From one shut-in to another:
Greetings in HIS name!
We as Christian brethren are to comfort and encourage one another. This is one purpose for this publication.
God, through the Apostle Paul, suggests one way by which we may encourage our brethren. "Comfort one another," says he, "with these words" (I Thessalonians 4:18). What words? The words just preceding. Here they are:
"I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope,
"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
"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 precede them which are asleep.
"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:
"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.
"Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
These are the Lord's own words. "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord." They are directed to those who "believe that Jesus died and rose again." They are given to encourage and to comfort us on our pilgrim journey here. And they constitute His irrevocable promise of His return for His own.
When He "shall descend from heaven with a shout, etc . . . we . . . shall be caught up . . . in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
In a day such as this what a comfort to know Him and to know He will return for us soon. His coming is imminent. It may be today. Sometimes it seems He will never come; it has been so long. But know this, there IS coming a day, an hour, a moment, a fraction of a moment, when in the twinkling of an eye He who shall come will come and will not tarry any longer.
"He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly." "Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus," reply those who believe in Him. Let not this promise from the Lord's lips ever be far from your thoughts. It will comfort and encourage you in these days of trouble. And when He comes all your troubles of any description will be left far behind.
Sincerely yours & HIS,
Art Gordon, Editor
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" . . . wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come."
I Thessalonians 1:10
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The fifth in a series on
HIS CLOTHES
"ROBES OF CRUCIFIXION"
From the judgment hall the Roman soldiers escorted the condemned Man to the hill called Calvary. There they prostrated Him upon two roughly-hewn wooden beams which formed a cross. They drove spikes through His hands and His feet. Several of them lifted the structure with its victim upright and dropped it with a flesh-tearing thud into the hole which had been dug for it. They tamped it firm and sat down to watch the end of this one who claimed to be Israel's Messiah and King, and Saviour of the world.
"And when they had crucified him, they parted his GARMENTS, casting lots upon them, what every man should take" (Mark 15:24). His were indeed the "robes of crucifixion."
When Jesus dismissed His spirit and expired, the captain of the guard exclaimed in the hearing of the disciples, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" He was right, truly Jesus was the beloved and only begotten Son of God. But if this be true, why did He have to die? Why did not God deliver His Son from so shameful a death? This was a miscarriage of justice, for He had never done anything worthy of death, let alone the death of the cross, why then did not God step in and save His Son?
The reason is simply this, if the Father had saved His Son, He could not have saved us. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son (to the death of the cross), that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
The Law of God states: "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Only the most heinous crimes in Israel were accompanied with hanging the criminal's body on a tree. Absalom, David's son, came to such an end for his rebellion and revolution. But Jesus never rebelled against the will of God. Yet he was hanged on a tree like the worst of criminals, condemned by man and accursed by God. He was no criminal, far from it, no more perfect man ever lived. In fact He had never once sinned, something His accusers could not claim. He kept God's law perfectly, completely. He never deviated to the right or left in all the will of His Father. Yet He hung in open shame on the cross.
Why? you ask. The Bible tells us. Christ was "made a curse for us!" I should have been hanged accursed on that tree. You should have died there. We are the ones who have sinned. We are the rebels to God's law and revealed will, and the revolutionaries against His rule. We are the criminals deserving condemnation. We broke the law and are by all rights under the curse.
But, because our God knew this would mean the eternal, never-ending condemnation of those He loved, He sent His Son to take our place. Christ came. He was crucified. "He was made a curse for us." God poured out upon His beloved Son the wrath that was due us for our sins. The curse fell upon His sinless person, that we sinners might go free -- free from the curse of the law, and having eternal life.
"Free from the law, O happy condition,
Jesus hath bled, and there is remission;
Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,
Grace hath redeemed us once for all.
"Once for all, O sinner, receive it;
once for all, O brother, believe it;
cling to the cross, the burden will fall,
Christ hath redeemed us once for all."
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The fifth in a series on
HIS NAMES
"JEHOVAH-JIREH"
"And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day. In the mount of Jehovah it shall be provided." Genesis 22:14
One evening God asked His servant Abraham to do a most astonishing thing. "Abraham, take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I tell thee of."
With unquestioning obedience "Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him."
Abraham and Isaac had taken trips like this before to offer up burnt-offerings to their God. But this one was unique. Isaac saw the difference and asked his father, "My father, behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?" "God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering," was Abraham's reply.
The father and son ascended the hill together and came to the pre-appointed spot. They built an altar and laid the wood in order upon it. Then Abraham bound his son, placed him on the altar, took his knife and was about to carry out God's command when he heard a voice saying, "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me."
The New Testament tells us exactly what passed through Abraham's mind as he raised the knife to slay his son. It says Abraham believed "that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead." He knew that although God had asked of him the impossible, his God was the God of the impossible. He was ready to go all the way with God, knowing that God would go all the way with him.
"God will provide." God did provide. "And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son."
"Where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?" has been the cry through the ages. "God will provide himself a lamb." And He did. "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world," cried John the Baptist, pointing to Jesus. We are redeemed "with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." " . . . Who died for us, that we should live."
The ram was offered up in the stead of Isaac. Jesus Christ has been offered up in the stead of you and me. Someone had to die for our sins. Christ died in our place. He became our Substitute. By His death He saved us. "Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life."
Jehovah-jireh, the Lord will provide. As He has abundantly provided already, we may be sure He shall do likewise for the future. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"
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THE OUTCAST
By Donald R. Rickards
There he stood, two years old and what a lovely child! His parents delighted in his infant responses to their love lavished extravagantly upon him. He was the firstborn in the home, and parents and grandparents saw themselves reflected in the early indications of his personality and nature.
As he grew, great care was taken to provide him with the best education. It was during these early years that the Lie was cleverly instilled in his yet fertile mind. He became one of the Muslim damned, in his conviction that Jesus Christ did not die on the Cross.
During this period, unknown to his uncaring heart, some Christians in the United States and Great Britain were advocating the abandonment of missions to Muslims because of the paucity of fruitful results. The contention was, that so many dollars should yield so many souls won, and only those missions should be maintained which could prove their effective raison d'etre.
Over against this minority in the Christian Church, many earnest prayer warriors were beseeching the Giver-of-increase on behalf of the 450 millions of Muslims in the world. His glory, not our dollars, was their plea!
And so, while the Jews sought after signs and the Gentiles after intelligence, God opened the eyes of this one called to salvation in Christ. His conversion began with his study of the Bible through correspondence courses. In the private chapel of his heart, the veil was taken away and he saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Poison, imprisonment, social ostracism, and boycott have all been put to use to cure or kill his new-found faith. Most difficult of all, the family that idolized the infant now seeks to destroy the man! Family hopes for the firstborn frustrated, community designs to dominate a citizen modified, satanic strategy outsmarted and outplayed, this Muslim convert to Christ yet faces, until the end of his earthly life, daily, weekly, monthly testings and trials such as you -- the western Christian -- will never experience.
Will you do the minimal and stop right here, turn to Ephesians 1:15-23, and pray this prayer for every Muslim convert still alive in North Africa? (You can do the same with 3:14-21.) Without prayer, you and I are "without excuse" before the challenge of Islam. May the outcast from Islam never become the "outcast" of the Church!
(North Africa Mission -- Report on Correspondence Courses, Algeria: February, 1964.)
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LOOKING UNTO JESUS
By Adolphe Monod
Hebrews 12:2
Three words only: -- but in three words is the whole secret of life.
Looking unto Jesus in the Scriptures, to learn there what He is, what He has done, what He gives, what He demands; to find in His character our model, in His requirements our instruction, in His precepts our law, in His promises our support, in His person and in His work a full satisfaction offered to all the wants of our soul.
Looking unto Jesus crucified, to find in His blood shed our ransom, our pardon, our peace.
Looking unto Jesus risen again, to find in Him the righteousness which alone justifies us, and permits us, all unworthy as we are, to approach with assurance in His name Him, Who is His Father and our Father, His God and our God.
Looking unto Jesus glorified, to find in Him our heavenly Advocate, appearing even now for us before the presence of God and supplying the imperfection of our prayers, by the efficacy of those which the Father hears always.
Looking unto Jesus revealed by the Holy Spirit, to find in His abiding communion the purification of our defiled hearts, the enlightening of our darkened minds, the transformation of our rebellious wills; to be enabled to triumph over all the assaults of the world and of the evil one, withstanding their power by Jesus our strength, baffling their wiles by Jesus our wisdom; sustained by the sympathy of Jesus who was spared no temptation, and by the succour of Jesus who yielded to none.
Looking unto Jesus to receive from Him the task and the cross of each day, with grace sufficient to bear the cross, and to fulfil the task: patient with His patience, active with His activity, loving with His love, asking not, "what can I?" but "what can not He?" and waiting upon His strength which is made perfect in weakness.
Looking unto Jesus in order that the brightness of His face may be the light of our darkness; that our joys may be holy, and our sorrows calm; that He may humble us and He raise us up; that He may afflict and He comfort us; that He may make us poor, and He make us rich; that He may teach us to pray and He answer our prayers; that even while leaving us in the world, He may separate us from it, our life being hid with Him in God, and our conduct bearing witness to Him before men.
Looking unto Jesus who having re-entered His Father's house is occupied in preparing there a place for us, in order that this blessed hope may encourage us to live without repining, and may prepare us to die without regret, when the day shall come to encounter that last enemy, which He has conquered for us, which we shall conquer through Him; that enemy of whom He has made a friend, once the king of terrors, now the messenger of eternal peace.
Looking unto Jesus who gives repentance as well as remission of sins, to receive from Him hearts that are conscious of their misery and come to deplore it at His feet.
Looking unto Jesus that He who is the Author of our faith, as He is its object, may teach us to look to Him; that He who is its Finisher may keep us in that faith unto the end.
Looking unto Jesus and to nothing else, as our text expresses it in a single untranslatable word, which enjoins us at once to fix our eyes on Him and to turn them away from all beside.
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Looking unto Jesus and not to ourselves, to our thoughts, our desires, our purposes.
Looking unto Jesus and not to the world, to its lusts, its examples, its maxims, its judgments.
Looking unto Jesus and not to Satan, whether he seeks to frighten us by his rage, or to seduce us by his flattery. Oh, how should we rid ourselves of useless questions, of disquieting scruples, of dangerous parleyings with the evil one, of dissipation of spirit, of vain fancies, of bitter disappointments, of painful struggles, of lamentable falls, by looking straight unto Jesus, and following Him wherever He leads, too anxious not to lose sight of the path which He marks for us, to cast even a glance to those paths in which He does not think fit to lead us!
Looking unto Jesus and not to our meditations and our prayers, to our pious conversation, or to our edifying reading, to the holy assemblies we frequent, nor even to our partaking of the Supper of the Lord. Let us faithfully use all these means of grace, but without confounding them with grace itself, and without turning off our looks from Him, who alone can render them efficacious, by communicating Himself to us by their means.
Looking unto Jesus and not to our position in the Christian Church, to the name which we bear, to the doctrine which we profess, to the idea which others form of our piety, or to that which we form of it ourselves. Many of those who have prophesied in the name of Jesus will hear Him one day say to them, "I never knew you," but He will confess before His Father and before His angels, even the most humble of those who have looked unto Him.
Looking unto Jesus and not to our brethren, not even to the best and most beloved among them. In following a man we run a risk of going wrong; in following Jesus we are certain never to go wrong. Besides, by putting a man between Jesus and ourselves, it comes to pass that the man insensibly becomes more to us, and Jesus becomes less: soon we no longer know how to find Jesus, when we cannot find the man, and so if man's help fails, our all fails; on the contrary, if Jesus keeps His place between us and our nearest friend, our attachment to man will be at once less direct and more sweet, less passionate and more pure, less indispensable and more useful, an instrument of rich blessings in the hands of God when He pleases to make use of it, and in its absence a blessing still, when He pleases to do without it.
Looking unto Jesus and not to the obstacles which meet us on our journey: -- as soon as we stop to consider them they startle us, they stagger us, they overthrow us, incapable as we are of understanding either the reason for which they are permitted, or the means by which we may overcome them. The apostle was engulfed as soon as he set himself to look at the billows, agitated by the tempest; so long as he looked unto Jesus, he walked upon the waves as upon a rock. The more difficult our task, the heavier our cross, the more needful it is that we should look only unto Jesus.
Looking unto Jesus and not to the temporal blessings which we enjoy. To look first to these blessings is to expose ourselves to be so captivated by them, that they hide from us the light of Him who gives them to us. To look first unto Jesus is to receive from Him all these benefits, chosen by His wisdom, bestowed by His love, a thousand times more precious because we take them at His hand, to enjoy them in His fellowship and to use them to His glory.
Looking unto Jesus and not to our strength; our strength serves only to glorify ourselves; to glorify God needs the strength of God.
Looking unto Jesus and not to our weakness. By lamenting our weakness, have we ever become more strong? By looking unto Jesus, His strength will communicate itself to our hearts, and His praise will burst forth from our lips.
Looking unto Jesus and not to our sins. The contemplation of sin only brings death; the contemplation of Jesus brings life. It was not looking to his wounds, but looking to the serpent of brass, that healed the Israelite.
Looking unto Jesus and not to the law; the law gives commands, and does not give strength to perform them. The law always condemns, and never pardons; to place ourselves again under the law is to withdraw ourselves from grace. In proportion as we make our obedience the means of our salvation, we lose our peace, our strength, our joy, because we have forgotten that Jesus is "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." As soon as the law has constrained us to seek Him, our only Saviour, it is for Him only to require of us obedience; an obedience which extends to nothing less than our whole heart and our most secret thoughts, but which has ceased to be an iron yoke and an insupportable burden, to become an easy yoke and a light burden; an obedience which He makes at once pleasant and binding; an obedience which He at once bestows and prescribes, and which, rightly understood, is less a consequence of our salvation, than it is a part of that salvation itself, and like all the rest, a grace.
Looking unto Jesus and not to what we do for Him. Too much taken up with our work, we may forget our Master; it is possible to have the hands full and the heart empty. Taken up with our Master, we cannot forget our work; if the heart is filled with His love, how can the hands not be active in His service?
Looking unto Jesus and not to the apparent success of our efforts. Apparent success is not the measure of real success, and besides, God has not commanded us to succeed, but to work. It is our work that He will require an account and not of our success; why then take thought about it before the time? It is for us to sow the seed; it is for God to gather the fruit; if not today it will be tomorrow; if not by us it will be by others. Even when success is granted us, it is always dangerous to let our eyes rest upon it complacently; on the one hand we are tempted to attribute something of it to ourselves; on the other hand we thus accustom ourselves to give way to relaxing our zeal when we cease to perceive its effects, that is to say, at the very time when we ought to redouble our energy. To look to success is to walk by sight; to look to Jesus, and to persevere in following and serving Him in spite of all discouragements, is to walk by faith.
Looking unto Jesus and not to the spiritual gifts which we have received already, or which we are receiving now from Him. As for yesterday's grace, it passed away with yesterday's work; we can no longer use it, we ought no longer to dwell upon it. As for today's grace, given for the work of today, it is entrusted to us not to look at but to use; not to make it ring in our hands and count ourselves rich, but to spend it at once, and to live poor, looking unto Jesus.
Looking unto Jesus and not to the degree of grief which our sins have caused us, or to the degree of humiliation which they produce in us. If only we are so humbled by them as to be no longer satisfied with ourselves, if only we are so grieved by them as to look unto Jesus that He may deliver us from them, it is all He demands of us, and it is moreover this look more than all besides, that will make our tears flow and our pride fall.
Looking unto Jesus and not to the liveliness of our joy, or to the sensible fervor of our love; otherwise if only this love seem to cool, if only this joy chance to fail us -- whether as the consequence of our sloth, or for the trial of our faith, immediately, our emotion being lost, we shall think we have lost our strength, and shall abandon ourselves to melancholy depression, if not to culpable inactivity. Oh, rather let us remember that, if sometimes the emotion and its sweetness fail us, faith and its power remain to us; and that we may be able "always to abound in the work of the Lord" Let us look without ceasing not to our hearts, which are always changing, but to Jesus who is always the same!
Looking unto Jesus and not to our faith. The last device of the Adversary when he cannot make us look elsewhere, is to turn our eyes from our Saviour to our faith, and thus to discourage us if it is weak, and to fill us with pride if it is strong, and both in the one case and in the other to enfeeble us; for it is not from faith that strength comes, but it is from the Saviour by faith; it is not by looking unto our look; it is by looking unto Jesus.
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Look unto Jesus and it is from Him and in Him that we learn to know, not only without danger but for the good of our souls, that which is good for us to know of the world and of ourselves, of our misery, of our dangers, of our resources, of our victories; seeing all things in their true light, because it is He who makes us see them, and that only in the time and in the measure, in which this knowledge shall bring forth in us the fruits of humility and of wisdom, of gratitude and of courage, of watchfulness and of prayer. All that is desirable for us to know, Jesus will teach us; all that we do not learn from Him, it is better for us not to know.
Look unto Jesus while we remain upon earth; to Jesus from moment to moment, without suffering ourselves to be distracted either by the recollections of a past, which we should leave behind us, or by the anticipation of a future.
Look unto Jesus now, if we have never looked to Him. Look unto Jesus anew, if we have ceased to do so. Unto Jesus alone. Unto Jesus again. Unto Jesus always, with a look more and more earnest, more and more confident; "transformed into the same image from glory to glory;" and thus waiting for the hour when He shall call us to pass from earth to Heaven, and from time to eternity -- the promised hour, the blessed hour, when at length "we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."
(From "Things Concerning Himself.")
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