From one shut-in to another:
Hi there!
Thank you for letting me come into your home for a chat. Or does this find you in a hospital room, or nursing home, or maybe even in prison? Well, anyway, I'm glad for the opportunity to talk with you by way of this printed page.
I hope you will read all of this April issue. There are articles that I am sure God will use to bless you.
The Lord has been good in giving us this ministry of publishing the Good News concerning Himself. We count it a sacred trust. Please pray that we might ever give the Lord Jesus Christ the pre-eminence He desires and deserves.
The Lord has been good also in giving us your name and thousands of others like yourself who are more-or-less shut in. It is my prayer that "he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man" (Ephesians 3:16). I trust this little paper may be a means to that end.
"It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: to shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night (margin - in the nights)" (Psalm 92:1,2).
I am sure you have experienced the lovingkindness of God in the comfortable and delightful "morning" seasons of life. But now that the "night" has descended upon your life, you are finding it not so comfortable and delightful as before. Being shut in is not the most enviable position to be in. But on the other hand it need not be the most miserable and distasteful, that is, if we recognize that the same Lord who is loving and kind in the morning experiences, is also "faithful in the nights."
There is nothing more certain than that God is faithful to His own. "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it" (I Thessalonians 5:24). Do what? Do whatever is for your eternal good and God's eternal glory.
"The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you . . . " (II Thessalonians 3:3). But what if I am too sick or disturbed, or my mind too diverted to believe this? "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself" (II Timothy 2:13. " . . . for he is faithful that promised" (Hebrews 10:23).
So whatever your lot in life, you may be "confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). And you may with confidence "commit the keeping of (your soul) to Him . . . as unto a faithful Creator" (I Peter 4:19).
Well, I shall close for this time, hoping these few thoughts may have brought you some encouragement in Christ Jesus. To Him be glory both now and forever. I ever remain,
Sincerely yours & HIS,
Arthur E. Gordon, Editor
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Jesus is "the faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself suffered being tempted, He is able to succour (aid and comfort) them that are tempted." -- Hebrews 2:17,18
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The fourth in a series on
HIS CLOTHES
"A SCARLET ROBE"
A soldier stuck his head in the barrack's door and yelled, "Hey fellows, come on, we're going to have some fun! We've got a rabble-rouser over in the judgment hall who says he's a king or something!" This was just what they needed to break the monotony and routine of army life in an occupational force. When they reached the hall they saw an unassuming man standing submissively in the center of a growing ring of curious and impious soldiery.
One burly, brash soldier, with legs spread apart, hands on hips, head tilted to one side, stood eying the man from head to foot. Then he bellowed, "So he wants to be a king, does he? Well, a king must have a kingly vesture! Bring that old cloak hanging on the wall!" " . . . And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe" (Matthew 27:28).
"A king has to have a royal scepter!" cried another, snatching up a stick and thrusting it into his hand. "And a crown, how about a crown?" shouted another. "Here's one," said a soldier from the doorway, as he quickly twisted some thorn twigs into the shape of a crown.
The prisoner's "royal garb" completed, "they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head." When their sport was ended they "led him away to crucify him."
Nearly two millenniums later a young man joins Uncle Sam's army. His first night at camp, before "hitting the sack," in a barrack with many other GI's, he kneels beside his bunk to pray. Another burly, brash one, like his early counterpart, peers down from the top bunk a moment and then bellows, "Well, what have we here? Look fellows, we've got a 'Holy Joe' in our midst!" From another bunk comes a whining voice: "Does momma's little boy have to say his prayers before he goes to bed? We'll have to get the sergeant to tuck him in!" One soldier picks up a shoe and heaves it at the kneeling figure.
Actually "Holy Joe" was much like his tormentors at one time. He had no time for religion and such things, that is, until he met the One who two millenniums before had been mocked and crucified. One day Joe came to realize he was a sinner and lost. He knew from the Scriptures that Christ died for his sins. And he wasted no time in coming to Christ to be saved. Joe received Christ as his Lord and Saviour.
From then on he was different. Things he once loved became obnoxious. Things he once had no time for, like praying, for instance, became a necessary part of his life. That's why he knelt to pray that first night, and all the subsequent nights, in the army. He was talking to the One who had suffered, died, and rose again for him, who was even then alive and seated at the right hand of the throne of God to hear his prayer. Joe was not greatly disturbed by this mockery, for he knew that Jesus had said, "If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you."
There is coming a day when EVERY knee in the universe will bow, not in mockery, but, in submission to Jesus Christ. Then EVERY tongue will confess Him Lord to the glory of God the Father. YOU who read these words will bow to Him sooner or later. How much better for you, and for Him, if you do it now. If you wait till the judgment, your doom will be sealed, too late to be saved. If you willingly bow in submission to Him now, your salvation is assured. And never mind the mocking of unbelievers, just remember the mocking He endured for you.
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ASSURANCE
Now has our God forgotten
The creatures of His hand?
Has Satan brought destruction
To all that God had planned?
Is it with God's purpose
That men should fight and kill?
Is all earth's tragic carnage
A loving Father's will?
No, God has not forgotten,
But man has gone astray,
Forgetting Him and moving
Along in Satan's way.
Yet, God's hand's on the nations;
Their plans He doth foreknow.
Bounds hath He set beyond which
No power on earth can go.
The wrath of man shall praise Him,
Help perfect what He's planned;
And those who know the Saviour
Are cradled in His hand.
Some day strife will be ended,
With sorrow, death, and pain,
While o'er earth's ransomed nations
The Prince of Peace shall reign.
Some day -- till then we'll praise Him.
And work and wait and pray,
Nor fear nor be discouraged
Till Christ's returning day!
-- Cosa Elizabeth Reynolds
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The fourth in a series on
HIS NAMES
"JEHOVAH-EL-ROI"
Hagar found herself in difficult straits. Hagar was the handmaid of Sarah, Abraham's wife. Sarah had given Hagar to Abraham as wife (a custom accepted in that day) with the hope that this would be the answer to their problem of being childless and without an heir in the family.
Abraham went in to Hagar and she conceived. But instead of solving the problem, it only caused more. The relationship between the maid and her mistress became strained. Finally Hagar was obliged to leave home and to strike out for the waste-lands.
Alone, weary, forsaken, without food or friends, discouraged, afraid, heartbroken. Hagar sat down in the desert to await the death of her son and herself.
But Hagar wasn't alone. "The Angel of the Lord found her." He spoke words of comfort to her, told her to go back to her mistress, and said that He would greatly bless her. He assured her that "the LORD hath heard thy affliction."
"And she called the name of the LORD that spoke unto her, Thou God seest me" -- Jehovah-el-roi (Genesis 16:13a).
Are you, my reader, having a desert experience in your life? Do you feel alone, weary and forsaken, discouraged and afraid, heartbroken, with a burden almost too heavy to bear? Have you, like Hagar, been unaware of another Presence standing nearby? Be assured, the same One who noted her plight, and who spoke reassuringly to her, is likewise with you and sees your difficulties.
Note the personal touch in this story. "Hagar!" said the Lord. He called her by name. He knows your name too. Jesus, the good Shepherd, "calleth his own sheep by name." Indeed you are only one sheep of His flock, but you are not lost in the crowd. He sees you there on your sickbed, in your wheelchair in your little room, wherever you are, in your desert place.
When everyone else in the world had forsaken and forgotten Hagar, the Lord had not. Neither has He forsaken nor forgotten you. Jesus tells us, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." David's assurance may be ours: "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up."
Security
Everyone is security conscious. That's why insurance companies are thriving. Hagar saw the bottom drop our of her security. She was living in a household where she had the utmost security. Abraham was extremely wealthy. He was wealthy both materially and spiritually. But all of a sudden Hagar's security was gone. She was destitute, beyond the reach of Abraham's help.
Sometimes we come to the place where we are beyond the reach of anyone's help either material or spiritual. All security goes out the door. No one can help . . . BUT the Lord. And, after all, our only real security is in the Lord. Everything around us is temporal; the Lord, and what He gives, is eternal.
As Peter penned his first epistle, before he had proceeded far, he burst into joyous praise: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which . . . hath begotten us again unto a lively hope . . . to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God . . ." The inheritance is "reserved . . . for you, who are kept."
God keeps the inheritance for you, and keeps you for the inheritance. Your life may be anything but secure by this world's standards, but you are in HIS hand who promised: "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."
Jesus Christ our Jehovah-el-roi not only sees our needs, but sees to our needs, and sees us through them. "Thou God seest me."
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PARADOX
Thy Word has told me that all things are mine,
Yet I am not my own.
O blessed paradox of truth divine,
Since I am Thine alone!
No king in all the earth more rich that I,
Whoever he may be,
For I have all the things that satisfy,
Because I live in Thee.
And yet my life is hid with Christ in God,
As seeds are planted low;
Hide me completely in Thy Blood, O Christ!
Let Thy life through me flow.
All things are mine, because all things are Thine,
And I belong to Thee.
Thou who hast given Thy life that I may live,
Will withhold naught from me.
And yet, I covet not Thy gifts, O Lord,
So much as Thee alone,
And what Thou givest me I would not keep,
But cast it at Thy Throne
-- Cosa Elizabeth Reynolds
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THE MAJESTY OF SUFFERING
"Behold the Man! -- A Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." John 19:5; Isaiah 53:3.
"Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto My sorrow." Lamentations 1:12.
He was the Light of the world, and yet when He hung upon the cross there was a darkness over all the earth from the sixth hour until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened.
He was the Life, and yet He poured out His soul unto death.
He was the Rock of Ages, and yet His feet sank in the deep waters.
He was holy, undefiled, separate from sinners, and "knew no sin," yet He was made sin, when He "suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God."
He was the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and yet He was "led as a lamb to the slaughter."
He was the Root and Offspring of David, and yet He grew "as a root out of a dry ground."
He was the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely, and yet "He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him."
He was "the Ancient of Days," and yet "He was cut off in the midst of His days."
He was the Prince of Peace, and yet the awful conflict of Gethsemane and Calvary was His.
He is over all, God blessed forever, and yet He was laid in Bethlehem's manger, because there was no room for Him in the inn.
He was the Mighty God, and yet He became a man, and "was crucified through weakness."
He upholds all things by the word of His power, and yet in Gethsemane an angel comes to strengthen Him.
He was the image of the invisible God, and yet His visage was "marred more than any man."
All the fulness of the Godhead bodily dwells in Him, and yet He took on Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.
He spake and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast, and yet "He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
He is the desire of all nations, and yet "He is despised and rejected of men."
He is the Fountain of life, and yet upon the cross He cried, "I thirst."
(From "Things Concerning Himself.")
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GUEST SERMON
A MAN OF SORROWS
By Henry Nunnerley
Isaiah 53
. . . Sorrows personal -- for He was "despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief"
(verse 3).
. . . Sorrows relative -- for He entered into those of others. "Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows" (verse 4).
. . . Sorrows vicarious -- for He suffered for sins not His own. "It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief" (verse 10).
Gethsemane with its bloody sweat witnesses to the dread anticipation of this last sorrow; Golgotha to its awful realization. The holy Sufferer entered the smoky furnace, felt the horror of that great darkness: in anguish He cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
In this bitter woe He was alone; none of the ransomed shall ever know the dark depths into which He descended, the waterfloods which rolled over His soul, the unutterable sorrow of Calvary.
No wonder His visage was marred more than that of any man, His form more than the sons of men, for there is no anguish a soul can taste that this poor and afflicted Man knew not.
Misunderstood by His followers, hated by His foes, harassed by Satan, rejected by "His own," this lonely, solitary, heavenly Stranger found no place to lay His head in a world of His own creation. A journey, begun in a stable, ended in a malefactor's death on a gibbet, and burial in a borrowed tomb.
Crucified in weakness, full of heaviness, none to pity, none to comfort, gall for His meat, vinegar for His drink, despised, rejected, betrayed, forsaken, wounded in the house of His friends, with thorn-crowned brow and pierced hands and feet, subjected to the crowd's rude stare and unholy gibe, encompassed with dogs, beset by bulls of Bashan, He died a martyr and a victim, and sealed a good confession with His blood.
He had never transgressed, yet He was numbered with the transgressors; He loved righteousness, yet was crucified with the wicked. Death had no claim upon Him, yet He died; Satan no point of vantage in His Holy nature, yet, in man's hour, the power of darkness bruised His heel.
Man and Satan having done their worst, the work His Father gave Him to do finished, unsoiled by the sin He had borne and atoned for, He poured out His soul unto death, and committed His spirit to God His Father in perfect peace. He left sin, sorrow, suffering behind and ascended where He was before, where no tears dim the eye, no sorrow comes, no anguish, no suffering, where all is rest, peace, and tranquility.
THE SORROWS OF HIS PEOPLE
Is He absorbed, occupied, so engrossed with the glory there as to be oblivious to His people here?
No. Memory recalls the sorrows He tasted when, as the Captain of our salvation, He trod a toilsome, suffering pathway, tempted at every point like as we are -- sin apart. He was thus qualified, fitted perfectly, for the priestly office to which He has been called. His eye is ever on the pathway of His people, His heart toward them, His hand for them. For them He intercedes. Jesus, the Son of God, faithful and merciful, sits on a throne of grace: He is ever accessible. His people may come boldly to Him at all times, whatever their need, sure of mercy and grace, sympathy and succour. He is acquainted with their griefs, knows their sorrows personally, experimentally.
Are they in a fickle, changing world?
So was He. One moment men hung with wonder on the gracious words which fell from His lips, the next were eager to cast Him headlong from the brow of the hill. A whole city following after Him one day, the next, praying Him to "depart" from them. One hour acclaiming Him king, rending the air with hosannas, strewing palm branches for His feet, the next, shouting "Crucify Him, crucify Him! We will not have this man to reign over us!"
Are evil reports spread about them?
Who was maligned like Jesus? Mischievous reports, false accusations, deceitful imaginings, caused Him to eat ashes like bread, to mingle His drink with weeping. Priests denounced Him, judges in the gate spake against Him, Pharisees declared He was a "deceiver of the people," controlled by demons, an agent of Satan.
Are His people lonely and sorrowful?
Who knew loneliness like the Man of sorrows? Deserted by kinsmen and neighbours; lover and friend standing aloof; His days were spent like a pelican of the wilderness, an owl of the desert, a lonely sparrow on the house-top. Others could go to their own home, but He was friendless, desolate, forsaken.
His tender, human heart yearned for sympathy, sought comforters, found none, went mourning all the day. His life was spent with grief, His years with sighing; a broken vessel forgotten as a dead man out of mind.
Are they misunderstood?
Who was misunderstood like Jesus? Parents wist not that He must be about His Father's business, brethren did not believe in Him, disciples did not understand Him, knew Him not, though He companied long with them; His words were enigmas to them, His works misunderstood. His acts in their true import not apprehended. Reproached by His enemies, feared by His acquaintance, they fled from the Dayspring which had visited them from on high, knew not the time of their visitation, comprehended not the Light which shone in darkness, did not understand that He had come to guide their feet in the way of peace.
Are they disappointed, discouraged in the great harvest field?
You have toiled, agonized night and day, year in and year out, among cultivated heathen at home, benighted heathen abroad; on Greenland's icy shores or under India's burning sun, Africa's deadly swamps or Siberia's snowy steppes; or, maybe, in some lone countryside or busy, teeming city, in thieves' kitchens or beggars' lodging houses, in slums or ragged schools, in infirmary or workhouse.
Now, weary in body and mind, disconsolate and discouraged, you are tempted to sheathe the sword, unbuckle the armour.
How well your Lord and Master knew what it was to agonize on the mountain top, traverse Judaea's burning plains, sit weary at the well side, go about doing good, spend and be spent over a callous, ungrateful nation!
No response to His appeals, none fleeing to those sheltering wings, those outstretched arms. Heaven was brought to the very doors of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. Jerusalem, the Holy City, had its King in the midst of it, but knew it not.
Was He indifferent to all this? Let those sorrowful tears flowing down that marred visage, that lament, "I would, but ye would not," be our answer.
Did He give up? Was He discouraged? No, He shall not fail nor be discouraged until His work be accomplished, His toil ended. If He was not successful He was faithful, if not popular He was true. Both work and reward were with His God, He did His Father's will. His work He finished. So that is, as far as Israel were concerned, He had spent His strength for naught, laboured in vain, His Father's approval was all He sought, His "Well done!" enough.
-- Blessed Servant! Blessed Master! Make Thy sympathy known to Thy tried servants, let them turn to Thee for succour until, their warfare ended, their toil over, they hear Thee say. "Well done good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
Do they sorrow on account of others?
A loved one lies ill, or is bereaved, or in need. How keenly the mother feels the babe's suffering, how truly a loving daughter feels the pangs, the racking cough which tears the worn frame of a loved parent.
Jesus knew all this, and knew it as only He could. Deep and real as His personal sorrows were, the sorrows of others affected Him profoundly. He felt in His spirit the griefs He assuaged, tasted the sorrows He alleviated, was afflicted with the afflictions He relieved, bore the griefs and carried the sorrows of those He healed, sighed as He said "be opened" to the deaf and dumb, groaned in spirit at the grave of Lazarus, ever carried Himself as a sympathizing friend, never as a mere benefactor.
Emmanuel -- God with us -- was this blessed Jesus; but in Him they saw no beauty, perceived no comeliness; so, despised and rejected, He trod His solitary journey. His familiar friend lifted up his heel against Him, one disciple denied, another betrayed, all forsook Him: left alone, forsaken, and friendless, He met Satan in Gethsemane. How His holy soul shrank from contact with sin, death! How the pure and undefiled One felt contact with the evil one! How He groaned and cried.
But all this is over: He is out of death, seated a Priest to succour, a Friend to sympathize, an Advocate to restore, a Shepherd to feed, a Healer to bind up broken hearts, a Physician with a balm for every wound.
Whatever thy sore, whatever thy grief, there is One who can feel for thee, can enter into the wounds of thy lacerated, bleeding heart. Nay, more, Jesus the Son of God can succour thee! He can fill thy heart with the peace of God, calm thy troubled breast.
Make known to Him thy griefs, unburden thy sorrows, reveal in prayer and supplication the secret of thy trouble, and although the pressure may not be removed, the difficulty solved, yet He will make thee superior to the trial, lift thee above the mists of the valley into the cloudless region of perfect peace, the peace of God which knows no ruffle. He will give thee His own peace! -- that unruffled serenity which dwelt in His bosom, filled His heart, kept His mind, amid disturbing elements, jars, and discords, when here.
He is able to do this. Nay, more, it is His present service. He washes our feet that we may have part with Him where He now is. He lifts the pressure from our spirits that He may conduct us under His priestly hand into the holy of holies, the sanctuary where He dwells. We have but to unburden to Him our griefs, make known our requests, visit continually a throne of grace, and He will sustain, succour, help, deliver, and relieve.
(From "Things Concerning Himself.")
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