VOL. VIII
Volume eight means that we are entering our eighth year of publishing the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
More than ever we are determined to proclaim Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
This is our determination because this is the God-given plan for our spiritual growth.
"We all, with open (or unveiled) face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed (transformed, transfigured) into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians 3:18).
God has promised that as we behold Christ, His Spirit will make us more like Christ.
It has been God's plan and purpose from the first to make us look morally like His perfect Son. "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son."
To execute His plan Christ came, died, arose, ascended, and is now glorified. To carry it through to completion the Holy Spirit was sent. The process and the practical working out of the plan, and our involvement, is set forth in the verse above: "We all . . . beholding . . . the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image . . . by the Spirit."
Since your "beholding . . . the glory of the Lord" is your only means of becoming more like Him, then for us to publish anything else, no matter how great the subject, would be a disservice to you. Even Bible truths are of little value in God's purpose and plan for you unless properly related to Christ and centered in Him.
The more we talk about Him, the more opportunity the Holy Spirit has to transform our readers into His image. This is a reminder to all Christ's servants. Christ is the theme of your message. Doctrine and history and Biblical characters may well enter into your preaching and teaching, but the main theme is always Christ. He Himself IS our message, the introduction, the conclusion, and all in between.
If we faithfully lift up and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ before our people, we can trust God to do His part in changing them "into the same image . . . by the Spirit."
We cannot change them. They cannot change themselves. God Himself does this, mysteriously, supernaturally, inside the person, which invariably becomes manifest on the outside. We can't change them, but we can proclaim Christ to them. They can't change themselves, but they can be changed by the Spirit as they behold the glory of the Lord in our messages. The holy work goes on unnoticed by us, deep in the heart, as Jesus Christ is set forth and beheld. May we never "cease to teach and preach our Lord Jesus Christ."
My readers, at every opportunity, every time you pick up your Bible to read, every message you hear or read, from the Old or the New Testament, look for Christ. Study Him. Learn all you can of Him. Concentrate on His person, His character, His perfections, His virtues, His excellencies, His glory, His work. Such concentration will work in you a noticeable change, a change for the better and more like the One you are concentrating on, as the Spirit works secretly in your heart to that end.
"Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, LOOKING UNTO JESUS . . . "
Sincerely,
Art Gordon, Editor
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"The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God."
I Corinthians 1:18
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DOES JESUS KNOW?
All we know about a person we learn from outward appearance. Sometimes this can be deceptive. The Lord looks not on outward appearance, but on the heart. "(He) needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man" (John 2:25). This includes the unbeliever.
One day Jesus said to a man sick of the palsy, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." But there were certain religionists sitting nearby who said under their breath, "Who can forgive sins but God only?" "Immediately when Jesus PERCEIVED in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them. Why reason ye these things in your hearts?" To dispel their doubts about His deity He healed the palsied man.
Does Jesus know the deepest thoughts of the unbeliever? Certainly He does. In His days on earth, walking among men, many believed Him not, they repudiated His claims to deity, some did not manifest their unbelief openly, as in the case above, but Jesus knew their thoughts.
He knows your thoughts too. You have not escaped His notice. Oh, you haven't been vocal about your unbelief, but Jesus knows, nevertheless. He knows your heart, every thought and intent. One day He will sit as your Judge and your heart will be bared before His searching and penetrating gaze. Grace and mercy having past, with the end of this age, He will have no alternative but to cast you from His presence.
Does Jesus know the thoughts of the pretended-believer? As the crowds followed Jesus and saw His miracles "many believed in his name," "But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he KNEW all men." (John 2:24). This seems strange. If they believed, why did He not commit Himself to them? Because He knew them, He knew they were fickle, only pretended-believers. He knew they only wanted to see His performance and not to receive His person.
Many today only want His "things" not Himself. When the benefits stop rolling in, they are done with Him. They pretend to believe in Him but really do not. To such He will not commit Himself. What man would commit himself in marriage to a woman who only wanted the things he could provide, but who was not especially interested in his person? Jesus knows the pretended-believer's heart. He knows your heart if you are such.
Does Jesus know the believer? One day in Jerusalem near the Bethesda pool Jesus came across a man "which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and KNEW that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?" (John 5:5,6). And Jesus healed him. Thirty-eight long, discouraging, hopeless and helpless years had this man been tormented by his infirmity. No one to care, no one to help. Certainly no one to heal. But then Emmanuel passed that way, Who knew his case perfectly.
How long has it been since you were afflicted with your present ailment? Do you think, oh believer in Christ, that He is unaware of your long infirmity? He knows. He knows the day He permitted it to strike you. He knows the wearisome, intervening time. He knows your present condition, your weakness, your suffering, and that others are getting better while you are not. He knows and cares. He will help. He will heal, if not today, then tomorrow, if not tomorrow, then in the future, if not in time, then in eternity -- when He will wipe away all tears and do away with all suffering, sorrow, and death.
Does Jesus know? He knows ALL men. He knows what is in man.
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"JESUS WEPT"
By C. H. Mackintosh
How wonderful! The Son of God groaned and wept. Let us never forget it.
He, though God over all, blessed forever; though the Resurrection and the Life; though the Quickener of the dead; though the Conqueror of the grave; though on His way to deliver the body of His friend from the grasp of the enemy -- sample of what He will soon do for all who belong to Him -- yet, so perfectly did He enter the human sorrow, and take in all the terrible consequences of sin, all the misery and desolation of this sin-stricken world, that He groaned and wept!
And those tears and groans emanated from the depths of a perfect human heart that felt as only a perfect human heart could feel -- felt according to God -- for every form of human sorrow and misery.
Though perfectly exempt, in His own divine person, from sin and all its consequences -- yea, because exempt -- He could in perfect grace enter into it all and make it His own as only He could do.
"Jesus wept!" Wondrous, significant fact! He wept not for Himself, but for others. He wept with them.
Mary wept. The Jews wept. All this is easily grasped and understood. But that Jesus could weep reveals a mystery which we cannot fathom.
It was divine compassion weeping through human eyes over the desolation which sin had caused in this poor world, weeping in sympathy with those whose hearts had been crushed by the inexorable hand of death.
Let all who are in sorrow remember this, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
His circumstances are changed, but His heart is not.
His position is different, but His sympathy is the same.
"We have not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, apart from sin."
(From "Things Concerning Himself")
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DOES JESUS CARE?
Does Jesus care about us? Does He care what happens to us? Indeed He does! The Bible was written to show us He cares. The tears Jesus wept prove that He cares.
Jesus approached Jerusalem for the last time. "And when He was come near he beheld the city, and WEPT over it" (Luke 19:41). Why these tears? Because the Jews knew not the time of their visitation. He "wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes" (42).
Their "peace" was at hand in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. This was their day. The day of Israel's visitation. They had been visited from on high by the Highest. Messiah was in their midst but they did not recognize Him. Emmanuel was with His people but they knew Him not.
Following closely upon this visitation would come a visitation of terror and destruction. They knew not the things which belonged unto their peace, so they must know the opposite. "For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not . . . " (43,44).
They knew not. They didn't care to know. But Jesus cared. He wept over their ignorance of Him. Are you ignorant of His will and ways today, ignorant of His person and work, ignorant of your lost condition without Him?
Do you think He is unconcerned about your unconcern? Do you think He doesn't care that you do not care? He does care! "He careth for you -- even you." He would enlighten your heart with an understanding of Himself. He would give you the wisdom which leads to salvation. He would fill you with the knowledge of His will, and works, and ways. "If thou hadst known . . . " Will you not know? Will you not let Him make you to know?
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem," lamented Jesus earlier, "how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!" (Luke 13:34). This is pretty much the story of mankind. Jesus would gather hell-bent and hell-bound sinners to Himself, but they will not. Do you think He doesn't care? Do you think He waits with eager anticipation to cast the sinner to destruction? "As I live saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked" How many tears has He shed over you because you refuse to be gathered to Him?
Before turning away again, consider this fact: Christ is your ONLY salvation. After you have turned away the last time (who knows when that might be), there is no other safety, no other retreat, no other hiding place from the wrath to come. You may be sure that Jesus cares, but do you care? He has wept over you, have you ever wept your way in repentance and faith to Him?
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GOD'S LAMB
By I. R. Millar
Behold Him! as He walks, that blessed One --
The Lamb of God -- God's own beloved Son;
Behold Him! as He dies, upon the tree --
The spotless Lamb -- from sin to set us free.
Behold Him! as He stands, amid the throng --
"A Lamb, as slain," blest theme of endless song!
Adoring hosts, surrounding Thee, do bow,
The crown of glory decks Thy blessed brow!
O blessed Lord! To Thee our song we raise,
Our hearts and voices welling with Thy praise:
Redeemed to God, by precious blood, O Lord,
How worthy Thou, God's Lamb, to be adored!
E'en now, the Spirit gives us, Lord, to see
That coming day when we shall reign with Thee:
"God and the Lamb!" -- e'en now to Thee we say
Be glory, honour, might, and majesty!
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THE INNER CHAMBER
By Andrew Murray
"But thou when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret" and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
-- Matthew 6:6
Think of God, His greatness, His holiness, His unspeakable glory, and then on the inestimable privilege to which He invites His children, that each one of them, however sinful or feeble he may be, every hour of the day, may have access to Him, and hold converse with Him as long as he wishes.
If he enters his inner chamber, then God is ready to meet him, to have fellowship with him, to give him the joy and strength which he needs with the living assurance in his heart that He is with him and will undertake for him in everything.
In addition He promises that He will enrich him in his outward life and work with those things which he has asked for in secret.
Ought we not to cry out with joy? What an honour! What a salvation! What an overflowing supply for every need!
One may be in the greatest distress, or may have fallen into the deepest sin, or may in the ordinary course of life desire temporal or spiritual blessing; he may desire to pray for himself or for those belonging to him, or for those with whom he gathers; he may even become an intercessor for the whole world -- the promise for the inner chamber covers all: "Pray to thy Father which is in secret; He will reward thee openly."
We might well suppose that there would be no place on earth so attractive to the child of God as the inner chamber with the presence of God promised, where he may have unhindered intercourse with the Father.
The happiness of a child on earth if he enjoys the love of his father; the happiness of a friend as he meets a beloved benefactor; the happiness of a subject who has free access to his king and may stay with him as long as he wishes; these are as nothing compared with this heavenly promise.
In the inner chamber you can converse with your God as long and as intimately as you desire, you can rely on His presence and fellowship.
Oh, the wonderful love of God in the gift of an inner chamber sanctified by such a promise! Let us thank God every day of our lives for it as the gift of His wonderful love. In this sinful world He could devise nothing more suitable for our needs, as a fountain of unspeakable blessing.
(From "Things Concerning Himself.)
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HE'S WONDERFUL TO ME
By Yvonne Virginia Smith
When my heart is crushed to teardrops,
And the aching wounds flow free,
When the night is so depressing,
It is then He's dear to me.
When the pressure becomes tenser,
When no ray of light I see,
It is then amidst the darkness
That He draws so near to me.
When I'm weak and almost fainting,
When my lamp of faith is wee,
And all others fail about me,
He's sufficient then for me.
When by rough hands I've been handled,
And all understandings flee,
And the waves of Satan toss me,
He's so gentle, then to me.
When the troubled waters roaring
Rush about, nor quiet be,
It is then my heart takes courage
For His peace is sweet to me.
So I rest myself in Jesus,
Heed His words, "Courageous be,"
And He meets the need, unfailing --
Oh, He's wonderful to me!
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"She being dead yet speaketh."
HEAVEN'S MY HOME
The actual word-for-word testimony of
Mabel Fuller
a 12 year old girl dying of brain cancer.
"Let's talk about Jesus, Mother. Tell me more about Him. Will He take me in His arms and talk to me like He does to the children in the picture? I know He will. His kind eyes will look down on me. That would be my reward."
This article is not designed to evoke sympathy for days now past. God gave comfort when it was most needed. It is just an attempt to give forth the testimony of a child as to the reality of Heaven, and to exemplify the truth in Matthew 18:3, "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven."
"Mother, please read to me in the Bible about Heaven. It's so wonderful there -- no more night, no more pain. Jesus doesn't send pain, does He, Mother? I know it's Satan. Jesus wouldn't torment a little child like me who loves Him. I want to be brave and bear it like He did on the cross for me. He suffered more than I do, lots more. I shouldn't 'gripe'. I'll bear it for His sake. He's with me all the time. He never leaves me or forsakes me. Isn't it wonderful to know that I'm on my way to Heaven?
"I may feel sick and terrible, but I have so much to be thankful for, my comfortable bed, good food to eat, even though it doesn't stay down, and my family to be with. You'll read to me, won't you, and I can listen to my radio too. I think that God is putting me through a test or trial. He wouldn't torture a little child like me for no good reason. I'm so glad I'm saved. It's wonderful to be a Christian. This sickness has really brought me closer to God. I want to pray now:
"Sometimes we shall see the wonders of Thy Glory, Lord Jesus. Let me be patient until it is time. It will be so wonderful. I want to pray for those who are 'way more worse' than I am with their sorrows and pains. Amen.
"Mommy, I want to tell you something. Sit down by my bed. Last night Jesus came to my room. He really did. You won't be able to believe it, but it's true. There was a wonderful bright light just as if the sun started to shine in the night. I saw Jesus standing with His arms stretched out like this. He was saying, 'Come.' I wanted to go right then, but I'm glad I didn't now because I can tell you about it. It's always light where Jesus is, isn't it? I wish that you could have seen Him too.
"I don't mind about not having any more birthday parties. I've had such nice ones. I won't be able to ever go back to school again either. Something seems to tell me so. There's just one thing that makes me not want to go to Heaven. Who will talk to my friend after I die? I'm afraid that there isn't anyone to tell him, and he doesn't know the real way. I want him to go to Heaven too.
"My money is in my little bank, you know. I was saving it for a camera, but just divide it up with my brothers and sister. Like Daddy says, 'You can't take it with you.'
"Thank you, Lord Jesus, for my family. Thank you, everyone, for all the nice things you did for me. Have I forgotten anything? I'm really ready to go. Why do I have to wait? Why does it take so long to get there?
"Roll Jordan, roll. What does that mean? Can't I go to Heaven until I hear Jordan roll? I'm listening, but I don't hear it. Can you go with me as far as the river and hold my hand? Daddy will pray for me, and you'll hold my hand. I won't be afraid. It just came over me now, how wonderful it would be to close my eyes and wake up in Heaven!
"Pull up the shade, Mother, it's so dark. What time is it? Ten o'clock in the morning? It looks like night to me. It seems as if someone had pulled down a big dark curtain. Mother, I can't see you very well. Come real close. I know it's you, but I can't see you at all. Do you think I am getting blind? Someone just brought flowers to the front door. I heard the door bell ring. Bring them close to me. I can't see them either. Please bring them even closer so I can smell them. No, I'm not really crying. I'm just a little sad because I can't see my pretty flowers. Tell me how they look. I can smell them anyway. Do you think that I am going to be blind for always?
"I just had a happy thought. If I can't see anything until I get to Heaven, then the first face that I shall see will be Jesus. He'll smile at me. I know He will. I'm really homesick for Heaven. I was homesick at camp, I was homesick at my girlfriend's house, I was even homesick at my cousin's house. But now I'm really homesick because I'm homesick for Heaven. That's my real home. And I want to see Jesus. Then I will be able to sing.
Once I was blind, but now I can see;
The Light of the world is Jesus.
"Now I'm getting another bad pain. Maybe this is the one that's going to take me to Heaven. I'm getting stiff. Look at my fingers. Mother, please get the shot ready. I won't cry for the needle. Daddy, please pray. Someone hold my hand. Thank you Mommy. Thank you Daddy. Yes, God, I'm ready.
"I feel better now. Where am I? Is this Heaven? Oh, I am so disappointed. It will be worth it all, like the song says, when I see Jesus. This is really the truth. I'd rather have Jesus than anything."
A cloak of blessed unconsciousness enveloped the eager spirit and quieted the conversation. Does this child so ready to go have to die by inches? The devil asks, "Isn't God cruel?" No, He loves us too much to be unkind. He is too faithful to be untrue. It's a day by day, moment by moment walk of faith.
"O for a faith that will not shrink, tho' pressed by every foe,
That will not tremble on the brink of any earthly woe."
"When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." Isaiah 43:2.
God gives strength and fortitude passing all human comprehension. There is even joy and wonderful peace. The sting of death is lessened when the trusting child is ready to meet God.
Four long months later the words of the poem could be read:
"Hush hush hush, all the swift gates furl,
For the King Himself at the gates of pearl
Is taking her hand, dear tired little girl,
And leading her into heaven."
(Used by permission.)
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