IN 1967
"Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds" (Hebrews 12:1-3).
Let us enter this new year with a renewed determination to occupy ourselves throughout the year with this divine exercise: LOOKING UNTO JESUS. If we would lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and if we would run with patience the race that is set before us, then we must be looking unto Jesus. If we would guard our minds from weariness and fainting, then we must consider Him who endured contradiction of sinners against Himself.
Jesus is the author (originator) and finisher (perfecter) of our faith. The Bible says that "the just shall live by faith." It is by faith we lay aside every weight; it is by faith we lay aside besetting sin; it is by faith we run the race set before us. It is by faith in Jesus Christ. The originator and perfector of our faith has become Himself the object of our faith. Only as He is that object can we hope to successfully complete our course, lest we be wearied and faint in our minds.
Jesus ran with patience the race that was set before Him; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. On the cross Jesus bore the awful weight of our sins and God's terrible judgment against the same. He looked lightly on the shame of the cross, knowing that His cup of joy would be full in bringing many sons unto glory. "For Christ hath suffered for sins . . . that he might bring us to God." Having fulfilled all of the will of His Father in death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, Christ is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. And God "who is rich in mercy . . . hath quickened us together with Christ . . . and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
When we look down we stumble; when we look around we stray; when we look back we falter. When we look away to Jesus, and do it continually, we are enabled by His grace and power to: negatively, lay aside every weight and sin; and to: positively, run with patience the race. In this race of life Jesus is both the object and goal of our faith, and our Leader and help along the way. With our eyes fixed on Him we shall endure; with our minds filled with Him we shall not be wearied nor faint. Is not this what you want for the new year? This year we may trade the experience of "looking unto Jesus" for the new experience of "looking at Jesus." That would be even better.
-- Your Editor
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"Let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus."--Hebrews 12:1, 2
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Third in a Series
HIS INCARNATION
God is come in human flesh. Man's complaint against God from ancient times was voiced by Job: "For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment. There is no umpire betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both" (Job 9:32, 33 ASV).
"He is not a man," thus there existed a chasm between the infinite God and finite man that seemed unbridgeable. But in the process of time the chasm was bridged. It is no longer valid for us to say of God, "He is not a man." God became incarnate in Christ, the eternal Son was made flesh, He clothed Himself in the likeness of men.
"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). Thus, the God who today sits upon the throne of the universe is also Man, having become so forever by the miracle of Virgin Birth.
But why did our Lord, the eternal Son, empty Himself of His pre-existent glory, and clothe Himself in human flesh and servant form? The Biblical answer is at least five-fold. We consider the first here.
We begin our consideration by laying down three universally accepted propositions: First, the wages of sin is death; second, the experience of death involves the separation of the body from the spirit; third, the eternal God, because He is pure spirit, could not die.
Therefore, in order that God might experience the reality of death in all its fulness, He must become incarnate, clothe Himself in a body of flesh and blood. The path of truth here is narrow. God could not die. But God incarnate could die, and did die for our sins. Only an incarnate God could be the Saviour of sinners.
In the book of Hebrews, the first chapter describes the infinite glory of the second Person of the Triune God. He is the Maker of the worlds, the Upholder and Heir of all things. Of Him it is said, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever" (Hebrews 1:8). The angels are His and worship at His feet.
But in chapter two we come to an amazing revelation. We see this glorious Person "made a little lower than the angels." Why should the eternal Son, who is above all angels be made lower than the angels? The answer is in the same verse: He was made thus, for "the suffering of death . . . that by the grace of God he should taste of death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9).
Jesus Christ was born to die.
The goal of Bethlehem was the Place of the Skull. The mystery of the Virgin Birth can be read only in the blazing light of Calvary. The Incarnation of our blessed Lord was the first historic step of the eternal God on His solemn march to the judgment of the Cross. The Manger and the Cross are joined inseparably in the redemptive purpose and plan of God.
Some preachers want only to preach the birth of Jesus. The birth of Jesus, however, cannot save the soul of man. It is not the preaching of the Manger, but the preaching of the Cross, which is the power of God unto salvation. This does not mean that we should cease preaching the glorious good news that the "Son of God is come," made of a woman, in the likeness of men. But it does mean that we must tell men why He came -- to save sinners from their sins by His death upon the Tree.
(From theological notes by Dr. Alva J. McClain, President Emeritus of Grace Theological Seminary, Winona Lake, IN)
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HINDRANCES TO PRAYER
By Oswald J. Smith, LL.D.
There are three hindrances to prayer with which we must cope. Of course, if you merely fall down at your bedside in the morning, mumble a few words of prayer and then hurry to work, you do not know what I mean. I am speaking of real prayer -- prayer that achieves its objectives. I think there are three great problems.
INTERRUPTIONS
Have you ever had the telephone ring or the baby cry or a friend call when you were at prayer? Satan knows exactly when to send distractions. I discovered I needed a time and place for communion with God. When I am home, my study is the place, and the first hour after breakfast the time for my prayers. While traveling or away from home, I find a secluded place for devotions. Everyone knows the time I am at prayer; so interruptions are avoided.
You too need a time and place for talking to God. Only then can you avoid interruptions. Your place will become so precious you will think of it as holy ground.
DROWSINESS
Have you ever become drowsy while at prayer? Perhaps you kneel, place your head on your arms, close your eyes, and try to pray. Before long you become drowsy and at times fall asleep.
When I am praying alone, I never kneel -- I walk! First I clear furniture from the center of the room, and then pace back and forth as I talk to God. I have walked hundreds of miles through the years as I have prayed. I find that walking is the best physical exercise possible; so as I walk and pray, I get the exercise I need.
WANDERING THOUGHTS
Sometimes when trying to concentrate on prayer you will find yourself thinking, planning, or worrying about something else. Your mind easily leaves the hard task of concentrated prayer. So I always pray out loud. As I walk back and forth, I put my petitions into words, and by voicing them I avoid wandering thoughts. You see, I have to concentrate on what I am saying when I pray, just as I do when preaching.
While kneeling and praying quietly, time seems to go slowly. But when I walk and pray out loud I find the time goes by amazingly fast.
These are three great hindrances to prayer -- interruptions, drowsiness, and wandering thoughts. Have you overcome them and become a prayer warrior for God and our Lord Jesus Christ? If not, you can! Try these suggestions!
"Lord teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1).
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A Country Called
HEAVEN
By Oswald J. Smith, LL.D.
I want to tell you of a strange and wonderful country, a country where there are no tears or heartaches, a country in which there is no sickness, pain or death. The people who live in this country never get tired. They carry no burdens and they never grow old. No one ever says good-bye, for separations are unknown, and there are no disappointments.
In the country of which I am speaking there is no sin, for no one ever does wrong. There are no accidents of any kind. You will travel for thousands of miles and never see a cemetery or meet a funeral procession. There are no undertakers and no morgues. You will never see crepe on the doors for no one ever dies. There they need no grave diggers and coffins are unknown. The clothes that are worn are bright and glistening and no one dresses in mourning.
It is a country where nothing ever spoils. The flowers never lose their fragrance and the leaves are always green. There are no thunder-storms, no erupting volcanoes, and no earthquakes. Upon those fair shores hurricanes and tidal waves never beat. There are no germs or fevers, no pestilences of any kind. The sun never shines and yet it is always light for there is no night there. It is never too hot and never too cold. The temperature is exactly right. No clouds ever darken the sky and harsh winds never blow.
There are no drunkards in this country for no one ever drinks. None are immoral; men as well as women are pure. There are legitimate babies. Prisons, jails and reformatories never darken the landscape. Doors have no locks and windows no bars for thieves and robbers never enter there. No lustful books are read, and as for unclean pictures, they are never seen. No taxes are paid and rents are unknown. It is a country free from war and bloodshed.
Yes, and let me tell you something else. There are no cripples to be seen anywhere; none are deformed or lame. Nor is anyone blind, deaf or dumb; hence, homes for incurables have never been built for all are healthy, all are well and strong. No beggars are seen on the streets for none are destitute and all have enough. Leprosy and cancer, palsy and tuberculosis are words that this country have never heard. No asylums are there for none are feeble minded. Doctors are never needed and hospitals are unknown.
You ask me how I know all this? Have I been there? No, I have not yet had the privilege of visiting this wonderful country of which I speak, but others have. And One, at least, who has lived there for a long, long time, has come, and told me a great deal about it. He says it is called Heaven, and this is His description of it: "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain" (Revelation 21:3,4).
Do you want to go there? Then why not get ready now? It isn't difficult. All you have to do is to open your heart to Jesus Christ, the Lord of the country, and ask Him to come in. Then, when the journey of life is ended, you too will go to this wonderful country and dwell there forevermore. Will you do it? Do it -- NOW? "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (John 14:6).
(Reprinted from a tract published by Good News Publishers, Westchester, IL)
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UNDER THE SAME MANAGEMENT
By Christiana Tsai
One autumn afternoon my godmother, "China Mary" Leaman, wheeled me to the living-room window of the old Leaman home near Paradise, PA. I saw the beautifully colored leaves on the different trees and lots of dead leaves on the ground. The summer had gone! The winter of life was coming! At that moment I prayed that my Lord Jesus Christ would cause all in me that is displeasing to Him to drop off like the dead leaves; that He would make my old age as pleasant as the red leaves on the trees.
At that moment a car turned into our gravel driveway and Dr. Philip E. Howard, Jr., and his wife Katharine got out. It was a visit long to be remembered because God used it to meet my need at that time. When Dr. and Mrs. Howard said good-bye, walking away through the evening shadows, none of us dreamed that this would be his last visit. But on Christmas Day, 1963, he was called to enter the Homeland.
On that autumn day, as we talked about the things of the Lord, I asked Dr. Howard to tell me again of his experience when he became editor of the Sunday School Times. He said he had been sick in bed with the flu when word came that his uncle, Dr. Charles Trumbull, had died and that he would probably be the next editor of the magazine. He was very much disturbed. His father, also ill, got out of bed and walked a few blocks to his son's home: "Philip," said the father, "we are still under the same management. Your uncle has died, your responsibilities will be increased, but we are under the same management -- the Lord Jesus Christ is the One who gives the orders." "Under the same management" -- this was a message to my own heart. My circumstances may change, or I may be required to carry on year after year, but there is no change in the "management."
Their visit also reminded me of the time when two Howard grandchildren taught me another lesson in God's management of our lives. Their parents, missionaries in the Northwest Territory of Canada, were spending the night in our home and early the next morning would start for the mission field. I gave the children each a package of candy, but it was near supper time. China Mary was in the kitchen getting supper ready. Their father and mother were talking to me in my room. The two children hugged the candy and asked, "Daddy, may we eat the candy now?" "No," was the answer.
They went out, but in two minutes the children pattered back to ask the same question, only to receive the same answer. Back and forth they came till suppertime. Even the next morning before breakfast, while their parents were again in my room, they pattered in hugging their candy, still asking the same question, still receiving the same answer. How wise that father said "no" consistently for the good of the children.
During my weary round of thirty-five years in bed, I have asked my Father in heaven almost daily that He would give me strength to walk so I need not depend on others for help. But my heavenly Father, who is the manager of my life, must know it is not good for me to have my desired "candy" and be able to walk. He knows best. We can always put perfect trust in our Lord's continued all-powerful management of our lives, or our nation, even of the whole world. So in all these thirty-five years, in joy and in sorrow, God has been faithful, giving encouragement along the way when I needed it most.
My mind goes back again to old China, when I was a young girl. My doctor had ordered me to take a long walk every day on the hilltops of Kuling, one of China's most beautiful summer resorts. Lovers have been so entranced with the beauty of its woodland paths as to lose their way, and then we would hear the church bell ringing to call for men to go out and hunt for them.
Early every morning I said good-bye to my spiritual mother, China Mary Leaman, and started walking with my young maid. I wore straw sandals and carried a staff in my hand. My maid brought a little package of food, a small tea-kettle, and a box of matches. When we came to a stream where the clear water rippled quietly down from its fountain in the hills, we used to make a little fireplace with stones, gather some twigs and branches, light the fire, and cook our breakfast.
How I wish you could have come along with me to see the morning star shining brightly and beautifully, the quiet streams, the pointed needles of the pines, and the tender green leaves of the most artistic trees, all joyfully bowing to each other to welcome the rising of the gorgeous, glorious sun! "O my Creator, maker of heaven and earth, I adore Thee, I worship Thee!" was the prayer of my heart.
One morning my maid lingered to examine some of the odd stones while I went on, wading through a cool stream and climbing up some rocks to a narrow path. The rustling of the trees, the sound of waterfalls made me feel anew the companionship of my Lord. He is indeed altogether lovely!
As I walked along, singing "He Leadeth Me," suddenly an indescribable sweet fragrance made me turn my head. I saw only an ugly rubbish pile and broken pieces of stone, probably discarded by stoneworkers, in that unkempt, unfrequented spot. To my surprise, in that lonely, dirty dump stood an exquisite lily, incomparable in strength and beauty, shedding its fragrance freely for the joy of a chance passerby. It was an experience I shall never forget, one that brought me a spiritual lesson: May the God of all circumstances help me to shed His fragrance right where I am!
"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place" (2 Corinthians 2:14). Through heavy burdens, prolonged pain or sickness, people's misunderstandings, failing health and strength, uncertainty about the future, or financial straits -- may his own sweet fragrance flow in and out of this little darkened corner of mine! God's perfect power extends from eternity to eternity over all things great and small. Wherever we are, whatever the circumstances of the moment, we who have committed ourselves to Him are always "under the same management."
(Copyright 1965, The Sunday School Times Foundation. Used by permission.)
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AN APPOINTMENT WITH JESUS
By Gilbert A. Peterson
Arranging and keeping appointments is part of just about everyone's life. We make doctor's appointments, dental appointments, business appointments, social appointments, and a host of other kinds ranging from those that are trivial to those which are of great importance.
Some appointments we make ourselves in accordance with our own convenience and others are made for us. We come away from some appointments with sorrow and grief welling up within us. There are appointments therefore, that we eagerly look forward to keeping and others that we would rather avoid if possible. As these things are true in the physical and social realms they are also true in spiritual realms.
In Isaiah 45:20 we read, "Assemble yourselves and come: draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations . . . There is no God else beside me; a just God and a saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."
In Romans 14:11 and 12 we read, "For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God."
Every man, woman, and child on the face of this earth has an appointment with Jesus. For the believer, a triumphant life in Christ brings a triumphant death (Philippians 1:20-24).
The inescapable and indispensable message of the gospel must be proclaimed in this day and age in which we live that indeed men must meet Jesus either as Saviour now or as Judge in death. The appointment has been made for us, it is of vital importance, and to those who know and love Him and who anxiously look for His triumphal coming, it is one of joy and great expectation.
May the joy of the risen Christ who awaits us in glory sustain us through these days of patient working and waiting for His soon return.
(Reprinted from Philadelphia College of Bible Bulletin, Fall, 1966.)
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