YOUR KINGDOM COME-YOUR WILL BE DONE: January 2019

Wednesday, 30 January 2019

The occasion of this magnificent chorus of praise is the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever

Psa 118:1-29. O GIVE thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!

Let Israel now say that His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.

Let the house of Aaron [the priesthood] now say that His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.

Let those now who reverently and worshipfully fear the Lord say that His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.

Out of my distress I called upon the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free and in a large place.

The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? [Heb 13:6]

The Lord is on my side and takes my part, He is among those who help me; therefore shall I see my desire established upon those who hate me.

It is better to trust and take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in man.

It is better to trust and take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.

All nations (the surrounding tribes) compassed me about, but in the name of the Lord I will cut them off!

They compassed me about, yes, they surrounded me on every side; but in the name of the Lord I will cut them off!

They swarmed about me like bees, they blaze up and are extinguished like a fire of thorns; in the name of the Lord I will cut them off! [Deu 1:44]

You [my adversary] thrust sorely at me that I might fall, but the Lord helped me.

The Lord is my Strength and Song; and He has become my Salvation.

The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents and private dwellings of the [uncompromisingly] righteous: the right hand of the Lord does valiantly and achieves strength!

The right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly and achieves strength!

I shall not die but live, and shall declare the works and recount the illustrious acts of the Lord.

The Lord has chastened me sorely, but He has not given me over to death. [2Co 6:9]

Open to me the [temple] gates of righteousness; I will enter through them, and I will confess and praise the Lord.

This is the gate of the Lord; the [uncompromisingly] righteous shall enter through it. [Psa 24:7]

I will confess, praise, and give thanks to You, for You have heard and answered me; and You have become my Salvation and Deliverer.

The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

This is from the Lord and is His doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. [Mat 21:42; Act 4:11; 1Pe 2:7]

This is the day which the Lord has brought about; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Save now, we beseech You, O Lord; send now prosperity, O Lord, we beseech You, and give to us success!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; we bless you from the house of the Lord [you who come into His sanctuary under His guardianship]. [Mar 11:9-10]

The Lord is God, Who has shown and given us light [He has illuminated us with grace, freedom, and joy]. Decorate the festival with leafy boughs and bind the sacrifices to be offered with thick cords [all over the priest's court, right up] to the horns of the altar.

You are my God, and I will confess, praise, and give thanks to You; You are my God, I will extol You.

O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.

Psalm 118: Behold Your King!

The occasion of this magnificent chorus of praise is the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The scene is Jerusalem where the crowds have gathered to celebrate the Advent of Israel's long-awaited Messiah. In the shadow of the temple, a soloist takes his place at the microphone, the choir standing behind him. A hush comes over the audience.

118:1

SOLOIST:

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!

CHOIR:

For His mercy endures forever.

(All over the audience heads are nodding in hearty assent.)

118:2

SOLOIST:

Let Israel now say,

CHOIR:

"His mercy endures forever."

118:3

SOLOIST:

Let the house of Aaron now say,

CHOIR:

"His mercy endures forever."

(Deep-throated "Amens" rise from the priests who are standing at the temple door.)

118:4

SOLOIST:

Let those who fear the LORD now say,

CHOIR:

"His mercy endures forever."

(At this, a company of God-fearing Gentiles bite their lips and fight back tears of gratitude for the grace that enables them to share in the glory of this moment.)

118:5-9

SOLOIST:

I called on the LORD in distress;

The LORD answered me and set me in a broad place.

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

The LORD is for me among those who help me;

Therefore I shall see my desire on those who hate me.

It is better to trust in the LORD

Than to put confidence in man.

It is better to trust in the LORD

Than to put confidence in princes.

(The crowd understands that this is the language of the faithful remnant of Israel, marvelously preserved by God during the Tribulation Period. They have learned to trust in God alone, and have lost their fear of men. At last they realize that it is better to trust in the LORD than even in princes, that is, the best of men.)

118:10

SOLOIST:

All nations surrounded me,

CHOIR:

But in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.

118:11

SOLOIST:

They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me;

CHOIR:

But in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.

118:12

SOLOIST:

They surrounded me like bees;

They were quenched like a fire of thorns;

(Thornbushes make a spectacular blaze but die down quickly.)

CHOIR:

For in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.

118:13, 14

SOLOIST:

You pushed me violently, that I might fall,

But the LORD helped me.

The LORD is my strength and song.

And He has become my salvation.

(The soloist is referring in verse 13 to the Antichrist and to his bestial treatment of the remnant for their refusal to buckle under to his demands. In the nick of time the Lord intervened and cast the false messiah into the lake of fire [Rev 19:19, 20].)

118:15, 16

SOLOIST:

The voice of rejoicing and salvation

Is in the tents of the righteous;

(All over Israel there is unrestrained jubilation over the triumph of the Messiah. In every home the people are singing the following song of victory.)

CHOIR:

The right hand of the LORD does valiantly.

The right hand of the LORD is exalted;

The right hand of the LORD does valiantly.

118:17, 18

SOLOIST:

I shall not die, but live,

And declare the works of the LORD.

The LORD has chastened me severely,

But He has not given me over to death.

(Speaking as the remnant, the soloist recalls the many pogroms against the Jews and their close calls with extinction. But the Lord miraculously rescued them from the mouth of the lion, and now they face the future with confidence and security.)

118:19, 20

SOLOIST:

Open to me the gates of righteousness;

I will go through them,

And I will praise the LORD.

(Redeemed Israel seeks admission to the temple courts in order to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving to the Lord. The sacrificial system will be partially reinstituted during Christ's reign with the sacrifices looking back to Calvary, that is, they will be commemorative.)

CHOIR:

This is the gate of the LORD;\

Through which the righteous shall enter.

(These are the words of those Levites who are doorkeepers at the temple. They explain that this gate belongs to Jehovah and is for the use of those godly ones who wish to draw near to Him.)

118:21, 22

SOLOIST:

I will praise You,

For You have answered me,

And have become my salvation.

(Israel acclaims the Lord Jesus Christ as her Savior.)

CHOIR:

The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief cornerstone.

(The Lord Jesus is the stone. The builders were the Jewish people, and especially their leaders, who rejected Him at His First Advent. Now the people of Israel confess what Parker calls "the stupidity of the specialists" as they see the despised Nazarene crowned with glory and honor. The rejected stone has become the Headstone of the corner [ASV]. There is some question as to whether the headstone is:

1. the cornerstone of a building.

2. the keystone of an arch.

3. the topmost stone of a pyramid.

Whichever is the correct view, the context demands the thought of highest honor.)

118:23

CHOIR:

This was the LORD's doing;

It is marvelous in our eyes.

(The choir represents Israel as acknowledging that it is Jehovah who has given the Lord Jesus His proper place in the hearts and affections of His people. The crowning day has come at last!)

118:24

CHOIR:

This is the day the LORD has made;

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

(Barnes writes: "As if it were a new day, made for this very occasion, a day which the people did not expect to see, and which seemed therefore to have been created out of the ordinary course, and added to the other days.")

118:25

CHOIR:

Save now, I pray, O LORD;

O LORD, I pray, send now prosperity!

(This is the verse which the people of Jerusalem quoted at the time of Christ's so-called triumphal entry; "Hosanna" is the original word for "Save now" [Mat 21:9]. But they soon changed their welcome to a call for His execution. Now, however, Israel is welcoming the Lord in the day of His power, and their sentiments are both sincere and lasting.)

118:26

SOLOIST:

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD;

(As the Lord approaches the temple area, the chief singer chants the blessing of the people in clarion tones. It is an historic moment. Centuries before, Jesus had warned the people of Israel that they would not see Him again until they said, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD" [Mat 23:39]. Now at last they gladly acknowledge Him as their Messiah and King.)

CHOIR:

We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.

(Perhaps this is the blessing of the priests, standing inside the door of the temple.)

118:27

CHOIR:

God is the LORD, and He has given us light;

Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.

(The congregation of Israel worships Jesus as God and as the One who has brought light to their darkened hearts. As the procession moves toward the brazen altar, with Him at the forefront, they call for cords to bind the sacrifice.)

118:28, 29

SOLOIST:

You are my God, and I will praise You;

You are my God, I will exalt You.

(The Lord Jesus Christ is confessed as God by a people who formerly used His name as a by-word.)

CHOIR:

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;

For His mercy endures forever.

(The song has risen to a crescendo of deep, deep praise and worship. The music reverberates through the surrounding streets of old Jerusalem. Then as it dies away, the people return to their dwellings to enjoy the wonderful thousand-year kingdom of the glorious Lord whose right it is to reign.)

PAUL'S TEACHING ON FAITH AND PRAYING!

Heb 11:32-40. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—

Heb 11:33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.

Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—

of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised,

since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

11:32 At this point Paul the writer asks a rhetorical question: And what more shall I say? He has given an imposing list of men and women who demonstrated faith and endurance in OT times. How many more must he give in order to make his point?

He has not run out of examples, but only out of time. It would take too long to go into details so he will satisfy himself to name a few and catalog some triumphs and testings of faith.

There was Gideon whose army was reduced from 32,000 to 300. First the timid were sent home, then those who thought too much of their own comfort. With a hard core of true disciples, Gideon routed the Midianites.

Then there was Barak. When called to lead Israel to battle against the Canaanites, he agreed only on the condition that Deborah would go with him. In spite of this cowardly facet in his character, God saw real trust and lists him among the men of faith.

Samson was another man of obvious weakness. Yet, in spite of that, God detected the faith that enabled him to kill a young lion with his hands, to destroy thirty Philistines in Ashkelon, to slay one thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey, to carry away the gates of Gaza, and finally to pull down the temple of Dagon and slay more Philistines in his death than he had in his life.

Though an illegitimate child, Jephthah rose to be the deliverer of his people from the Ammonites. He illustrates the truth that faith enables a man to rise above his birth and environment and make history for God.

The faith of David shines out in his contest with Goliath, in his noble behavior toward Saul, in his capture of Zion, and in countless other episodes. In his psalms, we find his faith crystallized in penitence, praise, and prophecy.

Samuel was the last of Israel's judges and her first prophet. He was God's man for the nation at a time when the priesthood was marked by spiritual bankruptcy. He was one of the greatest leaders in Israel's history.

Add to this list the prophets, a noble band of God's spokesmen, men who were embodied consciences, who would rather die than lie, who would rather go to heaven with a good conscience than stay on earth with a bad one.

11:33 Paul The writer now turns from naming people of faith to citing their exploits.

They subdued kingdoms.

Here our minds turn to Joshua, to the judges (who were really military leaders), to David, and to others.

They worked righteousness.

Kings like Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Hezekiah, and Josiah are remembered for reigns which, though not perfect, were characterized by righteousness.

They obtained promises.

This may mean that God made covenants with them, as in the case of Abraham, Moses, David, and Solomon; or it may mean that they received the fulfillment of promises, thus demonstrating the truth of God's word.

They stopped the mouths of lions.

Daniel is an outstanding example here (Dan 6:22), but we should also remember Samson (Jdg 14:5-6) and David (1Sa 17:34-35).

11:34 They quenched the violence of fire.

The fiery furnace succeeded only in burning the fetters of the three young Hebrews and setting them free (Dan 3:25). Thus it proved to be a blessing in disguise.

They escaped the edge of the sword.

David escaped Saul's malicious attacks (1Sa 19:9-10), Elijah escaped the murderous hatred of Jezebel (1Ki 19:1-3), and Elisha escaped from the king of Syria (2Ki 6:15-19).

They won strength out of weakness.

Many symbols of weakness are found in the annals of faith. Ehud, for instance, was left-handed; yet he slew the king of Moab (Jdg 3:12-22). Jael, a member of “the weaker sex,” killed Sisera with a tent peg (Jdg 4:21). Gideon used fragile earthen pitchers in the defeat of the Midianites (Jdg 7:20). Samson used the jawbone of a donkey to slay one thousand Philistines (Jdg 15:15). They all illustrate the truth that God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the strong (1Co 1:27).

They became valiant in battle.

Faith endowed men with strength beyond what was natural and enabled them to overcome in the face of insurmountable odds.

They put to flight the armies of the aliens.

Though often under-equipped and greatly outnumbered, the armies of Israel walked off with the victory to the confusion of the foe and the amazement of everyone else.

11:35 Women received their dead by resurrection.

The widow of Zarephath (1Ki 17:22) and the woman of Shunem (2Ki 4:34) are cases in point.

But faith has another face.

In addition to those who performed dazzling feats, there were those who endured intense suffering. God values the latter as much as the former.

Because of their faith in the Lord,

some were subjected to cruel torture. If they would have renounced Jehovah, they would have been released; but to them it was better to die and be raised again to heavenly glory than to continue this life as traitors to God. In the time of the Maccabees, a mother and her seven sons were put to death, one after the other, and in sight of each other, by Antiochus Epiphanes. They refused to accept release that they might obtain a better resurrection, that is, better than a mere continuation of life on earth. Morrison comments:

So this is also a result of faith,

not that it brings deliverance to a man, but that sometimes, when deliverance is offered, it gives him a fine courage to refuse it. There are seasons when faith shows itself in taking. There are seasons when it is witnessed in refusing. There is a deliverance that faith embraces. There is a deliverance that faith rejects. They were tortured, not accepting deliverance—that was the sign and seal that they were faithful. There are hours when the strongest proof of faith is the swift rejection of the larger room.

11:36 Others were mocked and flogged, and were bound in prison. For faithfulness to God, Jeremiah endured all these forms of punishment (Jer 20:1-6; Jer 37:15). Joseph too was imprisoned because he would rather suffer than sin (Gen 39:20).

11:37 They were stoned. Jesus reminded the scribes and Pharisees that their ancestors had murdered Zechariah in this way between the sanctuary and the altar (Mat 23:35).

They were sawn in two. Tradition says that Manasseh used this method of executing Isaiah.

They were tempted. This clause probably describes the tremendous pressures that were brought to bear on believers to compromise, to recant, to commit acts of sin, or in any way to deny their Lord.

They were slain with the sword. Uriah the prophet paid this price for his faithful proclamation of God's message to King Jehoiakim (Jer 26:23); but the expression here refers to mass slaughter such as occurred in the times of the Maccabees.

They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. Moorehead comments:

They might have rustled in silks and velvets and luxuriated in the palaces of princes had they denied God and believed the world's lie. Instead, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, themselves accounted no better than goats or sheep, nay, they like these reckoned fit only for the slaughter.

They suffered poverty, privation, and persecution.

11:38 The world treated them as if they were not worthy to live. But the Spirit of God burst forth here with the interjection that actually it was the other way around—the world was not worthy of them.

They wandered in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. Dispossessed of homes, separated from families, pursued like animals, expelled from society, they endured heat and cold, distress and hardship, but they would not deny their Lord.

11:39 God has borne witness to the faith of these OT heroes, yet they died before receiving the fulfillment of the promise. They did not live to see the Advent of the long awaited Messiah or to enjoy the blessings that would flow from His ministry.

11:40 God had reserved something better for us. He had arranged that they should not be made perfect apart from us. They never did enjoy a perfect conscience as far as sin was concerned; and they will not enjoy the full perfection of the glorified body in heaven until we are all caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess 4:13-18). The spirits of OT saints are already perfect in the presence of the Lord (Heb 12:23), but their bodies will not be raised from among the dead until the Lord returns for His people. Then they will enjoy the perfection of resurrection glory.

To put it another way, the OT believers were not as privileged as we are. Yet think of their thrilling triumphs and tremendous trials! Think of their exploits and their endurance! They lived on the other side of the cross; we live in the full glory of the cross. Yet how do our lives compare with theirs? This is the cogent challenge of Hebrews 11.

Monday, 28 January 2019

Prayer can change God’s Mind!

Isaiah 37:14-20 (AMPC) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDfuGb89x_8

14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. [2Ki 19:14-19]

15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:

16 O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, Who [in symbol] are enthroned above the cherubim [of the ark in the temple], You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

17 Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to mock, reproach, insult, and defy the living God.

18 It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands

19 And have cast the gods of those peoples into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them.

20 Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know (understand and realize) that You are the Lord, even You only.

37:14-20 Hezekiah has the good sense to take the letter to the temple and spread it before the Lord. In a short but moving prayer that demonstrates the king's great faith, he asks God to save Judah from the king of Assyria so "that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD, You alone."

19:14-20 Hezekiah wisely took the letter . . . to the temple and spread it before the LORD. His prayer was a revelation of his deep trust in Jehovah. In reply, God sent Hezekiah a twofold answer by way of Isaiah.

2 Kings 19:19

19 Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech You, save us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know and understand that You, O Lord, are God alone

Hezekiah encloses this in another letter, a praying letter, a believing letter, and sends it to the King of kings, who judges among the gods. Hezekiah was not so haughty as not to receive the letter, though we may suppose the superscription did not give him his due titles; when he had received it he was not so careless as not to read it; when he had read it he was not in such a passion as to write an answer to it in the same provoking language; but he immediately went up to the temple, presented himself, and then spread the letter before the Lord (2Ki 18:14), not as if God needed to have the letter shown to him (he knew what was in it before Hezekiah did), but hereby he signified that he acknowledged God in all his ways, - that he desired not to aggravate the injuries his enemies did him nor to make them appear worse than they were, but desired they might be set in a true light, - and that he referred himself to God, and his righteous judgment, upon the whole matter. Hereby likewise he would affect himself in the prayer he came to the temple to make; and we have need of all possible helps to quicken us in that duty. In the prayer which Hezekiah prayed over this letter,

1. He adores the God whom Sennacherib had blasphemed (2Ki 18:15), calls him the God of Israel, because Israel was his peculiar people, and the God that dwelt between the cherubim, because there was the peculiar residence of his glory upon earth; but he gives glory to him as the God of the whole earth, and not, as Sennacherib fancied him to be, the God of Israel only, and confined to the temple. “Let them say what they will, thou art sovereign Lord, for thou art the God, the God of gods, sole Lord, even thou alone, universal Lord of all the kingdoms of the earth, and rightful Lord, for thou hast made heaven and earth. Being Creator of all, by an incontestable title thou art owner and ruler of all.”

2. He appeals to God concerning the insolence and profaneness of Sennacherib (2Ki 18:16): “Lord, hear; Lord, see. Here it is under his own hand; here it is in black and white.” Had Hezekiah only been abused, he would have passed it by; but it is God, the living God, that is reproached, the jealous God. Lord, what wilt thou do for thy great name?

3. He owns Sennacherib's triumphs over the gods of the heathen, but distinguishes between them and the God of Israel (2Ki 18:17, 2Ki 18:18): He has indeed cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, unable to help either themselves or their worshipers, and therefore no wonder that he has destroyed them; and, in destroying them, though he knew it not, he really served the justice and jealousy of the God of Israel, who has determined to extirpate all the gods of the heathen. But those are deceived who think they can therefore be too hard for him. He is none of the gods whom men's hands have made, but he has himself made all things, Psa 115:3, Psa 115:4.

4. He prays that God will now glorify himself in the defeat of Sennacherib and the deliverance of Jerusalem out of his hands (2Ki 19:19): “Now therefore save us; for if we be conquered, as other lands are, they will say that thou art conquered, as the gods of those lands were: but, Lord, distinguish thyself, by distinguishing us, and let all the world know, and be made to confess, that thou art the Lord God, the self-existent sovereign God, even thou only, and that all pretenders are vanity and a lie.” Note, The best pleas in prayer are those which are taken from God's honour; and therefore the Lord's prayer begins with Hallowed be thy name, and concludes with Thine is the glory

Sunday, 27 January 2019

I AM DOING A NEW THING!

Isa 43:19 Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Remember ye not the former things — But although your former deliverance out of Egypt was in itself a most glorious work, which you ought always to remember and consider; yet this other work, of your deliverance out of Babylon, and those blessings which shall follow upon it, and particularly that of sending the Messiah, shall be so transcendent a favour, that, in comparison thereof, all your former deliverances are scarcely worthy of your remembrance and consideration. See two parallel texts, Jer 16:14-15; Jer 23:5-8. From which passages laid together it appears that this latter deliverance, compared with that out of Egypt, is not to be confined to their restoration from captivity, but to be extended to the consequences thereof, and especially to the redemption of the Messiah. Indeed, otherwise the deliverance from Egypt was more glorious and wonderful, in many respects, than that out of Babylon.

Shall ye not know it? — Certainly, you Jews shall know it by experience, and shall find I do not deceive you with vain hopes. I will make a way in the wilderness, &c. — I will give you direction and provision in the wilderness, where there is commonly no path, and where all necessaries are wanting; which, as it literally speaks of God’s conducting them through the great desert which lay between Babylon and Judea, so it is mystically meant of those spiritual blessings which God, in and through Christ, would confer upon all his people, not the Jews only, but also the Gentiles, who, in prophetical language, are often compared to a wilderness.

Behold, I will do a new thing,.... A wonderful and unheard of thing, and therefore introduced with a "behold", as a note of admiration; the same with the new thing created in the earth, Jer 31:22, the incarnation of the Son of God; who took flesh of a virgin, appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh, and was made sin and a curse for his people, in order to obtain eternal redemption for them; which blessing, though not newly thought of, resolved on, contrived, and agreed upon, that being from eternity; nor newly made known, or as to the virtue and efficacy of it, which had been from the beginning of the world, yet new as to the impetration of it by the blood and sacrifice of Christ; and may be also called "new", because excellent, it being of a spiritual nature, complete and eternal, and having so many valuable blessings in it, as justification, pardon, and eternal life:

now it shall spring forth; or bud forth as a branch, in a very short time, suddenly, and at once; one of the Messiah's names is that of the Branch; see Zec 3:8,

Jeremiah 23:5 (AMPC). V5 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch (Sprout), and He will reign as King and do wisely and will execute justice and righteousness in the land.

Zechariah 6:12 (AMPC). V12 And say to him, Thus says the Lord of hosts: [You, Joshua] behold (look at, keep in sight, watch) the Man [the Messiah] whose name is the Branch, for He shall grow up in His place and He shall build the [true] temple of the Lord. [Isa 4:2; Jer 23:5; Jer 33:15; Zec 3:8]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDfuGb89x_8

shall ye not know it? the Redeemer, and the redemption by him. It was known to them that looked for it, and to whom the Gospel is sent, and the Spirit reveals and applies it; these know the nature of it, own it to be of God, and know their interest in it, and know the author of it, in whom they have believed, by the characters given of him: and as this may have respect to the redemption of Christ, so to the conversion of the Gentiles, and to the grace of God dispensed through Christ to them; when old things passed away, and all things became new; a new covenant of grace was exhibited, a new church state set up, new ordinances appointed, and a new people called to partake of all this, on whom was a new face of things; and wonderful and excellent things were done for them, as follows:

I will even make a way in the wilderness; as there was a way made for the Israelites through the wilderness, which lay between Egypt and Canaan; and through another, which lay between Babylon and Judea; so the Lord would also make a way in the Gentile world, comparable to a wilderness for its barrenness and unfruitfulness, for the Gospel to enter into it, where it should run, and be glorified; where Christ, the way of salvation, should be made known; and where there should be a way for Christians to walk together, in the fellowship of the Gospel:

and rivers in the desert; the doctrines of the Gospel, and the ordinances of it, which should be preached and administered in the Gentile world, before like a desert; and the graces of the Spirit, which should be brought into the hearts of men by means of them; and the large communications of grace from Christ; and the discoveries of the love of God, with the blessings of it; compared to rivers for their abundance, and for the comforting, reviving, and fructifying nature of them.

Behold, I will do a new thing !

It is, of course, quite possible that the novelty is not merely in the circumstances of the deliverance, but extends to all its results, among which is the Messianic kingdom—verily, a "new thing" (see Jer 31:22). Now it shall spring forth; rather, already it is springing up (comp. Isa 42:9). Things, however, are more advanced (to the prophet’s eye) than when that passage was written. Events are shaping themselves—the deliverance approaches. Shall ye not know it? rather, will ye not give heed to it? Will not the exiled people, whom Isaiah addresses, turn their thoughts this way, and let the idea of deliverance take possession of their minds, instead of brooding on past and present sufferings (see Isa 40:30; Isa 41:17; Isa 42:22)? God is about to make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. As he led his people out of their Egyptian bondage, first through the Red Sea, and then through a "howling wilderness" (Deu 32:10), so now he will "make a way" for them through a still more desolate tract. We are nowhere historically told by what route the Israelites ultimately returned. If they went by Tadmor and Damascus, they must have traversed a most arid and difficult desert. Even if they did not quit the Euphrates till they reached the latitude of Aleppo, still they must have had some wide tracts of wilderness to cross.

I Am doing a new thing!

Isa 43:19 Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Behold, I will do a new thing — Such a work as was never yet done in the world. Now it shall spring forth — The Scripture often speaks of things at a great distance of time, as if they were now at hand, to make us sensible of the inconsiderableness of time and all temporal things, in comparison of God and eternal things; upon which account it is said, that a thousand years are in God’s sight but as one day. Shall ye not know it? — Certainly, you Jews shall know it by experience, and shall find I do not deceive you with vain hopes. I will make a way in the wilderness, &c. — I will give you direction and provision in the wilderness, where there is commonly no path, and where all necessaries are wanting; which, as it literally speaks of God’s conducting them through the great desert which lay between Babylon and Judea, so it is mystically meant of those spiritual blessings which God, in and through Christ, would confer upon all his people, not the Jews only, but also the Gentiles, who, in prophetical language, are often compared to a wilderness.

now it shall spring forth; or bud forth as a branch, in a very short time, suddenly, and at once; one of the Messiah's names is that of the Branch; see Zec 3:8,

Behold, I will do a new thing !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDfuGb89x_8

Friday, 25 January 2019

Patience in Suffering

Jas 5:7-8. So be patient, brethren, [as you wait] till the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits expectantly for the precious harvest from the land. [See how] he keeps up his patient [vigil] over it until it receives the early and late rains.

So you also must be patient. Establish your hearts [strengthen and confirm them in the final certainty], for the coming of the Lord is very near.

Be patient therefore, brethren,.... The apostle here addresses himself to the poor who were oppressed by the rich men, and these he calls "brethren" of whom he was not ashamed; when he does not bestow this title upon the rich, though professors of the same religion: these poor brethren he advises to be patient under their sufferings, to bear them with patience,

unto the coming of the Lord; not to destroy Jerusalem, but either at death, or at the last, judgment; when he will take vengeance on their oppressors, and deliver them from all their troubles, and put them into the possession of that kingdom, and glory, to which they are called; wherefore, in the mean while, he would have them be quiet and easy, not to murmur against God, nor seek to take vengeance on men, but leave it to God, to whom it belongs, who will judge his people:

behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth; ripe fruit, which arises from the seed he sows in the earth; and which may be called "precious", because useful both to man and beast; see Deu 33:14 and between this, and the sowing of the seed, is a considerable time, during which the husbandman waits; and this may be an instruction in the present case:

and hath patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain; the Jews had seldom rains any more than twice a year; the early, or former rain, was shortly after the feast of tabernacles (u), in the month Marchesvan, or October, when the seed was sown in the earth; and if it did not rain, they prayed for it, on the third or seventh day of the month (w); and the latter rain was in Nisan, or March (x), just before harvest; and to this distinction the passage refers.

Be ye also patient,.... As well as the husbandman, and like him; and wait for the rains and dews of divine grace to fall, and make fruitful, and for the ripe fruit of eternal life; and in the mean while cheerfully and patiently bear all injuries, and oppressions:

stablish your hearts; though the state of the saints is stable, they being fixed in the everlasting love of God, in the covenant of grace, in the hands of Christ, and on the rock of ages; yet their hearts are very unstable, and so are their frames, and the exercise of grace in them, and need establishing, which God's work; which is often done by the means of the word and ordinances; and these the saints should make use of, for the establishing of their hearts: the sense may be, take heart, be of good cheer, do not be dismayed, or faint, or sink under your pressures, but be of good courage, pluck up your spirits, lift up your heads: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh; when he will render tribulation to them that trouble them, free them from all their sorrows and afflictions, and enter them into the joy of their Lord; which will be either at death, which was not very far off, or at the last day, which was drawing nearer and nearer, and which with God was near; with whom a thousand years are as one day

Monday, 21 January 2019

PUTTING THE WORD TO WORK!

The Church in Antioch

Act 11:19-25 Meanwhile those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose in connection with Stephen had traveled as far away as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, without delivering the message [concerning the attainment through Christ of salvation in the kingdom of God] to anyone except Jews.

But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on returning to Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, proclaiming [to them] the good news (the Gospel) about the Lord Jesus.

And the presence of the Lord was with them with power, so that a great number [learned] to believe (to adhere to and trust in and rely on the Lord) and turned and surrendered themselves to Him.

The rumors of this came to the ears of the church (assembly) in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

When he arrived and saw what grace (favor) God was bestowing upon them, he was full of joy; and he continuously exhorted (warned, urged, and encouraged) them all to cleave unto and remain faithful to and devoted to the Lord with [resolute and steady] purpose of heart.

For he was a good man [good in himself and also at once for the good and the advantage of other people], full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit and full of faith (of his belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through Whom we obtain eternal salvation). And a large company was added to the Lord. [Barnabas] went on to Tarsus to hunt for Saul.

This Gentile church was flourishing in grace. Every true minister will, like Barnabas, strive to promote the growth of grace and knowledge in the Church; and if he cannot accomplish the twofold work himself, he will, like Barnabas, seek another to help him. To our knowledge let us add grace; both are necessary in order to perfection in religion.

Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. (20) And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. (21) And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. (22) Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. (23) Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. (24) For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.

I beg the Reader to notice, how the Lord overruled the persecution which arose at Jerusalem, in the death of Stephen, and other faithful servants to the Lord; to minister to his glory, in scattering his people far and near to spread the Gospel. How little are the enemies of the cross aware, how greatly their malice sometimes turns out, to the furtherance of the truth, as it is in Jesus! How often they become thereby, the unwilling instruments, in promoting the very reverse of what they intend. So it was here: so is it now; and so the Lord will forever make it, as long as the present-time-state of the Church shall remain. And I hope the Reader will not pass away from that precious verse, which speaks of the hand of the Lord being with them, until that he hath first observed the blessedness of the thing itself, and the blessings which are said to have followed.

I admire the character given of Barnabas. It is but short, though sweet. A good man, and full of the Holy Ghost! What could be said more? And observe what holy joy it opened in his soul, when he had seen the Lord’s work, in the hearts of the Lord’s people. For, in the great number which are said to have believed, Barnabas beheld some of the same blessed effects discovering themselves in the people, which he felt in his own experience. For where God the Spirit dwells, all the properties of regenerating, renewing, illuminating, converting, and confirming grace, cannot but abound.

And there is a very great sweetness in this exhortation of the Apostle, which he gave them, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord, He used the exhortation, but he was directing their minds to look unto the Lord for the accomplishment. Hold thou me up, (said one of old,) and I shall be safe. Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee! Reader! it is blessed, when at any time we receive the Lord’s commands, to be looking to the Lord for grace to follow them. I shall run (said the same holy saint I just now quoted,) the way of thy commandments; when thou hast set my heart at liberty. Here is the strength for performance. And when we are enabled to accept the Lord’s biddings, as enablings! oh! how sweet and precious are all the Lord’s ways to his people, Psa 119:32. Reader! do not dismiss this view of Barnabas, and his exhortation, before that you have first enquired at the heart, whether you have followed it. No man can cleave unto the Lord, until he knows the Lord. And if we truly know the Lord, we shall know ourselves also: and in that knowledge, both of our nothingness, and Christ’s all sufficiency, the tendency of the soul will be, to cleave unto him. They that know thy name will put their trust in thee. No man can trust, or cleave to, an unknown God, Joh 4:10; Psa 9:10.

And it will be among the easiest of all things, to discover whether we cleave to the Lord by the conscious strength and help we derive from the Lord. The tenderest plants in nature are not more feeble, when they throw their blanches round some statelier tree for support, as the ivy to the oak, than a child of God, which cleaves to Christ, and lays hold of Jesus, as his whole security. And how sweet in confirmation is that Scripture. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms, Deu 33:27. Reader! it will be well for you and me, if while we admire, as we cannot but admire, this interesting account of Barnabas, we can trace somewhat of the same spirit which marked his life, in our own. Moses, the man of God, enjoined the same motive to Israel for cleaving to the Lord, because (said he,) he is your life, Deu 30:20.

Encouragement is a powerful gift. It is not flattery or empty praise, but heartening words that inspire us with hope and confidence meant to build us up in our relationships with God and others.

Bar Abu’s was an encourager and God sent him to edify and build us up the people in Antioch see Acts 11:19-24.

Do you have a Barnabus in your life? Thank God for that person. Are you a Barnabus in someone else’s life. Ask God to help you be an encouragement to others!

Saturday, 19 January 2019

The Lord's Prayer!

Mat 6:5-15. Also when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full already.

But when you pray, go into your [most] private room, and, closing the door, pray to your Father, Who is in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open.

And when you pray, do not heap up phrases (multiply words, repeating the same ones over and over) as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their much speaking. [1Ki 18:25-29]

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

Pray, therefore, like this: Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed (kept holy) be Your name.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven (left, remitted, and let go of the debts, and have given up resentment against) our debtors.

And lead (bring) us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

For if you forgive people their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses.

Matthew 5:1—8:34

GENERAL CHARACTER. The magna charta of Christ’s Kingdom: the unfolding of His righteousness; the sublimest code of morals ever proclaimed on earth; the counterpart of the legislation on Mount Sinai; Christ here appears as Lawgiver and King; Moses spoke in God’s name; Christ speaks in His own.—Its position, contents, connection, as well as the whole tenor of the New Testament, show that it is the end of the law and the beginning of the gospel, the connecting link between the two: (1) a mighty call to repentance for the unconverted, showing them their infinite distance from the holiness required by the law; (2) a mirror of the divine will for believers, showing them the ideal of Christian morality; (3) an announcement of blessings (beatitudes) to all in whom the law has fulfilled its mission, to create a sense of sin and guilt, to beget humility and meekness of spirit, as well as to encourage and impel to higher attainments. It is at once a warning, a standard and a promise, but not the whole gospel. The gospel is about Christ as well as from Christ. This discourse contains little about His Person and Work; nor could it. The audience was not ready, not even the Twelve (Mar 1:16-20), facts were not accomplished, the Teacher was wise in withholding, was still in His humiliation; only when He was glorified did the full glory of the gospel appear. The improper estimate of its significance makes Christ a mere teacher of ethics, not a Saviour; makes the gospel a higher legalism, not the power of God unto salvation; exalting Christ’s earliest instruction to the Apostles at the expense of the later; uses His tender words on the Mount of Beatitudes to make us forget Calvary; puts His principles before His Person, failing to lead us to Him. But while it is not the full gospel, its tone is evangelical, and its ideal is Christian; not telling how or why we are saved, it implies throughout that God must and will help, encourages us to ask from Him (chap. Mat 7:11). Addressed to those under the law, it is the best introduction to the gospel.

2. Leading thought and plan. The connection of thoughts, so far as Matthew indicates it, is with chap. Mat 4:17: ‘Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ The motive to repentance was the coming of the ‘kingdom,’ about which the Jews had wrong expectations. These errors are met at the outset by a description of the character of the citizens of that kingdom, while the call to repentance is both expanded and enforced in the body of the discourse, which spiritualizes the law. The leading thoughts are respecting the true standard of righteousness, negatively, higher than the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees (chap. Mat 5:20), positively, like God’s (chap. Mat 5:48). The Golden Rule (Mat 7:12) is not the leading thought, since the ethics of the discourse are religious; see notes.

The discourse follows the method of natural association, although in some cases the connection of thought is difficult to determine. A plan ‘is simply such an analysis as will help us to understand it as a whole.

Chap. 5. A description of the character of the citizens of the kingdom of heaven, their relation to the world (Mat 5:3-16); the relation of Christ to the law, with HIS exposition of the law, culminating in a reference to God’s perfection (Mat 5:17-48).

Chap. 6. Religious duties; the false and true performance of them contrasted (Mat 6:1-18); instruction regarding dedication of the heart to God and consequent trust in Him (Mat 6:19-34).

Chap. 7. Caution against censoriousness, prayer enjoined through promise of an answer, to which promise the Golden Rule is annexed (Mat 7:1-12); exhortation to self-denial, warning against false teachers and false professions (Mat 7:13-23); conclusion, two similitudes respecting obedient and disobedient hearers (Mat 7:24-27). The impression produced on the multitude is then stated (Mat 5:28-29).

3. RELATION OF THE DISCOURSES in Matthew and Luke (Luk 6:20-49).

Points of agreement: Both begin with beatitudes, end with the same similitudes, contain substantially the same thoughts, frequently expressed in the same language. In both Gospels an account of the healing of the centurion’s servant immediately follows.

Points of difference: Matthew gives one hundred and seven verses, Luke but thirty; Matthew seven (or nine) beatitudes, Luke four, followed by four ‘woes.’ Luke is sometimes fuller than Matthew, and the order is occasionally different. Our Lord was sitting (Mat 6:1) when this discourse was delivered; apparently standing (Luk 6:17) during the other. This was uttered on a mountain, the other on a plain. A number of important events mentioned by Luke before the discourse are heard by Matthew after it.

Explanations: (a) Two reports of the same discourse; each Evangelist modifying to suit his purpose. This is the common view, involving fewest difficulties. It is then assumed, that our Lord was standing immediately before the discourse, but sat down to speak; that on the mountain there was a plain just below the summit (the fact in the traditional locality: ‘the Horns of Hattin,’ or ‘Kur’n Hattin,’ see Mat 6:1). The chronological difficulty is not serious. Matthew mentions the sending out of the Twelve (chap. 10), not the choice, which is narrated by Mark and Luke. The latter immediately preceded the discourse (so Luke), the former took place some time after. The mention by Matthew of his own call out of its chronological position is readily accounted for (see in chap. Mat 9:1-17).

(b) Two discourses on entirely different occasions. So Augustine and others. This is an improbable solution, not called for by the chronological difficulties. The mention of the same miracle as immediately following in both Gospels shows that the occasions, if different, were not widely separated.

(c) Different discourses, but delivered in immediate succession; the longer one on the mountain to the disciples, the other on the plain to the multitudes. So Lange. Favored by the direct address to the disciples, and the allusion to the Pharisees (Matthew 5), not found in Luke’s account; opposed however by the fact that the multitudes also heard the longer discourse (Mat 7:28).

(d) Two summaries of our Lord’s teaching about this time, not reports of particular discourses. Such summaries would be in an appropriate place, since in both cases a general sketch of our Lord’s ministry proceeds. But both Evangelists specify the place, and even our Lord’s posture.—Accepting the differing reports of the same discourse, we should remember that the Evangelists did not compose their histories from written documents and with literal accuracy in details, but (according to Oriental fashion) from memory, which was then much better trained than now, and from living impressions of the whole Christ, strengthened and guarded by the Holy Spirit. Hence we have after all a truer, more lifelike and instructive account of our Lord’s ministry, just as pictures embodying the varied expressions of a man’s countenance are more true to the life than a photograph which can only fix the momentary image. This fact accounts both for the remarkable essential agreement and the decided individuality and difference in detail, which characterize the Gospels. The two reports of the Sermon on the Mount present in a striking manner these characteristics. The date is probably just after the feast mentioned in Joh 5:1, if that is to be placed during the Galilean ministry. Our Lord had certainly been preaching in Galilee for some time, and had already aroused the antagonism of the Pharisees. See chap. Mat 12:1-15, for the events immediately preceding (comp. Mar 2:1-19; Luk 6:1-16).

Matthew 6:1-18

Our Lord passes from moral to religious duties, enjoining a ‘righteousness’ (Mat 6:1), which exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees (‘hypocrites’), and has regard to the character of our ‘Father who is in heaven.’ The three leading manifestations of practical piety: almsgiving (Mat 6:2-4), prayer (Mat 6:5-15), and fasting (Mat 6:17-18), as performed by hypocrites and by the subjects of Christ’s kingdom. The wrong end: ‘to be seen of men;’ the wrong method, ‘before men;’ the wrong reward, ‘they have received’ it. The right end, ‘to glorify our heavenly Father’ (chap. Mat 5:16); the right method, ‘in secret;’ the right reward, that which our heavenly Father shall give.—The false tendency leads to externalism, publicity, and present popularity in religion. The true public worship of God must encourage the meekness and humility of individual worshippers.—Forgiveness and worship again conjoined (Mat 6:12; Mat 6:14-15, comp. chap. Mat 5:23-24).—The close connection of self-righteous worship with merely outward worship, and the rapid transition to vain and sinful worship.—On the Lord’s Prayer, see below.

Matthew 6:5

But when ye pray. The plural form is more correct. That men ought to pray is assumed. Prayerless men cannot consistently praise the Sermon on the Mount and the morality of Jesus of Nazareth. Religion is the backbone of morality; the second table presupposes the first: no love to man without love to God.

Ye shall not be. This neither ought to be nor will be the case, if we are Christ’s disciples.

They love, not to pray, but to stand and pray, etc., for the praise of men, resulting from the publicity of the places they chose for their pretended devotions. It was right enough to pray in the usual posture, and the synagogues were proper places of devotion; but the standing was of a kind to attract attention. Not posture and place, but spirit and motive are condemned.

In the broad ways. The word here used is not that found in Mat 6:2. The hypocrites would purposely be in such conspicuous places at the fixed hours of prayer. The fashion of airing piety in this way has not died out.

https://youtu.be/imJZlhOsPKM

Thursday, 17 January 2019

He Is Greater!

1Jn 4:4-6.

Little children, you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He Who lives in you is Greater (mightier) than he who is in the world.

They proceed from the world and are of the world; therefore it is out of the world [its whole economy morally considered] that they speak, and the world listens (pays attention) to them.

We are [children] of God. Whoever is learning to know God [progressively to perceive, recognize, and understand God by observation and experience, and to get an ever-clearer knowledge of Him] listens to us; and he who is not of God does not listen or pay attention to us. By this we know (recognize) the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error.

1 John 4:4-6

Ye are of God - You are of his family; you have embraced his truth, and imbibed his Spirit.

Little children - Notes, 1Jn 2:1.

And have overcome them - Have triumphed over their arts and temptations; their endeavors to draw you into error and sin. The word them in this place seems to refer to the false prophets or teachers who collectively constituted antichrist. The meaning is, that they had frustrated or thwarted all their attempts to turn them away from the truth.

Because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world - God, who dwells in your hearts, and by whose strength and grace alone you have been enabled to achieve this victory, is more mighty than Satan, who rules in the hearts of the people of this world, and whose seductive arts are seen in the efforts of these false teachers. The apostle meant to say that it was by no power of their own that they achieved this victory, but it was to be traced solely to the fact that God dwelt among them, and had preserved them by his grace. What was true then is true now. He who dwells in the hearts of Christians by his Spirit, is infinitely more mighty than Satan, “the ruler of the darkness of this world;” and victory, therefore, over all his arts and temptations may be sure. In his conflicts with sin, temptation, and error, the Christian should never despair, for his God will insure him the victory.

They are of the world - This was one of the marks by which those who had the spirit of antichrist might be known. They belonged not to the church of God, but to the world. They had its spirit; they acted on its principles; they lived for it. Compare the notes at 1Jn 2:15.

Therefore speak they of the world - Compare the notes at Joh 3:31. This may mean either that their conversation pertained to the things of this world, or that they were wholly influenced by the love of the world, and not by the Spirit of God, in the doctrines which they taught. The general sense is, that they had no higher ends and aims than they have who are influenced only by worldly plans and expectations. It is not difficult to distinguish, even among professed Christians and Christian teachers, those who are heavenly in their conversation from those who are influenced solely by the spirit of the world. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,” and the general turn of a man’s conversation will show what “spirit is within him.”

And the world heareth them - The people of the world - the frivoulous ones, the rich, the proud, the ambitious, the sensual - receive their instructions, and recognize them as teachers and guides, for their views accord with their own. See the notes at Joh 15:19. A professedly religious teacher may always determine much about himself by knowing what class of people are pleased with him. A professed Christian of any station in life may determine much about his evidences of piety, by asking himself what kind of persons desire his friendship, and wish him for a companion.

We are of God - John here, doubtless, refers to himself, and to those who taught the same doctrines which he did. He takes it for granted that those to whom he wrote would admit this, and argues from it as an indisputable truth. He had given them such evidence of this, as to establish his character and claims beyond a doubt; and he often refers to the fact that he was what he claimed to be, as a point which was so well established that no one would call it in question. See Joh 19:35; Joh 21:24; 3Jn 1:12. Paul, also, not unfrequently refers to the same thing respecting himself; to the fact - a fact which no one would presume to call in question, and which might be regarded as the basis of an argument - that he and his fellow apostles were what they claimed to be. See 1Co 15:14-15; 1Th 2:1-11. Might not, and ought not, all Christians, and all Christian ministers, so to live that the same thing might be assumed in regard to them in their contact with their fellow-men; that their characters for integrity and purity might be so clear that no one would be disposed to call them in question? There are such men in the church and in the ministry now; why might not all be such?

He that knoweth God, heareth us - Every one that has a true acquaintance with the character of God will receive our doctrine. John might assume this, for it was not doubted, he presumed, that he was an apostle and a good man; and if this were admitted, it would follow that those who feared and loved God would receive what he taught.

Hereby - By this; to wit, by the manner in which they receive the doctrines which we have taught.

Know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error - We can distinguish those who embrace the truth from those who do not. Whatever pretensions they might set up for piety, it was clear that if they did not embrace the doctrines taught by the true apostles of God, they could not be regarded as his friends; that is, as true Christians. It may be added that the same test is applicable now. They who do not receive the plain doctrines laid down in the word of God, whatever pretensions they may make to piety, or whatever zeal they may evince in the cause which they have espoused, can have no well-founded claims to the name Christian. One of the clearest evidences of true piety is a readiness to receive all that God has taught. Compare Mat 18:1-3; Mar 10:15; Jas 1:19-21.

Wednesday, 16 January 2019

God is able to make all grace abound to you!

https://youtu.be/UXXQKdiyNTc

On the Road Again…with New Provisions

“My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Php 4:19).

we once again undertake our upward journey to a place named Grace, our hearts are full from a recent visit with the Apostle Paul at the Tavern.

Grace is the power of Christ to do God’s will.

Our visual Tour Guide now makes perfect sense. By looking at the illustration we can see that God’s will for each of our lives is measured out as a specific sphere of ministry and influence around our lives. And He has matched that measure with a proportionate supply of His grace – the power of Christ to do God’s will.

Once we humble ourselves in agreement with God and embrace His will for our lives, His grace begins to fill our sphere of influence with power, purpose, provision, and peace. Like Paul we can now say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!”

When we are standing in the center of God’s will, then we have everything we need to be and do whatever it is that God wants for us. Paul said, “God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound to every good work” (2Co 9:8). This says it all!

Remember? Paul told us about this. “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think (i.e., outside your measure); but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” (Rom 12:3).

The measure of faith which God has dealt to you is in exact proportion to the measure of God’s will for your life, and the measure of God’s grace in your life.

Because God made each of us unique, we all have gifts differing from one another according to the grace that is given to us, and we are to exercise these gifts “according to the proportion of faith” (see Rom 12:6).

Faith is the conscious awareness of what meets with God’s approval, as revealed to us by the Spirit of God through the Word; and the courageous decision to live within that conviction.

is not merely believing you can do something; it is knowing that you can through the power of Christ – GRACE.

When faith is active in our lives we will not over-extend ourselves into matters that are outside of God’s will. Nor will we through fear and unbelief limit ourselves to doing something less than God’s will.

Presumption, thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought, takes us outside the measure of Grace….and leaves us languishing in a place called Grief.

Here, then, is what we know to be true.

God has given each one of us the grace and the faith that we need to do exactly what He has called us to do – no more; no less. Life takes on its fullest meaning and finds its greatest success when we abide in this blessed place – a place named Grace.

Brace yourself; for tomorrow when we turn the corner up ahead….what you will see is going to blow your minds!

Philippians 4:19

But my God shall supply all your need - That is, “You have shown your regard for me as a friend of God, by sending to me in my distress, and I have confidence that, in return for all this, God will supply all your needs, when you are in circumstances of necessity.” Paul’s confidence in this seems not to have been founded on any express revelation; but on the general principle that God would regard their offering with favor. Nothing is lost, even in the present life, by doing good. In thousands of instances it is abundantly repaid. The benevolent are not usually poor; and if they are, God often raises up for them benefactions, and sends supplies in a manner as unexpected, and hearing proofs of divine interposition as decided, as when supplies were sent by the ravens to the prophet.

According to his riches in glory - see the notes, Eph 3:16. The word “riches” here means, His abundant fullness; His possessing all things; His inexhaustible ability to supply their needs. The phrase “in glory,” is probably to he connected with the following phrase, “in Christ Jesus;” and means that the method of imparting supplies to people was through Jesus Christ, and was a glorious method; or, that it was done in a glorious manner. It is such an expression as Paul is accustomed to use, when speaking of what God does. He is not satisfied with saying simply that it is so; but connects with it the idea that whatever God does is done in a way worthy of himself, and so as to illustrate his own perfections.

In Christ Jesus - By the medium of Christ; or through him. All the favors that Paul expected for himself, or his fellow-men, he believed would be conferred through the Redeemer. Even the supply of our temporal needs comes to us through the Saviour. Were it not for the atonement, there is no more reason to suppose that blessings would be conferred upon people than that they would be on fallen angels. For them no atonement has been made; and at the hand of justice they have received only wretchedness and woe.

God must be ours, and we must be His

https://youtu.be/awkO61T6i0k

The River of God

"There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God." Psa 46:4

The Bible opens the history of man by showing him surrounded by a garden. It is in the midst of a garden he awakes, touched into life by the creating hand. There he learns his kingship in creation; there he discovers One whom he can love; there he walks in fellowship with God. We read, too, that through the garden ran a river. It flowed from Eden through the midst of paradise. On leaving Eden it parted into four, and its streams went out to fertilize the world. This, then, is the environment of man in the idyllic morning of his days—a garden of perfect beauty and delight made glad by the flowing of a river.

But as the history of man proceeds, of man in his relationship to God, the need arises of some other figure to illustrate the scenery of redemption. As long as man is unfallen, so long is a garden his true environment. There is no sin seeking to assail him, no hostile power bent upon his destruction. He can walk secure amid his garden groves and live without apprehension of assault.

The City

But with the advent of sin, all is changed. There grows an antagonism between man and God. The Church of God separates from the world and lives engirded by a deadly enemy. And just as this antagonism deepens, so does the thought of the garden become dim, and its place is taken in poetry and prophecy by the sterner concept of the city. For modern man the city is the home of commerce and its social life is the measure of its value. But in earlier times the value of the city lay mainly in the security it offered. And all who have seen a medieval city with its high walls and its defended ports will understand how in the day of trouble the city was the stronghold of the land. It was not to gardens that men fled for refuge when the trumpet rang its summons of alarm. They tilled their garden in the day of peace, but fled to the city in the day of danger.

And so as the conflict of the spirit deepened and life assumed the aspect of a war, the garden ceased to represent the Church, and the battlement city took its place. That is why Scripture opens with a garden and closes its long story with a city. Slowly above the dust of spiritual battle there rose the outline of a city's wall, until at last, all that the psalmist hoped for and all that the prophet had declared in faith, was seen in vision by the seer in Patmos.

Now this identification of Church and city was greatly furthered among the Jews by one thing. It was greatly furthered for the Jews by the increasing importance of Jerusalem. So long as the Israelites were villagers and lived a pastoral or rural life, just so long their concept of a noble city was drawn from what they knew of foreign capitals. But as Jerusalem began to grow in numbers and to attract the attention of the world, then the associations of the city took a kindlier and more familiar tone. No Jew could picture a city of his God so long as the greatest cities were all heathen. There must be a capital of his own land to suggest and to inspire the figure. And so it was, as Jerusalem advanced and became the home of government and worship, that both prophet and psalmist with increasing confidence described the Church as the city of Jehovah. It was not just of Jerusalem they thought, though under all they thought about lay Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the sacrament and seal of the invisible city of their quest. Hence John in the closing page of Revelation, when he describes the city of his vision, says, "I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem."

Now between Jerusalem and other cities there was one point of sharp and striking contrast. Jerusalem stood almost alone in this. It had no river flowing by its walls. It was very beautiful for situation; and as a city compactly built together, it occupied a position of great strength, and its walls were a mighty safeguard round about it. Yet one thing it lacked to beautify its streets and to make it a safe shelter when besieged—and the one thing which it wanted was a river. Nineveh had the waters of the Tigris; through Babylon wound the streams of the Euphrates; the city of Thebes rose beside the Nile, and Rome was to win her glory by the Tiber.

Jerusalem alone possessed no river; no depth of water flowed beneath her walls; all she could boast of, beside her wells and springs, was an insignificant and intermittent stream. It is that which explains the psalmist's exclamation. A river!—the streams of it make glad the city. He sees Jerusalem, yet it is not Jerusalem, for in his vision there flows a river there. Once there had been a river in the garden when the garden was man's meeting-place with God, and now the garden has become the city, and behold there is a river in the city.

What then is this river which the psalmist sees in the city of Jehovah? There is no need for conjecture, for the psalmist himself tells us what it was: "God is in the midst of her," and he adds that it is the presence of God that is the gladdening river. It is Jehovah present with His Church that constitutes its gladness and refreshing.

Living Waters

I need hardly remind you how often in the Scripture God is compared with living waters. We read in Jeremiah, "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Zechariah speaks of the fountain that shall be opened in Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. "And in the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.'" That, then, is the river in the city. It is the gladdening presence of Jehovah. It is God not distant in the heaven of heavens, but moving in the midst of our activities. For in that there is the secret of all strength, the hope of patient endurance to the end, and the gladness which is born of satisfaction of all that is deepest in the soul.

Let us remember, too, what John says of this river, that it proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. It is not without deep significance that John should have added these words—"of the Lamb." There is a presence of God throughout the whole creation, for all things have their being in Him. That river flows from the throne of the Creator. But the river in the city flows from the throne of the Lamb; its well-spring is in Jesus and Him crucified; it is in Christ once slain and now enthroned that the city of God has joy and satisfaction. To His own city God reveals Himself, as He does not and cannot do unto the world. He comes to His own in the love of Jesus Christ, for he that hath seen Him hath seen the Father. And this is the river, not from the throne of God, but from the throne of God and of the Lamb, which flows and flows only through the city. This is that river which is full of water, and by the banks of which everything lives. This is the river which Ezekiel saw and which before long was deep enough to swim in. It is God, but it is God in Christ, the God of pardon and of full redemption. There is a river which makes glad the city, and it flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

The River Speaks of Joy

But now, to carry out the thought a little, let us take some suggestions from the figure. And, first, the river in the city speaks of joy. Between the ancient and the modern city there is one contrast we might easily miss. We view a city as the home of pleasure, as the place where most enjoyment may be had; it is in a measure to escape from dullness and boredom that multitudes leave the country for the town. But for the Jew, the city in itself was not regarded as a place of gladness; there was always something of a shadow on its streets. As a matter of fact, it is in country life that the Bible finds its images of gladness. The city was but a sad necessity in a country which might be swept by war. And the gloomier the city was, the better; for the higher and more impregnable its walls, the greater was the safety it afforded to men who sought its shelter in the strife. Not of a city such as we know today would a Jew think when he read of the city of God. He would imagine one that was impregnable and could defy the siege of any foe. And so says the psalmist, "Lo, there is a river"—the city of God is girded with walls unshakeable—yet through it flows the gladness of the hills and the joy of waters on which the sunshine plays. Safe is the man who dwells within these walls, for they are built by One whose workmanship is sure. His life is more than one of gloomy safety cut off from the liberty of plain and hill. At his very feet there flows a river, clear as crystal, making glad music, and he who stoops to drink of its clear stream is refreshed and made happy by its refreshment.

But aren't there many who are tempted yet to think of religion as a life of gloom? They may feel that it is safe to be religious, but that that safety is very dearly purchased. The city of God is but a gloomy place, and some day they shall enter its defenses; but today let them have the gladness of the mountains and the music of the broad and happy world. To all who may be tempted to think so comes the word of the psalmist—"Lo, there is a river!" Not only is the Christian life the guarded life, it is the life that is lived beside the stream of joy. For to know that God is with us in Christ Jesus and that He will never leave us nor forsake us, that, after all, is the unfailing secret of the happy and contented heart. Everything lives where this river flows. The tree of life is growing on its banks. To live with God is to redeem one's life from the worry and the rush that make it not worth living. The city of God is not a gloomy place, however it may look to those without; there is a river in its streets that makes it glad.

The River in the City Suggests Peace

When you read the opening verses of this Psalm, you find yourself in a scene of wild confusion. The psalmist, in a few graphic words, pictures chaos in the world. The earth is reeling in the shock of earthquake; the mountains sink into the depths of the ocean; the waters of the sea rise up in fury and sweep with terrific force across the land. Everywhere there is uproar and confusion, an earth that is shaken to its very base, and men in terror and panic fear as if the end of all things was at hand. Then suddenly the psalmist calls a halt, and another vision breaks upon his gaze. A river! and it is flowing in sweet peace through a city that stands unshaken and unshakable. And nothing could be more striking or more beautiful than that swift passage from the roaring sea to the gentle gliding of that quiet river as it murmurs among the city streets. It is the psalmist's vision of the peace of all who have taken up their dwelling-place with God. This is a peace that the world can never give, for the world is in throes of earthquake and of storm. But it flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb; its source is a Savior crucified yet crowned; and it is the heritage of every man who believes in an enthroned Christ.

The life of the Christian should be like a river flowing through the streets of a great city. In the midst of all disturbance and dismay it ought to be like a picture of sweet peace. For he who has God beside him night and day and who continually stays his mind on God, amid all the disturbing tumult of his lot, has a heart at peace with itself.

The River in the City Suggests Prosperity

We do not need to be told how a city's welfare depends upon its river. It is the Clyde that makes glad the city of Glasgow by bringing a livelihood to tens of thousands. There is hardly a dwelling on any street or terrace that is not influenced in some way by the river. Life may be hard enough for many citizens, but it would be harder and perhaps impossible if the sources of our river were to fail and its bed to become empty of its waters. On the Thames depends the prosperity of London, on the Clyde the prosperity of Glasgow; is it not equally true that on the river depends the prosperity of the city of God? For let the presence of God in Jesus Christ be withdrawn from the soul or from the church, and nothing can save that soul from being cast away or keep that church from the decay of death. No organization will avail if Christ is not present in its congregation. No wealth of learning, no beauty of ritual, is of the slightest use if that is lacking. Unless God is in the midst of her and His grace like a flowing river, the city of God can never hope to see the work of the Lord prospering in her hand. Brethren, for the sake of our own souls, and not less for the church which we belong to, let us covet more earnestly what is in our power, a life of unbroken fellowship with God. That is the victory that overcomes the world. That is the open secret of prosperity. That is the river from the throne of the Lamb that makes glad the city of our quest.

A River With Many Streams

In closing let us note one other word. The psalmist does not merely speak about a river; he pictures the river branching into streams: "There is a river the streams whereof make glad." Now the word translated "streams" is rather "brooks." It is used everywhere of lesser rivulets, and it brings before us the thought of the great river with its waters carried along a hundred channels so that each garden-plot within the city has its own tiny, yet sufficient, stream. It is thus that the river makes glad the city of God, not merely by flowing in a mighty tide, but by coming into every separate plot in a channel peculiarly its own. And so the question for each of us is this, "Is God indeed mine—is He my own? Have I opened a way for Him into my garden—am I personally acquainted with His grace?"

It is not enough to live near the river and let it flow beside us in its beauty. God must be ours, and we must be His if we are to have the gladness of His presence.

Friday, 11 January 2019

Fire from Heaven

https://youtu.be/7Z-YIEvG2fo

Fire from Heaven

2Ch 7:1-3. WHEN SOLOMON had finished praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house.

The priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house.

And when all the people of Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed with their faces upon the pavement and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying,

For He is good, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.

The Dedication of the Temple

2Ch 7:4-10. Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord.

King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated God's house.

The priests stood at their posts, and the Levites also, with instruments of music to the Lord, which King David had made to praise and give thanks to the Lord--

for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever--whenever David praised through their ministry; the priests blew trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.

Moreover, Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which [he] had made was not sufficient to receive the burnt offerings, the cereal offerings, and the fat.

At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt.

The eighth day they made a solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the altar and the feast, each for seven days.

And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the Lord had shown to David, to Solomon, and to Israel His people.

If My People Pray

2Ch 7:11-22. Thus Solomon finished the Lord's house and the king's house; all that [he] had planned to do in the Lord's house and his own house he accomplished successfully.

And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said to him:

I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.

If I shut up heaven so no rain falls, or if I command locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,

If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer offered in this place.

For I have chosen and sanctified

(set apart for holy use) this house, that My Name may be here forever, and My eyes and My heart will be here perpetually.

As for you [Solomon], if you will walk before me as David your father walked,

and do all I have commanded you, and observe My statutes and My ordinances, [1Ki 11:1-11]

Then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, There shall not fail you a man to be ruler in Israel.

But if you [people] turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you and go and serve other gods and worship them,

Then will I pluck [Israel] up by the roots out of My land which I have given [them]; and this house which I have hallowed for My Name will I cast out of My sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. [Jer 24:9-10]

And this house, which was so high, shall be an astonishment to everyone passing it, and they will say, Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?

Then men will say, Because they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, Who brought them out of Egypt, and they laid hold of other gods and worshiped and served them; therefore has He brought all this evil upon them.

2 Chronicles 7:1-22

7:1-7 As soon as Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

The people saw . . . the glory cloud coming down . . . on the temple, and they bowed . . . on the pavement, worshiping and praising the LORD.

Solomon then led the people in offering thousands of bulls and sheep as sacrifices to the LORD.

The priests took their positions, the Levites played the Lord's musical instruments, which King David had made for praising the Lord. Opposite the Levites, the priests sounded their trumpets, while all the Israelites stood.

The bronze altar was too small for the enormous number of sacrifices and offerings.

7:8-10 The dedication feast lasted for seven days, including the Day of Atonement. This was followed by the Feast of Tabernacles, after which Solomon dismissed the people.

7:11-16 After Solomon had finished the temple and his own palace, the LORD appeared to him at night with promises and warnings. In the event that God sent drought, locusts, or pestilence on the people, they should humble themselves, . . . pray, . . . seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways. Then He would forgive their sin and restore them.

Verse 14 may very well be the golden text of this entire book. Though originally addressed to the chosen nation of Israel, it has rightly been applied to those nations which have a biblical heritage. It is the sure road to restoration and revival for all times. If the conditions are met, the promises are sure of fulfillment.

J. Barton Payne comments:This great verse, the best known in all Chronicles, expresses as does no other in Scripture God's requirement for national blessing, whether in Solomon's land, in Ezra's, or in our own.

Those who believe must forsake their sins, turn from the life that is centered in self, and yield to God's word and will.

Then, and only then, will heaven send revival.

7:17-22 If Solomon would live in obedience before God, He would establish his throne and allow Solomon's descendants to sit upon it.

On the other hand, if Solomon and his people forsook the Lord for other gods, they would be carried into captivity, and God would reject the temple so that it would be an object of derision and a testimony to the nations that Israel had forsaken the LORD.

Verse 16 seems to imply that the temple would endure for all time; yet we know that it was destroyed in 586 B.C. The explanation, of course, is that God's promise was conditioned on Israel's faithfulness and obedience. Verses 19 and 20 specifically warn that if the people became idolaters, God would reject the temple.

YOUR KINGDOM COME-YOUR WILL BE DONE

Wednesday, 30 January 2019

The occasion of this magnificent chorus of praise is the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

PAUL'S TEACHING ON FAITH AND PRAYING!

Monday, 28 January 2019

Prayer can change God’s Mind!

Sunday, 27 January 2019

I AM DOING A NEW THING!

I Am doing a new thing!

Friday, 25 January 2019

Patience in Suffering

Monday, 21 January 2019

PUTTING THE WORD TO WORK!

Saturday, 19 January 2019

The Lord's Prayer!

Thursday, 17 January 2019

He Is Greater!

Wednesday, 16 January 2019

God is able to make all grace abound to you!

God must be ours, and we must be His

Friday, 11 January 2019

Fire from Heaven

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