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NOBODY LIKE HIM
He was born contrary to the laws of nature, lived in poverty, reared in obscurity; only once crossed the boundary of the land, in childhood. He had no wealth nor influence, and had neither training nor education. His relatives were inconspicuous and uninfluential.
In infancy He startled a king; in boyhood He puzzled the doctors; in manhood ruled the course of nature. He walked upon the billows and hushed the sea to sleep. He healed the multitudes without medicine and made no charge for His services. He never wrote a book, yet not all the libraries of the country could hold the books that have been written about Him.
He never wrote a song, yet He has furnished the theme of more songs than all song writers combined. He never founded a college yet all the schools together cannot boast of as many students as He has. He never practiced medicine, and yet He healed more broken hearts than the doctors, broken bodies.
He never marshalled an army, drafted a soldier, nor fired a gun, yet no leader ever made more volunteers who have under His orders made rebels stack arms of surrender without a shot being fired.
He is the Star of Astronomy, the Rock of Geology, the Lion and the Lamb of Zoology, the Harmonizer of all discords and the Healer of all diseases. Great men have come and gone, yet He lives on. Herod could not kill Him, Satan could not seduce Him, Death could not destroy Him, the grave could not hold Him.
He laid aside His purple robe, for a peasant's gown. He was rich, yet for our sake He became poor. How poor? Ask Mary! Ask the Wise Men! He slept in another's manger. He cruised the lake in another's boat. He rode on another man's ass. He was buried in another man's tomb. All failed but He never. The ever Perfect One -- He is the Chiefest among ten thousand. HE IS ALTOGETHER LOVELY.
-- Things Concerning Himself
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I AM THINE
O my soul, what will you render to your great High Priest? Let your adoring language be, O Lord, I am Thine: Thou hast bought me by thy blood: Thou hast won me by Thy melting grace: Thou hast called me by Thy constraining voice: Thou hast subdued me by Thine all-conquering Spirit. I am Thine. My soul is Thine to adore Thee: my heart is Thine to love Thee: my body is Thine to serve Thee: my tongue is Thine to praise Thee: my life is Thine to glorify Thee: mine eternity is Thine to gaze on Thee -- to follow Thee -- to hymn Thy name. But Eternity -- Eternity -- Eternity is too scanty for a redeemed soul to magnify a redeeming Jesus!
-- Things Concerning Himself
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FREEDOM FROM WORRY
By George Mueller
"Be careful for nothing;" that is, "Be anxious about nothing." No anxiety ought to be found in the believer. Great, many, and varied may be our trials, our afflictions, our difficulties, and yet there should be no anxiety under any circumstances, because we have a Father in heaven who is almighty, who loves His children as He loves His only begotten Son, and whose very joy and delight it is to succor and help them at all times and under all circumstances.
Therefore anxiety should not be found in the children of God, but we should attend to the exhortation given us in this verse: "Be anxious about nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." (Philippians 4:6, 7).
Here notice particularly the following points:
1. "In everything," that is, not merely when the house is on fire, not merely when the beloved wife is dying, nor merely whenour children are on the brink of the grave, but in the smallest matters of life, bring everything before God, the little things, the very little things, what the world calls trifling things -- everything -- living in holy communion with out Heavenly Father, and with our precious Lord Jesus, all day long.
And when we awake at night, by a kind of spiritual instinct again turning to Him, and speaking to Him, and bringing our various little matters before Him in the sleepless night, the difficulties in connection with our family, our servants, our trade, our profession. Whatever tries us in any way, speak to the Lord about it. And in like manner, our joys, our easy days, speak to the Lord about them, and ask Him to help. Ask Him to help regarding everything.
2. "By prayer and supplication," taking the place of beggars, with earnestness, with perseverance, going on and waiting, waiting, waiting on God.
3. "With thanksgiving." We should at all times lay a good foundation with thanksgiving. If everything else were wanting, this is always present, that He has saved us from hell. Then, that He has given us His Holy Word -- His only begotten Son, His choicest gift -- and the Holy Spirit. And therefore we have always abundant reason for thanksgiving. Oh, let us aim at this!.
"And the peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7). We shall have the peace of God. And this so great a blessing, so real a blessing, so precious a blessing, that it must be known experimentally to be entered into, for it passeth understanding. Oh, the peace of God, how exceedingly precious this blessing!
See therefore how we get this peace of God, through attending to this exhortation, that in everything, in the most minute affairs of life, we let our requests, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, be known unto God.
And further, that we seek to the utmost to avoid anxiety. O, let us lay these things to heart, and the result will be, if we habitually walk in this spirit, we shall far more abundantly glorify God, than as yet we have done.
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NEVER MAN 'ROSE' LIKE THIS MAN
Jesus was wholly unique. He was different from any other man in life and in death. And we can expect His subsequent interment to be different. Different it was!
His prophetic prayer was: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." The angelic pronouncement that first day of the week was: "Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen." "(Him) God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it."
Why was it impossible for death to hold Him?
Because He was the embodiment of life itself. How could death hold the Prince of life? Jesus told Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life." And because He was, He could also promise: "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." Though a man be dead spiritually (and every son of Adam is), he may be made alive by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This person, quickened by Christ, shall never suffer the second death or the Lake of Fire.
The important question for my reader is: "Believest THOU this?" Martha believed. Her sister Mary believed. Lazarus, who was dead but who would soon be raised, believed. Millions down through the centuries have believed to the saving of their souls, and these all shall have part in the first resurrection, the resurrection of the just unto eternal consolation. They shall never be hurt by the second death, though they must suffer physical death with the rest of creation.
Jesus was "the resurrection and the life." What but resurrection could crown His interment? Anything but resurrection would have put the lie to His words. "The Resurrection and the Life," true to character, burst forth from the grave and hell, "because it was not possible that he should be holden of it."
Christ's resurrection was unique in that it was the first of its kind. Other men were raised from the dead. Jesus Himself had raised several, including His friend Lazarus. But these were raised only to die again. Not so the Son of Man. He came forth to die no more. In the Revelation Jesus describes Himself as "He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore."
His resurrection was "a first" in the annals of human history. But such a resurrection was not to be the last. For as a result of His, others would follow. Not then to die again but like His own unto eternal life. "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept . . . So in Christ shall all be made alive . . . Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." He is known as "the firstborn from the dead." "The firstborn of every creature."
His resurrection guarantees ours also. "He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." "God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power." This may be our confidence, "knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus."
His resurrection was to accomplish and consummate our justification. "We believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead -- who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." It is true that we are "justified by his blood" shed on the cross, but the resurrection constituted God's stamp of approval upon the sacrifice. Without the resurrection, His death would have been just another miscarriage of justice and a martyr dying for a cause. The resurrection of Christ was the cap-stone of the sequence of events which produced our justification.
Justification is that act of God whereby He declares and accounts us sinners who believe, through the atoning work of Christ, righteous and as though we had never sinned. Because we are thus accounted by God we are accepted by Him into His family and shall be received into His eternal abode of glory along with Christ. So the resurrection speaks to God and to us of our justification and full and final acceptance in glory.
Need we repeat?: NEVER MAN 'ROSE' LIKE THIS MAN.
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SALVATION IS OF THE LORD
Give credit where credit is due. "Salvation is of the LORD." Jonah learned this in the belly of the fish, or at least that's where he finally admitted it (Jonah 2:9). May we learn this fact before we are brought into great extremity.
Salvation Is Of The Lord
He thought it,
He wrought it,
He bought it,
He brought it,
He taught it.
The Lord THOUGHT out our salvation before ever He framed the worlds. Salvation was in the mind of God before creation was in His hand. God, knowing all things, knew that His human creatures would fall into sin. So before the fatal act, God in grace planned their salvation.
Christ, "by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God," was delivered up to crucifixion long before the wicked hands of sinful men actuated the deed. He "verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world." Salvation is of the Lord: He originally "thought" it.
The Lord WROUGHT our salvation. If salvation is the plan of God, so is it His work. What He thought, He wrought. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus."
If mankind goes astray at any point, it is here. Deeply implanted in the mind of the human is the idea that in some way he can work to obtain his own salvation. This definitely was not in God's plan, neither in the execution of it.
God's plan and program centered in His only begotten Son whom He sent to bring about man's salvation. Through His supernatural birth, holy life, sacrificial death, physical resurrection, bodily ascension, and glorious enthronement, our eternal salvation was wrought.
We dishonor God and His blessed Son when we suppose we can do anything toward our salvation, except to believe in what God has wrought through Christ. Salvation is of the Lord: He has effectively "wrought" it.
The Lord Himself BOUGHT our salvation. Salvation costs us nothing. It is free for the taking. But this is not to say that it cost nothing. Indeed there is no price for us to pay, but the price was high for our Lord Jesus Christ. It cost Him everything. He paid with His own life's blood. We "were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ."
Will you try to pay for salvation with your own paltry wealth? Do you have something God needs that you might give in exchange for salvation? Do not so insult the grace of God and the free gift by grace. "The (free) gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
If we can earn or pay for our salvation, then Christ died in vain, and our faith is in vain, and the preaching of the cross is foolishness. The proper action on our part is to receive it as it is, a free gift from God, knowing it has been paid for at infinite price by Christ Himself. Salvation is of the Lord: He efficaciously "bought" it.
The Lord BROUGHT our salvation. God brought salvation down to man. Brought it right to his very doorstep. Salvation, in the person of God's Son, has visited us. Was in our very midst. But the most were unknowing and unresponsive. "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."
We do not have to concoct anything, do anything, pay anything, nor do we have to go anywhere to get salvation. The only pilgrimage that had to be made was made by the Son of God who left the glory He previously shared with the Father, came and dwelt among men, died on the cross for their sins, arose and now in His glorified body once more shares the glory with His Father. This pilgrimage alone has brought salvation very near, even to the heart's door of whosoever will receive it and Him. Salvation is of the Lord: He "brought" it experientially near.
The Lord also TAUGHT this salvation. He taught it to His early disciples by word of mouth. He taught it to the apostle Paul and others of the Old and New Economy, in ancient times, by special revelations. He teaches us through the Sacred Scriptures by His Holy Spirit. He would use us to teach others also.
"Go ye therefore, and teach . . . " What shall we teach? Teach them the gospel -- the good news of salvation. Tell them that Jesus saves -- that Christ is our salvation. This is what our Lord taught. What His disciples taught. What has been taught us. Blessed are all they who believe. Salvation is of the Lord: He clearly "taught" it.
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