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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lord of Glory, by Arno Gaebelein
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Lord of Glory
+       Meditations on the person, the work and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ
+
+Author: Arno Gaebelein
+
+Release Date: July 31, 2009 [EBook #29557]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LORD OF GLORY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Keith G. Richardson
+
+
+
+
+The Lord of Glory
+
+
+MEDITATIONS ON THE PERSON, THE WORK
+
+AND GLORY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
+
+BY
+
+A. C. GAEBELEIN
+
+PUBLICATION OFFICE OF "OUR HOPE,"
+
+456 Fourth Avenue, New York, N. Y.
+
+  PICKERING & INGLIS,      L. S. HAYNES,
+  GLASGOW,                 502 Yonge Street,
+  SCOTLAND                 TORONTO, CANADA
+
+Copyright 1910 by A. C. Gaebelein.
+
+Printing by
+
+Francis Emory Fitch
+
+of New York
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+  Preface
+  Dedication
+  The Lord of Glory
+  Jehovah.  The "I am"
+  That Worthy Name
+  The Doctrine of Christ
+  The Pre-eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ
+  Ye are Christ's--Christ is God's
+  The Wonderful
+  Honor and Glory unto Him
+  Christ's Resurrection Song
+  The Glory Song
+  The Firstborn
+  The Waiting Christ
+  A Vision of the King
+  The Fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord
+  Out of His Fulness,
+  The Twenty-second Psalm
+  The Exalted One
+  A Glorious Vision
+  My Brethren
+  The Patience of Christ
+  He Shall Not Keep Silent
+  The Love of Christ
+  The Joy of the Lord
+  This same Jesus
+  The Wondrous Cross
+  His Legacy
+  What Have I to do with Idols
+  The Never Changing One
+  Be of Good Cheer
+  Make Haste
+
+
+
+Preface.
+
+
+For a number of years the first pages of each issue of "Our Hope"
+have been devoted to brief meditations on the Person and Glory of
+our adorable Lord Jesus Christ. Three reasons led the Editor to do
+this:  1. He is worthy of all honor and glory, worthy to have the
+first place in all things.  2. The great need of His people to have
+His blessed Person, His past and present work, His power and glory,
+His future manifestation constantly brought before their hearts.  3.
+There is an ever increasing denial of the Person of our Lord. In the
+most subtle way His Glory has been denied. It is therefore eminently
+necessary for those who know Him to tell out His worth. Long and
+learned discussions on the Person of the Lord have been written in
+the past, but are not much read in these days. We felt that short
+and simple meditations on Himself would be welcomed by all
+believers.
+
+All these brief articles were written with much prayer and often
+under deep soul exercise. It has pleased the Holy Spirit to own them
+in a most blessed way. Hundreds of letters were received telling of
+the great blessing these meditations have been and what refreshing
+they brought to the hearts of His people. Weary and tired ones were
+cheered, wandering ones restored and erring ones set right. Many
+wrote us or told us personally that the Lord Jesus Christ has become
+a greater reality and power in their lives after following this
+monthly testimony.
+
+Suggestions were made to issue some of these notes in book form so
+that these blessed truths may be preserved in a more permanent form.
+We have done so and send this volume forth with the prayer that the
+Holy Spirit, who is here to glorify Christ, may use it to the praise
+and glory of His worthy Name. We are confident that such will be the
+case.
+
+A. C. G.
+
+New York City, October 1, 1910.
+
+
+
+Dedication.
+
+
+"Unto Him who loveth us and washed us from our sins in His own
+blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God His Father; to
+Him be glory and dominion forever."--Rev. i: 5-6.
+
+"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and
+wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing."--Rev. v:
+12.
+
+"Then they that feared the Lord spake one to another: and the Lord
+hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before
+Him for them that feared the Lord and that _thought upon His Name_."
+--Mal. iii: 16.
+
+"Let us go forth, therefore, unto Him without the camp bearing His
+reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to
+come. By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God
+continually, that is the fruit of our lips, _confessing His Name_."
+--Hebrews xiii: 13-15.
+
+"Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so. Come Lord Jesus."--Rev.
+xxii: 20.
+
+
+
+The Lord of Glory.
+
+
+1 Cor. ii:8.
+
+
+OUR ever blessed Lord, who died for us, to whom we belong, with whom
+we shall be forever, is the Lord of Glory. Thus He is called in 1
+Cor. ii:8, "for had they known they would not have crucified the
+_Lord of Glory_." Eternally He is this because He is "the express
+image of God, the brightness of His Glory" (Heb. i:3). He possessed
+Glory with the Father before the world was (John xvii:5). This Glory
+was beheld by the prophets, for we read that Isaiah "saw His Glory
+and spake of Him" (John xii:41). All the glorious manifestations of
+Jehovah recorded in the Word of God are the manifestations of "the
+Lord of Glory," who created all things that are in heaven, and that
+are in earth, visible and invisible, who is before all things and by
+whom all things consist. He appeared as the God of Glory to Abraham
+(Acts vii:1); Isaac and Jacob were face to face with Him. Moses
+beheld His Glory. He saw His Glory on the mountain. The Lord of
+Glory descended in the cloud and stood with him there (Exod.
+xxxiv:5). How often the Glory of the Lord appeared in the midst of
+Israel. And what more could we say of Joshua, David, Daniel,
+Ezekiel, who all beheld His Glory and stood in the presence of that
+Lord of Glory.
+
+In the fulness of time He appeared on earth "God manifested in the
+flesh." Though He made of Himself no reputation and left His
+unspeakable Glory behind, yet He was the Lord of Glory, and as such
+He manifested His Glory. In incarnation in His holy, spotless life
+He revealed His moral Glory; what perfection and loveliness we find
+here! We have the testimony of His own "We beheld His Glory, the
+Glory as of the only begotten of the Father" (John i:14). "They saw
+His Glory" (Luke ix:32) when they were with Him in the holy
+mountain. They heard, they saw with their eyes, they looked upon,
+their hands handled the Word of life, the life that was manifested
+(1 John i:1-2). In His mighty miracles the Lord of Glory manifested
+His Glory, for it is written "this beginning of miracles did Jesus
+in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth His Glory" (John i:11).
+
+And this Lord of Glory died. The focus of His Glory is the cross. He
+was obedient unto death, the death of the cross. He gave Himself for
+us. Without following here all the precious truths connected with
+that which is the foundation of our salvation and our hope, that the
+Lord of Glory, Christ died for our sins, we remember that God
+"raised Him up from the dead and _gave Him Glory_" (1 Pet. i:21). He
+was "received up into Glory" (1 Tim. iii:16). "Ought not Christ to
+have suffered these things and to enter into _His Glory_" (Luke
+xxiv:26). The risen Lord of Glory said: "I ascend unto my Father and
+your Father; to my God and your God." He is now in the presence of
+God, the Man in Glory, seated in the highest place of the heaven of
+heavens "at the right hand of the Majesty on high." He is there "far
+above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and
+every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that
+which is to come" (Eph. i:21). He is highly exalted, the heir of all
+things. In that Glory He was beheld by human, mortal eyes. Stephen
+being full of the Holy Spirit "looked up steadfastly into heaven and
+saw the _Glory of God_, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God"
+(Acts vii:55). This was the dying testimony of the first Christian
+martyr. Saul of Tarsus saw this Glory; he "could not see for the
+Glory of that light" (Acts xxii:11). John beheld Him and fell at His
+feet as dead. And we see Him with the eye of faith. "But we see
+Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
+of death _crowned with Glory and Honor_" (Heb. ii:9).
+
+But this is not all. The unseen Glory of the Lord and the unseen
+Lord of Glory will some day be visible, not to a few, but to the
+whole universe. He will come in the Glory of His Father and the holy
+angels with Him (Matt. xvi:27). The Lord of Glory will be "revealed
+from heaven with His mighty angels" (2 Thess. i:7). He will come in
+power and Glory, come in His own Glory (Luke ix:26) and sit on the
+throne of His Glory (Matt. xxv:31). His Glory then will cover the
+heavens (Hab. iii:3) and "the earth will be filled with the
+knowledge of the Glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea"
+(Hab. ii:14). The heavens cannot be silent forever and He who now is
+the object of the faith of believers, and the One whom the world has
+rejected, will come forth in all His Majesty and Glory and every eye
+shall see Him. Then every knee must bow at the name of Jesus and
+every tongue confess Him as Lord. In that manifestation of the Lord
+of Glory and the Glory of the Lord we His redeemed will be
+manifested in Glory. He will then be glorified in His saints and
+admired in all them that believed (2 Thess. i:10). He will bring His
+many sons to Glory (Heb. ii:10). We are "partakers of the Glory that
+shall be revealed" (1 Pet. v:1). The God of all Grace hath indeed
+called us unto His eternal Glory by Jesus Christ. "And when the
+chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of Glory that
+fadeth not away" (1 Pet. v:4). "But rejoice inasmuch as ye are
+partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when His Glory shall be
+revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (1 Pet. iv:13).
+
+But ere this visible Glory is manifested over the earth and on the
+earth and He comes forth as the King of kings and Lord of lords His
+own will be gathered unto Him and be caught up in clouds to meet Him
+in the air. Then we shall see Him as He is and be like Him. The
+Glory which the Father has given Him as the head of the body will be
+bestowed upon the whole body; for thus He prayed "the Glory, which
+thou hast given me I have given to them" (John xvii:22). And in the
+Father's house where He is, in the Holy of Holies we shall behold
+His Glory. We shall be changed into the same image "that He might be
+the first born among many brethren" (Rom. viii:29).
+
+And now, dear reader, joint heir with the Lord of Glory, called by
+God unto the fellowship of His Son, in meditating on these wonderful
+facts given to us by revelation, does not your heart burn within
+you? What a blessing, what a place, what a future is ours linked
+with the Lord of Glory, one with Him! What a stupendous thought that
+He came from Glory to die for us so that He might have us with Him
+in Glory!
+
+And these blessed truths concerning the Lord of Glory and the Glory
+of the Lord we need to hold ever before our hearts in these dreary
+days when darkest night is fast approaching. To walk worthy of the
+Lord, to be faithful to the Lord, to render true service, to be more
+like Him and show forth His excellencies, we but need one thing, to
+know Him better and to behold the Glory of the Lord. It is written
+"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the Glory of the
+Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as
+by the Spirit of the Lord." Guided by the Spirit we can look on the
+Lord of Glory and His Glory, mirrored in all parts of the Word of
+God. And then as we look on this wonderful person and His relation
+to us and ours to Him, as we behold His glory both moral and
+literal, in humiliation and exaltation, past, present and future, we
+are changed into the same image. Our path will be from Glory to
+Glory! And some day there will come that supreme moment when we
+shall be _suddenly_ changed "in a moment, the twinkling of an eye."
+Oh child of God see your need! It is Christ, the Lord of Glory set
+before your heart; all worldly mindedness, all insincerity, all
+discouragement, all unbelief, all unfaithfulness must flee when we
+follow on to know the Lord and daily behold "as in a glass the Glory
+of the Lord."
+
+"Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present
+you faultless _before the presence of His Glory_ with exceeding joy,
+to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and
+power, both now and ever.  Amen."
+
+
+
+Jehovah. The "I Am."
+
+
+WHEN Moses in the desert beheld the burning bush God answered his
+question by the revelation of His name as the "I Am." "And God said
+unto Moses, I am, that I am: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto
+the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you" (Exod. iii:14).
+He who spake thus out of the bush to Moses was the same who in the
+fullness of time appeared upon the earth in the form of man. Our
+Lord Jesus Christ is no less person, than the I AM. If we turn to
+the fourth Gospel in which the Holy Spirit pictures Him as the Son
+of God, one with the Father, we find His glorious title there as the
+I AM. In the eighth chapter of that blessed Gospel we read that He
+said to the Jews, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham
+was, I am" (v:58). And the Jews took stones to cast them upon Him.
+In the fifth chapter we read that they wanted to kill Him, not only
+because He had violated the Sabbath, but also said that God was His
+Father, making Himself equal with God (v:18). They wanted to stone
+Him because in saying that word "Before Abraham was, I am" He had
+claimed that holy name for Himself, which was revealed to Moses. The
+Jews then, as the orthodox Jews do still, reverenced that name to
+such a degree that they did not even pronounce it, but substituted
+in its place the word "Adonai." Little did they realize that the
+same "I am" who spoke to Moses out of the bush, saying, "I am;" who
+descended before Moses later in a cloud and proclaimed the name of
+the Lord (Exod. xxxiv) was standing in their midst in the form of
+man. And this is not the only time He used this word. We find it in
+the xviii chapter of John. When the band and officers of the chief
+priests and Pharisees came with lanterns, torches and weapons, Jesus
+stepped majestically into their presence with the calm question:
+"Whom seek ye?" When they had stated that they were seeking Jesus
+the Nazarene He answered them with one word "I AM." What happened?
+They went backward and fell to the ground. What a spectacle that
+must have been. The dark night, a company of people, all on the same
+satanic errand, with their lanterns, torches and different kinds of
+weapons. And then the object of their hatred steps before them and
+utters one word and they fall helpless to the ground. What warning
+it should have been to them. Once more He asks the question; again
+He answers with the "I am" and with the understanding that His own
+should be free, He allows Himself to be bound.
+
+He likewise called Himself "I am" in talking with the Samaritan
+woman. In John iv:26 we read, "Jesus saith unto her, I that speak
+unto thee am he." This does, however, not express the original. This
+reads as follows: "I AM that speaks to thee." After this mighty word
+had come from His lips the woman had nothing more to say, but left
+her waterpot and went her way back to the city. The I AM had spoken
+to her. In chapters vi:20 and viii:28 we find Him using the same "I
+am" again. In the former passage "It is I" should read "I am."
+
+Besides these passages in which He speaks of Himself as the
+self-existing Jehovah, the great "I am," He saith seven times in this
+Gospel what He is to His own. I am the Bread of life (chapter
+vi:35.) I am the Light of the world (chapter ix:5). I am the Door
+(chapter x:7). I am the Good Shepherd (chapter x:11). I am the
+Resurrection and the Life (chapter xi:25). I am the Way, the Truth
+and the Life (chapter xvi:6); and I am the true Vine (chapter xv:1).
+But this does not exhaust at all what He is and will be now and
+forever to those who belong to Him. In the Old Testament there are
+seven great names of the "I AM" which are deep and significant. In
+them we can trace His rich and wonderful Grace. _Jehovah.--Jireh_
+--The Lord provides. The lamb provided (Genesis xxii). _Jehovah
+Rophecah_--I am the Lord that healeth thee (Exodus xv). _Jehovah
+--Nissi_--The Lord is my banner, He giveth the Victory (Exod. xvii).
+_Jehovah shalom_, the Lord is Peace. He is our Peace (Judges vi).
+_Jehovah Roi_--The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (Psalm
+xxiii). _Jehovah-Tsidkenu_, the Lord is our righteousness (Jeremiah
+xxiii). _Jehovah shammah_, the Lord is there (Ezek. xlviii).
+
+But this does not exhaust what He is. I AM--what? Anything and
+everything what we need in time and eternity.
+
+   "When God would teach mankind His name
+   He called Himself the great, I AM,
+   And leaves a blank--believers may
+   Supply those things for which they pray."
+
+Happy indeed are we, beloved reader, if we know Him, who died for us
+as the I AM, if we learn more and more to trust Him as the all
+sufficient One and know that the I AM will supply all our need. In
+these days in which the person of Christ is so much belittled,
+attacked; He as the Holy One, the great Jehovah rejected, not by the
+outside world alone, but by those who call themselves after His own
+blessed name, let us have for an answer to all these attacks of the
+enemy a closer walk with Him, a more intimate fellowship with the I
+AM; a better acquaintance with our Jehovah-Jesus, our gracious Lord.
+Oh what a union is ours, One with Him the I AM, what a happy,
+glorious lot.  Hallelujah.
+
+I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord,
+which is, and which was, and which is to come (Rev. ii:8). I am the
+bright and morning star (Rev. xxii: 16). What, oh what will He be
+for His own in all eternity!
+
+
+
+That Worthy Name.
+
+
+James ii:7.
+
+
+IN the second chapter of the Epistle of James the Holy Spirit speaks
+of our ever blessed Lord as "that worthy Name." Precious Word!
+precious to every heart that knows Him and delights to exalt His
+glorious and worthy Name. His Name is "far above every Name that is
+named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come."
+(Ephes. i:21.) It is "as ointment poured forth" (Song of Sol. i:3);
+yea, His Name alone is excellent (Psalm cxlviii:13). But according
+to His worth that blessed Name is far from being fully known and
+uttered by the Saints of God. "Thou art worthy" and "Worthy is the
+Lamb" shall some day burst from the glorified lips of redeemed
+sinners, brought home to be with Him. In that blessed day when at
+last we see Him face to face, forever with the Lord, we shall begin
+to learn the full worth and glory of that Name, the Name of the Lord
+Jesus Christ. In a feeble way here below we get glimpses of His
+precious, worthy Name, of His beauty and loveliness, and then only
+through the power of the Holy Spirit. The aim of the Spirit of God
+dwelling in our hearts will always be to tell us more of Himself.
+Like Abraham's servant who had so much to say to the elect bride
+about Isaac, so the Holy Spirit ever delights to show us more of
+Christ, the Christ of God. Oh! how He is eager to tell us more of
+His worth, of His glory, of His grace and of all He is and all He
+has. How it grieves Him when our hearts do not respond to the great
+message He has for us and when instead we turn to something else to
+give us joy and comfort. Only Christ can give joy and comfort, peace
+and rest to the hearts of those who are His. The days are evil and
+the time is short. Is your heart increasingly attracted to that
+worthy Name? Do you have a greater burning desire in your heart for
+Himself? Does He, that worthy Name, become more and more day by day
+the absorbing object of your heart and life? Do you often weep over
+your coldheartedness, your lack of real devotion to Him and
+communion with your Lord? Do you appreciate Him more than ever
+before? Is the Apostle's longing cry "that I might know Him" coming
+also from your heart? Dear reader, these are searching questions. A
+better knowledge of our blessed Lord, a deeper acquaintance with
+that worthy Name and greater devotion to Him, is the only true
+spiritual progress which counts. If you live but little in the
+reality of all this you lack that joy and rest which is true
+Christian happiness and the Spirit is grieved. Oh let Him unfold to
+your heart that worthy name and show you from His Word, His
+wonderful person, then His power will attract your heart more and
+more. This is what all God's people need. "That worthy Name," the
+Lord in all His blessed fulness and glorious reality is what we
+need.
+
+And what the written Word has to tell us of "that worthy Name"! Oh,
+the titles, the attributes, the names, the glories, the beauties of
+Himself. And we have discovered but so few of these blessed things.
+Perhaps a few hundred of the descriptions of that worthy Name are
+known to God's Saints; but there are hundreds, still hidden, we have
+never touched. Yes, God's Spirit is ever willing to make them known
+to our hearts.
+
+Just for a few moments think of some of the familiar titles and
+names of that Name which is above every other name. How these titles
+of our blessed Lord, what He is and what we have in Him should fill
+our hearts with praise and our lips with outbursts of praise, lift
+us above present day conditions and give us courage and boldness.
+"That worthy Name"; who is He?
+
+The Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father, the living God, the
+eternal Life; Emmanuel, the God of Glory, the Holy One; Jehovah, the
+everlasting God, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord of Peace, the
+Lord our righteousness, the Upholder of all things, the Creator, the
+Alpha and Omega, the express image of God. He is the Word, the Word
+of God, the Word of Life, the Wisdom of God, the Angel of the Lord,
+the Mediator of the better covenant. The good Shepherd, the great
+Shepherd, the chief Shepherd, the Door, the Way, the Root and
+offspring of David, the Branch of Righteousness, the Rose of Sharon,
+the Lily of the valley, the true Vine, the Corn of Wheat, the Bread
+of God, the true Bread from heaven. He is also the Light of the
+world, the Day dawn, the Star out of Jacob, Sun and Shield, the
+Bright and Morningstar, the Sun of Righteousness. Thus we read of
+that worthy Name, that He is, the Great High-priest, the Daysman,
+the Advocate, Intercessor, Surety, Mercy Seat, the Forerunner, the
+Rock of Salvation, the Refuge, the Tower, a strong Tower, the Rock
+of Ages, the Hope of Glory, the Hope of His people, a living Stone.
+And what else? the Gift of God, the Beloved, the Fountain of Life,
+Shiloh, He is our Peace, our Redeemer, He is precious, the Amen, the
+Just Lord, the Bridegroom, the Firstborn from the Dead, Head over
+all, Head of all principality and power, Heir of all things. He is
+Captain of the Lord's Host, Captain of their salvation, Chiefest
+among Ten Thousand, the Leader, the Counsellor, the Lion of the
+tribe of Judah, the Governor, Prince of Peace, the Prince of Life,
+the Prince of the Kings of the earth, the Judge, the King, the King
+of Israel, King of Saints, King of Glory, King over all the earth,
+King in His Beauty, King of Kings and Lord of lords.
+
+All these names and attributes of that worthy Name are familiar.
+What dignity, what power, what grace and blessing for us for whom He
+died and shed His precious blood they express. Who can fathom these
+names? Who can tell out His worth? And hundreds more could be added,
+and many, many more, which are still undiscovered in the Word of
+God. What a Lord He is! We worship and adore Thee, Thou worthy One.
+Draw us O Lord and we will run after Thee. What a joy and delight it
+ought to be to follow Him, to exalt Him, to be devoted to such a
+One! Oh! our failures! And still He carries us in kindness and
+patience. And He also has a Name, which expresses the fulness of His
+work and glory. No one knows what _that_ is. "He had a name written,
+that no man knew, but He Himself" (Rev. xix:12). That unknown Name
+may never be made known.
+
+But oh! the blessedness which is before us His redeemed people. Of
+us it is written "They shall see _His face_": That blessed, blessed
+face of that worthy Name, we shall behold at last. We shall see His
+face! Oh the rapture which fills the heart in the anticipation of
+that soon coming event. "And His Name shall be on their foreheads"
+(Rev. xxii:4). We shall be like Him, we shall be a perfect
+reflection of Himself.
+
+
+
+The Doctrine of Christ.
+
+
+2 John 9-11.
+
+
+"WHOSOEVER transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ,
+hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath
+both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring
+not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him
+God speed. For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil
+deeds" (2 John 9-11). What then is the doctrine of Christ? It is the
+revealed truth concerning the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
+He is the Son of God, whom the Father sent into the world. "God so
+loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
+believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This
+is the doctrine of Christ. Anyone who does not hold the doctrine of
+Christ that He is absolutely God, one with the Father come into the
+world, hath not God. He is without God and hope in the world. He is
+an Anti-christ. "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is
+come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not
+that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is
+that spirit of Anti-christ, whereof ye have heard that it should
+come; and even now already is it in the world" (1 John iv:2-3). Such
+a denier of the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is no christian at
+all and all fellowship even to the greeting must be denied to him.
+This seems severe and intolerant. But it is not if we consider what
+the denial of the Person of our holy and blessed Lord means. God
+grant unto us, who hold the doctrine of Christ, a divine jealousy
+for His honor and glory, manifested by separation from all who in
+any way deny the doctrine upon which all Christianity rests.
+
+But how blessed to faith to see in the first Epistle of John the
+doctrine of Christ revealed and the blessings and comforts brought
+forth, which are for those who abide in this doctrine. In the Gospel
+of John the beloved disciple writes by the Holy Spirit about the Son
+of God, how He came from the Father and was in the world and how He
+left the world to go back to the Father. The Son of God is also the
+theme of the Holy Spirit in the first Epistle of John. "Our
+fellowship is with the Father, and with His _Son_ Jesus Christ"
+(i:3). This fellowship means that we share the Father's thoughts
+about His Son and to enjoy with the Son His own blessed and eternal
+relationship with the Father. In the measure our faith enters into
+the doctrine of Christ in that measure we shall have deeper
+fellowship with the Father and His Son. Is your cry, dear reader,
+for more reality in this fellowship? There is one way only which
+leads to this. It is an increase in the knowledge of the Son of God
+and as you abide there, you _have_ the Father and the Son.
+
+And now we shall call to our remembrance other passages in the first
+Epistle of John in which our blessed Lord as the Son of God is
+mentioned. They are sweet and precious to faith and if read in the
+Spirit they will bring the joy, the blessing, the peace and the
+comfort of the doctrine of Christ to our hearts.
+
+"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (i:7).
+That precious blood, His own blood, has cleansed us once and for
+all. "For this purpose the _Son of God_ was manifested that He might
+destroy the works of the devil" (iii:8). "And this is his
+commandment, that we should believe on the name of His _Son_ Jesus
+Christ and love one another as He gave us commandment. And he that
+keepeth His commandments (which are: believing on Him and loving one
+another) dwelleth in Him and He in him. And hereby we know that He
+abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us" (iii:23-24).
+"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God
+sent His _only begotten Son_ into the world that we might live
+through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He
+loved us, and sent _His Son_ into the world to be the propitiation
+for our sins." "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love
+one another" (iv:9-11). "And we have seen and do testify that the
+Father sent _the Son_ to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever
+shall confess that Jesus is _the Son of God_, God dwelleth in him
+and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath
+to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God
+and God in him" (iv:14-16). "Who is he that overcometh the world,
+but he that believeth that Jesus is _the Son of God?_" (v:5) "If we
+receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this
+is the witness of God which He hath testified of His _Son_. He that
+believeth on the _Son of God_ hath the witness in himself; he that
+believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the
+record that God gave to _His Son_. And this is the record that God
+hath given to us eternal life, and this life is _in His Son_. He
+that hath _the Son_ hath life; he that hath not the _Son of God_
+hath not life" (v:9-12). "These things have I written unto you that
+believe on the name of _the Son of God_, that ye may know that ye
+have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of _the Son
+of God_. And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we
+ask anything according to His will, He heareth us" (v:13-14). "And
+we know that the _Son of God_ is come, and hath given us an
+understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him
+that is true, even in _His Son_ Jesus Christ. This is the _true God_
+and eternal life" (v:20).
+
+May our faith lay hold anew of these simple yet deep and precious
+revelations. They are the doctrine of Christ. Into this we must
+enter constantly and manifest in our lives the fruits of this
+doctrine, love and righteousness. The increasing rejection of the
+doctrine of Christ demands the increased appreciation of that
+doctrine. The more the enemy attacks the Person of Christ, the more
+the Holy Spirit demands of us, who belong to Christ, that we exalt
+Him. Everything in the present time seems to be aimed at the setting
+aside of the doctrine upon which our Hope rests. Higher Criticism,
+the evil doctrines, which reject the eternal punishment of the
+wicked, the spurious gospels, ethical teachings and every other
+false doctrine strikes at the blessed Person of our Lord. The shadow
+of _the_ Anti-christ is cast in our days. Let us heed God's Word.
+Let us be separated from those who deny Christ or we are partakers
+of their evil deeds. The path of the true believer becomes narrower.
+It must be so. But Christ becomes more precious, more real to our
+souls.
+
+What awful times are coming upon this age according to God's Word!
+With the rejection of the doctrine of Christ this age sides
+completely with Satan and that wonderful being is both blinding his
+victims and using them for his own sinister purposes. The blindness
+is fearful. It will be worse before long. The rush into complete
+apostasy and from there into the delusion with the lying wonders and
+on into the darkness forever will come next. Let us praise God for
+the doctrine of Christ, which is our salvation, and may God give us
+faith and courage to walk according to that doctrine. What day of
+joy awaits us, when we shall see him as He is and know the depth of
+the Love of God by being like Him!
+
+
+
+The Pre-Eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
+
+
+WHAT a blessed theme the Person and Glory of our Lord! How
+inexhaustible and unsearchable! How refreshing to the souls of His
+redeemed people as well as to the heart of our heavenly Father, who,
+loveth the Son! To meditate on Him, to behold the Glory of the Lord
+under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Word of God, means
+spiritual growth and spiritual enjoyment. This only can make the
+unseen Person a blessed reality in our daily walk. We pray that all
+our beloved readers are drawn closer to Himself through these brief
+meditations. Can we truly say the Lord is more precious to our
+hearts and that we are living more in His presence than ever before?
+Has He become the absorbing object of our hearts and lives? Are we
+more devoted to Him? God grant that this may be the case with all of
+us. It is the great need we have. It is the good part, which Mary,
+resting at His feet, had chosen.
+
+In the great chapter which begins the Epistle to the Colossians,
+after that blessed description of the Son of God, stands this word
+"_that in all things He might have the pre-eminence_" (Col. i:18).
+But who can tell out what a pre-eminence, the pre-eminence of the
+Lord Jesus Christ is? Some day we shall see Him in all His Glory. He
+Himself will lead us into the Holiest of the third heaven to behold
+the Glory the Father has given Him (John xvii:24); then we shall
+know His pre-eminence fully. And yet from Scripture we can learn
+even now the pre-eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
+
+In all eternity the Son of God was the object of Love and Glory.
+
+   "Son of God the Father's bosom
+   Ever was Thy dwelling place."
+
+He ever subsisted in the form of God. In all creation He has the
+pre-eminence. This is made known to us, as man could not discover
+it, by revelation. We accept this in faith. "Through faith we
+understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that
+things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Heb.
+x:3). And all which was called into existence was created by Him and
+for Him. "For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven,
+and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
+thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were
+created by Him and for Him" (Col. i:16). What a marvellous survey!
+What power and glory belongs to the blessed Son of God! "All things
+were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was
+made." "The world was made by Him" (John i:3, 10).
+
+He has the pre-eminence in sustaining His creation. All things
+consist by Him. He upholds all things by the Word of His power (Heb.
+i:3).
+
+In the Revelation of God He has the pre-eminence. Both books, the
+book of Nature and the Book of all books, the written Word of God,
+the Bible, tell out His Glory. The Bible may be compared to a living
+organism, like the human body. Every book in the Bible has a
+specific place and service like the members of the body; the life in
+that marvellous divinely constructed organism of the revelation of
+God is the Son of God. Apart from Him there is no revelation from
+God and no manifestation of God. He reveals God throughout the
+Bible, in every part, He holds the pre-eminence. Greater still is
+His pre-eminence in redemption. Redemption would be an eternal
+impossibility without Him. He came from the Father's bosom to redeem
+us. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the
+Father but by Him. He gives eternal life. Furthermore as the first
+born from the dead He is the head of the body. That body is the
+church and every believing sinner is a member in that body. Each is
+united to Him and possesses His life. This body with its many
+members He keeps, nourishes, builds up, sanctifies and ultimately
+glorifies. In all the great and glorious redemptive work He has the
+pre-eminence.
+
+As the glorified Man He is the Heir of God and as such He holds the
+pre-eminence in heaven. He has been made so much better than the
+angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
+than they. Far above all the angelic beings, higher than the
+archangel is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Man in Glory.
+
+There is a future pre-eminence for Him. The day of His visible Glory
+and power is approaching. Now He is rejected, then He will be
+enthroned. Upon the holy hill of Zion He will be the King of Glory.
+His Glory will cover the heavens and His Majesty the earth. He will
+be King of kings and Lord of lords. He will rule as the only
+potentate and every knee must bow before Him. The song must at last
+rise in heaven and on earth "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to
+receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and
+glory and blessing." Such is, briefly sketched, the pre-eminence of
+the Lord Jesus Christ. Yea, in all things He hath the pre-eminence.
+
+Can we do anything less than to give Him the first place in all
+things? He is worthy of it. He died for us. He drank the cup of
+wrath in our stead. His own self bare our sins in His own body on
+the tree. How great has been and still is His love for us, the love,
+which passeth knowledge. He is worthy of the first place every
+moment of our lives. He is worthy to possess all we have and are. We
+are bought with a price, we are not our own. We belong to Him.
+
+What unspeakable grace from God the Father, that He has brought us
+into fellowship with Him to whom He has given the pre-eminence. We
+please the Father as we delight ourselves in the Son and walk in
+that blessed fellowship. We must honor Him whom the Father has
+honored, and as we serve the Lord Jesus Christ and accord Him the
+first place, the Father will honor us (John xii:26). Our hearts too
+can never fully know the blessed peace of God and rest of faith till
+we give our Lord the first place. Anything less than that will mean
+dishonor to Him. "Not I--but Christ" must be the constant cry of
+our hearts. Not I--but Christ in our daily walk; Not I--but Christ
+in our service. Oh! that we might realize our great and holy
+calling, our wonderful privilege, a privilege which is ours for but
+a little while longer to live Him, live for Him, who has in all
+things the pre-eminence.
+
+   Nothing save Him, in all our ways,
+   Giving the theme for ceaseless praise;
+   Our whole resource along the road,
+   Nothing but Christ--the Christ of God.
+
+
+
+"Ye are Christ's--Christ is God's."
+
+
+ONLY a few words, yet how blessedly full of peace and joy! How
+precious they are to faith! If we, to whom they apply, would
+remember them daily, how happy in Him we would be. In all our ways,
+in good and evil days, yea, every moment the truth contained in
+these words ought to be real to the true believer. Is not all our
+failure due to the fact that we live not sufficiently in the
+consciousness and reality of this wonderful fact, that we belong to
+Christ, that we are one with Him? Before these words in the third
+chapter of First Corinthians we find the statement "all things are
+yours." And after these words it is written "Christ is God's." We
+are Christ's and Christ is God's; all things are ours because Grace
+has brought us into this marvelous relationship. "Christ is God's"
+gives us once more the whole story of God's Love and Grace. As the
+Only Begotten He ever subsisted in the form of God, the Image of
+God, one with Him, absolutely God. But He came down, took upon Him
+the form of a servant, taking His place in the likeness of man. In
+the form of man He wrought the great work of redemption on the cross
+and now after His resurrection, by which He is proven Son of God and
+His presence as the glorified Man in the highest heaven, He is the
+one in whom and through whom, God the God and Father of our Lord
+Jesus Christ gives all blessing. "Christ is God's," then, means what
+we learn from the following scriptures: "The Father loveth the Son,
+and hath given all things into His hands" (John iii:35). "Whom He
+hath appointed heir of all things" (Heb. i:2). "Christ is God's" is
+a word which tells us that He who is the Creator of all things, the
+visible and the invisible, came in incarnation, redeemed us and is
+now, the beginning, the first-begotten from the dead and the Head of
+His Body, which is the Church. This is how God has brought us to
+Himself in the person of His own Son by whom he has redeemed us, in
+whom He has exalted us and with whom He has given us all things.
+
+To that wonderful person, Christ, the Christ of God, we belong. We
+are His, who is One with God, by whom and for whom all things were
+created. The Son of God for such as we are, became poor, even to the
+poverty of the cross. There He took our place and in His own body He
+bore our sins and died for us. He saw us then the travail of His
+soul. We can look back to the cross and say, as His Apostle said:
+"Who love me and gave Himself for me." We belong to Him, who has all
+power in heaven and will have all power before long, as King of
+Kings and Lord of Lords on earth. We are Christ's, whom God has
+appointed as the second Man, the head of the new creation as Heir of
+all things. We are Christ's, who is the Head of the Body, to which
+we belong. In Him and with Him we are the Heirs of God. God and
+Christ are inseparable and so are Christ and we who have trusted in
+Him and have His life. All Christ has belongs to us; all Christ is
+we shall be; where Christ is there we shall be in all eternity.
+Reader! Child of God, pause! Does your faith lay hold of this? Do
+you read it only and enjoy it just for a moment or is this great
+fact of your union with Christ and God becoming daily a greater
+reality in your life? Is it really so that you enter deeper and
+deeper into that love which passeth knowledge? Oh! that it may be so
+with the writer and each believer who reads these feeble words on so
+great a theme.
+
+"Ye are Christ's." Then we are _not our own_. That is exactly what
+is elsewhere stated in First Corinthians. "Ye are not your own; we
+are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in
+your spirit, which are God's" (1 Cor. vi:20). Our hearts occupied
+with Himself, increasingly attracted by the glorious Person of our
+adorable Lord, realising by the power of His Spirit our glory and
+destiny with the Lord of Glory, we shall act and walk as such, who
+are Christ's. Every step of the way it will resound in our hearts
+"ye are Christ's." In all we do we shall always remember we are
+Christ's. Cares, anxieties, worldly ambitions, all manner of
+temptations, will fall before the fact grasped in faith "I am
+Christ's."
+
+We are convinced that _only_ the Person of Christ put before the
+heart of the believer through the Word of God and the power of His
+Spirit can keep the Christian in these awful days of apostasy from
+going along with the fearful current of the last days. If Christ and
+our blessing in Him become more real to us we will be beyond the
+reach of the god of this age with his wiles and sinister purposes.
+
+Furthermore the demand of the hour is for us to exalt Christ. How He
+is dishonored is a dread reality. The rejection of Christ was never
+so marked and never so satanic as in these days. God, the God and
+Father of our Lord Jesus Christ expects from us His children that we
+exalt Him in the days of His rejection and thus share His reproach.
+Let us do it!
+
+And lastly, if we ever have the Person of Christ before our hearts,
+we shall walk in obedience to Him as our Lord. Then if we exalt
+Christ and are obedient to Himself we have the fullest assurance
+that the Holy Spirit will be with us, upon us and fill us. There is
+no need to seek "the power" as some express it, nor a baptism of the
+Spirit. He will be with us and in us in the measure as we exalt
+Christ and walk in Him.
+
+   O gracious Lord, when we reflect
+      How apt to turn the eye from Thee,
+   Forget Thee, too, with sad neglect,
+      And listen to the enemy,
+   And yet to find Thee still the same--
+   'Tis this that humbles us with shame.
+
+   Astonished at Thy feet we fall,
+      Thy love exceeds our highest thought,
+   Henceforth be Thou our all in all,
+      Thou who our souls with blood hast bought;
+   May we henceforth more faithful prove,
+   And ne'er forget Thy ceaseless love.
+
+   "Him will I make that overcomes
+      And stems the advancing flood,
+   A pillar of might, with glory light,
+      In the temple of my God.
+   On him shall the blest Name divine,
+      And my new name be graven;
+   And the City's name, Jerusalem,
+      That cometh down from heaven."
+
+
+
+The Wonderful.
+
+
+Isaiah ix:6.
+
+
+HIS name shall be called "Wonderful" (Isaiah ix:6). And long before
+Isaiah had uttered this divine prediction the angel of the Lord had
+announced his name to be Wonderful. As such He appeared to Manoah.
+And Manoah said unto the angel of Jehovah, What is thy name, that
+when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honor. And the angel of
+Jehovah said unto Him "why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it
+is Wonderful" (margin, Judges xiii:17-18). This angel of Jehovah,
+the Person who appeared repeatedly in Old Testament history is an
+uncreated angel. Of this Being we read that He is the Redeemer, for
+Jacob speaks of Him "the angel which redeemed me from all evil"
+(Genesis xlviii:15). He is the angel whose voice must be obeyed, who
+has power to pardon transgressions, in whom the name of God is
+(Exodus xxiii:20-23). He is the angel of His Presence who saved them
+(Isaiah lxiii:9) and Exodus xxxiii:14 must refer to this Being "My
+presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest." This angel
+of Jehovah speaks in the Book of Judges and declared, "I made you to
+go up out of Egypt, and have brought you into the land which I sware
+unto your fathers; and I said I will never break my covenant with
+you" (Judges ii:1). He appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of
+the midst of the bush and He spoke to Moses as the I am! (Ex. iii.)
+The same One appeared before Joshua and he worshipped in His
+presence. With Him Jacob wrestled, with Jehovah, the God of hosts
+(Hosea xii:4-6). Malachi iii:1 shows that the Lord Himself is this
+Angel, the Angel of the Covenant, who also visited Abraham in the
+form of Man (Genesis xviii).
+
+And after all these manifestations, seven hundred years after Isaiah
+had announced Him, as the Wonderful, He appeared in human form in
+the midst of His people. And now we know by divine Revelation in the
+completed Word of God that He is wonderful in His Person and in his
+work; but no mind can fathom, no heart can grasp, no pen can
+describe, how wonderful He is.
+
+He is wonderful if we think of Him as the Only Begotten of the
+Father. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
+and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All
+things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that
+was made" (John i:1-3). "By Him were all things created that are in
+Heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
+thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were
+made by Him and for Him; and He is before all things and by Him all
+things consist" (Col. i:16-17). He is the image of the invisible
+God, the brightness of His glory and the express image of His
+Person. How wonderful such a One, who ever was, with no beginning,
+One with God!
+
+How wonderful His humiliation. "Who being in the form of God,
+thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no
+reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in
+the likeness of men, and being in fashion as a man He humbled
+Himself" (Phil. ii:6-8). "For verily He took not on Him the nature
+of Angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham" (Hebrews ii:16).
+Wonderful condescension that He who created the angels should be
+made lower than the angels and lay His Glory by, to appear in the
+form of man on earth.
+
+Wonderful is He in His incarnation, "that holy thing" as the angel
+announced Him, truly God and Man. Born of the woman, resting on the
+bosom of the virgin as a little child and yet He is the One who ever
+is in the bosom of the Father.
+
+Wonderful that blessed life He lived on earth of which the beloved
+disciple bears such a beautiful witness. "That which was from the
+beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,
+which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of
+Life. For the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear
+witness and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the
+Father, and was manifested unto us" (1 John i:1-2). Wonderful are
+the blessed words which came from His lips, wonderful is His moral
+glory, His untiring service, His love, His patience and everything
+which the Holy Spirit has been pleased to tell us of His earthly
+life. The more our hearts contemplate Him the more wonderful He
+appears. But still greater and more wonderful is it that He went to
+the cross to give His life as a ransom for many, that the Just One
+should die for the unjust, that He who knew no sin was made sin for
+us and pay the penalty of sins on the cross. He is the Wonderful in
+His great work on the cross, the depths of which have never been
+fathomed. And what can we say of His wonderful Glory, His wonderful
+Place, His wonderful Power, His wonderful Grace! How wonderfully He
+has dealt with us, with each one of us individually. How wonderful
+it is that He knows each of His sheep, that He guides each, provides
+for, loveth, succors, stands by, restores, never leaves nor forsakes
+each who has trusted in Him and belongs to Him. How wonderful are
+His ways with us, that He guides with His eyes and that His loving
+power and omnipotent love is on our side. In His coming
+manifestation He will be wonderful. Wonderful He will be when we
+shall see Him and stand in His presence. What a day it will be when
+we see Him face to face! Then we shall know all the loveliness and
+wonderfulness of His adorable Person and His wonder ways with us.
+With what wonderment we shall then behold Him. And when He comes
+with His Saints, when the Heavens are lit up with untold glory, when
+He comes to judge, to establish His Kingdom, to speak peace to the
+nations, to restore creation to its right condition, when He reigns
+and all His redeemed ones with Him--Oh how wonderful it all will
+be!
+
+He is altogether lovely and he is altogether wonderful. Glory to His
+name! Well has one said: "He pervades the whole of the New Testament
+with His presence, so that every doctrine it teaches, every duty it
+demands, every narrative it records, every comfort it gives, every
+hope it inspires, gathers about His person and ministers to His
+glory." So dear does He thus become to the heart of the believer,
+that Luther may well be excused for exclaiming, 'I had rather be in
+hell with Christ, than in heaven without Him.'
+
+"We believe in Him as our Saviour, Acts vi:31; confess Him as our
+Lord, Rom. x:9; we have redemption through His blood, Eph. i:7; we
+look to Him as our Leader, Heb. xii:2; we follow Him as our Teacher,
+Eph. iv:20, 21; we feed upon Him as our Bread, Jno. vi:48; we go to
+Him in our Thirst, Jno. vi: 37; we enter by Him as our door, Jno.
+x:9; we are in Him as our vine, Jno. xv:5; we find in Him our rest,
+Matt. xi:28; we have in Him our example, Jno. xiii:15; He is our
+righteousness, 2 Cor. v:21; we are succored by Him in temptation,
+Heb. ii:18; we turn to Him for sympathy, Heb. iv:15; we obtain
+through Him our victory, 1 Cor. xv:57; we overcome by Him the world,
+1 Jno. v:5; we have in Him eternal life, 1 Jno. v:11, 12; we gain by
+Him the resurrection, Phil. iii:20, 21; we appear with Him in glory,
+Col. iii:4, we exult in His everlasting love, Rev. i:5, 6."
+
+May the Holy Spirit fill our hearts and eyes with Himself and reveal
+to us through the written Word more of the matchless beauty of the
+wonderful Person of our Saviour and Lord. We honor and adore Thee,
+blessed, blessed Lord, and while Thou art rejected we thy feeble
+people would know more of Thyself and keep closer at Thy feet. Amen.
+
+   "We would see Jesus, for the shadows lengthen
+      Over this little landscape of our life,
+   We would see Jesus, our weak faith to strengthen,
+      For the last weariness, the final strife.
+   We would see Jesus, this is _all_ we're needing;
+      Strength, joy and willingness come with the sight;
+   We would see Jesus, dying, risen, pleading;
+      Then welcome day, and farewell mortal night."
+
+
+
+Honour and Glory Unto him.
+
+
+IN Revelation V, that great worship scene, beginning some day in
+heaven and going on into future ages, we read of the Lamb to whom
+honor and glory are due. He alone is worthy. And every heart who
+knows Him rejoicing in His love, cries out, "Thou art worthy!" Yea,
+the sweetest song for the redeemed soul is the outburst of praise,
+which we find on the threshold of His own Revelation. "Unto Him that
+loveth us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and hath made
+us kings and priests unto God and His Father; _to him_ be glory and
+dominion forever and ever. Amen." Soon the great worship John beheld
+prophetically may become reality.
+
+As long as we His people are here in this present evil age it is
+God's call to us to honor and glorify His Son. This surely is God
+the Father's expectation from His children, who are begotten of Him.
+This is His call to us in the last days of this rapidly closing age.
+
+It was on the mountain of transfiguration that the Father bore
+witness to His Son. "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
+pleased." The Father bore not alone this witness, but He vindicated
+the honor of His Son, whose glory flashed forth on that mountain.
+Peter had spoken; in fact, he was still speaking when the Father's
+voice was heard. "Lord, it is good to be here; if Thou wilt let us
+make here three tabernacles, one for Thee and one for Moses and one
+for Elias." These were Peter's words. At the first glance they
+appear harmless. Indeed, they are generally used in spiritual
+application of having a good time here. But they have a far
+different meaning. Peter had spoken once more in the impulsiveness
+of the flesh. By putting the Lord of Glory alongside of Moses and
+Elias, he had lowered the dignity of Him. The One whom he had but
+recently confessed as the Christ, the Son of the living God, he now
+put into the same position and place with Moses and Elias. He lost
+sight of the wonderful and glorious person of Christ. When he
+uttered this human suggestion the Shekinah cloud appeared and its
+glorious splendor covered them. Out of that cloud came the Father's
+voice vindicating the honor of His Son. Who is Moses? Who is Elias?
+Sinful men they were, man of failure and weakness. But here is
+another. This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear Him.
+And how that beloved Son is in our day dishonored!
+
+He was in all eternity the beloved Son. When God created all things,
+for Him and by Him, He was the delight of God. This is the
+foundation of our faith. When he spoke of coming into the world, as
+we read in Hebrews X, to do the Father's will, the Father's love and
+delight was upon Him. In humiliation beginning there in Bethlehem He
+was the beloved Son of God. In all He did, every step of the way,
+the Holy One had above Himself the loving Father. And then He went
+to the cross, putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. In the
+awful suffering on the cross, in the hours of darkness, when as the
+substitute of sinners He tasted death, God's holy hand rested upon
+that beloved One in judgment, so that He uttered that never to be
+forgotten cry "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And God
+in His mighty power opened the grave and brought Him forth. He
+raised Him from the dead. He was received up in the Glory, exalted
+into the highest position. He is the heir of all things, the
+upholder of all things, all things consist and exist by Him. God has
+given Him the pre-eminence in all things.
+
+And this blessed One, the beloved Son of God is denied, He is
+rejected, dishonored and refused. God speaks in Him, by Him, and he
+who has made known God, in whom redemption for man was procured is
+dishonored. But how is He dishonored and robbed of His Glory? And
+where is He dishonored? Not in the world as such so much but in
+Christendom. The harvest of this destructive and evil criticism of
+the Bible, rejecting the Bible as the inspired Word of God is being
+reaped. After the written Word has been attacked and lowered the
+enemy who stands behind "Higher Criticism" in a disguised form has
+thrown off the mask and bluntly strikes at the Person of the beloved
+Son of God. First the devil in the garb of "reverend criticism"
+denied Isaiah vii:14, the promise of the virgin bringing forth a
+son, as having anything to do with Christ, and now the harvest, the
+denial of the virgin birth of our Lord. It would take many pages to
+mention all how our ever beloved Lord is robbed of His Glory, how
+His Person is dishonored. This denial of the Person of Christ is the
+apostasy. It is the very breath of the personal antichrist, the man
+of sin, which we feel in these last days.
+
+The Father's voice is not heard in these days as it was heard on the
+transfiguration mountain. The heavens are silent to all the dishonor
+heaped upon Him, who is in the heaven of heavens. But God the Father
+looks to His people in whom the Holy Spirit dwells to honor and
+glorify His Son. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to stand as bold
+witnesses for Himself and to contend earnestly for the faith once
+and for all delivered unto the Saints. The Father expects us that we
+stand up for the honor of His Son. His voice to us is "_Honor my
+Son!_"
+
+We feel deeply impressed with this great call of God to us at the
+present time of increasing darkness and apostasy. Let each child of
+God act accordingly. Honor your Lord wherever you are. "Be thou not
+ashamed of the testimony of our Lord" (2 Tim. i:8). If you cannot
+publicly stand up and honor Christ then honor Him, speak well of
+Him, in the home circle or wherever you are. O child of God, walk
+close to Him! Sit more at His feet! Cast yourself more upon Him! Let
+Him be your all in all! And as He is the sole object of your heart
+you will honor Him in the day when He is rejected.
+
+But this will mean something else. It means separation. God's call
+to His people is to stand aloft from all which dishonors His Son.
+This means much in our days. How can we honor the Beloved One if we
+have fellowship with that which dishonors Him? No child of God
+should go on with any institution, school or church where the
+written Word is set aside or belittled. The second Epistle of
+Timothy, which has special reference to our times is very clear on
+this separation. No one needs to wait for a special call from God to
+act and separate from the corruption of Christendom. It is all given
+before hand by the Holy Spirit. "From such turn away" (2 Tim.
+iii:5). And those from whom God commands us to separate are persons
+who have the form of godliness and deny the power thereof. Again it
+is written: "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold
+and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and
+some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he
+shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the master's
+use, prepared unto every good work" (2 Tim. ii:20-21). Hear the Word
+of the Lord! Hear His call! Be faithful to Him! Keep His Word and do
+not deny His Name! Honor and glorify Him who is our Lord whom we
+soon shall see face to face.
+
+
+
+Christ's Resurrection Song.
+
+
+WHEN the blessed Lord appeared in the midst of His disciples and
+they beheld the risen One in His glorified body of flesh and bones
+and He ate before them, He told them that all things which were
+written in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets and _in the Psalms_
+concerning Him, had to be fulfilled (Luke xxiv:44). While on the way
+to Emmaus He said to the two sorrowing and perplexed disciples
+"Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into
+His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded
+unto them all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." It
+seems to us He must have then spoken much of the Psalms, these
+wonderful prayers and songs of praise, with which His Jewish
+disciples were so familiar. In the Psalms the richest prophecies
+concerning Christ are found. There we behold Him in His divine
+perfections as well as in His true humanity; in His suffering and in
+His glory; in His rejection and in His exaltation. Oh that we, the
+Lord's people, might read the Psalms more, so that the Holy Spirit
+can reveal Christ more to our hearts. In many unexpected places we
+can find Him in these songs. There is for instance the xxxvii Psalm,
+so much enjoyed by the Saints of God. It contains such precious
+exhortations to faith, to be patient and to hope. But in taking the
+comfort of these blessed exhortations and their accompanying
+promises, we are apt to overlook some verses which tell us of our
+Lord. Verses 30-33 apply to Him. "The mouth of the righteous
+speaketh wisdom and His tongue talketh of judgment. The law of His
+God is in His heart; none of His steps shall slide. The wicked
+watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay Him. Jehovah will not
+leave Him in his hand, nor condemn Him when He is judged." Our Lord
+is this righteous One. Words of wisdom and judgment, mercy and truth
+flowed from His lips while righteousness in heart and life, and
+perfect obedience were manifested in Him. Then His death and
+deliverance are indicated in these words. However, care must be
+taken not to apply all the experiences of the Psalms to Christ. We
+saw recently an exposition of Psalm xxxviii:7. The words "For my
+loins are filled with a loathsome disease and there is no soundness
+in my flesh" were applied to Christ. This is a very serious mistake.
+He knew no sin and therefore no loathsome disease could fill His
+loins. Such exposition is evil.
+
+Many joyous expressions of praise to God are found in the Psalms
+which properly belong first to Him, who is the leader of the praises
+of His people (Heb. ii:12). One of these sweet outbursts of praise
+is contained in the opening verses of the xl Psalm. The first three
+verses may be called "the resurrection song of Christ":
+
+   "I waited patiently for the Lord,
+   And He inclined unto me
+   And heard my cry.
+   He brought me up also
+   Out of an horrible pit,
+   Out of the miry clay;
+   And set my feet upon a rock,
+   Established my goings.
+   And He has put a new song in my mouth;
+   Praise unto our God;
+   Many shall see it and fear,
+   And shall trust in the Lord."
+
+It is the experience of our Saviour, which must here first of all be
+considered. Patiently He had waited for Jehovah. Himself Jehovah He
+had taken the place of dependence under God His Father and patiently
+He endured. He was obedient unto death, the death of the cross. He
+endured the cross, despising the shame. He cried to God. "Who in the
+days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications
+with strong crying and fears unto Him that was able to save Him from
+death, and _was heard_ in that he feared; though He were Son, yet
+learned He obedience by the things which He suffered" (Heb. v:7-8).
+The place of death is given in this Psalm: "the horrible pit and the
+miry clay." Who can describe all what is meant by these words!
+"Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we
+did esteem Him stricken and smitten of God and afflicted. But He was
+wounded for our transgressions, the chastisement of our peace was
+upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed" (Isa. liii:45). He
+went into the horrible pit, or as it reads literally, the pit of
+destruction, the place which belongs to fallen man by nature, so
+that we might be taken out of it. He went into the jaws of death and
+there the billows and waves, yea all the billows and waves of the
+judgment of the holy God passed over Him. In another Psalm the Holy
+Spirit describes His agony. (Ps. lxix). There we read His cry "Save
+me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep
+mire, where there is no standing; I am come into deep waters, where
+the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying, my throat is dried;
+mine eyes fail while I wait for my God." And deeper He went for our
+sakes. The miry clay has a special meaning. Any one who sinks into a
+pit filled with miry clay cannot help himself. All his struggling
+does not help; the more he labors the deeper he sinks. One who is in
+the miry clay cannot save himself. And does this not remind us of
+the Lord and of what was said of Him "He saved others, Himself He
+cannot save." He was in the miry clay. He might have saved Himself
+but He would not. His mighty love it was, that love which passeth
+knowledge, which brought Him from Heaven's Glory down to the
+horrible pit, the miry clay.
+
+But the sufferings of our adorable Lord are not so much before us in
+this Psalm as the fact of His resurrection. His cry was heard. The
+prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears were
+answered; His resurrection from the dead was God's blessed answer.
+While in other Scriptures it is stated that Christ Himself arose,
+here His resurrection is seen as an act of God. "He brought me up."
+This act of God bears witness to the completeness and perfection of
+the accomplished salvation. "We believe in Him who raised up Jesus
+our Lord from the dead. Who was delivered for our offences and was
+raised again for our justification" (Rom. iv:24-25). But we read
+also that His feet were set upon a rock. "And set my feet upon a
+rock." He is the first born from the dead. Sin and death are
+abolished by His mighty work. "Knowing that Christ being raised from
+the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in
+that He died, He died unto sin once, but in that He liveth, He
+liveth unto God" (Rom. vi:9-10). Upon that rock the feet of every
+believing sinner securely rest.
+
+But His ascension is likewise mentioned in this resurrection song.
+"And established my goings." He "whose goings forth have been from
+old, from everlasting" (Micah v:2) and who came from everlasting
+glory to walk in obedience to the cross and the grave has gone back
+into heaven. He was received up into glory; He ascended on high and
+led captivity captive.
+
+And the mighty victor sings now a _new song_. It is the triumphant
+song of redemption, to the praise of God. On account of Him, what He
+has accomplished in His death on the cross and Who is raised from
+the dead and in glory "many shall see it and fear and shall trust in
+the Lord." But this wonderful resurrection song the Lord sings not
+alone. We, who have trusted in Him and know Him have part in this
+song. Believing in Him we are taken out, yea forever, from the
+terrible pit and the miry clay. There is no more death and no more
+wrath for us. We are also risen with Him, our feet are planted upon
+the rock, our goings are established. We belong to the heavenlies
+where He is. We sing praises in His name unto our God, His God and
+our God, His Father and our Father, the God and Father of our Lord
+Jesus Christ. Oh! that our hearts may enter deeper into this song of
+accomplished redemption "praise unto our God;" the loving God who
+spared not His only Begotten.
+
+And indeed "many shall see and fear and trust in the Lord." This
+reaches into the future. Israel too will be taken from the place of
+spiritual and national death, and raised to life to join the new
+song. Nations will see it and fear and trust Jehovah. At last the
+great new song of resurrection and the new creation will swell in
+its divinely revealed length and breadth, heighth and depth. Now He
+sings the song, and His co-heirs sing it too in feebleness, yet by
+His Grace and through His Spirit. Ere long in His presence all the
+Redeemed will praise in Glory with glorified lips. Heavenly beings
+will utter their praise and in a wider circle down on earth, every
+creature will join in.
+
+"And they sung a _new song_ saying, Thou art worthy to take the book
+and to open the seals thereof; for thou was slain, and hast redeemed
+us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue, and people,
+and nation. And hast made us unto _our_ God, Kings and priests, and
+we shall reign over the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice
+of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and
+the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten
+thousand, and thousands of thousands. Saying with a loud voice,
+Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and
+wisdom, and strength and honor, and glory and blessing. And every
+creature which is in heaven, and on the earth and under the earth,
+and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I
+saying, blessing, and honor, and glory and power, be unto Him that
+sitteth on the throne, and unto the lamb forever and ever" (Revel.
+v:9-13). That song will never end. Oh may we learn to sing it now,
+and in His Name sing praises unto our God.
+
+May we follow the great leader of Praise, Him who is anointed with
+the oil of gladness above His fellows. May the path He followed down
+here become more and more ours. May we serve, be obedient, give up,
+wait patiently for the Lord, after His own pattern, suffer with Him,
+be rejected with Him, bear His reproach and through it all rejoice
+in Him and sing "the new song." How happy we ought to be as linked
+with Him, the blessed Christ of God. And as we walk in His
+fellowship the heart longs to see Him as He is. Even so; come Lord
+Jesus.
+
+
+
+The Glory Song.
+
+
+Rev. i:5-6.
+
+
+"UNTO Him who loveth us and washed us from our sins in His own blood
+and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father: To Him
+be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen" (Rev. i:5-6). This
+great outburst of praise may well be called "the Glory Song." It
+glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ; it reveals also the Glory of those
+He has redeemed and will be heard throughout eternity. There will
+never be a moment in the countless ages of eternity when this Glory
+song will be hushed or forgotten. We begin to sing it here on earth.
+The more we know the Christ of God and His great love for us, the
+more we delight to praise and to worship Him. Such worship of the
+heart in the power of the Spirit is the atmosphere of heaven upon
+earth. And some day we shall see Him whom we worship and adore in
+faith. In that glorious moment, when we shall see Him as He is we
+shall realize for the first time the length and breadth, the heighth
+and depth of His love and know the Glory to which He has brought us.
+Then we and all the redeemed will sing this song in a better and
+more perfect way than we have ever done here. "Thou art worthy * * *
+for Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of
+every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation; and hast made us
+unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign over the earth"
+(Rev. v:9, 10).
+
+This blessed Word of Praise is placed by the Holy Spirit in the
+foreground of the book which bears the name, the Revelation, or,
+Unveiling of Jesus Christ. In it is found the great unveiling of the
+future, the great coming tribulation and judgment period through
+which the earth must pass, events which precede the glorious
+manifestation of the Lord. But in this last great Bible book there
+is also a complete unveiling of the Person, the Glory and the
+dignity of Him to whom all judgment is committed. Not alone are in
+this book many of the prophecies, given of old by the holy men of
+God, rehearsed, but all He is, His Name, His power, His Glory, His
+work, and many of his titles are restated. Think of what He is
+called and how He is described in this book. We find Him called the
+Son of God, the Son of Man, the Almighty, the Lord, the Alpha, the
+Omega, the First, the Last, the Beginning of the Creation of God,
+the Amen, the faithful Witness, the First begotten from the dead,
+the Word of God, the Lamb, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the
+mighty Angel, He that liveth, He that was dead, He that is alive
+evermore, the Root and Offspring of David, the bright and Morning
+star, the Prince of the kings of the earth, the King of kings, the
+Lord of lords. What an array of titles. On earth great ones, kings
+and princes, have numerous titles. They concern only earthly
+glories; they are but for a moment. But His titles concern the earth
+and the heavens. They belong to Him because He is God, while others
+are acquired through His great work of redemption. His Glory and His
+dignity are indescribable. One who reads the Book of Revelation and
+reads it again will be increasingly impressed with the Glory of Him,
+whom John beheld in all His Majesty.
+
+Before the Spirit of God records this Glory song, the utterance of
+praise to be used and to be enjoyed by redeemed sinners, He mentions
+three titles of our Lord. The faithful Witness; the First begotten
+from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. These three
+titles take in His earthly life, His redemption work and His future
+Glory. On earth He was the faithful witness. He glorified the
+Father. He had come into the world to bear witness unto the truth.
+He was faithful and nothing marred His witness. He came as the Only
+begotten of the Father and the faithful witness, the Son of God went
+to the cross to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The open
+and empty tomb is the witness that it was perfectly and righteously
+accomplished. Now He is the First begotten from the dead as well as
+the First fruits. His death and His resurrection are, therefore, in
+view in this second title. His glorious future is beheld in the
+third title, the Prince of the kings of the earth. The kingdoms of
+the earth belong to Him; He has a perfect right and title to the
+earth and its government. Now still the god of this age rules, but
+ere long He comes "whose right it is" and claims His inheritance. In
+these three wonderful titles we behold all the Son of God as Son of
+Man has accomplished in His mighty work. He lived the path of faith
+and obedience on earth, as the faithful witness. He has put away sin
+and conquered death and the grave as well as him who has the power
+of death, that is the devil. In the future He will be King of kings
+and Lord of lords.
+
+And then follows this outburst of Praise. The Holy Spirit, who is
+here on earth to glorify Him, breaks forth at once into singing and
+directs the heart to worship Him. Beloved readers if the Holy Spirit
+is ungrieved in us He will lead our hearts into such praise and
+adoration of the Lord; nothing grieves the Holy Spirit more than
+when a believer does not appreciate the Lord Jesus Christ and
+manifest this appreciation by praise and worship.
+
+Three things are stated in this blessed doxology:
+
+_He loved us._
+
+_He washed us._
+
+_He hath made us._
+
+These three things correspond to the three titles which precede this
+doxology. Love it was, which brought Him down from the Glory to walk
+upon this earth in humiliation, the faithful witness, and that love
+knew and saw the cross. Love led Him there to die for such as we
+are. What love it was! Who can ever declare it!
+
+The true translation is not "who loved us," but "who _loveth_ us."
+His love is an abiding love. He does nothing but love those who
+belong to Him, who have trusted Him and are the Beloved of God. Our
+sins, our weaknesses, our infirmities and failures can never affect
+or diminish His love. Never, oh child of God, doubt His abiding
+love. Yea, whatever our circumstances are, in trials, in the hard
+places, in troubles, burdened with cares and full of anxiety, in all
+our failures we can look up and say, "He loveth me." It is an ever
+present and eternal love. Never, oh child of God, measure that love
+by your changing feeling or by your experience. And this love He
+manifested by dying for us. He has washed us from our sins in His
+own blood. To this His title as "The First begotten from the dead"
+refers. "Who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree,
+that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by
+whose stripes ye are healed" (1 Pet ii:24). The precious blood of
+Christ has washed us from our sins. They can never come up again. Oh
+blessed knowledge! Cleansed by His own blood, the precious blood of
+the Lamb without spot and blemish! And the blessedness of all that
+is connected with this!
+
+   Oh, the peace forever flowing
+      From God's thoughts of His own Son!
+   Oh, the peace of simply knowing
+      On the cross that all was done!
+
+   Peace with God, the blood in heaven
+      Speaks of pardon now to me:
+   Peace with God! the Lord is risen!
+      Righteousness now counts me free.
+
+   Peace with God is Christ in glory;
+      God is just and God is love;
+   Jesus died to tell the story,
+      Foes to bring to God above.
+
+But more than that "He hath made us kings and priests unto God and
+His Father." This belongs also to His mighty love. His future of
+Glory as the Prince of the Kings of the earth, the King of kings and
+Lord of lords, His fathomless love leads Him to share with those for
+whom He died, whom He purged and fitted by His own blood. He hath
+made us kings and priests. It is all His work. A more correct
+translation is "He hath made us a Kingdom." This, however, does not
+mean that He has linked us with a Kingdom in which we are to be
+subjects and governed by Him. We are not subjects of a Kingdom, but
+_are_ a Kingdom, partakers of it in rule with Himself. We shall rule
+and reign with Him over the earth. And because He will be "a priest
+upon _His_ throne" (Zech. vi:13) we, too, will be priests. What it
+all includes, what glories await us, what enjoyment with Him, what
+riches and blessings, power and honor, no mind can grasp and no
+tongue nor pen can describe.
+
+"To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen." All glory and
+dominion to Him! Thou art worthy! Thou art worthy! This is the
+heart's cry, which really knows Him and is devoted to Him. "Thou art
+worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power." Our crowns we
+cast before Thy throne. Amen and Amen.
+
+Reader can you add your "Amen"--your, "be it so" to all this? Do
+you sing this Glory song? In a day when He, who is worthy, is but
+little praised, do you praise Him thus? Do you live in the daily
+enjoyment of His love? Do you give Him the pre-eminence to whom God
+has given the pre-eminence in all things? Amen! And oh the happy
+thought, which helps us so in these evil days, that soon He, who
+loveth us, who washed us, who hath made us a Kingdom and priests,
+may call us into His own glorious presence.
+
+
+
+The Firstborn.
+
+
+"THE Firstborn" or "The Firstbegotten" is one of the names of our
+blessed Lord. It is applied to Him after His resurrection from the
+dead. As the Only Begotten He came into this world, the unspeakable
+gift of God to a lost and ruined world; after the accomplishment of
+His work on the cross He left the earth, He had created, as the
+Firstborn. As the Firstbegotten He is now in the highest heaven and
+as the Firstbegotten the Man of Glory He will be sent back to this
+earth and rule in power and glory. Paul wrote to the Philippians "to
+write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous but for
+you it is safe" (Phil. iii:1). Peter's preaching in the opening
+chapters of the Acts might have been called monotonous, for he knew
+but one theme. The Spirit of God filling him gave but one message
+and that was, the rejected Jesus of Nazareth risen from the dead. In
+the Gospel of the Glory of the blessed God (1 Tim. i:11), as
+revealed to the Apostle of the Gentiles we have one theme, one
+abiding, ever satisfying, eternal object and that is Christ who died
+for our sins, risen from the dead, as Firstborn in Glory and our
+blessed union with Him. Paul who knew Him as the Firstborn so well
+found it not grievous to write the same thing. Indeed the more He
+knew Him the more His heart cried out "that I may know Him" (Phil.
+iii:10). There is an attraction in Him which is supernatural. Every
+child of God will increasingly enjoy the contemplation of this old
+yet ever new and blessed theme, the Firstborn from the dead. Only in
+this our hearts can find perfect rest and abiding joy. And if your
+heart, dear reader, is not attracted and absorbed by Himself, it is
+because there is a broken communion between you and your Lord. Oh,
+return unto thy rest, my soul! The drifting masses of Christendom
+have no use for such a theme. The words written in 2 Cor. iv:3-4
+find a fearful application in our time. "But if our gospel be hid,
+it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this age hath
+blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the
+glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God, should shine unto
+them."
+
+How little of the Gospel of the Glory is preached! It is not wanted.
+All the present day preaching of ethics, of doing good, self
+improvement and self culture is anti-christian. The preaching which leaves
+out the cross of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the Glory of
+Christ, differs not in the least from the ethical-philosophical
+jumble of Buddhistic and other oriental heathen teachers. It
+is an awful thing which is done in Christendom today, this
+rejection of the Lord, the Firstborn. Some day and that soon,
+God will judge those who have rejected that Gospel and deal with
+them for the sin of all sins which is unbelief (John xvi:9). But our
+hearts, beloved in the Lord, must turn more and more to Him and find
+their delight in Him, who is the Firstbegotten. And this we shall do
+now by meditating on a few Scriptures which tell us of Him. "He is
+the _Firstborn_ from the dead" (Col. i:18). "Jesus Christ, who is
+the faithful witness, the _Firstbegotten_ of the dead, and the
+Prince of the Kings of the earth" (Rev. i:5). What blessed
+declarations these are! In the first chapter of Colossians it is
+fully revealed who He is, who was dead and who is alive for
+evermore. Not a creature but the Creator, the one who images forth
+God, because He is God. By Him were all things created, "that are in
+heaven, and that are on earth, visible and invisible, thrones or
+dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by
+Him and for Him." And such a One made peace through the blood of His
+cross. Such a One took our place on the cross of shame, tasted death
+in our stead and all the billows of wrath and judgment passed over
+His holy head. Because He wrought out our redemption it is complete
+and perfect. Raised from the dead, not held by death but bursting
+forth, leading captivity captive, He is the Firstborn and to Him
+belongs all Glory and Power. "But now is Christ risen from the dead,
+and become the _Firstfruits_ of them that slept" (1 Cor. xv:20). By
+His glorious resurrection He became the Firstfruits. All who believe
+in Him will rise too by virtue of being one with Him, who is the
+Resurrection and the Life. The mighty power of God which raised Him
+from the dead and seated Him in the highest place, at His own right
+hand, that exceeding greatness of His power is towards us, who
+believe. That power has quickened us with Christ, raised us up
+together and seated us in the heavenly. In some future day that
+mighty power, which raised Him so that He became the Firstfruits
+will raise all the saints to meet Him in the air.
+
+"And again, when He bringeth in the _Firstbegotten_ into the world,
+He saith, and let all the angels of God worship Him" (Heb. i:6).
+
+God will bring the Firstbegotten back to this earth again. This is a
+very strong passage revealing the second coming of Christ to this
+earth. The same blessed Person, who walked on this earth as man, who
+is Emanuel, God with us, who died on the cross for our sins, who
+became the Firstbegotten from the dead, the Firstfruits of them that
+slept, He who is now as Man in Glory, the same Person, the
+Firstbegotten, will be brought back to this world by the power of
+God. Then worshipping angels will be His attendants and He will
+bring His Saints with Him.
+
+"For whom He foreknew, He also did predestinate, to be conformed to
+the image of His Son, that He might be the _Firstborn_ among many
+brethren" (Romans viii:29). Conformed to the glorious image of God's
+ever blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the destiny of all, who
+have cast themselves as lost sinners upon Christ and have been saved
+by Grace through faith. It is true even now by beholding as in a
+glass the glory of the Lord we are changed into the same image from
+glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor. iii:18).
+It is true if we abide in Him, we shall walk even as He walked (1
+John ii:6). The exhortation in our great salvation Epistle is, not
+to be conformed to this age, but to be transformed, or as it might
+be translated, transfigured (Rom. xii:2). _But_ to be fully
+conformed to the image of His Son is never to be expected in this
+world, where sin is ever present; When the Firstbegotten calls us
+into His own presence, when the Heir of God summons His beloved
+co-heirs to meet Him and to enter with Him into the blood-bought
+inheritance, then each saved sinner will be conformed to the image
+of Himself. Each will shine forth the excellencies of the
+Firstbegotten. _We shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is._
+Hallelujah! This is why God gave up His Son, that He might be able
+to lift those who are His enemies by wicked works into the Sonplace
+and make them like His Son in Glory.
+
+"Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare
+the degree; the Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art my _Son_; this day
+have I begotten Thee" (Ps. ii:6-7). In this prophecy He is likewise
+seen as the Firstbegotten. It does not mean the eternal Son of God,
+for as such He had no beginning, but the day in which He was
+begotten is the third day when He was raised from the dead. Paul
+gives us this truth when He spoke to the Jews in Antioch and said:
+"God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath
+raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm,
+Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee" (Acts xiii:33). Up
+to this time He is not yet enthroned upon the holy hill of Zion.
+When He returns as the Firstbegotten and finds the nations of the
+earth not converted, but in opposition to Him (Ps. ii:1-3), He will
+become the King and take His throne.
+
+"Also I will make Him my _Firstborn_, higher than the Kings of the
+earth" (Ps. lxxxix:27). This reveals the exalted station, which He
+will assume, when His blessed feet touch this earth again. He will
+be the King of kings, and the Lord of lords.
+
+This is the Glory of the Firstborn, the loving Sinbearer who endured
+the cross and despised the shame. He is the Heir of God, the Heir of
+all things, the Head of all principality and power, the Head of His
+redeemed people, the church. He that filleth all in all, the
+Firstborn, will share His glorious title and possessions with His
+redeemed. The church to which God's marvelous Grace has brought us
+is the church of the _Firstborn_. (Heb. xii:23), because the
+Firstborn is the Head and beginning and those who are begotten again
+by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead have their portion
+with the Firstborn. Oh! glorious future we have as His redeemed
+people! God our Father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
+by Thy Holy Spirit, keep the Glory of Thy Son, the Firstborn, before
+our hearts, that we may be changed into the same image and overcome
+in these dark and evil days. Amen.
+
+   Soon shall our eyes behold Thee
+      With rapture, face to face;
+   And, resting there in glory,
+      We'll sing Thy pow'r and grace:
+   Thy beauty, Lord, and glory,
+      The wonders of Thy love,
+   Shall be the endless story
+      Of all Thy saints above.
+
+
+
+The Waiting Christ.
+
+
+WAITING for the coming of the Lord is one of the blessed
+characteristics of true Christianity. In the parable of the ten
+virgins the three great marks of a true believer are stated by our
+Lord. These are: _Separation_, indicated by the virgins having gone
+forth. _Manifestation_, they had lamps, which are for the giving of
+light, and _Expectation_, they went forth to meet the Bridegroom.
+With five of them it was only an outward profession. The foolish
+virgins are the type of such who are Christians in name only and do
+not know the reality of these characteristics. The Lord knew them
+not. These three characteristics are seen in Paul's first epistle to
+the Thessalonians. That model assembly was composed of such members
+who possessed these three things. They had turned to God from
+idols (separation); they served the true and the living God
+(manifestation); they waited for His Son from heaven (expectation),
+1 Thess. i:9, 10. The same is revealed in the epistle to Titus. "For
+the Grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men."
+That Grace accepted separates unto God.
+
+"Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should
+live soberly, righteously and godly, in this present world." This is
+manifestation. The Grace of God enables us to live thus. "Looking
+for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God
+and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Here we have expectation. Other
+similar passages could be quoted. If we divide the New Testament
+Scriptures into three parts we have the same order. In the Gospels
+the Grace of God in the Son of God appeared. In the Epistles we are
+taught how to manifest Him by walking in the Spirit. The great New
+Testament prophetic book, the Revelation, looks on towards His
+Coming. And how His Coming is forgotten! How few of His people truly
+wait for Him! How few pray that important and almost forgotten
+prayer, Even so, Come Lord Jesus! But we must also remember that our
+Lord is likewise waiting. Innumerable multitudes of disembodied
+spirits who are saved by Grace are waiting in His own presence for
+the moment when they will receive their resurrection bodies, which
+will be when He descends from Heaven and comes into the air. The
+faithful remnant of His people on earth wait for His Coming. Israel
+and all creation wait for Him as well as the unseen beings in the
+Heavenly. _But He Himself is waiting._ This is the testimony of the
+Word of God. First it is the subject of prophecy. In the brief but
+great 110th Psalm that waiting is predicted. The Christ, who is so
+often seen in the Psalms and in the Prophets as King, ruling in His
+earthly kingdom, whose glories in that rule are so blessedly
+described, is seen in the beginning of that Psalm seated at the
+right hand of God; this heavenly place will be occupied by Him till
+His enemies are made His footstool. How the Holy Spirit witnessed to
+this fact at once after His descent on the day of Pentecost is more
+fully revealed in the second chapter of Acts. In Hebrews x:13 we
+read of His waiting attitude in heaven. "But _this man_, after He
+had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right
+hand of God, from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His
+footstool." The better word for expecting is "waiting." We may well
+emphasize the word "Man." Our blessed Lord is not in the presence of
+God as a Spirit Being, but He is there in the form of Man. The
+blessed body He had on earth, which He gave on the cross and which
+laid in the tomb could not see corruption. He was raised on the
+third day. He ascended in that glorified body into heaven and He is
+on the right hand of God as Man, in Him dwells the fullness of the
+Godhead bodily. Just one Man is there in Glory. But oh! what it
+means! He is the Head of His body, the church and in the future all
+His redeemed people will possess glorified bodies, like unto His
+glorious body. No wonder the enemy ever aims at the denial of the
+Lord's bodily presence. From many pulpits it is declared to be "too
+material." The denial of this great truth, the _Man_ in glory, is a
+denial of the entire Gospel. It is at this the enemy strikes.
+
+As the glorified Man on the Father's throne He is waiting till His
+enemies are made His footstool. This does not mean, as so many
+believe and teach, that the Lord Jesus Christ is waiting till His
+enemies are gradually overcome, till the church on earth succeeds in
+converting the whole world. It does not mean that. His enemies will
+be made His footstool in a far different way. It will be a sudden
+event. All His enemies will be humbled, all things will be subjected
+under His feet at the time of His second Coming. As there was an
+appointed time by the Father for His first Coming, so is there an
+appointed time for His second Coming, when the power of God and His
+own power will triumph over all His enemies. As He is in His
+redemptive work subject to the Father, therefore is He waiting for
+that hour. Then the Father will bring in the firstbegotten into the
+world (Heb. i:6) and He will receive the nations for His inheritance
+(Psalm ii).
+
+He is waiting for this great event. But He is also waiting for His
+co-heirs, which constitute the church. The church, His body, must be
+first completed as to numbers before the hour can come in which His
+enemies are made His footstool.
+
+He is patiently waiting for that moment. John speaks of that when he
+calls himself "a companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and
+_patience_ of Jesus Christ" (Rev. i:9). Centuries have come and gone
+since He took that place upon the Father's throne, unseen by human
+eyes, and during all this time, while the calling out of the church
+proceeded, He has waited patiently. Some day His waiting will come
+to an end. His church will be completed and then He Himself arises
+from His seat and descends to that place in the air, where He will
+meet His own, for whom His loving heart yearns so much. What a
+moment that will be at last! Then His waiting as well as His
+patience will be ended and He will receive His kingdom and be
+crowned Lord of lords and King of kings. No longer will He then be
+unseen, but His Glory will flash out of heaven and He Himself will
+be manifested in Glory. Then the world can reject Him no longer but
+must accept His righteous rule in which His redeemed people will
+share. What child of God does not wish this to be soon, very soon.
+Oh that we might cry more earnestly, more in the Spirit, yes,
+incessantly, "Come Lord Jesus."
+
+But while He waits and the hour has not yet come we must wait as He
+waits on the throne. To the Thessalonians who had listened to
+teachers who judaized the blessed hope, fearing they were facing the
+day of the Lord with its tribulation and wrath, the Apostle wrote:
+"And the Lord direct your hearts in the love of God, and into the
+patient waiting for Christ" (2 Thess. iii:5). But we must not only
+wait patiently _for_ Him but also wait _with_ Him. He is the
+rejected One. The world cast Him out. As the rejected One He waits
+in patience for the hour of His triumph and His Glory. This place of
+rejection is our greatest privilege to share. And where is He more
+rejected than in that which calls itself by His Name! To bear His
+reproach in these closing days of this present age is our blessed
+opportunity. To suffer with Him, if not for Him, should be that for
+which our hearts should long, yea, pray. And we will be glad to be
+rejected with Him, to be nothing at this present time, to have
+fellowship with His sufferings, if He as the patient waiting Lord is
+ever before our hearts.
+
+At the close of the one hundred and tenth psalm stands a word, which
+we should also remember.
+
+   "He shall drink of the brook in the way,
+   Therefore shall He lift up the head."
+
+It has puzzled many readers what this saying might mean. It speaks
+to our hearts of His humiliation and exaltation. One thinks at once
+of the three hundred of Gideon and how they stooped down to drink.
+The brook is the type of death. He drank of the brook in the way.
+His way was from Glory to Glory, and between were His sufferings.
+And, therefore, He shall lift up the head. Wherefore, God has highly
+exalted Him. May we all, dear readers, follow in His path and suffer
+with Him; ere long in His triumph and glory we shall triumph and
+glory.
+
+"And if children then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with
+Christ; if so be we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified
+together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are
+not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in
+us" (Rom. viii:17-18).
+
+
+
+A Vision of the King.
+
+
+ONE of the most blessed occupations for the believer is the
+prayerful searching of God's holy Word to discover there new glories
+and fresh beauties of Him, who is altogether lovely. Shall we ever
+find out all which the written Word reveals of Himself and His
+worthiness? This wonderful theme can never be exhausted. The heart
+which is devoted to Him and longs through the presence and
+indwelling of the Holy Spirit to be closer to the Lord, to hear and
+know more of Himself, will always find something new and precious.
+The Holy Spirit can do this and reveals to our hearts from the
+inexhaustible Word of God the Glory of Him, whom to exalt the Spirit
+has come. Much depends on how we desire just Himself. And Christ
+alone and the heart knowledge of Himself can satisfy the believer,
+who has His life and is one Spirit with the Lord
+
+   "O Christ Thou art enough
+   The heart to satisfy."
+
+Soon we shall see Him, whom we contemplate now in faith. Soon we
+shall be in His own glorious presence and look upon that face, which
+was once marred and smitten, but which now shines out Heaven's and
+the Father's Glory.
+
+The kingly Glory of our blessed Lord is one of the great themes of
+the Bible. The Man of humiliation, who here on earth walked in
+dependence on God, who did His will, suffered and died is now in the
+Father's presence and on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
+There He sat down with His Father in His throne, waiting for the
+moment when His work as the Priest and Advocate of His beloved
+people on earth is accomplished, and when the Father will establish
+Him as King, when He will receive the kingdom. Alas! that all this
+glory, which belongs to Him and which is still future, His Kingship,
+His kingly glory and rule, as it must be some day, is so unknown and
+even disowned in Christendom. It is but the uncovering of the
+condition of the heart of the great majority of professing
+Christians. They may talk of religion, of great reform movements, of
+service to mankind, world progress, but the Christ of God in all His
+Glory, past, present and future, has little attraction. Far
+different it is with the heart which knows Him and has given Him the
+place He is worthy of, the first place. That heart delights to
+meditate on all His Glory and longs for the time when He will
+appear, and when at last, crowned with many crowns, He will assume
+His righteous rule. Great is our joy and delight when we follow
+through the Scriptures His earthly life so full of His moral Glory.
+Or when we think of Him as He died for us and bore in His own body
+on the tree our sins; we praise Him for His mighty Love. But what
+joy to think of Him as coming at last into that which belongs to Him
+the Lord of Glory, by right of redemption, when He will take
+possession of this earth and claim its Satan ruled kingdoms for His
+own. Then it will be true, "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness
+thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." Then the Seraph's
+song will be realized, "The whole earth is full of His Glory."
+
+How much the Word has to say about the King and His Glory; and we
+have never yet taken hold of it with our dull hearts! Take the Book
+of Psalms, for instance, that book which has been so belittled by
+the destructive criticism. While we read so much in those precious
+productions of the Holy Spirit of Christ's sufferings, His
+humiliation, His prayers, His death, we may find there much more
+about Him as King and His coming manifestation.
+
+The tumult of the nations, as predicted in the _Second_ Psalm, and
+about to be realized in our own times, the tumult of the nations
+against the Lord and His Anointed, will be silenced by the coming of
+the King. "I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion;" this is
+what God declares. The God-man Christ Jesus, the Man, who is with
+Him now is, His King. His destiny is the government of the nations,
+with a rod of iron.
+
+The entire _Twenty-first_ Psalm tells out the Glory of the King.
+Christian expositors have rarely discovered this. But Jewish
+exponents always knew it. Saith a leading Jewish authority of the
+middle ages: "Our old teachers have always applied this Psalm as
+meaning the King Messiah." Read its stanzas:
+
+   "The King shall joy in Thy strength, Jehovah;
+   And in Thy salvation, how greatly shall He rejoice.
+   Thou hast given Him His heart's desire,
+   And hast not withholden the requests of His lips.
+   For Thou hast met Him with the blessings of goodness;
+   Thou hast set a crown of pure gold on His head.
+   He asked Life of Thee;
+   Thou gavest Him length of days forever and ever.
+   His Glory is great through Thy salvation;
+   Majesty and splendor hast Thou laid upon Him.
+   For Thou hast made Him to be blessings forever;
+   Thou hast filled Him with joy by Thy countenance.
+   For the King confideth in Jehovah.
+   Through the loving kindness of the Highest
+   He shall not be moved."
+
+Then comes His future action, when He whom faith sees now crowned
+with Majesty and Splendor, who rejoices in the Presence of God,
+appears to execute the judgments of God.
+
+   "Thy hand shall find out all thine enemies;
+   Thy right hand shall find out those that hate Thee.
+   Thou shalt make them as a fiery furnace
+   In the time of Thy presence.
+   Jehovah shall swallow them up in his anger,
+   And the fire shall devour them.
+   Their fruit shall Thou destroy from the earth,
+   And their seed from among the children of men.
+   For they intended evil against Thee,
+   They imagined a mischievous device,
+   Which they could not execute.
+   For Thou wilt make them turn their back,
+   Thou wilt make ready Thy bowstring against their faces.
+   Be Thou exalted Jehovah in Thine own strength;
+   We will sing and celebrate Thy power."
+
+And in the _Twenty-fourth_ Psalm we have prophetically that
+triumphant shout, which will be heard when the King comes
+back to enter His City, Jerusalem, again.
+
+   "Lift up your heads, ye gates
+   And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors;
+   And the King of Glory shall come in.
+   Who is this King of Glory?
+   Jehovah strong and mighty,
+   Jehovah mighty in battle."
+
+The _Forty-fifth_ Psalm is a song of the Beloved, touching the King.
+He is described as coming in His Majesty and Splendor, how He deals
+with His enemies and that He will be surrounded by His own redeemed
+ones.
+
+The Glory and dominion of His Kingdom He will receive is described
+in the _Seventy-second_ Psalm. "He shall have dominion from sea to
+sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." And other
+Psalms enlarge upon these glorious visions, which will all be true
+when the King comes. Then Jerusalem will be a praise in the earth.
+"Also I will make Him, my Firstborn, higher than the kings of the
+earth" (Ps. lxxxix:27).
+
+And how rich are the prophets in telling us of the Glory of the King
+and the glories of His kingdom. "Behold a King shall rule in
+righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment" (Isaiah xxxii:1).
+"Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty; they shall behold the
+land that is afar off" (Isaiah xxxiii:17). "A King shall reign and
+prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth"
+(Jerem. xxiii:5). "And there was given Him dominion and glory, and a
+kingdom, that all people, nations and languages, should serve Him;
+His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
+and His Kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed" (Dan. vii:14).
+"The King of Israel, the Lord, is in the midst of thee (the earthly
+Jerusalem); thou shalt not see evil any more" (Zeph. iii:15). "And
+the Lord shall be King over all the earth" (Zech. xiv:6).
+
+These and many, many more utterances of God's blessed prophets give
+us a vision of the King, of the Glory of Him, who was crowned with a
+crown of thorns, the thorns of man's curse, and over whose cross it
+was written, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."
+
+And the New Testament fully brings out the same Glory of Him as
+King. He is "King of Peace" (Heb. vii:2); "King of saints" (Rev.
+xv:3); "The Lord of lords and King of kings" (Rev. xvii:14).
+
+At last the unfulfilled message of Gabriel will be gloriously
+fulfilled. "The Lord God shall give unto Him the Throne of His
+father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever;
+and of His kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke i:32).
+
+But nowhere is He called "King of the church," nor are we authorized
+as believers to address Him "Our King." He will be King, but then He
+will not be our King, but we shall _be Kings with Him_. He is not
+King of the church, but the Head of the Body, the church; Head and
+Body together, Christ and His church, will rule and reign over the
+earth. Glory to His Name! In loving tenderness He looks upon us, who
+possess His life, He is not ashamed to call us "brethren," for He is
+Man, the second Man, and He beholds in us those, who will ere long
+share His Kingly Glory, His Kingly rule.
+
+Oh, Beloved readers! does it not warm our hearts! Does it not make
+us feel like falling down on our faces and confess to Him our
+indifference and our nothingness, and humble ourselves in the dust.
+How little, oh how little we enter into all this. The Lord help us
+to have through His Word and in the power of His Spirit a greater
+vision of the King and our blessed, eternal lot with Him.
+
+   They crown Him King on high;
+      Shall we not crown Him here,
+   The blessed Christ of Calvary,
+      To ransomed sinners dear?
+
+   They worship Him above,
+      Shall we not worship too,
+   The Son of God, the Lord of love,
+      To whom all praise is due?
+
+   Up there they see His Face,
+      The Lamb who once was slain,
+   And in a new song praise His Grace;
+      Shall we not join the strain?
+
+   Yonder His servants still
+      Serve as their Lord commands;
+   Oh may we also do His will
+      With loving hearts and hands.--M. F.
+
+
+
+The Fellowship of His Son.
+
+
+"GOD is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of His
+Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. i:9). A blessed word this is. By
+nature the Corinthians were in another fellowship. The same Epistle
+(vi:9-11) tells us what some of them were. Like ourselves by nature
+they were in the fellowship of sin and death and in fellowship with
+him, who is the author of sin and the enemy of God, Satan. But a
+faithful God called them and has called us by the Gospel into the
+fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. If we have obeyed the
+Gospel and accepted the gift of God we are brought through the Grace
+of God into the fellowship of the Son of God. All believers are in
+the same fellowship, one with the Lord.
+
+But that is a truth and a blessed revelation far deeper than our
+mind can fathom or our pen could describe. No saint has ever sounded
+the depths of this wonderful call of God nor can God's saints fully
+know what that fellowship all means, until the blessed day comes
+when we shall see Him as He is and when joined to Him we shall be
+like Him.
+
+And yet we can remind ourselves of the little we know and through it
+encourage our hearts. Faith loves to dwell upon the blessed Person,
+whom faith alone through the Spirit's power can make a living
+reality. And God, the faithful God, loves to hear His children speak
+much of Him, whom He loves, the Son of His Love, the Lord Jesus
+Christ.
+
+Fellowship means to have things in common. And that is what God has
+done. He has taken us through His Grace out of the fellowship in
+which we are by nature, the things we have in common as enemies and
+children of wrath and has called us into the fellowship of His Son.
+And now called of God into this fellowship we have things in common
+with His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. This brings before us once more
+the old story, which never grows old, but is eternally new and
+becomes more blessed the more we hear it. The Son of God, He who is
+the true God and the eternal Life, came to this earth and appeared
+in the form of Man. "The Life was manifested; and we have seen, and
+bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with
+the Father, and was manifested unto us" (1 John i:2). And He who is
+the true God and the eternal life, by whom the worlds were made,
+gave Himself for our sins. He came to give His life as a ransom for
+many, to make propitiation for the whole world. He who knew no sin
+was made sin for us and on the Cross peace was made. There in His
+own body on the tree He bore our sins. All who believe on Him, who
+have accepted Jesus as their Saviour, are taken out of that in which
+they are by nature and are brought into Christ. And here we can with
+praising hearts and full assurance sing of our blessed position in
+Him.
+
+   Lord Jesus, are we one with Thee?
+      Oh height, oh depth, of love!
+   And crucified and dead with Thee,
+      Now one in heaven above.
+
+   Such was Thy grace, that for our sake
+      Thou didst from heaven come down;
+   With us of flesh and blood partake,
+      And make our guilt Thine own.
+
+   Our sins, our guilt, in love divine,
+      Confessed and borne by Thee;
+   The gall, the curse, the wrath, were Thine,
+      To set Thy ransomed free.
+
+   Ascended now, in glory bright,
+      Life-giving Head Thou art;
+   Nor life, nor death, nor depth, nor height
+      Thy saints and Thee can part.
+
+But the fellowship of His Son into which the Grace of God has
+brought us means more than this blessed new relation and the
+positional truth that as believers we have been crucified with
+Christ and that we are risen with Him. The life we possess as born
+again is His own life. We possess the life of Him, who died in our
+stead. Christ is our life. This means fellowship of His Son, we are
+one with Him. We also possess His Spirit. The Spirit of Christ
+dwelleth in us and we are "one Spirit with the Lord."
+
+This oneness with Christ, the fellowship of His Son, that we belong
+to Him and He to us, that we have an inheritance in Him and He has
+an inheritance in us, is a great truth. Like every other revealed
+truth it must be a reality in our lives. We are called by God to
+walk in this fellowship. We know we are in Him, and through Grace we
+abide in Him. But it is also written, "He that saith he abideth in
+Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked." His own life
+must be manifest. In this fellowship of His Son we have the strength
+to walk as He walked, because we have His life and His Spirit. There
+is no need to walk after the flesh, but we can always walk in the
+Spirit and walking thus we walk as He walked. And this spiritual
+walk becomes possible as our hearts dwell in faith on the fact that
+we are called into the fellowship of His Son. We must have this
+wonderful fact constantly before our hearts as a real thing. Then
+all we do will be governed by it.
+
+If this is real how can we be conformed to this world? The world in
+all its aspects is the enemy of God. In that fellowship we walked
+once "according to the course of this world." Should we then turn
+back to it and enjoy its pleasures and ambitions? If we do, we walk
+in the flesh and then we do not know the joy and peace of the
+fellowship of His Son, but are joyless and miserable. But if the
+fact of the fellowship of God's Son is a reality in power, it will
+keep us from being conformed to this world.
+
+We believe the Spirit of God presses this home to the consciences of
+His people and calls us to a separated walk.
+
+And this must lead to another phase of the fellowship of His Son
+Jesus Christ. It is written "always bearing about in the body the
+dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made
+manifest in our body" (2 Cor. iv:10). This stands in connection with
+persecution and suffering. Walking in the fellowship of His Son
+Jesus Christ the Apostle had one great desire, "That I may know Him,
+and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His
+sufferings, being made conformable to His death" (Phil. iii:10). To
+the Colossians he wrote "who now rejoice in my sufferings for you,
+and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my
+flesh for His body's sake, which is the church" (Col. i:24). He
+suffered and bore His reproach. His heart in the enjoyment of the
+fellowship desired the fellowship of His sufferings. We know little
+of these because we are conformed to this world and not loyal to our
+Lord and God's calling. But if we walk in conscious fellowship with
+Him and are loyal to Him we too will know a little of the fellowship
+of His sufferings. Then our hearts long that we may "bear His
+reproach." The blessed One of God is rejected, can our hearts be
+satisfied with anything less than being rejected too? Perhaps if we
+were to lift up our voices now against the Christ dishonoring
+things, both in doctrine and practice, which are the leading
+features of the present-day religious world, we would know a little
+more of this fellowship.
+
+Called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord means
+also to share His work. We are called to serve. He was here as One
+that serveth, and we are "to serve one another in love." "Whosoever
+will be great among you let him be your minister; and whosoever will
+be chief among you, let him be your servant" (Matt. xx:26-27). We
+can be servants with Him. He is intercessor and burden-bearer and we
+have a share in this likewise.
+
+And there is the fellowship of His Son in its eternal aspect. God's
+calling is to be like His Son. "For whom He did foreknow, He also
+predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son that He might
+be the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans viii:29). We shall be
+with Him forever and like Him.
+
+   And is it so--I shall be like Thy Son?
+   Is this the grace which He for me has won?
+   Father of glory, (thought beyond all thought!)--
+   In glory, to His own blest likeness brought!
+
+   Oh, Jesus, Lord, who loved me like to Thee?
+   Fruit of Thy work, with Thee, too, there to see
+   Thy glory, Lord, while endless ages roll,
+   Myself the prize and travail of Thy soul.
+
+   Yet it must be: Thy love had not its rest
+   Were Thy redeemed not with Thee fully blest.
+   That love that gives not as the world, but shares
+   All it possesses with its loved co-heirs.
+
+May the Holy Spirit hold these great truths before our hearts and in
+His power may we be consciously and constantly enjoying the
+fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, till we are called by
+Himself to be with Him.
+
+
+
+Out of His Fulness.
+
+
+John i:16.
+
+
+"AND of His fulness have all we received, and grace upon grace"
+(John i:16). This precious word was not spoken by John the Baptist.
+It must be looked upon as an outburst of praise, similar to the one
+which stands in the beginning of Revelation (Rev. i:5-6). It is the
+adoring utterance of all believers acknowledging the reception of
+that unfathomable and never failing grace, which flows from the
+eternal fountain, the Son of God. Out of the fulness of Himself
+believing sinners receive grace upon grace. His own fulness is the
+source, which supplies all the need of those, who by Him believe on
+God, that raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory (1 Pet. i:2).
+That exhaustless fulness is always ready to sustain, to help, to
+comfort, to strengthen and to fill those, who are in Christ, one
+with Him.
+
+But what is this fulness of which we receive and receive so
+abundantly? The blessed Son of God possessed in all eternity
+fulness. The Holy Spirit in this chapter bears a testimony to this
+fact by a great revelation. "In the beginning was the Word, and the
+Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the
+beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was
+not anything made 'that was made.' In Him was life; and the life was
+the light of men" (John i:1-4). What a wonderful revelation this is!
+The Word which was in the beginning, which ever _was_ God, by whom
+all was made, without whom nothing came into existence, is the Son
+of God. The fulness of the Godhead was His before the world was
+made, for He is God. Then we read in this chapter, "and the Word was
+made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as
+of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." He
+came to this earth, He took on the form of man, the eternal Word was
+made flesh, God manifested in the flesh. And as He walked on the
+earth the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell in Him (Col.
+i:19). But before we could ever receive out of His fulness grace
+upon grace, the Son of God had to die. If He had not died and
+accomplished the great work for which He came into the world, His
+fulness would have been forever inaccessible to sinners. But He went
+to the cross and finished there the great work. Christ died for us;
+He who knew no sin was made sin for us. And now it is written of
+Him, the glorified One, the Man in Glory. "For in Him dwelleth all
+the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which
+is the head of all principality and power" (Col. ii:9-10). He, who
+possessed eternally all fulness, who came to this earth and in whom
+the fulness of the Godhead dwelt, who died on the cross the just for
+the unjust, who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the
+tree, is now as Man in glory and there dwelleth in Him bodily the
+fulness of the Godhead. It is all for us; we can now receive grace
+upon grace, because of Him who is the Second Man, the Head of the
+new creation and with whom God has made us, who believe, one. This
+is the deep and yet simple Gospel. God gave His blessed Son, who was
+forever one with Him, that through Him we might receive of the
+fulness of the Godhead, grace upon grace. Brought to God in such a
+way, washed, sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus,
+and by the Spirit of our God, we are receiving all we need. We
+receive it not on our merit, because we labor or agonize for it, but
+we _receive of His fulness_. But who can begin to tell out what that
+is, grace upon grace? Pages upon pages might be written and filled
+with the good things, the spiritual blessings, the joy, the peace,
+the comfort, the power and the wisdom and many other things, which
+are included in "grace upon grace." And after we mentioned all these
+precious things, we would have to put the pen down and confess our
+insufficiency to tell out the riches, the fulness and vastness of
+"grace upon grace."
+
+This expression brings a great cataract like Niagara to our mind.
+Here we stand and behold the mighty waters rushing down. Oh! the
+mighty rushing waters, who can measure them! What a vast,
+inexhaustible supply! Water upon water dashing down. For ages this
+has gone on. Hundreds of years, more than that, thousands of years
+have witnessed the same mighty waters. Every day, every hour, every
+minute, every second, every fraction of a second--incessantly
+mighty rushing waters upon waters!
+
+In the same way there is pouring forth out of His fulness, the
+fulness of the Lord in Glory--grace upon grace. There is an
+unlimited, inexhaustible supply of the water of life from Him who is
+the life. For ages the saints of God, saved by grace, have received
+grace upon grace. A never ceasing stream of grace has been flowing
+forth and it has not impoverished the marvellous eternal supply.
+Still it flows undiminished--still there is grace upon grace. Yea
+it is grace upon grace by which God's people live. Every hour, every
+minute, every second, every moment it is His grace, grace upon grace
+which keeps us, surrounds us, flows upon us and overshadows us. And
+the more we take and enjoy the more we learn to sing.
+
+   More and more, more and more,
+      _Always_ more to follow!
+   Oh, His matchless, boundless _Grace_,
+      Still there's more to follow!
+
+Will it ever stop? No, never! We shall keep on singing in all
+eternity "still there's more to follow!--still there's more to
+follow." Hallelujah! "That in the ages to come He might show the
+_exceeding_ riches of His Grace in His kindness toward us through
+Christ Jesus" (Eph. ii:7). _Always more to follow!_ Still there's
+MORE to follow. All Praise to Him who died to have it so for us poor
+lost sinners, whose lot should have been, as it is the lot of all
+who reject this marvellous grace--always more to follow--in
+eternal darkness and despair.
+
+And how simple it is to receive "of His fulness grace upon grace."
+Look at this never ceasing spring of pure water, it never fails. You
+approach it a weary, thirsty, dustladen traveler. You need to be
+refreshed. You need the cooling drink. You need washing. What then
+is necessary? Oh! to fill your cup. Just to take for it is for you.
+And so this wonderful grace which flows out of His fulness. It is
+for you, just come and take. Fill your cup, fill it again! Drink oh
+drink! "Of His fulness have all we received, grace upon grace."
+
+
+
+The Twenty-second Psalm.
+
+
+The Cross of Christ.
+
+
+THE Twenty-second Psalm contains a most remarkable prophecy. The
+human instrument through whom this prophecy was given is King David.
+The Psalm does not contain the experience of the King, though he
+passed through great sufferings, yet the sufferings he speaks of in
+this Psalm are not his own. They are the sufferings of Christ. It is
+written in the New Testament that the prophets searched and enquired
+diligently about the coming salvation. The Spirit of Christ, which
+was in them testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ (1 Peter
+i:10-11). David was a prophet, and in this great prophecy the Spirit
+of Christ testified of the sufferings of Him, who is both David's
+Lord and David's son.
+
+The book of Psalms, so rich and full of Himself, so inexhaustible in
+description of our ever blessed Lord, is divided into five books,
+which correspond to the five books with which the Bible begins, the
+Pentateuch. The first book (Psalm i-xli) contains some of the great
+prophecies about the Christ of God; these prophecies are in the
+so-called messianic Psalms. Perfect and divine is the order in which
+they are revealed. _Son of God_--The Second Psalm. _Son of Man_
+--The Eighth Psalm. _Obedient One_--The Sixteenth Psalm. _Obedient
+unto Death_, the Death of the Cross--The Twenty-second Psalm.
+_Highly exalted by God_--Revealed in each of these Psalms. This is
+the order in which the Holy Spirit describes the path of the Lord in
+Phil. ii:6-11. How perfect the Word of God is!
+
+The Twenty-second Psalm, the center of the first part of the book of
+Psalms, the Genesis portion, corresponds to the twenty-second
+chapter in the book of Genesis. There we see Isaac bound upon the
+altar having been led there and put upon the altar by his Father
+while he opened not his mouth. Here we behold the true Isaac on the
+cross. Everything in this Psalm speaks of our blessed Lord; in the
+first part of His sufferings, in the second part of His Glory and
+exaltation.
+
+And we must not overlook the two Hebrew words the Holy Spirit has
+put over this Psalm: _Aijeleth Shahar_. The margin tells us they
+mean "the hind of the morning." This has a beautiful, though hidden
+meaning. Some have thought of the innocent suffering of a wounded
+hind and the dawn of the morning brings relief. They have applied
+this to the death and resurrection (in the morning dawn) of the
+Lord. But the meaning is better still. The oldest Jewish traditions
+give us the key. They take the expression "Aijeleth Shahar" to mean
+the Shechina, the glory cloud, which was visible among His people
+and they speak of "the hind of the morning" as being the dawning of
+redemption. The dawning of the morning is compared by them with the
+horns of the hind, on account of the rays of light appearing like
+horns. According to their tradition the lamb was offered as the
+sacrifice in the morning as soon as the watcher on the pinnacle of
+the temple cried out "Behold the first rays of morning shine forth."
+
+But what pen can describe the predictions and the fulfilment of His
+sufferings, the sufferings of the Holy One! Here we behold what it
+cost Him to redeem us. Here we have the full description of what His
+atoning work meant. Here we see the full meaning of the sin-offering.
+
+Well may we bow our heads and hearts here and worship as we gaze
+upon this picture. The opening word of the Psalm expresses the
+consummation of all the sufferings of Christ, that word which came
+from the darkness, which surrounded the cross and in which we are
+face to face with the unsearchable depths of His atoning work. "My
+God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me." He who was ever with the
+Father, one with Him in all eternity, who could say on earth "I am
+not alone" was left alone. He was forsaken of God. But more than
+that. Jehovah bruised Him; He put Him to grief. The spotless One
+bore the wrath of God alone. It was then that He who knew no sin was
+made sin for us. How significant it is then that the Holy Spirit
+puts that word of the Lord Jesus Christ before the predictions of
+His physical sufferings. They tell us what our redemption cost Him
+--the awful price, forsaken of God. The Psalm also emphasizes what
+man under the terrible instigation of Satan did unto Him. We glance
+at some of these sufferings as expressed by His own Spirit.
+
+"But I am a worm, and not man; a reproach of men, and despised of
+the people" (verse 6). This is His own complaint. No longer a man
+but writhing on the ground like a worm, the substitute of sinners,
+thus the Holy One felt when He was numbered among the transgressors.
+The Hebrew word "worm", means the small insect, the coccus, from
+which the scarlet color is obtained by death of this worm, that
+color which was used in connection with the tabernacle. Thus He died
+as our substitute that our sins though they are as scarlet might be
+white as snow. Men reproached Him; His own people despised and
+rejected Him. Then we read how He was mocked and scoffed at. They
+"laugh me to scorn," they "shoot out the lip," they "shake the
+head." The very language of the leaders of the people as they
+surrounded the cross is given by the Spirit of God. "He trusted on
+the Lord that He would deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him"
+(verse 7). What depths of the depravity of the human heart they
+reveal! And in all this, while He suffered thus from man His sole
+trust was in God (verses 9-10). His whole life was to trust in the
+Lord to lean upon Him, till that moment came when God could no
+longer know Him as His own, when the sword, the sword of judgment
+awoke against the Man, the fellow, the companion of the Lord of
+hosts (Zech. xiii:7). What that sword did to Him is expressed by the
+cry of the forsaken One.
+
+And what else do we find here? We can follow the whole story of the
+cross in the first part of this Psalm. His enemies are described,
+the bulls and the ravening and roaring lion.--"I am poured out like
+water."--"All my bones are out of joint."--"My heart is like wax;
+it is melted in the midst of my bowels." Like fire melteth wax so
+His heart melted in the fire of wrath against sin. The strength of
+the mighty One, who fainteth not and knows no weariness, failed. His
+tongue cleaves to His jaws. "Dogs" and "the assembly of the wicked"
+--Gentiles and Jews were there. "They pierced my hands and feet;"
+crucifixion, unknown among the Jews when David lived, is here
+predicted by the Holy Spirit. "I may tell all my bones" as well as
+the words "all my bones are out of joint" refer to His suffering on
+the cross. Then after they hung the Prince of Glory at that cross we
+read "they look and stare upon Me" (verse 17). "They parted my
+garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture." What man did to
+Him, what He suffered from man and from Satan's power is here
+described. Yet it was God who bruised Him. Concerning man the
+sufferer spoke what "they" did unto Him; but He also addresses God
+"THOU hast brought me into the dust of death."
+
+And thus He suffered and died for us. Our sins were laid upon Him
+and He bore them in His own body on the tree. At what an infinite
+cost we have been redeemed! What a price has been paid! The Father
+did not spare His only begotten Son, but delivered Him up for us
+all. The Son of God, was made sin for us, smitten, stricken and
+forsaken of God.
+
+   Jehovah bade His sword awake--
+      O Christ, it woke 'gainst thee!
+   Thy blood the flaming blade must slake;
+      Thy heart its sheath must be--
+   All for my sake, my peace to make;
+      Now sleeps that sword for me.
+
+   The Holy God did hide His face--
+      O Christ, 'twas hid from thee!
+   Dumb darkness wrapt thy soul a space--
+      The darkness due to me.
+   But now that face of radiant grace
+      Shines forth in light on me.
+
+Wonderful Love! But how unable we are to realize adequately these
+blessed facts! How little after all we think of these marvellous
+things and how weak is our devotion to that blessed, loving Lord,
+who loved us thus!
+
+And what do we behold about us? An ever increasing darkness; a
+turning away from the blessed Gospel of the Son of God as it centers
+in the Cross; a greater rejection and neglection of the great
+salvation which God has so graciously provided in the great
+sacrifice. It is fearful to see the enemies of the cross increasing
+and rushing on to their coming doom. What is to be our attitude? It
+is for us to glory more and more in the cross of Christ. We must
+exalt and magnify the Person and Work of our blessed Lord as never
+before. The more He is rejected by the world, His blessed work on
+the cross disowned in such latter day delusions as the new theology,
+Christian Science and the numerous other systems, the more we must
+give Him the pre-eminence.
+
+But it means also for us if we are faithful to Him the fellowship of
+His sufferings. God has called us into the fellowship of His Son
+Jesus Christ our Lord. This includes the fellowship of His
+sufferings. Never, of course, suffering from God as He did. But as
+He is rejected and despised so are we called to share His rejection
+and take upon us His reproach. He suffered without the gate and the
+Word exhorts us "Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the
+camp, bearing His reproach." In these last days we must like Moses
+"esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of
+Egypt (the world)." And if we are faithful to Him, if we walk in
+_separation from the world_, including the great "religious world"
+with its Christ and the Cross rejecting schemes and tendencies, we
+shall know something of the reproach of Christ and the fellowship of
+His sufferings. Oh! that we might know more of that in these easy
+going days. Such a precious Word of God as contained in 1 Peter
+iv:13-14 ought to make us long for bearing His reproach and for
+sufferings with Him. "But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of
+Christ's sufferings that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be
+glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of
+Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth
+upon you; on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is
+glorified."
+
+Be true to Christ and to the cross of Christ. Live out the doctrine
+of the cross "crucified with Christ"--dead to the things here
+below, then you will have some suffering from the side of men and
+Satan as well.
+
+And what will be the awful judgment for the multitudes, the ever
+increasing multitudes who reject the Cross of Christ, who are either
+opposing it by their ethical gospel, to whom the preaching of the
+cross is foolishness, or who are indifferent? The Holy Spirit has
+told us that where the Gospel, the Cross of Christ is rejected or
+perverted the Anathema, the curse of God must follow (Gal. i:9; 1
+Corinth. xvi:22). Well has one said "Distance from God was the
+climax of the Lamb's dying sorrow." It is a fearful solemn thought
+that the world while with heedless selfconfidence it still pursues
+its way, is no nearer now to God than Jesus was when, under the
+burden of the world's iniquity, He cried, "My God, my God, why hast
+Thou forsaken me?" How solemn this is! May we learn to say more
+fully with Paul, "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the
+cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto
+me, and I unto the world."
+
+
+The Glory of Christ.
+
+
+The first twenty-one verses of this Psalm describe the sufferings of
+Christ. This part closes with an appeal to Jehovah for deliverance.
+"But be thou not far from me, O Lord; O my strength, haste thee to
+help me. * * * Save me from the lion's mouth." Then comes the joyful
+statement that He has been heard. The answer He received to His cry
+is resurrection. We find therefore that the second part of this
+great Psalm, which reveals so fully the Cross of Christ, is taken up
+with the Glory of the forsaken One. God raised Him from the dead,
+and so we hear at once in this Psalm the notes of triumph coming
+from the lips of Him who is dead and now liveth. His triumph and His
+Glory are revealed. All for whom He died, the Church, Israel, the
+ends of the earth, the nations are mentioned. He is seen in the
+midst of the church as well as in the midst of the future great
+congregation. All the ends of the earth are yet to remember and turn
+unto the Lord. The nations will come to worship before Him; His will
+be the Kingdom, He will rule among the nations. But we must look at
+some of these precious predictions a little closer. We need to
+consider them as much as the Sufferings, the Cross of Christ.
+
+The day of His Resurrection is first mentioned.
+
+"I will declare Thy Name unto my brethren
+
+"In the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee."
+
+It is a joyous word which stands at the head of the glory section of
+this Psalm. Raised from the dead He met His own with an "All hail"
+--rejoice. In the Gospel of John we see Him meeting her who sought
+the living One among the dead and telling her "Go and tell my
+brethren." How literally this prediction has been fulfilled. And
+what He tells her of "my Father and your Father, my God and your
+God" declares that intimate relationship which is the result of His
+death on the cross. Brought through Him to God, we are Sons of God
+and Heirs of God. "He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified
+are all of one, therefore He is not ashamed to call them brethren"
+(Heb. ii:11). Precious truth! He owns us as brethren. He is the
+Firstborn among many brethren. The congregation mentioned here is
+the church. In the midst of the church His praise is heard (Heb.
+ii:12). It is true the church is not revealed in the Old Testament
+but it is anticipated. And as we, saved by Grace, in possession of
+His life, approach God in His worthy Name His own voice is heard; He
+is the leader of our prayers and our praises. That new and intimate
+relationship brought about by His atoning death at the cross is
+mentioned first. He gave Himself for the church (Eph. v:25). In the
+next place we hear Israel praising Him. "All ye the seed of Jacob
+glorify Him; and reverence Him all ye the seed of Israel." They who
+rejected Him, His people who despised Him and had such a part in the
+suffering of Christ, now own Him. They acknowledge Him, whom they
+thought afflicted of God, as having been heard of God.
+
+That time will come when He returns in power and glory, when Israel
+will see the Man in Glory, the First begotten coming in the clouds
+of Heaven. Then they will realize the full truth of Isaiah liii. The
+blessed Lord will then have the travail of His soul and be
+satisfied. But there is more glory still for Him.
+
+A _great_ congregation is mentioned; there too His praises will be
+heard. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn unto the
+Lord. Nations will worship before Him.
+
+   "For the Kingdom is Jehovah's
+   And He ruleth among the nations" (verse 28).
+
+The great congregation are the nations of the millennial age. Then
+the ends of the earth will remember Him while He ruleth among the
+nations. What Glory awaits Him! Now we behold Him, who was made a
+little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
+with glory and honor. It is a spiritual vision; we see Him there by
+faith. But a little while longer and He will appear in the Glory of
+His Father bringing His co-heirs with Him, the Son bringing many
+sons to glory, the sons He is not ashamed to call brethren, for whom
+He was forsaken on the cross. What a procession of triumph and glory
+that will be when the Heavens open and He is coming forth, bringing
+His church with Him! What will be His Glory when Israel at last owns
+Him and nations submit under His rule, when His visible Glory will
+cover the earth as the waters cover the sea! All hail! Oh blessed,
+blessed Lord!
+
+And we do need to consider all these precious predictions, so
+numerous in the Scriptures, the prophecies of His Glory. The God of
+this age Satan is unfolding the glories of this present age which is
+almost at the end, with a skilful master hand. He knows how to blind
+the eyes not only of those who believe not, but of many who are
+Christians. He makes everything so attractive and many of God's
+people have fallen into his snares. We need to look through the Word
+of God upon the brightness of His Glory, the glorious things to
+come, so that our eyes may be blinded to the miserable playthings of
+the dust, which the fire of God's vengeance will ere long consume.
+We need these glorious visions of the great realities so that we can
+go forward with joyfulness to suffer, be rejected of men and bear
+the bright and blessed testimony, the Father expects from His
+beloved children. Take up the watchword of the last days! _True to
+Christ--all in Christ--all for Christ--Onward to Glory._ Soon He
+will call us into His glorious presence.
+
+"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
+worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us"
+(Rom. viii:18).
+
+"For our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh a far
+more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. v:17).
+
+   Oh what will be the day when won at last
+      The last long weary battle, we shall come
+   To those eternal gates the King hath passed,
+      Returning from our exile to our Home;
+   When earth's last dust is washed from off our feet;
+      The last sweat from our brows is wiped away;
+   The hopes that made our pilgrim journey sweet
+      All met around us, realized that day!
+
+   Oh what will be the day, when we shall stand
+      Irradiate with God's eternal light;
+   First tread as sinless saints the sinless land,
+      No shade nor stain upon our garments white;
+   No fear, no shame upon our faces then,
+      No mark of sin--oh joy beyond all thought!
+   A son of God, a free-born citizen
+      Of that bright city where the curse is not!
+
+
+
+The Exalted One.
+
+
+Hebrews i.
+
+
+SOME thirty-five years ago, when the so-called "Higher Criticism"
+had begun its destructive work, a believer living in England,
+predicted that within thirty years the storm would gather over one
+sacred head. How this has come true! Satan's work of undermining the
+authority of the Bible, a pernicious work still going on, is but the
+preliminary to an attack of the Person of Christ. To-day as never
+before the glorious Person of our Lord is being belittled in the
+camp of Christendom. This is done not only in the out and out
+denials of His Deity but also in more subtle ways. It is for us who
+"deny not His Name" (Revel. iii:8), whose desire is to exalt Him,
+ever to remind ourselves of the Blessed One and His Glory. At this
+time we desire to look briefly at the teachings of the first chapter
+in Hebrews.
+
+This chapter is divided into two parts. In the first part we find
+another great description of our adorable Lord, and in the second a
+description of His exaltation. The beginning of the chapter gives us
+that solid assurance that God has spoken and that the Old Testament
+is His Word. "God having spoken in many parts and in many ways
+formerly to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days
+has spoken to us in (the person of the) Son." The Old Testament
+Scriptures are the inspired Word of God; at last God spake in Son,
+as it is in the Greek. The Old Testament announced that God would
+speak in the person of the Son. For this reason it is impossible to
+deny the authority of the Old Testament without denying the
+authority of Lord Jesus Christ. The written and the living Word
+stand and fall together.
+
+This is followed by a description of Himself. Seven things are
+mentioned concerning our Lord.   1. Heir of all Things.   2. By whom
+He made the worlds.   3. The Brightness of God's Glory.   4. The
+Express image of His Person.   5. The Upholder of all Things.   6.
+He has purged our sins.   7. He sat down at the right hand of the
+Majesty on high. What wonderful seven things these are! Oh that we
+would meditate more on each, how it would strengthen our faith and
+deepen our fellowship with Him. It would give us victory when the
+hosts of the enemy press upon us. Our defeat is the result of losing
+sight of the object of our faith, Christ.
+
+We also can divide the description of our Lord in the first chapter
+of Hebrews into three parts.   1. He is the Son of God in eternity;
+One with the Father, essentially and absolutely God. This is found
+in these great statements "By whom He made the worlds; who being the
+brightness of His Glory and the express image of His person, and
+upholding all things by the Word of His power." This could never be
+said of a creature of God. Our Lord is the Creator Himself, the
+express image of the person of God, the one who upholds all things.
+What it all means! What a Lord we have! All this harmonizes with the
+description of His Person in Colossians.
+
+2. He is the Son of God in incarnation. This is found in the
+following sentence "When He had Himself purged out sins" or as it is
+literally "Having made by Himself the purification of sins." For
+this great purpose He entered His own world. The mighty Creator, the
+eternal Son of God, the Holy One is our Redeemer. As Son of God He
+walked on the earth in the Spirit of holiness, the holy, spotless
+One, God manifested in the flesh. And this wonderful Being was made
+Sin for us, went as the willing sacrifice to the cross. Oh what a
+record! "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; who
+when reviled, reviled not again: when suffering threatened not; . .
+. . . . . who Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, . . . .
+by whose stripes ye have been healed." What a foundation for our
+faith, what assurance! He Himself has accomplished the work for us
+and has made peace in the blood of His cross. He only could do it.
+
+3. The Son of God in resurrection. "He sat down on the right hand of
+the Majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels as He
+hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." And
+in verse 2 we read "Whom He (God) hath appointed heir to all
+things."
+
+All this is spoken of Him who had died on the cross and who raised
+from the dead as glorified Man is at the right hand of the majesty
+on high. What He is in that resurrection Glory we shall be with Him.
+His Love does not stop short of this. The Glory the Father gave to
+Him, He has given to us. He is the image of the invisible God,
+because He is God. His redeemed people shall be transformed into His
+image, that He might be the first born among many brethren. What a
+thought this is! We shall image Him forth in all eternity, as He
+images the invisible God. Into what depths we gaze!
+
+Then in the second part of this chapter we find a description of His
+exaltation and Glory. The Holy Spirit shows this marvelous theme
+from His Word. He quotes from seven Psalms, that book which is one
+of the most attacked in the present day. The Holy Spirit gives us a
+key in these quotations how we should look for Christ in the Psalms.
+What wickedness in face of such Scriptures to deny the messianic
+prophecies contained in the Psalms. The Psalms quoted are the
+following: "The ii; lxxxix (2 Sam. vii:14); xcvii; civ; xlv; cii and
+cx." They reveal His Glory and in what His future Glory will exist.
+And we shall share that exaltation with Him. We are destined to be
+His Co-heirs. We shall rule with Him and shall be priests with Him.
+He is higher than the angels in His resurrection Glory. He was made
+a little lower than the angels that He could take us with Himself
+into that place above the angels. All Glory and Praise to His Holy
+Name. We worship and adore Thee, Thou Son of God, our Saviour and
+Lord! What Glory awaits us! What dignity is ours! Oh, child of God,
+you need just this one thing, to know Him better, to have the Holy
+Spirit make Christ and the things of Christ, the future Glory more
+real to your souls. Let Him do it. And soon we shall be with Him.
+
+   Lamb of God, Thy faithful promise
+      Says, "Behold, I quickly come;"
+   And our hearts, to Thine responsive,
+      Cry, "come, Lord, and take us home."
+   Oh, the rapture that awaits us
+      When we meet Thee in the air,
+   And with Thee ascend in triumph,
+      All Thy deepest joys to share!
+
+
+
+A Glorious Vision.
+
+
+THE Epistle to the Hebrews, this profound and blessed portion of the
+Holy Scriptures, unfolds a most wonderful vision of the Person, the
+Glory and the great Redemption work of our adorable Lord. The
+portion of the Epistle which is the richest in this respect is the
+Second Chapter. Here is a vista for the eyes of faith which is
+sublime. Our Lord in His Person, in His humiliation and exaltation,
+in His suffering and glory, stands out in a way which makes the
+believing heart rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of Glory. What
+He has accomplished for us, His present place in Glory and
+intercessory work, His future and dominion over the earth, all are
+mentioned by the Holy Spirit in this brief chapter. His humiliation
+by incarnation is mentioned in these words "Thou madest Him a little
+lower than the angels." "Forasmuch, then as the children are
+partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of
+the same." And He is the One "by whom are all things" (verse 10).
+
+His suffering and death and its blessed results are given in this
+chapter. "By the grace of God He should taste death for every man."
+"That through death He might destroy him that had the power of
+death, that is the devil." He made "reconciliation for sins of the
+people."
+
+We read of the gracious relations into which all believing sinners
+are brought in virtue of His work on the cross. "For both He that
+sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one; for which
+cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren." It is that blessed,
+deep, eternal relationship of being One with Him and One with God.
+Then we find here His presence as Man in Glory. "But we see Jesus,
+who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of
+death crowned with glory and honor."
+
+In that attitude He is now "the merciful and faithful high Priest."
+"For in that He Himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to
+succor them that are tempted."
+
+The ultimate result of His work is also stated. He is "bringing many
+sons unto glory." And that glory will be His own glory. Not only now
+but in that future day of glory He will declare "Behold I and the
+children, which God hath given me."
+
+Furthermore we have the fact of His earthly dominion, that He is to
+have possession of the earth. "The world to come," that is the
+habitable earth, not heaven, is to be put in subjection under Him.
+"Thou hast put all things in subjection under His feet." All these
+blessed truths are stated in this chapter of Hebrews.
+
+In regard to a subdued earth we read: "But now we see not yet all
+things put under Him." That was true when the Holy Spirit penned
+these words. This is still true and it will be true until the Father
+bringeth in the First begotten into the world, when not alone all
+the angels of God will worship Him (Heb. i:6), but when God will
+make His enemies the footstool of His blessed feet (Psalm cx:1).
+
+However this coming triumph for Him who was made a little lower than
+the angels is not the glorious vision of this chapter. It is time by
+faith we may behold the glorious consummation as revealed in the
+prophetic Word, but here another vision for our present rejoicing
+and present help is put before us. While we see not yet all things
+put under His feet "we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than
+the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor."
+
+This is the great vision for the present. This is what the Holy
+Spirit wants us to behold more than anything else. Of Stephen it is
+written: "He being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly
+into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the
+right hand of God" (Acts vii:55). And whenever the Holy Spirit fills
+us He will direct the vision of the eyes of our heart to Him who was
+made a little lower than the angels and who is now in heaven crowned
+with glory and honor. And only the _power_ of the Holy Spirit
+filling us can make this great fact and vision a reality.
+
+But what does this glorious vision mean to _us?_ What does it teach
+us? Oh, much more than the weak pen of the writer can tell out.
+
+The blessed One who is there crowned with glory and honor is the One
+who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of
+death; He bore our sins on the cross and died for us. What a
+blessed, blessed proof then it is, as we behold Him there, that our
+sins are completely and forever gone!
+
+But more than that. In seeing Him there we behold ourselves. The
+deliverer of our souls at the right hand of God, the second man,
+crowned with glory and honor, is the pattern and forerunner of all
+who belong to Him and whom He is not ashamed to call brethren. Grace
+has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the
+heavenlies in Christ Jesus (Eph. ii:5, 6).
+
+Our eternal destiny, beloved in the Lord, is to be like Him, with
+Him and to share His marvelous inheritance as His co-heirs. That
+glorious vision is the evidence of our coming glory, when we shall
+be transformed into His image that He might be the firstborn among
+many brethren. As we gaze in the Spirit on Him who is crowned with
+glory and honor we can see ourselves.
+
+And as the age darkens, as the Laodicean state becomes more
+prevalent, temptations and snares increase, the enemy's powers and
+activities more marked, we need to open our eyes and hearts wider,
+to take in the vision of our blessed head in Glory. Only in this way
+can we be kept in these evil days. The only way of spiritual
+progress, spiritual enjoyment, spiritual worship is to "behold as in
+a glass the glory of the Lord," and beholding that glorious vision
+we "are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by
+the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. vii:18).
+
+This glorious vision will keep us in the place of separation. It
+will make us heavenly-minded and produce in our lives the practical
+results of the cross of Christ "crucified unto the world and the
+world crucified unto me." Why do real Christians, who know the truth
+and even know and speak of His Second Coming go along with the world
+and delight in its ways? It is because the heart is departed from
+Christ and has lost sight of the blessed and glorious vision. Years
+ago a saint of God, who is now present with the Lord, made the
+following statement:
+
+"It sometimes happens that Christians have got so far away from
+Christ in heart, that they become engrossed in the affairs of this
+life, and some can even visit and enjoy the poor empty, tinselled
+shows of this world's vanity. What could be more lamentable? They
+forget that _death's stamp_ is deeply graven on everything this side
+of resurrection. But such actions clearly prove that the heart must
+have been away from Christ for some time."
+
+Reader! if this means you return unto thy rest. Arise now and seek
+His face and behold your Saviour, who was made a little lower than
+the angels crowned with glory and honor.
+
+May all our hearts, dear children of God, cry out with him, who knew
+Him so well, the prisoner of the Lord "That I may know _Him_, and
+the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings,
+being made conformable unto His death" (Phil. iii:10). Soon we shall
+know Him and all His glory.
+
+   I see a Man at God's right hand,
+      Upon the throne of God,
+   And there in seven-fold light I see
+      The seven-fold sprinkled blood;
+   I look upon that glorious Man,
+      On that blood-sprinkled throne;
+   I know that He sits there for me,
+      The glory is my own.
+
+   The heart of God flows forth in love,
+      A deep eternal stream;
+   Through that beloved Son it flows
+      To me as unto Him.
+   And, looking on His face, I know--
+      Weak, worthless, though I be--
+   How deep, how measureless, how sweet,
+      That love of God to me.
+
+
+
+My Brethren.
+
+
+OUR Lord Jesus Christ calls those for whom He died and who have
+believed on Him "_My Brethren_." What a word it is! The Brethren of
+the Man in Glory! Brethren of Him who is at the right hand of God,
+the upholder and heir of all things! Pause for a moment, dear
+reader. Let your heart lay hold anew of this wonderful message of
+God's Grace; Brethren of the Lord Jesus Christ! What depths of love
+and grace these words contain! What heights of glory they promise to
+us, who were bought by His own precious blood! His Brethren now; His
+Brethren forever. One with Him, one with His Father and His God.
+Sharers of His life, sharers of His Spirit, sharers of His glory and
+His inheritance. Blessed, glorious truth, He calls us His Brethren.
+
+It is in the twenty-second Psalm where we find this truth revealed
+prophetically for the first time. That Psalm begins, as we have seen
+before, with the utterance of the deepest distress. It closes with
+the shout of victory and of triumph. He who was forsaken of God on
+the cross, the blessed sin bearer, has received glory. In the midst
+of the congregation, His redeemed people, He praises God, who has
+delivered Him and who gave Him Glory. In God's own time, in the
+coming day of His visible manifestation, all the ends of the world
+shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the
+nations shall worship before Him. Then the Kingdom will be the
+Lord's.
+
+He who suffered on the cross was heard "from the horns of the
+unicorn" (Ps. xxii:21). Resurrection was the answer from God; the
+power of God raised Him from the dead. At once, after the great work
+had been accomplished, there follows the triumphant declaration of
+Him whose voice had cried so bitterly in death, "I will declare Thy
+Name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I
+praise Thee." And blessed was the fulfilment on that day of joy,
+when the tomb was empty and He had come forth, the risen Christ. To
+Mary Magdalene He said on that glorious resurrection morning, "But
+go and tell _my brethren_, and say unto them, I ascend unto my
+Father and your Father, and to my God and your God" (John xx:17).
+What joy must then have filled His loving heart. From His gracious
+lips there bursts forth a message such as He never gave to His own
+before His resurrection.
+
+The great work on the cross had been accomplished, sin had been put
+away by the sacrifice of Himself. The Only Begotten of the Father,
+God's holy Son, one with God, became Man; then passing through
+death, in which He fully glorified God, God raised Him from the
+dead. And now He gives the blessed results of His own work for those
+who believe on Him. He has brought us into the same relationship
+with His Father and His God, which He Himself holds, as the Man
+Christ Jesus, raised from the dead. His Father, the Father of our
+Lord Jesus Christ, is our Father; His God is our God. And again we
+pause as we write this. Let our hearts repeat it: "My Father, your
+Father; my God, your God." He has brought us into fellowship with
+His Father; He has brought us to God and the place He has with the
+Father and with God, is the place God's fathomless Grace has given
+to us. How little our hearts take it in! How little reality we
+possess of all this! And yet He wants us to enjoy it as He enjoys
+the fulness of joy in His Father's and His God's own presence. May
+the Holy Spirit work in us unhindered, that through His power we may
+lay hold in faith of this mighty truth and have it as a _practical
+power_ in our daily lives. My Father, your Father; my God, your God
+and Christ, who loved me and gave Himself for me, Christ, who loveth
+us, is with His Father and His God. In such relationship, brought to
+the Father and to God through the Lord Jesus Christ and kept there
+by His own Grace and Power, how happy we should be.
+
+And because we possess now in virtue of Christ's work this blessed
+relationship, He owns us joyfully as His brethren. Hebrews ii:11-12
+puts this more fully before our hearts: "For both He that
+sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one; for which
+cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren. Saying, I will
+declare Thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I
+sing praise unto Thee." The Lord Jesus Christ is He that sanctifieth
+and they that are sanctified by His great work and are in Him, are
+believing sinners, reconciled to God by His blood. Both He that
+sanctifieth and we are all of One and this One is God, the Father.
+Therefore He is not ashamed to call them brethren. It is true we
+possess this relationship with the Man in Glory, the Lord Jesus
+Christ, because we are born of God. We have eternal life, His own
+life, and that makes us One with Him. But this is not the truth in
+view here. It is the truth that He has identified Himself with us
+and through His death and resurrection we are identified with Him.
+And what it means "in the midst of the church will I sing praises
+unto Thee" we shall not follow at this time.
+
+But let us keep it before our hearts a little while longer. The Lord
+of Glory calls us "My Brethren." He who is there in the Father's
+house, in the Father's presence and on the Father's throne is not
+ashamed to call us brethren. He knows all about us. He knows all the
+depths of sin in which we are by nature; that by nature we were
+enemies by wicked works and children of wrath, but He took it all
+upon Himself and has taken it out of the way and now He looks upon
+us and all who have accepted Him by personal faith as being one with
+Him and one with His Father; therefore He is not ashamed to call us
+brethren. What a comfort it should be to our hearts! What joy it
+should create in our souls! He Himself received from God, His
+heart's desire and the request of His lips (Ps. xxi:2). And all His
+desire and request was in our behalf, that He might bring us, His
+many sons, to glory. And now He rejoices in us, for we are His
+inheritance. He wants us to rejoice in Him and with Him in an
+unspeakable joy and full of glory. Our souls entering into all this
+and rejoicing with Him in His salvation, enjoying the comfort of it;
+this honors Him and honors God.
+
+It should end the discouragement and unbelief from which we so often
+suffer. Though we are weak and erring, imperfect in all our ways,
+yet He is not ashamed to call us brethren. Such a fellowship and
+relation into which we are brought once and, for all by the Son of
+God, should, if accepted in faith, dispel any doubt about ourselves
+and free us from all gloom and discouragement. Alas! how dull we are
+not to enter fully into the joy and comfort Grace has bestowed upon
+us!
+
+And then think of the dignity and honor which is ours. Sons of God
+with Him; Heirs of God with Him; one with Him, perfectly identified
+with the blessed One in God's presence. Therefore He is not ashamed
+to call us brethren. To walk worthy of the Lord is our calling; and
+worthy of the Lord we shall walk if we have the great fact of our
+fellowship with the Son of God as a reality before our souls. It is
+a sad state to speak theoretically of our position in Christ, to
+know all this with our intellects and not to manifest it in our
+lives and show forth the excellencies of Him, who has called us from
+darkness into his marvellous light.
+
+He is not ashamed to call us brethren. It should strengthen the love
+for the brethren. Love one another. The weakest, the most imperfect
+believer, that one who appears to us so unlovable and so ignorant,
+is nevertheless owned by him. Just let us remember in looking upon
+all believers, that he is not ashamed to call them brethren, that no
+matter where they belong, what their knowledge in the Scriptures
+might be, they belong to Christ, and are equally beloved of God. How
+we need it in a day when Satan goes about dividing the people of
+God. Love for the brethren, a deep, real heart love, will possess us
+as our hearts feed upon the fact of our oneness with him and with
+His Father and His God.
+
+He is not ashamed to call them brethren. It will be an incentive to
+witness for Him. Dishonored as He is, it falls upon us to honor Him
+by our personal witness. While in the Father's presence He sings and
+is the leader of the praises of His people, we must sing of Him here
+and utter His praise on earth. He is not ashamed of us; _how could
+we ever be ashamed of Him?_ What an honor to speak His worth, to
+tell out, though in feeble way, His glory and exalt His name. And
+yet we must beware of an unscriptural familiarity with Him, which
+the Holy Spirit does not sanction in the Scriptures. We must not
+address Him, as it is so often done, as "my brother," or other
+sentimental terms, which our pen is reluctant to repeat. In all this
+we must not forget His dignity and glory. While He thus identified
+Himself with us and is not ashamed to call us brethren, He is
+nevertheless the holy Son of God, the Lord of all. As such we must
+adore and worship Him. Some blessed day we shall be just like Him.
+We are predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
+He might be the first born among many brethren (Rom. viii:29). That
+will be in the glorious day when we shall meet Him face to face. "We
+know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall
+see Him as He is" (John iii:2). What it all will mean? What day of
+joy and triumph for Him, when He stands as the leader of all whom
+the Father has given unto Him, when all according to His prayer will
+be the sharers of His Glory. Then He will be glorified in His saints
+for they will bear His image and reflect His glory. What a destiny!
+Like Him and with Him. And this future of perfect conformity to the
+Lord Jesus Christ and possession of the wonderful inheritance,
+which, in its riches we cannot grasp now with out finite minds, is
+rapidly approaching. How soon it may burst upon us!
+
+Oh, friends, beloved in the Lord! Do we all enjoy this now in faith?
+Is it so that the Lord Jesus Christ becomes daily more real and
+precious to us? Do we live in the power of all this?
+
+
+
+The Patience of Christ.
+
+
+"BUT the Lord direct your hearts into the Love of God and into the
+_Patience of Christ_" (2 Thess. iii:5). With these words Paul
+exhorted the Thessalonian believers. They had many trials and
+difficulties. They suffered persecutions and were troubled. False
+alarms had affected their patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.
+The inspired exhortation puts before their hearts the Patience of
+Christ. Comfort and joy, encouragement and peace, would surely come
+to their hearts and strengthen them, if they remembered and entered
+into the Patience of Christ.
+
+And who can describe or speak fully and worthily of the Patience of
+our blessed Lord! It includes so much. All His moral Glory and
+Divine perfections are concealed and revealed in this Word. The word
+patience has a wide meaning. It means more than we generally express
+by it. Submission, endurance in meekness, waiting in faith,
+quietness, contentment, composure, forebearance, suffering in
+calmness, calmness in suffering; all and more is contained in the
+one word, Patience. And such patience in all its fulness and
+perfection the Son of God exhibited in His earthly life. Whenever we
+look in the Gospels, we behold this calm, quiet, restful patience.
+His whole life here on earth is but a continued record of patience.
+In patience His childhood was spent, and when in His twelfth year
+the Glory of His Deity flashed forth we read "He went down with
+them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them." In patience,
+He whose mighty power had called the universe in existence, toiled
+on, content in Nazareth, submissive to the Father, till after many
+years the day would come, when the work He had come to do should be
+begun and finished. To describe that Patience during His public
+ministry from Nazareth, where He had been brought up, to Golgotha,
+would necessitate a close scrutiny of every step of the way, every
+act and every utterance which came from His holy lips. What
+discoveries of His Grace and moral Glory we make, if under the
+guidance of His Spirit we meditate on His life here below. Humility
+and submission under God, patient waiting on Him, utter absence of
+all haste, perfect calmness of soul and every other characteristic
+of perfect patience, we can trace constantly in that wonderful life.
+What patience is revealed in the forty days in the wilderness, when
+He hungered and was with the wild beasts (Mark i:13). When Satan
+tempted Him and asked for stones to be made bread, He exhibited
+still His patience. In His service, that marvellous service rendered
+by the perfect servant, no ambitiousness or ostentatiousness can
+ever be discovered. He pleased not Himself but Him who sent Him. He
+was constantly going about doing the Father's will. His kindness and
+love were rewarded by rejection and insults, yet no complaint or
+murmur ever came from His lips. He was always trusting in God,
+perfectly calm, perfectly satisfied.
+
+And how His patience shines out in dealing with men. What patience
+He had with His disciples and how He bore with them in love. They
+were slow learners. What patience and tenderness in his conversation
+with her, whom He had sought, the woman at Samaria's well. And
+greatest above all His patience in suffering. He endured the cross.
+When He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He suffered, He
+threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth
+righteously. (1 Pet. ii:23). He was oppressed, and He was afflicted,
+yet He opened not His mouth; He was brought as a lamb to the
+slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so He opened
+not His mouth. All the buffetings, shame, dishonors, griefs, pains
+and sorrows He patiently endured. Oh! the patience of Christ, who
+for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame!
+
+And into this patience of Christ our hearts are to be directed. It
+is to be the object of our contemplation and to be followed by us,
+who belong to Him. The patience of Christ must be manifested in our
+lives. For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also
+suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His
+steps. His humility, submissiveness, contentment, calmness, patience
+in endurance, in doing and suffering the will of God, must be
+reproduced in our lives. But how little we know of it in reality.
+Impatience is the leading characteristic of the closing days of this
+present evil age. It is alas! but too prominently seen among God's
+people who are influenced by the present day currents. How little
+true waiting on the Lord and for the Lord is practiced! How much
+reaching out after the things which are but for a moment and which
+will soon perish! In consequence there is but little enjoyment of
+that which is the glorious and eternal portion of the Saints of God.
+How great the haste and hurry of present day life! How little
+quietness and contentment! In suffering and loss, murmurings,
+fault-finding and words of forced resignation are more frequently heard
+than joyful songs of praise. Unrest instead of rest, discontent
+instead of contentment, anxiety instead of simple trust, self
+exaltation instead of self abnegation, ambitiousness instead of
+lowliness of mind are found on all sides among those who name the
+name of Christ and who carry His Life in their hearts. And why? Your
+heart, dear reader, is so often out of touch with Christ. You lose
+sight of Him. His Spirit is grieved and in consequence there is
+failure and the impatience of the flesh. Return, oh my soul, unto
+thy rest! Direct, O Lord, our hearts into the Patience of Christ.
+
+The Patience of Christ. He is still the patient Christ. Rejected by
+the world He has taken His place upon the Father's throne. There He
+waits until His enemies are made His footstool. Long ago, in our
+human reckoning, He entered there. Long ago the Father said to Him,
+"Ask of Me and I will give Thee the heathen for thine inheritance,
+and the uttermost part of the earth for Thy possession" (Ps. ii:8).
+Up to now He has not yet asked the Father. When He asks it will mean
+judgment for this world. In infinite patience He has waited and
+waited in the presence of God. And all this time He has carried on
+His work as the Priest and Advocate of His people who live on earth.
+With what tenderness and patience He has dealt with all who lived in
+the past centuries. His mighty power kept them and now they are at
+home with Him. The same patience He manifests towards us. How often
+we have failed Him and walked in the flesh instead of walking in the
+Spirit. We came to Him and confessed and then we found Him so loving
+towards us. But ere long we failed again and in His loving patience
+His arms were again around us. And thus a hundred times. He changeth
+not. He is the same loving, patient Lord towards His own in Glory as
+He was on earth. "He shall not be discouraged," the prophet
+declared. Even so His Patience knows no discouragement.
+
+In all the dishonor done to His holy, worthy Name, He endures
+patiently. He is silent to all what is done by His enemies. The
+Patience of Christ. May the Lord grant us His Patience. John said to
+himself, "I am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the
+kingdom and _patience_ of Jesus Christ" (Rev. i:9). To that kingdom
+and Patience of Jesus Christ of which John speaks of belonging we
+belong. The martyrs belonged to it. Afflictions, persecutions and
+sufferings were their part. They are ours. In humility, in
+endurance, unflinching courage, in the patience of Christ, let us
+suffer with Him, share His reproach until His Glory is revealed.
+
+
+
+He Shall Not Keep Silent.
+
+
+THE heavens have long been silent. It is one of the leading
+characteristics of this present age, the closed, the silent heavens.
+But they will not be silent forever. "Our God shall come and shall
+not keep silence" (Ps. i:3). In His divine Patience the Lord has
+been at the right hand of God for nearly two thousand years. He will
+not occupy that place forever. It is not His permanent station to be
+upon the Father's throne. He has the promise of His own throne,
+which He as the King-Priest must occupy. Nearly two thousand years
+have gone since He passed through the heavens and during that time
+He has been rejected by the world. Every possible dishonor, insult
+and shame has been heaped upon His holy head through the
+instrumentality of the enemy, the devil. Never before has the
+rejection of the Man in Glory been so pronounced, so radical, so
+blasphemous as now. Those who love the Lord Jesus Christ are
+constantly seized by an unspeakable grief on account of these awful
+denials of the Christ of God and an horror as well. And still He
+patiently waits. But He will not always wait. His Patience will some
+day be exhausted. He will pray His unprayed prayer in Glory and ask
+of the Father the nations and the uttermost parts of the earth. The
+Father will then send the Firstborn back to this earth. When He
+comes in visible Glory to this earth it will mean the day of
+vengeance. The vengeance of God will fall upon His enemies. All the
+Christ rejecters, the wicked men and women who received not the love
+of the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness, the enemies of
+the cross of Christ, though they lived amiable lives (one of Satan's
+pet phrases), will meet Him not as the patient lamb, but the Judge,
+the lion of the tribe of Judah. What will it be when His Patience is
+ended? What will it be when the kingdom and the Patience of Jesus
+Christ give way to the kingdom and Glory of Jesus Christ? Rapidly
+the day is nearing when the Lord Jesus Christ will be completely
+rejected. As long as the true church is still here this complete
+rejection is an impossibility. But the church will some day leave
+this earth. Then conditions are ripe for the complete rejection of
+the Christ and the reception of Antichrist who will then appear. And
+when the beast is worshipped (Rev. xiii) and the world defies God
+and His anointed as never before, when the nations of apostate
+Christendom stand in battle array (Rev. xix:19), then He will come
+as the King whose patience is ended and claim His Kingdom. What will
+it mean when His Patience is ended? Who can describe it? What
+judgments will fall then upon a wicked world and be meted out upon
+the enemies of Christ? The day of vengeance is rapidly approaching.
+It is the day of vengeance for the world. It is the day of the Glory
+of Christ. It is the day of the Glory of the Saints. It is the day
+of your Glory as a believer.
+
+Let us suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. Let
+us be patient as long as He is patient. "Be ye also patient;
+establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
+Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned;
+behold the Judge standeth before the door" (James v:8, 9).
+
+In His Patience pray for the unsaved. Preach the Gospel, give out
+the Gospel, send the Gospel, give for the Gospel, live the Gospel. A
+little while longer and His patience will end.
+
+   Trusting in the Lord thy God,
+         Onward go.
+   Holding fast His faithful word,
+         Onward go.
+   Not denying His worthy name,
+   Though it brings reproach and shame,
+   Spreading still His wondrous fame,
+         Onward go.
+
+   Has He said the end is near?
+         Onward go.
+   Serving Him with holy fear,
+         Onward go.
+   Christ thy portion, Christ thy stay--
+   Heavenly bread upon the way,
+   Leading on to glorious day--
+         Onward go.
+
+
+
+The Love of Christ.
+
+
+THE Patience of Christ was recently the object of our meditation in
+these pages. Blessed and inexhaustible it is. And now a still
+greater theme is before our hearts. The Love of Christ. The heart
+almost shrinks from attempting to write on the matchless,
+unfathomable love of our blessed and adorable Lord. All the Saints
+of God who have spoken and written on the Love of Christ have never
+told out its fulness and vastness, its heights and its depths. "The
+Love of Christ which passeth knowledge" (Ephesians iii:19). And yet
+we _do_ know the Love of Christ. While we cannot fully grasp that
+mighty, eternal Love our hearts can enjoy it and we can ever know
+more of it. And He Himself whose Love is set upon us wants us to
+drink constantly of the ocean of His never-changing Love and receive
+new tokens, new glimpses of it. Surely His own blessed Spirit,
+though one feels so insufficient for such an object, will guide us
+in our meditation. He is with us and in us to glorify Him and take
+of the things of Christ to show them unto us. The Love of Christ,
+the Holy Spirit ever longs to make known and to impart to our poor
+and feeble hearts.
+
+The Love of our Lord is an eternal Love. It is not a thing of time.
+It antedates the foundation of the world.
+
+   "His gracious eye surveyed us
+   Ere stars were seen above."
+
+He as the Son of God in the bosom of God was the object of Love.
+"Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world" (John xvii:
+24). And then He knew us and His Love was even then set upon us,
+before we ever were in existence. He knew our sinfulness, our
+enmity, our vileness, and in Love which passeth knowledge He looked
+forward to the time, when He would manifest this Love to us His
+fallen creatures. "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is
+high I cannot attain unto it" (Psalm cxxxix:6).
+
+It was Love which brought Him down from the Glory, which He had with
+God. What Love to come into this dark, sin-cursed world, a world
+full of enemies. What Love to leave that bright and glorious home
+and appear as man, made of a woman entering this world He had called
+into existence. And there was no room for Him in the inn. It passeth
+knowledge.
+
+And then that life, which He lived on earth, was lived in that
+mighty Love.
+
+   "A love that led Thee here below
+   To tread a lonely path in grace,
+   To pass through sorrow, grief and woe,
+   The portion of a ruin'd race."
+
+What Love we see in Him, in every step of that lonely path! What
+compassion, what tenderness in every action in every word we
+discover, ever new and fresh, in that blessed life of God's
+unspeakable gift. Wherever we look we behold that Love. Loving
+compassion rested upon the multitudes; with Love He compassed the
+poor, the sinful, the oppressed, the heartsick and the outcast. Love
+carried the weak and failing men, who had believed on him, His
+disciples. A blessed word it is, which stands in the beginning of
+the thirteenth chapter in the Gospel of John. "Having loved His own
+which were in the world, He loved them unto the end." His Love for
+His own was expressed by serving them. He pleased not Himself but
+had come to minister. He then girded Himself and began to wash the
+disciples' feet. What humiliation! Yet it was the fruit of Love. All
+He did was born of Love. His was on earth a constant, a never-tiring,
+an enduring Love. All the selfishness of His disciples could
+not quench that Love. Nothing could quench His Love for His own.
+Nothing will ever quench it. Peter denied Him. "And the Lord turned
+and looked upon Peter" (Luke xxii:61). Was it a look of reproach?
+Was it a frown of displeasure which Peter saw in that beloved face?
+Far from it. Love in its divine perfection shone out of the eyes of
+the Son of God. And after His resurrection that Love was still the
+same. There was no reproach connected with the restoration of Peter
+to service. In the greatest tenderness and Love He committed to His
+disciple, who had so shamefully denied Him, the lambs and sheep so
+dear to His own loving heart.
+
+Again we say, that Love passeth knowledge. How could man's
+imagination and invention ever have produced such a loving Person as
+our Lord, revealing the perfection of divine Love!
+
+But there is greater Love than the Love which we behold in His
+blessed Life on earth. The greater Love is manifested when He laid
+down His life. He came into the world to die, to be the propitiation
+for our sins. He came to take our place on the cross. He came to
+drink the cup of wrath in our stead and suffer the awful penalty of
+our sins.
+
+"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for
+the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet
+peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. _But God
+commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
+Christ died for us_."
+
+God in Love gave thus His Son, and He gave Himself in Love. From
+shame to shame, from suffering to suffering, from pain to pain and
+agony to agony that Love went on to plunge into the deepest sorrow,
+to reach at last the place where His loving lips had to cry "My God,
+My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"
+
+   "To death of shame Thy love did reach,
+      God's holy judgment then to bear;
+   Ah, Lord, what human tongue can teach
+      _Or tell the love that brought Thee there_."
+
+Ah! what human tongue can teach or tell the Love that brought Thee
+there! It passeth knowledge. But with loving, praising hearts, in
+worship and adoration we can look up to that cross on which the
+Prince of Glory died and say with Paul, "He loved me, He gave
+Himself for me." And again we join with the innumerable hosts of His
+own redeemed in the Glory song. "Unto Him that loveth us and washed
+us from our sins in His own blood and hath made us Kings and priests
+unto God and His Father, to Him be Glory and dominion forever.
+Amen." And beloved reader, that Love which knew you and us all
+before we ever existed, that Love which came from Glory for you,
+that Love which went into the jaws of death, endured the cross and
+despised the shame, that Love which gave so willingly, gave as we
+can never give, that Love is still the same. It changes not. His
+Love knows no fluctuations. That perfect Love cannot grow cold or
+indifferent. We all had our first love; when first we saw Him with
+the eyes of faith, how our hearts were enraptured. How soon that
+Love began to grow cold and decreased instead of increased. Then our
+walk and service became affected for thus it must ever be when the
+heart is not responding to His Love and not in living, loving touch
+with Himself. Oh! the weeks and months and years of our Christian
+experience spent without the full enjoyment of His Love and
+Presence. But has this changed His Love? Has our unfaithfulness, our
+waywardness, our failure and backsliding affected His Love? No. He
+is the same loving Lord, the same loving Christ who has borne us and
+yearned over us, who has prayed for us and kept us. Whenever we turn
+to Him with broken hearts, confessing our sins, when in shame we
+hide our faces and tell Him all our failures, we find Him still the
+same loving Lord as He was when His loving eyes rested upon Peter.
+Oh! how He must love us! How He must love us, with that Love which
+passeth knowledge. What treasures that Love contains! Exhaustless it
+is ever flowing full and free towards His own.
+
+How it must grieve Him to see us so indifferent, neither hot nor
+cold. How it must grieve Him that we enjoy this Love so little that
+we permit that Love so little to serve us and give Him so little
+opportunity to manifest His mighty Love towards us. Alas! We even
+mistrust that Love. When suffering and loss overtake us, when
+instead of prosperity adversity is our lot, we doubt that Love.
+Fears and anxieties are nothing less than an impeachment of the
+Love, which passeth knowledge. His Love will never fail. He will see
+us safe home. Let the forces of the enemy roar, let trials and
+troubles come, His Love will keep us. His Love is our eternal
+portion.
+
+"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
+principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
+nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
+separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
+Lord."
+
+And soon He will have us with Himself. The church He loved, for
+which He gave Himself, the church He sanctified by the washing of
+water, this church He will present to Himself a glorious church
+(Eph. v:24-27). Even while on earth He made known His loving
+purpose, for He prayed, "The Glory, which Thou hast given me I have
+given to them."
+
+It is His Love which will make us sharers of His own Glory and
+Inheritance. What that Love will do then! How we shall drink deeper
+of that Love, than we ever could drink here! Oh the depths of the
+Love to be fathomed in all eternity! Oh the length and breadth and
+height to be measured! It can never, no never be exhausted.
+
+O, child of God, is not thy poor wandering heart beginning to be
+warmed? Is the warmth of His Love, the Love of Christ refreshing
+your soul? Thank God for it. It is but a demonstration of His Love.
+And do we not want more of it? Do we not need it?
+
+All our indifference, our cold heartedness, our prayerlessness, our
+self indulgences, our inactivity and all else which mars our
+Christian lives, is because we do not have the Love of Christ before
+our hearts. If we were constantly enjoying His Love and this mighty
+Love would constrain us, what self-sacrificing lives we would live!
+How we would love one another and in love serve one another. What
+peace there would be among those of like precious faith. With a
+better heart knowledge of the Love of Christ, what joy would be ours
+in all trials and suffering and with what boldness we would approach
+the throne of Grace and make constant use of our God-given
+privilege, prayer.
+
+The Love of Christ would lead us on and on in love for souls, in
+service untiring, and yet the same Love too will make us long and
+pray for His coming. Oh God our Father, grant unto us all and to all
+Thy people throughout this world a greater, a deeper, a more real
+knowledge of the Love of thine ever blessed Son, the Love of Christ,
+and fill us through it with all the fulness of God.  Amen.
+
+
+
+The Joy of the Lord.
+
+
+IT is written "the joy of the Lord is your strength." Every child of
+God knows in some measure what it is to rejoice in the Lord. The
+Lord Jesus Christ must ever be the sole object of the believer's
+joy, and as eyes and heart look upon Him, we, too, like "the
+strangers scattered abroad" to whom Peter wrote shall "rejoice with
+joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Pet. i:8). But it is upon our
+heart to meditate with our beloved readers on the joy of our
+adorable Lord, as his own personal joy. The Blessed One when His
+feet walked on the earth spoke not only of "My Peace," but He also
+spoke of "My Joy." While He imparts peace and joy and is the peace
+and joy of our hearts, He also possesses His own Peace and His own
+Joy.
+
+"The Joy of the Lord." There was a time "when the morning stars sang
+together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (Job xxxviii:7).
+It was in the beginning when the heavens and the earth were created
+by Him, who is before all things and by whom all things consist, the
+Son of God. With what joy He must have beheld what was called into
+existence by Him and for Him (Col. i:16). But even before the
+foundation of the world He had joy. With God, in the bosom of the
+Father Love, Glory and Joy were His eternal portion. All was known
+to Him from the beginning. The fall of Satan, the fall of man
+through Satan, the entrance of sin with all its results, the cost
+price of redemption, the suffering in the flesh on the cross for the
+redemption of the creature, the multitudes, whom no man can number,
+redeemed through His work, believing in Him, brought to God, united
+with Him, Sons and Heirs with Him, the ultimate victory over all
+enemies, so that God would be "all in all"--all was known to Him.
+
+What joy must have filled Him when at His incarnation He announced,
+"Lo I come to do Thy will O God" (Heb. x:5, 6). And then He came and
+took upon Himself the form of a servant, the first word the heavenly
+messenger spoke, sent to the virgin to announce the incarnation, was
+a word of joy. Never before had Gabriel been sent with such a
+message. "Hail" our English version has it; but the greeting means
+"Joy" or "Oh the joy!" And the angel later announced "good tidings
+of great joy." And that blessed life which was lived upon earth to
+the Glory of God, was a life which knew joy. All along the way from
+Bethlehem to Golgotha He had joy before His heart. It is true He
+wept, He had sufferings, He was tempted, He was ill-treated, cast
+out, maligned, accused of evil and rejected, but joy filled His
+heart. His God and Father was His joy, yea, His exceeding joy. To do
+His will, who had sent Him was His constant joy. His joy was to walk
+in confidence, in dependence on Him. His Father's love and delight,
+which rested upon Him were His joy. "Whom have I in heaven but Thee?
+and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee" (Ps.
+lxxiii:25). This beautiful word must have been His constant
+declaration; and that is joy. "I have set the Lord always before me"
+(Ps. xvi:8) is another utterance of God's Spirit concerning the holy
+life of God's well beloved Son. And that meant joy. The seventy He
+had sent forth had returned again with joy, because the demons were
+subject unto them. That is sinful man in carnal rejoicing! some
+power manifested, some great success fills our proud hearts with
+joy. But His words told them of a different joy. They were not to
+rejoice that the spirits submitted to them, but that their names
+were written in heaven. "In that hour Jesus _rejoiced_ in spirit,
+and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that
+Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and
+hast revealed them to babes; even so Father; for so it seemed good
+in Thy sight. All things are delivered to Me of My Father; and no
+man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is,
+but the Son, and to whom the Son will reveal Him" (Luke x:21, 22).
+Thus _He_ rejoiced. In the parable of the treasure in the field He
+speaks of His joy. The man who has found the treasure, for joy
+thereof goeth and selleth all he hath, and buyeth that field ( Matt.
+xiii:44). The man in the parable is the Lord Himself and the field
+is the world. With joy He gave up all and came down here to buy us
+back. And all His suffering from man and from Satan, the
+persecutions He suffered from His own people to whom He came were
+borne by Him with joy. He told out His own blessed character in the
+beatitudes and in speaking of those who are reviled and persecuted,
+He said, "Rejoice, and be exceeding glad." Thus He must have borne
+it all with joy. And then the cross. The cross in which He who knew
+no sin was made sin for us. He was troubled in His holy soul when He
+looked towards the cross (John xii:27). In the garden He saw the
+cross. "And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly; and His
+sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the
+ground" (Luke xii:44). And yet it is written "who for the joy that
+was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
+set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. xii:2). All
+the suffering put upon Him by man, acting under satanic impulses and
+the shame connected with the cross, He despised, the cross itself He
+could not despise, but He endured that. The joy was that He saw and
+knew the full and glorious result of all His work He had come to do.
+He saw then the travail of His soul and was satisfied. But in that
+cross there was that suffering, which is unfathomable. God's own
+hand rested upon Him. All His sorrowful complaints as predicted by
+His own Spirit were then fulfilled. "_Thou_ hast laid me in the dust
+of death." "All _Thy_ waves and billows go over me." "_Thine_ hand
+has pressed me sore." "_Thy_ wrath lieth hard upon me." "_Thy_
+fierce wrath goeth over me." "_Thou_ hast laid me in the lowest
+pit." Thus He suffered from God--smitten and afflicted of God. It
+pleased the Lord to bruise Him. Then from that cross there came that
+loud and triumphant cry when He gave His life "It is finished!" Oh!
+what joy must have filled then His soul, when He knew the work is
+done, all is accomplished. And with equal joy God answered the cry
+of His well beloved Son, when He rent the veil from top to bottom.
+
+The risen Lord in meeting His disciples greeted them, with the
+greeting of joy, which Gabriel had used. "All Hail"--literally, _Oh
+the joy!_ (Matt. xxviii:9.) What joy must then have filled His
+loving heart as He met His own again. Oh the joy! thus they had
+mocked Him when they crowned Him with a crown of thorns and bowed
+the knee and in derision shouted "All hail"--"Rejoice"--"King of
+the Jews." But in the resurrection He shouts "Oh the Joy!" The
+victory is won. Satan, Sin, Death and the Grave are vanquished. And
+what joy is His now! What joy will be His ere long! With a shout He
+went up (Ps. xlvii:5). What a joy when He passed through the heavens
+and as the glorified man He entered the Holy of Holies! What a joy
+when the Father had the well beloved with Him again, and He took His
+seat at His own right hand. What joy for Him and the heavens when
+Glory and Honor was put upon Him and He was proclaimed throughout
+the depths of the universe as Heir of all things! What joy! All
+power in heaven and on earth is His. Oh the joy! as sinners are
+saved by Grace, whom He redeemed by His blood. And as His body is
+building He rejoiceth as the bridegroom over the bride. In
+unspeakable joy He carrieth on His loving, tender, priestly work in
+behalf of those for whom He died. His joy and delight, as well as
+His love and His power is with them, who are His.
+
+But there is greater joy in the future for Him, the Man in Glory.
+Though even now He _is_ "anointed with the oil of gladness above all
+His fellows." His joy will increase and be full in the future.
+Another glad shout will be heard when he leaves the Father's throne
+and descends into the air. A shout of triumph and joy it will be,
+which will open the graves of the Saints, which will summon those
+who remain to meet Him in the air. Oh the joy at last the travail of
+His soul will be brought into His presence. Oh the joy! He will have
+us then and we will be with Him. With _exceeding joy_ He will
+present us faultless before the presence of His Glory (Jud. 24). In
+joy and a glorious triumph He will bring many sons to glory. What
+joy it will be when He leads forth from heaven's glorious mansions,
+those who are "God's workmanship created by Christ Jesus!" Then all
+the world will know and angels shout once more for joy in the full
+and glorious revelation of the new creation.
+
+Oh! the Joy for Him! when Israel cries out "Blessed is He that
+cometh in the name of the Lord!" Oh the joy! when creation sings her
+songs of praise to Him, whose pierced hands have removed the curse.
+Oh! the joy! when nations hear war no more but sing the worth of the
+King of Kings and lay their gifts at His feet.
+
+If we could measure all which was accomplished on Calvary's cross,
+then we could also measure His joy, the joy of the Lord.
+
+Reader! If you are saved by Grace, one with the Lord, then all this
+is yours. The joy in the Lord and the joy of the Lord is to be your
+portion now and in the day of His joy and glory. Murmuring,
+discouraged, tempted, complaining, bereaved, downhearted,
+halfhearted child of God, ponder over these words. Let God's Spirit
+lead you into them. The joy of the Lord is to be your portion. It
+will dispel your gloom. It will end your discouragement. It will
+give you songs in the night. It will lift you into a holy walk. The
+joy of the Lord can do this. He wants you to possess His joy. "These
+things have I spoken unto you, and that your joy might be full"
+(John xv:11). Let the Holy Spirit, who is given to you of God, make
+the Lord Jesus Christ a greater reality in your life. Let the joy of
+the Lord be your joy. Rejoice in God, the God and Father of our Lord
+Jesus Christ. Let your joy be to do His will. Accept all from His
+hands. Rejoice in all things. "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again
+I say, Rejoice" (Phil. iv:4). Rejoice and glory in tribulation.
+"Count it all joy when ye fall in divers temptations" (James i:2).
+Having Christ, brought nigh to God, a perfect access into His
+presence, yea the right to come with boldness, a rejoicing and
+praising spirit should be manifested by us.
+
+And look at the joy which is set before us. How it ought to lift us
+over all the present day trials and temptations and give us victory
+over the cares and anxieties, the pleasures and deceitful riches of
+this present evil and fast closing age. "Enter thou into the joy of
+_Thy_ Lord." This _is_ our blessed and glorious future. We shall
+share His future joy as we shall share His glory. And it is but a
+little while longer and weeping, which endured for the night, will
+give way to the _joy of the morning_.
+
+
+
+"This Same Jesus."
+
+
+"AND He led them out as far as to Bethany, and He lifted up His
+hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them,
+He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they
+worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were
+continually in the temple, praising and blessing God" (Luke xxiv:50-53).
+Something else is reported in the first chapter in the book of
+Acts in connection with the Return of our blessed Lord to the
+Father. "And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went
+up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said,
+Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? _This same
+Jesus_, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in
+like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven". (Acts i:10-11).
+This blessed message must have been the reason why they returned to
+Jerusalem with _great_ joy. Instead of tears and sorrow at that
+parting there was joy, because they knew and believed that He who
+had said "I will come again and receive you unto myself," this same
+Jesus would come for them. What a blessed truth it is that the same
+Jesus, the same Lord who walked on earth, who spoke such words of
+infinite love and tenderness, who wept, healed the sick, raised the
+dead and commanded the demons, who calmed the storm, who had gone to
+the cross to die that awful death in our stead--that this same
+Jesus, raised from the dead, is now in the presence of God for us
+and our Advocate with the Father. It is the same loving, tender,
+caring, mighty Lord and Saviour, who is there and this same Jesus,
+not another, will come again. The reality of this filled the
+disciples with joy. They knew He had left them, they knew He lived
+and that He would come again. This knowledge gave them power to
+witness and to walk in holiness. The reality of this fills still the
+believing heart with joy and leads as well as keeps in the blessed
+faith life of fellowship with Himself, into which we have been
+called by the Grace of God. The heart of the believer under the
+control of the Holy Spirit has but one desire. It is to know Him and
+know Him better. Other desires for blessings may come up, but that
+life which is in the believer ever reaches out after Himself who is
+our life. "That I may know Him" was the passion of that wonderful
+man, who knew Him so well (Phil. iii:10). And it is just heart
+knowledge of this same Jesus in His loveliness, His patience, His
+power, His glory, in all His blessed fullness, which we need the
+most and through this all other needs are met.
+
+Look up then in faith, child of God, He who is altogether lovely,
+whose perfect ways of love and grace, were so blessedly made known
+in His life down here, this same Jesus, with all the tenderness of
+infinite love, the love that never grows cold, is with the Father.
+Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, to-day and forever. The disciples
+heard Him pray His great prayer before He went to the cross (John
+xvii). As they listened to His words addressed to the Father, they
+learned as never before, how dear they all were to Him. How He loved
+them, cared for them, what He had done for them, would continue to
+do and what their future would be. And whenever we read these words
+in His high priestly prayer, we can hear Him still pray. We know
+that love for us cannot change; that prayer to keep does not fail;
+that concern, so deep and gracious, in all who belong to Him is
+unchanged, for it is "this same Jesus," who intercedes for us, whose
+loving eyes watch our going in and our going out, our walk down
+here.
+
+Oh! for the reality of this! This same blessed Lord is with us, for
+us, above us. We can count on His unchanging love. We can count on
+His power. The reality of the Person of our exalted Lord keeps us
+down here. Oh, draw near, beloved reader, for it is your privilege,
+your calling, to know Him and to enjoy Him. His heart is never
+satisfied unless you drink deep of His love and you lie in blessed
+dependence at His feet. Have you failed Him? Are days, weeks,
+perhaps months of wandering your past, days in which you grieved
+Him? Return, oh return! it is "this same Jesus" who at the lake of
+Tiberias so tenderly restored Peter and who waits for thy return.
+
+And "this same Jesus" comes again. If the joy was so great when He
+left, because the heavenly messengers gave the good news that this
+same Jesus is coming again, what will be the joy when he _does_
+come! He comes as Saviour, which is the meaning of His blessed name.
+"For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the
+Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our body of
+humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body"
+(Phil. iii:20-21). The glorious appearing of the great God and our
+Saviour Jesus Christ who gave Himself for us, will some day take
+place. And when He comes into the air and gives the shout, He will
+be "this same Jesus." When we are caught up in clouds to meet Him in
+the air we shall meet _Him_, the same blessed Person, who walked on
+this earth, who died on the cross, who in His unchanging love kept
+and carried us and called us home. We shall see Him as He is. He
+comes, this same Jesus, to take us to be with Him. What will be His
+joy then when all His blood-washed, redeemed people are at last with
+Him! Then this same Jesus who bore our sins in His own body on the
+tree will bestow upon us His glory, the glory the Father has given
+Him.
+
+Reader! Is it even now before you such a living reality, this same
+Jesus--is coming again; coming to take us all into the Father's
+house with its many mansions, to the place whose portals were opened
+with His own blood! And how soon it may be that we shall see Him and
+be with Him!
+
+If an angelic message were brought to-day to all Christians, we said
+recently in a meeting, and that message would state in terms
+unmistakably, one week more and the Lord Jesus Christ comes, one
+week more and we shall see Him; what would be the result? We can
+imagine the eagerness with which all would begin to serve and reach
+out after the unsaved; what self-denials and boldness we would
+behold! How all the earthly things, the childish things, the
+playthings of the dust, would lose their attractiveness. Then
+heaven's glory would break upon us. But such a message is not
+promised to us. It is nowhere said that it will take place. No angel
+will come to announce the time when "this same Jesus" comes to call
+us home. The fact is God has told us in His Word, that His ever
+blessed Son will come and that He will come suddenly. He may come
+_to-day_. He may call us home before another morning comes. And if
+we believe it we shall walk in expectation and in separation. The
+Lord graciously revive the blessed Hope in our hearts and through it
+make us holy in our lives, zealous for the Gospel, untiring in
+service and loving towards all the Saints.
+
+
+
+The Wondrous Cross.
+
+
+WHO can tell out the story of the cross! There was a time when we
+thought we knew much of it; but oh! the depths, the wonderful depths
+of the cross and the work accomplished there, which constantly break
+in upon the heart, as one meditates on the cross. One who knew the
+cross, whose eyes were filled with all its glory, because He beheld
+Him, who hung on the cross, in highest glory has told us "But God
+forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
+Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the
+world." Crucified unto the world. Dead to the world and to sin are
+the blessed effects of the cross.
+
+Some time ago while remembering the Lord on the Lord's Day we sang a
+familiar hymn:
+
+   When we survey the wondrous cross
+      On which the Lord of glory died,
+   Our richest gain we count but loss,
+      And pour contempt on all our pride.
+
+How true!--contempt must be poured on all our pride when one
+beholds that sight, the cross on which the Lord of glory died. But
+is it so, "and pour contempt on all our pride?"
+
+And when we sang the second verse its truth came home still more to
+the conscience:
+
+   Forbid it, Lord, that we should boast,
+      Save in the death of Christ, our God;
+   All the vain things that charm us most,
+      We'd sacrifice them to His blood.
+
+How true! If such a one died to deliver us out of this present evil
+age then the vain things that charm us most, not the sinful things,
+must be relinquished. But is it really so--all the vain things that
+charm us most--we'd sacrifice them to His blood?
+
+   There from His head, His hands, His feet,
+      Sorrow and love flowed mingled down;
+   Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
+      Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
+   Were the whole realm of nature ours,
+      That were an off'ring far too small;
+   Love that transcends our highest powers
+      Demands our soul, our life, our all.
+
+And then once more the heart said, How true! Marvelous sight the
+Lord of Glory on that cross for me! Forsaken of God, paying the
+penalty of my sins, drinking the cup of wrath, untasted by me. Such
+love surely demands our soul, our life, our all. But is it so? How
+often we sing these blessed truths and our lives are strangers to
+them. God grant that we may live out the truth of the cross in our
+lives. May the deliverance, the victory, the power of His cross be
+manifested in our lives. Dead to the world and the world dead to me.
+
+
+
+His Legacy.
+
+
+BLESSED and ever precious are the words, which came from the lips of
+our loving Lord, before he went to the cross. His own were gathered
+around Him; before He ever comforted them and poured out His loving
+heart, He manifested that love by serving them. He arose from the
+supper, laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.
+What a sight the Son of God girded! "After that He poureth water
+into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe
+them with the towel wherewith he was girded" (John xiii:5). It was a
+great symbolical action. He who stooped so low to wash the feet of
+His sinful creatures is the same who declared in the Old Testament
+"Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with
+thine iniquities" (Isaiah xliii:24). The washing typifies the
+service our beloved Lord renders to His saints in cleansing them
+from defilement; it is "the washing of water by the Word." And thus
+He continues in loving service till at last all His redeemed people
+are brought home into the presence of the throne and "the sea of
+glass like unto crystal" (Rev. iv:6) where no more defilement is
+possible and no more washing is needed.
+
+Many and blessed are the words, which then flowed from His lips,
+after Judas had gone out into the dark night. Only He could speak
+thus. Thousands upon thousands, countless multitudes have been fed
+upon His gracious, comforting words and have been strengthened and
+upheld. Their careful and refreshing power is undiminished. Like
+Himself His Words are eternal and inexhaustible. The Father's house
+with its many mansions, the fact of His personal return, the gift of
+the other Comforter, who came to abide with and in His own, the
+promises concerning prayer and assurance that the Father Himself
+loves them and many other precious truths were spoken by Him ere He
+left the world to go to the Father. At that time He gave His blessed
+legacy. "_Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you_" (John
+xiv:27). And the last word He spoke to His disciples before He
+uttered that marvelous high priestly prayer, contains also the
+assurance of peace. "These things have I spoken unto you, that _in
+Me_ ye might have _peace_. In the world ye shall have tribulation;
+but be of good cheer I have overcome the world" (John xvi:33).
+
+The adorable Lord came to this poor sin cursed earth, a world of
+sinners and enemies of God by wicked works to make peace. The great
+work of reconciliation was effected on the cross. By His death on
+the cross the enemies of God, believing in Him, became reconciled to
+God. He made peace through the blood of His cross (Col. i:20). As
+believing sinners we are justified and _have_ peace with God through
+our Lord Jesus Christ. Not our walk or service, not our faith or
+repentance or anything we have done or are doing is the ground of
+peace with God, but what Christ has done for us. Yea He Himself is
+our peace. And because _He_ is our peace, it is a peace which can
+never be undone or unsettled.
+
+   Oh, the peace forever flowing
+      From God's thoughts of His own Son!
+   Oh, the peace of simply knowing
+      On the cross that all was done!
+
+   Peace with God, the blood in heaven
+      Speaks of pardon now to me:
+   Peace with God! the Lord is risen!
+      Righteousness now counts me free.
+
+When all was finished, the mighty victory over sin, Satan, death and
+the grave had been gained, when every foe had been met and fully
+conquered, the blessed victor appeared in the midst of His beloved
+disciples. It was on "the same day" the day when He arose, when the
+mighty power of God opened the grave, on the same day, He suddenly
+stood in their midst. The doors were shut. The disciples were full
+of fears and doubts. Thomas was not there at all. All at once their
+eyes beheld Him once more who had been crucified, had died and was
+buried. "Peace be unto you!" This heavenly greeting came from His
+lips and soothed their sorrows, cleared their doubts and dispelled
+their fears. And He who stood thus in their midst was the same whom
+Gideon had seen and who answered His fears with "Peace be unto you;
+fear not" (Judges vi:23). Jehovah is peace; He is our peace. On the
+glad and glorious resurrection day the gracious Lord appeared in
+their midst and proclaimed peace to them. But He also showed them
+His hands and His side. The marks of the nails and of the spear were
+seen there. They are the evidences of His death for His people. But
+He who was dead is risen and lives evermore. Ah! that is peace! The
+Christ who died for our sins, who is risen and is in God's own
+presence is our peace. Would we enjoy that peace in a greater sense
+and have it more real, then let us just have Himself, the Person as
+the object of our hearts. "Then were the disciples glad, when they
+saw the Lord." Nothing could make them glad aside from the Lord
+Himself. Alas! that some of God's people try to find joy and peace
+in their service, experiences, knowledge of truth. Dear souls, it is
+the Lord only, who gives us peace and gladness.
+
+But the blessed legacy of our Lord is not so much the peace with
+God, as it is "His own peace." The peace which He possessed while on
+earth, that peace like a majestic river, ever flowing on in silence
+with not a moment's interruption. His own peace, He bequeathed to
+His own. What a peace was His! What restfulness the divinely
+reported scenes of that blessed life breathe! We have written before
+on His patience, His joy and His love, the love which passeth
+knowledge. How much might be written too on "His peace." But not
+half could ever be told. What calmness we see wherever we look. The
+threatening multitudes did not disturb Him, nor did the fierce storm
+on the Galilean sea; peacefully He rested in sleep, while the angry
+waves tossed the little ship aside and the terror-stricken disciples
+awoke Him. They cried "Lord, save us; we perish." And then His eyes
+opened and in loving tenderness He said unto them, "Why are ye so
+fearful, O ye of little faith?" _Then_ He arose and rebuked the
+winds and the sea and there was a great calm. Ah! poor human heart!
+how canst thou ever doubt with such a Lord at thy side!
+
+And this peace which was His constant portion, was the result of a
+constant communion with God. His meat and drink was to do the will
+of Him that sent Him. That calm, unruffled peace was the fruit of
+His constant trust in God and dependence on Him. And this peace He
+wants us to enjoy. In a world full of tribulation, anxiety and care,
+a world full of increasing evils, conflicts and sufferings, He wants
+us to have His own peace. The enjoyment of this peace of our Lord
+Jesus Christ depends on our communion with God and the realization
+of our union with Him. On that blessed evening of the resurrection
+day the Lord spoke a second time, "Peace be unto you." Why should He
+repeat the same greeting? The words which follow explain this. "As
+my Father hath sent me, even so send I you" (John xx:22). As
+Christians saved by grace and in Christ we are sent by Him as He was
+sent by the Father. As we realize this and walk under Him, as we set
+the Lord always before our eyes and our life's aim is to do _His_
+will and not our own, to please Him and not ourselves, to serve Him
+and not man, to let Him plan and not we ourselves, to be nothing
+instead of something, to be in the dust instead of exalted, then
+shall we enjoy His legacy "His own peace." He wants us to have it.
+He wants us to be kept in perfect peace. Are we willing to have it?
+And what else honors our absent Lord more than a life which
+manifests His peace. What pleases the Father more than to behold His
+children reminding Him by their lives of dependence and peace, the
+result of the rest of faith, of His own blessed Son. And the Holy
+Spirit, who produces all this in us will ever lead us on in the
+fuller enjoyment of the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
+
+We must expect in the coming days greater tests of faith, greater
+conflicts, greater trials. It cannot be otherwise in these perilous
+times. We must not expect anything else. But He can and will keep
+us. "Thou wilt keep him in _perfect peace_, whose mind is stayed on
+Thee, because He trusteth in Thee." And ere long the God of peace
+will bruise Satan completely under our feet. What joy--oh what joy
+awaits us when we shall see Him face to face, who is our peace.
+
+   "They that trust Him wholly
+   Find Him wholly true."
+   "Our God is able."
+
+
+
+What have I to Do With idols?
+
+
+MUCH is said in reproof of Ephraim by the prophet Hosea. All the
+wicked dealings and defilement of Ephraim is uncovered--and the
+Lord said: "I will be unto Ephraim as a lion." Again Jehovah said:
+"Ephraim is like a cake not turned." "Ephraim is like a silly dove
+without heart." "Ephraim hath made many altars to sin." "Ephraim is
+joined to idols, let him alone." But all reproof and chastisement
+did not bring Ephraim back. Nothing seemed to be able to draw
+Ephraim's heart away from the idols. At the close of the Prophet
+Hosea, however, Ephraim is made to speak and a significant word it
+is. "Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I
+have heard Him, and observed Him; I am like a green fir tree. From
+me is thy fruit found" (xiv:8).
+
+A familiar yet blessed truth is contained in this statement. Ephraim
+dealt with by judgments after the severe rebukes of the Lord could
+not let go the idols. Joined to idols, the Lord said, "Let him
+alone." But the day was to come when Ephraim would willingly forsake
+all idols and cry out, "What have I any more to do with idols?" And
+what brought about Ephraim's conversion? Ephraim heard Him and
+observed Him. The sight of the Lord, His love and tenderness, His
+patience and kindness beheld in faith, was enough for Ephraim to
+forsake all idols and cleave to Him alone. Thus Ephraim became like
+a green fir tree.
+
+And this is still true to-day. There is no other way to be separated
+from idols and walk wholly with the Lord than Ephraim's way. Why are
+God's people joined to idols? Why are Christians half-hearted,
+conformed to this present evil age, given to covetousness, which is
+idolatry (Col. iii:5)? There is but one answer. Our hearts do not
+listen to that blessed voice, which delights to speak to those who
+belong to Him. Our eyes do not look upon Him in all His glory and
+beauty. We lose sight of Him who is altogether lovely. Our minds
+instead of being occupied with the things of Christ are centered
+upon earthly things. Our thoughts are so little brought into
+captivity to the obedience of Christ and are controlled by our own
+imaginations and the spirit of the times. There is no other way of
+being delivered from idols, from everything which would draw us
+away from Himself and all which hinders from giving to Him the
+pre-eminence. That way is heart occupation with our Lord, conscious
+communion with Him through His Word in the power of His Spirit. We
+must hear Him, we must observe Him. Then He appears to our hearts in
+all His lowliness, in all His majesty and glory, and that vision
+will be enough to disgust us with the playthings of the dust and He
+will become the supreme object of our lives. There is no other way
+to practical holiness than hearing Him and observing Him.
+
+   Hast thou heard Him, seen Him, known Him?
+      Is not thine a captured heart?
+   "Chief among ten thousand" own Him,
+      Joyful choose the better part.
+
+   Idols once they won thee, charmed thee,
+      Lovely things of time and sense;
+   Gilded, thus does sin disarm thee,
+      Honey'd lest thou turn thee thence.
+
+   What has stript the seeming beauty
+      From the idols of the earth?
+   Not the sense of right or duty,
+      But the sight of peerless worth.
+
+   Not the crushing of those idols,
+      With its bitter void and smart,
+   But the beaming of His beauty,
+      The unveiling of His heart.
+
+   Who extinguishes their taper
+      Till they hail the rising sun?
+   Who discards the garb of winter
+      Till the summer has begun?
+
+   'Tis that look that melted Peter,
+      'Tis that face that Stephen saw,
+   'Tis that heart that wept with Mary.
+      Can alone from idols draw--
+
+   Draw, and win, and _fill completely_,
+      Till the cup o'erflow the brim;
+   What have we to do with idols,
+      Who have companied with Him?
+
+Reader! Gaze afresh in that lovely face of transcendent beauty.
+Think of His great love for you, His never-changing love, His
+eternal love. Follow the dictates of that new nature Grace has given
+to you and have the Lord constantly before your eyes and heart.
+Anything less will lead you to idols. What have I to do any more
+with idols? I have heard Him and observed Him.
+
+
+
+The Never Changing One.
+
+
+"JESUS Christ the same yesterday, and to-day and forever" (Heb.
+xiii:8). Blessed truth and precious assurance for us poor, weak
+creatures, yea, among all His creatures the most changing; _He_
+changeth not. "For I am the Lord, I change not" (Mal. iii:6). "Of
+old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are
+the work of Thy hands. They shall all perish, but Thou shalt endure:
+yea all of them shall wax old like a garment, as a vesture shalt
+Thou change them, and they shall be changed; but Thou art the same,
+and Thy years shall have no end" (Psalm cii:25-27 and Heb. i:10-12).
+The above blessed statement puts Him before our hearts as the
+unchanging Son of God, the solid rock of ages. It is a verse which
+is like Himself, infinite, inexhaustible. Our adorable Lord is here
+mentioned as having a past, a present and a future, a yesterday,
+to-day and a forever. This Epistle at the close of which we find this
+word gives us a definition of the yesterday, the today and the
+forever of the Son of God. He is the true God; He had never the
+beginning of days, a yesterday, a past without a beginning. By Him
+the worlds were made. He is the effulgence of His glory and the
+expression of His substance (Heb. i:3). His yesterday is Eternity;
+His goings forth are from old, from everlasting (Micah v:2). And in
+that yesterday, in the bosom of the Father, the great plan of
+redemption was blessedly known. Oh! what a love that knew all and
+was ever ready to give all to carry out that wonderful scheme.
+"Wherefore coming into the world, He says, sacrifice and offering
+Thou willedst not; but Thou hast prepared me a body. Thou hadst no
+pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. Then I said, Lo,
+I come, in the roll of the book it is written of me, to do, O God,
+Thy will" (Heb. x:5-7). And then He came to manifest the eternal
+love of God. He came in the form of a servant; He, whose yesterday
+is eternity, was made a little lower than the angles (Heb. ii:9).
+And while on earth He was the same as in eternity. He showed His
+power as the Creator, over nature, disease and death. Though in
+humiliation, the Son of God had Glory, yet it was hidden. How
+blessed it is to trace His way while on earth and what love, mercy,
+patience, meekness, humility, peace and much more we find here. And
+then His great work of redemption. It behooved Him in all things to
+be made like unto "His brethren, that He might be a merciful and
+faithful high priest in things relating to God to make propitiation
+for the sins of the people (Heb. ii:7). Who in the days of His flesh
+having offered up both supplications and entreaties to Him, who was
+able to save Him out of death; with strong crying and tears (having
+been heard because of His piety); though He were Son yet learned
+obedience from the things He suffered; and having been perfected,
+became to all of them that obey Him, author of eternal salvation"
+(v:7-10). In His yesterday He made purification of sins; He put away
+sin by sacrificing Himself. He fulfilled the eternal will of God, by
+which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body
+of Jesus Christ once for all.
+
+And this Epistle likewise speaks of His "today," the Present of
+Himself. His "to-day" began with the opened tomb, that blessed,
+glorious resurrection morn. He is the great shepherd of the sheep
+brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ (xiii:20). He is
+the appointed heir of all things, on the right hand of the majesty
+on high, taking a place so much better than the angels, as He
+inherits a name more excellent than they (Heb. i:3-5). He is
+addressed by God as high priest according to the order of
+Melchisedec (v:10). We gaze into the opened heavens and we see Jesus
+who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of
+death, crowned with glory and honor (ii:9). Now a summary of the
+things of which we are speaking is: We have such a one high priest
+who has sat down at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in
+the heavens; minister of the holy places and the true tabernacle,
+which the Lord has pitched and not man (vii:1). He has a priesthood
+unchangeable. Whence also He is able to save to the uttermost those
+who approach by Him to God, always living to intercede for them
+(viii:25). For the Christ is not entered into holy places made with
+hands, figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in
+the presence of God for us (ix:24). But, He having offered one
+sacrifice for sins, sat down in perpetuity at the right hand of God,
+waiting from henceforth until His enemies are made His footstool
+(x:12). Such and much more is His "to-day." All power in heaven and
+on earth is given to Him.
+
+His "forever" will begin when He leaves the Father's throne and when
+He is brought into the world again, when all things are to be
+subjected under His feet and He will be in the fullest exercise of
+His Melchisedec priesthood, a priest upon His throne. And in all,
+yesterday, in the days of His humiliation, to-day upon the Father's
+throne as our advocate and priest, in His glorious future, upon His
+own throne He is the same, the mighty Jehovah, who changeth not, the
+Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. He is the unmovable
+rock, no storms, no changes can move the rock upon which we stand,
+and though heaven and earth pass away neither He, the living,
+eternal Word, nor His written Word will change.
+
+His power, His grace, His love, His patience, is kindness, His
+sympathy is ever the same towards His own beloved people, who have
+trusted in Him and share His life. Having loved His own, who are in
+the world, and loved them to the end (John xiii:1); and that end is
+eternity. In the beginning of the last book of the Bible, we hear
+the voice of the Holy Spirit in the church, worshipping Him, in that
+matchless outburst "Unto Him that loved us and has washed us from
+our sins in His own blood." But it does not say "loved," but it
+reads "Unto Him that _loveth_ us." The love He has for His own is an
+abiding, an unchanging love. Oh to think more of that love, that
+changeless love, which passeth knowledge! And how true it is what a
+saint has sung long ago:
+
+   "Oh! I am weary of my love,
+      That doth so little t'wards Thee move;
+   Yet do I constantly groan,
+      To know the depth of all Thine own.
+
+   That groan, sweet Spirit, is from Thee,
+      Nor self-begotten e'er can be;
+   No natural heart, oh Lord, of mine
+      Could long to lose itself in Thine.
+
+   O love of loves, for me that died;
+      The love of Jesus crucified!
+   Who lowly took His part with me,
+      That I as _one_ with Him might be.
+
+   Loved, and for ever on Thy throne
+      Adored, and loved, Thou changeless One;
+   Thou wilt thro' one eternal day,
+      The height and depth of all display."
+
+   Meanwhile, Thou precious, wondrous Lamb
+      Content--at least with this I am,
+   To count my love too mean to own,
+      And know but Thine--"_Thy love alone_."
+
+And yet how often we doubt that love and by fear, when we have come
+short or fallen in sin, insult that mighty changeless love. How
+often, too, when trials are upon us and we suffer, we lose sight of
+Him, the unchanging One, who loves His own to the end, and deep down
+in the heart there is unrest, anxiety, as if some evil could come
+upon us. Our weakness, our imperfections, our failures and our sins
+do not change His love and His grace.
+
+As He was yesterday with His own and kept them, carried them, was
+their strength, their help, their refuge and their safe hiding
+place, their peace and their comfort, so is He to-day, so will He be
+forever. And in faith we can bring it stiller nearer to our hearts.
+He is for each the same loving, sympathizing, caring, interested
+Saviour, Friend and Lord. He who helped you yesterday, whose love
+was about you in the past, who has not left you since He found you
+for a single moment, is the same to-day, and will never be anything
+less. He will keep each member of His body, He will carry, He will
+lead onward, and with His unchanging love and power deal with each,
+as it pleases Him. Oh that we might cast ourselves more upon Him and
+spend the remainder of our days here (how few indeed!) in a more
+utter dependence upon Him, trusting Him, the changeless One. Oh for
+a closer walk with Him in these evil days and to taste more of His
+love, His unchanging love. How happy, restful, without care and
+anxiety God's people _might_ be if only their hearts were fixed upon
+Him who is the same yesterday, to-day and forever. Alas! how often
+the things seen are more real to us as the real things, the things
+unseen. What a joy it ought to be to our hearts to follow Him now,
+to learn over and over again that He is the same, who changeth not,
+to find His power and strength as of old manifested in behalf of His
+beloved people.
+
+
+
+Be of Good Cheer.
+
+
+"BE of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid" (Matthew xiv:27).
+
+"Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God believe also in
+Me. In my father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I
+would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to
+prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto
+myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John xiv:1-3).
+
+"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world
+giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let
+it be afraid" (John xiv:27).
+
+"In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I
+have overcome the world" (John xvi:33).
+
+"Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me
+where I am" (John xvii:24).
+
+"Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age" (Matthew
+xxviii:20).
+
+"He hath said I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews
+xiii:5).
+
+"Fear not, I am the first and the last; I am He that liveth and was
+dead and behold I am alive forevermore, amen; and I have the keys of
+hades and of death" (Rev. i:17, 18).
+
+"Behold I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man
+take thy crown" (Rev. iii:11).
+
+"Surely I come quickly. Amen" (Rev. xxii.20).
+
+These precious words of comfort and cheer came from His loving heart
+and lips. May we take hold of them. How well it is to remember His
+words and Himself. How worthy He is; the mighty, the loving, the
+adorable Lord! How He loveth us His own, how He careth for us, is
+mindful of us and carrieth us, no heart can fully understand, no pen
+describe. How He came from heaven's glory long ago, how He the One,
+who was rich, became poor for our sakes and died on the cross, that
+we might share eternal riches and glory with Him, is the old story,
+which never grows old. It is as fresh and new to the believing heart
+as it ever has been. And He who bought us with His own blood, loveth
+and carrieth us His poor, weak and sinning people with such love and
+infinite patience. The past years of our Christian lives, so all of
+us must confess, have been filled with many failures. But as we come
+to Him with our failures, our sins, our burdens, we find Him the
+same loving, tender Saviour. Ah! who can measure the depths of His
+love! He will never cease loving those, who have accepted him as
+their Saviour and whom He has accepted as His own. In His gracious
+hands we are and all His people. The hands which were pierced for us
+on the cross are over us and about us. They carry us, guide us, hold
+us and keep us. We are His and nothing can separate us from Him in
+time and in eternity. With a joyful heart we can say "I am my
+Beloved's and His desire is toward me."
+
+   O Lord! 'tis sweet the thought
+      That Thou art mine!
+   But brighter still the joy
+      That I am Thine.
+
+Oh, dear Christian readers, how happy we might be if only all this
+were constantly real to our hearts and our minds were occupied with
+that blessed, glorious One. What joy and blessing we will have, if
+we walk closer with the Lord and live that life to which we have
+been called, live by the faith of the Son of God.
+
+And the words He left us are just like Himself, Love, Hope and
+Comfort. There is nothing to fear for one who is in Him. He would
+have His beloved people free from all fear, anxiety and care. Twice
+He has told us "Let not your heart be troubled." "Fear not!" "Be not
+afraid!" How much these words mean if we consider Him who spoke
+them. They must calm every fear and lift the trusting child of God
+over all the dark and difficult things on the way. The blessed words
+we have quoted are the never failing comfort for His people till
+they are gathered in His own presence.
+
+The greatest anodyne, however, He has given to us, the anodyne for
+all pains and sorrows, griefs and perplexities is the blessed Hope.
+"I will come again and receive you unto myself" was spoken long ago,
+and yet it is still unfulfilled. Almost the last petition of His
+great high-priestly prayer is the petition to have His own with
+Himself in the Father's house. "Father, I will that they also, whom
+Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am." This prayer is still
+unanswered. "Behold I come quickly" are His own words in the third
+chapter of Revelation, words so full of meaning for us, exhorting us
+to hold fast what we have. And in the very end of the Book, almost
+the last word of the Bible is the last word He ever spoke. "_Surely_
+I come quickly. Amen." He has not spoken again after this last
+utterance, so full of assurance. The next time His blessed voice
+will speak will be when He comes into the air and gives the mighty
+shout (1 Thess. iv:16) which will call the saints from their graves
+and ourselves from earth's sorrow together with them to meet Him in
+the air. That blessed Hope is the great anodyne, the soothing as
+well as inspiring truth of the Bible, which stands next to and in
+closest relation with the Gospel. That blessed Hope is an imminent
+Hope. How cheerless it would be to think that the Lord cannot come
+for many years, that He cannot fulfill His blessed promise. How
+cheerless, yea, how depressing and discouraging it would be if it
+were true that the true believers must pass through the great
+tribulation, suffer under Antichrist, taste of the wrath, which will
+then be poured out. Such an expectation would not be a blessed Hope,
+but a depressing outlook. But blessed be God this is not the
+teaching of the Word, but only the invention of man. We are not to
+wait for the apostasy, the great tribulation, great earthquakes and
+disasters, but for Himself. He may come at any time and call us into
+His presence. To wait daily for Him is the true Christian attitude,
+which is a mighty power in the Christian life, walk and service. How
+we shall be weaned away from the passing things of this age, how we
+shall look upon all in its true light and be faithful witnesses for
+our Lord, if we walk in this daily expectation of meeting Him. And
+this we need. The Lord Jesus Christ must become more real to our
+hearts. Our fellowship with Him, our trust in Him, our walk in Him,
+our waiting for Him, all must become more real. The Holy Spirit in
+His power will accomplish this in our lives. In the awful darkness,
+which is settling upon this age, only such can abide faithful who
+cling closer to the Lord and who wait for His coming. The Lord grant
+this to all His people.
+
+      He'll come again,
+      And prove our hope not vain;
+   We wait the moment, oh, so fair;
+   To rise and meet Him in the air;
+   His heart, His home, His throne to share--
+      O wondrous love!
+
+
+
+Make Haste.
+
+
+THE little book called Solomon's Song, in the Hebrew "the Song of
+Songs," because it exalts and describes the Bridegroom, closes with
+that longing cry, "Make Haste my Beloved." How this applies
+dispensationally we do not follow here. It is the same desire for
+Himself, which is found almost the last thing in the Bible, the
+great prayer, "Even so come Lord Jesus." The soul which knows Him,
+follows closely after Him, and gets daily more of Himself will ever
+long for Him and for His Coming. The desire and prayer will arise
+many times each day from such a heart, "Make Haste my Beloved"
+--"Even so, come Lord Jesus." The Holy Spirit ungrieved and unhindered
+in the believer will not alone produce this desire, but keep it
+alive in the soul and make it more intense. One may hold the Second
+Coming of Christ in a mere intellectual way; there is no profit in
+that. The blessed Hope must have its seat in the heart and
+affection. It is therefore a good test of our spiritual state. If
+our hearts are crying more for Him, longing to be with the Beloved,
+and we daily sigh for Himself to come and take us home, we are then
+certainly walking in the Spirit. Such a desire will also lead us
+into holiness of life and true service for Him. And as we look about
+us at the condition of things, surely only the Coming of our Lord
+appears to be the remedy. Nothing less than that event can arrest
+the dreadful conditions and bring the long promised deliverance.
+"The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until
+now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first
+fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
+waiting for the adoption, the redemption of the body" (Rom. viii:22-23).
+What a day it will be when at last He descends into the air to
+call His own, His Beloved together! What a day it will be when
+together with those who are raised from their graves we shall be
+caught up in clouds to meet HIM in the sky! What a day when He
+purges the earth by fire and comes with all His Saints to reign.
+Make haste! Even so, come Lord Jesus!
+
+            Lord Jesus, come!
+         And take Thy people home;
+      That all Thy flock, so scattered here,
+      With Thee in glory may appear.
+         Lord Jesus, come!
+   "Soon the day-dawn will be breaking
+      And the shadows flee away;
+   Now, by faith, in joy and gladness,
+      I await the coming day,
+   For I know my soul is safely
+      Hidden in His wounded side;
+   And anon He sweetly tells me
+      I shall soon be satisfied.
+
+   Lo! He tells me _now_ His secret,
+      Cheering with His heavenly smile;
+   Telling me, in love's low whisper,
+      It is but 'a little while;'
+   Yes, for soon, to brightest glory,
+      He will fetch away His bride;
+   Then I'll shine in His own likeness,
+      And be ever satisfied!"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lord of Glory, by Arno Gaebelein
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