tim 1:7.
   He unfolds the God of love in the soul. All the fruit of the Spirit is love in a nine-fold character.
4. He is the Spirit of life in the operation of his vitality. Rom 8:2.
   He is the Source of life in Christ. He is the Strength of life in Himself. He is the Sustainer of life by His Word. And He is the goal of life as God.
5. He is the Spirit of wisdom in the revelation of His mystery. Eph 1:17.
   He is the Initiator into the full knowledge of God Himself. To know Him is eternal life, eternal love, eternal peace, and eternal satisfaction.
6. He is the Spirit of power in the might of His strength. 2 Tim 1:7.
   Disease, demons, and death cannot resist His might. Christ’s ministry and resurrection are witnesses therein.
7. He is the Spirit of adoption in the benefit of His assurance. Rom 8:15.
   He assures us we are God’s children when we believe in Christ by His Word. And He assures us we are pleasing to God as we are obedient.
   

Sunday, September 10, 2000

The Offerer!

The offerer brought his drink offering as an expression of his glad appreciation of the Lord’s Grace to him. Num 15:3-5, 1 Sam 1:24, 28, 2:1

There was no compulsion brought to bear upon Christ to make Him give His life a ransom for many. There are seven words which shine out in the sky of Christ’s voluntariness in relation to His death. These are:
Delight Set Give Lay Led Shed Offered

1. The I delight of His willing obedience. “I delight to do Thy will,” Psa 40:8
2. The set of His determined purpose. “I set My face like a flint,” Isa 50:7
3. The I will give of His holy sacrifice. ”The bread which I give is My flesh, John 6:51
4. The I lay of glad surrender. “I lay down My life for the sheep,” John 10:15
5. The led of His patient submission. ”Led as a lamb to the slaughter,” Acts 8:32
6. The shed of His poured life. ”My blood which is shed for many.” Matt 26:28
7. The offered of His sufficient atonement. ”Offered one sacrifice for sin,” Heb 10:12-14

”No one takes My life from Me. I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it up again.” No one killed Christ.

“Shed” – A Greek Grace Gem

The New Testament word “shed,” Mark 14:24, is associated with Christ and God the Holy Spirit. This Greek word means to “pour out” or to “empty out.” It is used of the Holy Spirit four times. And is rendered “poured out” and “shed forth,” Acts 2:17, 18, 33, 10:45, in speaking of His presence and power.

And it is also translated “shed” speaking of His renewing Grace, Titus 3:6. And “shed abroad” in speaking of “The love of God shed abroad in the hearts of the believers,” Rom 5:5

How wonderful God’s giving is. The father emptied Himself out when He gave His Son. The Son emptied Himself out when He gave His life for us. And now the Holy Spirit waits to empty Himself out in enriching us.

Nothing is too great for the Father to give to us since the Son gave Himself for us.

”How shall He not with Him freely give us all things.”

The Red Heifer

Num 19 and Heb 9:13-14

The teaching of the red heifer is the application of the atoning work of Christ to the conscience and life, removing contracted defilement from both by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The book where the ordinance of the red heifer occurs, the Book of Numbers, which is the Book of the pilgrim life, is suggestive. While treading the wilderness of life, believers may contract defilement and while we do not need to be saved from the wrath to come, for that took place when we believed in Christ, we do need to recognize that the same atoning blood is needed. For if we need the cleansing blood to keep us clean while we are walking in the light, how much more we need that atoning death when we get defiled.

The true servant of Christ feels he needs the cleansing blood to cleanse his service. We need the perfect holiness of our great High Priest to bear the iniquity of our holy things as well as to bear our sins. Exodus 28, 36:38

“Now I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which ye have learned. And avoid them.” Rom 16:17

The lives of the wicked are as contagious as the most fearful plague that infects the air. When the doves of Christ lie among such pots, their yellow feathers are sullied.

You may observe that in the oven, the fine bread frequently hangs upon the coarse. But the coarse very seldom adheres to the fine. If you mix an equal portion of sour vinegar and sweet wine together, you will find that the vinegar will sooner sour the wine, than the wine sweeten the vinegar. It is a greater wonder to see a saint maintain his purity among sinners, than it is to behold a sinner becoming pure among saints.

Christians are not always like fish which retain their freshness in a salt sea. Or, like the rose which preserves its sweetness among noisome weeds. Or, like the fire that burns the hottest when the season is the coldest.

As often as you go into the company of the wicked, you return less a man from them than you were before you joined with them.

The Lord’s people by keeping evil company are like people who are much exposed to the sun and have skin cancer.

”My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not,” Proverbs One.

Saturday, September 9, 2000

Thought for the Day!

Sometimes the Lord puts us in an empty place, so that He can fulfill that void. For example, if you don’t know who your father is, or you father has died, or your father doesn’t care and he has left you and you had no role model as a father, there is an empty place. And the answer is …
Psa 68:5, “A Father of the fatherless is God in His holy habitation.”
Accept Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour and you have the Greatest of all fathers.
Psa 146:9, “The Lord preserveth the fatherless, but the way of the wicked He turned upside down.”

For example, if you are a lonely widow, your husband is gone. There is an empty place to be filled by the Lord. He looks for empty places in life to fill.
Psa 68:5, “A judge of the widow is God in His holy habitation.”
Psa 146:9, “The Lord preserveth/relieveth the widow.”
Accept Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour and you are no longer a widow. You now have a Husband.

Well, another empty place for the Lord to fill is an orphan. Some orphanages accept children who have no parents or only have one.
John 14:19, “I will not leave you as an orphan. I will come to you.”
There is another empty place for the Lord to fill. Give Him an empty place and He will fill it.
If you are an orphan, accept Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour and you are no longer an orphan. “My Father is your Father.”

”And we cry ABBA, Father!”

How God Deals With Nations
Part 1 – In Lieu of the UN Meeting

The Secret of the Lord’s Judicial Method Among Nations

We find certain great principles illustrated and enunciated namely:

1. That the Lord uses one nation to punish another as in the case of Judah being overcome by Babylon.
   

2. God punishes the nation that He had used to punish another.
   So, Babylon in turn is crushed by the Medo-Persian empire.
   

3. The Lord deals with nations in their corporate capacity in time, and not in the hereafter.
   Nations have no hereafter. The individual does. Individuals are forgiven, but nations are not. God deals with them in righteousness when they go on in unconfessed sin.
   

How God Deals with Nations
Part 2 – Nations as Nations Have Been Cut Out in the Past

“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision,” Joel 3:14.
These words describe the gathering of the nations. But, the word “decision” does not covey the thought. The sentence should read,
”Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of excision,” which means a cutting off or a cutting out.

The Hebrew word is used in describing the mining of gold in separating the gold from the refuse, Prov 16:16.
And the word is also used of a sharp threshing instrument which is used to separate the chaff from the corn, Isa 41:15.
Under another figure, Jesus Christ gives the same thought when He speaks of a shepherd separating the sheep from the goats, Matt 25:32.

This shows unmistakably the judgment of the nations will be one of the things Christ will perform when He comes in His glory and that the judgment will be the annihilation of nations – as nations in their being, cut out of being.

Nations are as a drop in the bucket in His sight, but an individual is everything.

How God Deals With Nations
Part 3 – The Secret of the Focusing Goal

There are some 666 general prophesies in the Old Testament, 333 of which refer particularly to the coming Messiah, and meet only in Him.

We are not surprised therefore that the goal of God’s purpose in which all things are to be focused is the coming of Christ to take up the reins of government. ”The government shall be upon His shoulders.”

No more explicit word could be given than we find in Paul’s address to the Athenians when he declared that, “God hath appointed the day, that is a period of time, in which He will judge and rule the civilized world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained whereof He hath given assurance unto all men in that He hath raised Him from the dead,” Acts 17:24

The only cure for the ills of humanity is not the UN and the disorders that are found in the world. It is the personal coming and intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ!

How God Deals With Nations
Part 5 – Dan 2:32-43

The history of the world’s powers is always from bad to worse, and not from worse to better.

Dan 2:32-33, “This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”

The vision of Daniel portraying the times of the Gentiles illustrates this drifting declension.

The golden kingdom of Babylon with its absolute autocracy is followed by
The silver kingdom of Medo-Persia with its Parliament of princes.
The brass kingdom of Greece with its sweeping conquests under Alexander the Great and his four generals is followed by
The iron rule of Rome with its many senators.

And lastly we have the brittle clay of the powers in the time of the end. The UN.

If we look at the weight of these several materials in their specific gravity, we also see there is a declension. Thus we see the image is top heavy and we are not surprised at its overthrow.

The same principle is illustrated in the vision that Daniel saw as recorded in Daniel 7.

The kingly and the majestic lion is followed by
A strong and brutal bear and he is followed by
A cunning and sleek leopard and he is followed by
The hybrid and horned monstrosity.

He is the moral of all human tales
It is but the rehearsal of the past
First freedom and then glory
When that fails.
Wealth, vice, corruption, barbarism at last
All history with all her volumes hath but one page.

Friday, September 8, 2000

Thought for the Day!

1 Pet 5:7, “Casting all your care on Him for He careth for you.”

The last part of this wonderful promise can be translated, ”He has you upon His heart.”

If this is so, and it is, why are we so often fretted by the annoying cares of daily life? Why look forward to what may happen tomorrow? The same everlasting Father who cares for us today will take care of us every day. When we cast all our cares upon Him, there is no sin upon us. And so we enjoy pardon.

When we cast all our cares upon Christ, there is no care upon us, and so we enjoy peace. If we keep the cares, we cannot have the peace. If we cast the cares, we cannot but help having peace.

Through every moment of the day
Whatever may meet you on life's way.
This thought shall be your strength and stay.

He cares!

“The God of Peace”

Six times in the New Testament we have the designation, “God of peace,” and its connections form a profitable Bible study. Peace is not only one of His attributes, but a part of His inherent nature.

Phil 4:7-9, “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”

Col 3:15, “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”

2 Cor 13:11, “Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.”

Heb 13:20, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.”

He is peace and as such will destroy everything antagonistic to His peaceful nature. Is it not comforting to know that Satan, the origin of unrest and disorder, was dealt a death-blow at the Cross. And that before long He will be finally vanquished.

In this age of Grace, we need to heed the warning of Jesus Christ that the message He would have us proclaim produces conflict rather than peace. Rom 16:20, “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.”

He Said It!

Napoleon was once reviewing his troops near Paris and the horse on which he sat was restive. The Emperor thoughtlessly dropped the reins from his hand in the eagerness of giving a command, and the spirited animal bounded away. The rider was in danger of being hurled to the ground. A young private standing in the lines leaped forward and seizing the bridle, saved his beloved commander from a fall. The emperor glancing at him said in his quick abrupt way, “Thank you, Captain.”

The private knowing the peculiarities of his chieftain, looked up with a smile and asked “Of what regiment, sire?”

”Of my guards” answered Napoleon and instantly galloped to another part of the field. The young soldier laid down his musket with the remark, ”Whoever will may carry that gun. I am done with it” and proceeded at once to join a group of officers who stood conversing at a little distance. One of them, a general, observed his self possessed approach and angrily said, ”What is this insolent fellow doing here?” “This insolent fellow,” answered the young solider looking the other steadily in the eye, “is a captain of the guards.”

”Why man,” responded the officer, “You are insane. Why do you speak thus?” “He said it,” replied the soldier pointing to the Emperor, who was far down the line.

”I beg your pardon, Captain,” politely returned the General. “I was not aware of your promotion.”

In the application of the story, there was nothing whatever to indicate the sudden passage of the young soldier from the ranks to a position of honor, except the word of the Emperor. Doubtless he felt glad as he laid down his musket, but he was not promoted because he felt glad. He felt glad because he was promoted. The truth is he was not thinking of his feelings, nor of his worthiness, nor of his unworthiness, but only of the promise of Napoleon, and trusting in the promise he was happy.

”All the promises of God are yea and amen, to the glory of God.”

Job 22:21, “Acquaint Thyself With Him and be at Peace”

What a gracious promise this is! Add this to your list of promises.

Because peace was secured at Calvary, all that one with a troubled conscience can do is to acquaint himself with Him who is our peace. When at peace with God, then as Job promises, “Good shall come unto thee.”

How can a person expect anything that is good, if a blood-purchased peace is not accepted?

It is hoped that you are acquainted with God and have a soul as tranquil as the lake Jesus Christ calmed where here on Earth. Otherwise this is your lot, Isa 57:20, ”The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”

The way we were!

Seven-Fold Result if There is No Resurrection of the Dead, 1 Cor 15:12-19

1. Christ is not risen.

2. The preaching of the Gospel is useless.

3. Faith in Christ is unavailing.

4. The apostles were false witnesses.

5. Believers are yet in their sins.

6. The beloved dead have perished.

7. The most miserable of all people are the saints.
   

Great Hebrew Honey!

There are about eight words for the word “pray” in the Old Testament Hebrew.

CHANAN is one of them. Solomon in his dedicatory prayer of the temple uses the word “pray” when he pleads that any of those who have gone into captivity shall “bethink” themselves and confess their sins, that the Lord shall deal graciously with them, 2 Chr 6:37.

This thought is embodied in the word CHANAH. It means to seek the favor of another that He may stoop in kindness and exercise Grace towards the suppliant.

The word is rendered “make supplication” in 1 Kings 8:33, 47, 59, 9:3. This aspect of prayer suggests the applicant looks to the exercise of God’s mercy, like the publican when he prayed to the Lord “to be merciful” to him.

It is not the merit of the suppliant which is seen, but the mercy of the One who is supplicated. The picture of that is of a criminal who is doomed to die for his offence and who appeals for favor from the sovereign of the realm.

There is no merit in our praying, but there is in the One who answers. When we leave ourselves in the Lord’s hands, we find His hands on our soul to our benefit.

The Throne of Grace

Thought for Today

“No other success in life, not being president, or being wealthy, or going to college, or anything else, comes up to the success of the man and woman who can feel that they have done their duty and that their children and grandchildren rise up and call them blessed.”

–Theodore Roosevelt
Proverbs 31

Another Hebrew Honey!

TEPHILLAH is another Hebrew word for prayer. We are happy if we have friends to pray for us, but we are happier when we go direct to “Headquarters” for ourselves. We are independent of others when we make supplication.

This Hebrew word occurs 76 times. And 31 of them are in the Psalms. The individualism is seen in the fact that the psalmist says again and again:

”Hear my prayer,” Psa 4:1, 39:12, 54:2, 84:8, 102:1, 143:1.
“Receive my prayer,” Psa 6:9.
“Give ear to my prayer,” Psa 17:1, 55:1, 86:6
”Attend unto my prayers,” Psa 61:1

The individualism of prayer is illustrated in the individuals named:

David – 2 Sam 7:27, Psa 17, 72:20, Psa 86
Moses – Psa 90
Solomon – 1 Kings 8:28, 29:54, 2 Chr 6:19-20
Daniel – Dan 8:3, 17, 21
Manasseh – 2 Chr 33:18, 19
Nehemiah – Neh 1:6, 11
Mattaniah – Neh 11:17
Job – Job 16:17
Habakkuk – Hab 3:1

Individuals going directly to the throne of Grace. Not taught by all.

A Promise Kept!

Gen 8:22, “While the Earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.”

Centuries have elapsed since God gave Noah this promise. He who created the universe guides and governs all things both according to His will and pleasure and for the benefit of His creatures.

Here is a proof of His faithfulness. He remembers His promise and gives us “all things richly to enjoy.” The unfailing fulfillment of His promise also offers a proof of His infinite power.

Man may seek to alter many aspects of God’s creation. But, with all his genius and science, he cannot clothe a field with golden corn.

Then the promise to Noah is an evidence of His Grace. In spite of the accumulated sin of the human race, He continues to shower down His manifold blessings giving man ”rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling their hearts with food and gladness.”

Man requires sustenance, and in the succession of seasons human needs are met.

Hebrew Words for Prayer

More to come …

My Father

“We have been entrusted with much, each and every one of us. We have a glorious inheritance that we must honor. I have a special sense of the great legacy, being the son of the finest man, the happiest man, I have ever known. He was a living illustration of the American ideal and spirit. All that I have ever done has been little more than an attempt to live up to and honour that legacy.”

–Theodore Roosevelt

The Fourth Hebrew Word for Prayer

So far we have had three different words for “prayer” and they mean attitude of prayer: Grace, the individualism of prayer, and silent prayer.

Now we have the word BEAH, and in this one Daniel was found at prayer by those who were opposed to him in Babylon. Doubtless they heard him in the fervency of his earnest praying and making supplication before his God. Dan 6:11. The word praying is BEAH, which means “to seek, ask, desire, make petition, pray, request.” And it means “to gush over, to swell, to desire earnestly,” and it is rendered “to boil” in Isa 64:2, “The fire causeth the waters to boil.” BEAH.

We only have to recall the character of Daniel’s recorded petitions and ponder the concern he felt for his nation to be assured that there was the fire of earnest pleading and the gushing over of a boiling utterance, as he voiced himself in holy request.

When there is the fire of a holy desire, the concern of a loving intensity, the zeal of an ardent purpose, and the emotion of an intensified interest, then we have a burning request throbbing the words of prayer and the ensuing answer.

Elijah would never have had the responding fire on Mt. Carmel if he had not had first the fire of earnest petition. When earnest desire of fervent prayer ascends to God, He will respond in consuming fire and consecrating Grace.

Prayer so far in our study of the Hebrew words is Grace, individual, silent, and boiling. Four different aspects of the throne of Grace.

Thursday, September 7, 2000

Thought for Today!

“Consider how great things the Lord hath done for you,” 1 Sam 12:24.

Too often we dwell upon the miseries of the past and forget our mercies. But as He supplied us through all our yesterdays, and satisfied us with His Grace, He will not withhold any good thing from us in the days to come.

He gave us faith to trust Him, promises to plead with Him, proofs of His care, and provision without number.

Should these not encourage us to face the days ahead with confidence?

The Genius of the Inspiration of the Scriptures. Not Man – the Scriptures

Job 5:26, “Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age like as a shock of corn in his season.” This metaphor is familiar to all of us.

1. The ripe corn gathered into a sheaf at harvest-time suggests a festival rather than a sadness.
2. It speaks of growth accomplished.
3. It speaks of fruit matured.
4. It speaks of the ministries of the sun and rain received and used.
5. It speaks of a joyful gathering into the great storehouse.
6. Are all these matured powers to have no field for action?
7. Were all these miracles of vegetation set in motion only to grow.
8. Just a crop which should be reaped and there end?
9. What is done with the precious fruit that has taken so long a time and so much cultivation to grow?
10. Surely it is not the intention of the Lord of the harvest to let it rot when it has been gathered.
11. Maturity is not dependent on length of days.
12. God will not call His children home till their schooling days are done.
13. However green and young the corn may seem to our eyes, He knows which heads in the great harvest-field are ready for removal and He gathers only these
14. He looks down on the heads of corn and sees which ones are ripe and He picks them.
15. The child whose little coffin may be carried under a boy’s arm may be ripe for harvesting.
16. Not length of days, but likeness to God makes maturity.
17. And if we die according to the will of God, it cannot but be that we shall come to our grave in a full age, whatever be the numbers carved on the tombstone.

Mark 4:28, “For the Earth bringeth forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, after that the fullcorn in the ear.”

God doesn’t pick rotten corn …. only ripe corn.

I bet you can pick out some more applications.

What is the Production and Power of God the Holy Spirit?

Acts 4:31, 33, “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Power to speak.
Speaking without the Spirit is like talking to people who do not know what you are saying. While speaking in the Spirit, every word is intelligible to those who hear.

Looking to ourselves we shall say with Jeremiah,
”I cannot speak for I am a child.”
But filled with the Spirit, we shall know the Lord’s assuring Word as He says,
”Behold I have put My Words in thy mouth,” Jer 1:6, 9

Tom Hood wrote this to his wife, “I never was anything till I knew you.”
How many men owe everything in life to one young soul that trusted them when all was doubtful – one faithful love that kept them company as long as ever it could?

”I never was anything till I knew you,” applied to God the Holy Spirit is every believer’s testimony.

The Production of the Holy Spirit

”Kept by the power of God.”

His keeping is instant like the eyelid preserving the eye.
Psa 17:8, “Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of Thy wings.”

His keeping is incessant like the stream of which keeps clean the stone lying in the bed.
Psa 19:13, “Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.”

His keeping is invulnerable like the warrior who is encased in bullet-proof armour.
1 Pet 1:5, “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Someone told me, “I need to get all the religion I can get in order to keep what I got.” He was occupied with the endeavors of his own attainments.

The true and effectual keeping is to be kept by the power of God.

The Production and Power of God the Holy Spirit

Power to Pray

The reason why the Lord is able to do above anything we ask or think, is because of ”the Power that worketh in us,” Eph 3:20

That power, the Spirit Himself, must be effective in His working within, if we would know the exceeding abundance of God’s supply from above. We prevail so ineffectively with Heaven because we allow so little of the Spirit’s effectiveness within.

”The Spirit Himself maketh intercession.”
And for this we need to be in the Spirit — that is ungrieved communion with Him.

”Praying in the Spirit” is the prerequisite for the Holy Spirit to pray in us even as the atmosphere is essential for the transmitter of wireless telegraph to send the message.

The Power and Production of God the Holy Spirit

Power to Give!

Paul, in calling attention to the liberality of the churches in Macedonia, says in 2 Cor 8:3, ”According to their power I bear witness, yea, and beyond their power they gave of their own accord.”

The moving Power which caused them to give so frankly and fully was identified in 2 Cor 8:1, ”The Grace of God bestowed.”

When the life of God is low in the experience of the child of God, then the giving will be small. But when the warm heart of love is throbbing, then the willing hand of giving is liberal.

It is not then how little can be given, but how much He is worth!

The principle that the spiritual believer observes is found in the Words of Christ’s prayer to His Father when He said, ”All things are Mine, and Mine are Thine.”

When we know that, what He has is ours. Then we recognize that what we have is His.

The Production and Power of God the Holy Spirit

Power to Do!

The greatest work ever performed was that which God performed when He put forth, ”The strength of His might,” Eph 1:19, in raising Christ from the dead, which we are exhorted “to know” through the Spirit’s enlightening grace, Eph 1:18-20

”Give me the grip of your conquering hand,” was the request of an officer to his commanding general when commissioned to carry out a difficult task. He felt that if he had a grasp of the hand that had obtained no many victories, it would be an inspiration to him.

We not only want to grip the hand of the Holy Spirit, but we need to be gripped by Him. Then we can do because He does.

The grasp of His might will give us such a grip that we will grip to some purpose.

Growing Old!

Many years ago, when God was a child, I was growing up in South Philadelphia. And all young people wanted to do was play, play and have fun. That is what young people are all about. We as young people used to hear older people talking about growing old gracefully, which meant absolutely nothing to any of us. We were having fun and playing in the streets at that time, and didn’t want to spoil our fun thinking about growing old. All the commercials on TV had the same challenge.

But as I became older, that same expression kept running through my mind, growing old gracefully, and now it sounded pretty good to me. It didn’t then, but it does now.

On accepting Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour and many hours spent studying and teaching the Word of God, I have finally found out how to grow old gracefully and it is only by the Grace of God you can grow old gracefully.

That is why Peter left us this legacy, 2 Pet 3:18, “But grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom be glory and honour forever and ever.”

Wednesday, September 6, 2000

God the Father’s Separate Acts Found in the Gospel of John

1. His definite seeking, John 4:23
2. His earnest working, John 5:17
3. His ardent loving, John 5:20, 10:17, 16:27
4. His powerful raising, John 5:21
5. His specific sending, John 5:36, 8:16-18
6. His Divine sealing, John 6:27
7. His holy giving, John 6:32, 37, 10:29, 13:3
8. His attractive drawing, John 6:44
9. His recognized honouring, John 8:54, 12:26
10. His appreciative knowledge, John 10:15
11. His distinct command, John 10:18, 14:31
12. His consecrating act, John 10:36
13. His unmistakable message, John 12:50
14. His manifested indwelling, John 14:10
15. His sufficient bestowment , John 14:26, 15:26
16. His fruitful tending, John 15:1
17. His safe keeping, John 17:11

”The Father worketh hitherto and I work.”

Part Two: What Belongs to Our Father

8. The works of the Father, John 10:37
or, the activities of His ministry.

9. The commandment of the Father, John 15:10
or, the requirements of His love.

10. The cup of the Father, John 16:11
or, the requirement of His holiness.

11. The knowledge of the Father, Luke 12:30
or, the tenderness of His care.

12. The face of the Father, Matt 18:20
or, the consciousness of His presence.

13. The pleasure of the Father, Luke 3:22
or, the intention of His love.

14. The glory of the Father, Matt 18:27
or, the display of His worth.

More to come ... What our Father has, what belongs to Him.

Part Three, What Belongs to God Our Father

15. The Grace and peace of our Father, 1 Cor 1:3
or, the gift of His mercy.

16. The blessings of our Father, Eph 1:3
or, the provision of His Grace.

17. The promise of the Father, Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4
or, the enduement with His power.

18. The love of the Father, 1 John 2:15, 3:1
or, the affection of His heart.

19. The witness of the Father, John 5:36-37
or, the appreciation of His Son.

20. The foreknowledge of the Father, 1 Pet 1:2
or, the purpose of His Grace.

21. The kingdom of the Father, Matt 24:34, 1 Cor 15:24
or, the future of His plan.

You can begin to see all the things we can thank Him for.

The Many-Sidedness of God Our Father

There are several relative expressions which shine out in the New Testament and which bring out the many-sidedness of God our Father.

1. Father – John 1:14-18
   Christ’s revelation of God as our Father.
   

2. A Father – Heb 1:5, 2 Cor 6:18
   God’s relationship to the Son and sons.
   

3. The Father – 1 John 1:2, 3:1, 4:14
   The personal glory of the Father.
   

4. My Father – John 15:1, 8
   Christ’s personal relationship to the Father.
   

5. Your Father – Matt 5:16, 45, 48
   Responsibility of the children to the parent.
   

6. Our Father – Luke 11:2
   Responsibility because of a common relationship.
   

7. God the Father – 2 Tim 1:2, 2 Pet 1:17
   His exclusive relationship.
   

8. God our Father – Eph 1:2
   The saints’ commonwealth and confidence.
   

9. God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ – Eph 1:3
   The relationship of Christ and His own.
   

10. Holy Father – John 17:11
    Christ’s priestly service for His saints.
    

11. Righteous Father – John 17:25
    Christ and the world.

Did you ever think you could express your Father like this?

Beside the Specific Acts of God Our Father on Behalf of His Son

There are certain things which are said to belong to God our Father.

1. The Only Begotten of the Father – John 1:14
   or, what Christ became for us.
   
2. The bosom of the Father – John 1:18
   or, the affection in which the Son lives.
   
3. The home of the Father – John 2:16, 14:2
   or, the place in which He dwells.
   
4. The life of the Father, John 5:26
   or, the vitality of His being.
   
5. The will of the Father – John 5:30, 6:39
   or, the desire of His heart.
   
6. The Name of the Father – John 5:43, 10:25, Matt 28:19
   or, the expression of His nature or His authority.
   
7. The hand of the Father – John 10:29, Luke 23:46
   or, the keeping of His power.

We are only half way through with the things which belong to our Father.

It is good to know what your Father has, and what belongs to Him.

Thought for the Day!

“I thoroughly enjoyed Harvard and I am sure it did me good. But only in the general effect, for there was very little in my actual studies which helped me in after life.”

–Theodore Roosevelt

The Divine Presence, Eph 3:14-21

There are seven things about the presence of the Holy One

1. It is profound in its nature.
The three Persons of the Godhead are seen in Their activities of Grace.

Therefore, the Father is granting His Grace,
The Spirit is strengthening in His power, verse 16
The Christ is dwelling in heart of His love.

2. This Presence is permanent in its dwelling, verse 17
The meaning of the word “to dwell” is to make one’s home.
Christ is no lodger. He is the permanent Occupier of the house of the believer’s inner nature.

3. This Presence is definite in its purpose.
Christ’s indwelling is that “We may be rooted and grounded in love.”
Rooted like a tree, firmly, and grounded like a building, securely.
The soil in which we are to grow is the love of God in Christ.

4. The Presence is centralized in its attraction, verse 18
The center around which believers gather is Christ Himself when He indwells them.
For they have a mutuality of interest in seeking to apprehend Him in the breadth of His love, in the length of His service, in the depth of His suffering, and in the height of His glory.

5. This Presence is satisfying in knowledge.
To know the love of Christ means to have an anchor to hold, a joy to thrill, a power to move, a sap to fructify, a foundation to uphold, a rule to guide, and a fullness to satisfy.

”To be filled with the fullness of God is an impossibility.”
But to be filled “unto” or “into” it, as an empty vessel may be dropped into a tub of water, is what is meant. Then we are filled full to our satisfaction and filled all around for our protection.

6. The Presence is unlimited in its blessing, verse 20
There is a pyramid of thought in this verse on answered prayer

Ask
Think
All we ask
All we think
Above all we ask or think
Abundantly above all we ask
Exceedingly above all we ask, etc.

7. His presence is marvelous in its display, verse 21
All of God’s acts of Grace to and in us are leading up to the display of His glory through us.
Grace never acts with the intent of bringing glory to itself.
Grace is its own glory.
There is no glory so glorious as Grace acting in its disinterestedness.
The beauty of Grace is it loves to beautify others in its own loss and displacement.
But therein its beauty and glory are enhanced.

God has multiplied His Grace to you.

Tuesday, September 5, 2000

Thought for the Day!

Call upon me in a day of trouble
and I will deliver you.

Signed,

Your Brother, Christ

JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH!

The Old Testament title for the Lord is ”The Lord is there,” Ezek 48:35
The Old Testament question to fallen man is ”Adam, where art thou?”
The first question in the New Testament is ”Where is He?”

The reply to this question in the New Testament is given by God the Holy Spirit in the past, present, and future is:

Where was He?
In the manger of His humiliation, at His incarnation.
In the wilderness of temptation at His testing
In the hall of judgment at His rejection
On the Cross of atonement at His death
In the will of His Father in His service
Outside the tomb of death at His resurrection
On the mount of triumph at His ascension

Where is He?
On the throne of acceptance with His Father
In the surrendered child of God by His Spirit

Where will He be?
On His throne of glory at His coming

JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH, ”The Lord is here.”

What Shall We Say of the Wonderful Name of JEHOVAH!

Let us remember that His Name is “Holy and Reverend,” Psa 111:9
Therefore, holiness and reverence become us who hear His Name.

His Name is ”Pleasant,” Psa 135:3
Therefore, let us gladly praise Him for He is “full of delight.”

His Name is “Glorious,” Psa 72:19
Therefore, let us exult in Him forever.

His Name is “Excellent,” Psa 148:13
Therefore, let us speak well of Him.

His Name is “exalted,” Isa 12:4
Therefore, let us proclaim Him as the Supreme One.

His Name is “everlasting,” Isa 63:16
Therefore, let us count upon Him for continued blessing.

”For our Redeemer from the age-time past is Thy Name."

Father!

The Gospel of John is specially the Gospel which reveals the Father.

In Matthew, the Father is mentioned 44 times. In Mark, 4 times. In Luke 17 times. And in John 122 times.
Tracing through John’s Gospel, a definite thought is emphasized in each chapter where “the Father” is mentioned.

1. The Father’s unfolding, John 1:1-14

The Divine Word reveals the loving Father in His Grace and Truth. Christ is all He was in the living expression of what the Father is. The Gospel opens with the Son in the Father’s bosom and before it closes, it reveals a saved sinner in the bosom of the Son. John 1:18, John 13:35

That is only the first chapter. Next look at the second chapter.

2. The Father’s House John 2:16

When the Son comes to the Father’s house, He finds it polluted and possessed by religious sinners. Cleansing is the first act, for there can be no compact in Grace, till the usurper is cast out from his government.

Christ could have had peace by doing nothing.
But righteousness always precedes peace. Righteous peace.

3. The Father’s Trust, John 3:35

The beloved Son has had given to Him the wealth of the Father’s treasure.
Adam was trusted and failed.
Christ the second Adam was trusted and was faithful.

This Gospel reveals Christ as constantly giving.
Look up His “I gives.” He has so much to give the sons, because as the Son, He has received all the treasures of the Father.

4. The Father’s Worship, John 4:23

The spirit nature of the Father seeks the spiritual worship of His children.

The locality of place and the hollowness of form are not recognized by Him. While the soul of faith and the reality of love’s gratitude are food and satisfaction to His being.

We come into the world with a soul and a body without a human spirit and without a Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is impossible to worship Him as unbelievers in Spirit and in Truth.

5. The Father’s Will, John 5:17-42

There breathes through Christ’s references to His Father, working, loving, honouring, committing, sending, witnessing, and fitting one thought, namely His delight to do all the Father wishes.

He wills and walks in His Father’s will, hence the Father is with Him in all His ways.

6. The Father’s Provision, John 6:27-57

As the Bread of God, Christ is God-sealed, God-given, and God-satisfying.

He that wants Christ, wants the Father and everything. While he that has Christ, wants nothing.

For in the Father’s provision, He has everything.

7. The Father’s Commission, John 8:16-54

Sent by the Father, His vocation was to please Him.

He spake of Him, for He enjoyed His company.

And the Father honoured Him in consequence.

8. The Father’s Fellowship, John 10:5-38

Mutual knowledge, mutual love, mutual service, mutual preservation.

Mutual action and mutual possession are some of the heart throbs which the finger of faith feels as it is placed on the pulse of this chapter ten.

9. The Father’s Response, John 11:41

The upward glance of Christ’s appeal brings the unloosing act of God’s power, which causes the corrupting Lazarus to glide forth from the grip of death’s grasp in the vitality of Christ’s life.
No power can withstand the Son’s prayer and the Father’s potency.

10. The Father’s Glory, John 12:6-50

The goal of the Father’ s command had its consummation in the gore of the fiery Cross of Calvary.

The hour of all hours was the hour of Calvary’s darkness, for there did Christ meet God’s claim and glorify His Name, and fulfill every iota of the Father’s will.

11. The Father’s Confidence, John 13:1-3

The consciousness of the Father’s confidence was the fuel that kept the flame of Christ’s continuance burning brightly.

The hate of men, the desertion of friends, the blackness of the Cross, and the ire of God’s judgment could not hide the smile of the Father’s face.

We only have Seven more emphasis on the Father.

12. The Father’s Image, John 14:2-31

The visible Son was the invisible Father. There is no question about God.

The past, the present, the future, the claim of His love, the coming of the Spirit, and the unknown, but finds the answer in Jesus Christ.

13. The Father’s Ministry, John 15:1-26

The mystery of the fatherly Husbandman is the cause of the fruitfulness of the Vine and the branches.

The sap of the Spirit’s life, the glow of the Divine love, and the flow of the Son’s joy, are all due to the Grace of the Father’s attention.

14. The Father’s Love, John 16:3-32

The income which Christ has brought to us, the outcome of Christ’s work for us, all we have become in His Grace and all the enemies we overcome in His power are because the Father has come to us in His love and lives in us in His power.

15. The Father’s Keeping, John 17:1-24

The priestly prayer of Christ is a portraiture of His pleading as He now pleads for the Father’s preservation of His own.

The finished work of the Cross is the basis of His prayer, and the final entrance into His glory is its termination.

16. The Father’s Cup, John 18:11

The cup of our woe was pressed by the Hand of love to the lips of Grace, in order that Grace and love might press to our lips the cup of blessing and salvation.

17. The Father’s Presence, John 20:17-21

To the sublime heights of the Father’s presence He ascends, after going into the depths of intense suffering, and now He sends us forth to make known the riches of His Grace.

We have had 17 mentions of Father in the Gospel of John with some application. I think there is enough here for all of us take in and apply at least until dinner.

In addition to the general survey of the Fatherhood of God in Christ as revealed by the Holy Spirit in John, we find also the Father’s specific acts severally mentioned.

There are 17 of them in the same book, but you’re tired now and I will send them later.

Thought for the Day

Who Goes There?

Who goes there? An American!
Brain and spirit and brawn and heart.
’Twas for him that the nations spared
Each to the years its noblest part,
Till from the Dutch, the Gaul, the Celt
Blossomed the soul of Roosevelt.

Student, trooper, and gentleman
Level-lidded with times and kings.
His the voice for a comrade’s cheer
His the ear when the saber rings.
Hero shades of the old days melt
In the quick pulse of Roosevelt.

Hand that’s molded to hilt of sword
Heart that ever has laughed at fear;
Type and pattern of civic pride.
Wit and Grace of the cavalier,
All that his fathers prayed and felt
Gleams in the glance of Roosevelt

Who goes there? An American!
Man to the core, as men should be
Let him pass through the lines alone
Type of the sons of liberty.
Here where his fathers’ fathers dwelt
Honor and faith for Roosevelt

Senator George Wharton Pepper at a vast memorial meeting in Philadelphia summarized the sudden and grievous death of Theodore Roosevelt and the importance of the great man’s legacy, his unflinching legacy of justice, and humility to future generations.

”We as a people have a sore need of Theodore Roosevelt. But not only collectively do we need him, we need him as individuals. When we look into our hearts, we find that we shall have sustained a personal loss if we allow the Colonel to leave us.

You and I need him as a factor in our daily lives. We have more energy when the Colonel is about. We are less content to submit to injustice, less appalled by obstacles in the path of progress with the Colonel near. We are far braver men and finer women where the Colonel leads us. We are sure of the direction in which we are moving when he gives commands. We are not in doubt about our objective. Happily, it will not be difficult to keep him with us. Theodore Roosevelt alive is easy to conceive of. Theodore Roosevelt dead is altogether unthinkable. Such a man strengthens our belief in immortality. He has but gone to that front from which nobody would dare to hold him back.”

Do you know of any other president that can be spoken of?

Monday, September 4, 2000

Synonyms for the Word “Confess”

It is possible that some one might say “Too much stress is put on one verse of Scripture.” So, here are some verses that teach exactly what 1 John 1:9 teaches.

1. “Yield” – Rom 6:13
2. “Present” – Rom 12:1
3. “Mortify” – Col 3:5 to put to death through confession
4. “Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead.” The word, “dead,” refers to temporal death, out of fellowship – Eph 5:14
5. “Put off the old man and have put on the new man.” This involves restoration back to fellowship.
6. “Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets us” – Heb 12:1
7. “Put on the whole armour of God” – Eph 6:10
8. “For if we would judge ourselves” – 1 Cor 11:31
   

The Death of the Physical Body of the Believer – 1 Thes 4:13-18

Verse 13, “Asleep”
This is the sleeping of the body. The soul and the spirit are never said to be asleep. The awakening of the body is the resurrection.

”I would not have you to be ignorant.”
The Thessalonians had been listening to false teachers regarding those dead in Christ.

”Ye sorrow not even as other which have no hope.”
A. John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection.”
B. Rev 21:4, “No more sorrow, no more tears, no more death.”
C. 2 Cor 5:8, “To be absent from the body is to be face-to-face with the Lord.”

Verse 14, “If” – “If” is a first class condition, if and it is true.
”Them which sleep in Jesus” – Church Age believers who have died.
”Will God bring with Him” – the Second Advent.

Verse 15, “Prevent” literally means “to hinder.”

Verse 16, “Dead in Christ” – The Church universal, invisible, body of Christ.

Verse 17, “We which are alive and remain” – living believers.
”Caught up together with them” – with the dead in Christ.

Verse 18, “Comfort one another.”

The soul and the spirit at the Rapture go where the body checked out. They rejoin the body and the moment the soul and the spirit hit the body, we have a new resurrection body.

The dead in Christ rise first and then the living believers are caught up and they all rendezvous with the Lord in the air.

Children who have not reached the age of accountability, where their volition is operative, will go to Heaven. Christ died for all, unlimited atonement. Children who have reached the age of accountability and not trusted in Christ as their Saviour will remain on Earth.

Sunday, September 3, 2000

Condition of Confession

1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

This is addressed to believers. Confession is potential. “If” is a third class condition and means “maybe you will and maybe you won’t.” But if he does.

”The Lord is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

The basis of confession.

The Divine mechanics: On the Cross Christ bore all the sins and the Father judged those sins so they can never be judged again.

Human mechanics: Use 1 John 1:9. Identify the sin and name it.

Conditions of confession: “If we confess.” There no works attached. Admit the sin, which is citing the sin or sins to God. The Holy Spirit points out the sin. John 16:7-11. The believer realizes what the Holy Spirit points out.

How does the Holy Spirit point out sin?

Through the loss of peace, Phil 4:6-7, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Through severe chastening, Heb 12:6, “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.”

Through a guilty conscience, Heb 13:18, “Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.”

Through sorrow, Psalm 32

Note well that sorrow does not cleanse sin. Admitting the sin to God does. But the Holy Spirit can definitely point out the sin in one way. The four here mentioned are not all of the ways in which the Holy Spirit points out sin.

“If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

”Confess” is HOMO, which means the same and LOGEO, which means to name, to admit, to acknowledge, to cite. These two Greek words give the idea of two people coming to a common agreement on a matter.

God forgives on the basis of confession, not on the basis of how we feel about it, or on penance, or on a promise for our future conduct.

Basing our forgiveness on something we do constitutes works and that is not what the Bible says. Not of works, ever.

Just as God deals with man in Grace at salvation, in which God does everything, and man does nothing, so also He treats us in Grace in the matter of being restored back to fellowship.

This causes us to realize that we are unable to accomplish anything apart from His power and strength through the Holy Spirit. And that pleases Him that we must depend on Him for everything.

The Local Church – EKKLESIA!

1. The Local Church is the basis for missionary activity – the Book of Acts.
2. The Local Church should be supported in the Church Age.
3. A sound missionary organization proceeds out of sound Local Churches and missionary-founded sound Local Churches.
4. Local churches begin by meeting in homes – Rom 15, Acts 12, Col 4
5. When the Church was persecuted, they meet anywhere they could.
6. Membership was anyone who was born-again who recognized the authority of the pastor and attended regularly.
7. The early Church meet in many different homes, therefore the word “elders” is in the plural. It took several pastors who ministered the Word in the cities.
8. The sermons were long, very long, Acts 20:6-12
9. There were no church buildings until the union of church and state. The last sanctuary, temple, was destroyed in 70 A.D. Buildings came after 300 A.D.
10. They observed the Lord’s Supper every Sunday.
11. The Word of God should be taught daily so believers can get Doctrine daily. The Word of God is the life of the believer
    .

Saturday, September 2, 2000

Matt 10:38, “And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after Me is not worthy of Me.”

This is the first reference to the cross in Matthew. This does not refer to the Cross of Christ. The Jews knew that this was the Roman custom for the condemned person to carry his own cross to the point of execution. In this context, carrying the cross refers to giving up the greatest things in life. It is putting the Word of God before anything.

In going to the Cross to die for our sins, Jesus Christ had to sever His own family connections. In the first three hours He severed his human family connections.

He said to Mary, ”Woman, thy son” referring to John.
He said to John, “Thy mother” referring to Mary.

John 19:27, “Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother.”

In the last three hours when He was bearing our sins, the family connections with the Father and the Holy Spirit were severed, in terms of His humanity, not His Deity.

Psa 22:1, “My God, My God, Why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

God could not look upon sin when His Son was bearing it and the Holy Spirit could not sustain either at that time. The Word of God sustained Him at that time. Psa 138:2, “I have magnified My Word above My Name.”

And if it sustained Him, it will also sustain you.

Dying Grace — Central Passage – Job 5:17-21

1. Dying Grace removes the fear of death, Psa 23:4, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.”
   

2. Dying Grace depends on who and what the Lord is, Psa 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.”
   

3. Provision of deliverance in extreme difficulties, Job 5:17-21a, “Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: For He maketh sore, and bindeth up: He woundeth, and His hands make whole. He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. In famine He shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue.”
   

4. Dying Grace promises inner peace, Job 5:21b-24, “Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin.”
   

5. Dying Grace gives comfort to those left behind, Job 5:25, “Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth.”
   

6. God takes the believer at the right time, Job 5:26-27, “Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season. Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good.”
   

The Believer When He Departs From This Life!

1. No judgment in eternity, Rom 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
   
2. No sin nature in eternity, 1 Cor 3:11-16, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”
   
3. Face to face with the Lord in eternity, 2 Cor 5:1-8, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from Heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
   
4. All sorrow removed in eternity, Rev 21:4, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
   
5. An inheritance for all eternity, 1 Pet 1:4-5, “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
   
6. Death means a new eternal home. John 14:1-3, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
   
7. Death means a fuller realization of eternal life, 2 Cor 4:18, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Who is afraid to go home??

Friday, September 1, 2000

The Law of Enclosure!

So many of God’s thoughts enclose a world of meaning in the contents of their significance. Christ is called “the Word.” This title occurs four times in John 1:1, 14.

The word rendered “Word” is LOGOS and signifies the thought of God expressed in action. Therefore, we must remember that its significance covers the whole of Christ’s personality. His life, His work, and His message.

Christ as the Word proclaims:

1. The glory of His personality — John 1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
   
2. The glory of His miracles — John 2:11, “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory; and His disciples believed on Him.”
   
3. The glory of His love — John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
   
4. The glory of His life — John 4:14, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
   
5. The glory of His revelation — John 5:39, “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me.”
   
6. The glory of His supply — John 6:58, “This is that Bread which came down from Heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.”
   
7. The glory of His death and resurrection — John 19:30, “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” John 20:19-31.

Exhortation!

Exhortation means an appeal to the soul and conscience of the individual to do something that is worthy and of importance and leads to a practical end. We frequently find the apostles exhorting those to whom they write to do certain things in connection with the words “Let us.”

The following exhortations are connected with the coming of Christ:

1. Separation
”Seeing the night is far spent, and the day is at hand, let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light,” Rom 13:12

The clothes of the old man of sin are to be cast away as useless and worn out. And the armour of him who is the Light is to panoply us.
Walk in the Light as he is the Light and you will not fulfill the works of darkness.

2. Walk
”Let us walk honestly and put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” Rom 13:13-14

3. Following
“Let us therefore follow after peace,” Rom 14:19

The associations of these words is in relation to our conduct toward each other. Our conduct will be reviewed at the judgment seat of Christ, when we shall each ”give account of himself to God,” verse 12. Therefore, we are not to judge or despise each other but to “follow after peace.”
The fruit of the Spirit is … peace.

4. Reaping
“Let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not,” Gal 6:9

We shall reap in kind what we sow. You will reap what you sow. Sow the seed. Go forth bearing precious seed. A sower went forth.
The seed is the Word.

5. Alertness
“Let us not sleep,” 1 Thes 5:6

To be in a state of spiritual slumber as the word sleep means, which is evidence that we are in a wrong condition of soul.
To be awake is to show we are alert to the Lord’s will.

6. Watchfulness
“Let us watch and be sober,” 1 Thes 5:6

We need a watchful eye to see what the enemy is after, a watchful mind to keep the garden of our inner being, a watchful soul to be ready for our Lord.

7. Sobriety
“Let us who are of the day be sober,” 1 Thes 5:8

Because of what we are, we ought to be different from the others. Children of the day ... children of the Dayspring ... the Daysman.

“The Sum” — The Law of Climax

The Lord always has an end in view in calling attention to any given thing. Therefore, when the Holy Spirit speaks of the priesthood of our Lord in contrast to the priesthood of the past, He ends the whole of His teaching by saying,

”Now of all things which we have spoken this is the sum, we have such a High Priest,” Heb 8:1

This is more definitely seen when we know that the word “sum” indicates a capital or a special outcome. And this may be further appreciated when we reach such a sentence as we find frequently in the prophets.

”In that day” meaning, of course, the time when Christ shall come in His power and glory to set up His millennial kingdom on the Earth. And if the prophecy by Isaiah is read, it makes known what will take place in that day.

The Law of Personal Appeal!

Christ said “I will ..”.

I will come again — John 14:3, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

I will – of answered prayer — John 14:13-14, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in My name, I will do it.”

I will pray – Intercession — John 14:16, “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever;”
I will love – of reciprocity — John 14:21, 23-24, “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My Words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him. He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings: and the Word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s which sent Me.”

The Law of Personal Appeal

I would – of assurance — John 14:2, “In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”

I go – of preparation — John 14:3, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

I am – way, truth and life — John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”

I speak – in Me of the Father’s Word — John 14:10, “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the Words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.”

I say – of authority — John 14:12, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father.”

I do – co-workmanship — John 14:12, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father.”

I will – answered prayer — John 14:13, 14, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in My name, I will do it.”

I will pray – intercession — John 14:16, “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever;”

I will – of comfort — John 14:18, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”

I live – of life — John 14:19, “Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me: because I live, ye shall live also.”

I will love – reciprocity — John 14:21, 23, 24, “

I have spoken and said – of remembrance — John 14:25-26, 28, “These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” “Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for My Father is greater than I.”

I leave and I give – of peace — John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

I love and I do – of love — John 14:31, “But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.”

A Two-Fold Conquest

Christ’s first coming had a distinct end in view in relation to the devil.

”For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil,” 1 John 3:8

He came to unloose all that the enemy had bound, for the word “destroy” means to unloose as Lazarus was loosed from the grave clothes. It also means to break down and melt in John 11:44, Eph 2:14, 2 Pet 3:10

“Christ is said to have taken our nature that by means of death, He might destroy him that had the power of death,” Heb 2:14

That means “to make him void,” and to bring to naught all the power and jurisdiction of the devil. Therefore, Christ has now the “keys of Hades and of death”

Death now serves the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

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