A MONTHLY READING OF
INSIGHTS FROM RENOWNED CHRISTIANS
DECEMBER
Day 1
BE CONTENT
J.C. RYLE
“Be content,” he says, “with such things as you have:
for He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.”
Heb. 13:5The words which head this paper are soon spoken and often cost the speaker very little. Nothing is cheaper than good advice. Everybody fancies he can give his neighbor good counsel and tell him exactly what he ought to do. Yet to practice the lesson which heads this paper is very hard. To talk of contentment in the day of health and prosperity is easy enough; but to be content in the midst of poverty, sickness, trouble, disappointments, and losses is a state of mind to which very few can attain.
Let us turn to the Bible and see how it treats this great duty of contentment. Let us mark how the great Apostle of the Gentiles speaks when he would persuade the Hebrew Christians to be content. He backs up his injunction by a beautiful motive. He does not say nakedly, “Be content.” He adds words which would ring in the ears of all who read his letter, and nerve their hearts for a struggle: “Be content,” he says, “with such things as you have: for He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.”
These words are very simple. A little child might easily understand them. They contain no high doctrine; they involve no deep metaphysical question; and yet, simple as they are, the duty which these words enjoin on us is one of highest practical importance to all classes.
Contentment is one of the rarest graces. Like all precious things, it is most uncommon. The old Puritan divine, who wrote a book about it, did well to call his book “The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.” An Athenian philosopher is said to have gone into the marketplace at midday with a lantern, in order to find an honest man. I think he would have found it equally difficult to find one quite contented.
The fallen angels had heaven itself to dwell in before they fell, and the immediate presence and favor of God; but they were not content. Adam and Eve had the garden of Eden to live in, with a free grant of everything in it excepting one tree; but they were not content. Ahab had his throne and kingdom; but so long as Naboth’s vineyard was not his, he was not content. Haman was the chief favorite of the Persian king; but so long as Mordecai sat at the gate, he was not content.
It is just the same everywhere in the present day. Murmuring, dissatisfaction, discontent with what we have, meet us at every turn. To say with Jacob, “I have enough,” seems flatly contrary to the grain of human nature. To say, “I want more,” seems the mother tongue of every child of Adam. Our little ones around our family hearths are daily illustrations of the truth of what I am saying. They learn to ask for “more” much sooner than they learn to be satisfied. They are far more ready to cry for what they want, than to say “thank you” when they have got it.
There are few readers of this very paper, I will venture to say, who do not want something or other different from what they have--something more or something less. What you have does not seem so good as what you have not. If you only had this or that thing granted, you fancy you would be quite happy.
Hear now with what power St. Paul’s direction ought to come to all our consciences: “Be content,” he says, “with such things as you have”--not with such things as you once used to have, with such things as you hope to have, but with such things as you have now. With such a dwelling, such a position, such health, such income, such work, such circumstances as we have now, we are to be content.
Reader, a spirit of this kind is the secret of a light heart and an easy mind. Few, I am afraid, have the least idea what a short cut to happiness it is to be content. To be content is to be rich and well off. He is the rich man who has no wants, and requires no more. I ask not what his income may be. A man may be rich in a cottage and poor in a palace. To be content is to be independent. He is the independent man who hangs on to no created things for comfort, and has God for his portion.
Such a man is the only one who is always happy. Nothing can come amiss or go wrong with such a man. Afflictions will not shake him, and sickness will not disturb his peace. He can gather grapes from thorns, and figs from thistles, for he can get good out of evil. Like Paul and Silas, he will sing in prison with his feet fast in the stocks. Like Peter, he will sleep quietly in prospect of death the very night before his execution. Like Job, he will bless the Lord even when stripped of all his comforts.
Ah! reader, if you would be truly happy (who does not want this?) seek it where alone it can be found. Seek it not in money, seek it not in pleasure, nor in friends, nor in learning. Seek it in having a will in perfect harmony with the will of God. Seek it in studying to be content. You may say, "It is fine talking: how can we be always content in such a world?" I answer, that you need to cast away your pride and know your deserts in order to be thankful in any condition. If men really knew that they deserve nothing and are debtors to God’s mercy every day, they would soon cease to complain.
Let us examine the ground on which St. Paul builds his precept. That ground is one single text of Scripture. It is striking to observe what a small foundation the apostle seems to lay down when he bids us be content. He holds out no promise of earthly good things and temporal rewards. He simply quotes a verse of God’s word. The Master has spoken. “He has said.” We ought to make the texts and promises of the Bible our refuge in time of trouble, and the fountain of our soul's comfort.
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Day 2
THE LORD'S PRAYER
MARTIN LUTHER
Of all names, there is none that gains us more favor with God than Father. To speak the words Lord orGod or Judge would not be nearly as gracious and comforting to us. The name Father is part of our nature and is sweet by nature. With this name we likewise confess that we are the children of God, which again stirs His heart mightily, for there is no lovelier sound than that of a child speaking to his father.
The words "who art in heaven" are also helpful, for they point out our miserable and pitiful condition which moves us to pray and God to have compassion on us. It says, as it were, "O Father, You are in heaven, while I, Your poor child, am in misery on earth, far away from You, surrounded by many mortal dangers and spiritual perils."
This lofty word cannot possibly issue from human nature, but must be inspired in man's heart by the Spirit of Christ, for no man is so perfect as to be able to say truthfully that he has no father here on earth--that God is his only Father. Our nature is so base that it always covets something here on earth and will not content itself with God in heaven. The term "Our Father" refers to a confidence that we can place solely in God.
All teachers of the Scriptures conclude that prayer is nothing else than the lifting up of heart or mind to God. But if the lifting up of the heart constitutes the essence of prayer, it follows that everything else which does not invite the lifting of the heart to God is not prayer. Indeed, no one should depend on his heart and presume to pray unless he is well trained in warding off stray thoughts. Otherwise, the devil will thoroughly trick him and soon smother the prayer in his heart. Therefore we should cling to the words and with their help soar upward until our feathers grow and we can fly without the help of words.
No petition is greater to pray than, "Hallowed by Thy name." But note that God's name is holy in itself and is not hallowed by us, for it is God who hallows us and all things. To see how God's name is hallowed in us, we first ask how it is profaned and dishonored in us. In the first place, we misuse God's name for the purpose of sinning, and second, when we steal and rob Him or His name. A holy vessel in church may be desecrated similarly in a twofold manner--first, when it is not used in the service of God but for human purposes, and second, if it is robbed and stolen.
The name of God is first profaned in us when we employ it for sinful ends and the detriment of our soul. Instances of this are witchcraft, exorcism, lying, swearing, cursing, deceiving. In brief, we profane God's name when we do not live as His children.
There are some who recognize and deplore that they do not fully hallow God's name, who earnestly pray that they may do so, and who take seriously their wretchedness. To them God grants what they ask. And because they judge and condemn themselves, He absolves them and remits their shortcomings. Those unthinking, frivolous spirits who make light of their failings, will in the end discover how great their sin was to which they closed their eyes. They will be damned for the very thing which they supposed would most surely save them, for Christ says to the hypocrites that they will receive the greater condemnation because of their long prayers (Matt. 23:14).
This is the sum and substance of this petition: Oh dear Father, may Your name be hallowed in us; that is, I confess and am sorry I have dishonored Your name so often and that in my ignorance I still defile Your name by honoring my own. Therefore, help me by Your grace so that I and my name become nothing, so that only You and Your name and honor may live in me.
The Martin Luther Treasury
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Day 3
GOD'S HOLINESS AND OURS
BENJAMIN B. WARFIELD
"But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct."
I Peter 1:15The first chapter of the First Epistle of Peter ranks with the most precious in the Bible. It opens with a singularly rich and beautiful description of what God has done for us and of the glory of that salvation which he has provided. Peter makes known to his readers that it was not they who chose God, but God who chose them, and that their salvation is not dependent on their own effort but rests on God's almighty power. The inheritance God has prepared is more splendid than prophets could tell and more glorious than angels could imagine.
As we approach our text, we pass from the contemplation of the glorious inheritance of the saints to the most earnest exhortations to make our calling sure. Peter admonishes us, by the greatness of the hope that is set before us, to a mode of life conformable to it. We must gird up the loins of our minds, be sober and set our hope perfectly on this grace that is to be brought to us at the revelation of our Lord. It is ready for us; it is kept in store for us in heaven. When Christ comes, it will come with Him. Would we be meet for its reception? How then shall we be made meet for it? We are told first negatively, and then positively.
Christ is our King, and we owe him our duty. Not with eye service only nor with grudging honor, but as the very children of obedience we must offer him our willing service. And this service which he demands is summed up broadly in the negative rule that we must be separated wholly from our former evil desires which we followed in the days of our ignorance. Children of the flesh, born in the flesh, we have lived according to the lusts of the flesh. But now that the eyes of our hearts have been opened, we must turn away from evil. This is the negative rule of life. But mere negation brings us nowhere. To separate from sin is not enough; we must go on to positive holiness: "As he which called you is holy, become you also yourselves holy in all manner of living." Here is the positive rule of life.
Now let us look at this precept somewhat more closely. Observe first, that God proclaims his own holiness. When we call God holy, the central idea in our minds concerns his absolute and complete separation from sin and uncleanness. It is more than sinlessness, though it, of course, includes the idea of sinlessness. It is more than righteousness, wholeness, guilelessness, and purity, though it, of course, includes these also. Holiness is God's whole, entire, absolute, inconceivable and, therefore, inexpressible completeness and perfection of separation from, opposition to, and ineffable revulsion from all that is in any sense or degree, however small, evil. It is the exhibition of this his glory that he trusts to quicken an unquenchable thirst in us to be like him.
Such is the challenge of the Old Testament. But who can look upon the holy God and not tremble? It is preeminently the holiness of God which constitutes the terror of the Lord, and as often as he appears to men we read the record that they feared a great fear. Does its contemplation not silence our tongues and abase our hearts rather than rouse our endeavors and quicken our efforts? It is but too true that sin and holiness are antagonistic, and that holiness hates sin no less truly than sin hates holiness. Sinful man cannot be incited to holy activity by the sight of holiness; it begets no longing in the heart except a longing to hide.
The very fact of the proposal of God to show us his holiness as an incitement to holiness in us means something, then, of infinite importance to our souls. It means that we are no longer averse to all that is good; no longer God's enemies but his friends. Peter is addressing here not man as man but Christian men as Christian men. Those to whom he speaks have been bought with a price, have been begotten anew unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead. As God's sons, they are already like God. He only exhorts them to become more like him. It is only as God's sons that they could be attracted by the exhibition of his holiness. It is only as God's sons that they could find in it an incitement. It is only as such that they can hope to attain it. And it is just because we are God's sons that the exhortation is necessary to us. If we are to call on him as Father, we must vindicate our right to use that ennobling name by living as his children. Thus the very proposal of God to incite us to holiness by the exhibition of his holiness is itself an encouragement to and a pledge of our attainment of it.
God not only exhibits his holiness here as an incitement, but also reveals by that act his gracious and loving purpose with us. We see God here not calling us up to seek communion with him in our own strength, but rather stooping down that he may raise up to that communion. For let us observe that it is, after all, communion with him to which he has summoned us. There can be no communion between the holy and the sinful. He is here beseeching us to hold communion with him, and he is providing the way by which it may be consummated. The Holy God has by the resurrection of Christ from the dead, begotten us again into a living hope, and here he holds out to this already formed hope the incitement of the sight of his holiness as the goal to which we must strive to attain.
In the text, not only is God's holiness the incitement, but it is also the standard of the holiness for which we are to strive. We are to become holy as God is holy. Of course, the finite cannot attain the infinite, but we are eternally to approach this high and perfect standard. As the unending eons of eternity pass by, we shall grow ever more and more toward that ever-beckoning standard. That is our high destiny, and it is not unfitly described as partaking in the Divine Nature.
Faith & Life
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Day 4
THE SECOND COMING
LOUIS BERKHOF
The exact time of the coming of the Lord is unknown and all the attempts of men to figure out the exact date proved to be erroneous. The only thing that can be said with certainty, on the basis of Scripture, is that he will return at the end of the world. The disciples asked the Lord, "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" They link the two together, and the Lord does not intimate in any way that this is a mistake, but rather assumes the correctness of it in his discourse. He represents the two as synchronizing. Paul and Peter also speak of the two as coinciding. A study of the concomitants of the second coming leads to the same result. The resurrection of the saints will be one of its concomitants, and Jesus assures us that he will raise them up at the last day. According to Thayer, Salmond, Zahn and others, this can only mean the day of the consummation--the end of the world. Another one of its concomitants will be the judgment of the world, particularly also the judgment of the wicked, which Premillenarians place at the end of the world. And, finally, it will also carry with it the restoration of all things. The strong expression "restoration of all things" is too strong to refer to anything less than the perfect restoration of that state of things that existed before the fall of man. It points to the restoration of all things to their former condition, and this will not be found in the millennium of the Premillenarians. Even sin and death will continue to slay their victims during that period.
Several things must occur before the Lord's return. This must be borne in mind in the reading of those passages which speak of the coming of the Lord or the last day as near. They find their explanation partly in the fact that, considered from the side of God, with whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, the coming is always near; partly in the Biblical representation of the New Testament time as constituting the last days or the last time; partly in the fact that the Lord in speaking of his coming does not always have in mind his physical return at the end of time, but may refer to his coming in the Holy Spirit; and partly in the characteristic prophetic foreshortening, in which no clear distinction is made between the proximate coming of the Lord in the destruction of Jerusalem and his final coming to judge the world.
It will be a personal coming. This follows from the statement of the angels to the disciples on the Mount of the Ascension: "This Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye behold him going into heaven." The person of Jesus was leaving them, and the person of Jesus will return.
It will be a physical coming. Jesus will return to earth in the body. There are some who identify the predicted coming of the Lord with his spiritual coming on the day of Pentecost, and understand the parousia to mean the Lord's spiritual presence in the Church. According to their representation, the Lord did return in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and is now present (hence parousia) in the Church. They lay special emphasis on the fact that the word parousia means presence. Now it is quite evident that the New Testament does speak of a spiritual coming of Christ, but this coming, whether to the Church on the day of Pentecost or to the individual in his spiritual renewal cannot be identified with what the Bible represents as the second coming of Christ. It is true that the word parousia means presence, but Dr. Vos correctly pointed out that in its religious eschatological usage, it also means arrival, and that in the New Testament the idea of arrival is in the foreground. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that there are other terms in the New Testament which serve to designate the second coming, namely apokalupsis, epiphaneia, and phanerosis, every one of which points to a coming that can be seen. And, finally, it should not be forgotten that the Epistles refer to the second coming repeatedly as an event that is still future.
It will be a visible coming. This is intimately connected with the preceding. It may be said that, if the coming of the Lord will be physical, it will also be visible. Scripture does not leave us in doubt as to the visibility of the Lord's return.
It will be a sudden coming. Though the Bible teaches us on the one hand that the coming of the Lord will be preceded by several signs, it teaches on the other hand in an equally emphatic manner that the coming will be sudden, will be rather unexpected, and will take people by surprise. This is not contradictory, for the predicted signs are not of such a kind as to designate the exact time. The prophets pointed to certain signs that would precede the first coming of Christ, and yet his coming took many by surprise. The majority of the people paid no attention to the signs whatsoever. The Bible intimates that the measure of the surprise at the second coming of Christ will be in an inverse ratio to the measure of their watchfulness.
It will be a glorious and triumphant coming. The second coming of Christ, though personal, physical, and visible, will yet be very different from his first coming. He will not return in the body of his humiliation, but in a glorified body and in royal apparel. The clouds of heaven will be his chariot, the angels his bodyguard, the archangels his heralds, and the saints of God his glorious retinue. He will come as King of kings and Lord of lords, triumphant over all the forces of evil, having put all his enemies under his feet.
Systematic Theology
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Day 5
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
A. W. TOZER
Who would not fear Thee, O Lord God of Hosts, most high and most terrible? For Thou art Lord alone. Thou has made heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth and all things that are therein, and in Thy hand is the soul of every living thing, Thou sittest king upon the flood; yea, Thou sittest king forever. Thou art a great king over all the earth. Thou art clothed with strength; honor and majesty are before Thee. Amen.
God’s sovereignty is the attribute by which He rules His entire creation, and to be sovereign God must be all-knowing, all-powerful, and absolutely free. The reasons are these. Were there even one datum of knowledge, however small, unknown to God, His rule would break down at that point. To be Lord over all the creation, He must possess all knowledge. And were God lacking one infinitesimal modicum of power, that lack would end His reign and undo His kingdom; that one stray atom of power would belong to someone else and God would be a limited ruler and hence not sovereign.
Furthermore, His sovereignty requires that He be absolutely free, which means simply that He must be free to do whatever He wills, to do anywhere at any time, to carry out His eternal purpose in every single detail without interference. Were He less than free He must be less than sovereign. To grasp the idea of unqualified freedom requires a vigorous effort of the mind. We are not psychologically conditioned to understand freedom except in its imperfect forms. Our concepts of it have been shaped in a world where no absolute freedom exists. Here each natural object is dependent upon many other objects, and that dependence limits its freedom.
Wordsworth at the beginning of his “Prelude” rejoiced that he had escaped the city where he had long been pent up and was “now free, free as a bird to settle where I will.” But to be free as a bird is not to be free at all. The naturalist knows that the supposedly free bird actually lives its entire life in a cage made of fears, hungers, and instincts; it is limited by weather conditions, varying air pressures, the local food supply, predatory beasts, and that strangest of all bonds, the irresistible compulsion to stay within the small plot of land and air assigned it by birdland comity. The freest bird is, along with every other created thing, held in constant check by a net of necessity. Only God is free.
God is said to be absolutely free because no one and no thing can hinder Him or compel Him or stop Him. He is able to do as He pleases always, everywhere, forever. To be thus free means also that He must possess universal authority. That He has unlimited power we know from the Scriptures and may deduce from certain other of His attributes. But what about His authority? Even to discuss the authority of Almighty God seems a bit meaningless, and to question it would be absurd. Can we imagine the Lord God of Hosts having to request permission of anyone or to apply for anything to a higher body? To whom would God go for permission? Who is higher than the Highest? Who is mightier than the Almighty? Whose position antedates that of the Eternal? At whose throne would God kneel? Where is the greater one to whom He must appeal? “Thus says the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.”
The sovereignty of God is a fact well established in the Scriptures and declared aloud by the logic of truth. But admittedly it raises certain problems which have not to this time been satisfactorily solved. These are mainly two. The first is the presence in the creation of those things which God cannot approve, such as evil, pain, and death. If God is sovereign He could have prevented their coming into existence. Why did He not do so? While a complete explanation of the origin of sin eludes us, there are a few things we do know. In His sovereign wisdom God has permitted evil to exist in carefully restricted areas of His creation, a kind of fugitive outlaw whose activities are temporary and limited in scope. In doing this God has acted according to His infinite wisdom and goodness. More than that no one knows at present; and more than that no one needs to know. The name of God is sufficient guarantee of the perfection of His works.
Another real problem created by the doctrine of the divine sovereignty has to do with the will of man. If God rules His universe by His sovereign decrees, how is it possible for man to exercise free choice? And if he cannot exercise freedom of choice, how can he be held responsible for his conduct? Is he not a mere puppet whose actions are determined by a behind-the-scenes God who pulls the strings as it pleases Him? The attempt to answer these questions has divided the Christian church neatly into two camps which have borne the names of two distinguished theologians, Jacobus Arminius and John Calvin. Most Christians are content to get into one camp or the other and deny either sovereignty to God or free will to man. It appears possible, however, to reconcile these two positions without doing violence to either, although the effort that follows may prove deficient to partisans of one camp or the other.
Here is my view. God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise moral choice, and man from the beginning has fulfilled that decree by making his choice between good and evil. When he chooses to do evil, he does not thereby countervail the sovereign will of God but fulfills it, inasmuch as the eternal decree decided not which choice the man should make but that he should be free to make it. If in His absolute freedom God has willed to give man limited freedom, who is there to stay His hand or say, “What doest thou?” Man’s will is free because God is sovereign. A God less than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures. He would be afraid to do so.
Perhaps a homely illustration might help us to understand. An ocean liner leaves New York bound for Liverpool. Its destination has been determined by proper authorities. Nothing can change it. This is at least a faint picture of sovereignty. On board the liner are several scores of passengers. These are not in chains, neither are their activities determined for them by decree. They are completely free to move about as they will. They eat, sleep, play, lounge about on the deck, read, talk, altogether as they please; but all the while the great liner is carrying them steadily onward toward a predetermined port. Both freedom and sovereignty are present here and they do not contradict each other. So it is, I believe, with man’s freedom and the sovereignty of God. The mighty liner of God’s sovereign design keeps its steady course over the sea of history. God moves undisturbed and unhindered toward the fulfillment of those eternal purposes which He purposed in Christ Jesus before the world began. We do not know all that is included in those purposes, but enough has been disclosed to furnish us with a broad outline of things to come and to give us good hope and firm assurance of future well-being.
We know that God will fulfill every promise made to the prophets. We know that sinners will some day be cleansed out of the earth. We know that a ransomed company will enter into the joy of God and that the righteous will shine forth in the kingdom of their Father. We know that God’s perfections will yet receive universal acclamation, that all created intelligences will own Jesus Christ Lord to the glory of God the Father, that the present imperfect order will be done away, and a new heaven and a new earth be established forever. Toward all this God is moving with infinite wisdom and perfect precision of action. No one can dissuade Him from His purposes; nothing can turn Him aside from His plans. Since He is omniscient, there can be no unforeseen circumstances, no accidents. As He is sovereign, there can be no countermanded orders, no breakdown in authority. And as He is omnipotent, there can be no lack of power to achieve His chosen ends. God is sufficient unto Himself for all these things.
In the meanwhile things are not as smooth as this quick outline might suggest. The mystery of iniquity does already work. Within the broad field of God’s sovereign, permissive will the deadly conflict of good with evil continues with increasing fury. God will yet have His way in the whirlwind and the storm, but the storm and the whirlwind are here, and as responsible beings we must make our choice in the present moral situation.
Certain things have been decreed by the free determination of God, and one of these is the law of choice and consequences. God has decreed that all who willingly commit themselves to His Son Jesus Christ in the obedience of faith shall receive eternal life and become sons of God. He has also decreed that all who love darkness and continue in rebellion against the high authority of heaven shall remain in a state of spiritual alienation and suffer eternal death at last.
Reducing the whole matter to individual terms, we arrive at some vital and highly personal conclusions. In the moral conflict now raging around us, whoever is on God’s side is on the winning side and cannot lose. Whoever is on the other side is on the losing side and cannot win. Here there is no chance, no gamble. There is freedom to choose which side we shall be on but no freedom to negotiate the results of the choice once it is made. By the mercy of God we may repent a wrong choice and alter the consequences by making a new and right choice. Beyond that we cannot go.
The whole matter of moral choice centers around Jesus Christ. Christ stated it plainly: “He that is not with me is against me,” and “No man comes unto the Father but by me.” The gospel message embodies three distinct elements: an announcement, a command, and a call. It announces the good news of redemption accomplished in mercy, it commands all men everywhere to repent, and it calls all men to surrender to the terms of grace by believing on Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
We must all choose whether we will obey the gospel or turn away in unbelief and reject its authority. Our choice is our own, but the consequences of the choice have already been determined by the sovereign will of God, and from this there is no appeal.
The Knowledge of the Holy
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Day 6
EVIDENCE OF THE RESURRECTION
MERRILL C. TENNEY
"Peter, therefore, went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed." (John 20:3-8)
The material evidence for the resurrection deals with the physical facts that were immediately apparent to contemporary observers, and an important factor in this material witness is the state of the grave clothes. When Joseph, with Nicodemus' assistance, took the body from the cross, he carried it quickly to the garden where he "wrapped [Gr. enetulixen] it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb" (Matt. 27:59-60). Mark's language is almost identical, though he says, "wound [eneilesen] him in the linen cloth." Luke corroborates these statements using the same word as Matthew. John says that Joseph and Nicodemus "bound" [edesan] his body in "swathes" or "bandages", using about one hundred pounds of spices, which Nicodemus furnished. He specifies that they followed the usual burial custom of the Jews in the wrapping of the corpse.
In preparing a body for burial according to Jewish custom, it was usually washed and straightened, and then bandaged tightly from the armpits to the ankles in strips of linen about a foot wide. Aromatic spices, often of a gummy consistency, were placed between the wrappings or folds. They served partially as a preservative and partially as a cement to glue the cloth wrappings into a solid covering. When the body was thus encased, a square piece of cloth was wrapped around the head and tied under the chin to keep the lower jaw from sagging. John's term "bound" [edesan] is in perfect accord with the language of Luke where the writer says that the body was rolled (literal translation of enetulixen) in linen. John uses the same verb to describe the head cloth, which was found "rolled up in a place by itself." The language implies that the body of Jesus was not carelessly entombed, although Joseph may not have been able to complete all of the fine requirements of preparation. Had he done so, the women would not have come to the tomb on the morning after the Sabbath.
On the morning of the first day of the week, the body of Jesus had vanished, but the grave clothes were still there. Neither Matthew nor Mark mentions them specifically in the account of the first visit to the tomb. Their presence may be implied in the angel's words, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay," for unless some marker were left, it would be impossible to tell where the body had been deposited. A plain stone slab would carry no visible impression. John corroborates this deduction by his statement that Mary Magdalene, on her second visit to the tomb, saw "two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain." While custom may have usually decreed the position in which a body was laid, the presence of grave clothes would make it unmistakable. This implication becomes a certainty in the statement that the unnamed disciple and Simon Peter both saw the clothes in the tomb.
A careful examination of the Johannine narrative shows that the author attached considerable importance to this evidence. In describing the hurried trip of Peter and John to the sepulchre, he uses three distinct verbs for see in relation to the grave clothes. In the sequence of the action, the unnamed disciple, presumably John himself, reached the tomb first. Having heard from Mary Magdalene that the body had been removed, he proceeded to investigate on his own behalf. Bending down to look in through the dark doorway, he could see the outline of the linen grave clothes lying on the shelf. Satisfied that the body must still be there, even though the tomb had been opened, he withdrew to await Peter, who had been following him. John "saw" [blepei] the clothes in the same way that he would "see" anything else. His eyes registered that they were visible, and consequently real. The observation was casual, but not inaccurate.
Peter arrived in a few seconds and did not content himself with a cautious glance at the tomb from the outside. Unhesitatingly he entered the sepulchre and stood there gazing at the clothes. The verb translated "saw" [theorei] implies careful observation, watching for the purpose of apprehending the significance of an object or event. Peter evidently stood for several moments in silent contemplation of the grave clothes--long enough to make his partner wonder why Peter should be spending so much time within the tomb when he, the first comer, had been able to satisfy his curiosity with a glance.
Why should the condition of the grave clothes excite Peter's amazement? The Fourth Gospel specifies that they were lying just where they were when the body was in them, and that "the napkin...was...not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself" (John 20:7). Why should this arrangement have seemed peculiar?
There is a strong hint that the clothes were not folded as if Jesus had unwound them and then deposited them in two neat piles on the shelf. The word used to describe the napkin or head cloth does not connote a flat folded square like a table napkin, but a ball of cloth bearing the appearance of being rolled around an object that was no longer there. The wrappings were in position where the body had lain, and the head cloth was where the head had been, separated from the other cloths by the distance from armpits to neck. The shape of the body was still apparent in them, but the flesh and bone had disappeared.
If this hypothesis be correct, and it seems to follow the facts, how was the corpse extricated from the wrappings, since they would not slip over the curves of the body when tightly wound around it? No robbers would ever have rewound the wrappings in their original shape, for there would not have been time to do so. They would have flung the cloths down in disorder and fled with the body. Fear of detection would have made them act as hastily as possible.
While Peter was cogitating over this puzzle, the other disciple entered the tomb. The account says that "he saw, and believed." The word "saw" [eidon] implies mental perception or realization as well as physical sight. In modern language, he "clicked." The answer to the enigma was that Jesus had risen, passing through the grave clothes, which he left undisturbed as a silent proof that death could not hold him, nor material bonds restrain him.
The Reality of the Resurrection
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Day 7
THE SHIPWRECK
CHARLES J. VAUGHAN
St. Paul's long detention at Caesarea is now ended. His hearing before Festus and Agrippa had resulted in a full recognition of his innocence. It should almost seem as if his appeal to the Emperor had been a mistake, so far as his personal prospects were concerned. Agrippa had said to Festus, "This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar." But all things work together for good to them that love God; and it was thus that the way was opened for that important ministry at Rome, to which Paul had so long and earnestly looked forward.
The time was come. One of those merchant vessels, on which in those days even generals and princes had to depend for transit from one part to another of the great Empire, was now in the harbor of Caesarea, bound for Adramyttium on the coast of Mysia. It was expected, no doubt, and as it happened, that an opportunity would be found of exchanging this vessel in some port of Asia for one more directly bound for Italy. Paul, and some other prisoners with him, were placed under the charge of a centurion named Julius, and began the tedious navigation of the seas of Syria, Cilicia, and the further shores of Asia Minor.
One day brought them to Sidon. There, as elsewhere, was a Christian community, and the courtesy of the centurion allowed Paul the opportunity of visiting the place and the Church.
Contrary winds began early to retard the progress of his voyage. It was necessary to change the usual direction, sailing under the lee of Cyprus, that is, along the east and north instead of the southern side of the island, and coasting along the shores of Cilicia and Pamphylia until they reached the port of Myra in Lycia. There they lighted upon an Alexandrian corn ship (driven perhaps by the same stress of weather out of its straighter course to Italy) and the prisoners, with their centurion and other passengers, were transferred into it to continue their voyage.
It was still and increasingly a tedious passage. The wind, west or northwest, compelled them to take the unusual and less desirable side of the great island of Crete, passing under Salmone its eastern headland, and then along its southern shore as far as an anchorage called (and still called) Fair Havens.
For the moment they were in safety. There had been great loss of time; and now the season had set in, which sailors knew to involve special danger in those seas. To advance further, so late in the season and in the face of obstinately adverse winds, was an act of imprudence against which Paul earnestly remonstrated. He foresaw, he said, that their onward way would involve great risk, not only to the cargo and vessel, but also to the soldiers, sailors, and passengers on board. Two-hundred and seventy-six souls (if that be the true reading of the 37th verse, which is doubtful) formed an aggregate of human life not lightly to be thrown away. The warning was unheeded. Not yet had the full value of that inspired counselor been felt and owned among them. The master (or pilot) of the ship, and the owner of the cargo were listened to before the prisoner. The harbor was not commodious to winter in; there was a better place, could they but reach it, within forty miles and sheltered from those particular winds which were at present most to be dreaded.
The decision to proceed was taken, and for the moment all seemed to favor it. Instead of the troublesome westerly and northwesterly winds from which they had suffered, there blew from the south a gentle breeze which enabled them, after rounding the cape, to start with every advantage along a shore bending now to the north for the desired haven of Phoenix. Triumphant, no doubt, over the cowardly prudence of the Apostle, they advanced a few miles, in good hope and high spirits, along the sheltering shore of Crete.
But a sudden change came. A tempestuous wind blowing from the northeast came down upon the ship from the highlands of the island. There was nothing now to be done but to submit. "The ship was caught, and we let her drive." It was not without difficulty that they even could take up the boat which was in tow astern, and which might become so necessary for the safety of the crew. They then passed cordage tightly round the timbers of the ship to prevent the risk of their starting asunder under the violence of the sea. Other precautions were taken to avoid their being carried, as the direction of the wind threatened, upon the famous quicksand of Africa. All must be done to keep well to the westward. The next day, they lightened the ship of a portion of its cargo; the day following, of all its spare tackling.
And now it is impossible to imagine a more dreary or dispiriting scene than that which Luke, himself an eye-witness to all, so graphically presents. A recent author writes: "No one who has never been in a leaking ship in a long-continued gale can know what is suffered under such circumstances. The strain both of mind and body, the incessant demand for the labor of all the crew, the terror of the passengers, the hopeless working at the pumps, the laboring of the ship's frame and cordage, the driving of the storm, the benumbing effect of the cold and wet make up a scene of no ordinary confusion, anxiety, and fatigue. But in the present case these evils were much aggravated by the continued overclouding of the sky, which prevented the navigators from taking the necessary observations of the heavenly bodies. "When neither sun nor stars" St. Luke says, "shone upon us for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, thenceforth all hope that we should be saved was taken away."
To the gloom and despair everywhere prevailing was added the exhaustion of long abstinence. Ceaseless toil and utter despondency had precluded the thought of food. There was among them but one person now capable of command; it was the Christian prisoner. Unheeded till danger pressed, Paul was now the one leading and sustaining and animating spirit. He reminds them, yet without reproaches, of their disregard of his warning. The remembrance might make them listen now; too late to avoid, but not too late to mitigate the evil. And then he gives the solemn assurance, in the name of his God, that there shall be no loss of life. "There stood by me this night the Angel of that God whose I am and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul, you must stand before Caesar. And lo, God has granted you all them that sail with you. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe God that it shall be even so as it has been told me. Howbeit, we must be cast upon a certain island."
For the time being there was no relief, no respite. The fourteenth night of that tossing upon the Adriatic was now come, when some sounds, indicative of approaching land, struck upon the practiced ear of the sailors. The first notice was soon confirmed. The sounding line, which reported first a depth of twenty fathoms, soon changed to fifteen. And now an imminent danger arose of being wrecked upon the outlying rocks of some unknown shore. Nothing could be done save to throw a number of anchors from the stern of the vessel and then idly to wish for the day. O how many a weary watcher, through a long night of sickness of body or anguish of soul, has had to do that and could do nothing more--just to wish for the day.
Before dawn a new peril had shown itself. The selfish sailors, thinking only of their own lives, had formed the project of escaping in the boat and leaving the soldiers and passengers to their fate. They pretended to be letting down the boat for another purpose, to carry out in it some anchors to steady the prow or foreship, as had already been done for the stern. It was again Paul, whose ready discernment and calm promptitude, averted the danger. "Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, Except these (the sailors) abide in the ship, you cannot be saved." As if he had said, "There is work present and work before us which will need a mariner's skill as well as a soldier's courage." The hint was enough. The soldiers used their swords, and the ropes of the boat were cut before the sailors could enter it.
Paul foresees that the last struggle of all will be trying and formidable, and that exhausted frames can ill meet it. He urges them to take some food, necessary to health and even to safety, in the assurance that however imminent the peril, life is secure. By precept first and then by example, he summons them to this humble duty. "When he had said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all. And he broke it and began to eat. Then were they all of good cheer and themselves also took some food."
After this, they threw overboard the remaining (and probably damaged) wheat in order that the vessel might be lightened for its last grounding. Morning dawned upon an unknown shore; but it was their one chance. Presently they could discern, through the early twilight, an opening in the cliffs disclosing a sandy or pebbly beach upon which it might be possible to run the vessel aground. They took up the anchors, loosed the rudders from their fastenings, hoisted the sail to the wind, and made toward the shore. The spot on which they lighted proved to be a promontory, or in reality (it is supposed) an island scarcely separated from the coast and forming a spot, St. Luke says, "where two seas met," and upon which the vessel was so driven that while "the forepart stuck fast and remained immovable, the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves."
At this last moment, a formidable danger threatened the life of St. Paul. It was the cruel counsel of the soldiers, hardened by long use to an utter unconcern for human life, to kill the prisoners lest in the confusion of the general struggle for self-preservation, any of them should escape from custody by swimming. The suggestion was only frustrated by the care of the centurion Julius for Paul, who from the first appears to have awakened his interest and gained a hold upon his confidence and esteem. So a more humane order prevailed. The centurion commanded "that they who could swim should cast themselves overboard first and get to land, and the rest, some on boards and others on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land."
We have seen Paul in many positions. We have noticed at various times his activity, boldness, wisdom, faith, charity, devotion, skill, and patience. But the point before us now is different from all these. Might I not say that it is a combination of them all, his conduct and character as tested and probed by a long-continued season of imminent peril?
Danger is always a test of character. One man is daunted by danger, another bewildered, another irritated. Many a man is rendered selfish. Read the history of a sudden alarm of fire in a crowded building. The impulse of self-preservation is so strong as to defeat itself, and a heap of crushed or burnt corpses will attest both the predominance and the infatuation of a spirit of selfishness in the heart of man in a time of great and sudden jeopardy.
The diffusion of Gospel light does not of itself destroy this selfish principle in man. There are indeed three influences of unequal strength, but each powerful, which may under given circumstances counteract it. (1) A sense of honor. The captain of a burning or sinking ship will count it his duty to be the last to leave. He will maintain his place to the end and perish, if need be, himself alone. (2) Humanity alone has sufficed to make martyrs. A man worthy of the name will fling himself into deep water in cold winter to rescue one who is drowning. (3) How much more will personal love--the love of husband, wife, sister, child--counteract the force of selfishness and make timidity for the moment brave. But how different are these things, at their highest point, from the sustained calmness and commanding wisdom of Paul whose long trial is here drawn out before us. Nothing but the living grace of a living Savior could have thus done and thus spoken.
My friends, it may not be given to us, or it may not be laid upon us, to be driven for fourteen nights up and down in the Adriatic Sea as prisoners, confessors, and martyrs for the testimony of the truth. Yet none the less it is given us to cultivate that spirit which St. Paul here manifested in extreme danger.
Studies in the Book of Acts
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Day 8
TYRE
JOSEPH PITTS WILES
"Wail you inhabitants of the coastland! Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is from ancient days, whose feet carried her far off to dwell? Who has taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the honorable of the earth? The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to bring to dishonor the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth . . . .Now it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot: "Take a harp, go about the city, you forgotten harlot; Make sweet melody, sing many songs, that you may be remembered." (Isaiah 23:6-9, 15-16)
Tyre! Where is it now? It is not; but where it once stood, fishers find a place to spread their nets. Long before its final fall, its doom was thus written: "It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. . . .And I will make thee like the top of a rock; thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon, thou shalt be built no more; for I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord God" (Ezek. 26:5, 14). A modern traveler tells us that in passing along the shore where the city once stood, he "came suddenly upon five or six fishermen sitting on some prostrate columns with their nets spread on the sand at a short distance before them."
But what was Tyre when the prophets of God foretold its overthrow? It seems clear that the ancient city which was known in the days of Joshua as great Sidon, gave birth to the neighboring town of Tyre. If so, it is probable that the "daughter of Sidon" referred to in verse 12 of Isaiah chapter 23 is not Sidon itself but the daughter-city Tyre. Both cities stood on the coast of Phoenicia at the eastern end of the Mediterranean. The younger city consisted of two parts: one built on the mainland and known as Old Tyre, and the other built on a rocky island at some distance from the coast. This island was turned into an impregnable fortress, guarded not only by the surrounding waves, but by walls lofty, thick, and surmounted with strong towers. The ruins of the place show that it was a city of palaces, temples, and colonades, a home of wealth and luxury. It sent out its merchant ships to the ends of the earth, and "its own feet carried it far off to sojourn", that is, its citizens went forth to colonize distant lands. Across the great waters of the Mediterranean, they brought from Egypt the grain that grew on the banks of the Nile, and from every district of the then known world, rich produce of various kinds. Nor were they content to visit lands already known. They pushed on into unknown seas; they came to Britain for tin, and it is well nigh certain that Tyrian sailors circumnavigated Africa long ages before we moderns rediscovered the Cape of Good Hope.
Now, praiseworthy as all this industrious enterprise was, and even necessary for the well being of Phoenicia, a small country hemmed in by the sea on the west and by high mountains on the east, the ungodliness connected with it made Tyre in the eyes of the Lord as the indiscriminate commerce of a harlot. For Tyre knew not the maker of heaven and earth, nor glorified Him as God. She polluted herself continually with the cruel worship of Baal and the unclean orgies of Ashtoreth or Astarte. Moreover, when Jerusalem was taken by the armies of Chaldea, Tyre exulted at the prospect of an increase of her own trade through the fall of a rival city, saying, "Aha, she is broken that was the gate of the peoples; she is turned unto me. I shall be replenished now that she is laid waste." Then was the doom of Tyre revealed afresh by Him who is jealous for His land.
The prediction of this great city's downfall and of its subsequent reception of the gospel before its final desolation is recorded in Isaiah chapter 23. We think that the prophet refers primarily to the siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar and not to that undertaken 250 years later by Alexander the Great. The prophecy concludes with these words: "And it shall be, at the end of seventy years, that the LORD will deal with Tyre. She will return to her hire, and commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. Her gain and her pay will be set apart for the LORD; it will not be treasured nor laid up, for her gain will be for those who dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for fine clothing."
Two quotations may explain these concluding words.
"We landed at Tyre. . . And finding disciples we tarried there ten days: who said unto Paul through the Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem. And when we had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way; and they brought us on our way with wives and children, till we were out of the city; and we knelt down on the shore and prayed. And when we had taken our leave one of another we took ship, and they returned home again" -- to Tyre!
Nearly three centuries after Christ, Eusebius wrote: "This prophecy is fulfilled in our times. For now that the Church of God is established at Tyre, as in other nations, a large portion of her merchandise is consecrated to the Lord and to His Church . . . according to the precept of the Lord, that they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel."
As we look back at Isaiah's prophecies against various nations, we see more distinctly than ever who it is that governs this lower world; and we feel to be in hearty agreement with that ancient writer, Tertullian, who said, "What can more clearly prove the truth of prophecy than the daily auditing of the accounts of this world's history, in which the disposal of kingdoms, the fall of cities, the end of nations, the state of times, corresponds to what was announced some thousands of years ago?"
Half Hours with Isaiah
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Day 9
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH
MARTIN LUTHER
The foundation must be maintained without wavering, that faith without any works, without any merit, reconciles man to God and makes him good, as Paul says to the Romans: "But now apart from the law a righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe." Paul at another place says, "To Abraham, his faith was reckoned for righteousness." Again, "Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And again, "For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." These, and many more similar passages, we must firmly hold and trust immovably, so that to faith alone without any assistance of works is attributed the forgiveness of sins and our justification.
Therefore the powerful conclusion follows, there must be something far greater and more precious than all good works by which a man becomes pious and good before he does good; just as he must first be in bodily health before he can labor and do hard work. This great and precious something is the noble Word of God, which offers us in the Gospel the grace of God in Christ. He who hears and believes this thereby becomes good and righteous. Wherefore it is called the Word of Life, a Word of Grace, a Word of Forgiveness. But he who neither hears nor believes it can in no way become good. For St. Peter says in the Acts, "And he made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith." For as the Word is, so will the heart be which believes and cleaves firmly to it. The Word is a living, righteous, truthful, pure and good Word. So also must the heart which cleaves to it be living, just, truthful, pure and good.
But true faith, of which we speak, cannot be manufactured by our own thoughts, for it is solely a work of God in us without any assistance on our part. As Paul says to the Romans, it is God's gift and grace obtained by one man, Christ. Therefore, faith is something very powerful, active, restless, effective, which at once renews a person and again regenerates him, and leads him altogether into a new manner and character of life, so that it is impossible not to do good without ceasing.
From the Sermon, Justification by Faith
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Day 10
MY HIDING PLACE
MAJOR JOHN ANDRE
Major John Andre was an English officer during the American Revolution. As aid to General Sir Henry Clinton, the British Commander in Chief, Andre was in charge of intelligence.
In September, 1780, he met with American General Benedict Arnold behind American lines to make arrangements for Arnold to join the British and surrender the garrison at West Point. Due to unexpected complications, Andre was forced to return to British territory in civilian clothes. When stopped by American militiamen, word was innocently sent to Arnold, allowing him time to escape. Andre became the scapegoat, was tried, and hanged as a spy October 2, 1780. While under guard, Andre was converted to Christ two days before his execution and composed this poem.
Hail, sovereign love, which first began
The scheme to rescue fallen man!
Hail, matchless, free, eternal grace
That gave my soul a Hiding Place!
Against the God who built the sky,
I fought with hands uplifted high;
Despised the mention of His grace,
Too proud to seek a Hiding Place.
Enwrapped in thick Egyptian night,
And fond of darkness more than light,
Madly I ran the sinful race,
Secure without a Hiding Place.
But thus the eternal counsel ran:
"Almighty love, arrest that man!"
I felt the arrows of distress,
And found I had no hiding place.
Indignant justice stood aview;
To Sinai's fiery mount I flew.
But justice cried, with frowning face,
"This mountain is no hiding place."
Ere long a heavenly voice I heard,
And Mercy's angel soon appeared.
He led me at a placid pace
To Jesus, as a Hiding Place.
On Him almighty vengeance fell,
Which must have sunk a world to hell.
He bore it for a sinful race,
And thus became their Hiding Place.
Should sevenfold storms of thunder roll,
And shake this globe from pole to pole,
No thunderbolt shall daunt my face,
For Jesus is my Hiding Place.
A few more setting suns at most,
Shall land me on fair Canaan's coast,
Where I shall sing the song of grace,
And see my glorious Hiding Place.
Unknown
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Day 11
THE WITHERED HAND
G. A. CHADWICK
"And He entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there who had a withered hand. And they were watching Him to see whether He would heal him on the sabbath day in order that they might accuse Him. And He said unto the man with the withered hand, 'Rise and come forward!' And He said unto them, 'Is it lawful on the sabbath day to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?' But they kept silent. And when He had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their heart, He said unto the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. And the Pharisees went out, and immediately with the Herodians took counsel against Him, how they might destroy Him." (Mark 3:1-6)
In the controversies recorded before this one, we have recognized the ideal Teacher: clear to discern and quick to exhibit the decisive point at issue, careless of small pedantries, armed with principles and precedents which go to the heart of the dispute. But the perfect man must be competent in more than theory, and we have now a marvelous example of tact, decision, and self-control in action. When Sabbath observance is again discussed, Jesus' enemies have resolved to push matters to extremity. They watch, no longer to cavil, but that they may accuse him.
It is in the synagogue, and their expectations are sharpened by the presence of a pitiable object, a man whose hand is not only paralyzed in the sinews, but withered up and hopeless. St. Luke tells us that it was the right hand, which deepened his misery. And St. Matthew records that they asked Christ, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?" thus urging him by a challenge to the deed which they condemned. What a miserable state of mind! They believe that Jesus can work the cure, since this is the very basis of their plot; and yet their hostility is not shaken, for belief in a miracle is not conversion. To acknowledge a prodigy is one thing, and to surrender the will is quite another. Or how should we see around us so many who are Christians in theory but reprobates in life? They long to see the man healed, yet there is no compassion in this desire; hatred urges them to wish, what mercy impels Christ to grant. But while he relieves the sufferer, he will also expose their malice.
Therefore he makes his intention public and whets their expectation by calling the man forth into the midst. And then he meets their question with another: "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath day or evil, to save life or to kill?" And when they preserved their calculated silence, we know how he pressed the question home--reminding them that not one of them would fail to draw his own sheep out of a pit upon the Sabbath day. Selfishness made the difference, for a man was better than a sheep but did not, like the sheep, belong to them.
They do not answer. Instead of warning him away from guilt, they eagerly await the incriminating act. We can almost see the spiteful subtle smile playing about their bloodless lips; and Jesus marks them well. He looked round about them in anger, but not in bitter personal resentment. He was grieved at the hardness of their hearts, and pitied them also, even while enduring such contradiction of sinners against himself. This is the first mention by St. Mark of that impressive gaze, afterward so frequent in every Gospel, which searched the scribe who answered well, and melted the heart of Peter.
And now, by one brief utterance, their prey breaks through their snare. Any touch would have been a work, a formal infraction of the law. Therefore there is no touch; neither is the helpless man bidden to take up any burden or instigated to the slightest ritual irregularity. Jesus only bids him do what was forbidden to none, but what had been impossible for him to perform. The man succeeds; he stretches forth his hand, is healed, and the work is done. Yet nothing has been done. As a work of healing, not even a word has been said. For he who would so often defy their malice has chosen to show how easily he can evade it. Not one of them is more free from any blame, however technical, than he.
The Pharisees are so utterly baffled, so helpless in his hands, so "filled with madness" that they invoke against this new foe the help of their natural enemies, the Herodians. These appear on the stage because the immense spread of the Messianic movement endangers the Idumaean dynasty. When first the wise men sought an infant King of the Jews, the Herod of that day was troubled. That instinct which struck at his cradle is now reawakened, and will not slumber again until the fatal day when the new Herod shall set Jesus at nought and mock him. In the meantime, these strange allies perplex themselves with the hard question, How is it possible to destroy so acute a foe?
While observing their malice--and the exquisite skill which baffles it--we must not lose sight of other lessons. It is to be observed that no offense to hypocrites nor danger to himself prevented Jesus from removing human suffering. Also, he expects from the man a certain cooperation involving faith. He must stand forth in the midst where everyone can see his unhappiness; he is to assume a position which will become ridiculous unless a miracle is worked. Then he must make an effort. In the act of stretching forth his hand, the strength to stretch it forth is given; but he would not have tried the experiment unless he trusted before he discovered the power. Such is the faith demanded of our sin-stricken and helpless souls. It is a faith which confesses its wretchedness, believes in the good will of God and the promises of Christ, and receives the experience of blessing through having acted on the belief that already the blessing is a fact in the Divine volition.
Nor may we overlook the mysterious impalpable spiritual power which effects its purposes without a touch, or even an explicit word of healing import. What is it but the power of him who spake and it was done, who commanded and it stood fast?
The Gospel According to St. Mark
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Day 12
THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
LORAINE BOETTNER
Once each year, on the day of atonement, a special sin-offering was made for the nation of Israel, and the full doctrine was exhibited more fully than was possible in the individual offering. Two he goats were taken from the congregation. Lots were cast to determine which one was to be put to death. When it was slain, some of its blood was carried even into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled over the mercy seat. The other goat was not slain. Instead, the high priest placed his hands upon its head, confessed over it the sins of the people, symbolically transferring them to it, and then sent it away by the hand of the attendant into the wilderness or solitary place where it would be lost. This goat was to "bear upon him all their iniquities unto a solitary land." In the death of the first goat, which through no fault of its own poured out its soul unto death and thus paid the prescribed penalty for sin, the people were taught that the penalty for this sin was laid on another, on their legal substitute. The animal actually received what the people deserved, that is, death.
Dr. John D. Davis has pointed out that through the ritual connected with the second goat, the people were "taught by symbolical act that their sins have been carried away and removed from the sight and presence of themselves and of Jehovah who dwells in their midst. The two goats together constituted one sin offering. Two were necessary because of the physical impossibility of setting forth by one goat the two elements to be exhibited. One object was attained: the life of the holy thing was placed before God, and the sin was thereby removed from the camp. God then treated the congregation as without sin; not merely as though he could not see their sin, but as though it were actually removed. It was not only covered and hidden so that God did not see it, but it was no longer in the camp. It had been removed never to return. Such was the symbolical teaching. In the full sense, atonement had been secured; the sin was expiated, and the sinner was accepted as righteous."
The idea of vicarious and expiatory sacrifice, or in other words, the doctrine of substitution by blood atonement, is woven into the very warp and woof of both the Old and the New Testament. It is set forth with special clearness in the book of Leviticus and in other parts of the priest's code. It is nowhere contradicted, although the prophets gave repeated warnings that the mere performance of the ceremony without a truly penitent heart could avail nothing to the offerer. The priests, who in reality were only types of the great High Priest who was to come, were not permitted to enter the sanctuary without blood, that the faithful might know that only through the sacrifice of the life of another could their lives be spared. And the well-nigh universal prevalence of sacrifice among heathen as well as Jewish people expressed man's consciousness that sin subjects him to the wrath of God, and that that wrath can be turned away only when amends have been made through the forfeiture of life, either his own or that of his legal substitute.
Studies in Theology
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Day 13
GOD'S FAITHFULNESS
ROBERT D. CULVER
The Bible reveals that the very worthiness of God as the object of the faith of the patriarchs requires that He yet restore Israel and fulfill the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
In Romans 11:28 Paul writes that Israel is yet "beloved for the fathers' sake." This means that God's present care for His ancient people is, at least in part, out of respect for the faith of "the fathers" who believed God and expected Him to fulfill His ancient promises. After writing of the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the writer to the Hebrews observes:
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Hebrews 11:13, A.S.V.).
Not all of the promises of God to the patriarchs have been fulfilled yet. Of course, as the New Testament makes clear, some of the promises have come true in Christ, in the benefits of His redeeming work at Calvary. But all the distinctive promises to Israel wait for complete fulfillment. We know that unbelief and resultant chastening are the cause. But God has made a promise concerning the overruling of the unbelief, and to this promise Paul must have turned his mind as he wrote that Israel was still "beloved for the fathers' sake." I refer to a passage in the Pentateuch, the portion of God's Word in which this series of arguments began. After detailing the dread results of disobedience--banishment from the land--God says:
They shall confess...then will I remember my covenant with Jacob; also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. The land also shall be left by them, and it shall enjoy its sabbaths....And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them; for I am Jehovah their God; but I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am Jehovah (Leviticus 26:40, 42-45, A.S.V.).
I can think of nothing more utterly compelling and appropriate with which to close my remarks on this theme than the prophecy of Jeremiah 33:25,26:
Thus saith Jehovah: If my covenant of day and night stand not, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and will have mercy on them.
Daniel and the Latter Days
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Day 14
BABYLON
JOSEPH PITTS WILES
"Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for my royal capital, by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?" (Daniel 4:30)
So spake King Nebuchadnezzar as he walked on the roof of his lofty palace and surveyed the golden city which lay outstretched beneath him. More than a century had passed away since Isaiah had foretold its swiftly approaching downfall and utter desolation, and meanwhile its wealth and power had been rapidly increasing. Probably the king had never seen or heard the prophet's prediction, but if he had, the words must have seemed to him like idle tales. How could he have credited them while beneath and around him he saw the world's proud capital, the imperial city which his own energy had so enlarged and beautified that he looked upon the whole as the work of his hands?
And what a work! From the dizzy height of his palace roof, the king could contemplate the walls, gates, streets, buildings, luxurious parks, and the crowded markets of that city which was the pride of the Chaldeans, the wonder and terror of the worlds. At a distance of seven miles, more or less, to north, south, east, and west, his eye could trace the long double line of walls which none could scale or overthrow. Two hundred and fifty strong towers rose at intervals from these battlements, and a hundred gates of massive brass pierced the walls below to give entry or exit to busy merchant caravans or victorious infantry and cavalry. Similar walls skirted the Euphrates, which rolled its waves through the midst of the city, and similar gates opened on the quays which ran along both sides of the river. Within the vast area thus enclosed stood palaces and temples whose bricks were stamped with the great king's name, and whose sculptured slabs told of his achievements. One inscription, found at Babylon, has been thus translated: "I, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, the mighty Lord, the elect of Merodach, the Supreme Ruler, the adorer of Nebo, the Vicar-King, who judges without injustice, the Minister of the Gods, the eldest son of Nabopolassar. He has created me, the God who begat me; He has entrusted to me the dominion over the legions of men. I have changed inaccessible heights into roads for chariots. I have amassed to my city of Babylon silver, and gold, and precious stones, and timber of all kinds, the minerals of the hills, and the jewels of the seas, an infinite treasure; and I have brought thither the greatest trees from the summits of Lebanon. I have covered with pure gold the beams of high cypresses for the carpenter's work of the sanctuary of the temples, and I have constructed the tower of Borsippa with gold, silver, and other metals, and stones, and glazed bricks, and lentisk, and cedar."
Let us again stand by the king on his tower of observation. His eye can trace the lines of broad streets which cross the city and intersect one another at right angles, can observe the motley throng of men from various nations hurrying along to the crowded markets, and can rest with satisfaction on legions of disciplined soldiers gathered from all parts of his vast empire to defend his capital or to extend his dominions. Who can compare with him for royal majesty and absolute power? What hand can resist his will? What arm can reach him to smite or to control? "Is not this great Babylon that I have built?"
But lo! God, according to his word by Isaiah, raises up the Medes against the devoted city, the Medes who regard not silver nor delight in gold. Their bows dash the young men to pieces, and their eye spares not the children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, becomes as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It lies without inhabitant from generation to generation. There the Arab pitches not his tent, the shepherds make not their fold. The wild beasts of the desert lie there, night-owls screech on the shattered walls, and jackals prowl in the ruined palaces.
So complete was the destruction of this accursed city, that for ages its very site was uncertain. Only in the nineteenth century were its ruins unearthed and its exact position determined. Bricks have been found inscribed with the name of Nebuchadnezzar, sad memorials of his vain dream of universal sovereignty.
We conclude with a quotation from The Treasury of Bible Knowledge, written by the Rev. John Ayre and published in 1866.
"On the banks of the Euphrates, about forty miles southwest of Baghdad, lies the town of Hillah. This town is in almost all directions surrounded by immense ruins, appearing the work of nature rather than of men, shapeless heaps of rubbish, lofty banks of ancient canals, fragments of glass, marble, pottery, and bricks, mingled with a a nitrous soil which impedes all vegetation and renders the neighborhood a naked and hideous waste, re-echoing only the dismal sounds of the owl and the jackal, of the hyena and the lawless robber. These piles mark the area once occupied by the mistress of the world."
Half Hours with Isaiah
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Day 15
THE GOLDEN RULE
MARTIN LUTHER
"Whatever you wish that men would do to you,
do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets."
Matt. 7:12First, it should be noted that human goods are of three kinds. The first are external, such as silver, gold, clothing, land, houses, servants, children, oxen, etc. These are called external goods because they lie outside of human nature. Secondly, there are the physical and personal goods, such as health, strength, beauty, aptitude of the senses, and reputation and honor. Thirdly, there are spiritual or internal goods, such as knowledge, virtue, love, faith. These are called internal and spiritual because they lie solely in the mind and spirit. And the external goods are symbols of these internal and spiritual goods.
With these goods, then, each person can conduct himself toward his neighbor in two ways. First, with them he can do harm and evil to him, or, second, he can advance and benefit him. An example of the first is when one steals external goods or destroys the health of the body (with blows and poison) or takes from him his internal goods, such as knowledge (by seducing him into error), or virtue (by inciting him to evil). An example of the second way is when one gives him food and clothing or heals his infirmities or protects his body or teaches him something better and incites him to do good.
It is not sufficient for salvation that a man merely refrain from doing harm to his neighbor with these goods. It is required rather that he be useful to him and benefit him. The rich reveler of the parable (Luke 16:19-31) was not damned because he robbed or did evil with respect to his goods, for he feasted and clothed himself sumptuously everyday. He was damned rather because he did not do good to his neighbor, Lazarus. In the parable of the slothful servant who received the one talent and hid it in the ground (Matt. 25:14-30), condemnation came not because he took something away from others, but because he did not give to others. So it will be with us. To us has been given as a talent what we are able to do. All that we are capable of we have not of ourselves, but from God. And in all this we are required to do to our neighbor what we are able to do.
The judgment of the Lord will not speak of whether one has harmed or done evil with his goods, but rather that he has not done good. Therefore, Christ says, "I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink." He does not say, I had food and you stole it from Me. Similarly, He says, "I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick...and you did not visit Me." If those who merely do not do good to their neighbor commit sin and are damned, where will they be who actually do evil and harm to others? Therefore, let each one place this example of the Lord before his eyes like a mirror and note it well, for it is good and He would have it to be the whole law and the prophets.
The Martin Luther Treasury
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Day 16
THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM
CHARLES SPURGEON
It was God’s purpose that Abraham should be a surpassingly excellent example of the power of faith. He was to be “the father of the faithful,” the mirror, pattern, and paragon of faith. He was ordained to be the supreme believer of the patriarchal age, the serene and venerable leader of the noble army of believers in Jehovah, the faithful and true God. In order to produce so eminent a character, it was necessary that Abraham’s faith should be exercised in a special and unequaled manner. The power of his faith could not be known except by putting it to the severest tests. To this end, God gave him a promise that in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed; and yet for many a year he remained without an heir. The promise, when originally given, startled Abraham, but he did not doubt it. We read that he laughed, laughed with holy joy, at the thought of so great and unexpected a blessing.
The fulfillment of the promise was long delayed. Abraham waited with patience, sojourning as a stranger in a strange land, having respect unto the covenant which the Lord had made with him and with his unborn seed. Not a shadow of doubt crossed the mind of the holy patriarch. He staggered not at the promise through unbelief, and though he came to be a hundred years old, and his wife Sarah was almost equally as advanced in years, he did not listen to the voice of carnal reason but maintained his confidence in God. Doubtless he had well weighed the natural impossibilities which laid in the way, but he overlooked the whole, and being fully persuaded that if God had promised him a son, the son would certainly be born. Had it not been that Sarah and Abraham were both at such an advanced age, there would have been no credit to them in believing the promise of God. But the more difficult and more impossible the fulfillment of the promise seemed to be, the more wonderful was Abraham’s faith in that he still believed that what God had promised he was able to perform.
Abraham was a noble instance of the power which the truthfulness of God exerts over the human mind, when under all discouragements he still “believed God.” His heart said of the living God, “He cannot lie; he will perform his promise.” While glorifying God, Abraham reaped a present consolation to himself, and in the end he had the joy of receiving the promise. His early laugh of joy was remembered and commemorated in his son Isaac, that child of promise, whose name was “laughter.” The patriarch himself became one of the most honored of men, for it is written, “He that honors me I will honor.”
Brethren, this is the point to which I want to bring you, that if God intends to make you or me exhibitors of the grace of faith, we must expect to be passed through very much the same trial as Abraham. With regard to the object upon which our faith is exercised, it is most probable that we shall be made to feel our own weakness and even our personal death. We shall be brought very low, even into an utter self-despair. We shall be made to see that the mercy we are seeking of God is a thing impossible with man. It is very probable that difficulties will rise before us till they are enough to overwhelm us, and we are led to an utter despair of the matter as considered in ourselves. At such a crisis, if God the Holy Ghost be working with mighty power in us, we shall still believe that the divine promise will be fulfilled. We shall not entertain a doubt concerning it. We shall remember that it remains with God and not with ourselves to find ways and means. We shall cast the burden of fulfilling the promise upon him with whom it naturally rests, and go on in steady, holy, confident joy, looking for the end of our faith and patiently pleading until we reach it. The Lord will honor and comfort us in so doing, and in the end he will grant us the desire of our hearts, for none that trust in him shall ever be confounded.
Let us this morning firmly lay hold upon this general principle, that God will empty us of self completely before he will accomplish any great thing by us, thus removing from us every pretext for claiming the glory for ourselves. But at such seasons of humiliation, it is our privilege to exercise unabated faith, for the fulfillment of the promise is not imperiled but rather may be looked upon as drawing nigh.
From the sermon Unstaggering Faith
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Day 17
"UNTIL THE TIME OF REFORMATION"
Hebrews 9:10
CHRISTMAS EVANS
Time may be divided into three parts: the Golden Age before the fall, the Iron Age after the fall, and the Messiah’s Age of Jubilee.
In the Golden Age, the heavens and the earth were created; the Garden of Eden was planted; man was made in the image of God and placed in the garden to dress and keep it; matrimony was instituted; and God, resting from His labor, sanctified the seventh day as a day of holy rest to man.
The Iron Age was introduced by the temptation of a foreigner, who obtruded himself into Paradise and persuaded its happy denizens to cast off the golden yoke of obedience and love to God. Man, desiring independence, became a rebel against heaven and a miserable captive of sin, and Satan became obnoxious to the Divine displeasure and exposed to eternal death. The law was violated, the image of God was lost, and the enemy came in like a flood. All communication between the island of Time and the continent of Immortality was cut off, and the unhappy exiles saw no hope of crossing the ocean that intervened.
The Messiah’s Age may be divided into three parts: the time of Preparation, the time of Actual War, and the time of Victory and Triumph.
The Preparation began with the dawning of the day in Eden, when the Messiah came in the ship of the Promise and landed on the island of Time. He notified its inhabitants of His gracious intention to visit them again, assume their nature, and live and die among them; to break their covenant allegiance to the prince of the iron yoke and deliver to them the charter--signed and sealed with His own blood--for the redemption and renovation of their island and the restoration of its suspended intercourse with the land of Eternal Life. The motto inscribed upon the banners of this age was, “He shall bruise thy heel, and Thou shalt bruise his head.” Here Jehovah thundered forth His hatred of sin from the thick darkness and wrote His curse in fire upon the face of heaven. Rivers of sacrificial blood proclaimed the miserable state of man, and his need of an atonement more costly than mere humanity could offer. Here, also, the spirit of Messiah fell upon the prophets, leading them to search diligently for the way of deliverance and enabling them to “testify beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.”
Then came the season of Actual War. “Messiah the Prince” was born in Bethlehem, wrapped in swaddling bands, and laid in a manger--the Great Deliverer, “made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” With His almighty hand He laid hold on the works of the devil, unlocked the iron furnace, and broke the brazen bands asunder. He opened His mouth, and the deaf heard, the blind saw, the dumb spoke, the lame walked, and the lepers were cleansed. In the house of Jairus, in the street of Nain, and in the burial-ground of Bethany, His word was mightier than death. The damsel on her bed, the young man on his bier, and Lazarus in his tomb, rising to second life, were but the earnests of His future triumph. The diseases of sin He healed, the iron chains of guilt He shattered, and all the horrible caves of human corruption and misery were opened by the Heavenly Warrior. He took our yoke and bore it away upon His own shoulder, and cast it, broken, into the bottomless pit. He felt in His hands and feet the nails, and in His side the spear. The iron entered into His soul, but the corrosive power of His blood destroyed it and shall ultimately eat away all the iron in the kingdom of death.
Now begins the scene of Victory and Triumph. On the morning of the third day, the Conqueror is seen “coming from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah.” He has “trodden the winepress alone.” By the might of His single arm He has routed the hosts of hell and spoiled the dominions of death. The iron castle of the foe is demolished, and the Hero returns from the war “glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength.” He enters the gates of the everlasting city, amid the rejoicing of angels and the shouts of His redeemed. And still He rides forth in the chariot of His grace, “conquering, and to conquer.” A two-edged sword issues from His mouth, and in His train follow the victorious armies of heaven. Before Him fall the altars of idols and the temples of devils. The slaves of sin are becoming the servants and sons of the living God. The proud skeptic beholds, wonders, believes, and adores. The blasphemer begins to pray. The persecutor is melted into penitence and love, and the wolf comes and lays him down gently by the side of the lamb. And Messiah shall never quit the field until He has completed the conquest and swallowed up death in victory. In His “vesture dipped in blood,” He shall pursue the armies of Gog and Magog on the field of Armageddon and break the iron teeth of the beast of power. He shall cast down Babylon as a mill-stone into the sea and bind the old serpent in the lake of fire. He shall raise up to life immortal the tenants of the grave. Then shall the New Jerusalem, the metropolis of Messiah’s golden empire, descend from heaven. She will be adorned with all the jewelery of creation, guarded at every gate by angelic sentinels, and enlightened by the glory of God and of the Lamb. The faithful shall dwell within its walls; sin, sorrow, and death shall be shut out for ever! Then shall Time be swallowed up in Eternity. The righteous shall inherit life everlasting, and the ungodly shall find their portion in the second death.
Time is the age of the visible world; eternity is the age of the invisible God. All things in time are subject to change; all things in eternity are immutable. If you pass from time to eternity without faith in Christ, without love to God, an enemy to prayer, an enemy to holiness, so you must ever remain. Now is the season of that blessed change for which myriads shall sing everlasting anthems of praise. “Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” Today the office is open. If you have any business with the Governor, make no delay. Now He is ready to forgive your sins, renew your soul, and make you meet to become the partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Christ is riding in His chariot of salvation through the land of destruction and death, clothed in the majesty of mercy and offering eternal life to all who will believe. O captives of evil! Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation, now is the year of jubilee, now is the age of deliverance, now is “the time of reformation.”
(taken from Paxton Hood’s 1900 edition of Christmas Evans’s Life and translated from the Welsh)
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Day 18
INSTRUCTIONS TO A NEW CONVERT
JONATHAN EDWARDS
My dear young friend, as you desired me to send you, in writing, some directions how to conduct yourself in your Christian course, I would now answer your request.
1. I would advise you to keep up as great a strife and earnestness in religion as if you were seeking conversion. We advise persons under conviction to be earnest and violent for the kingdom of heaven. But when they have attained to conversion, they ought not to be the less watchful, laborious, and earnest in the whole work of religion, but the more so; for they are under infinitely greater obligations.
2. Do not cease striving and praying for the very same things that we exhort unconverted persons to strive for, and a degree of which you have had already in conversion. Pray that your eyes may be opened, that you may receive sight, that you may know yourself, that you may be brought to God’s footstool, and that you may have the love of Christ shed abroad in your heart.
3. When you hear a sermon, hear for yourself. Though what is spoken may be more especially directed to the unconverted or to those who, in other respects, are in different circumstances from yourself, let the chief intent of your mind be, "In what respect is this applicable to me? and what improvement ought I to make of this for my own soul’s good?"
4. Though God has forgiven and forgotten your past sins, do not forget them yourself. Remember often what a wretched bond-slave you were in the land of Egypt and bring to mind your particular acts of sin before conversion. The blessed apostle Paul often mentioned his old blaspheming, persecuting spirit, acknowledging that he was "the least of the apostles," and not worthy "to be called an apostle." Let that text of Ezekiel 16:63 be often in your mind, "that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more, because of your shame, when I am pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the Lord God."
5. Remember that you have more cause to lament and humble yourself for sins committed since conversion because of the infinitely greater obligations that are upon you to live to God. Look upon Christ's faithfulness in continuing his loving-kindness to you, notwithstanding all your great unworthiness since your conversion.
6. Be always greatly abased for your remaining sin, and never think that you lie low enough for it; yet be not discouraged or disheartened by it for, though we are exceedingly sinful, yet we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. The preciousness of his blood, the merit of his righteousness, and the greatness of his love and faithfulness are infinitely higher than the highest mountains of our sins.
7. When you engage in the duty of prayer or come to the Lord’s supper, or attend any other duty of divine worship, come to Christ as Mary Magdalene did; cast yourself at his feet.
8. Remember that pride is the worst viper that is in the heart. It is the greatest disturber of the soul’s peace and of sweet communion with Christ. It was the first sin committed and lies lowest in the foundation of Satan’s whole building. With the greatest difficulty is it rooted out, and it is the most hidden, secret, and deceitful of all lusts. It often creeps insensibly into the midst of religion, even under the disguise of humility itself.
9. The best discoveries and comforts are those that make you least and lowest--like a child--and that most engage and fix your heart in a full and firm disposition to deny yourself for God and to spend and be spent for him.
10. If at any time you fall into doubts about the state of your soul, it is proper to review your past experience. But do not consume too much time and strength in this way. Rather, apply yourself, with all your might, to an earnest pursuit after renewed experience, new light, and new lively acts of faith and love. One new discovery of the glory of Christ’s face will do more toward scattering clouds of darkness in one minute than examining old experience through a whole year.
11. When you counsel and warn others, do it earnestly, affectionately, and thoroughly. When you are speaking to your equals, let your warnings be intermixed with expressions of your own unworthiness, and of the sovereign grace that makes you differ.
12. Under special difficulties, or when in great need or longing after any particular mercy for yourself or others, set apart a day by yourself for secret prayer and fasting. Let the day be spent not only in petitions for the mercies you desire, but in searching your heart, looking over your past life, and confessing your sins before God--the sins of your past life from your childhood on with the circumstances and aggravations attending them, spreading all the abominations of your heart as particularly and fully as possible before him.
13. Do not let the adversaries of the cross have occasion to reproach religion on your account. Walk as children of the light and of the day, adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour, abound in what are called the Christian virtues, and make yourself like the Lamb of God--meek and lowly of heart, full of pure, heavenly, and humble love to all. Let there be in you a disposition to account others better than yourself.
14. Pray much for the ministers and the church of God, especially that Christ would carry on his glorious work which he has now begun, till the world shall be full of his glory.
Letter addressed to a young lady in the year 1741.
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Day 19
STANDING FIRM
JOHN ANGELL JAMES
"Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 1:13)
I am aware it is sometimes said that the times are altered since the apostles’ days, and that the state of the world is different from what it then was. But is not human nature in all its essential elements the same? Is it not the same in its moral aspect, impotency, and necessities? Does it not as much need, and as much depend upon, the Gospel scheme as it did then? Is not the Gospel as exquisitely and fully adapted to the world's miserable condition as it was then? Can sin be pardoned in any other way than through the atonement of Christ, or the sinner be justified by any other means than faith in the Lord our Righteousness, or the depraved heart be renewed and sanctified by any other agency than that of the Holy Spirit? Are not all the motives of evangelical doctrine as adapted, as powerful, and as efficacious now as they were then? No alteration of subject then can be called for now to meet the advancing state of society, since the Gospel is intended and adapted to be God’s instrument for the salvation of man, in all ages of the world, in all countries, and in all states of society.
The moral epidemic of our nature is always and everywhere the same (in whatever various degrees of virulence it may exist), and the remedial system of salvation by grace through faith is God’s own and unalterable specific for the disease in every age of time, in every country of the world, and in every state of society. Men may call in other physicians than Christ and try other methods of cure, as they already have done, but they will all fail and leave the miserable patient hopeless and helpless. We reject alike as delusive and fatal the ancient practice of conforming the evangelical scheme to systems of philosophy, and the modern notion of the progressive development of Christian doctrine by the Church. To the men who would revive the former, we say, “Beware lest any man spoil you, through a vain and deceitful philosophy, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” To the latter we say, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines; for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace.” It appears to me that something like the same attempts are being made in this day to corrupt the Gospel by superstitious additions on the one hand, and by philosophic accommodations on the other, as were made in the early days of Christianity.
It should never be forgotten that the time when the apostles discharged their ministry was only just after the Augustan era of the ancient world. Poetry had recently bestowed some of its golden favors on the empire of letters in the works of Virgil and Horace. The light of philosophy, though waning, still shed its lustre on Greece. The arts, and their most splendid creations in architecture, sculpture and painting, still lived, though they had ceased to advance. It was at such a time and amidst such scenes that the Gospel began its course. Apostolic voices were listened to by sages and their pupils, who had basked in the sunshine of Athenian wisdom, and were reverberated in startling echo from temples and statues that had been shaken by the thunders of Cicero and Demosthenes. Yet these apostles conceded nothing to the demands of philosophy but held forth the cross as the only object they felt they had a right to exhibit. They never once entertained the degrading notion that they must accommodate themselves to the philosophy or the taste of the age in which they lived and the places where they ministered.
It is true, the philosophy of that day was a false one, but it was not known or acknowledged to be such at the time. It was admired as true, though like many systems that have succeeded it, it gave place to another; and it was doomed, like some that now prevail, to wane before new and rising lights. Whether the apostle addressed himself to the philosophers on Mars Hill or to the barbarians on the island of Melita, whether he reasoned with the Jews in their synagogues or with the Greeks in the school of Tyrannus, he had but one theme--and that was Christ, and him crucified.
What right, or what reason, have we for deviating from this high and imperative example? So be it that we are in a literary, philosophic, and scientific age, so what? Is it an age that has outlived the need of the Gospel for its salvation? The supposition that something other than pure Christianity as the theme of our pulpit ministrations is requisite for such a period as this, or that this must be presented in a philosophic guise, appears to me a most perilous sentiment. It is a disparagement to the Gospel itself, a daring assumption of wisdom superior to the Divine, and containing the very germ of infidelity.
The Gospel is a testimony which must be exhibited in its own peculiar and simple form, a testimony to certain unique and momentous facts which must be presented as they really are without any attempt or wish to change their nature or alter their character. Let the taste be cultivated as it may by literature, or the mind enlightened by science, or the reason be disciplined by philosophy, yet the heart is still deceitful and wicked. The conscience is still burdened with guilt, and the whole soul is in a state of alienation from God. The moral constitution is mortally diseased, and nothing but the Gospel can convey God’s saving health, which is as much required for the spiritual restoration of the polished son of science as for the Hottentot of South Africa. All else is but pretence and empiricism, and the man who would be in earnest and successful in the salvation of souls must have a clear conviction and a deep impression of these facts. Philosophy must never be allowed to dilute the elixir of life, nor to evaporate it into the clouds of metaphysics.
From “An Earnest Ministry, the Want of the Times"
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Day 20
IRRESISTIBLE, IRREPRESSIBLE HOPE
DAVID BRICKNER
Question: On which day (or night) of the year are Israeli Jews most likely to set foot in a church? Answer: Christmas Day (or Eve). Surprised? It's true. Many Jewish people are genuinely attracted to Christmas. Stringing lights or setting up "Hanukkah bushes" may not indicate deep, spiritual yearnings, but beyond all that, on some level many Jewish people are drawn to the powerful message of hope that Christmas delivers. God's entrance into human history through the birth of a tiny baby is one of the most captivating and irresistible dramas of all time. One well-known carol declares that in His birth: "the hopes and fears of all the years" are met. The world can be very dark; yet the song declares that "in thy dark street shineth the everlasting light." Yes, Jewish people have been told over and over again that Jesus is not Israel's Messiah. Yet carols of hope--with their message of promise--beckon many to consider the improbable, the implausible, the forbidden. Could it really be true?
Despite the secularization and anti-supernatural sentiment that is so prevalent today, the Messianic hope is deeply rooted in Jewish consciousness. Though relatively few Jewish people can document that hope, many know that the Christmas story claims to fulfill it. Maybe that is why performances of Handel's Messiah have consistently drawn significant Jewish attendance every year. This oratorio is a wonderful means to convey the powerful message of the Messiah. It is one of countless wonderful opportunities God has given the Church to make his message of hope known during this season.
Some Christians worry about efforts to prevent public displays of creches, or even secular symbols such as Christmas trees. The not-so-subtle pressure to say "Season's Greetings" instead of "Merry Christmas" in public can oppress and depress us if we let it--so let's not let it. No attempt to suppress, ignore or undermine this story of God's saving power will ever succeed in dampening or diminishing this great hope for the world in Jesus. In this cynical and suspicious world, many delight in dashing hope, extinguishing embers of expectation, drowning out any note of God's good word of grace. But godly hope is rooted in a deep reality that enables the believer to lean hard against the winds of doubt and push back inexorably against the darkness of worldly despair. No matter how difficult the circumstances we face, we can renew our hope, and perhaps for you, this is the time to do so. The message of Messiah's birth is the promise that God has come to rescue and save us forever, save us out of our desperate and difficult circumstances and provide a way to live abundantly here and now. Let's remember that hope and let's declare the power of that hope.
Jews for Jesus newsletter, v. 4:5768/Dec.'07
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Day 21
ANNOUNCEMENT TO MARY
J. C. RYLE
"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Then Joseph being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son; and he called his name Jesus." (Matthew 1:18-25)
These verses begin by telling us two great truths. They tell us how the Lord Jesus Christ took our nature upon him and became man. They tell us also that his birth was miraculous; his mother Mary was a virgin. These are very mysterious subjects. They are depths which we have no line to fathom. They are truths which we have not mind enough to comprehend. Let us not attempt to explain things which are above our feeble reason. Let us be content to believe with reverence, and not speculate about matters which we cannot understand. Enough for us to know that with him who made the world, nothing is impossible. Let us rest in the words of the Apostles' Creed: "Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary."
Let us observe the conduct of Joseph described in these verses. It is a beautiful example of godly wisdom and tender consideration for others. He saw the "appearance of evil" in her who was his espoused wife. But he did nothing rashly. He waited patiently to have the line of duty made clear. In all probability he laid the matter before God in prayer. "He that believes shall not make haste." The patience of Joseph was graciously rewarded. He received a direct message from God upon the subject of his anxiety and was at once relieved from all his fears. How good it is to wait upon God! Who ever cast his cares upon God in hearty prayer and found him fail? "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." (Prov. 3:6)
Let us observe the two names given to our Lord in these verses. One is Jesus, the other Emmanuel. One describes his office, the other his nature. Both are deeply interesting.
The name Jesus means "Savior." It is the same name as Joshua in the Old Testament. It is given to our Lord because, "He saves his people from their sins." This is his special office. He saves them from the guilt of sin by washing them in his own atoning blood. He saves them from the dominion of sin by putting in their hearts the sanctifying Spirit. He saves them from the presence of sin when he takes them out of this world to rest with him. He will save them from all the consequences of sin when he shall give them a glorious body at the last day. Blessed and holy are Christ's people! From sorrow, cross, and conflict they are not saved. But they are saved from sin forevermore. They are cleansed from guilt by Christ's blood. They are made meet for heaven by Christ's Spirit. This is salvation. He who cleaves to sin is not yet saved.
Jesus is a very encouraging name to heavy-laden sinners. He who is King of kings and Lord of lords might lawfully have taken some more high-sounding title. But he does not do so. The rulers of this world have often called themselves Great, Conqueror, Bold, Magnificent, and the like. The Son of God is content to call himself Savior. The souls which desire salvation may draw nigh to the Father with boldness and have access with confidence through Christ. It is his office and his delight to show mercy. "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved."
The other name in these verses is scarcely less interesting than that just referred to. It is the name which is given to our Lord from his nature, as "God manifest in the flesh." He is called Emmanuel, "God with us."
Let us take care that we have clear views of our Lord Jesus Christ's nature and person. It is a point of the deepest importance. We should settle it firmly in our minds that our Savior is perfect man as well as perfect God, and perfect God as well as perfect man. If we once lose sight of this great foundation truth, we may run into fearful heresies. The name Emmanuel takes in the whole mystery. Jesus is "God with us." He had a nature like our own in all things, sin only excepted. But though Jesus was "with us" in human flesh and blood, he was at the same time very God.
We shall often find, as we read the Gospels, that our Savior could be weary, hungry, and thirsty; could weep, groan, and feel pain like one of ourselves. In all this we see "the man" Christ Jesus. We see the nature he took on him when he was born of the Virgin Mary.
But we shall also find in the same Gospels that our Savior knew men's hearts and thoughts, had power over devils, could work the mightiest of miracles with a word, was ministered to by angels, allowed a disciple to call him "my God," and that he said, "Before Abraham was I am," and "I and my Father are one." In all this we see "the eternal God." We see him "who is over all, God blessed forever."
Would you have a strong foundation for your faith and hope? Then keep in constant view your Savior's divinity. He in whose blood you are taught to trust is the Almighty God. All power is his in heaven and earth. None can pluck you out of his hand. If you are a true believer in Jesus, let not your heart be troubled or afraid.
Would you have sweet comfort in suffering and trial? Then keep in constant view your Savior's humanity. He is the man Christ Jesus, who as a little infant lay on the bosom of the Virgin Mary. He knows the heart of a man. He can be touched with the feeling of your infirmities. He has himself experienced Satan's temptations. He has endured hunger. He has shed tears. He has felt pain. Trust him at all times with all your sorrows. He will not despise you. Pour out all your heart before him in prayer and keep nothing back. He can sympathize with his people.
Ryle's Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
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Day 22
THE NATIVITY
FREDERIC W. FARRAR
One mile from Bethlehem is a little plain in which, under a grove of olives, stands the bare and neglected chapel known by the name of "the Angel to the Shepherds." It is built over the traditional site in the fields where, in the beautiful language of St. Luke, "there were shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night, when, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them." To their happy ears were uttered the good tidings of great joy, that unto them was born that day in the city of David a Savior, who was Christ the Lord.
The associations of our Lord's nativity were all of the humblest character, and the very scenery of his birthplace was connected with memories of poverty and toil. On that night, indeed, it seemed as though the heavens must burst to disclose their radiant minstrels. And the stars, the feeding sheep, the light and sound in the darkness and stillness, and the rapture of faithful hearts would combine to furnish us with a picture painted in the colors of heaven. But in the brief and thrilling verses of the Evangelist, we are not told that those angel songs were heard by any except the wakeful shepherds of an obscure village; those shepherds who amid the chill dews of a winter night were guarding their flocks from the wolf and robber.
"And suddenly," adds the sole Evangelist who has narrated the circumstances of that memorable night in which Jesus was born, amid the indifference of a world unconscious of its Deliverer, "there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of good will."
The shepherds made their way to the inn of Bethlehem and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. The fancy of poet and painter has reveled in the imaginary glories of the scene. They have sung of the "bright harnessed angels" who hovered there, and of the stars lingering beyond their time to shed their sweet influences upon the smiling infant. They have painted the radiation of light from his manger cradle, illuminating all the place till the bystanders are forced to shade their eyes from that heavenly splendor. But all this is wide of the reality. Such glories as the simple shepherds saw were seen only by the eye of faith. The light that shined in the darkness was no physical, but a spiritual beam; the Dayspring from on high, who had now visited mankind, dawned only in a few faithful and humble hearts.
How long the Virgin Mother and her holy Child stayed in the cave, or cattle-enclosure, we cannot tell, but probably it was not for long. It is probable that the crowd in the khan would not be permanent, and common humanity would have dictated an early removal of the mother and her child to some more appropriate resting place. The Magi, as we see from St. Matthew, visited Mary in "the house." But on all these minor incidents the Gospels do not dwell. The fullest of them is St. Luke, and the singular sweetness of his narrative, its almost idyllic grace, its sweet calm tone of noble reticence, seem clearly to indicate that he derived it, though but in fragmentary notices, from the lips of Mary herself. It is, indeed, difficult to imagine from whom else it could have come, for mothers are the natural historians of infant years. It is interesting to find, in the actual style, the coloring of a woman's memory and a woman's view. To one who was giving the reins to his imagination, the minutest incidents would have claimed a description. To Mary they would have seemed trivial and irrelevant. Others might wonder, but in her all wonder was lost in the one overwhelming revelation. Of such things she could not lightly speak; "she kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart."
Life of Christ
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Day 23
THE BIRTH OF CHRIST
HENRY W. WILLIAMS
"And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." Matt. 1:21
Here we may with adoring reverence contemplate the ways of God. The miraculous conception of our Lord's humanity was necessary to the economy of redemption. The Deliverer of men was to come "in the likeness of sinful flesh." He was to assume our nature in a state of humiliation and lowliness. He was to be a sharer of our weakness, temptations, and sorrows. But he was to be free from every stain and not to participate in the guilt and corruption of our race. All this was provided for by the wisdom and power of God. The Messiah was emphatically "the Seed of the woman." He alone, of all who have been born into this world, was conceived of woman only, through the immediate power of the Holy Ghost.
The first impulse of Joseph, when he perceived the situation of her to whom he had been contracted, was to put her away in the most private manner which the law allowed, since his gentle spirit caused him to shrink from the thought of making her a public example. But while he was reflecting on these things, an angel of God appeared to him in a dream to assure him of the innocence of Mary and unfold to him the purpose of the Most High.
In the series of prophetic announcements relative to the Messiah, it had been expressly declared that he should be born in Bethlehem of Judea. The providence of God, which can never lack means to fulfill the purposes of his infinite wisdom, arranged to accomplish this. Joseph and Mary resided at Nazareth, but an order was issued from Rome that a general census should be made of the inhabitants of the empire with its dependent states. In obedience to this decree, they proceeded to Bethlehem, the city of David, that their names might be enrolled there, since they were both descended from that illustrious monarch of Israel though now found in lowly circumstances. Bethlehem was, at that time, filled with visitors, and the humble pair were obliged to put up with the mean accommodation of a stable belonging to an inn. It was here that the Messiah was born. He whom angels adored and at whose bidding universal nature rose into existence, condescended to ally himself to our race in these circumstances of weakness and humiliation.
But the advent of the Redeemer, though thus destitute of worldly splendor, was distinguished by incidents which tended to fix upon him the attention of every thoughtful and spiritual mind. Even when he thus appeared in the utter weakness of infancy and in outward lowliness and depression, he was honored by the arrangements of the Eternal Father. On the very night of his nativity, some pious shepherds who were watching over their flocks in the open field, received from a heavenly messenger the tidings of the Savior's birth. To confirm their faith, they were told that they should find the babe in the city of David "wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." Cheering and delightful was the announcement which was made by the angel to these members of the house of Israel, and his words have often refreshed the minds of men in succeeding ages who have felt the burden of their sins and sighed for deliverance and peace. "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." And then, to honor still more the infant Savior, a multitude of the heavenly host appeared and chanted the sweet and joyful words, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
Long had the angelic hosts contemplated the Divine administration of our world and marked with deep and earnest interest the preparations for the manifestation of the great Restorer. When, at length, he appeared--when THE SON condescended to clothe himself with our humanity and to come into our world in circumstances of outward humiliation and poverty--they beheld in this event the first great act of that wondrous scheme of redemption, which was to show forth throughout eternity the perfections of the Most High.
The Life of the Redeemer
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Day 24
CHRIST HUMBLED HIMSELF
SAMUEL WILLARD
Question 27: Wherein did Christ's Humiliation consist?
Answer: Christ's Humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the Law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the Cross, in being buried, and continuing under the power of Death for a time.
In his entrance into the world, there are two things to note: his conception and his birth. I will pass directly to the consideration of his Birth, which is the first thing before us in the Catechism: His being born, and that in a low condition, being made under the Law.
Our Catechism seems to make Christ's birth one part of his Humiliation, considered in itself; and his low condition, that accompanied it, an adjunct or further degree of humiliation. We should consider Christ as humbled in that he would not only become a man, as Adam was before his fall, but he would be one of our stock, lineage, and kindred: one of us who had become base, ignoble, and vile. How remarkable for Heb. 2:14 to say, "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil." The same flesh and blood as us, he would be a brother of such worms, such corruption as we are, in order that the right of Redemption might belong to him. That is why the Scripture is emphatic in verse 16: "For indeed he does not give aid to angels, but he does give aid to the seed of Abraham." It does not say, "the nature of man," but rather "the seed of Abraham."
The Humiliation of the birth of Christ consists mainly in its low estate. There were indeed notable flashes of his glory attending his birth, by which God testified that he was the Messiah. There was the glorious star that appeared around the time of his birth, a signal to the world that the Sun of Righteousness was about to rise. The coming of the wise men from the East upon the invitation of the star to visit, worship, and pay homage to him was another. Also there was the stately appearance of a heavenly host of angels to a company of poor shepherds, proclaiming as heralds his birth and singing a glorious anthem upon it. But his birth itself was accompanied with an awe-inspiring humility as he abased himself through it. He was born for us, and so he was born in a condition appropriate to our need. He showed in his birth what sin had made us. There are a few things we may take notice of as properly belonging to his Humiliation.
He was born under a sentence of condemnation. As soon as he had put on our nature, he stood under the doom of the Law. He was born to die, and was adjudged by it as soon as he was Man. We are all born children of wrath in our natural state, and he put himself in our place, and therefore came to fulfill the Law. He would never have been born if it was not intended for him to be made a sacrifice: God prepared him a body for this. Justice took hold on him as soon as he came into the world and did not discharge him until it had taken its satisfaction of him. He lived in view of it all his days, and spoke of it frequently.
He was born of a sinful woman. It was a particular condescension of the Son of God to be born of any of Adam's sinful children. True honor in God's account consists in holiness, and sin is to Him the vilest disgrace. Original sin in Christ's mother had made her more contemptible and ignoble than anything else could. Had she been an empress, it would yet have been to Christ an abasing of himself to derive his humanity from her. That a clean thing should come out of an unclean is strange; for though she was sanctified by grace, nevertheless she had not attained spotless perfection but still had the stain and pollution of sin on her. As it is a disgrace to have a traitor as one's father, so it is no less to have a sinner for one's mother. Thus Christ, though without sin, would be intimately related to sinners, for whose sake he came into the world.
Joseph and Mary were very poor and wretched. Mary was his true mother, as really as any other mother is the mother of her children. And Joseph, though not really his father, was so in the esteem of men and was commonly accepted so, and the honor or contempt of his father's condition reflected on Christ. They were indeed descendants of King David, but they were reduced to an inferior condition, little to be regarded among rich and wealthy neighbors. Joseph was a carpenter, a laborious calling which was not very profitable. Later this would be an excuse for others to speak so contemptuously of Christ: "Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us? And they were offended at Him." And why was this? Because sin has robbed us of our honor and made us ignominious. We forfeited our right to all things, and reduced ourselves to poverty.
The time of his birth is very important. There was a time when the nation enjoyed its liberty and had its sway. But he was not born then, but when the nation was in slavery to the Roman Empire. He was born at the time when, in witness of his slavery, there was a proclamation of a tax, and everyone was required to appear to his city to submit. And at that very time, while this striking picture of slavery was being painted, he must be born into the world. Therefore, even in the circumstances of his birth, he not only took on himself the form of a man, but the form of a servant. And why? Because we now by sin have become slaves, and have been brought under the most cruel bondage.
The place of his birth and circumstances of it do further set forth the low condition of it. We have it described in Luke 2:7: "And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." When we hear the report of the Great King of the World, the Supreme Potentate, that he is to be born, we would picture the greatest preparations imaginable to be made for the occasion. The most stately palace, the most sumptuous chamber, the most splendid furniture, the most royal attendants and magnificent provision might in some measure be appropriate for his importance. But alas! How far is it from this! Instead of a palace, he is content with a stable; for noble attendants, he is born among the beasts; for costly apparel, either some rags obtained by charity or whatever his poor parents could afford. Instead of a costly cradle richly prepared, he had a sorry manger with some hay for a pillow. Thus he came silently into the world; no bells rang, no bonfires were made, no proclamations issued to invite the world to come and pay homage to their prince. This was because we had turned ourselves out of all and forfeited our right to every blessing.
The reason of his being born in such a place add to this consideration: "Because there was no room for them in the inn." Alas, what very important people they are in comparison who took up all the accommodations in Bethlehem and crowd out the Lord of Glory. Would any of them think or say that it is good manners for us to give place to our Lord and King? No, he must be so obscure that his mother must be thrust out to deliver him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, while the swaggering socialites command all the accommodations. Such an inconsequential, unimportant thing did Christ make himself in his very birth. Thus he came into the world, and thus he did in our place and for our benefit.
Learn from this how low sin had laid us, and how much Christ has loved us. Truly everything Christ suffered in his Humiliation points to this lesson. When we consider what Christ made himself, it shows us what we had made of ourselves by sin. When we reflect on the fact that he did it for us, it then declares his unspeakable kindness to us.
Let me lay out a few thoughts upon this matter before us. Let me invite you all to come to the birth of your Saviour: see the King of Glory, veiled in obscurity and entering into the world under a cloud. He is the Lord of Heaven and Earth entering into his dominion, in the lowest and most obscure situation imaginable. He who made both Heaven and Earth is not accommodated with so much as a house to be born in, but to be turned out among the beasts. And why? Our sins have procured it. We lost our right to all, we deserved poverty and misery, we deserved to be turned out of house and home. We were under this curse.
The Son of God was a great king. He could have commanded all the world, and with a word built a stately palace and furnished it in magnificence for himself. But how would he be our redeemer then? It was "for our sake he became poor." Was not this condescension a disclosure of his great love? Let this stable and manger make him exceedingly precious to us.
puritansermons.com/willard/willard3.htm
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Day 25
"BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL CONCEIVE"
CHARLES SPURGEON
Let us today go down to Bethlehem, and in company with wondering shepherds and adoring Magi let us see Him who was born King of the Jews, for we by faith can claim an interest in Him and can sing, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given."
Jesus is God incarnate, our Lord and our Savior, and yet our brother and friend; let us adore and admire Him. Let us notice at the very first glance His miraculous conception. It was a thing unheard of before, and unparalleled since, that a virgin should conceive and bear a son. The first promise concerned the seed of the woman, not the offspring of the man. Since venturesome woman led the way in the sin that resulted in paradise lost, she, and she alone, ushers in the Regainer of Paradise. Our Savior, although truly man, was as to His human nature the Holy One of God. Let us reverently bow before the holy Child whose innocence restores to manhood its ancient glory; and let us pray that He may be formed in us, the hope of glory.
Do not fail to note His humble parentage. His mother has been described simply as "the virgin," not a princess or prophetess, nor a woman of influence. True, the blood of kings ran in her veins; and her mind was not weak or untaught, for she could sweetly sing a song of praise. Yet how humble her position, how poor the man to whom she was engaged, and how miserable the accommodation provided for the newborn King!
Immanuel--God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our daily work, in our punishment, in our death, and now with us, or rather we with Him, in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent splendor.
Evening and Morning
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Day 26
WISE MEN FROM THE EAST
MATTHEW HENRY
"And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshiped him." We have here the wise men's humble attendance upon this new-born King of the Jews, and the honors they paid him. From Jerusalem, they went to Bethlehem, resolving to seek till they should find; but it is very strange that they went alone; that not one person of the court, church, or city should accompany them, if not in conscience, yet in civility to them, or touched with a curiosity to see this young prince.
They found Christ by the same star that they had seen in their own country. From the first appearance of the star, they were given to understand where they might inquire for this King, and then the star disappeared. They were then left to take the usual methods for such an inquiry. We take note that extraordinary helps are not to be expected where ordinary means are to be had. If we go on as far as we can in the way of our duty, God will direct and enable us to do that which of ourselves we cannot do.
Having found the King they sought, the wise men presented themselves first, and then their gifts to him. "They fell down and worshiped him." We do not read that they gave such honor to Herod, though he was in the height of his royal grandeur. But to this babe they gave this honor, not only as to a king--for then they would have done the same to Herod--but as to a God. All that have found Christ fall down before him, adore him, and submit themselves to him. It will be the wisdom of the wisest of men. The gifts they presented were gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Providence sent this for a seasonable relief to Joseph and Mary in their present poor condition.
"And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way." Herod appointed them to bring him word of the discoveries they made, and it is probable that, not suspecting their being made Herod's tools in a wicked design, they would have done so if they had not been countermanded. Those that mean honestly and well themselves are easily made to believe that others do so too and cannot think the world is so bad as it really is.
It is strange that we never hear any more of these wise men, and that they or theirs did not afterward attend Christ in the temple whom they had worshiped in the cradle. However, the direction they had from God in their return would be a further confirmation of their faith in this Child as the Lord from heaven.
Matthew Henry's Commentaries
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Day 27
A CHRISTMAS POEM
(Anonymous)
From heaven's glory Christ came down to sinful men on earth.
We've reached another Christmas day to celebrate His birth.
Eternal God in human form, the Virgin's holy Child;
The One of whom the prophets wrote, the seed of woman--undefiled.
Gabriel came to Mary's home, God's message to proclaim,
To tell her of the Savior's birth, to give to her His name.
"Call Him Jesus", God's command; on David's throne He'll reign.
He'll save His people from their sin and Israel's rights regain.
In Bethlehem's manger He came forth, Israel's glorious King.
The shepherds kept their flock by night and heard the angels sing,
"Peace on earth! Good will to men! Christ is born today!"
The wise men came to see the King; God's star had led the way.
And there was born the Son of God who lived in Israel's land,
Who came to earth to do God's will--all that God had planned.
Christ came to set the captive free, give Satan's slave release.
He spake the Word of God to men, brought comfort, health, and peace.
By word and work Christ proved His claim, His right to David's throne.
But Israel said, "He shall not reign"; rejected they the Stone.
In the garden Christ was found, and by Judas there betrayed.
Before the rulers He was led, in purple robe arrayed.
Crowned with thorns they hailed Him king, in derision and disgrace.
They hated Him without a cause, they spat upon His face.
Pilate found no fault in Him, desired to set Him free.
His rulers cried, "We'll take the blame! Nail Him to the tree!"
So the Lord of glory died; but He suffered not in vain.
Not only was His death foretold, but He must rise again.
No other way could God be just and sinful men forgive.
The penalty by Christ was paid. By faith the just shall live!
Eternal life is God's free gift through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And when we're saved, God gives us work with promise of reward.
And as we worship, serve and wait until we hear the call,
We know our labor's not in vain, for God remembers all.
He gives us grace for every day to serve by word and deed.
He keeps us by his power Divine, supplies our every need.
The riches of our blessed Lord are enjoyed by everyone
Who will obey the Word of God and abide in Christ His Son.
By His Spirit we are sealed until redemption day;
Then the Lord Himself shall come and take His saints away.
In heaven we shall then appear in bodies glorified;
All living saints who still remain and all the saints who've died.
We'll sing anew redemption song when we reach that happy place.
Ever with our Lord we'll be, as sinners saved by grace.
Tears and crying will all be o'er; no death and never night.
Eternal day for God's redeemed, forever pure delight.
At this Christmas season, then, as we give to those we love,
Let our hearts be fixed on Him who lives for us above.
If this message reaches one who's not yet saved from sin,
Why not take God's Christmas Gift and let the Savior in?* * * * *
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Day 28
ISAIAH 9:6
CHARLES SPURGEON
"Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given." The sentence is a double one, but it has in it no tautology. The careful reader will soon discover a distinction, and it is not a distinction without a difference. "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given." As Jesus Christ is a child in his human nature, he is born, begotten of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary. He is as truly-born, as certainly a child, as any other man that ever lived upon the face of the earth. He is thus in his humanity a child born. But as Jesus Christ is God's Son, he is not born, but given, begotten of his Father from before all worlds, begotten, not made, being of the same substance with the Father.
The doctrine of the eternal affiliation of Christ is to be received as an undoubted truth of our holy religion. But as to any explanation of it, no man should venture one, for it remains among the deep things of God. It is one of those solemn mysteries indeed, into which the angels dare not look, nor do they desire to pry into it. It is a mystery which we must not attempt to fathom, for it is utterly beyond the grasp of any finite being. As well might a gnat seek to drink in the ocean as a finite creature to comprehend the Eternal God. A God whom we could understand would be no God. If we could grasp him, he could not be infinite; if we could understand him, he could not be divine. Jesus Christ, as a Son, is not born to us, but given. He is a boon bestowed on us. "For God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten Son into the world." He was not born in this world as God's Son, but he was sent, or was given, so that you clearly perceive that the distinction is a suggestive one and conveys much good truth to us. "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given."
Is it true that unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given? It is a fact that a child is born. Upon that I use no argument. We receive it as a fact, more fully established than any other fact in history, that the Son of God became man, was born at Bethlehem, was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. It is a fact, too, that a Son is given. About that we have no question. The infidel may dispute, but we, professing to be believers in Scripture, receive it as an undeniable truth that God has given his only begotten Son to be the Savior of men. But the matter of question is this: Is this child born to us? Is he given to us? This is the matter of anxious inquiry. Have we a personal interest in the child that was born at Bethlehem? Do we know that he is our Savior, that he has brought glad tidings to us, that he belongs to us and we to him?
If it be so, then why are our hearts so cold? Why is it that we do so little for him who has done so much for us? Jesus, are you mine? Am I saved? How is it that I love you so little? Why is it that when I preach I am not more in earnest, and when I pray I am not more intensely fervent? How is it that we give so little to Christ who gave himself for us? How is it that we serve him so sadly who served us so perfectly? He consecrated himself wholly; how is it that our consecration is marred and partial?
If it is not so, what then? Ah! miserable wretch, without a hope, without Christ, without God. Unto you there is no Christmas mirth, for unto you no child is born; to you no Son is given. I beseech you, if Christ is not yours this morning, may God the Spirit help you do what I now command.
First of all, confess your sins; not into my ear, nor into the ear of any living man, but go to your own room and confess that you are vile. Tell God that you are a wretch undone without his sovereign grace. But do not think there is any merit in confession; there is none. All your confession cannot merit forgiveness, though God has promised to pardon the man who confesses his sin and forsakes it. It is the least that you can do, to acknowledge your sin; and though there be no merit in the confession, yet true to his promise, God will give you pardon through Christ. Next, when you have made a confession, I beseech you renounce yourself. You have been resting perhaps in some hope that you would make yourself better and so save yourself. Give up that delusive fancy. You can do nothing by your best prayers, your best tears, or your best works, to merit eternal life.
Lastly, when you have confessed your sin and given up all hope of self-salvation, go to the place where Jesus died in agony. Go in meditation to Calvary; there he hangs. Hear him as he cries, "It is finished!" and he gives up the ghost. The atonement is finished, the price is paid, the bloody ransom counted down, the sacrifice is accepted. "It is finished!" Sinner, believe in Christ. Cast yourself on him. Sink or swim, take him to be your all in all. Throw now your trembling arms around that bleeding body. Sit now at the feet of that cross and feel the dropping of the precious blood.
A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,
On Christ's kind arms I fall,
He is my strength and righteousness,
My Jesus, and my all.
spurgeon.org/sermons/0291.htm
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Day 29
JESUS AMAZES THE SCHOLARS
MATTHEW HENRY
"Now so it was that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. So when they saw him, they were amazed; and his mother said to him, 'Son, why have you done this to us? Look, your father and I have sought you anxiously.' And he said to them, 'Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?' But they did not understand the statement which he spoke to them." (Luke 2:46-50)
We have here the only story recorded concerning our blessed Savior from his infancy to the day of his showing to Israel at twenty-nine years old. We find Christ going up with his parents to Jerusalem at the feast of the passover. It is not said that this was the first time that Jesus went up to Jerusalem to worship at the feast. Probably he had done it for some years before, having spirit and wisdom above his years.
His parents stayed the seven days of the feast, though it was not absolutely necessary that they should stay longer than the two first days, after which many went home. Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem, not because he was loathe to go home or shy of his parents' company, but because he had business to do there, and he would let his parents know that he had a Father in heaven, whom he was to be observant of more than of them, and respect to him must not be construed as disrespect to them.
His parents went the first day's journey without any suspicion that he was left behind, for they supposed him to have been in the company. On these occasions, the crowd was very great, especially on the first day's journey, and the roads full of people. When they found him not at their quarters at night, they turned back again the next morning to Jerusalem. The third day they found him in the temple, in some of the apartments belonging to the temple, where the doctors of the law held their conferences, or rather, their schools for disputation. They found him sitting in the midst of them, not standing as a catechumen to be examined or instructed, but seated among them as a fellow or member of their society. He asked them questions; whether as a teacher (he had the authority so to ask) or as a learner (he had the humility so to ask), I know not. He returned answers to them, which were very surprising and satisfactory. And his wisdom and understanding appeared as much in the questions he asked as in the answers he gave, so that all who heard him were astonished. Now Christ showed forth some rays of his glory, which were presently drawn in again. He gave them a taste (says Calvin) of his divine wisdom and knowledge.
I think this public appearance of Christ in the temple, as a teacher, was like Moses' early attempt to deliver Israel, which Stephen puts this construction upon--that he supposed his brethren would have understood, by that, how God by his hand would deliver them. They might have taken the hint and been delivered then, but they understood not; and so they here might have had Christ to enter upon his work now, but they were only astonished and understood not the indication. Therefore, like Moses, Jesus retires into obscurity again, and they hear no more of him for many years.
When the company broke up, his mother took him aside and examined him about it with a deal of tenderness and affection. Joseph knew he had only the name of a father and therefore said nothing. "Son, why have you done this to us?" Jesus gently reproved their inordinate solicitude about him. "Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?" Have you not already perceived concerning me that I have devoted myself to the service of religion and therefore must employ myself in the affairs of it? You might have depended upon it, that I would have followed you home when I had done the business I had to do here. I could not be lost in Jerusalem.
This word of Christ we now think we understand very well, for he has explained it in what he has done and said. It was his errand into the world, and his meat and drink in the world was to do his Father's will and finish his work. Yet at that time, his parents did not understood this saying. They did not understand what business he had to do then in the temple for his Father. They believed him to be the Messiah, who should have the throne of his father David, but they thought this should rather bring him to the royal palace than to the temple. They did not understood his prophetical office.
They returned to Nazareth. This glimpse of his glory was to be short. It was now over, and he did not urge his parents either to come and settle at Jerusalem or to settle him there (though this was the place of improvement and preferment, and where he might have the best opportunities of showing his wisdom), but very willingly he retired into his obscurity at Nazareth. Doubtless he came up to Jerusalem to worship at the feasts three times a year, but whether he ever went again into the temple to dispute with the doctors, we are not told.
Matthew Henry's Commentaries
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Day 30
A REVIEW OF THE REDEEMER'S LIFE
HENRY W. WILLIAMS
When the "fullness of time" arrived, the Eternal Son clothed himself with our nature and appeared among us, a sharer of our weakness, our temptations, and our sorrows. We have marked the mysterious union of lowliness and majesty which distinguished his entire career. We have viewed him as the babe of Bethlehem, the obscure inhabitant of Nazareth, the illustrious Prophet whose teaching shed a flood of light on religious truth, and the Divine Restorer from whose touch pain and sickness fled. In the development of his character we have beheld an attractive gentleness and condescension, blended with an ineffable dignity, and a purity which shrunk back from all moral contamination. We have followed him through the three years of his ministry until he came up for the last time to Jerusalem, to suffer and die. We have listened to his public discourses and to his admonitory and affectionate addresses to the disciples whom he chose to be the companions of his labors and the witnesses of his sufferings. We have seen him oppressed with mental anguish amidst the solitude of Gethsemane, and we have traced the rude indignities which were heaped upon him until at length he was extended upon the cross and died as the Sacrifice for human guilt. We have contemplated his resurrection from the dead together with the numerous and convincing proofs of that great event. We have rejoiced to behold him, after his deep humiliation, released from the burden which before pressed upon him. We have listened to his last charge to his apostles and have seen him taken from them while in the very act of blessing them, to be enthroned at the right hand of the Eternal Father, to sway a sceptre of righteousness and grace until his enemies shall be made his footstool.
In the history of the Redeemer which we have thus traced, the greatest prominence must ever be given to His sacrificial Death. The incarnation of the Son of God and all the events of his life on earth were preparatory to the offering up of himself as an atonement for the sins of men. It was "for the suffering of death" that he who had dwelt with the Father in the glories of eternity "took upon him the form of a servant" and appeared on earth. He himself looked forward, with profound interest, to that period of anguish through which he had to pass to accomplish the work of our redemption. And it was when he bowed his head on the cross and exclaimed, "It is finished," that he was "made perfect" as "the Captain of our salvation."
The Life of the Redeemer
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Day 31
EBENEZER
JOHN NEWTON
The Lord, our salvation and light,
The guide of our strength and our days,
Has brought us together tonight,
A new Ebenezer to raise.
The year we have now passed through,
His goodness with blessings has crowned,
Each morning his mercies were new,
Then let our thanksgivings abound.
Encompassed with dangers and snares,
Temptations, and fears, and complaints,
His ear he inclined to our prayers,
His hand opened wide to our wants.
We never besought him in vain,
When burdened with sorrow or sin,
He helped us again and again,
Or where before now had we been?
His Gospel, throughout the long year,
From Sabbath to Sabbath he gave,
How oft has he met with us here,
And shown himself mighty to save?
His candlestick has been removed,
From churches once privileged thus,
But though we unworthy have proved,
It still is continued to us.
For so many mercies received,
Alas! what returns have we made?
His Spirit we often have grieved,
And evil for good have repaid.
How well it becomes us to cry,
"Oh! who is a God like to thee?
Who passes iniquities by,
And plunges them deep in the sea!"
To Jesus, who sits on the throne,
Our best hallelujahs we bring,
To thee it is owing alone,
That we are permitted to sing.
Assist us, we pray, to lament,
The sins of the year that is past,
And grant that the next may be spent,
Far more to thy praise than the last.
http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/14511-John-Newton-Ebenezer
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