Divine Sugar Sticks for June 2000

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Psa 102:24, “I said Oh my God, take me not away in the midst of my days, thy years are throughout all generations.”

Joshua 14:7, “Forty years old was I when Moses the servant sent me.”

Jer 17:11, “He that getteth riches, shall leave them in the midst of his days.”

Joshua 14:10, “The Lord hath kept me alive these forty and five years.”

P. S. If I told you how many years he has kept me alive you would be shocked.

Acts 2:22, “The man was about forty years old on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.”

Acts 7:23, “When he was full forty years old it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.”

1 Pet 4:2, 3, “The rest of His time, the time past of our lives.”

For hope shall brighten days to come. And memory gild the past.

Types of Suffering and Sickness

1. Organic and hereditary
Timothy’s frequent inflictions and his continual weakness illustrates this group. 1 Tim 5:23

2. Retribution, penal and judicial
Paul refers to one was visited with sickness for special sins, 1 Cor 11:30. Also in John 8:14 and 11:25

3. Corrective paternal and disciplinary
The case James contemplates can be placed in this category. James 5

4. Educational and prepatory
Psa 35:13, Isa 38:12-16, Matt 25:36, James 5:14

5. Voluntary and vicarious
Epaphroditus and Trophimus were sick, but their sickness was not of a disciplinary character calling for confession. Phil 2:25-30, 2 Cor 12:7-10

As the Lord is the Creator of the human body with all its organs, faculties and members, He is able also to re-create it.

The Uniqueness of Christ’s Healing Ministry

1. It was miraculous intervention. Luke 4:39, 40, 5:17-22
2. It was gradual. “He began to amend.” John 4:52
3. It was instantaneous, “immediately.” Luke 5:25
4. It was permanent, “enter no more.” Mark 9:25
5. It was complete, “made whole from that hour.” Matt 15:22-28

Christ’s Two-Fold Purpose in Healing

1. Godward
It proved His Deity. Luke 5:24
Fulfilled prophecy. Matt 8:16-17
Satisfied His compassion. Matt 14:14
Obtained the glory of His Father. John 9:2-3

2. Manward
To draw attention to His Word
To set the infirm free
To empower and ennoble life
To add to life qualitatively
To reorganize life creatively
To reveal God’s love in practical ways

Promises Found for the Deliverance From Death in Scripture are Impressive

Deut 32:29, 1 Sam 2:6, “I kill and I make alive.”

Job 33:28, “He will deliver his soul from going down into the pit.”

Psa 37:37, “Mark the perfect man  ... The end of that man is peace.”

Psa 48:14, “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave.”

Psa 102:20, 26, “To loose them that are appointed unto death.”

Prov 14:32, “The righteous hath hope in His death.”

Isa 25:8, 1 Cor 15:54, “He will swallow up death in victory.”

Hosea 13:14, “I will redeem them from death, O death, I will be thy plague.”

Rom 8:38-39, “Neither death shall be able to separate us from the love of God.”

Phil 1:21, 23, “To die is gain” ... A desire to depart

2 Tim 1:10, Heb 2:14, 15, “Christ, who hath abolished death.”

Rev 1:18, “I have the keys of hell and death.”

… and many more.

The Unique Honesty the Bible

There are manifold promises in the Bible for married life. The Bible is a bold book. It hides nothing of sham. The Bible conceals nothing or “moral cripples” or infirmities or weaknesses or evil.

An illustration of the absolute honesty of the Bible can be found in the chapter dealing with Jacob’s progeny and policy. There is no attempt to hush things up. No paint is used to obscure the pallor of the sickly face of that ancient family. Think of this ugly list.

Genesis 30

1. Envy – 30:1, “And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.”

2. Anger  – 30:2, “And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?”

3. Impatience – 30:4, “And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her.”

4. Human devices for forestalling God’s purposes – 30:14, 15, “And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes. And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son’s mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son’s mandrakes.”

5. Deceptive scheming –30:32, “I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.”

6. The most absolute selfishness – 30:41-43, “And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle. And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.”

And the same frankness in presenting an unvarnished record is found in Judah’s sons, Er and Onan. Genesis 38

Promises for Marriage

In these days of extreme laxity in marriage ties, it is imperative to go back to the Bible in order to find out how God views such a solemn ordinance.

It was Divinely instituted.
Gen 2:24-25, “They shall be one flesh. The man and his wife.”

It was designed for mutual happiness.
Gen 1:18, Ecc 4:9, 10, “It is not good that man should be alone.”

It was meant to produce a Godly seed.
Malachi 2:15, Gen 1:18, 3:15, 4:1, “That he might have a Godly seed.”

It is a lawful and honorable institution.
1 Cor 7:2, 28, “Let every man have his own wife.”
Heb 13:4, “Marriage is honorable in all,” 1 Tim 5:14

It should only be in the Lord who instituted it.
1 Cor 7:39, “She be at liberty to be married to whom she will, only in the Lord.”

It is a partnership death alone can sever.
Rom 7:2-3, “An husband is bound by the law to her so long as he liveth.” Matt 19:6

It carries a benediction of promise when rightly contracted.
”They blessed Rebekah and said, Be thou the mother of thousands of millions.”
Gen 24:60, Ruth 4:11-12

It should be the source of constant joy and satisfaction.
Prov 5:18, “Let thy fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.”

It is sacred because it is symbolic of the union between God and His wife.
Isa 54:5, “Thy Maker is thy Husband,” Jer 3:14, Hosea 2:19-20
Eph 5:23, “One flesh even as the Lord and His Church.”
Eph 5:25, “Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it.”

God’s Eternity is the Date of His Happiness

God’s unchangeableness – the rock of His rest.
God’s omnipotence – the constant guard of His life.
God’s faithfulness – the security of each new day.
God’s mercy – the unfailing overflowing store.
God’s omniscience – the careful Overseer to guide.
God’s holiness – the fountain of sanctifying Grace.
God’s all sufficiency – the lot of His inheritance.
God’s infinity – the extent of His glorious portion.

and it all yours for the taking.

Those Who Put Their Trust and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ Have This at Their Disposal

His Grace – to be saved by
His power – to be kept by
His providence – to be fed by
His Word – to be ruled by
His care – to be preserved by
His arms – to be safely landed in glory

Prophesy From 1 and 2 Timothy!

These two epistles contain two prophesies of coming peril to the professing Church.

1. 1 Tim 4:1-5 – bearing a close resemblance to the errors of the church at Rome.

2. 2 Tim 3:1-5 – probably relating to the great apostasy of the last days before the coming of our Lord and giving a photographic picture of the evils of our own day.

The 2nd epistle to Timothy is of special interest as being the last that Paul wrote, written from the dungeon in Rome in the near expectation of his execution. His zeal and faith are unabated. He is able to say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”

Timothy’s Emphasis on the Person and the Work of the Lord Jesus Christ

1. Christ is our Saviour. 1 Tim 1:15, 1 Tim 2:3, 1 Tim 4:10
2. Christ is our Mediator. 1 Tim 2:5
3. Christ is our Ransom. 1 Tim 2:6
4. Christ is our Teacher. 1 Tim 6:3
5. Christ is our King. 1 Tim 6:15
6. Christ is our Captain. 2 Tim 2:3

Not a bad study for young Timothy!

In July 1918, when the youngest Roosevelt son, Quentin, an aviator in France, was reported to have been shot down and unaccounted for, Teddy Roosevelt inserted the following remarks in an address to the Republican state convention in Saratoga, New York.

”The finest, the bravest, the best of our young men have sprung eagerly forward to face death for the sake of a high ideal, and thereby they have brought home to us the great truth that life consists of more than easygoing pleasure. And more than hard, conscienceless, brutal striving after purely material success, that while we must rightly care for the body and the things of the body, yet that such care leads nowhere unless we also have thought that for our own souls and for the souls of our brothers.

”When these gallant boys, on the golden crest of life, gladly face death for the sake of an ideal, shall not we, who stay behind who have not been found worthy of the great adventure, shall we not in turn try to shape our lives, so as to make in this country a better place to live in for these men, and for the women who sent these men to battle and for the children who are to come after them?”

After Quentin was found dead and was buried where his plane had gone down, Teddy Roosevelt wrote to his son Archie,

”Well, it is very dreadful, but, after all, he died as the heroes of old died; as brave and fearless men must die when a great cause calls. If our country did not contain such men it would not be our country.”

The Lord Will Not Ask the Same Extraordinary Things of Us That He Asked of Ezekiel

But the line of following him who was despised and rejected of men is certain to lie across the will of nature, right through the course of this world.

Does the Lord find in us, those who are absolutely pliant in His hands, as Ezekiel was? He is seeking such.

Ezek 22:30, “I sought for a man to stand in the gap before Me, for the land that I should not destroy it. But I found none.”

Ezek 13:5, “Ye have not gone up into the gaps neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the Day of the Lord.”

He was looking for a man. Maybe it is you. One man with the Lord is a majority.

Why Did Ezekiel Never Weep, As Did Jeremiah and Our Lord???

The Lord sent Ezekiel to be a sign. Ezek 24:24, 6:3, 12:11, “Ezekiel is unto you a sign.”

The portrayal of the imaginary siege of Jerusalem was no doubt exactly calculated to make the men of those times think. For God fits His signs to the times. “Behold I give you a sign. A virgin shall conceive …”

To be God’s sign to the people, Ezekiel willingly sacrificed all his private interests. He was willing to lie in any position God told him, to smite with his hand or strike with his foot, to go forth into the plain or shut himself up within his house, to sacrifice his personal appearance, verse 1, to eat his food by weight or move his house at a day’s notice.

The severest test of all was when God took away the desire of his eyes and commanded him not to weep.

He who wept by the grave of Lazarus understands the sorrow of our human souls and does not rebuke us for it. But He needed Ezekiel as a sign. And so He commanded him not to weep for his own private grief, but to weep bitterly for the sins of his people.

Ezek 24:15-16, “And the Word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man, Behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke. Yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shalt thy tears run down.”

I know you thought I made that up. But, I didn’t. Though I have been accused of doing so. Read it and weep because Ezekiel could not.

A Missionary Doesn’t Have to Cross a Body of Water to be a Missionary

Ezekiel was a prophet and a missionary and he didn’t cross a body of water. Ezekiel was sent to his own people.

It may be easier for some to go as a missionary to India or China, than to speak the Lord’s message in their own relations, or the members of their own church. But perhaps He is saying as He said to Ezekiel about missionaries,

”Thou art not sent to many people of a hard language whose words thou canst not understand. Go, get thee unto the children of thy people and speak to them,” Ezekiel  3:5, 11.

Ezekiel had to give the Lord’s message to very difficult people, to the prophets, the elders, the shepherds, the princes, to Jerusalem, and the land of Israel.

Now this would be a good missionary call – a call to your own. You don’t have to cross a body of water to be a missionary.

Charity begins at home. Lead your family to the Lord – your mother and your father and your sister and your brother and aunts and uncles, etc. What a mission field.

But you will never appear in Christianity Today!

Ezekiel – a Man at God’s Disposal

The Lord sent Ezekiel to be a prophet. Whether they accepted him or rejected him, they could not but know, “Know that there had been a prophet among them.”

Often we read in Ezekiel, “The hand of the Lord was upon me.” And often such words as
”The Spirit took me up.”

Do we as believers know what it is to have the Lord’s hand so strong upon us that the Holy Spirit can take us up and wield us as He wills?

Ezekiel was a faithful and obedient prophet. He spoke when the Lord opened his mouth and was willing to be dumb when the Lord closed it. And therefore, “They knew that it was the Word of the Lord.”

Ezekiel stands out as a man entirely abandoned to God’s use. To prepare him for service, the Lord granted him a vision. In the vision of the cherubim, Ezekiel saw four living creatures that were absolutely at God’s disposal.
”They went every one straight forward, whither the Spirit was to go. They went, and they turned not when they went,” chapter 1:12

The application of this verse to our very experience: Such unswerving following of the Lord expected from the prophet and such He expects from us.

Ezekiel’s Vision – Part Two

The lion, the strongest animal
The ox, the most enduring
The eagle, the highest soaring
Man made in the image of God

These four bring before us the highest forms of natural life. These four living ones, with their wings and their wheels full of eyes, moving with the symmetry of one organism and  the rapidity of lightning in the midst of the “enfolding fire.”

Application of this vision:
Give us a picture of God’s will perfectly executed, as His redeemed saints will be enabled to fulfill it when they see Him as He is and as they should aim at fulfilling it here below.

The Uniqueness of the Book of Lamentations

Throughout the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah points out the judgment that has come upon the city is on account of her sin. The keynote of the book is destruction.

It contains five lamentations. Corresponding with the five chapters. Each lamentation is arranged in “acrostic” form, every verse beginning with one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

In the third or middle lamentation, the climax of the poem, each initial letter is repeated three times. And each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a meaning all its own. For example, the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet is BETH, which means a house. 

An example is “BETH” “LAHEM” meaning house of bread. BETH is house and LAHEM is bread - where the Bread of Life was born.

The 5 Lamentations in the Book of Lamentations

Lament 1
In the first part of the laments, the prophet Jeremiah speaks and describes the city as a woman bereft of her husband and children.
In the second, Zion speaks and bewails her misery. She acknowledges that the punishment is from the Lord and confesses, “The Lord is righteous. I have rebelled.”

Lament 2
Is spoken by the prophet Jeremiah and it is a remarkable description of the ruin of Jerusalem.

Lament 3–5 will follow. All of them are speaking about the fifth cycle of discipline to Israel and of them being scattered and dispersed, as prophesied in Leviticus chapter 26– Their condition at this present time.

They are not “back in the land in belief” as many teach, simply because the Lord Himself will put them back in the land in belief at His Second Coming to Earth – seven years after we are gone with the Rapture.

Laments 3 to 5 in the Book of Lamentations

Lament 3
The prophet Jeremiah speaks, but makes the miseries of the people his own. Out of the midst of the misery he stays himself upon the Lord’s faithfulness and His unfailing compassion and asserts unhesitatingly that “He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men,” chapter 3:33.

Lament 4
The prophet again describes the fearful judgments which have befallen Jerusalem.

Lament 5
The Jewish people speak and make confession, and appeal to God for forgiveness and deliverance.

As the Nation Israel Goes, So Goes the Individual Soul

“No rest”

In chapter one of the book of Lamentations, we have a description of desolation.
”No rest,” “No pasture,” “No comforter,” verses 3, 6, 9

Such is the desolation of every soul with out Christ, without hope, without life.
No rest for the soul.

Lamentations Without Christ

Without Christ: Lamentations 1:3 – No rest.
With Christ: Matt 11:28 – I will give you rest.

Without Christ: Lamentations 1:6 – No pasture.
With Christ: Psa 23:2 – Green pastures.

Without Christ: Lamentations 1:9 – No comforter.
With Christ: John 14:16 – Another Comforter.

”Christ is all in all and in you all and you are complete in Him.”

Lamentation – Jeremiah the Weeping Prophet

Jeremiah weeping over the city reminds us of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are several verses moreover which seem to be a forehadowment of Calvary.

Lam 1:2, “It is nothing to you all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto My sorrow.”
Lam 2:15-16, “All that pass by clap their hands at Thee, they hiss and wag their head.”
Matt 27:39, “All Thine enemies have opened their mouth against Thee.”
Lam 3:8, Psa 22:13, “He shutteth out my prayer.”
Lam 3:14, Matt 27:46, “I was a derision to all My people and their song every day.”
Lam 3:30, “He giveth His cheek to him that smiteth Him. He is filled with reproach.” Isa 1:6, Psa 49:20
Lam 3:19, Psa 49:21, “The wormwood and the gall.”

In the verse “for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests they have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,” we are reminded of our Lord’s own word: ”O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee.”

And of Peter’s words of accusation to the people of Jerusalem, “Ye denied the Holy One and the Just and killed the Prince of Life.”

Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, and Jesus Christ, the weeping Saviour.

Wednesday, June 28, 2000

Israel!

Without a doubt, the preservation of the Jews through the centuries is the miracle of history. Now, such a history called His-tory, that is the Lord's story of choice, love, patience, Grace, and blessing is likewise loaded with His promises as these following passages prove:

1. As the seed of Abraham, Romans 4
2. As the family under Jacob, Genesis 49
3. As the nation under Moses, Exodus 12-14
4. As the kingdom under Saul, 1 Sam 10
5. As captives
A. Under Shalmaneser, 10 tribes, 2 Kings 17
   B. Under Nebuchadnezzar, 2 tribes, 2 Kings 25
6. As a restored remnant under Cyrus, Ezra 2
7. As a nation dispersed under Titus, Luke 21:24
This is their present condition. They are not restored back to the land, but dispersed.
8. As a nation regathered, Isa 11:12
At the Second Advent of Christ, He restores them.
9. As a nation full of blessing, Ezekiel
The history of Israel – the His-tory of Israel.

The Bible is Called Many Things and Each Title Has its Own Important Meaning and Effect

The Bible is called a seed:

Luke 8:11, “The seed is the Word of God.”
1 Pet 1:23, “Incorruptible by the Word of God.”
Isa 55:10, “That He may give seed to the sower.”
2 Cor 9:10, “He that ministereth seed to the sower.”

The symbol of the Bible as seed carried with it the promise of fruitfulness and reproduction. Seed sown in good soil multiplies itself. At times we are discouraged for the seed seems to fall on uncongenial soil. Sometimes we are guilty of the folly of scattering the seed indiscriminately.

“Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters,” Isa 32:20
“In the morning sow thy seed and in the evening withhold not thine hand for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that or whether they both shall   be alike good,” Ecc 11:6
“I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase,” 1 Cor 3:6

The Bible is Called a Hammer!

Jer 29:29, “Is not My Word like a hammer that breaketh in pieces?”
Jer 10:4, “They fasten it with nails and hammers that it moves not.”
Isa 41:7, “He that smootheth with the hammer.”
Isa 44:13, “The smith fashioneth it with hammers.”
Psa 74:6, “Break down with axes and hammers.”

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

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

The other functions of the Bible which Jeremiah illustrates is that of breaking hard substances into pieces. Hearts are indeed hard – Gospel and Truth hardened. And endeavors to break them are sometimes slow and discouraging, yet in the end, regular blows tell.

Our task is to keep on wielding the Divine hammer, praying that God will use it to break rock-like hearts.

It was thus that the Word acted in the conversion of the jailer, Acts 16:25, 34

The Bible is a Laver

Eph 5:26, “The washing of the water, laver, by the Word.”
John 15:3, “Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you.”
John 17:17, “Sanctify them through Thy Word.”
Psa 119:9, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy Word.”
Psa 119:17, “Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

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

In the outer court of the tabernacle there stood the brazen altar and the laver. After serving at the first, the priest having dealt with the sacrifice had to wash his hands, (his work) and his feet (his walk) and thereby remove all defilement as he sought to enter the Holy Place to worship.

“Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord,” Isa 52:11 

The Bible is the medium of cleansing in that it leads us to the only fount of cleansing, namely,
1 John 1:7, “The blood of Christ keeps on cleansing from all sin.”
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.”

The Bible is Called Fire!

Jer 23:29, “Is not My Word like a fire?”
Jer 20:9, “His Word was in my heart as a burning fire.”
Luke 24:32, “Did not our hearts burn within us, while He opened to us the Scriptures?”
Psa 39:3, “While I was musing the fire burned, then spoke I with my tongue.”

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

Fire destroys and the Bible, when believed and obeyed, destroys everything alien in your life and mine.

Fire purges, fire refines, and cleanses, and the Bible is the medium of purification.

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

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

Tongues of fire burned their way into the cold hearts of the multitudes.

The Bible is a Lamp!

Psa 119:105, “Thy Word is as a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path.”
Psa 119:130, “The entrance of Thy Words giveth light.”
Prov 6:23, “The commandment is a Lamp and the Law is light.”
2 Pet 1:19, “The more sure word of prophecy … A Light that shineth in a dark place.”

Promises of illumination and guidance are associated with this expressive symbol of Scripture. It will be noted that the psalmist uses the double figure of lamp and light. While we look upon these as one, yet there is a distinction.

What is the use of a lamp, costly and ornamental though it may be, is there is no light within it to radiate forth? The internal life is necessary to the external lamp.

The Bible as a whole is the external Lamp, but without the Spirit, the Divine Light, illuminating Scripture and shining through it, it remains dark.

The darkness of the heart is likened to the chaos that existed before there was light and life and order were established. But God, in 2 Cor 4:6 said,  “Who commanded the Light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts.”

The Bible is Called a Mirror!

2 Cor 3:18, “Beholding as in a glass of glory of the Lord.”
James 1:22-25, “A hearer of the Word … is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.”

A mirror reveals and reflects. Standing before a mirror we see ourselves as we are.

People shrink from the Word of God because it tells them the Truth about their sins and reveals to them not what they think they are, but what the Lord declares them to be: Guilty before Him, Rom 3:19.

Are there not those who would destroy the Bible because of the revelation it provides of their own sinful lives? You have to love the Bible because it found us.

The Bible is Gold and Silver

Psa 119:17, “The Law of Thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.”
Psa 19:10, “The Statutes of the Lord are... More to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold.”
Psa 12:6, “The Words of the Lord are pure Words as silver is tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” Psa 119:140, Prov 30:5

As gold is the most costly metal, we have the reference to the Bible as gold, indicating the promise of preciousness. Peter speaks of it in 2 Pet 1:4, “Exceeding great and precious promises.”

The believers at Smyrna who loved and kept God's Word were poor, materially, but rich spiritually. Rev 2:9, “I know thy poverty. But thou art rich.”  

What real and lasting wealth God has provided for us in the Scriptures. Within it are riches in which the “treasures” of earth are as trash.

The tragedy is that with so much gold at our disposal, we yet live as spiritual paupers. Heirs of such wealth as the Word contains, we live as children cut off without a penny to our name.

We need a gold rush! No need for panning.  

The Bible is as a Word!

Words are the garments of thoughts. The Bible is the expression of the inner thought. Scripture is the revelation of the Divine mind.

Because of the widespread use of the emblem “the Word,” if you trace passages where “My Word,” “the Word of God,” “His Word,” “Thy Word,” “this Word,” you will light upon an abundance of promises revealing the Grace of God.

Heb 4:12, “The Word of God is alive and powerful.”
Psa 130:5, “In His Word do I hope.”
Isa 66:2, “To him that trembleth at My Word.”
Jer 26:1, “The Word that came from the Lord.”
Psa 119:11, “Thy Word have I hid in my heart.”

We have noted the mystic union between Jesus Christ and the Word of God, the Bible, the Written Word. Rev 19:13, “His Name is called the Word of God.”

The Bible, then, and Christ, through the Bible both reveal and express the mind and purpose of God. Having and knowing the mind of God, Christ was able to declare in language men could not fail to understand the deep things of God.

The Bible is Tender Grass!

Deut 32:2, “My Doctrine shall drop as the rain, My Speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass.”

2 Sam 23:2, 4, “His Word was in my tongue ... As the tender grass springing out of the Earth in clear shining after rain.”

Here we have a striking symbol drawn from nature of the refreshing and reviving influences of the Scriptures. What a promise of spiritual quickening there is in the Truths of the Bible being able to revive and quicken our parched hearts and the dry, barren condition of the Church – just as the continuous rain brings new life to fields and lawns.

Isa 55:10-11, “As the rain cometh down … watered the Earth, So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My Mouth.”

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

“It shall accomplish that which I please and shall prosper in the thing whereto I send it.”

The Bible is a Critic!

Heb 4:12, “The Word of God is alive and powerful ... is a Critic of the thoughts and intents of the mind.”

While the word “discern” frequently occurs in the Bible, this is the only reference in which the peculiar Greek word KRITIKOS, from which is derived our English word “critic,” is used. The adjective used signifies that which relates to judging, fit for, or skilled in. Judging, hence, critical.

The Bible is critical of our thoughts and intents, meaning its authority to discriminate and pass judgment on our thoughts and feelings.

Presumptuous men call themselves critics of the Bible and sit in judgment upon It.
They forget that the Bible is the infallible Critic of their actions.

The Bible is the only thing that discerns between the human spirit and the soul, which very few make the distinction. Hardly any.

The Word of God is a Sword!

Eph 6:17, “The Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”
Heb 4:12, “The Word of God … sharper than any two-edged sword.”
Judges 7:18, “The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon.”
Isa 34:5, “My Sword shall be bathed in Heaven.”

In this militant metaphor we have the promise of conquest, victory, and

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

In three different ways Satan assailed the Lord Jesus Christ. But all that Christ did was to give the enemy three thrusts of His bayonet. The three, “It is writtens” were sufficient to defeat Satan.
Matt 4:4, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
Matt 4:7, “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”
Matt 4:10, “Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.”

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

It is a sharp two-edged Sword, meaning it cuts both ways. If the Bible does not save and if it fails to convert, than it condemns.

John 3:36, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

Quote of the Day

“All kinds of other qualities, moral and physical, enter into being a good hunter, and especially a good hunter after dangerous game, just as all kinds of other qualities in addition to skill with the rifle enters into the being of a good soldier.”

–Theodore Roosevelt

Thought for Today – My Lifetime Verse of all Verses

1 Chr 26:18, I know you know it by heart and it is on your refrigerator door, and you have committed to memory and you can pass the entrance into Heaven with it. Right!

1 Chr 26:18, “At Parbar westward, four at the causeway, and two at Parbar.”

Claim it!

Can You Name the Gates of Jerusalem? And Their Meaning and Purpose? 

Sheep gate, Fish gate, Old gate, Valley gate, the Dung gate, the Gate of the Fountain, the Water Gate, the Horse Gate, the East Gate, the Miphhad Gate.

Ask your pastor!

Tuesday, June 27, 2000

Malachi and the Importance of One Little Word

When believers are negative to the Word of God, they make all kinds of excuses and blame other people for their negative volition. Some even blame God, and that is the case in the book of Malachi. “Wherein” is the little word which is emphasized in Malachi.

Malachi's message is to the priests who ought to have been the leaders in righteousness and also to the people who followed their lead in neglecting and dishonoring the Lord. His book is marked by straightforwardness and plain words of rebuke by which he brings home their sins to a self-satisfying people who had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof.

Each rebuke of the prophet was disputed by the people with the question “Wherein?” There are seven of them in the book.

1. Wherein hast Thou loved us? Mal 1:2, “I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast Thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob.”

2. Wherein have we despised Thy Name? Mal 1:6, “A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a Father, where is Mine honour? and if I be a Master, where is My fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise My Name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised Thy Name?”

3. Wherein have we polluted Thee? Mal 1:7, ”Ye offer polluted bread upon Mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted Thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.”

4. Wherein have we wearied Him? Mal 2:17,”Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied Him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?”

5. Wherein shall we return? Mal 3:7, “Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from Mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?”

6. Wherein have we robbed Thee? Mal 3:8, ”Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings.”

7. Wherein have we spoken so much against Thee? Mal 3:13, “Your words have been stout against Me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against Thee?”

And then for good measure they throw in two “Whats.”

8. What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance? Mal 3:14, “Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?”

9. “For what” or “wherefore,” referring to what Malachi said in verse 13.

I think there is a message here.

What Was Malachi's Message and Burden?

“I have loved you, saith the Lord.”

What a message to a people who were disappointing God's love! It is always so. Malachi rebuked the very same sins that Nehemiah dealt with.

1. The corruption of the priesthood, Neh 13:29, Malachi 2:8
2. The alliance with idolatrous wives, Neh 13:23-27, Malachi 2:10-16
3. The neglect of the tithe, Neh 13:10-12, Malachi 3:10

These are all the results of negative volition to the Word of God.

“Wherein?????”        “Therein!!!”

The Old Testament Closes with the Word “Curse”

But it is the expressive of God's great desire of God's love to avert it. For He says, “Lest I come quickly and smite the Earth with a curse.”

The New Testament closes with blessing. Cursing turned to blessing! “The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”

A silence of 400 years lay between the voice of Malachi and the voice of the one crying in the wilderness. “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” But there is a remarkable link between the two testaments. The last figure on the inspired page of Malachi and the first on the inspired page of Matthew are the Angel of the covenant and His forerunner.

Zechariah and the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ!

“Thy King cometh unto thee.”

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

We have the prediction of His entry into Jerusalem riding upon an ass's colt. Zech 9:9

In contrast to the false shepherds, we see Him as the Good Shepherd saving His flock and caring for the poor of the flock. Zech 9:16, 11:11

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

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

Zechariah speaks of “The blood of the covenant, Zech 9:11, which our Lord applied to His own blood. Matt 26:28, “This is My blood of the new covenant which is shed for many unto remission of sins.”

We have the prophecy of His betrayal by Judas for 30 pieces of silver, even to the fact that “The money was cast to the potter in the house of the Lord,” Zech 11:12-13

Zechariah and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Thought for the Day!

“To bear the name of American is to bear the most honorable of titles, and whoever does not so believe, has no business to bear the name at all.”

–Theodore Roosevelt, April 1894

The Keynote in the Book of Deuteronomy!

 Obedience is the keynote in the book of Deuteronomy, as it is also the keystone of blessing in the Christian way of life. This book brings out more than any other book in the Bible the blessedness of obedience. 

Listen to this verse, “Oh that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always that it might be well with them and with their children for ever,” Deut 5:29.

This is the Lord's yearning over His people amidst the terrors of Sinai. Again and again they were told that these laws and this demand of obedience are “for our good always,” Deut 6:24.

Moreover, it is made clear that this obedience is not in order to purchase the favor of God, but it is demanded because they already enjoy His favor. This is to believers.

Deuteronomy – a dull book???

When the Lord Jesus Christ Used the Book of Deuteronomy!

When He was confronting Satan, He said, Matt 4:4 and Luke 4:4, “Man cannot live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Where did He get that verse?

Deut 8:3, “And He humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee With manna, which thou knowest not, that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.”

Christ took a passage of Scripture and applied it to His life. Get the point???? Try it! You will like it!

Again and again the Jews were told that the Lord chose them because He loved them, and He had redeemed them out of bondage with a mighty hand. And that therefore, they are an holy people unto the Lord, a special people unto Himself. And for that reason they are called to keep His Word with all their heart and to serve Him with joyfulness.

What a message that contains for us today!

How many still think that they have to earn the Lord's salvation by their obedience instead of seeing that they first must accept His

It is summed up for us in Titus 2:13-14, “Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

The Climax of the Book of Deuteronomy!

Is the majesty of the coming Messiah bursting upon the lips of Moses? Deut 18:15, “The Lord, Thy God, will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me unto Him shall ye hearken.”

Here again the necessity for the incarnation is brought out. As it is in each part of Christ's three-fold office of Prophet, Priest, and King Even under the old dispensation, each office had to be fulfilled by a “brother,” one of the same flesh and blood. The Messiah had to become a man in order to be Prophet, Priest, and King.

“And the Word took on flesh.”

“Weasel Words”

“One of our defects as a nation is a tendency to use what have been called “weasel words. When a weasel sucks eggs, the meat is sucked out of the egg. If you use a ‘weasel word’ after another, there is nothing left of the other.”

 –Theodore Roosevelt, St. Louis, Missouri, May 31, 1916

Moses and Messiah!

In many points, even in his outward history, Moses was a type of Christ.

1. In his deliverance from violent death in infancy.
2. In his years of silent training.
3. In his willingness to leave the palace of the king to deliver his people from bondage.
4. In his meekness, in his faithfulness, in his finishing his work God gave him to do. Exodus 11:33, John 17:4, John 19:30
5. In his work as a mediator between God and the people.
6. In his communion with God face-to-face.

In all these, he was a picture of the Son of Man who was to come. But in how much this picture falls short!

“Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, but Christ as a Son over His own house.”

Moses sinner under provocation. Christ was without sin.

Moses was not able to bear the people alone. Christ has borne the burden of our sins in His own body on the tree.
And He invites us to, “Cast all our cares on Him because He keeps on caring for us.”

“The Law came by Moses, but Grace and Truth came by the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Foolishness!

1. The foolishness of the message.
Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block, to the Gentiles foolishness.

2. The power of the message.
Christ, the power of God to them that are saved.

3. The foolishness of the Messenger.
His weakness from the human side.

4. The power of the Messenger.
The all-sufficiency of Christ.

It is not the man, it is the message.
But Christ is the Man and the Message.

Promises and the Fulfillment of the Promises

Christ would be rejected.

1. By His brethren

Promise:
“I am become a stranger unto My brethren and an alien to My mother's children,” Psalm 69, Isa 63:3, 5

Performance:
“He came unto His own and His own received Him not,” John 1:11
“His brethren therefore said unto Him depart hence,” John 7:3
“Neither did His brethren believe in Him,” John 7:5

2. “As a stone of stumbling unto the Jews”

Promise:
“He shall be a Stone of Stumbling and for a Rock of Offence to both the House of Israel,” Isa 8:14

Performance:
“They stumbled at that Stumbling Stone,” Rom 89:32-33
“A Stone of Stumbling and a Rock of Offence,” 1 Pet 2:8

3. Rejection by the Jewish rulers

Promise:
“The Stone which the builders refused to become the Headstone of the corner,” Psalm 118:22

Performance:
“Jesus said unto them the Stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the Head of the corner,” Matt 21:42, John 7:48

4. His rejection by Jews and Gentiles

Promise:
“The kings of the Earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and His anointed.”

Performance:
“Pilate and Herod were made friends together for before they were at enmity between themselves,” Luke 23:12
“The Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together,” Acts 4:25-29

“He came into His own, and His own received Him not, but as many as received Him, to them gave He the authority and power to become the sons of God.”  

Say, ahmen. 

A Promise of an Eternal Refuge

1. “The eternal God is our Refuge,” Deut 33:27
2. “My High Tower and Refuge,” 2 Sam 22:3
3. “I will be a Refuge for the oppressed,” Psa 9:9
4. “Because the Lord is my refuge,” Psa 14:5, 46:1, 48:3
5. “In Thy wings will I make my refuge,” Psa 57:1, 59:16, 62:7
6. “O Lord, my refuge in affliction,” Jer 16:19
7. “The Lord is my Fortress,” Psa 18:2, 31:3, 91:2, 144:2

Here are a couple out of the 7,000 promises that you can claim.

The Unselfishness of the Lord Jesus Christ

“Even Christ pleased not Himself,” Rom 15:3

“I do those things which please My Father,” John 8:29

“He saved others, Himself He cannot save,” Matt 27:42

“Let him take up His Cross and follow Me, whosoever shall lose his life shall find it,” Matt 28:24, 26

The life of self is death.
The death of self is life.

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

Christ the Seed!

The Seed of the Woman
Promise: Gen 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.”
Fulfilled: Gal 4:4, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.”
Matt 1:18, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with Child of the Holy Spirit.”

The Seed of Abraham
Promise: Gen 17:7, “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.”
Gen 22:18, “And in thy Seed shall all the nations of the Earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed My voice.”
Fulfilled: Gal 3:16, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.”
Matt 1:1, “The Book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.”

The Seed of Isaac
Promise: Gen 21:12, 13, “And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy Seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.”
Fulfilled: Heb 11:16-19, “But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

The Seed of David
Promise: Psa 132:11, “The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; He will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.”

Fulfilled: Matt 1:1, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”
See also Jer 23:5, Act 13:23, Rom 1:3

God keeps His Word.

Christ is the Word That We Can Handle

“Handle Me and see,” Luke 24:39

“Nor handling the Word of God deceitfully,” 2 Cor 4:2

“Our hands have handled the Word of life,” 1 John 1:1

“Howbeit there is a Kinsman nearer than I,” Ruth 3:12

Put your hand in My side Thomas!

The Words of Christ

“I have esteemed the Words of His mouth more than my necessary food,” Job 23:12  

“The Words of the pure are pleasant words,” Prov 15:26

“The Words that I speak unto you, they are life,” John 6:63

“The Words of our Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Tim 6:3

“The Words of a man's mouth are as deep waters,” Prov 18:4  

“I have magnified My Word above My Name,” Psa 138:4

“Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee.”

Put these up in your shower – That is where you do your best singing

“The Lord is my Song,” Ex 15:1, Psa 118:14, Rev 12:2

“He hath put a song in my mouth,” Psa 40:3, 96:1, Rev 4:3

Remember it is not the tune or the melody, it is the words.

“I will praise the Lord with a song,” Psa 69:30

“Ye shall have a song in the night,” Isa 30:29

“God will give songs in the night,” Job 35:10. Job should know.

“At midnight Paul and Silas sang praises unto God,” Acts 16:25

“Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with Grace in your hearts unto the Lord,” Col 3:16

“When they had sung a hymn,” Matt 26:30

Now you have something to sing about. You only have the words of the Psalms – no melody. The emphasis is on the Word of God.

We celebrate Memorial Day, Flag Day, D-Day, July 4th, Armistice Day, Veterans Day

When I become president, here is the day or daily celebration I will make:
Remembrance Day!!!!

“Remember the Lord which is great and terrible,” Neh 4:14

“Remember that thou magnify His work which men behold,” Job 36:24

“We will remember the Name of the Lord,” Psa 20:7

“Remember the Lord Jesus Christ was raised,” 2 Tim 2:8

“Remember the Words spoken of Jesus,” Jude 17

“If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,” Psa 137:6

“He shall bring all things to your remembrance,” John 14:26

“This do in remembrance of Me,” 1 Cor 11:25

Lest we forget!!!!!

Monday, June 26, 2000

Isaiah and Salvation

A clear vision of Christ and His salvation and His ultimate universal dominion are found in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah's own name means, “Salvation is of the Lord,” and it forms the subject of the book. Starting with the invitation in chapter one.

“Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”

And similar promises which are found Isa 43:25 and 44:22, “I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins return unto Me for I have redeemed thee.”

Peace is Also Found in the Book of Isaiah

Peace, the effect of righteousness, the result of salvation, in like manner runs as a silver thread through the chapters in Isaiah.

Starting with the “Prince of Peace” in Isa 9:6-7, to the proclamation of peace in Isa 57:19 and “peace as a river,” 48:18 and 61:12.

Salvation brings peace with God and the peace of God. Peace always follow Grace. “Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Dominion Also Revealed

Isaiah not only brings out the salvation of the Lord, and the peace of the Lord, but the universal spread of the Messiah's kingdom

It is foreshadowed in the vision in the words of the seraphim, “The whole Earth is full of His glory.”

This Truth finds expression throughout Isaiah. In 2:2, “All nations shall flow to the mountain of the house of the Lord which is to be established in the top of the mountains.” In Isa 11:9, “The Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

And in the last chapter we have the declaring of His glory among the Gentiles. Isaiah brings out salvation, peace, and dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Isaiah and the Messiah

The glorious salvation in the book of Isaiah centers around a Person, the Coming One, the personal Messiah. There is something very remarkable in the way in which he fills the vision of the prophet Isaiah. There is a certain abruptness with which the prophesies about Him are introduced, as if to attract our attention.

It is so in the sign which God promises to give in the birth of the Divine Person from a human virgin. The promise in chapter 7 is blended with the promise in chapter 9 and in the two prophesies we get a picture of the Child which was to be.

He is identified with our race for He is: “A Child born” and “A Son given.” He is to be of the family of David, but He is much more. His birth is to be supernatural. He is to be Divine.

“God with us,” Immanuel.
“Wonderful,” the name by which God revealed Himself to Manoah and his wife.
“Counsellor,” corresponding with the “wisdom” of Proverbs.
“He who of God is made unto us wisdom.”
“The mighty God.” The word for “God” is EL, which links this verse to the Name “Immanuel.”
“The everlasting Father,” or the Father of eternity, which is equivalent to the “Author of everlasting salvation” of Hebrews 5:7.
“The Prince of Peace,” the name foreshadowed in the priestly king of Salem and in Solomon, the peaceful one.

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

Here is Christmas in June. Every day is Christmas with Christ!

The New Testament destroys the theory of the theologians who teach that there are two Isaiahs. One, the first half of the book referring to

Judgment, and the second half of the book starting with chapter 40, which speaks of comfort. They call it Deutero-Isaiah.

Isaiah is mentioned by name in the New Testament 21 times. Of these 21 times, 10 of them are connected with passages contained in the first part of the prophecy and 11 with passages from the second part. The whole book of Isaiah is quoted or referred to more than 210 times and chapters 40 to 61 more than 100 times.

With the New Testament writers, the book of Isaiah is “The Word of the prophet Isaiah spoken by the Holy Spirit.” 

Matthew declares that the writer of chapter 42 was Isaiah, Matt 12:17, “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying.”

Luke testified that chapter 53 was written by Isaiah, 4:17, “And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written.”

John in the same breath ascribes chapters 53 and 65 to the same prophet, John 12:38-41, “That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the Arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias, when he saw His glory, and spake of Him.”

Paul ascribes chapter 53 and 65 to the same prophet, Rom 10:16, 20, “But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?” “But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after Me.”

In every possible way the New Testament writers attribute the entire book to one writer, Isaiah, distinguishing between the “Book of Isaiah” and the “prophet Isaiah,” who wrote the book. Luke 4:17 and 3:4, etc.

Jeremiah’s Testimony

God chooses unlikely instruments to do His work. He chose the sensitive, shrinking Jeremiah for what seemed like a hopeless mission, with these words, “Say not I am a child, for whatsoever errand I shall send thee, thou shalt go and whatsoever I shall command thee, thou shalt speak be not afraid, I am with thee to deliver thee,” Jer 1:7-9.

And Jeremiah proved worthy of the Lord's trust. Though his heart was wrung with the severe denunciations he had to give and with the stubborn rejections of them by his people; Though he often poured out his complaints to God and even went so far as to say that he would not speak any more in His Name; Yet we never once find him turning back from the path of his duty.

Imprisoned again and again and put in stocks, Jer 20:21
Lowered by ropes into a miry dungeon, Jer 38:6, probably an empty cistern
Mocked and derided, Jer 20:7
A man of strife and contention to the whole world, Jer 15:10
Accused of treachery to his country. Jer 38:4
Opposed by false prophets, Jer 23, Jer 28
Confronted by angry people who clamored for his life, Jer 26
Carried against his will by his country men into Egypt, Jer 43:1-7 

Under all these circumstances, Jeremiah went steadily on delivering his message with unswerving fidelity for over 40 years.

The Courage of Jeremiah!

Jeremiah's fearlessness in the face of danger is shown most conspicuously in chapter 26 where the Lord made him to give the Lord's message in the temple court and admonished him not to diminish a Word.

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

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

“Meditate in the Word of God day and night, neither turning to the left or to the right, and thou shalt prosper withersoever thou goest.”

Jeremiah was a Mason!

When Johanan and the chief of the captains refused to hear the voice of the Lord by Jeremiah, and persisted in going down to Egypt with all the remnant of Judah, men, women, and children, including the king's daughters. They came and dwelt at Tahpanhes.

At the commandment of the Lord, Jeremiah took great stones and hid them under the large platform or pavement of brickwork at the entry of Pharoah's house in Tahpanhes. There he prophesied that over these stones Nebuchadnezzar should one day set his throne and spread his royal pavilion.

You didn’t know Jeremiah was a mason. Tell your pastor.

Jeremiah's ministry was one of admonition and antagonism. Against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes, against the priests, against the prophets was he to stand. He was to gird up his loins and arise, and speak all that God commanded him. He was to be the solitary fortress, the column of iron, the wall of brass, fearless, undismayed in any presence.

The one, grand immoveable figure, who pursued the apostatizing people and rulers, delivering his message in the temple court or the royal chamber or the street, whether they would hear or whether they would forbear.

In consequence, he was the prophet of unwelcomed Truths, hated of all, but feared as well by all. It was a mission requiring courage, faith, strength, will – a mission no weakling could fill, no coward would undertake. Jeremiah is one of the great men of this world.

To Jeremiah was committed the hopeless task of trying to bring back his people at the 11th hour. He prophesied as certain the restoration of his people and the unalterable love of God to them.

At the very time of the siege of Jerusalem and from his prison cell, Jeremiah, at the bidding of the Lord, purchased a field from his cousin

We have missed the testimony of Jeremiah in these similar days.

Jeremiah as a Type of Jesus Christ

Jeremiah was a true foreshadowing of Christ.

Jeremiah wept over his people as Jesus Christ wept over them. Matt 9:1

Jeremiah's fearless rebuking of sin brought him reproach and rejection and suffering as it brought our Lord and Saviour.

He compares himself to a lamb or an ox brought to the slaughter. Jer 11:19

Jeremiah, next to the Lord Jesus Christ, was probably the greatest of all antagonists.

Every one hated the both of them. “If they don’t hate you, then you are none of mine. Because they hated Me.” If the world loves you, look out.  

Jeremiah and the Messiah

Jeremiah does not unfold for us as much of the coming Messiah as does Isaiah. But we do have glimpses of Christ in Jeremiah.

The Fountain of Living Waters, Jer 2:13
The Great Physician, Jer 8:22
The Good Shepherd, Jer 31:10, Jer 23:4
The Righteous Branch, Jer 23:5
As David the King, Jer 30:9
As the Redeemer, Jer 50:34
As the Lord our Righteousness, Jer 23:6

At the very time that David's throne was imperiled and justice and equity almost unknown, Jeremiah announced the coming of a King of the house of David and a Righteous Branch who would reign and prosper and execute judgment and justice in the Earth. “In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is His Name whereby He shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness.” JEHOVAH TSIDKENU

In this majestic name, the Godhead of our Saviour is predicted, and as a descendant of David, His humanity. The God-man.

Subjects and Titles for Gospel Messages Found in Jeremiah

What wilt thou say when He shall punish thee? Jer 13:21

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

Flee, save your lives and be like the heath in the wilderness. Jer 48:6

My Word is like a fire and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. Jer 23:29

Break up your fallow ground. Jer 4:3

Her sun is gone down while it is yet day. Jer 15:9

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

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

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

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

My people have been lost sheep. They have forgotten their resting places. Jer 50:6

The harvest is past. The summer is ended and ye are not saved. Jer 8:20

There is nothing too hard for Thee. Jer 32:17

Lamentations!

In chapter one we have the description of desolation. “No rest, no pasture, no Comforter,”  verses 3, 6, 9. Such is the desolation of every soul that is without Christ.

We come into this world without Christ, without hope, and without life.

A Beautiful Illustration of Putting Your Problems in the Lord’s Hands

This is found in 2 Kings. “Is thine heart right,” said Jehu to Jehonadab, the son of Rechab. “Is thine heart right as my heart with thy heart?” And Jehonadab answered “It is.” “If it be, give me thine hand, and he gave him his hand and he took him with him into the chariot.”

Our King sees us toiling along life's journey and He puts to us this question, “Is thy heart right towards Me?”

“Lovest thou Me more than these?” If we can reply, “It is,” “Thou knowest that I love Thee.” Then our King, as it were, stretches out His hand and draws us up with Himself to heavenly places, and makes us to ride in His chariot of power.

We have the same thought in the book of Chronicles. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole Earth, to show Himself strong on the behalf of those heart is perfect toward Him.” “What think ye of Christ?”

The “heart” here is the mind. It is always the mental attitude. 
“With the mind man believeth unto salvation.”
“I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Me.”
“As a man thinketh in his mind, so is he.”
“Guard your mind with all diligence, from out it comes all the issues of life.”

Ruth

After about ten years, Naomi heard “That the Lord had visited His people giving them bread and she arose to return to her own land.” And then follows the memorable choice of Ruth to cleave unto her mother-in-law in following her to an unknown land, and what seemed a life of privation and toil.

When Naomi saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left speaking to her. There must have been something very beautiful in Naomi's life, thus to win the devotion and love of Ruth, first to herself and then to her God. And it has been well to keep her name that means “pleasant,” instead of substituting her suggested name of “Mara.”

They arrived at “Bethlehem,” the house of bread, at the beginning of barley harvest and proved it to be “the house of bread” once more.

The calm poetry of those harvest fields of Bethlehem, the eager gleaners among the maidens, the reapers, the lord of the harvest, have all lived in golden sunshine in our imaginations from our childhood. Notice, “Her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging to Boaz.”

Behind our lives there is a Guiding Hand which causes even insignificant things to be fraught with mighty issues. “Her hap” was God's design in bringing her to her Right-Man, Boaz.

He brought Eve to Adam also. No need to go on a search for Mr. Goodbar. You won’t find him in a bar. Good bad or indifferent. Don’t believe all the beer commercials.

A beautiful story never seen on Broadway and one that Shakespeare missed. But the Lord didn’t. He had you in mind.

We know that the book of Ecclesiastes is all about “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity and vexation of spirit,” a frantic search for happiness apart from the Lord.

But in studying the book of Ecclesiastes verb by verb, I learned something I never learned in school. You know school in my days you had to walk miles back and forth from school and carry your own lunch, which I ate before lunch. So I got tired of walking to school so I joined the Army and really found out what walking was!

  But here is what I learned in the book of Ecclesiastes. I think you can go to school in the Bible.

Ecc 1:7, “All the rivers run into the sea. Yet the sea is not full unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.”  
I never learned that in school. What an accurate description of the facts of the absorption and condensation of water from the sea into the clouds and then into rain by which the equilibrium of the sea and land is maintained.

And I found a similar description in Psalm 104:8-9 where we read of the waters going up by the mountains as well as down by the valleys.

And the facts are still further explained in Psalm 135:7, “He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the Earth, He maketh lightnings for the rain, He bringeth the wind out of His treasuries.” The “watery vapour “is rising from the ocean's breast in such volume as no pumps ever imagined by man could produce.

The Psalmist inspired by God the Holy Spirit describes in simple language what science today is revealing. It stands to reason a Creator has to be a scientist, too.

Sunday, June 25, 2000

Thought for the Day!

Most Christian men wear their hair longer than God. 1 Cor 11:14, “Doth not even nature itself teach you, that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?”

Get a crew cut you will even look younger.

“The one thing abhorrent to the powers above the earth and under them is the hyphenated -American, the German-American, the Irish-American or the Native-American.” “Be Americans pure and simple.”

“There is no place for the hyphen in our citizenship. We are a nation, not a hodge-podge of foreign nationalities. We are a people and not a polyglot boarding house.”

Theodore Roosevelt on Not Forsaking of the Assembling of Yourselves Together

“On Sunday, go to church. Yes, I know all the excuses. I know that one can worship the Creator and dedicate oneself to good living in a grove of trees, or by a running brook, or in one's own house, just as well as in Church.

“But I also know as a matter of cold fact that the average man does not thus worship or thus himself. If he stays away from Church, he does not spend his time in good works or lofty meditation.

“He looks over the colored supplement of the newspaper, he yawns, and he finally seeks relief from the mental vacuity of isolation by going where the combined mental vacuity of many partially relieves the mental vacuity of each particular individual.”

–Theodore Roosevelt, The Ladies Home Journal, Oct 1913

“The Holy One of Israel”

This term is used almost exclusively in the book of Isaiah – 23 times. It is used also in the Psalms – Psa 71, 77. Twice in Jeremiah 1 and 11, and in 2 Kings 19:22, where Isaiah is the speaker.

23 three times Isaiah uses it in his Book as if it were the reflection of his soul of the vision he saw when he heard the seraphim say one to another “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts.” The name is stamped upon the Book throughout from chapter 1 to chapter 60 as if it were Isaiah's prophetic signature.

Saturday, June 24, 2000

A Love Affair!

Did you know that I am having a love affair? Well, Christianity is not a religion it is a relationship. Salvation and Christianity are a “love affair” — a love affair between the Bridegroom and the bride.

The bride of the Lamb. It is no human love story. It is the romance of the Son of God, the unbreathed love secret kept hidden from the foundation of the world.

God the Father sent God the Holy Spirit into a far country, a very hostile country, for one purpose only. He didn’t come to restore any authority in the world. He had no appointment or mission or permission to attempt to overthrow the reigning world prince or to dismantle the existing order of government. That is not what God the Father sent God the Holy Spirit into this Godless country to do.

He came to get a bride for God the Son and to take her out of here. In that land He was busy exclusively in persuading the bride to be willing to follow Him to His home in Heaven. The only thing He got out of this world He had to take. He got nothing out of this world but a bride. That was all He expected to get there and that is what He went there for.

And He accomplished this by strong persuasion and against much opposition. He engaged in no great work there not in any undertaking suggested by the citizens of that country, which would conflict with preparing the bride for her departure. Not perfect environment, not to stop wars and poverty. But a love affair to get a bride for the Son of God.

“I have espoused you to the Lord as a chaste bride.”

The bride wore white and the Father gave the bride away. But they didn’t throw rice. They threw manna!

Thought for the Day

“No words can paint the scorn and contempt which must be felt by all right-thinking men. Not only for the brutal husband, but the husband who fails to show full loyalty and consideration for his wife. The partnership should be of equal rights, one of love, of self-respect and unselfishness, above all a partnership for the performance of the most of all duties.”

–Theodore Roosevelt 

The Body of Christ

The book of Ephesians deals with the body of Christ.
The book of Colossians deals with the Head of the body, Christ.

Christ is the image of the invisible God, the Son of His love – 1:13
The abode of His fulness – 1:5, 19, 2:3, 9

Christ is the sovereign Creator of the universe – 1:16, 17

He is from all eternity and has the preeminence – 1:17

He is the Reconciler of the universe through the sacrifice on the Cross – 1:20-22, 14, 2:14

He is the Head of all principalities and power – 2:10, 15

He is the Head of the body, the Church – 1:18, 24,  2:19, 3:4

He is all in all – 3:11, “and in you-all.”

The Church – An Assembly of Believers Only

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

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

Wisdom is the application of the Word of God to your daily life.

In the Book of Ephesians We Have the Love Affair Displayed

The length and breadth and depth and height of the love of God in Christ comes out in every chapter.

Found in 1:4, 6; 2:4, 7; 3:17-19; 4:2-6, 15, 32; 5:2, 25; 6:23, 24

Eph 1:4, “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:”  1:6, “To the praise of the glory of His Grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.”  

Eph 2:4, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us,”  2:7, “That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His Grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”

Eph 3:17-19, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”

Eph 4:2-6, “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”  4:15, “But speaking the Truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ:”  4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”

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.”  5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it;”

Eph 6:23-24, “Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.”

Who loves you???

A Great Bible Study for Saturday to Get You Ready for Sunday
The Cross of Christ

The error which had crept into the Galatian Church was vital, affecting the foundation of faith. Judaizers had come, introducing legalism and ritual, adding the works of the law to the Gospel of justification through the free Grace of God, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

On account of this, Paul first asserts his apostleship, as derived directly from Christ, and then sets forth the power of the Cross of Christ, in its various aspects, as the only ground of our so great salvation.

1. The power of Christ's Cross to deliver from sin. 
Gal 1:4, 2:21, 3:22
“Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:”
“I do not frustrate the Grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”
“But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.”

2. The power of Christ's Cross to deliver from the curse of the Law. 
Gal 3:13
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:”

3. The power of Christ's Cross to deliver from the self-life. 
Gal 2:20, 5:24
“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.”
“And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”

4. The power of Christ's Cross to deliver from the world. 
Gal 6:14
“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

5. The power of Christ's Cross in the new birth. 
Gal 4:4-7
“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

6. The power of Christ's Cross in receiving the Spirit. 
Gal 3:14
“That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

7.   The power of Christ's Cross in bringing forth the Spirit's fruit. 
Gal 5:22-25
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

“I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believeth; to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Boring Bible Books

While I was looking for a church that taught the Word of God, I was told by some pastors that certain books were boring so they never taught them. One of the books they mentioned was the book of Judges. When I explained to my wife, who was dying of cancer at that time, my apparent dilemma, she said if you can’t find what you are looking for, why don’t you do it yourself. And she said sure you can if you put your mind to it. Well on her advice I looked into the book of Judges for about a year and it took me another year to teach it by teaching five classes a week.

Not to bore you any further, this is example of one of my findings in the book of Judges.

We have a picture of man's continued sin and failure and God's continuous patience and Grace.

We read of seven distinct departures from the Lord and seven distinct deliverances by the Lord through Othneil, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson.

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

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

1. A Saviour. Luke 2:11, “A Saviour which is Christ the Lord.”
2. The Saviour. John 4:42, “The Saviour of the world.”
3. My Saviour. Luke 1:47, “My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”

A Saviour. The Saviour. My Saviour ... And Mary said that!

If you look for the Grace of God, you will find it in every book of the Bible.

Saviour!

It is not enough to know him as a Saviour.
Or even as the Saviour of the world.

We need for each one of us to be able to say, 
“He is my Saviour!!!” Is He your Saviour or only a Saviour?

The Steps in the Decline of Israel as a Nation

Israel sinned in not driving out the Canaanites, but allowed them to dwell among them. Compromise instead of obedience.

The next step was that they intermarried with them. And the next, they were drawn into their idolatries. The result was that all the land became corrupt.

The book of Judges contains the blackest picture of the condition of God's people. Chapters 17-21 gives us the illustration of the gross wickedness of the people during this period.

In the song of Deborah, we have another glimpse of the lawless state of the country. “The highways were unoccupied and the travelers walked through byways. The inhabitants of the villages ceased.” Chapter 5:6-7, “In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways.  The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.”

“In those days there was no king in Israel.”

And the keynote of the whole book is “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

Those are only a couple of lessons that I learned from such a boring book. The book isn’t boring, but people are bored ... and boring. 

The Bible You Hold in Your Hand!

The Testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Bible You Hold in Your Hand!

“Abraham rejoiced to see My day.”
“Moses wrote of Me.”
“David called Me Lord.”

We have in these words of our Saviour abundant authority of the Truth of Scriptures themselves. To those of us who believe in Christ as truly God as well as truly man, His Word on these matters is authoritative.

He would not have said, “Abraham rejoiced to see My day” if Abraham had been a mythological character. He would not have said, “Moses wrote of Me,” if the books of Moses had been written hundreds of years later. Nor would He have quoted from Psalm 110 to prove that David called Him Lord if that Psalm had not been written until the time of the Macabees.

We have to realize what this Book is that we hold in our hands, and for no other reason than the Lord Jesus Christ “has magnified His Word above His Name.”

Friday, June 23, 2000

Timothy and Christ

1. Christ our Saviour 

2. Christ our Mediator

3. Christ our Ransom

4. Christ our Teacher

5. Christ our King

6. Christ our Captain

There are enough doctrines and teaching in these verses to last you a lifetime.

Timothy and the Importance of the Word of God

The Importance and the Authority of the Word of God

1 Tim 6:3, “If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Doctrine which is according to godliness.”

2 Tim 3:15-17, “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. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

2 Tim 4:1-4, “I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom. Preach the Word. Be instant in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and Doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound Doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the Truth and shall be turned into fables.”

 Notice it is the teachers who have the itching ears.

Titus and the Deity of Christ

The words “God our Saviour” and “Christ our Saviour” both occur in the same order in each of the three chapters of Titus – which emphasizes the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Book of Titus Embodies Two Rich and Comprehensive Outlines

1. Salvation by Grace – Titus 2:11-14, Titus 3:4-8

Chapter 2:11-14, God's Grace brings salvation, verse 11
Past: Christ gave Himself to redeem us from all iniquity, verse 14
Present: To purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works, verses 12 and 14
Future: Looking for the appearance of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Christ's personal pre-millennial coming of which Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about 13 years before was still his blessed hope as he neared the close of his life.

See 1 Tim 6:14, 2 Tim 4:8 – almost his last words.

The Bonds of Christ in Philemon

This beautiful personal letter from God's aged servant in bonds for the Gospel foreshadows the time when the bonds of Christ's love should break the bonds of slavery. The story it contains is the exquisite picture of what the Lord Jesus Christ does. He not only intercedes for us with Him from whom we have departed and against whom we have sinned, but knowing to the full how much we have wronged God and how much we owe Him He says, “Put that on My account.”

Christ is Better ... The Book of Hebrews

Chapters 1 and 2:
Christ is better than the angels both in His Deity and in His humanity.

Chapter 3:
Christ is better than Moses.

Chapter 4:
Christ is better than Joshua.

Chapters 5, 6, 7:
Christ is better than Aaron.

Chapter 8:
A better covenant.

Chapter 9:
A better tabernacle.

Chapter 10
A better sacrifice.

Chapter 11:
Examples of faith's better choice.

Chapter 12:
A call to follow this glorious company and the great Captain Himself in the path of outward loss for eternal gain.

Chapter 13:
Call to go forth unto Him without the camp bearing His reproach.

Christ's Two-Fold Nature

Perhaps no other short space in the Bible so emphasizes both our Lord's Deity and humanity as found in Hebrews chapters one and two.

Hebrews dwells upon the supreme importance and power of the blood of Christ in obtaining eternal redemption for sin, in purging the conscience in opening unto us the heavenly sanctuary.

Throughout the book of Hebrews we notice that whatever Christ touches, He makes eternal. Trace the word “eternal” throughout.

Also the words “perfect,” “once,” “blood,” “without,” “better.” And the expression “we have” and “therefore let us.”