| Notes of Interest > Thoughts for Our Time |
by B. W.
God's grace is UNmerited favor, thus it gives us much. However, it will never give us any cause to boast. (Eph. 2:8) If grace made us better in ourselves, it would work itself out of a job; we would merit something. God would have us know that "BY His grace we are what we are" (1Cor. 15:10), and would have us "strong IN His grace" (2 Tim. 2:1), so that we don't lose the sense of it and think that our blessings are merited. (Gal. 5:4)
"Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching." (Mark 6:3-6)
"... they were offended at Him." We praise God that He was not offended at them. "...and he marvelled"! Oh, how great the mystery of His Person: the eternal Son of God, Creator and Sustainer of all --- how could He "marvel" about anything? The Creator in love entered His creation as a man, and was a Prophet without honor among His own in His own house, and all the desires of His heart to bless were turned back in His face. But He did what He could, He "laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them."
Yes, this is the Carpenter, this is the son of Mary with brothers and sisters, this is our Friend, this is our God and our Saviour!
"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ, and makes manifest the odour of his knowledge through us in every place." (2Cor. 2:14, JND)
Our circumstances are God's gift. They serve, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to press us into the "mold" of the truth which gives form and character to the Christian's daily life. God uses our circumstances in His grace to curb the pride and evil tendencies in us, and lifts us up in them into the practical realization of the eternal life which that same grace gave us.
This was not the case in the earthly path of the Lord Jesus who was that eternal life; every circumstance was but to display it. There are, in a certain sense, two kinds of temptations for us: temptation to do wrong and temptation not to do right. Neither of these could apply to the Lord Jesus, the sinless One who could be nothing less than absolute perfection; as another has said, "every trial was for Him but an occasion for obedience."
"The song of songs, which is Solomon's. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine." (Song of Solomon 1:1,2)
Israel wanted a king "like all the nations" (1Sam. 8:5), and they were scattered out across the nations where they learned what it was like there; they learned that at best "all is vanity and vexation of spirit" (Ecc. 2:11). We see in Ecclesiastes a picture of Israel learning this lesson, but there comes the time of restoration. All the time they were scattered the Lord had the Song of all songs that He waited to hear them sing, and with hearts awakened they do sing their exercises of soul of and to the Lord. Of the Lord they sing: "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth..." Desiring but uncertain of His love, even as the prodigal son returning to the Father, they need that personal word of assurance from Him. He, as it were listening even as the Father who watched for the prodigal, responds immediately and then they sing TO Him: "thy love is better than wine."
Is this not often like us? We awake some mornings with the memory of yesterday's disappointments, sorrows and failures clouding our thoughts and need that personal word "of his mouth" to our hearts. He responds, and then we "sing" the song of all songs: "Thy love is better than..." What a song to sing and what a place to learn it! There will come a day of glory when all believers, all the choruses of the blest, will sing it in harmony to the joy of the Lord.
"For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment." (1 John 3:20-23)
The subject in these verses is not losing communion with God but returning to it: "confidence toward God" AFTER "our heart condemn us." John speaks not only of that happiness of a sound walk according to what WE allow (Ro. 14:22), but of that according to the light of what God allows, who "knoweth all things." This walk is founded on repentance, the entrance and atmosphere of communion with God. "If our heart condemn us" it brings "godly sorrow, which worketh repentance" which is between the soul and God alone; David, in repentance says to God: "against thee and thee only have I sinned," although he had also done Uriah a great wrong. (Ps.51) Confession is telling God that we have sinned; repentance is God telling us what He thinks of the sin, [or rather, we telling God what He thinks of the sin because He has spoken to the heart and conscience] even while magnifying to us the value of the sacrifice of Christ in our behalf. We then enjoy communion with God according to the truth of what He is and of what Christ has accomplished for His glory.
There are different aspects of faith. Paul testified, "repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts 20:21) This is the believing that John speaks of: faith that follows repentance. There is faith for salvation (Eph. 2:8), the gift of faith (1Cor. 12:9), faith that accompanies gift (Ro. 12:6) and the faith that follows repentance (Acts 20:21) which is the basis of the confidence here: "That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ." This is "pleasing" in God's sight, and He rejoices to do that which is pleasing in our sight, even to give what we ask of Him.
"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, ..." (Eph. 3:20) "James ... to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad ..." (Jas. 1:1) "For all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ." (Philippians. 2:21)
We could hardly find a more appropriate expression to describe the glorious results of the finished work of the Lord Jesus than "exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think," nor one to describe the present state of Christendom under the governing hand of God than, "scattered abroad," nor one more descriptive of the path of its decline than, "all seek their own things, not the things of Jesus Christ."
Although the spiritual state of those to whom James writes would not admit the unfolding of the truths of "our common salvation" as Paul does, he addresses them as "a kind of first fruits" of God's creatures, "the first and most excellent witnesses of that power of good which will shine forth hereafter in the new creation."
God began this Church-day by uniting some from among those "scattered" ones "in singleness of heart," "of one heart and of one soul"(Acts 2). None spoke of "their own things" (Acts 4); they were as "those that possessed not" (1Cor. 7:30). There was an Object before their affections which surpassed all, and He laid claim to all, even to their words and opinions (1Cor. 1:10). They had seen the Lord Jesus, the Man in the glory.
How sad when the apostles must later speak of those who sought their own things: the assembly was theirs (1 Peter 5:3,JND), the world was theirs (1Cor. 7:31), their spiritual gift was theirs (1Cor. 9:18), their life was theirs (Philippians 2:21). We indeed have all things, but it is "with him,"that One who in love would have nothing that was not for the benefit of others (Ro. 8:32). Nothing so scatters as treating "the things of Christ" as "my own things."
A brother not in communion [at the Lord's Table] (for reasons stated herein!) wrote in 1840, after a visit among the gathered saints ---- "I have for some months known a little of you; but it was not till yesterday, at your, I would say our Pentecostal festival (for a feast it was to my inmost soul), that I duly appreciated the character of the brethren who did me so much honor, happiness, and service, by inviting me to attend it, that I know not how to express my gratitude to you and them. My not approving of all things amongst you, does not at all obstruct the current of my Christian love for you and many others whom I need not name. But why do I write to you? It is to say, and that with real affection Alas! That so beautiful a theory cannot long subsist; it is too unworldly and sainted for our polluted atmosphere. It will do --- it has done much good; but IT WILL FALL (Acts 20:30) 'Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them.' Woe, woe unto them through whom it shall fall! Mine shall not be the hand to detach even a pin from so goodly a tent; rather, like Joseph of Arimathea, I would honor it when others abandon it. May my soul be with yours! Yours in our common Lord," JWN -----
As to the above, a brother wrote -- In this letter Dr. N has truly, though perhaps unconsciously, stated what ought ever to have been the theory,' as he calls it, of the brethren's position, a position too heavenly to be maintained by earthly minds; a position based upon heavenly principles, and making its appeal continually to faith; depending for its subsistence every hour upon the exercise of the living power of Christ! But another set of principles has been introduced, and another position has been practically taken. Brethren have sought, to a great extent, to make their practice and their principles agree; and the result has been the relinquishment of practical dependence upon God and the substitution of what, in effect, is a system apprehensible and understandable enough, and much more in accordance with the systems around them than perhaps many might admit ... When I speak of the low moral condition of brethren before the Lord, as preparing the way for the evils they are feeling, I would explain: I mean, that hearty devotedness to Christ had greatly declined, and th ere were many indications of the returning love of the world; and, as a consequence, a loose holding, almost universally, of those divine truths and principles which at first brought so much blessing, and had in them the power of separation from the world unto God ...
The above impressed me as a help to understand the Lord's dealings with us in our day to tighten our heart's grip on "those divine truths and principles" the brother mentions.
" ... and when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor" (Mat. 27:1,2).
Chains mean nothing to a submissive man; he needs no restraint and is not daunted by obstacles. The bonds of the Lord Jesus could have been torn apart as those of Samson (Judg. 15:14), reduced to ashes as those of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Dan. 3:25), or just have fallen off as those of Peter or of Paul, Silas and their fellow prisoners (Acts 16:12,16). The will of his Father was the "bonds" of Him who said: "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work." (Jn. 4:34) The apostle Paul in prison exhibits the spirit of Christ when he says: "I can do all things ..." in spite of the chains that bound him (Philippians 4:13).
If one of the guards had heard him saying the words he might well have laughingly retorted: Then why don't you just throw off these prison chains and walk away? I can almost hear Paul responding: God hasn't told me to do that.
Paul well knew that his bonds were no hindrance to God. He could remember the earthquake that night in the prison in Philippi when "the bands of all were loosed." He and Silas had sat quietly, free yet submissive. How perfect are all our circumstances before Him "with whom we have to do." He "careth for" us.
Happy, peaceful path! Following the Saviour in submissive confidence. May He give it to be our portion by grace, each in the "chains" His love has provided.
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin ... If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:7, 9)
The first of these verses speaks of cleansing by the blood of Christ; it doesn't speak of our confession. God who knew our sins, has cleansed them all once and forever by the blood of His own Son. There is no question of sins past, present or future, it is all sin. This can never be done the second time, nor ever needs to be. This is salvation.
In the second verse we confess sins from which we are already cleansed by the blood of Christ. This verse speaks of cleansing by "the washing of water by the word." (Eph. 5:26) This cleansing is wrought by our seeing the sin in the light as God sees, who "is greater than our heart and knoweth all things." (1 Jo. 3:20) A small child had a dirty, smelly diaper; the mother cleaned him up, fresh and pleasant again. Later a brother used this event as an illustration: suppose the mother later had shown him the "problem" and the child could learn what he had been cleansed of. This is education. This is sanctification.
For cleansing later we do not have to sin after believing in order to confess. God does not contemplate a believer continuing to sin. We can learn from the Word of the sin that the blood of Christ has cleansed us of. Paul mentions this when he says "sinned before" in 2 Corinthians 12:21 (JND Tr.). After believing, it is: "IF any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father ..."
"If ye know that he is righteous, know that every one who practises righteousness is begotten of him. See what love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God. For this reason the world knows us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we children of God, and what we shall be has not yet been manifested; we know that if it is manifested we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And every one that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as *he* is pure." (1John 2:29-3:3, JND)
Every believer surely knows that the Lord Jesus is righteous. John says: then know also that if He is righteous, man and all his world is unrighteous --- hopelessly so. Man, this world, cannot improve himself; he cannot be nor produce anything righteous. If there is any righteousness in this place it is of God. The Lord Jesus said while here: "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall ... have the light of life." We that believe walk in His light. Do we understand that when we say: "He is righteous," we are saying that this entire world of man, in all his wisdom and endeavors, is unrighteous with no desire or ability for improvement and that we who believe practice righteousness only as begotten of God? God has also given us who are begotten of Him to love one another, so that the world calls us "the children of God" we are different, we have something that they have not and they are correct; we are children of God, different from those around us because we love one another.
What we shall be ... has not yet been manifested, but we know that we shall be like Christ, for "we shall see Him as He is." The world cannot understand us because it knew Him not and He is the Pattern of the purity we seek and expect, and feebly reflect even now as we see Him by faith. We: "looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit." (2 Cor. 3:18, JND) Glorious, soon-coming day of manifestation: of Him "as He is" and us like Him!
"Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up both supplications and entreaties to him who was able to save him out of death, with strong crying and tears; (and having been heard because of his piety;) though he were son, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered; and having been perfected, became to all them that obey him, author of eternal salvation." (Heb. 5:7 JND tr.)
The Lord Jesus is not praying here to avoid suffering and death; that issue was settled: that "cup" could not be removed from Him (Lk. 22:42). He accepted the cup from His Father's hand and now seeks the righteous response to His suffering: to be saved "out of," not "from," death. The words of Psalm 21 beautifully give us prophetically the answer to His prayer: "He asked life of thee; thou gavest it him, length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great through thy salvation; majesty and splendour has thou laid upon him. For thou hast made him to be blessings for ever; thou hast filled him with joy by thy countenance." (JND tr.)
We know what He prayed "with strong crying and tears" by the answer. He wanted to be "blessings forever" for the glory of God! His glory, majesty and splendor would speak of the honor due Him and the joy speaks of His delight, returning home "perfected," having finished all the work which His Father gave Him to do. Now God's righteousness is established here where sin is, giving Him the joy of freely granting "eternal salvation" to lost sinners.
"Yea, from the horns of the buffaloes hast thou answered me ... I have listened to thee in an accepted time, and I have helped thee in a day of salvation." (Ps. 22:21; 2 Cor.6:2) Well does the apostle proclaim the glorious conclusion: "behold, now is the well-accepted time; behold, now the day of salvation." Our wondering thoughts are lifted up in thanksgiving and praise as our hearts hear the Lord Jesus in "the consummation of the ages," when all hope was gone, requesting these two thousand years, this day of grace, to save souls before judgment sweeps all away forever.
"I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you ... All these things will they do unto you for my name's sake ... now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father."(Jn. 15:19,21,24)
"The world hates us because of Him, not Him because of us. It is not our faults which are the true cause, but His grace and moral excellence, His divine nature and glory." "Righteousness is not so repugnant as the grace which can rise above the sin which it condemns in compassion toward the sinner ... treats man as nothing, giving God the entire glory: this is indignity intolerable to the flesh."
John the Baptist spent the last night before his death asleep in a dungeon cell. The Lord Jesus was not afforded this "luxury." As Abel, John was slain because his works were righteous. The Lord showed more than righteous works; He showed the Father who had sent the Son in grace. We read of the Lord's last night: "... they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands ... many things blasphemously they spoke against Him" until "it was day." (Mt. 26:67; Lk. 22:66) They must have stood in line blaspheming, waiting for their chance to spit in His face, sock or slap Him in order to vent their hatred. They hated Him because He loved them. (Ps. 109:5) They closed their eyes and refused to hear Him for fear lest He should bless them. (Mat. 13:15) In the main we are graciously preserved from the outward manifestation of this hatred but it lies just below the thin veil of human kindness in this world, ready to break forth if He comes close.
"... we were pressed ... above strength." "My strength is made perfect in weakness." 2 Cor.1:8; 12:9. These two expressions, taken from the beginning and the end of Second Corinthians, seem to set the tone of the truth presented to us in the epistle. "Troubled," "distressed," "perplexed," "persecuted" and "cast down," is the path of faith outlined for us in order that "the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." "Always" bearing about the dying of Jesus; "always" delivered unto death for Jesus sake is the believer's lot, says the apostle. (4:7-11) This "valley of the shadow of death," beyond our strength, is where the true Christian path leads. Our natural "strength" must indeed be a great hindrance, seeing it requires such a path to annul it. "Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ."(2:14, JND) The triumph is God's in Christ: the "surpassing glory" shining from the face of Jesus Christ, powerful to surpass everything and transform us according to the same image. (3:10) This is not the same as making us powerful to triumph. Christ's strength was not made perfect in giving Paul strength, but rather in his weakness; if the Lord had removed the "thorn" Paul would have had to give up His strength. "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."(12:8,9)
Visiting a believer who had been made invalid by a robber's bullet, a brother asked: "How are you?" The answer, "O.K. under the circumstances," was not surprising. The visitor replied: "I want to read to you of a path of life that I marvel at every time I think of it, and it is yours and mine in Christ." He then read: "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."(12:10) God is the Author of our circumstances, in love delivering us unto death in order that we might have the joy of life, for His glory.
We have long been taught that the word "hope," used in the Christian sense, means: "deferred certainty." We know that nothing promised by God could be uncertain; it may be deferred or postponed but it is not uncertain. I enjoy reading the following verses in the light of this: "... we have also access by faith into this favour in which we stand, and we boast in [certainty] of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works endurance; and endurance, experience; and experience, [certainty]; and [certainty] does not make ashamed." (Rm. 5:2-5)
"Now the God of [certainty] fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in [certainty] through the power of the Holy Ghost." (Rm. 15:13). "Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the command of God our Saviour, and of Christ Jesus our ertainty],"(1 Tim.1:1} (Quotations from JND translation.)
"In the path of Christ the time surely comes when faith is put to the proof. It is one thing in the confidence of grace and at the summons of the truth to turn one's back on the fairest pretension opposed to His name; it is quite another to stand firm and unabashed when not only the world turns from us, but desertion sets in among those that confessed Him. How few can stand the loss of valued associations, not to speak of their taunts and persecutions!
"'Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord.' When the tide of blessing is at the full there is little or no room for shame. It is far otherwise when the ingathering is small and when the love of the many waxes cold, when the world becomes more hardened and contemptuous and the saints cower under its reproaches. Faith alone keeps the eye upon Christ and the heart warmed with His love in an atmosphere so chilling. His reproach (for it is Christ's assuredly) becomes then glorious in our eyes; and "in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us" (Rom. 8: 37). For the testimony, though it may seem to fail, is none the less the testimony of our Lord ... 'Be not therefore ashamed' is the word. Why should we ever stand for that which is less than divine? We are not called to suffer or to bear shame for anything but Christ." WK (abridged)
"Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." (Titus 1:1,2)
"The apostle's work had a wholly different character [from the expectations of the pious Jew in the Old Testament times]; for it was based upon the total rejection and the heavenly exaltation of the Lord Jesus, whereby that hope of life eternal is realized now, and in a way altogether superior to the testimony of the prophets ... But the apostle proceeds to show that the promise which the Christian actually enjoys goes not merely beyond the prophets, or the human race on earth, but back into eternity. This was necessarily a promise within the Godhead. The God that knew no falsehood promised it before the times of the ages ... It was a promise within the Godhead when neither the world nor man yet existed, and therefore had a far higher character than promises made in time to the fathers." (WK)
Hope is more than the probability, than the possibility, than the certainty, than the assurance as to the future, it is the present enjoyment of that which is deferred. Christian hope is viewing Scripture fulfilled as soon as uttered. It is the result of the Spirit's work revealing the truth to the soul, giving it to say with the once-blind man of John 9: "This one thing I know." Truth is truly learned when it cannot be denied.
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life ... That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full" (1 John 1:1-3).
"That which was from the beginning" was altogether new, never anything like it before nor after: God incarnate walking here, Man among men, loving and accessible. The apostle could relate what they had "heard" and "seen" but not what they had "looked upon" (contemplated) and "handled;" this was for each of us to learn and enjoy in faith along with them in fellowship "with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." There is no gift, no blessing like "that which was from the beginning."
The following from JND's "Practical Reflections" on Psalm 16 has been an encouragement:
"'The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places.' Christ could not have said this in the same way, had He had the kingdom living on earth; nor could we, were we in the garden of Eden, or the world at our disposal. This living relationship with God casts a light, a halo on all; it lights the soul up with such a direct consciousness of divine blessing that nothing is like it, save the full realizations of it in the presence of God. A man with God, enjoying Him in a nature capable of doing so with all the necessary conscious result where it shall be fulfilled without a cloud - a man as Christ was in this world with God - is the most perfect joy possible, save the everlasting fulfilment of all known and felt in it.
"So Moses asks not, 'Shew me a way across the desert,' but 'Shew me thy way, that I may know thee, and that I may find grace in thy sight' (Ex. 33:13). What Moses sought, the Lord gives, the counsel and guidance of His love. So Christ walked; so He guides His sheep, going before them; and now we are led of the Spirit of God as ourselves sons of God. It is the divine path of wisdom which 'the vulture's eye hath not seen' (Job 28:7): the path of man, but of man with the life of God, going towards the presence of God, and the incorruptible inheritance, in an uncorrupted way - the path of God across the world; but God gives counsel for it."
Lord Jesus, "from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God." Only of Thee could God say: "shall He come forth unto Me ... whose goings forth are from everlasting." We hear Thy prayer: "Father, the hour is come ... glorify thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." (Psalm 90:2; Micah 5:2; John 17:1,5)
Well we know the story of the Man from everlasting; the Man who came all the way from eternity to the three hours of darkness on the cross of Calvary ... and returned. The Man who once HAD glory with the Father before the world was, asks to return to it, and He "was heard in that He feared." (Heb. 5:7) Never was there boldness to make such a request as this; no one could ask for more, and all was due Him. His own personal worth and work justly merited all that can be called glory everlasting.
Only in those three hours was "He who knew no sin made sin for us;" only then did He "bear our sins in His own body on the tree;" there we hear that cry: "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
Eternity invades time in those three dark hours, and it met with One who was equal to all that was there, the Man from everlasting. The Lord Jesus knew every wave of the wrath of God; He thus knew what to expect and when it was past: "All Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over Me." (Psalm 42:7) He knew when the glory of God had been fully verified and established here where sin is, and could tell us, His joint-heirs of glory: "It is finished."
"That now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God"(Eph.3:10). "God is now making known a new kind of wisdom to the angels above by His dealings with us; and, by us, I mean all the saints of God now on earth. For let them be called by whatsoever name, every saint of God is a member of the body of Christ. All belong truly and equally to the Church of God. . . .Christ is equally possessed by all. . . .God is manifesting by the Church His varied wisdom. . . It is not by and by, when we reach heaven, that God will manifest by the Church His manifold wisdom to the heavenly hosts; but now on earth while the members of the Church are being called. "When we think that God is overlooking with the angels that surround Him; that He is occupied with such objects as we are; that He sees in them the dearest objects of His affections; that He has given them Christ to be their life; and sent down the Holy Ghost, that blessed person of the Trinity, to take up His dwelling-place in them, and make them to be His temple, while they are in this world, what a calling it is! If an angel wants to know where His great love is, he must look down into this world and see it thus. You cannot sever Christ from the Church. But the wonderful thing is, that, before the angels of God, the astonishing conflict is going on---Satan and all his hosts endeavoring to mislead them by putting them on a false ground, preaching righteousness in a thousand forms, in order to lead them away from grace and from the cross of Christ. On the other hand, there you have God working by His word and Spirit to bring His people to a consciousness of their privileges. But whether the children of God are faithful or not, perfect love dwells upon them and acts toward them (it may be in discipline); God is occupied with them, caring for them, always keeping this before His mind, that He will have them perfectly like Christ. Nothing can cloud this. . . .the purpose of God, it shall stand; what God has spoken must be accomplished.
Our weakness may be manifested, but God in His mighty love will complete His purpose. And this is the way in which He is teaching the principalities and powers in heavenly places a new kind of wisdom, that never was seen before in this world. They had seen God's ways in creation and at the deluge, and in Israel. But here was something that not even the Scriptures of God hinted, that was not promised to man---a thing entirely kept secret between the Father and the Son." W. Kelly
| Notes of Interest > Thoughts for Our Time |