Bible Gems

 May 21 Whatsoever doth make manifest is light.  Ephesians 5:13 The light shows exactly what the true state of affairs is; and, therefore, until a man is in the light he does not know what he is; and he does not know God.  In fact, until a soul is brought into the light it really does not understand its true state before God. Now, in the verse above you see this brought out.  We have elsewhere the wonderful statement, that,  "Light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."  (John 3:19).   Light comes first of all, in the Person of Christ, for,  "In Him was light; and the life was the light of men.  And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not" (John 1:4,5). Now, that is a remarkable statement.  You see if you bring in natural light, into the darkness out goes the darkness.  If this room were in darkness, and someone turned on the light ...

 May 11 Lord, increase our faith.  Luke 17:5  Faith is not clinging - it is letting go. A traveller upon a lonely road was attacked by bandits who robbed him of all he had.  They then led him into the depths of the forest.  There in the darkness they tied a rope to the limb of a great tree, and bade him catch hold of the end of it, swinging him out into the darkness of surrounding space, they told him he was hanging over the brink of a giddy precipice. The moment he let go he would be dashed to pieces on the rocks below.  And then they left him.  His soul was filled with horror at the awful doom impending.  He clutched despairingly the end of the swaying rope.  But each dreadful moment only made his fate more sure.  His strength steadily failed.  At last he could hold on no longer.  The end had come.  His clenched fingers relaxed their convulsive grip.  He fell - six inches, to the solid earth at his fe...

  CHRIST FOR US  The voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled . . ."  Song of Solomon 5:2    The voice that His sheep hear and know, and that calls out the fervent response, "Master say on."  This is not all.  It was the literal Voice of the Lord Jesus which uttered that one echoless cry of desolation on the cross for thee, and it will be His own  literal voice which will say,  "Come ye blessed"  to thee.  And that same tender and glorious Voice has literally sung and will sing for thee.  I think He consecrated song for us and made it a sweet and sacred thing forever when He Himself sang an hymn the very last thing before He went forth to consecrate suffering for us.  (Mark 14:26)   That was not His last song.  "The Lord thy God . . . will joy over thee with singing."   And the time is coming when He will not only sing for thee or over th...