THE SON OF MAN!

Son of Man

Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? — Mat 16:13

The Name by Which Jesus Most Frequently Called Himself!

There are two names which our Lord was wont to use when He spoke about His person or His work. The one was the Son of God, and the other was the Son of Man. It was not often that He used the former title, if we may judge by the Synoptic Gospels, and when He used it, it was always in some moment of unusual importance and solemnity. But it is different with the latter, "the Son of Man." This was constantly upon the lips of Christ. It seems to have been His most familiar word when He referred to His person or His work. And so deeply engraven is this upon our hearts, and inwrought into the thought of Christendom, that whenever we hear the expression "Son of Man" we at once revert to the figure of our Saviour. Under this name, then, our Lord described Himself. By this He conveyed His thought about Himself. It was a name He loved with deep affection, and which welled to His lips in the most diverse circumstances. Nor should it be forgotten that in the whole New Testament, where the title "Son of Man" occurs so often, only on two occasions is it used by anyone other than the Lord Himself.

Jesus Never Defined or Explained the Meaning of "Son of Man"

Now it is notable that in all His use of it our Lord never pauses to define the name. He does not explain what it conveyed to Him, nor what He meant it should convey to others. When our Lord gave Simon his new name of Peter, He was careful to interpret its significance. "Thou art Peter," He said, so that all could hear, "and on this rock I shall build my church." But when He laid aside His own name Jesus, and began to speak of Himself as Son of Man, He offered no explanation of the name, and never declared the reason of His choice. Equally noticeable too is this, that no one ever asked Him to define it. It seems to have been accepted without comment, and at least in a measure to have been understood. For men were not slow to interrogate the Saviour, and to ask Him what He meant by this or that, but we never find anyone enquiring of Him what was the meaning of this "Son of Man."

Not a New Name

Now the reason for that absence of all questioning will suggest itself to every reader at once. This was no new name, coined at a moment's need, it was a name that was wreathed with old association. There was not a Jew who heard the Master use it but would find it encircled with familiar thoughts. It was a name they had been accustomed to since childhood in their reading or hearing of the ancient Scriptures. And it came to them, not as a word of novelty, nor with the arresting touch of the unknown, but as a word that was a heritage of Israel from the far-off day of prophet and of psalmist. In other words, this was a borrowed name, and it was borrowed from the roll of the Old Testament. It was not a title coined for the occasion; it was fragrant with happy and with holy memories. And what Christ did was to take the hallowed name, and to breathe upon it with the breath of life, so that it glowed into a new significance and expanded into undreamed-of fullness.

Let me just say in passing that that is the real meaning of originality. If only we had just thought upon that matter, I think that we might understand our Saviour better. It is not the nature of originality to say what never has been said before. The genius that is most strikingly original is hopelessly in debt to all the past. Originality consists in this—in taking all that the past has got to offer, and then in so passing it through heart and brain that it leaps forth as if a recreation. We speak of the originality of Shakespeare, yet who is more deeply in debt to his predecessors? We speak, and we can do it with all reverence, of the originality of Jesus. Yet do remember, that that does not mean that Christ owes nothing to the past of Israel. It means that He gathers up that mighty past, and makes it new just because He is new. It should never distress you to find in the Old Testament the rudiments of one of the beatitudes. The past was Christ's, but just because He was Christ the old was all transfigured on His lips. And so with His favourite name "the Son of Man"; it was not new, it was an ancient title; it was drawn out of the storied past of Israel, but Christ has made it different forever.

Why Did Jesus Choose This Name?

Well, that being so, why did this title so appeal to Christ? Why did He love to use it of Himself? Why was it so often on His lips? There were many other names He might have chosen out of the stores of psalmist and of prophet. In Isaiah you will get twenty titles that describe the office and glory of Messiah. And all these were familiar to our Lord, whose mind and heart were steeped in the old Scripture, yet the one He chooses from them all is "Son of Man." Why, then, did this title so appeal to Him? There is only one way to discover that, it is to go back to the Old Testament page, and find the meaning of the words "Son of Man" there. If we discover that, then we discover the thoughts that moved before the mind of Jesus, when in the quiet of Nazareth He made His choice of the name that was to mark His ministry. I do not imagine for one single moment that He used the word in a dogmatic way. There was nothing hard or cold about His use of it—nothing of fixed and stereotyped significance. It was a plastic and suggestive word for Jesus, now shining in one light, now in another, and we must reverently try to trace these lights to that Word which was a lamp unto His feet.

To Indicate His Humiliation—Psalm Eight

First, then, we shall turn to the 8th Psalm for one of the notable uses of the word: "What is man that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that Thou visitest him?" The psalmist has been gazing at the heavens and contemplating their majestic grandeur. He stands perhaps upon his palace roof, amid the silent beauty of the night. The moon has arisen, and over the sleeping city there streams the silver pathway of her radiance. And the heaven above him, undimmed by any cloud, is ablaze with the countless glories of the stars. It is one of those eastern nights of perfect beauty when the stars are like the eyes of heavenly watchers looking down with an infinity of calm upon the weary and troubled hearts of men. Now, had the psalmist been a poet only, he might have rested in that outward beauty. But he was more than a poet; he was a spiritual man ever awake to the touch of the divine. And looking upward into that night of beauty what was borne in upon his soul was this—how could a God whose finger made the heavens be mindful of a creature such as man? "When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained; what is man that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that Thou visitest him?" You see, then, the thought in David's mind when he uses that expression "son of man." He is thinking of man in all his native lowliness, of man contrasted with the glowing heavens, of man so frail compared with moon and star, yet crowned with a glory akin to that of angels. Man but a breath contrasted with the stars, yet greater than they in fellowship with God; man but the needy creature of a day, yet lifted up above all heaven's magnificence. "What is man that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that Thou visitest him?"

Now, when you turn to the words of Jesus, you find Him using the name in the same way. For Jesus also it carries the significance of man in His lowliness and yet exalted. "Foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Or again, where He is foretelling His own passion: "The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men." And yet this lowly and suffering Son of man is to be crowned with glory and honour, for "Hereafter," He cries, "ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power." I think there can be no question that that was one charm of this old name for Christ. It blended together His humiliation with the joy of glory that was set before Him. It spoke of Him as a man of sorrows and as One who shared the frailty of our frame, yet it ever suggested the glory that was His, and the honour that was in store for Him from God.

A Prophet Identified with Manhood—Ezekiel

Again, when we turn back to the Old Testament, we light upon the title in Ezekiel. God calls Ezekiel the son of man not less than seventy times. "Son of man, stand upon thy feet"; "Son of man, seest thou what they do?" It is thus that God constantly addresses him. You will understand, then, how the title "son of man" came to be charged with a prophetic import. It became familiar to readers of Ezekiel as the name for the prophet of the living God. And so when one called himself the "son of man," amid a people so intimately acquainted with the Scriptures, it would at once suggest to them his claim to stand in the succession of the prophets. But why did God choose this title for Ezekiel? Was it just to indicate his lowliness? Nay, rather, it was God's reminder to His servant that he was one with the people whom he warned. He was not to speak as one who stood apart, untouched by the sorrow and the tears of Israel; he was the son of man, the sympathetic man who was bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh. Thus you see that in the mind of Israel there clustered these ideas around the title. Familiar with it from Ezekiel's writings, it spoke to them of one who was a prophet; and yet this prophet was not a man aloof and unable to enter into his people's heart. He was a son of man, the man of sympathy, one who was touched with a feeling of their infirmities.

And again, when we turn to the words of Christ, we find Him using the term in the same way. He uses it to claim prophetic power, and yet to reveal His sympathetic heart. "The Son of Man hath power to forgive sin"; "the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day"—that is the voice of One who was a prophet, charged with a message greater than Ezekiel's. And yet, "the Son of man came eating and drinking"; "the Son of man came to seek and save the lost"—that is the voice of One who was a Brother, and who was filled with intensest sympathy for man. That also is one secret of the charm which this ancient title had for Jesus. It revealed a yet half-concealed prophetic claim, and told that His word was the oracle of God; and yet it suggested that He was rich in sympathy and able to be compassionate to the weakest, and fitted to bear the burdens of humanity, and to be the Brother of the tired and weak. Was He the Son of Man?—then He was Brother-Man, and all might find in Him their Friend and Helper. But was He the Son of Man ? — then, like Ezekiel, He was the Prophet of the living God.

Associated with the Nations—Daniel

Then, lastly, and most notably of all, we find this title in the Book of Daniel. Let me recall to you what it implies in Daniel, and in what connection it was introduced. Daniel had had a vision of four empires that came up like four great beasts out of the sea; and then to these bestial and inhuman kingdoms succeeded another and a nobler kingdom. Within it were all nations and all peoples; it was a dominion that was to last forever. And over it, coming with the clouds, Daniel saw one like to the Son of Man. Now that was a vision of Messiah's kingdom, superseding the bestial kingdoms of the world. And who was the Son of Man who reigned within it? He was the expected Messiah of the Jews. And so, as the Jews looked forward to Messiah, and dreamed of the day when He was to appear, they came to think of Him, and came to speak of Him, under that ancient name of "Son of man." Let other kingdoms be typified by beasts, the kingdom of Christ is typified by manhood. It is the perfect Man who is to reign, in the golden age to which the Jew was looking. And yet this Man is something more than man, for He stands in the heavens engirdled by its clouds, and the passing of ages leaves no trace upon Him, and the Ancient of Days receives Him as His fellow. It was such thoughts the Jews associated with the name "Son of man."

It is not a matter of debate if such thoughts were in the mind of Jesus. There can be no question in the matter, for we have the testimony of Christ Himself. On two occasions our Lord recalled this prophecy in words whose reference is unmistakable, and both times He identified Himself with the Son of man of Daniel's vision. In His prophecy over Jerusalem, He predicted that they shall see "the Son of man coming in the clouds with power and great glory." And when standing before Caiaphas He thus addressed His judges, "I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." Of this, then, there is no doubt, that the name was to Jesus a Messianic name. He would never have used it had He not wished to intimate that He was the promised Messiah of the Jews. And so it tells us that here is Christ indeed; the Man in whom all humanity is centered, yet the Man who knew that He was more than man, the Fellow of the everlasting God.

JESUS The Son Of God. And also The Son Of Man. At The Same Time To Accomplish The Will Of The One Who Sent Him!

John 6:38 

 I came down from heaven not to follow my own whim but to accomplish the will of the One who sent me.

For I came down from heaven,.... by change of place, or local motion; for Christ is the immense, infinite, and omnipresent God, and cannot be said properly to move from place to place; for he fills all places, even heaven and earth, with His presence, and was in heaven as the Son of God, at the same time He was here on earth as the son of man: wherefore this must be understood in a manner becoming His proper deity, His divine sonship, and personality: this descent was by the assumption of the human nature into union with His divine person, which was an instance of amazing grace and condescension. The Jew (m) objects to this, and says,

"if this respects the descent of the soul, the soul of every man descended from thence; but if it respects the body, the rest of the evangelists contradict his words, particularly Luke, when he says, Luke 2:7 that his mother brought him forth at Bethlehem.''

But this descent regards neither His soul nor body, but His divine person, which always was in heaven, and not any local descent of that; but, as before observed, an assumption of human nature, which he took of the virgin on earth; and so there is no contradiction between the evangelists; nor is descent from heaven unsuitable to Christ as a divine person, since it is ascribed to God, Gen 11:7; and if God may be said to go down from heaven by some display of his power, and intimation of his presence, Christ may be said to descend from heaven by that marvellous work of his, taking upon him our nature, and walking up and down on earth in the form of a servant; and which was done with this view, as he says,

not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me; that is, not to do his own will, as separate from his Father's, and much less as contrary to it; otherwise he did come to do his own will, which, as God, was the same with his Father's, he being one with him in nature, and so in power and will; and though his will, as man, was distinct from his Father's, yet not repugnant, but resigned unto it: and this will he came to do, was to preach the Gospel, fulfil the law, work miracles, and obtain the eternal redemption and salvation of his people. What the above Jewish writer (n) objects to this part of the text is of very little moment: whose words are;

"moreover, what he says, "not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me", shows, that he that sent, is not one and the same with him that is sent, seeing the will of him that is sent, is not as the will of him that sends.''

It is readily granted that they are not one and the same person; they are two distinct persons, which sending, and being sent, do clearly show; but then they are one in nature, though distinct in person, and they agree in will and work. Christ came not to do any will of his own different from that of his Father's; nor do these words imply a difference of wills in them, much less a contrariety in them, but rather the sameness of them.

The Eyes Of Your Understanding Enlightened!

The Resurrection and Sanctification

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know . . . what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. (Eph 1:18-20)

Just as the resurrection had an essential role in our starting out with God (in justification), it also plays an irreplaceable part in our going on with God (in sanctification). In the new covenant of grace, the resurrection is involved from start to finish in the Christian life. 

Our scripture meditation is from one of the great prayers in all of the Bible. This portion begins by asking God to give us spiritual insight: "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened." What the Lord addresses in this prayer determines whether a believer will live by godly power or by human weakness. God desires to give us heavenly insight on this vital matter. Then, He intends for this spiritual enlightenment to lead us into a personal walk concerning this reality: "that you may know." The issue of this prayer is to become a part of our daily experience. 

God wants us to experience the proper power source for living the Christian life: "that you may know . . . what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe." We who have been justified (declared righteous) through faith in Christ are not supposed to face each day by our meager, inadequate resources. We who have been born again by the Spirit of God are to live this new life by the power of God! 

The aspect of God's power in view here is resurrection power: "according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead." Think of the mighty power of God that was at work to bring Jesus from a crucified Savior to a victorious risen Lord. This is the power that our God wants to unleash upon us day by day. 

As great as this display of power was, even more is available to us: "and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places." This mighty divine power that brought forth Jesus from the dead, also raised Him to the right hand of the Father in the heaven realm. Surely, this power is sufficient to lift us out of any deadening situation of our minds or our surroundings.

Dear God of resurrection power, too many days and years have passed without me turning to You for this mighty power. Too often I have lived by a power that came from me—will power, emotional power, mental power. I repent for relying upon such feeble resources. Lord, by Your grace I see that heavenly resurrection power is to be my supply, so I look to You now for this work in me, in Your mighty name, Amen.

666

W A R N I N G

From Benny Aviles

PLEASE READ IT......It's too long to read but it is important for us to know that ....what the BIBLE says is happening now.....

Satan fulfills his promise!" LORD SAVE US! 

Rapture will take place any time from now. Everything hindering the rapture has been removed. Gospel has been preached almost everywhere. All the prophecies have been fulfilled. Angels physically seen and captured on camera @ Dansoman also gives a 'sign'. The devil is working very hard to occupy Christians with the things of this world so that the day will catch them unawares. Please be prepared. There is no more time, Use the advantage of this free sms to send this message to at least all ur contacts. Do not ignore. This is also a source of evangelism. Souls are dying. GOD bless you!Let’s Pray Hard: 6 6 6 The Mark of The Beast Prophesy Finally Fulfilled… as Written By: Jonathan Annobil. The US Senate has passed the Obama Health Bill into law. The implementation would commence soon. This bill would require all Americans to be implanted with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip in order to access medical care. The device will be implanted on the forehead or on the arm. This is to fulfill the prophesy in the Book of Revelation 13: 15-18 concerning the MARK OF THE BEAST. Are you still doubting the END TIME? Do U know that the special car which was made for Obama is known as the BEAST? Get READY. The rapture is near! Revelations 13 is being played out right before us. Many are still unaware. Why is the chip being implanted exactly where the Bible says it would be? Why on the hand and forehead. Why not anywhere else? Why is it being connected to your bank account? Remember the Bible says you won't be able to buy or sell without the mark 6 6 6. And guess what! The chip is connected to your financial details. What breaks my heart the most is that many people in the Church will not make it if JESUS comes now? Many are unaware that the end is near. Don’t tell me that it's advancement in technology or development. If any area of your life is not in sync with GOD’s word, repent and be converted. If you miss heaven you can never miss hell….. think about it. Hell is not a pretty place. The worst part is that it is for eternity… He who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church. Please rather than post and forward senseless messages. Send this one to everyone you know. Do the work of an Evangelist. PLEASE SHARE THIS MESSAGE WITH ALL YOUR CONTACTS. Have you ever wondered what should have happened if we treat the Holy Bible the way we treat our mobile phone? And we really can’t live without it. Only 7% percent will re-send this message. Don’t be of the 93% who will not share the message. Satan said. “I wonder how humans claim to LOVE GOD and disobey HIM, and claim they hate me yet they obey me” Do not send later. Share and send now. May Almighty GOD grant success to everyone who reads and sends this message. Tomorrow may be too late. Stay blessed.

The Coming of the Son of Man -

https://youtu.be/5oBhEvQtiA4

Matthew 24:29-31

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

24:29 At the close of the Great Tribulation there will be terrifying disturbances in the heavens. The sun will be darkened, and since the moon's light is only a reflection of the sun's, the moon will also withhold its light. The stars will plunge from heaven and planets will be moved out of their orbits. Needless to say, such vast cosmic upheavals will affect the weather, tides, and seasons on earth.

A faint idea of what it will be like is given in Velikovsky's description of what would happen if a heavenly body came close to the earth and caused it to tilt on its axis:

At that moment an earthquake would make the earth shudder. Air and water would continue to move through inertia; hurricanes would sweep the earth and the seas would rush over continents, carrying gravel and sand and marine animals, and casting them on the land. Heat would be developed, rocks would melt, volcanoes would erupt, lava would flow from fissures in the ruptured ground and cover vast areas. Mountains would spring up from the plains and would travel and climb on the shoulders of other mountains, causing faults and rifts. Lakes would be tilted and emptied, rivers would change their beds; large land areas with all their inhabitants would slip under the sea. Forests would burn and the hurricane and wild seas would wrest them from the ground on which they grew and pile them, branch and root, in huge heaps. Seas would turn into deserts, their waters flowing away.

24:30 “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven.” We are not told what this sign will be. His First Advent was accompanied by a sign in heaven—the star. 

Perhaps a miracle star will also announce His Second Coming. Some believe the Son of Man is Himself the sign. Whatever is meant, it will be clear to all when it appears. All the tribes of the earth will mourn—no doubt because of their rejection of Him. But primarily the tribes of the land will mourn—the twelve tribes of Israel. “... then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn” (Zec 12:10).

Then “they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” What a wonderful moment! The One who was spit upon and crucified will be vindicated as the Lord of life and glory. The meek and lowly Jesus will appear as Jehovah Himself. The sacrificial Lamb will descend as the conquering Lion. The despised Carpenter of Nazareth will come as King of kings and Lord of lords. His chariots will be the clouds of heaven. He will come in regal power and splendor—the moment for which creation has groaned for thousands of years.

24:31 When He descends, He will send His angels throughout the earth to gather together His elect people, believing Israel, to the land of Palestine. From all the earth they will gather to greet their Messiah and to enjoy His glorious reign.

No One Knows That Day and Hour

Mat 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Mat 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

Mat 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Mat 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Mat 24:41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Mat 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

Mat 24:43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

Mat 24:44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

Mat 24:45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

Mat 24:46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

Mat 24:47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

Mat 24:48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;

Mat 24:49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;

Mat 24:50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,

Mat 24:51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The Kingdom Of God is within You!

https://youtu.be/EhKSRIvDFI0

God began to teach me  that His Kingdom is within me!   As I allowed Jesus (The Son Of God) Saviour and Lord!)

 to rule over my inner life, I began to see more power in my outer life.

Reading through The New Testament I realised that Jesus’ disciples didn’t understand a lot of what He was trying to say about His Kingdom, either. They kept thinking He was going to set up a Kingdom on earth and that they would all be rulers in His new government.

Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom Of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The Kingdom Of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, “Here it is,” or “There it is,” because the Kingdom Of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21 NIV).

In Romans 14:17-19 NIV the apostle Paul explains the Kingdom  further; “For The Kingdom Of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of Righteousness, Peace and Joy in The Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men. Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to Peace, and to mutual edification.”

The Kingdom Of God is in us, and if we want to enjoy The Presence Of God, we must let Jesus be Lord over our inner life through power of The Holy Spirit.

If we make Jesus Christ Lord of our life, We are to allow Him to rule over the entirety of that Kingdom that is within us.                          His Spirit will always lead us to what brings Peace and Mutual edification to those around you.

Knowing God Intimately

GOD'S CONDESCENSION TO MAN

"When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; What is man, that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?" — Psa 8:3-4.

A CERTAIN writer ridiculed the idea that the Almighty Ruler, who inhabits the stellar spaces, can have any knowledge of such a cheese-mite as man.

 He says: "Put yourself in the planetary space, a mere dot, and do you think that the Almighty Maker can have discernment of thee!" 

But bigness is not greatness! The infant in the cradle is worth more to the parents and the nation than the royal palace in which he was born. The age which discovers the telescope, with the infinite abyss above, discovers also the microscope, with the infinite abyss beneath.

How absolutely different is the outlook of the Psalmist! He stands under the Eastern heavens, blazing at midnight with myriads of resplendent constellations, and cries: 

"O Jehovah, my Lord, how excellent is Thy Name in all the earth, who has set Thy glory above the heavens! 

They are Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers; as for moon and stars, Thou hast ordained them. How great Thou art!" 

Then he turns to think of man, and says: There must be something more in man than a superficial gaze is competent to discover. He must surely possess an unrealized dignity and worth, since the great God, the Maker of these worlds, stoops to call him friend.

But the question arises: How can God find pleasure in visiting, i.e. in having fellowship with a race so full of evil as ours? Granted that He might have fellowship with Moses or Elijah, with Daniel or John, but how can He stoop to intercourse with ordinary people like ourselves? What is Zaccheus, that the Son of Man should visit at his house—is he not a publican? Yes, but of late he had been restoring his ill-gotten gains, and Jesus sees in him the possibility of a son of Abraham! What is Simon Peter, that Christ should visit him? He, but he will one day become the rock-man, the foremost leader of the Church! So does Christ our Lord see what we may become, and He stands at the door of our life, seeking admission. Let us heed His knock and bid Him come in.

PRAYER

O God, may our whole nature be consecrated for Thine indwelling and use. Let there be no part in us dark, but may the clear shining of Thy Presence dispel all shadows, and fill us with peace and joy. AMEN.