From one citizen to another:
A crowd of nearly 3,000 stood gazing up at a boy, 19, as he stood precariously on a narrow ledge atop an 11-story hotel in Albany, New York. As one newspaper put it: "For the boy it was a life and death struggle with himself; for the crowd gathered below it was an unexpected break in an otherwise humdrum evening."
Some boys in the crowd chanted in unison: "Jump . . . jump . . . jump!" Somebody screamed up at him from the crowd: "Go ahead . . . go ahead and jump, chicken!"
The police and fire departments arrived, and more people. Spotlights played on the nervous figure pacing back and forth along the ledge and rounding the corner to pace down the other side of the building.
"I hope he jumps on this side," a well-dressed man said excitedly, "we couldn't see him if he jumped over there." "I can't wait around all night," remarked a woman impatiently, "I just missed my favorite TV show."
The distraught young man was finally saved through the tearful pleadings of his seven year old nephew. After the incident was over and the man in the hands of the police, one betting man in the crowd exclaimed, "Hell, he cost me 10 bucks!"
WHAT NEXT? What is our beloved country coming to? What is wrong with people who can actually enjoy such a spectacle? Who was more deranged, the young man who was to be committed to a state school for mental patients, or the members of that crowd?
The U.S. citizen has so long fed his soul on the garbage of the movie, television, and corrupt literature, with their violence and sex display, that nothing seems to bother him anymore. The more blood and guts and nudity, the better Mr. and Mrs. Average American like it.
The sad part of the story is that the same heart which beats inside the blood-thirsty members of that crowd also beats in my own breast. Their hard-hearted and inhuman reaction to the young man's plight was only the expression of what lies latent in every human heart, and which would spew forth from your heart and mine if given the right set of circumstances and the right opportunity.
Undeniably they are our fellow humans, our kinsmen according to the flesh. We are unalterably linked by a common ancestry. The same blood which courses through our veins courses through theirs. Are you shocked by their reaction? then maybe you will be shocked even more to realize that it was your heart and your mouth crying for the young man's blood. God's indictment rightly falls upon us all: "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?"
The very same heart that beats in the bosom of the worst criminal, beats also in mine -- and yours. All any of us sinners deserve is the condemnation pronounced against us by God: -- the Lake of Fire. Were it not for the grace of God and His mercy extended to us through Christ, the Lake of Fire is exactly where we would all end.
But God gave His only begotten Son . . . Christ died for our sins . . . He rose for our justification . . . He lives to plead our cause . . . and He is coming again to effect our final deliverance . . . that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." That's where I am. Many who read this little paper are in Him too. Are you?
Sincerely yours & HIS,
Art Gordon, Editor
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"God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." -- I Corinthians 1:9
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The seventh in a series on
HIS CLOTHES
"PRIESTLY ROBE"
Jesus' wardrobe consisted of swaddling clothes representing His humility, second-hand clothes depicting His poverty, a towel showing servitude, a scarlet robe of mockery, the robes of crucifixion, the graveclothes of death, and finally the priestly robe of glory.
When John, the disciple whom Jesus dearly loved, saw the empty graveclothes that resurrection morning, he was convinced of what Jesus had foretold, "that He must rise again from the dead."
After His passion, which resulted in resurrection, Jesus showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs, being seen of His disciples forty days. At the end of this time while they beheld, He was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight. Once out of sight He was by the right hand of God exalted.
It was this same Jesus whom the now-aged John saw during his exile on the isle of Patmos. "I heard behind me a great voice," says John, "and I turned to see . . . And being turned, I saw . . . one like unto the Son of man, clothed with A GARMENT down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle" (Revelation 1:10,12,13).
Jesus traded His robes of humility, poverty, servitude, mockery, crucifixion, and death, for the robes of glory. The long robe and golden girdle which John observed remind us of similar clothes worn by the high priest in ancient Israel.
The duty of the high priest was to represent his people before God. He was especially ordained of God to make atonement for his people with the blood of an animal sacrifice, and to make intercession for them represented by the burning of incense.
Beloved of God, "we have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens." Christ, our great High Priest, "by His own blood entered into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." "Christ is not entered into the holy place made with hands . . . but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." "Wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them"
When the cloud received Jesus out of sight, He made His appearance in the presence of God for us. His precious blood atones for our sins; His prayers plead our cause; His presence there guarantees our eventual presence there. "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession."
But what of our present, oft infirmities? "We have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly (by prayer) unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
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"THE LOVE OF CHRIST CONSTRAINETH US"
-- II Corinthians 5:14
The Love of Christ for the lost, constrains us to love the lost. We must not love the world, neither the things that are in the world, for although we are in the world we are not of it, but we must follow the lead of our Master in loving the world's populace. Not their practices, but their person. Not their sins, but their souls.
Christ loved so much that He gave -- gave His life a sacrifice and a ransom for their sins. He the righteous One, suffered for them the unrighteous. He wanted them for Himself -- not their sin, but their person -- so He gave Himself for their sin, that He might have their person free of this "cancer."
Since He so loved, we should so love. We cannot do what He has done for them, we need not do what He has done, but we can and should tell them what He has done. Nothing stood in His way to provide their salvation; what stands in our way to proclaim it?
We were once not only in the world but of it, as all the rest. Christ in love delivered us from so great a death. Shall we not share our good fortune with those less fortunate? How ungrateful we would be to withhold this good news from those yet lost in sin, condemned, and on their way to hell. We are constrained, compelled, to love lost souls, because He loves them. "The love of Christ constraineth us."
The love of Christ for the brethren, constrains us to love the brethren. If they are His people, they are our people. If He wishes them well, we wish them well. If He works for their good, we work for their good. If He desires to build them up spiritually, so do we. If He loves their fellowship, we do too.
They are His by the purchase price of His shed blood -- so are we. They have His love shed abroad in their hearts by His Spirit -- so do we. They have His command, as well as example, to love one another -- we do too. They have Him, fellowship with Him now and forever, He Himself with them and in them -- and so do we. We, with them, have a mutual interest in life, our lovely Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And so "the love of Christ constraineth us."
The love of Christ for us, constrains us to love Christ in return. "We love him, because he first loved us." He loved us and gave Himself for us. Even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Now that we are saved by His grace, how we ought to return His love!
Why does God ask us to love Him with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength? Because that's the way He loves us. As we are the center of His love, so He would be the center of our love. We are the object of His affections, He wants to be the object of our affections.
God is love. Love is of God. "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Thus "the love of Christ constraineth us."
. . . Constraineth us to love and tell the lost of Him.
. . . Constraineth us to love and edify the brethren in Him.
. . . Constraineth us to love and live unto Him.
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HE'S COMING!
By C. H. Mackintosh
The rapture of the saints is a most glorious, soul-stirring, and enrapturing theme -- the brightest hope of the Church of God, and of the individual believer.
The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a summons designed only for the ears and hearts of His own. Not one uncircumcised ear shall hear -- not one unrenewed heart be moved by that heavenly voice, that divine trumpet call.
The dead in Christ, including, as we believe, the Old Testament saints, as well as those of the New, who shall have departed in the faith of Christ -- all those shall hear the blessed sound, and come forth from their sleeping places.
All the living saints shall hear it, and be changed in a moment, and oh! what a change! The poor crumbling tabernacle of clay exchanged for a glorified body, like unto the body of Jesus.
Look at yonder bent and withered frame -- that body racked with pain, and worn out with years of acute suffering. It is the body of a saint. How humiliating to see it like that!
Yes; but wait a little. Let but the trumpet sound and in one moment that poor crushed and withered frame shall be changed and made like to the glorified body of the descending Lord.
And there, in yonder lunatic asylum, is a poor lunatic. He has been there for years. He is a saint of God. How mysterious! True; we cannot fathom the mystery; it lies beyond our present narrow range. But so it is; that poor lunatic is a saint of God, an heir of glory.
He too shall hear the voice of the archangel and the trump of God and leave his lunacy behind him forever, while he mounts into the heavens, in his glorified body, to meet his descending Lord.
Oh! what a brilliant moment! How many sick chambers and beds of languishing shall be vacant then! What marvelous changes shall then take place!
How glorious the thought of those "rising millions!" How truly delightful to be amongst them! How precious the hope of seeing that blessed One Who loves us and Who gave Himself for us.
(From "Things Concerning Himself.")
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GUEST SERMON
THE CARPENTER OF NAZARETH
By A. E. Barnes
He expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself."
What an enthralling discourse that must have been. Well can we understand that, the journey's end being reached, they constrained Him to stay with them.
Who, among the myriads of the lovers of Jesus could ever tire of hearing of Him?
It is true that, as yet, their eyes had not been opened that they might recognize Him. But the conversation had been concerning the One they loved and, in His absence, they could wish for nothing better.
John tells us that if all the things that Jesus did were written, every one, the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.
Among those books would surely be recounted the amazing story of the Son of God, the Maker of all things, who, in lowly grace humbled Himself to become a man and who, in that state, worked with His hands and earned His daily bread as a carpenter!
Matthew tells us that, as a youth, He was known as the carpenter's son, but Mark records that among men He was known as "the Carpenter." Mark 6:3.
What a contemplation to think of Him thus -- the Carpenter of Nazareth!
That this should have been His occupation could have been no casual happening for surely, in His case, the very circumstances of His daily life were ordered before His birth.
Coming into the world He says: "A body hast thou prepared me." In that holy body all the will of God found its perfect answer, culminating as it did at Calvary with the offering of that body in death once for all.
But meanwhile He, the Creator of the Universe, worked as a humble village carpenter.
In order that we might profit from it, He calls attention to Himself saying, Learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. What thoughts are provoked as we think of Him engaged daily in this lowly occupation.
Although truly a man HE FULLY KNEW THE SUFFERINGS THAT AWAITED HIM AS THE SON OF MAN. He knew how he must die. He knew how soon cruel hands would fashion that cross of wood upon which He must suffer.
How often, as He handled the materials of His trade must he have been reminded of the awful end determined for Him. How often as with hammer and nails He worked at His task He must have recalled the Psalmist's awful and prophetic words, "they pierced my hands and my feet."
He who groaned at the sight of suffering humanity must oft-times have been well-nigh appalled as He contemplated "the death of the cross." "Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour." John 12:27.
What perfection of obedience, that knowing these things fully, He "set His face as a flint" and continued daily in the path of the will of God.
But the CARPENTER'S CALLING IS ABOVE ALL THINGS CONSTRUCTIVE. He fashions with skill that which shall be both useful and also a thing of beauty. The carpenter is God's answer to much that is destructive among men.
In Zechariah chapter 1 the prophet sees in a vision four horns. They represent harsh and brutal forces which scatter and divide God's people.
But immediately after, he sees God's answer to that which is destructive. He shows him what is constructive -- He shows him four carpenters.
We may well heed the Carpenter's word: "learn of Me." Let us seek grace to be constructive -- it is easy to be destructive, to be critical and unhelpful, but this is foreign to "the Carpenter." This may easily be the Devil's Work.
"Let us therefore follow after the things that make for peace and things wherewith one may edify another." Romans 14:19.
But other thoughts spring to the mind. THE CARPENTER WORKS WITH WOOD. Wood is often used in Scripture as figurative of humanity. Indeed Jesus Himself as a man is so referred to many times.
May we not think of Him, "the Carpenter," working with us? Are not we the material under His hands?
He works not haphazardly but to a plan, not hurriedly seeking spectacular results but with wondrous patience and consummate skill shaping and fashioning us "until we all arrive . . . at the full grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ," Ephesians 4:13.
That is the Carpenter's objective and nothing less will satisfy Him.
With what patience -- the patience of the Christ -- does He work out His design. HE KNOWS JUST WHICH TOOLS WILL BEST ACCOMPLISH HIS PURPOSE.
Whilst under the divine Carpenter's hand we have many a lesson to learn, many are the truths which must be hammered home "lest at any time we should let them slip." Hebrews 2:1.
This Carpenter is the "former of assemblies." As such His concern is to fix the truth firmly in our minds and hearts "as nails, fastened by the master (or Former) of assemblies." See Ecclesiastes 12:11.
But HE WORKS WITH WONDROUS SKILL. Never does the hammer fall directly on the wood. To do so would bruise and injure the material. There was a time when, in our stead, He was stricken, He was smitten and He was bruised for us; but "He doth not willingly afflict the children of men."
With tender compassion He deals with us, sparing us many a blow that other hands might mete out with impatience.
But the lesson must be learned. "Is not my word like a hammer, saith the Lord." The truth is the nail and often must the hammer fall upon the nail, for we are often slow to learn.
THE CARPENTER'S STRAIGHT EDGE TOO IS NEVER FAR AWAY for He loves righteousness and hates lawlessness.
Sometimes sharp edged tools must be used to overcome our stubbornness. Discipline is necessary and may be painful, but the end will justify the means.
All is done with a view to our being "fitly joined together," indeed as believers we form part of that masterpiece of divine craftmanship, the Church of Christ.
But soon His patient toil will be completed and, once more, as in the beginning when He saw all that He had made and pronounced it "very good," so again WILL HE SURVEY THE WORK OF HIS HANDS AND WILL BE SATISFIED.
What exceeding joy will then be His when He shall gather up the full result of His labour, all now completed, His own likeness reproduced and impressed upon every piece of material which He has handled, all entirely suited to take its place in that scene where "Christ shall be everything and in all," all accomplished for the Father's pleasure and to adorn the Father's house.
Then indeed shall He present us faultless with exultation before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy -- for we are His workmanship! Jude v. 24.
But can it ever be forgotten that the Son, He who then will rejoice over the work of His own hands, laboured as a lowly man in the days of His flesh in a remote village in Galilee -- the Carpenter of Nazareth!
(Reprinted by permission from "Things Concerning Himself," a bi-monthly published by Charles Nunnerley at High Down, Cokes Lane, Chalfont St., Giles, Bucks, England.)
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