In the beginning God. Genesis 1:1
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself. Luke 24:26-27
The Bible begins by telling whence we and all things have come; it ends, by telling whither we and all things tend. It tells of the entering in of sin and woe; it gives the promise of redemption and of triumph over sin; It shows us how the way was prepared for the Deliverer; He comes; we see His salvation; we are gathered about Him; and then, just as the veil is lifted from the past in Genesis to let us see the beginning, so the veil is lifted from the future in Revelation to let us see the end.
Can we say whence the Bible has this strange completeness? Say that God is the author of the Book, that His plan thus spanned the ages, and I quite understand the matter. But apart from that there is no explanation.
When we reach “the final harmony” described in Revelation 22:3-5 “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him: and they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads”, we feel instinctively that we have come to a condition of intense joy beyond which it is impossible to go. Then the vision of the poet shall have become an accomplished fact:
Every tiger madness muzzled, every serpent passion killed,
Every grim ravine a garden, every blazing desert tilled,
Robed in universal harvest, up to either pole she smiles,
Universal ocean softly washing all her warless isles.
And when all things shall be subdued unto Him…that God may be all in all. 1 Corinthians 15:28
The Wonderful World - George Henderson
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Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. Matthew 27:45
Midday was turned to midnight.No human eye could see Him on the cross during those three hours. His suffering during that holy time was veiled in darkness. No mind can fully comprehend what took place. No tongue can fully describe that awful scene. By faith, we believe. We are so thankful that He endured it! Such was His love for you and me. John M. Clegg
On Calvary we’ve adoring stood,
And gazed on that wondrous cross
Where the holy, spotless Lamb of God
Was slain in His love for us;
How our hearts have stirred at that solemn cry,
While the sun was enwrapped in night,
“Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?”
Most blessed, most awful sight.
Our sins were laid on His sacred head,
The curse by our Lord was born;
For us a victim our Saviour bled,
And endured that death of scorn;
Himself He gave our poor hearts to win—
(Was ever love, Lord, like thine!)
From the paths of folly, and shame, and sin,
And fill them with joys divine. J. G.Deck
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"All these things are against me." (Gen. 42:36.)"
“All things work together for good to them that love God."
(Rom. 8:28.)
In a factory building there are wheels and gearings,
There are cranks and pulleys, beltings tight or slack—
Some are whirling swiftly, some are turning slowly,
Some are thrusting forward, some are pulling back;
Some are smooth and silent, some are rough and noisy,
Pounding, rattling, clanking, moving with a jerk;
In a wild confusion in a seeming chaos,
Lifting, pushing, driving — but they do their work.
From the mightiest lever to the tiniest pinion,
All things move together for the purpose planned;
And behind the working is a mind controlling,
And a force directing, and a guiding hand.
So all things are working for the Lord's beloved:
Some things might be hurtful if alone they stood;
Some might seem to hinder; some might draw us backward;
But they work together, and they work for good,
All the thwarted longings, all the stern denials,
All the contradictions, hard to understand.
And the force that holds them, speeds them and retards them,
Stops and starts and guides them—is our Father's hand.
-Annie Johnson Flint.
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And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens; and he spied and an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.” Exodus 2:11-12
This was zeal for his brethren; but it was ”not according to knowledge,” God’s time was not yet come for judging Egypt and delivering Israel; and the intelligent servant will ever wait for God’s time. “Moses was grown,” and: ”he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and moreover, he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by His hand would deliver them.”
All this was true; yet he evidently ran before the time, when one does this, failure must be the issue. And not only is there failure in the end, but also manifest uncertainty, and lack of calm elevation and holy independence in the progress in a work begun before God’s time. Moses “looked this way and that way.”There is no need of this when a man is acting with and for God, in the full intelligence of His mind, as to the detail of his work.
If God’s time had really come, and if Moses was conscious of being divinely commissioned to execute judgment upon the Egyptians, and if he felt assured of the divine presence with him, he would not have “looked this way and that way.” This action teaches a deep practical lesson to all the servants of God. There are two things by which it is superinduced, namely, the fear of man’s wrath, and the hope of man’s favour. The servant of the living God should neither regard the one nor the other.
“Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” (Joshua 1:9) Notes On Exodus - C.H. Macintosh
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Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith. Hebrews 12:2.
On a day in the autumn, I saw a prairie eagle mortally wounded by a rifle shot. His eye still gleamed like a circle of light. Then he slowly turned his head, and gave one more searching and longing look at the sky. He had often swept those starry spaces with his wonderful wings. The beautiful sky was the home of his heart. It was the eagle’s domain.
A thousand times he had exploited there his splendid strength. In those far away heights he had played with the lightenings, and raced with the winds, and now, so far away from home, the eagle lay dying, done to the death, because for once he forgot and flew too low.
The soul is that eagle. This is not its home. It must not loose the skyward look. We must keep faith, we must keep hope, we must keep courage, we must keep Christ. Keep the skyward look!
All the marvellous attributes of the Godhead are on the side of the weakest believer, who in the name of Christ, and in simple, childlike trust, yields himself to God and turns to Him for help and guidance.
Keep looking up—
Though darkness seems to wrap thy soul;
The Light of Light shall fill thy soul
When looking up. Selected
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Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Genesis 18:25
And Abraham . . . looked toward Sodom . . . and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. Genesis 19:27,28
Abraham had earnestly interceded for the wicked city of Sodom but it seemed his prayers had been of no avail. The righteous Judge had acted righteously — in judgment.
Later, Abraham would learn that God had also acted mercifully in saving Lot. Only then would he have realized that God had answered his prayer and given him his heart’s desire by sparing his nephew.
May we learn to trust Him even when we cannot see the answer to our prayers.
R. Sheldrake
We bless Thee for Thy peace O God,
Deep as the unfathomed sea,
The peace which suffers and is strong,
Trusts when it cannot see.
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And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:8)
The garden was the meeting place for fellowship between the Lord God and Adam. Now it had become a hiding place from the presence of God on account of Adam’s sin. The moment sin entered, he instinctively shrank from the presence of the glory of God. Not only does sinful man seek to avoid it, but the glory of God itself repels sin. Paul sums it up this way: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). This verse sets forth a very important principle. For man to return and once more enjoy the presence of God, he must be clothed with a righteousness of God’s own providing. Death must come in, in order to effect this. The coats of skins were the fruit of the death of an innocent animal. How strikingly this sets forth the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross!
“For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). The Lord Jesus bore our sins and offenses against God, for He “Was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:25).
God’s righteousness has now been manifested in the cross of Christ, ”Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference (Romans 3:22). He offers you righteousness, a righteousness fit for His presence, for it is “unto all” without exception. But it is only “upon all who believe.” Those who do not know God, nor obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” 2 Thessalonians 1:9). Richard A. Barnett
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HE hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.
(Ephesians 1:4)
LOVED BEFORE TIME BEGAN-LOVED TO THE END
Having loved His own, "He loved them unto the end" (Jn. 13:1), is a truth not only known to every believer in Him by faith, but also from their own experience of that love. And oh, how sweet this experience of Christ's love in this cold world is! When the heart is chilled, and yearning for a little warmth, how sweet to turn to the Lord Jesus and feel this warmth of His love! Ah! Looking up to Him, the ear is always warmed.
In Ephesians we have the setting forth of that which would feed the love of the Lord Jesus in regard to His Church. In the first chapter, we have the scene before time was, in verse 4. When the Lord Jesus looks at me, He looks at one who was chosen by the Father before time was, to show forth the glory of that grace which could accept me in the Beloved. He sees the chosen of the Father in me, the Father having bound me up with the Son before the foundation of the world. Not only the prodigal brought into the Father's house, but more - a secret purpose, He and the Father one in that purpose, and the poor sinner chosen and accepted in Him before the foundation of the world.
Can God have anything against you when He has thus sat in council about you? Must not the Son love you, seeing your association with the Father, in Himself, before the world was? He gave Himself for me at the cross bearing our own sins in His own body on the tree: God laying on Him your iniquity and mine: Can we look up there and not feel the exceeding riches of the grace of that God, who, in raising Him up from among the dead, raised us up in Him, and seated us in heavenly places in Him? When the Lord Jesus looks in the face of a believer, He says, "I loved you before the foundation of the world and I must love you to the end for My Father's sake."
G. V. Wigram
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For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven…but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:7-8)
FEEDING ON THE LAMB
Let us look a little at the circumstances which accompanied the Passover. The blood on the lintel formed the simple basis of the Israelite's security. But there are other points of deep interest into which the spiritual mind can enter with much profit.
First, the lamb was eaten roasted with fire. No other process could have told out the significant principle with the same emphasis. The action of fire upon the body of the lamb gave expression to the intensity of Christ's sufferings when He exposed His blessed person to the full action of Jehovah's wrath against sin.
It was one thing to rest in the security of the shed blood and another thing to eat of the "lamb roast with fire." Hence the apostle stays, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings" Philippians 3:10. Here was the desire of one who had already rested in the blood. The fellowship of Christ's sufferings is but little known even by those who are resting in Christ's blood; were it more entered into, there would be far more depth of experience and power of Christian action than there is. We are too ready to rest content with knowing the value of the blood, without feeding on the Lamb, and thus we lose much of our privilege of personal fellowship with Jesus.
It is not merely the work which has been done, but the One who has done it. The former is properly the object for the sinner, the latter for the saint; and the more the saint is enabled to enter into what Christ is, the more perfect will be his repose in His work. C. H. Mackintosh
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And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:7
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
Peace on Earth
Each recurring Christmastime gives occasion to emphasize anew the wonderful story of the love of God—a love that led Him to send His one-and-only Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Christianity rests on three great pillars: the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Incarnation alone could not redeem sinful men. But apart from the incarnation there could be no propitiatory sacrifice that would avail to put away sin. God the Son became man in order to die. We cannot make too much of the mystery of the union of the of the human and the divine in Jesus, who was both Son of God and the Son of Mary.
In Him we have the Mediator for whom the patriarch Job longed, one who can lay His hand upon both God and man (Job 9:33), because He combines the natures of both, in one glorious Person. Bethlehem, Calvary, and the empty tomb, all alike should stir our souls and draw our hearts out to God in wonder, love, and praise.
H. A. Ironside
Here Peace alighted once, but could not find a home.
To Him who brought it, earth could give no room.
Him and His peace man would not have and in this Child of peace
Man saw no heavenly excellence, no grace, no comeliness.
Peace in that cradle lay, the Prince of Peace was there;
The fulness of His Peace He brought with man to share. H.Bonar
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God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.
(Genesis 1:31)
So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
(Genesis 50:26)
The first verse of Genesis teaches us in simple terms what many scientists have not yet learned: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). The Bible gives the history of two men: the first man, Adam, and the Second Man, the last Adam — the Lord from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:47) In Genesis we find the story of the first man. After God had garnished the heavens and made the earth a suitable habitat for man, He set Adam as head over this fair creation. This was God's crowning act, and He declares that "indeed it was very good."
As the account continues, we find that soon this creation was marred. Man's disobedience to God's one command proved fatal. God had said that the day man would eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would surely die. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom. 5:12).
Time marched on from generation to generation. In Genesis we read that they had sons and daughters and they reached a high age, but, with only one exception, they all died. Until the present time, given all the skills and technology man can muster, these words are still true: "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews. 9:27). The last verse in Genesis records that Joseph died and was put in a coffin in Egypt. What a picture of this sad world where death now reigns as king!
Thank God, this is not the end! The first man failed miserably, but this served as an occasion for God to introduce the Second Man, His beloved Son. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John. 3:16). God's wonderful plan of salvation! Jacob Redekop
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Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you
1st Peter 5:7
A Teacher's Privilege
To-day, dear friends, you’re much in my mind,
Who start your work to do.
What a privilege you have of training the minds
Of the children who go to school.
There will be days that are hard,
And days that are blue,
And days that you hardly know, just what to do,
But keep on praying, His Grace is sufficient for you.
If for Christ your work is done,
Though oft you feel tired and worn,
He does know you did not shirk.
With care He will watch your work,
For He knows the seed of love
Planted here doth bloom above.
Thus, in trust and faith, work on;
You will see the fruit at dawn.
Ruby McKenzie
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Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.
Matthew 6:8
We must not look on that only as prayer to which our lips give utterance. The wish of the believing heart is counted prayer by God. It is the smoke of the incense which ascends in silence before Him. Every wish that the Holy Spirit breathes into the soul of a believer is a voice which enters the ear of God. Choice Supplication
Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed,
The motion of a hidden fire that trembles in the breast;
Prayer is the burden of a sigh, the falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye when none but God is near. James Montgomery
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