Produced by Keith G. Richardson




The Lord of Glory


MEDITATIONS ON THE PERSON, THE WORK

AND GLORY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

BY

A. C. GAEBELEIN

PUBLICATION OFFICE OF "OUR HOPE,"

456 Fourth Avenue, New York, N. Y.

  PICKERING & INGLIS,      L. S. HAYNES,
  GLASGOW,                 502 Yonge Street,
  SCOTLAND                 TORONTO, CANADA

Copyright 1910 by A. C. Gaebelein.

Printing by

Francis Emory Fitch

of New York



Contents


  Preface
  Dedication
  The Lord of Glory
  Jehovah.  The "I am"
  That Worthy Name
  The Doctrine of Christ
  The Pre-eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ
  Ye are Christ's--Christ is God's
  The Wonderful
  Honor and Glory unto Him
  Christ's Resurrection Song
  The Glory Song
  The Firstborn
  The Waiting Christ
  A Vision of the King
  The Fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord
  Out of His Fulness,
  The Twenty-second Psalm
  The Exalted One
  A Glorious Vision
  My Brethren
  The Patience of Christ
  He Shall Not Keep Silent
  The Love of Christ
  The Joy of the Lord
  This same Jesus
  The Wondrous Cross
  His Legacy
  What Have I to do with Idols
  The Never Changing One
  Be of Good Cheer
  Make Haste



Preface.


For a number of years the first pages of each issue of "Our Hope"
have been devoted to brief meditations on the Person and Glory of
our adorable Lord Jesus Christ. Three reasons led the Editor to do
this:  1. He is worthy of all honor and glory, worthy to have the
first place in all things.  2. The great need of His people to have
His blessed Person, His past and present work, His power and glory,
His future manifestation constantly brought before their hearts.  3.
There is an ever increasing denial of the Person of our Lord. In the
most subtle way His Glory has been denied. It is therefore eminently
necessary for those who know Him to tell out His worth. Long and
learned discussions on the Person of the Lord have been written in
the past, but are not much read in these days. We felt that short
and simple meditations on Himself would be welcomed by all
believers.

All these brief articles were written with much prayer and often
under deep soul exercise. It has pleased the Holy Spirit to own them
in a most blessed way. Hundreds of letters were received telling of
the great blessing these meditations have been and what refreshing
they brought to the hearts of His people. Weary and tired ones were
cheered, wandering ones restored and erring ones set right. Many
wrote us or told us personally that the Lord Jesus Christ has become
a greater reality and power in their lives after following this
monthly testimony.

Suggestions were made to issue some of these notes in book form so
that these blessed truths may be preserved in a more permanent form.
We have done so and send this volume forth with the prayer that the
Holy Spirit, who is here to glorify Christ, may use it to the praise
and glory of His worthy Name. We are confident that such will be the
case.

A. C. G.

New York City, October 1, 1910.



Dedication.


"Unto Him who loveth us and washed us from our sins in His own
blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God His Father; to
Him be glory and dominion forever."--Rev. i: 5-6.

"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and
wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing."--Rev. v:
12.

"Then they that feared the Lord spake one to another: and the Lord
hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before
Him for them that feared the Lord and that _thought upon His Name_."
--Mal. iii: 16.

"Let us go forth, therefore, unto Him without the camp bearing His
reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to
come. By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God
continually, that is the fruit of our lips, _confessing His Name_."
--Hebrews xiii: 13-15.

"Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so. Come Lord Jesus."--Rev.
xxii: 20.



The Lord of Glory.


1 Cor. ii:8.


OUR ever blessed Lord, who died for us, to whom we belong, with whom
we shall be forever, is the Lord of Glory. Thus He is called in 1
Cor. ii:8, "for had they known they would not have crucified the
_Lord of Glory_." Eternally He is this because He is "the express
image of God, the brightness of His Glory" (Heb. i:3). He possessed
Glory with the Father before the world was (John xvii:5). This Glory
was beheld by the prophets, for we read that Isaiah "saw His Glory
and spake of Him" (John xii:41). All the glorious manifestations of
Jehovah recorded in the Word of God are the manifestations of "the
Lord of Glory," who created all things that are in heaven, and that
are in earth, visible and invisible, who is before all things and by
whom all things consist. He appeared as the God of Glory to Abraham
(Acts vii:1); Isaac and Jacob were face to face with Him. Moses
beheld His Glory. He saw His Glory on the mountain. The Lord of
Glory descended in the cloud and stood with him there (Exod.
xxxiv:5). How often the Glory of the Lord appeared in the midst of
Israel. And what more could we say of Joshua, David, Daniel,
Ezekiel, who all beheld His Glory and stood in the presence of that
Lord of Glory.

In the fulness of time He appeared on earth "God manifested in the
flesh." Though He made of Himself no reputation and left His
unspeakable Glory behind, yet He was the Lord of Glory, and as such
He manifested His Glory. In incarnation in His holy, spotless life
He revealed His moral Glory; what perfection and loveliness we find
here! We have the testimony of His own "We beheld His Glory, the
Glory as of the only begotten of the Father" (John i:14). "They saw
His Glory" (Luke ix:32) when they were with Him in the holy
mountain. They heard, they saw with their eyes, they looked upon,
their hands handled the Word of life, the life that was manifested
(1 John i:1-2). In His mighty miracles the Lord of Glory manifested
His Glory, for it is written "this beginning of miracles did Jesus
in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth His Glory" (John i:11).

And this Lord of Glory died. The focus of His Glory is the cross. He
was obedient unto death, the death of the cross. He gave Himself for
us. Without following here all the precious truths connected with
that which is the foundation of our salvation and our hope, that the
Lord of Glory, Christ died for our sins, we remember that God
"raised Him up from the dead and _gave Him Glory_" (1 Pet. i:21). He
was "received up into Glory" (1 Tim. iii:16). "Ought not Christ to
have suffered these things and to enter into _His Glory_" (Luke
xxiv:26). The risen Lord of Glory said: "I ascend unto my Father and
your Father; to my God and your God." He is now in the presence of
God, the Man in Glory, seated in the highest place of the heaven of
heavens "at the right hand of the Majesty on high." He is there "far
above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and
every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that
which is to come" (Eph. i:21). He is highly exalted, the heir of all
things. In that Glory He was beheld by human, mortal eyes. Stephen
being full of the Holy Spirit "looked up steadfastly into heaven and
saw the _Glory of God_, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God"
(Acts vii:55). This was the dying testimony of the first Christian
martyr. Saul of Tarsus saw this Glory; he "could not see for the
Glory of that light" (Acts xxii:11). John beheld Him and fell at His
feet as dead. And we see Him with the eye of faith. "But we see
Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death _crowned with Glory and Honor_" (Heb. ii:9).

But this is not all. The unseen Glory of the Lord and the unseen
Lord of Glory will some day be visible, not to a few, but to the
whole universe. He will come in the Glory of His Father and the holy
angels with Him (Matt. xvi:27). The Lord of Glory will be "revealed
from heaven with His mighty angels" (2 Thess. i:7). He will come in
power and Glory, come in His own Glory (Luke ix:26) and sit on the
throne of His Glory (Matt. xxv:31). His Glory then will cover the
heavens (Hab. iii:3) and "the earth will be filled with the
knowledge of the Glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea"
(Hab. ii:14). The heavens cannot be silent forever and He who now is
the object of the faith of believers, and the One whom the world has
rejected, will come forth in all His Majesty and Glory and every eye
shall see Him. Then every knee must bow at the name of Jesus and
every tongue confess Him as Lord. In that manifestation of the Lord
of Glory and the Glory of the Lord we His redeemed will be
manifested in Glory. He will then be glorified in His saints and
admired in all them that believed (2 Thess. i:10). He will bring His
many sons to Glory (Heb. ii:10). We are "partakers of the Glory that
shall be revealed" (1 Pet. v:1). The God of all Grace hath indeed
called us unto His eternal Glory by Jesus Christ. "And when the
chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of Glory that
fadeth not away" (1 Pet. v:4). "But rejoice inasmuch as ye are
partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when His Glory shall be
revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (1 Pet. iv:13).

But ere this visible Glory is manifested over the earth and on the
earth and He comes forth as the King of kings and Lord of lords His
own will be gathered unto Him and be caught up in clouds to meet Him
in the air. Then we shall see Him as He is and be like Him. The
Glory which the Father has given Him as the head of the body will be
bestowed upon the whole body; for thus He prayed "the Glory, which
thou hast given me I have given to them" (John xvii:22). And in the
Father's house where He is, in the Holy of Holies we shall behold
His Glory. We shall be changed into the same image "that He might be
the first born among many brethren" (Rom. viii:29).

And now, dear reader, joint heir with the Lord of Glory, called by
God unto the fellowship of His Son, in meditating on these wonderful
facts given to us by revelation, does not your heart burn within
you? What a blessing, what a place, what a future is ours linked
with the Lord of Glory, one with Him! What a stupendous thought that
He came from Glory to die for us so that He might have us with Him
in Glory!

And these blessed truths concerning the Lord of Glory and the Glory
of the Lord we need to hold ever before our hearts in these dreary
days when darkest night is fast approaching. To walk worthy of the
Lord, to be faithful to the Lord, to render true service, to be more
like Him and show forth His excellencies, we but need one thing, to
know Him better and to behold the Glory of the Lord. It is written
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the Glory of the
Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as
by the Spirit of the Lord." Guided by the Spirit we can look on the
Lord of Glory and His Glory, mirrored in all parts of the Word of
God. And then as we look on this wonderful person and His relation
to us and ours to Him, as we behold His glory both moral and
literal, in humiliation and exaltation, past, present and future, we
are changed into the same image. Our path will be from Glory to
Glory! And some day there will come that supreme moment when we
shall be _suddenly_ changed "in a moment, the twinkling of an eye."
Oh child of God see your need! It is Christ, the Lord of Glory set
before your heart; all worldly mindedness, all insincerity, all
discouragement, all unbelief, all unfaithfulness must flee when we
follow on to know the Lord and daily behold "as in a glass the Glory
of the Lord."

"Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present
you faultless _before the presence of His Glory_ with exceeding joy,
to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and
power, both now and ever.  Amen."



Jehovah. The "I Am."


WHEN Moses in the desert beheld the burning bush God answered his
question by the revelation of His name as the "I Am." "And God said
unto Moses, I am, that I am: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto
the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you" (Exod. iii:14).
He who spake thus out of the bush to Moses was the same who in the
fullness of time appeared upon the earth in the form of man. Our
Lord Jesus Christ is no less person, than the I AM. If we turn to
the fourth Gospel in which the Holy Spirit pictures Him as the Son
of God, one with the Father, we find His glorious title there as the
I AM. In the eighth chapter of that blessed Gospel we read that He
said to the Jews, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham
was, I am" (v:58). And the Jews took stones to cast them upon Him.
In the fifth chapter we read that they wanted to kill Him, not only
because He had violated the Sabbath, but also said that God was His
Father, making Himself equal with God (v:18). They wanted to stone
Him because in saying that word "Before Abraham was, I am" He had
claimed that holy name for Himself, which was revealed to Moses. The
Jews then, as the orthodox Jews do still, reverenced that name to
such a degree that they did not even pronounce it, but substituted
in its place the word "Adonai." Little did they realize that the
same "I am" who spoke to Moses out of the bush, saying, "I am;" who
descended before Moses later in a cloud and proclaimed the name of
the Lord (Exod. xxxiv) was standing in their midst in the form of
man. And this is not the only time He used this word. We find it in
the xviii chapter of John. When the band and officers of the chief
priests and Pharisees came with lanterns, torches and weapons, Jesus
stepped majestically into their presence with the calm question:
"Whom seek ye?" When they had stated that they were seeking Jesus
the Nazarene He answered them with one word "I AM." What happened?
They went backward and fell to the ground. What a spectacle that
must have been. The dark night, a company of people, all on the same
satanic errand, with their lanterns, torches and different kinds of
weapons. And then the object of their hatred steps before them and
utters one word and they fall helpless to the ground. What warning
it should have been to them. Once more He asks the question; again
He answers with the "I am" and with the understanding that His own
should be free, He allows Himself to be bound.

He likewise called Himself "I am" in talking with the Samaritan
woman. In John iv:26 we read, "Jesus saith unto her, I that speak
unto thee am he." This does, however, not express the original. This
reads as follows: "I AM that speaks to thee." After this mighty word
had come from His lips the woman had nothing more to say, but left
her waterpot and went her way back to the city. The I AM had spoken
to her. In chapters vi:20 and viii:28 we find Him using the same "I
am" again. In the former passage "It is I" should read "I am."

Besides these passages in which He speaks of Himself as the
self-existing Jehovah, the great "I am," He saith seven times in this
Gospel what He is to His own. I am the Bread of life (chapter
vi:35.) I am the Light of the world (chapter ix:5). I am the Door
(chapter x:7). I am the Good Shepherd (chapter x:11). I am the
Resurrection and the Life (chapter xi:25). I am the Way, the Truth
and the Life (chapter xvi:6); and I am the true Vine (chapter xv:1).
But this does not exhaust at all what He is and will be now and
forever to those who belong to Him. In the Old Testament there are
seven great names of the "I AM" which are deep and significant. In
them we can trace His rich and wonderful Grace. _Jehovah.--Jireh_
--The Lord provides. The lamb provided (Genesis xxii). _Jehovah
Rophecah_--I am the Lord that healeth thee (Exodus xv). _Jehovah
--Nissi_--The Lord is my banner, He giveth the Victory (Exod. xvii).
_Jehovah shalom_, the Lord is Peace. He is our Peace (Judges vi).
_Jehovah Roi_--The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (Psalm
xxiii). _Jehovah-Tsidkenu_, the Lord is our righteousness (Jeremiah
xxiii). _Jehovah shammah_, the Lord is there (Ezek. xlviii).

But this does not exhaust what He is. I AM--what? Anything and
everything what we need in time and eternity.

   "When God would teach mankind His name
   He called Himself the great, I AM,
   And leaves a blank--believers may
   Supply those things for which they pray."

Happy indeed are we, beloved reader, if we know Him, who died for us
as the I AM, if we learn more and more to trust Him as the all
sufficient One and know that the I AM will supply all our need. In
these days in which the person of Christ is so much belittled,
attacked; He as the Holy One, the great Jehovah rejected, not by the
outside world alone, but by those who call themselves after His own
blessed name, let us have for an answer to all these attacks of the
enemy a closer walk with Him, a more intimate fellowship with the I
AM; a better acquaintance with our Jehovah-Jesus, our gracious Lord.
Oh what a union is ours, One with Him the I AM, what a happy,
glorious lot.  Hallelujah.

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord,
which is, and which was, and which is to come (Rev. ii:8). I am the
bright and morning star (Rev. xxii: 16). What, oh what will He be
for His own in all eternity!



That Worthy Name.


James ii:7.


IN the second chapter of the Epistle of James the Holy Spirit speaks
of our ever blessed Lord as "that worthy Name." Precious Word!
precious to every heart that knows Him and delights to exalt His
glorious and worthy Name. His Name is "far above every Name that is
named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come."
(Ephes. i:21.) It is "as ointment poured forth" (Song of Sol. i:3);
yea, His Name alone is excellent (Psalm cxlviii:13). But according
to His worth that blessed Name is far from being fully known and
uttered by the Saints of God. "Thou art worthy" and "Worthy is the
Lamb" shall some day burst from the glorified lips of redeemed
sinners, brought home to be with Him. In that blessed day when at
last we see Him face to face, forever with the Lord, we shall begin
to learn the full worth and glory of that Name, the Name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. In a feeble way here below we get glimpses of His
precious, worthy Name, of His beauty and loveliness, and then only
through the power of the Holy Spirit. The aim of the Spirit of God
dwelling in our hearts will always be to tell us more of Himself.
Like Abraham's servant who had so much to say to the elect bride
about Isaac, so the Holy Spirit ever delights to show us more of
Christ, the Christ of God. Oh! how He is eager to tell us more of
His worth, of His glory, of His grace and of all He is and all He
has. How it grieves Him when our hearts do not respond to the great
message He has for us and when instead we turn to something else to
give us joy and comfort. Only Christ can give joy and comfort, peace
and rest to the hearts of those who are His. The days are evil and
the time is short. Is your heart increasingly attracted to that
worthy Name? Do you have a greater burning desire in your heart for
Himself? Does He, that worthy Name, become more and more day by day
the absorbing object of your heart and life? Do you often weep over
your coldheartedness, your lack of real devotion to Him and
communion with your Lord? Do you appreciate Him more than ever
before? Is the Apostle's longing cry "that I might know Him" coming
also from your heart? Dear reader, these are searching questions. A
better knowledge of our blessed Lord, a deeper acquaintance with
that worthy Name and greater devotion to Him, is the only true
spiritual progress which counts. If you live but little in the
reality of all this you lack that joy and rest which is true
Christian happiness and the Spirit is grieved. Oh let Him unfold to
your heart that worthy name and show you from His Word, His
wonderful person, then His power will attract your heart more and
more. This is what all God's people need. "That worthy Name," the
Lord in all His blessed fulness and glorious reality is what we
need.

And what the written Word has to tell us of "that worthy Name"! Oh,
the titles, the attributes, the names, the glories, the beauties of
Himself. And we have discovered but so few of these blessed things.
Perhaps a few hundred of the descriptions of that worthy Name are
known to God's Saints; but there are hundreds, still hidden, we have
never touched. Yes, God's Spirit is ever willing to make them known
to our hearts.

Just for a few moments think of some of the familiar titles and
names of that Name which is above every other name. How these titles
of our blessed Lord, what He is and what we have in Him should fill
our hearts with praise and our lips with outbursts of praise, lift
us above present day conditions and give us courage and boldness.
"That worthy Name"; who is He?

The Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father, the living God, the
eternal Life; Emmanuel, the God of Glory, the Holy One; Jehovah, the
everlasting God, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord of Peace, the
Lord our righteousness, the Upholder of all things, the Creator, the
Alpha and Omega, the express image of God. He is the Word, the Word
of God, the Word of Life, the Wisdom of God, the Angel of the Lord,
the Mediator of the better covenant. The good Shepherd, the great
Shepherd, the chief Shepherd, the Door, the Way, the Root and
offspring of David, the Branch of Righteousness, the Rose of Sharon,
the Lily of the valley, the true Vine, the Corn of Wheat, the Bread
of God, the true Bread from heaven. He is also the Light of the
world, the Day dawn, the Star out of Jacob, Sun and Shield, the
Bright and Morningstar, the Sun of Righteousness. Thus we read of
that worthy Name, that He is, the Great High-priest, the Daysman,
the Advocate, Intercessor, Surety, Mercy Seat, the Forerunner, the
Rock of Salvation, the Refuge, the Tower, a strong Tower, the Rock
of Ages, the Hope of Glory, the Hope of His people, a living Stone.
And what else? the Gift of God, the Beloved, the Fountain of Life,
Shiloh, He is our Peace, our Redeemer, He is precious, the Amen, the
Just Lord, the Bridegroom, the Firstborn from the Dead, Head over
all, Head of all principality and power, Heir of all things. He is
Captain of the Lord's Host, Captain of their salvation, Chiefest
among Ten Thousand, the Leader, the Counsellor, the Lion of the
tribe of Judah, the Governor, Prince of Peace, the Prince of Life,
the Prince of the Kings of the earth, the Judge, the King, the King
of Israel, King of Saints, King of Glory, King over all the earth,
King in His Beauty, King of Kings and Lord of lords.

All these names and attributes of that worthy Name are familiar.
What dignity, what power, what grace and blessing for us for whom He
died and shed His precious blood they express. Who can fathom these
names? Who can tell out His worth? And hundreds more could be added,
and many, many more, which are still undiscovered in the Word of
God. What a Lord He is! We worship and adore Thee, Thou worthy One.
Draw us O Lord and we will run after Thee. What a joy and delight it
ought to be to follow Him, to exalt Him, to be devoted to such a
One! Oh! our failures! And still He carries us in kindness and
patience. And He also has a Name, which expresses the fulness of His
work and glory. No one knows what _that_ is. "He had a name written,
that no man knew, but He Himself" (Rev. xix:12). That unknown Name
may never be made known.

But oh! the blessedness which is before us His redeemed people. Of
us it is written "They shall see _His face_": That blessed, blessed
face of that worthy Name, we shall behold at last. We shall see His
face! Oh the rapture which fills the heart in the anticipation of
that soon coming event. "And His Name shall be on their foreheads"
(Rev. xxii:4). We shall be like Him, we shall be a perfect
reflection of Himself.



The Doctrine of Christ.


2 John 9-11.


"WHOSOEVER transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ,
hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath
both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring
not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him
God speed. For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil
deeds" (2 John 9-11). What then is the doctrine of Christ? It is the
revealed truth concerning the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
He is the Son of God, whom the Father sent into the world. "God so
loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This
is the doctrine of Christ. Anyone who does not hold the doctrine of
Christ that He is absolutely God, one with the Father come into the
world, hath not God. He is without God and hope in the world. He is
an Anti-christ. "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is
come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is
that spirit of Anti-christ, whereof ye have heard that it should
come; and even now already is it in the world" (1 John iv:2-3). Such
a denier of the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is no christian at
all and all fellowship even to the greeting must be denied to him.
This seems severe and intolerant. But it is not if we consider what
the denial of the Person of our holy and blessed Lord means. God
grant unto us, who hold the doctrine of Christ, a divine jealousy
for His honor and glory, manifested by separation from all who in
any way deny the doctrine upon which all Christianity rests.

But how blessed to faith to see in the first Epistle of John the
doctrine of Christ revealed and the blessings and comforts brought
forth, which are for those who abide in this doctrine. In the Gospel
of John the beloved disciple writes by the Holy Spirit about the Son
of God, how He came from the Father and was in the world and how He
left the world to go back to the Father. The Son of God is also the
theme of the Holy Spirit in the first Epistle of John. "Our
fellowship is with the Father, and with His _Son_ Jesus Christ"
(i:3). This fellowship means that we share the Father's thoughts
about His Son and to enjoy with the Son His own blessed and eternal
relationship with the Father. In the measure our faith enters into
the doctrine of Christ in that measure we shall have deeper
fellowship with the Father and His Son. Is your cry, dear reader,
for more reality in this fellowship? There is one way only which
leads to this. It is an increase in the knowledge of the Son of God
and as you abide there, you _have_ the Father and the Son.

And now we shall call to our remembrance other passages in the first
Epistle of John in which our blessed Lord as the Son of God is
mentioned. They are sweet and precious to faith and if read in the
Spirit they will bring the joy, the blessing, the peace and the
comfort of the doctrine of Christ to our hearts.

"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (i:7).
That precious blood, His own blood, has cleansed us once and for
all. "For this purpose the _Son of God_ was manifested that He might
destroy the works of the devil" (iii:8). "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. And he that
keepeth His commandments (which are: believing on Him and loving one
another) dwelleth in Him and He in him. And hereby we know that He
abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us" (iii:23-24).
"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God
sent His _only begotten Son_ into the world that we might live
through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He
loved us, and sent _His Son_ into the world to be the propitiation
for our sins." "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love
one another" (iv:9-11). "And we have seen and do testify that the
Father sent _the Son_ to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever
shall confess that Jesus is _the Son of God_, God dwelleth in him
and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath
to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God
and God in him" (iv:14-16). "Who is he that overcometh the world,
but he that believeth that Jesus is _the Son of God?_" (v:5) "If we
receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this
is the witness of God which He hath testified of His _Son_. He that
believeth on the _Son of God_ hath the witness in himself; he that
believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the
record that God gave to _His Son_. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is _in His Son_. He
that hath _the Son_ hath life; he that hath not the _Son of God_
hath not life" (v:9-12). "These things have I written unto you that
believe on the name of _the Son of God_, that ye may know that ye
have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of _the Son
of God_. And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we
ask anything according to His will, He heareth us" (v:13-14). "And
we know that the _Son of God_ is come, and hath given us an
understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him
that is true, even in _His Son_ Jesus Christ. This is the _true God_
and eternal life" (v:20).

May our faith lay hold anew of these simple yet deep and precious
revelations. They are the doctrine of Christ. Into this we must
enter constantly and manifest in our lives the fruits of this
doctrine, love and righteousness. The increasing rejection of the
doctrine of Christ demands the increased appreciation of that
doctrine. The more the enemy attacks the Person of Christ, the more
the Holy Spirit demands of us, who belong to Christ, that we exalt
Him. Everything in the present time seems to be aimed at the setting
aside of the doctrine upon which our Hope rests. Higher Criticism,
the evil doctrines, which reject the eternal punishment of the
wicked, the spurious gospels, ethical teachings and every other
false doctrine strikes at the blessed Person of our Lord. The shadow
of _the_ Anti-christ is cast in our days. Let us heed God's Word.
Let us be separated from those who deny Christ or we are partakers
of their evil deeds. The path of the true believer becomes narrower.
It must be so. But Christ becomes more precious, more real to our
souls.

What awful times are coming upon this age according to God's Word!
With the rejection of the doctrine of Christ this age sides
completely with Satan and that wonderful being is both blinding his
victims and using them for his own sinister purposes. The blindness
is fearful. It will be worse before long. The rush into complete
apostasy and from there into the delusion with the lying wonders and
on into the darkness forever will come next. Let us praise God for
the doctrine of Christ, which is our salvation, and may God give us
faith and courage to walk according to that doctrine. What day of
joy awaits us, when we shall see him as He is and know the depth of
the Love of God by being like Him!



The Pre-Eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ.


WHAT a blessed theme the Person and Glory of our Lord! How
inexhaustible and unsearchable! How refreshing to the souls of His
redeemed people as well as to the heart of our heavenly Father, who,
loveth the Son! To meditate on Him, to behold the Glory of the Lord
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Word of God, means
spiritual growth and spiritual enjoyment. This only can make the
unseen Person a blessed reality in our daily walk. We pray that all
our beloved readers are drawn closer to Himself through these brief
meditations. Can we truly say the Lord is more precious to our
hearts and that we are living more in His presence than ever before?
Has He become the absorbing object of our hearts and lives? Are we
more devoted to Him? God grant that this may be the case with all of
us. It is the great need we have. It is the good part, which Mary,
resting at His feet, had chosen.

In the great chapter which begins the Epistle to the Colossians,
after that blessed description of the Son of God, stands this word
"_that in all things He might have the pre-eminence_" (Col. i:18).
But who can tell out what a pre-eminence, the pre-eminence of the
Lord Jesus Christ is? Some day we shall see Him in all His Glory. He
Himself will lead us into the Holiest of the third heaven to behold
the Glory the Father has given Him (John xvii:24); then we shall
know His pre-eminence fully. And yet from Scripture we can learn
even now the pre-eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In all eternity the Son of God was the object of Love and Glory.

   "Son of God the Father's bosom
   Ever was Thy dwelling place."

He ever subsisted in the form of God. In all creation He has the
pre-eminence. This is made known to us, as man could not discover
it, by revelation. We accept this in faith. "Through faith we
understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that
things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Heb.
x:3). And all which was called into existence was created by Him and
for Him. "For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven,
and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were
created by Him and for Him" (Col. i:16). What a marvellous survey!
What power and glory belongs to the blessed Son of God! "All things
were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was
made." "The world was made by Him" (John i:3, 10).

He has the pre-eminence in sustaining His creation. All things
consist by Him. He upholds all things by the Word of His power (Heb.
i:3).

In the Revelation of God He has the pre-eminence. Both books, the
book of Nature and the Book of all books, the written Word of God,
the Bible, tell out His Glory. The Bible may be compared to a living
organism, like the human body. Every book in the Bible has a
specific place and service like the members of the body; the life in
that marvellous divinely constructed organism of the revelation of
God is the Son of God. Apart from Him there is no revelation from
God and no manifestation of God. He reveals God throughout the
Bible, in every part, He holds the pre-eminence. Greater still is
His pre-eminence in redemption. Redemption would be an eternal
impossibility without Him. He came from the Father's bosom to redeem
us. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the
Father but by Him. He gives eternal life. Furthermore as the first
born from the dead He is the head of the body. That body is the
church and every believing sinner is a member in that body. Each is
united to Him and possesses His life. This body with its many
members He keeps, nourishes, builds up, sanctifies and ultimately
glorifies. In all the great and glorious redemptive work He has the
pre-eminence.

As the glorified Man He is the Heir of God and as such He holds the
pre-eminence in heaven. He has been made so much better than the
angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they. Far above all the angelic beings, higher than the
archangel is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Man in Glory.

There is a future pre-eminence for Him. The day of His visible Glory
and power is approaching. Now He is rejected, then He will be
enthroned. Upon the holy hill of Zion He will be the King of Glory.
His Glory will cover the heavens and His Majesty the earth. He will
be King of kings and Lord of lords. He will rule as the only
potentate and every knee must bow before Him. The song must at last
rise in heaven and on earth "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to
receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and
glory and blessing." Such is, briefly sketched, the pre-eminence of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Yea, in all things He hath the pre-eminence.

Can we do anything less than to give Him the first place in all
things? He is worthy of it. He died for us. He drank the cup of
wrath in our stead. His own self bare our sins in His own body on
the tree. How great has been and still is His love for us, the love,
which passeth knowledge. He is worthy of the first place every
moment of our lives. He is worthy to possess all we have and are. We
are bought with a price, we are not our own. We belong to Him.

What unspeakable grace from God the Father, that He has brought us
into fellowship with Him to whom He has given the pre-eminence. We
please the Father as we delight ourselves in the Son and walk in
that blessed fellowship. We must honor Him whom the Father has
honored, and as we serve the Lord Jesus Christ and accord Him the
first place, the Father will honor us (John xii:26). Our hearts too
can never fully know the blessed peace of God and rest of faith till
we give our Lord the first place. Anything less than that will mean
dishonor to Him. "Not I--but Christ" must be the constant cry of
our hearts. Not I--but Christ in our daily walk; Not I--but Christ
in our service. Oh! that we might realize our great and holy
calling, our wonderful privilege, a privilege which is ours for but
a little while longer to live Him, live for Him, who has in all
things the pre-eminence.

   Nothing save Him, in all our ways,
   Giving the theme for ceaseless praise;
   Our whole resource along the road,
   Nothing but Christ--the Christ of God.



"Ye are Christ's--Christ is God's."


ONLY a few words, yet how blessedly full of peace and joy! How
precious they are to faith! If we, to whom they apply, would
remember them daily, how happy in Him we would be. In all our ways,
in good and evil days, yea, every moment the truth contained in
these words ought to be real to the true believer. Is not all our
failure due to the fact that we live not sufficiently in the
consciousness and reality of this wonderful fact, that we belong to
Christ, that we are one with Him? Before these words in the third
chapter of First Corinthians we find the statement "all things are
yours." And after these words it is written "Christ is God's." We
are Christ's and Christ is God's; all things are ours because Grace
has brought us into this marvelous relationship. "Christ is God's"
gives us once more the whole story of God's Love and Grace. As the
Only Begotten He ever subsisted in the form of God, the Image of
God, one with Him, absolutely God. But He came down, took upon Him
the form of a servant, taking His place in the likeness of man. In
the form of man He wrought the great work of redemption on the cross
and now after His resurrection, by which He is proven Son of God and
His presence as the glorified Man in the highest heaven, He is the
one in whom and through whom, God the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ gives all blessing. "Christ is God's," then, means what
we learn from the following scriptures: "The Father loveth the Son,
and hath given all things into His hands" (John iii:35). "Whom He
hath appointed heir of all things" (Heb. i:2). "Christ is God's" is
a word which tells us that He who is the Creator of all things, the
visible and the invisible, came in incarnation, redeemed us and is
now, the beginning, the first-begotten from the dead and the Head of
His Body, which is the Church. This is how God has brought us to
Himself in the person of His own Son by whom he has redeemed us, in
whom He has exalted us and with whom He has given us all things.

To that wonderful person, Christ, the Christ of God, we belong. We
are His, who is One with God, by whom and for whom all things were
created. The Son of God for such as we are, became poor, even to the
poverty of the cross. There He took our place and in His own body He
bore our sins and died for us. He saw us then the travail of His
soul. We can look back to the cross and say, as His Apostle said:
"Who love me and gave Himself for me." We belong to Him, who has all
power in heaven and will have all power before long, as King of
Kings and Lord of Lords on earth. We are Christ's, whom God has
appointed as the second Man, the head of the new creation as Heir of
all things. We are Christ's, who is the Head of the Body, to which
we belong. In Him and with Him we are the Heirs of God. God and
Christ are inseparable and so are Christ and we who have trusted in
Him and have His life. All Christ has belongs to us; all Christ is
we shall be; where Christ is there we shall be in all eternity.
Reader! Child of God, pause! Does your faith lay hold of this? Do
you read it only and enjoy it just for a moment or is this great
fact of your union with Christ and God becoming daily a greater
reality in your life? Is it really so that you enter deeper and
deeper into that love which passeth knowledge? Oh! that it may be so
with the writer and each believer who reads these feeble words on so
great a theme.

"Ye are Christ's." Then we are _not our own_. That is exactly what
is elsewhere stated in First Corinthians. "Ye are not your own; we
are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in
your spirit, which are God's" (1 Cor. vi:20). Our hearts occupied
with Himself, increasingly attracted by the glorious Person of our
adorable Lord, realising by the power of His Spirit our glory and
destiny with the Lord of Glory, we shall act and walk as such, who
are Christ's. Every step of the way it will resound in our hearts
"ye are Christ's." In all we do we shall always remember we are
Christ's. Cares, anxieties, worldly ambitions, all manner of
temptations, will fall before the fact grasped in faith "I am
Christ's."

We are convinced that _only_ the Person of Christ put before the
heart of the believer through the Word of God and the power of His
Spirit can keep the Christian in these awful days of apostasy from
going along with the fearful current of the last days. If Christ and
our blessing in Him become more real to us we will be beyond the
reach of the god of this age with his wiles and sinister purposes.

Furthermore the demand of the hour is for us to exalt Christ. How He
is dishonored is a dread reality. The rejection of Christ was never
so marked and never so satanic as in these days. God, the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ expects from us His children that we
exalt Him in the days of His rejection and thus share His reproach.
Let us do it!

And lastly, if we ever have the Person of Christ before our hearts,
we shall walk in obedience to Him as our Lord. Then if we exalt
Christ and are obedient to Himself we have the fullest assurance
that the Holy Spirit will be with us, upon us and fill us. There is
no need to seek "the power" as some express it, nor a baptism of the
Spirit. He will be with us and in us in the measure as we exalt
Christ and walk in Him.

   O gracious Lord, when we reflect
      How apt to turn the eye from Thee,
   Forget Thee, too, with sad neglect,
      And listen to the enemy,
   And yet to find Thee still the same--
   'Tis this that humbles us with shame.

   Astonished at Thy feet we fall,
      Thy love exceeds our highest thought,
   Henceforth be Thou our all in all,
      Thou who our souls with blood hast bought;
   May we henceforth more faithful prove,
   And ne'er forget Thy ceaseless love.

   "Him will I make that overcomes
      And stems the advancing flood,
   A pillar of might, with glory light,
      In the temple of my God.
   On him shall the blest Name divine,
      And my new name be graven;
   And the City's name, Jerusalem,
      That cometh down from heaven."



The Wonderful.


Isaiah ix:6.


HIS name shall be called "Wonderful" (Isaiah ix:6). And long before
Isaiah had uttered this divine prediction the angel of the Lord had
announced his name to be Wonderful. As such He appeared to Manoah.
And Manoah said unto the angel of Jehovah, What is thy name, that
when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honor. And the angel of
Jehovah said unto Him "why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it
is Wonderful" (margin, Judges xiii:17-18). This angel of Jehovah,
the Person who appeared repeatedly in Old Testament history is an
uncreated angel. Of this Being we read that He is the Redeemer, for
Jacob speaks of Him "the angel which redeemed me from all evil"
(Genesis xlviii:15). He is the angel whose voice must be obeyed, who
has power to pardon transgressions, in whom the name of God is
(Exodus xxiii:20-23). He is the angel of His Presence who saved them
(Isaiah lxiii:9) and Exodus xxxiii:14 must refer to this Being "My
presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest." This angel
of Jehovah speaks in the Book of Judges and declared, "I made you to
go up out of Egypt, and have brought you into the land which I sware
unto your fathers; and I said I will never break my covenant with
you" (Judges ii:1). He appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of
the midst of the bush and He spoke to Moses as the I am! (Ex. iii.)
The same One appeared before Joshua and he worshipped in His
presence. With Him Jacob wrestled, with Jehovah, the God of hosts
(Hosea xii:4-6). Malachi iii:1 shows that the Lord Himself is this
Angel, the Angel of the Covenant, who also visited Abraham in the
form of Man (Genesis xviii).

And after all these manifestations, seven hundred years after Isaiah
had announced Him, as the Wonderful, He appeared in human form in
the midst of His people. And now we know by divine Revelation in the
completed Word of God that He is wonderful in His Person and in his
work; but no mind can fathom, no heart can grasp, no pen can
describe, how wonderful He is.

He is wonderful if we think of Him as the Only Begotten of the
Father. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All
things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that
was made" (John i:1-3). "By Him were all things created that are in
Heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were
made by Him and for Him; and He is before all things and by Him all
things consist" (Col. i:16-17). He is the image of the invisible
God, the brightness of His glory and the express image of His
Person. How wonderful such a One, who ever was, with no beginning,
One with God!

How wonderful His humiliation. "Who being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no
reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in
the likeness of men, and being in fashion as a man He humbled
Himself" (Phil. ii:6-8). "For verily He took not on Him the nature
of Angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham" (Hebrews ii:16).
Wonderful condescension that He who created the angels should be
made lower than the angels and lay His Glory by, to appear in the
form of man on earth.

Wonderful is He in His incarnation, "that holy thing" as the angel
announced Him, truly God and Man. Born of the woman, resting on the
bosom of the virgin as a little child and yet He is the One who ever
is in the bosom of the Father.

Wonderful that blessed life He lived on earth of which the beloved
disciple bears such a beautiful witness. "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. For the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear
witness and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the
Father, and was manifested unto us" (1 John i:1-2). Wonderful are
the blessed words which came from His lips, wonderful is His moral
glory, His untiring service, His love, His patience and everything
which the Holy Spirit has been pleased to tell us of His earthly
life. The more our hearts contemplate Him the more wonderful He
appears. But still greater and more wonderful is it that He went to
the cross to give His life as a ransom for many, that the Just One
should die for the unjust, that He who knew no sin was made sin for
us and pay the penalty of sins on the cross. He is the Wonderful in
His great work on the cross, the depths of which have never been
fathomed. And what can we say of His wonderful Glory, His wonderful
Place, His wonderful Power, His wonderful Grace! How wonderfully He
has dealt with us, with each one of us individually. How wonderful
it is that He knows each of His sheep, that He guides each, provides
for, loveth, succors, stands by, restores, never leaves nor forsakes
each who has trusted in Him and belongs to Him. How wonderful are
His ways with us, that He guides with His eyes and that His loving
power and omnipotent love is on our side. In His coming
manifestation He will be wonderful. Wonderful He will be when we
shall see Him and stand in His presence. What a day it will be when
we see Him face to face! Then we shall know all the loveliness and
wonderfulness of His adorable Person and His wonder ways with us.
With what wonderment we shall then behold Him. And when He comes
with His Saints, when the Heavens are lit up with untold glory, when
He comes to judge, to establish His Kingdom, to speak peace to the
nations, to restore creation to its right condition, when He reigns
and all His redeemed ones with Him--Oh how wonderful it all will
be!

He is altogether lovely and he is altogether wonderful. Glory to His
name! Well has one said: "He pervades the whole of the New Testament
with His presence, so that every doctrine it teaches, every duty it
demands, every narrative it records, every comfort it gives, every
hope it inspires, gathers about His person and ministers to His
glory." So dear does He thus become to the heart of the believer,
that Luther may well be excused for exclaiming, 'I had rather be in
hell with Christ, than in heaven without Him.'

"We believe in Him as our Saviour, Acts vi:31; confess Him as our
Lord, Rom. x:9; we have redemption through His blood, Eph. i:7; we
look to Him as our Leader, Heb. xii:2; we follow Him as our Teacher,
Eph. iv:20, 21; we feed upon Him as our Bread, Jno. vi:48; we go to
Him in our Thirst, Jno. vi: 37; we enter by Him as our door, Jno.
x:9; we are in Him as our vine, Jno. xv:5; we find in Him our rest,
Matt. xi:28; we have in Him our example, Jno. xiii:15; He is our
righteousness, 2 Cor. v:21; we are succored by Him in temptation,
Heb. ii:18; we turn to Him for sympathy, Heb. iv:15; we obtain
through Him our victory, 1 Cor. xv:57; we overcome by Him the world,
1 Jno. v:5; we have in Him eternal life, 1 Jno. v:11, 12; we gain by
Him the resurrection, Phil. iii:20, 21; we appear with Him in glory,
Col. iii:4, we exult in His everlasting love, Rev. i:5, 6."

May the Holy Spirit fill our hearts and eyes with Himself and reveal
to us through the written Word more of the matchless beauty of the
wonderful Person of our Saviour and Lord. We honor and adore Thee,
blessed, blessed Lord, and while Thou art rejected we thy feeble
people would know more of Thyself and keep closer at Thy feet. Amen.

   "We would see Jesus, for the shadows lengthen
      Over this little landscape of our life,
   We would see Jesus, our weak faith to strengthen,
      For the last weariness, the final strife.
   We would see Jesus, this is _all_ we're needing;
      Strength, joy and willingness come with the sight;
   We would see Jesus, dying, risen, pleading;
      Then welcome day, and farewell mortal night."



Honour and Glory Unto him.


IN Revelation V, that great worship scene, beginning some day in
heaven and going on into future ages, we read of the Lamb to whom
honor and glory are due. He alone is worthy. And every heart who
knows Him rejoicing in His love, cries out, "Thou art worthy!" Yea,
the sweetest song for the redeemed soul is the outburst of praise,
which we find on the threshold of His own Revelation. "Unto Him that
loveth us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and hath made
us kings and priests unto God and His Father; _to him_ be glory and
dominion forever and ever. Amen." Soon the great worship John beheld
prophetically may become reality.

As long as we His people are here in this present evil age it is
God's call to us to honor and glorify His Son. This surely is God
the Father's expectation from His children, who are begotten of Him.
This is His call to us in the last days of this rapidly closing age.

It was on the mountain of transfiguration that the Father bore
witness to His Son. "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased." The Father bore not alone this witness, but He vindicated
the honor of His Son, whose glory flashed forth on that mountain.
Peter had spoken; in fact, he was still speaking when the Father's
voice was heard. "Lord, it is good to be here; if Thou wilt let us
make here three tabernacles, one for Thee and one for Moses and one
for Elias." These were Peter's words. At the first glance they
appear harmless. Indeed, they are generally used in spiritual
application of having a good time here. But they have a far
different meaning. Peter had spoken once more in the impulsiveness
of the flesh. By putting the Lord of Glory alongside of Moses and
Elias, he had lowered the dignity of Him. The One whom he had but
recently confessed as the Christ, the Son of the living God, he now
put into the same position and place with Moses and Elias. He lost
sight of the wonderful and glorious person of Christ. When he
uttered this human suggestion the Shekinah cloud appeared and its
glorious splendor covered them. Out of that cloud came the Father's
voice vindicating the honor of His Son. Who is Moses? Who is Elias?
Sinful men they were, man of failure and weakness. But here is
another. This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear Him.
And how that beloved Son is in our day dishonored!

He was in all eternity the beloved Son. When God created all things,
for Him and by Him, He was the delight of God. This is the
foundation of our faith. When he spoke of coming into the world, as
we read in Hebrews X, to do the Father's will, the Father's love and
delight was upon Him. In humiliation beginning there in Bethlehem He
was the beloved Son of God. In all He did, every step of the way,
the Holy One had above Himself the loving Father. And then He went
to the cross, putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. In the
awful suffering on the cross, in the hours of darkness, when as the
substitute of sinners He tasted death, God's holy hand rested upon
that beloved One in judgment, so that He uttered that never to be
forgotten cry "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And God
in His mighty power opened the grave and brought Him forth. He
raised Him from the dead. He was received up in the Glory, exalted
into the highest position. He is the heir of all things, the
upholder of all things, all things consist and exist by Him. God has
given Him the pre-eminence in all things.

And this blessed One, the beloved Son of God is denied, He is
rejected, dishonored and refused. God speaks in Him, by Him, and he
who has made known God, in whom redemption for man was procured is
dishonored. But how is He dishonored and robbed of His Glory? And
where is He dishonored? Not in the world as such so much but in
Christendom. The harvest of this destructive and evil criticism of
the Bible, rejecting the Bible as the inspired Word of God is being
reaped. After the written Word has been attacked and lowered the
enemy who stands behind "Higher Criticism" in a disguised form has
thrown off the mask and bluntly strikes at the Person of the beloved
Son of God. First the devil in the garb of "reverend criticism"
denied Isaiah vii:14, the promise of the virgin bringing forth a
son, as having anything to do with Christ, and now the harvest, the
denial of the virgin birth of our Lord. It would take many pages to
mention all how our ever beloved Lord is robbed of His Glory, how
His Person is dishonored. This denial of the Person of Christ is the
apostasy. It is the very breath of the personal antichrist, the man
of sin, which we feel in these last days.

The Father's voice is not heard in these days as it was heard on the
transfiguration mountain. The heavens are silent to all the dishonor
heaped upon Him, who is in the heaven of heavens. But God the Father
looks to His people in whom the Holy Spirit dwells to honor and
glorify His Son. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to stand as bold
witnesses for Himself and to contend earnestly for the faith once
and for all delivered unto the Saints. The Father expects us that we
stand up for the honor of His Son. His voice to us is "_Honor my
Son!_"

We feel deeply impressed with this great call of God to us at the
present time of increasing darkness and apostasy. Let each child of
God act accordingly. Honor your Lord wherever you are. "Be thou not
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord" (2 Tim. i:8). If you cannot
publicly stand up and honor Christ then honor Him, speak well of
Him, in the home circle or wherever you are. O child of God, walk
close to Him! Sit more at His feet! Cast yourself more upon Him! Let
Him be your all in all! And as He is the sole object of your heart
you will honor Him in the day when He is rejected.

But this will mean something else. It means separation. God's call
to His people is to stand aloft from all which dishonors His Son.
This means much in our days. How can we honor the Beloved One if we
have fellowship with that which dishonors Him? No child of God
should go on with any institution, school or church where the
written Word is set aside or belittled. The second Epistle of
Timothy, which has special reference to our times is very clear on
this separation. No one needs to wait for a special call from God to
act and separate from the corruption of Christendom. It is all given
before hand by the Holy Spirit. "From such turn away" (2 Tim.
iii:5). And those from whom God commands us to separate are persons
who have the form of godliness and deny the power thereof. Again it
is written: "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold
and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and
some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he
shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the master's
use, prepared unto every good work" (2 Tim. ii:20-21). Hear the Word
of the Lord! Hear His call! Be faithful to Him! Keep His Word and do
not deny His Name! Honor and glorify Him who is our Lord whom we
soon shall see face to face.



Christ's Resurrection Song.


WHEN the blessed Lord appeared in the midst of His disciples and
they beheld the risen One in His glorified body of flesh and bones
and He ate before them, He told them that all things which were
written in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets and _in the Psalms_
concerning Him, had to be fulfilled (Luke xxiv:44). While on the way
to Emmaus He said to the two sorrowing and perplexed disciples
"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 all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." It
seems to us He must have then spoken much of the Psalms, these
wonderful prayers and songs of praise, with which His Jewish
disciples were so familiar. In the Psalms the richest prophecies
concerning Christ are found. There we behold Him in His divine
perfections as well as in His true humanity; in His suffering and in
His glory; in His rejection and in His exaltation. Oh that we, the
Lord's people, might read the Psalms more, so that the Holy Spirit
can reveal Christ more to our hearts. In many unexpected places we
can find Him in these songs. There is for instance the xxxvii Psalm,
so much enjoyed by the Saints of God. It contains such precious
exhortations to faith, to be patient and to hope. But in taking the
comfort of these blessed exhortations and their accompanying
promises, we are apt to overlook some verses which tell us of our
Lord. Verses 30-33 apply to Him. "The mouth of the righteous
speaketh wisdom and His tongue talketh of judgment. The law of His
God is in His heart; none of His steps shall slide. The wicked
watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay Him. Jehovah will not
leave Him in his hand, nor condemn Him when He is judged." Our Lord
is this righteous One. Words of wisdom and judgment, mercy and truth
flowed from His lips while righteousness in heart and life, and
perfect obedience were manifested in Him. Then His death and
deliverance are indicated in these words. However, care must be
taken not to apply all the experiences of the Psalms to Christ. We
saw recently an exposition of Psalm xxxviii:7. The words "For my
loins are filled with a loathsome disease and there is no soundness
in my flesh" were applied to Christ. This is a very serious mistake.
He knew no sin and therefore no loathsome disease could fill His
loins. Such exposition is evil.

Many joyous expressions of praise to God are found in the Psalms
which properly belong first to Him, who is the leader of the praises
of His people (Heb. ii:12). One of these sweet outbursts of praise
is contained in the opening verses of the xl Psalm. The first three
verses may be called "the resurrection song of Christ":

   "I waited patiently for the Lord,
   And He inclined unto me
   And heard my cry.
   He brought me up also
   Out of an horrible pit,
   Out of the miry clay;
   And set my feet upon a rock,
   Established my goings.
   And He has put a new song in my mouth;
   Praise unto our God;
   Many shall see it and fear,
   And shall trust in the Lord."

It is the experience of our Saviour, which must here first of all be
considered. Patiently He had waited for Jehovah. Himself Jehovah He
had taken the place of dependence under God His Father and patiently
He endured. He was obedient unto death, the death of the cross. He
endured the cross, despising the shame. He cried to God. "Who in the
days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and fears unto Him that was able to save Him from
death, and _was heard_ in that he feared; though He were Son, yet
learned He obedience by the things which He suffered" (Heb. v:7-8).
The place of death is given in this Psalm: "the horrible pit and the
miry clay." Who can describe all what is meant by these words!
"Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we
did esteem Him stricken and smitten of God and afflicted. But He was
wounded for our transgressions, the chastisement of our peace was
upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed" (Isa. liii:45). He
went into the horrible pit, or as it reads literally, the pit of
destruction, the place which belongs to fallen man by nature, so
that we might be taken out of it. He went into the jaws of death and
there the billows and waves, yea all the billows and waves of the
judgment of the holy God passed over Him. In another Psalm the Holy
Spirit describes His agony. (Ps. lxix). There we read His cry "Save
me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep
mire, where there is no standing; I am come into deep waters, where
the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying, my throat is dried;
mine eyes fail while I wait for my God." And deeper He went for our
sakes. The miry clay has a special meaning. Any one who sinks into a
pit filled with miry clay cannot help himself. All his struggling
does not help; the more he labors the deeper he sinks. One who is in
the miry clay cannot save himself. And does this not remind us of
the Lord and of what was said of Him "He saved others, Himself He
cannot save." He was in the miry clay. He might have saved Himself
but He would not. His mighty love it was, that love which passeth
knowledge, which brought Him from Heaven's Glory down to the
horrible pit, the miry clay.

But the sufferings of our adorable Lord are not so much before us in
this Psalm as the fact of His resurrection. His cry was heard. The
prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears were
answered; His resurrection from the dead was God's blessed answer.
While in other Scriptures it is stated that Christ Himself arose,
here His resurrection is seen as an act of God. "He brought me up."
This act of God bears witness to the completeness and perfection of
the accomplished salvation. "We believe in Him who raised up Jesus
our Lord from the dead. Who was delivered for our offences and was
raised again for our justification" (Rom. iv:24-25). But we read
also that His feet were set upon a rock. "And set my feet upon a
rock." He is the first born from the dead. Sin and death are
abolished by His mighty work. "Knowing that Christ being raised from
the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in
that He died, He died unto sin once, but in that He liveth, He
liveth unto God" (Rom. vi:9-10). Upon that rock the feet of every
believing sinner securely rest.

But His ascension is likewise mentioned in this resurrection song.
"And established my goings." He "whose goings forth have been from
old, from everlasting" (Micah v:2) and who came from everlasting
glory to walk in obedience to the cross and the grave has gone back
into heaven. He was received up into glory; He ascended on high and
led captivity captive.

And the mighty victor sings now a _new song_. It is the triumphant
song of redemption, to the praise of God. On account of Him, what He
has accomplished in His death on the cross and Who is raised from
the dead and in glory "many shall see it and fear and shall trust in
the Lord." But this wonderful resurrection song the Lord sings not
alone. We, who have trusted in Him and know Him have part in this
song. Believing in Him we are taken out, yea forever, from the
terrible pit and the miry clay. There is no more death and no more
wrath for us. We are also risen with Him, our feet are planted upon
the rock, our goings are established. We belong to the heavenlies
where He is. We sing praises in His name unto our God, His God and
our God, His Father and our Father, the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh! that our hearts may enter deeper into this song of
accomplished redemption "praise unto our God;" the loving God who
spared not His only Begotten.

And indeed "many shall see and fear and trust in the Lord." This
reaches into the future. Israel too will be taken from the place of
spiritual and national death, and raised to life to join the new
song. Nations will see it and fear and trust Jehovah. At last the
great new song of resurrection and the new creation will swell in
its divinely revealed length and breadth, heighth and depth. Now He
sings the song, and His co-heirs sing it too in feebleness, yet by
His Grace and through His Spirit. Ere long in His presence all the
Redeemed will praise in Glory with glorified lips. Heavenly beings
will utter their praise and in a wider circle down on earth, every
creature will join in.

"And they sung a _new song_ saying, Thou art worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof; for thou was slain, and hast redeemed
us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue, and people,
and nation. And hast made us unto _our_ God, Kings and priests, and
we shall reign over the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice
of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and
the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousands. Saying with a loud voice,
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and
wisdom, and strength and honor, and glory and blessing. And every
creature which is in heaven, and on the earth and under the earth,
and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I
saying, blessing, and honor, and glory and power, be unto Him that
sitteth on the throne, and unto the lamb forever and ever" (Revel.
v:9-13). That song will never end. Oh may we learn to sing it now,
and in His Name sing praises unto our God.

May we follow the great leader of Praise, Him who is anointed with
the oil of gladness above His fellows. May the path He followed down
here become more and more ours. May we serve, be obedient, give up,
wait patiently for the Lord, after His own pattern, suffer with Him,
be rejected with Him, bear His reproach and through it all rejoice
in Him and sing "the new song." How happy we ought to be as linked
with Him, the blessed Christ of God. And as we walk in His
fellowship the heart longs to see Him as He is. Even so; come Lord
Jesus.



The Glory Song.


Rev. i:5-6.


"UNTO Him who loveth us and washed us from our sins in His own blood
and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father: To Him
be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen" (Rev. i:5-6). This
great outburst of praise may well be called "the Glory Song." It
glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ; it reveals also the Glory of those
He has redeemed and will be heard throughout eternity. There will
never be a moment in the countless ages of eternity when this Glory
song will be hushed or forgotten. We begin to sing it here on earth.
The more we know the Christ of God and His great love for us, the
more we delight to praise and to worship Him. Such worship of the
heart in the power of the Spirit is the atmosphere of heaven upon
earth. And some day we shall see Him whom we worship and adore in
faith. In that glorious moment, when we shall see Him as He is we
shall realize for the first time the length and breadth, the heighth
and depth of His love and know the Glory to which He has brought us.
Then we and all the redeemed will sing this song in a better and
more perfect way than we have ever done here. "Thou art worthy * * *
for Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of
every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation; and hast made us
unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign over the earth"
(Rev. v:9, 10).

This blessed Word of Praise is placed by the Holy Spirit in the
foreground of the book which bears the name, the Revelation, or,
Unveiling of Jesus Christ. In it is found the great unveiling of the
future, the great coming tribulation and judgment period through
which the earth must pass, events which precede the glorious
manifestation of the Lord. But in this last great Bible book there
is also a complete unveiling of the Person, the Glory and the
dignity of Him to whom all judgment is committed. Not alone are in
this book many of the prophecies, given of old by the holy men of
God, rehearsed, but all He is, His Name, His power, His Glory, His
work, and many of his titles are restated. Think of what He is
called and how He is described in this book. We find Him called the
Son of God, the Son of Man, the Almighty, the Lord, the Alpha, the
Omega, the First, the Last, the Beginning of the Creation of God,
the Amen, the faithful Witness, the First begotten from the dead,
the Word of God, the Lamb, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the
mighty Angel, He that liveth, He that was dead, He that is alive
evermore, the Root and Offspring of David, the bright and Morning
star, the Prince of the kings of the earth, the King of kings, the
Lord of lords. What an array of titles. On earth great ones, kings
and princes, have numerous titles. They concern only earthly
glories; they are but for a moment. But His titles concern the earth
and the heavens. They belong to Him because He is God, while others
are acquired through His great work of redemption. His Glory and His
dignity are indescribable. One who reads the Book of Revelation and
reads it again will be increasingly impressed with the Glory of Him,
whom John beheld in all His Majesty.

Before the Spirit of God records this Glory song, the utterance of
praise to be used and to be enjoyed by redeemed sinners, He mentions
three titles of our Lord. The faithful Witness; the First begotten
from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. These three
titles take in His earthly life, His redemption work and His future
Glory. On earth He was the faithful witness. He glorified the
Father. He had come into the world to bear witness unto the truth.
He was faithful and nothing marred His witness. He came as the Only
begotten of the Father and the faithful witness, the Son of God went
to the cross to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The open
and empty tomb is the witness that it was perfectly and righteously
accomplished. Now He is the First begotten from the dead as well as
the First fruits. His death and His resurrection are, therefore, in
view in this second title. His glorious future is beheld in the
third title, the Prince of the kings of the earth. The kingdoms of
the earth belong to Him; He has a perfect right and title to the
earth and its government. Now still the god of this age rules, but
ere long He comes "whose right it is" and claims His inheritance. In
these three wonderful titles we behold all the Son of God as Son of
Man has accomplished in His mighty work. He lived the path of faith
and obedience on earth, as the faithful witness. He has put away sin
and conquered death and the grave as well as him who has the power
of death, that is the devil. In the future He will be King of kings
and Lord of lords.

And then follows this outburst of Praise. The Holy Spirit, who is
here on earth to glorify Him, breaks forth at once into singing and
directs the heart to worship Him. Beloved readers if the Holy Spirit
is ungrieved in us He will lead our hearts into such praise and
adoration of the Lord; nothing grieves the Holy Spirit more than
when a believer does not appreciate the Lord Jesus Christ and
manifest this appreciation by praise and worship.

Three things are stated in this blessed doxology:

_He loved us._

_He washed us._

_He hath made us._

These three things correspond to the three titles which precede this
doxology. Love it was, which brought Him down from the Glory to walk
upon this earth in humiliation, the faithful witness, and that love
knew and saw the cross. Love led Him there to die for such as we
are. What love it was! Who can ever declare it!

The true translation is not "who loved us," but "who _loveth_ us."
His love is an abiding love. He does nothing but love those who
belong to Him, who have trusted Him and are the Beloved of God. Our
sins, our weaknesses, our infirmities and failures can never affect
or diminish His love. Never, oh child of God, doubt His abiding
love. Yea, whatever our circumstances are, in trials, in the hard
places, in troubles, burdened with cares and full of anxiety, in all
our failures we can look up and say, "He loveth me." It is an ever
present and eternal love. Never, oh child of God, measure that love
by your changing feeling or by your experience. And this love He
manifested by dying for us. He has washed us from our sins in His
own blood. To this His title as "The First begotten from the dead"
refers. "Who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by
whose stripes ye are healed" (1 Pet ii:24). The precious blood of
Christ has washed us from our sins. They can never come up again. Oh
blessed knowledge! Cleansed by His own blood, the precious blood of
the Lamb without spot and blemish! And the blessedness of all that
is connected with this!

   Oh, the peace forever flowing
      From God's thoughts of His own Son!
   Oh, the peace of simply knowing
      On the cross that all was done!

   Peace with God, the blood in heaven
      Speaks of pardon now to me:
   Peace with God! the Lord is risen!
      Righteousness now counts me free.

   Peace with God is Christ in glory;
      God is just and God is love;
   Jesus died to tell the story,
      Foes to bring to God above.

But more than that "He hath made us kings and priests unto God and
His Father." This belongs also to His mighty love. His future of
Glory as the Prince of the Kings of the earth, the King of kings and
Lord of lords, His fathomless love leads Him to share with those for
whom He died, whom He purged and fitted by His own blood. He hath
made us kings and priests. It is all His work. A more correct
translation is "He hath made us a Kingdom." This, however, does not
mean that He has linked us with a Kingdom in which we are to be
subjects and governed by Him. We are not subjects of a Kingdom, but
_are_ a Kingdom, partakers of it in rule with Himself. We shall rule
and reign with Him over the earth. And because He will be "a priest
upon _His_ throne" (Zech. vi:13) we, too, will be priests. What it
all includes, what glories await us, what enjoyment with Him, what
riches and blessings, power and honor, no mind can grasp and no
tongue nor pen can describe.

"To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen." All glory and
dominion to Him! Thou art worthy! Thou art worthy! This is the
heart's cry, which really knows Him and is devoted to Him. "Thou art
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power." Our crowns we
cast before Thy throne. Amen and Amen.

Reader can you add your "Amen"--your, "be it so" to all this? Do
you sing this Glory song? In a day when He, who is worthy, is but
little praised, do you praise Him thus? Do you live in the daily
enjoyment of His love? Do you give Him the pre-eminence to whom God
has given the pre-eminence in all things? Amen! And oh the happy
thought, which helps us so in these evil days, that soon He, who
loveth us, who washed us, who hath made us a Kingdom and priests,
may call us into His own glorious presence.



The Firstborn.


"THE Firstborn" or "The Firstbegotten" is one of the names of our
blessed Lord. It is applied to Him after His resurrection from the
dead. As the Only Begotten He came into this world, the unspeakable
gift of God to a lost and ruined world; after the accomplishment of
His work on the cross He left the earth, He had created, as the
Firstborn. As the Firstbegotten He is now in the highest heaven and
as the Firstbegotten the Man of Glory He will be sent back to this
earth and rule in power and glory. Paul wrote to the Philippians "to
write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous but for
you it is safe" (Phil. iii:1). Peter's preaching in the opening
chapters of the Acts might have been called monotonous, for he knew
but one theme. The Spirit of God filling him gave but one message
and that was, the rejected Jesus of Nazareth risen from the dead. In
the Gospel of the Glory of the blessed God (1 Tim. i:11), as
revealed to the Apostle of the Gentiles we have one theme, one
abiding, ever satisfying, eternal object and that is Christ who died
for our sins, risen from the dead, as Firstborn in Glory and our
blessed union with Him. Paul who knew Him as the Firstborn so well
found it not grievous to write the same thing. Indeed the more He
knew Him the more His heart cried out "that I may know Him" (Phil.
iii:10). There is an attraction in Him which is supernatural. Every
child of God will increasingly enjoy the contemplation of this old
yet ever new and blessed theme, the Firstborn from the dead. Only in
this our hearts can find perfect rest and abiding joy. And if your
heart, dear reader, is not attracted and absorbed by Himself, it is
because there is a broken communion between you and your Lord. Oh,
return unto thy rest, my soul! The drifting masses of Christendom
have no use for such a theme. The words written in 2 Cor. iv:3-4
find a fearful application in our time. "But if our gospel be hid,
it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this age hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God, should shine unto
them."

How little of the Gospel of the Glory is preached! It is not wanted.
All the present day preaching of ethics, of doing good, self
improvement and self culture is anti-christian. The preaching which leaves
out the cross of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the Glory of
Christ, differs not in the least from the ethical-philosophical
jumble of Buddhistic and other oriental heathen teachers. It
is an awful thing which is done in Christendom today, this
rejection of the Lord, the Firstborn. Some day and that soon,
God will judge those who have rejected that Gospel and deal with
them for the sin of all sins which is unbelief (John xvi:9). But our
hearts, beloved in the Lord, must turn more and more to Him and find
their delight in Him, who is the Firstbegotten. And this we shall do
now by meditating on a few Scriptures which tell us of Him. "He is
the _Firstborn_ from the dead" (Col. i:18). "Jesus Christ, who is
the faithful witness, the _Firstbegotten_ of the dead, and the
Prince of the Kings of the earth" (Rev. i:5). What blessed
declarations these are! In the first chapter of Colossians it is
fully revealed who He is, who was dead and who is alive for
evermore. Not a creature but the Creator, the one who images forth
God, because He is God. By Him were all things created, "that are in
heaven, and that are on earth, visible and invisible, thrones or
dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by
Him and for Him." And such a One made peace through the blood of His
cross. Such a One took our place on the cross of shame, tasted death
in our stead and all the billows of wrath and judgment passed over
His holy head. Because He wrought out our redemption it is complete
and perfect. Raised from the dead, not held by death but bursting
forth, leading captivity captive, He is the Firstborn and to Him
belongs all Glory and Power. "But now is Christ risen from the dead,
and become the _Firstfruits_ of them that slept" (1 Cor. xv:20). By
His glorious resurrection He became the Firstfruits. All who believe
in Him will rise too by virtue of being one with Him, who is the
Resurrection and the Life. The mighty power of God which raised Him
from the dead and seated Him in the highest place, at His own right
hand, that exceeding greatness of His power is towards us, who
believe. That power has quickened us with Christ, raised us up
together and seated us in the heavenly. In some future day that
mighty power, which raised Him so that He became the Firstfruits
will raise all the saints to meet Him in the air.

"And again, when He bringeth in the _Firstbegotten_ into the world,
He saith, and let all the angels of God worship Him" (Heb. i:6).

God will bring the Firstbegotten back to this earth again. This is a
very strong passage revealing the second coming of Christ to this
earth. The same blessed Person, who walked on this earth as man, who
is Emanuel, God with us, who died on the cross for our sins, who
became the Firstbegotten from the dead, the Firstfruits of them that
slept, He who is now as Man in Glory, the same Person, the
Firstbegotten, will be brought back to this world by the power of
God. Then worshipping angels will be His attendants and He will
bring His Saints with Him.

"For whom He foreknew, He also did predestinate, to be conformed to
the image of His Son, that He might be the _Firstborn_ among many
brethren" (Romans viii:29). Conformed to the glorious image of God's
ever blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the destiny of all, who
have cast themselves as lost sinners upon Christ and have been saved
by Grace through faith. It is true even now by beholding as in a
glass the glory of the Lord we are changed into the same image from
glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor. iii:18).
It is true if we abide in Him, we shall walk even as He walked (1
John ii:6). The exhortation in our great salvation Epistle is, not
to be conformed to this age, but to be transformed, or as it might
be translated, transfigured (Rom. xii:2). _But_ to be fully
conformed to the image of His Son is never to be expected in this
world, where sin is ever present; When the Firstbegotten calls us
into His own presence, when the Heir of God summons His beloved
co-heirs to meet Him and to enter with Him into the blood-bought
inheritance, then each saved sinner will be conformed to the image
of Himself. Each will shine forth the excellencies of the
Firstbegotten. _We shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is._
Hallelujah! This is why God gave up His Son, that He might be able
to lift those who are His enemies by wicked works into the Sonplace
and make them like His Son in Glory.

"Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare
the degree; the Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art my _Son_; this day
have I begotten Thee" (Ps. ii:6-7). In this prophecy He is likewise
seen as the Firstbegotten. It does not mean the eternal Son of God,
for as such He had no beginning, but the day in which He was
begotten is the third day when He was raised from the dead. Paul
gives us this truth when He spoke to the Jews in Antioch and said:
"God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath
raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm,
Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee" (Acts xiii:33). Up
to this time He is not yet enthroned upon the holy hill of Zion.
When He returns as the Firstbegotten and finds the nations of the
earth not converted, but in opposition to Him (Ps. ii:1-3), He will
become the King and take His throne.

"Also I will make Him my _Firstborn_, higher than the Kings of the
earth" (Ps. lxxxix:27). This reveals the exalted station, which He
will assume, when His blessed feet touch this earth again. He will
be the King of kings, and the Lord of lords.

This is the Glory of the Firstborn, the loving Sinbearer who endured
the cross and despised the shame. He is the Heir of God, the Heir of
all things, the Head of all principality and power, the Head of His
redeemed people, the church. He that filleth all in all, the
Firstborn, will share His glorious title and possessions with His
redeemed. The church to which God's marvelous Grace has brought us
is the church of the _Firstborn_. (Heb. xii:23), because the
Firstborn is the Head and beginning and those who are begotten again
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead have their portion
with the Firstborn. Oh! glorious future we have as His redeemed
people! God our Father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by Thy Holy Spirit, keep the Glory of Thy Son, the Firstborn, before
our hearts, that we may be changed into the same image and overcome
in these dark and evil days. Amen.

   Soon shall our eyes behold Thee
      With rapture, face to face;
   And, resting there in glory,
      We'll sing Thy pow'r and grace:
   Thy beauty, Lord, and glory,
      The wonders of Thy love,
   Shall be the endless story
      Of all Thy saints above.



The Waiting Christ.


WAITING for the coming of the Lord is one of the blessed
characteristics of true Christianity. In the parable of the ten
virgins the three great marks of a true believer are stated by our
Lord. These are: _Separation_, indicated by the virgins having gone
forth. _Manifestation_, they had lamps, which are for the giving of
light, and _Expectation_, they went forth to meet the Bridegroom.
With five of them it was only an outward profession. The foolish
virgins are the type of such who are Christians in name only and do
not know the reality of these characteristics. The Lord knew them
not. These three characteristics are seen in Paul's first epistle to
the Thessalonians. That model assembly was composed of such members
who possessed these three things. They had turned to God from
idols (separation); they served the true and the living God
(manifestation); they waited for His Son from heaven (expectation),
1 Thess. i:9, 10. The same is revealed in the epistle to Titus. "For
the Grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men."
That Grace accepted separates unto God.

"Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should
live soberly, righteously and godly, in this present world." This is
manifestation. The Grace of God enables us to live thus. "Looking
for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God
and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Here we have expectation. Other
similar passages could be quoted. If we divide the New Testament
Scriptures into three parts we have the same order. In the Gospels
the Grace of God in the Son of God appeared. In the Epistles we are
taught how to manifest Him by walking in the Spirit. The great New
Testament prophetic book, the Revelation, looks on towards His
Coming. And how His Coming is forgotten! How few of His people truly
wait for Him! How few pray that important and almost forgotten
prayer, Even so, Come Lord Jesus! But we must also remember that our
Lord is likewise waiting. Innumerable multitudes of disembodied
spirits who are saved by Grace are waiting in His own presence for
the moment when they will receive their resurrection bodies, which
will be when He descends from Heaven and comes into the air. The
faithful remnant of His people on earth wait for His Coming. Israel
and all creation wait for Him as well as the unseen beings in the
Heavenly. _But He Himself is waiting._ This is the testimony of the
Word of God. First it is the subject of prophecy. In the brief but
great 110th Psalm that waiting is predicted. The Christ, who is so
often seen in the Psalms and in the Prophets as King, ruling in His
earthly kingdom, whose glories in that rule are so blessedly
described, is seen in the beginning of that Psalm seated at the
right hand of God; this heavenly place will be occupied by Him till
His enemies are made His footstool. How the Holy Spirit witnessed to
this fact at once after His descent on the day of Pentecost is more
fully revealed in the second chapter of Acts. In Hebrews x:13 we
read of His waiting attitude in heaven. "But _this man_, after He
had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right
hand of God, from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His
footstool." The better word for expecting is "waiting." We may well
emphasize the word "Man." Our blessed Lord is not in the presence of
God as a Spirit Being, but He is there in the form of Man. The
blessed body He had on earth, which He gave on the cross and which
laid in the tomb could not see corruption. He was raised on the
third day. He ascended in that glorified body into heaven and He is
on the right hand of God as Man, in Him dwells the fullness of the
Godhead bodily. Just one Man is there in Glory. But oh! what it
means! He is the Head of His body, the church and in the future all
His redeemed people will possess glorified bodies, like unto His
glorious body. No wonder the enemy ever aims at the denial of the
Lord's bodily presence. From many pulpits it is declared to be "too
material." The denial of this great truth, the _Man_ in glory, is a
denial of the entire Gospel. It is at this the enemy strikes.

As the glorified Man on the Father's throne He is waiting till His
enemies are made His footstool. This does not mean, as so many
believe and teach, that the Lord Jesus Christ is waiting till His
enemies are gradually overcome, till the church on earth succeeds in
converting the whole world. It does not mean that. His enemies will
be made His footstool in a far different way. It will be a sudden
event. All His enemies will be humbled, all things will be subjected
under His feet at the time of His second Coming. As there was an
appointed time by the Father for His first Coming, so is there an
appointed time for His second Coming, when the power of God and His
own power will triumph over all His enemies. As He is in His
redemptive work subject to the Father, therefore is He waiting for
that hour. Then the Father will bring in the firstbegotten into the
world (Heb. i:6) and He will receive the nations for His inheritance
(Psalm ii).

He is waiting for this great event. But He is also waiting for His
co-heirs, which constitute the church. The church, His body, must be
first completed as to numbers before the hour can come in which His
enemies are made His footstool.

He is patiently waiting for that moment. John speaks of that when he
calls himself "a companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and
_patience_ of Jesus Christ" (Rev. i:9). Centuries have come and gone
since He took that place upon the Father's throne, unseen by human
eyes, and during all this time, while the calling out of the church
proceeded, He has waited patiently. Some day His waiting will come
to an end. His church will be completed and then He Himself arises
from His seat and descends to that place in the air, where He will
meet His own, for whom His loving heart yearns so much. What a
moment that will be at last! Then His waiting as well as His
patience will be ended and He will receive His kingdom and be
crowned Lord of lords and King of kings. No longer will He then be
unseen, but His Glory will flash out of heaven and He Himself will
be manifested in Glory. Then the world can reject Him no longer but
must accept His righteous rule in which His redeemed people will
share. What child of God does not wish this to be soon, very soon.
Oh that we might cry more earnestly, more in the Spirit, yes,
incessantly, "Come Lord Jesus."

But while He waits and the hour has not yet come we must wait as He
waits on the throne. To the Thessalonians who had listened to
teachers who judaized the blessed hope, fearing they were facing the
day of the Lord with its tribulation and wrath, the Apostle wrote:
"And the Lord direct your hearts in the love of God, and into the
patient waiting for Christ" (2 Thess. iii:5). But we must not only
wait patiently _for_ Him but also wait _with_ Him. He is the
rejected One. The world cast Him out. As the rejected One He waits
in patience for the hour of His triumph and His Glory. This place of
rejection is our greatest privilege to share. And where is He more
rejected than in that which calls itself by His Name! To bear His
reproach in these closing days of this present age is our blessed
opportunity. To suffer with Him, if not for Him, should be that for
which our hearts should long, yea, pray. And we will be glad to be
rejected with Him, to be nothing at this present time, to have
fellowship with His sufferings, if He as the patient waiting Lord is
ever before our hearts.

At the close of the one hundred and tenth psalm stands a word, which
we should also remember.

   "He shall drink of the brook in the way,
   Therefore shall He lift up the head."

It has puzzled many readers what this saying might mean. It speaks
to our hearts of His humiliation and exaltation. One thinks at once
of the three hundred of Gideon and how they stooped down to drink.
The brook is the type of death. He drank of the brook in the way.
His way was from Glory to Glory, and between were His sufferings.
And, therefore, He shall lift up the head. Wherefore, God has highly
exalted Him. May we all, dear readers, follow in His path and suffer
with Him; ere long in His triumph and glory we shall triumph and
glory.

"And if children then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with
Christ; if so be we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified
together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are
not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in
us" (Rom. viii:17-18).



A Vision of the King.


ONE of the most blessed occupations for the believer is the
prayerful searching of God's holy Word to discover there new glories
and fresh beauties of Him, who is altogether lovely. Shall we ever
find out all which the written Word reveals of Himself and His
worthiness? This wonderful theme can never be exhausted. The heart
which is devoted to Him and longs through the presence and
indwelling of the Holy Spirit to be closer to the Lord, to hear and
know more of Himself, will always find something new and precious.
The Holy Spirit can do this and reveals to our hearts from the
inexhaustible Word of God the Glory of Him, whom to exalt the Spirit
has come. Much depends on how we desire just Himself. And Christ
alone and the heart knowledge of Himself can satisfy the believer,
who has His life and is one Spirit with the Lord

   "O Christ Thou art enough
   The heart to satisfy."

Soon we shall see Him, whom we contemplate now in faith. Soon we
shall be in His own glorious presence and look upon that face, which
was once marred and smitten, but which now shines out Heaven's and
the Father's Glory.

The kingly Glory of our blessed Lord is one of the great themes of
the Bible. The Man of humiliation, who here on earth walked in
dependence on God, who did His will, suffered and died is now in the
Father's presence and on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
There He sat down with His Father in His throne, waiting for the
moment when His work as the Priest and Advocate of His beloved
people on earth is accomplished, and when the Father will establish
Him as King, when He will receive the kingdom. Alas! that all this
glory, which belongs to Him and which is still future, His Kingship,
His kingly glory and rule, as it must be some day, is so unknown and
even disowned in Christendom. It is but the uncovering of the
condition of the heart of the great majority of professing
Christians. They may talk of religion, of great reform movements, of
service to mankind, world progress, but the Christ of God in all His
Glory, past, present and future, has little attraction. Far
different it is with the heart which knows Him and has given Him the
place He is worthy of, the first place. That heart delights to
meditate on all His Glory and longs for the time when He will
appear, and when at last, crowned with many crowns, He will assume
His righteous rule. Great is our joy and delight when we follow
through the Scriptures His earthly life so full of His moral Glory.
Or when we think of Him as He died for us and bore in His own body
on the tree our sins; we praise Him for His mighty Love. But what
joy to think of Him as coming at last into that which belongs to Him
the Lord of Glory, by right of redemption, when He will take
possession of this earth and claim its Satan ruled kingdoms for His
own. Then it will be true, "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness
thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." Then the Seraph's
song will be realized, "The whole earth is full of His Glory."

How much the Word has to say about the King and His Glory; and we
have never yet taken hold of it with our dull hearts! Take the Book
of Psalms, for instance, that book which has been so belittled by
the destructive criticism. While we read so much in those precious
productions of the Holy Spirit of Christ's sufferings, His
humiliation, His prayers, His death, we may find there much more
about Him as King and His coming manifestation.

The tumult of the nations, as predicted in the _Second_ Psalm, and
about to be realized in our own times, the tumult of the nations
against the Lord and His Anointed, will be silenced by the coming of
the King. "I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion;" this is
what God declares. The God-man Christ Jesus, the Man, who is with
Him now is, His King. His destiny is the government of the nations,
with a rod of iron.

The entire _Twenty-first_ Psalm tells out the Glory of the King.
Christian expositors have rarely discovered this. But Jewish
exponents always knew it. Saith a leading Jewish authority of the
middle ages: "Our old teachers have always applied this Psalm as
meaning the King Messiah." Read its stanzas:

   "The King shall joy in Thy strength, Jehovah;
   And in Thy salvation, how greatly shall He rejoice.
   Thou hast given Him His heart's desire,
   And hast not withholden the requests of His lips.
   For Thou hast met Him with the blessings of goodness;
   Thou hast set a crown of pure gold on His head.
   He asked Life of Thee;
   Thou gavest Him length of days forever and ever.
   His Glory is great through Thy salvation;
   Majesty and splendor hast Thou laid upon Him.
   For Thou hast made Him to be blessings forever;
   Thou hast filled Him with joy by Thy countenance.
   For the King confideth in Jehovah.
   Through the loving kindness of the Highest
   He shall not be moved."

Then comes His future action, when He whom faith sees now crowned
with Majesty and Splendor, who rejoices in the Presence of God,
appears to execute the judgments of God.

   "Thy hand shall find out all thine enemies;
   Thy right hand shall find out those that hate Thee.
   Thou shalt make them as a fiery furnace
   In the time of Thy presence.
   Jehovah shall swallow them up in his anger,
   And the fire shall devour them.
   Their fruit shall Thou destroy from the earth,
   And their seed from among the children of men.
   For they intended evil against Thee,
   They imagined a mischievous device,
   Which they could not execute.
   For Thou wilt make them turn their back,
   Thou wilt make ready Thy bowstring against their faces.
   Be Thou exalted Jehovah in Thine own strength;
   We will sing and celebrate Thy power."

And in the _Twenty-fourth_ Psalm we have prophetically that
triumphant shout, which will be heard when the King comes
back to enter His City, Jerusalem, again.

   "Lift up your heads, ye gates
   And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors;
   And the King of Glory shall come in.
   Who is this King of Glory?
   Jehovah strong and mighty,
   Jehovah mighty in battle."

The _Forty-fifth_ Psalm is a song of the Beloved, touching the King.
He is described as coming in His Majesty and Splendor, how He deals
with His enemies and that He will be surrounded by His own redeemed
ones.

The Glory and dominion of His Kingdom He will receive is described
in the _Seventy-second_ Psalm. "He shall have dominion from sea to
sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." And other
Psalms enlarge upon these glorious visions, which will all be true
when the King comes. Then Jerusalem will be a praise in the earth.
"Also I will make Him, my Firstborn, higher than the kings of the
earth" (Ps. lxxxix:27).

And how rich are the prophets in telling us of the Glory of the King
and the glories of His kingdom. "Behold a King shall rule in
righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment" (Isaiah xxxii:1).
"Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty; they shall behold the
land that is afar off" (Isaiah xxxiii:17). "A King shall reign and
prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth"
(Jerem. xxiii:5). "And there was given Him dominion and glory, and a
kingdom, that all people, nations and languages, should serve Him;
His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
and His Kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed" (Dan. vii:14).
"The King of Israel, the Lord, is in the midst of thee (the earthly
Jerusalem); thou shalt not see evil any more" (Zeph. iii:15). "And
the Lord shall be King over all the earth" (Zech. xiv:6).

These and many, many more utterances of God's blessed prophets give
us a vision of the King, of the Glory of Him, who was crowned with a
crown of thorns, the thorns of man's curse, and over whose cross it
was written, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."

And the New Testament fully brings out the same Glory of Him as
King. He is "King of Peace" (Heb. vii:2); "King of saints" (Rev.
xv:3); "The Lord of lords and King of kings" (Rev. xvii:14).

At last the unfulfilled message of Gabriel will be gloriously
fulfilled. "The Lord God shall give unto Him the Throne of His
father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever;
and of His kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke i:32).

But nowhere is He called "King of the church," nor are we authorized
as believers to address Him "Our King." He will be King, but then He
will not be our King, but we shall _be Kings with Him_. He is not
King of the church, but the Head of the Body, the church; Head and
Body together, Christ and His church, will rule and reign over the
earth. Glory to His Name! In loving tenderness He looks upon us, who
possess His life, He is not ashamed to call us "brethren," for He is
Man, the second Man, and He beholds in us those, who will ere long
share His Kingly Glory, His Kingly rule.

Oh, Beloved readers! does it not warm our hearts! Does it not make
us feel like falling down on our faces and confess to Him our
indifference and our nothingness, and humble ourselves in the dust.
How little, oh how little we enter into all this. The Lord help us
to have through His Word and in the power of His Spirit a greater
vision of the King and our blessed, eternal lot with Him.

   They crown Him King on high;
      Shall we not crown Him here,
   The blessed Christ of Calvary,
      To ransomed sinners dear?

   They worship Him above,
      Shall we not worship too,
   The Son of God, the Lord of love,
      To whom all praise is due?

   Up there they see His Face,
      The Lamb who once was slain,
   And in a new song praise His Grace;
      Shall we not join the strain?

   Yonder His servants still
      Serve as their Lord commands;
   Oh may we also do His will
      With loving hearts and hands.--M. F.



The Fellowship of His Son.


"GOD is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of His
Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. i:9). A blessed word this is. By
nature the Corinthians were in another fellowship. The same Epistle
(vi:9-11) tells us what some of them were. Like ourselves by nature
they were in the fellowship of sin and death and in fellowship with
him, who is the author of sin and the enemy of God, Satan. But a
faithful God called them and has called us by the Gospel into the
fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. If we have obeyed the
Gospel and accepted the gift of God we are brought through the Grace
of God into the fellowship of the Son of God. All believers are in
the same fellowship, one with the Lord.

But that is a truth and a blessed revelation far deeper than our
mind can fathom or our pen could describe. No saint has ever sounded
the depths of this wonderful call of God nor can God's saints fully
know what that fellowship all means, until the blessed day comes
when we shall see Him as He is and when joined to Him we shall be
like Him.

And yet we can remind ourselves of the little we know and through it
encourage our hearts. Faith loves to dwell upon the blessed Person,
whom faith alone through the Spirit's power can make a living
reality. And God, the faithful God, loves to hear His children speak
much of Him, whom He loves, the Son of His Love, the Lord Jesus
Christ.

Fellowship means to have things in common. And that is what God has
done. He has taken us through His Grace out of the fellowship in
which we are by nature, the things we have in common as enemies and
children of wrath and has called us into the fellowship of His Son.
And now called of God into this fellowship we have things in common
with His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. This brings before us once more
the old story, which never grows old, but is eternally new and
becomes more blessed the more we hear it. The Son of God, He who is
the true God and the eternal Life, came to this earth and appeared
in the form of Man. "The Life was manifested; and we have seen, and
bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with
the Father, and was manifested unto us" (1 John i:2). And He who is
the true God and the eternal life, by whom the worlds were made,
gave Himself for our sins. He came to give His life as a ransom for
many, to make propitiation for the whole world. He who knew no sin
was made sin for us and on the Cross peace was made. There in His
own body on the tree He bore our sins. All who believe on Him, who
have accepted Jesus as their Saviour, are taken out of that in which
they are by nature and are brought into Christ. And here we can with
praising hearts and full assurance sing of our blessed position in
Him.

   Lord Jesus, are we one with Thee?
      Oh height, oh depth, of love!
   And crucified and dead with Thee,
      Now one in heaven above.

   Such was Thy grace, that for our sake
      Thou didst from heaven come down;
   With us of flesh and blood partake,
      And make our guilt Thine own.

   Our sins, our guilt, in love divine,
      Confessed and borne by Thee;
   The gall, the curse, the wrath, were Thine,
      To set Thy ransomed free.

   Ascended now, in glory bright,
      Life-giving Head Thou art;
   Nor life, nor death, nor depth, nor height
      Thy saints and Thee can part.

But the fellowship of His Son into which the Grace of God has
brought us means more than this blessed new relation and the
positional truth that as believers we have been crucified with
Christ and that we are risen with Him. The life we possess as born
again is His own life. We possess the life of Him, who died in our
stead. Christ is our life. This means fellowship of His Son, we are
one with Him. We also possess His Spirit. The Spirit of Christ
dwelleth in us and we are "one Spirit with the Lord."

This oneness with Christ, the fellowship of His Son, that we belong
to Him and He to us, that we have an inheritance in Him and He has
an inheritance in us, is a great truth. Like every other revealed
truth it must be a reality in our lives. We are called by God to
walk in this fellowship. We know we are in Him, and through Grace we
abide in Him. But it is also written, "He that saith he abideth in
Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked." His own life
must be manifest. In this fellowship of His Son we have the strength
to walk as He walked, because we have His life and His Spirit. There
is no need to walk after the flesh, but we can always walk in the
Spirit and walking thus we walk as He walked. And this spiritual
walk becomes possible as our hearts dwell in faith on the fact that
we are called into the fellowship of His Son. We must have this
wonderful fact constantly before our hearts as a real thing. Then
all we do will be governed by it.

If this is real how can we be conformed to this world? The world in
all its aspects is the enemy of God. In that fellowship we walked
once "according to the course of this world." Should we then turn
back to it and enjoy its pleasures and ambitions? If we do, we walk
in the flesh and then we do not know the joy and peace of the
fellowship of His Son, but are joyless and miserable. But if the
fact of the fellowship of God's Son is a reality in power, it will
keep us from being conformed to this world.

We believe the Spirit of God presses this home to the consciences of
His people and calls us to a separated walk.

And this must lead to another phase of the fellowship of His Son
Jesus Christ. It is written "always bearing about in the body the
dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made
manifest in our body" (2 Cor. iv:10). This stands in connection with
persecution and suffering. Walking in the fellowship of His Son
Jesus Christ the Apostle had one great desire, "That I may know Him,
and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His
sufferings, being made conformable to His death" (Phil. iii:10). To
the Colossians he wrote "who now rejoice in my sufferings for you,
and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my
flesh for His body's sake, which is the church" (Col. i:24). He
suffered and bore His reproach. His heart in the enjoyment of the
fellowship desired the fellowship of His sufferings. We know little
of these because we are conformed to this world and not loyal to our
Lord and God's calling. But if we walk in conscious fellowship with
Him and are loyal to Him we too will know a little of the fellowship
of His sufferings. Then our hearts long that we may "bear His
reproach." The blessed One of God is rejected, can our hearts be
satisfied with anything less than being rejected too? Perhaps if we
were to lift up our voices now against the Christ dishonoring
things, both in doctrine and practice, which are the leading
features of the present-day religious world, we would know a little
more of this fellowship.

Called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord means
also to share His work. We are called to serve. He was here as One
that serveth, and we are "to serve one another in love." "Whosoever
will be great among you let him be your minister; and whosoever will
be chief among you, let him be your servant" (Matt. xx:26-27). We
can be servants with Him. He is intercessor and burden-bearer and we
have a share in this likewise.

And there is the fellowship of His Son in its eternal aspect. God's
calling is to be like His Son. "For whom He did foreknow, He also
predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son that He might
be the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans viii:29). We shall be
with Him forever and like Him.

   And is it so--I shall be like Thy Son?
   Is this the grace which He for me has won?
   Father of glory, (thought beyond all thought!)--
   In glory, to His own blest likeness brought!

   Oh, Jesus, Lord, who loved me like to Thee?
   Fruit of Thy work, with Thee, too, there to see
   Thy glory, Lord, while endless ages roll,
   Myself the prize and travail of Thy soul.

   Yet it must be: Thy love had not its rest
   Were Thy redeemed not with Thee fully blest.
   That love that gives not as the world, but shares
   All it possesses with its loved co-heirs.

May the Holy Spirit hold these great truths before our hearts and in
His power may we be consciously and constantly enjoying the
fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, till we are called by
Himself to be with Him.



Out of His Fulness.


John i:16.


"AND of His fulness have all we received, and grace upon grace"
(John i:16). This precious word was not spoken by John the Baptist.
It must be looked upon as an outburst of praise, similar to the one
which stands in the beginning of Revelation (Rev. i:5-6). It is the
adoring utterance of all believers acknowledging the reception of
that unfathomable and never failing grace, which flows from the
eternal fountain, the Son of God. Out of the fulness of Himself
believing sinners receive grace upon grace. His own fulness is the
source, which supplies all the need of those, who by Him believe on
God, that raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory (1 Pet. i:2).
That exhaustless fulness is always ready to sustain, to help, to
comfort, to strengthen and to fill those, who are in Christ, one
with Him.

But what is this fulness of which we receive and receive so
abundantly? The blessed Son of God possessed in all eternity
fulness. The Holy Spirit in this chapter bears a testimony to this
fact by a great revelation. "In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the
beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was
not anything made 'that was made.' In Him was life; and the life was
the light of men" (John i:1-4). What a wonderful revelation this is!
The Word which was in the beginning, which ever _was_ God, by whom
all was made, without whom nothing came into existence, is the Son
of God. The fulness of the Godhead was His before the world was
made, for He is God. Then we read in this chapter, "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." He
came to this earth, He took on the form of man, the eternal Word was
made flesh, God manifested in the flesh. And as He walked on the
earth the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell in Him (Col.
i:19). But before we could ever receive out of His fulness grace
upon grace, the Son of God had to die. If He had not died and
accomplished the great work for which He came into the world, His
fulness would have been forever inaccessible to sinners. But He went
to the cross and finished there the great work. Christ died for us;
He who knew no sin was made sin for us. And now it is written of
Him, the glorified One, the Man in Glory. "For in Him dwelleth all
the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which
is the head of all principality and power" (Col. ii:9-10). He, who
possessed eternally all fulness, who came to this earth and in whom
the fulness of the Godhead dwelt, who died on the cross the just for
the unjust, who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the
tree, is now as Man in glory and there dwelleth in Him bodily the
fulness of the Godhead. It is all for us; we can now receive grace
upon grace, because of Him who is the Second Man, the Head of the
new creation and with whom God has made us, who believe, one. This
is the deep and yet simple Gospel. God gave His blessed Son, who was
forever one with Him, that through Him we might receive of the
fulness of the Godhead, grace upon grace. Brought to God in such a
way, washed, sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus,
and by the Spirit of our God, we are receiving all we need. We
receive it not on our merit, because we labor or agonize for it, but
we _receive of His fulness_. But who can begin to tell out what that
is, grace upon grace? Pages upon pages might be written and filled
with the good things, the spiritual blessings, the joy, the peace,
the comfort, the power and the wisdom and many other things, which
are included in "grace upon grace." And after we mentioned all these
precious things, we would have to put the pen down and confess our
insufficiency to tell out the riches, the fulness and vastness of
"grace upon grace."

This expression brings a great cataract like Niagara to our mind.
Here we stand and behold the mighty waters rushing down. Oh! the
mighty rushing waters, who can measure them! What a vast,
inexhaustible supply! Water upon water dashing down. For ages this
has gone on. Hundreds of years, more than that, thousands of years
have witnessed the same mighty waters. Every day, every hour, every
minute, every second, every fraction of a second--incessantly
mighty rushing waters upon waters!

In the same way there is pouring forth out of His fulness, the
fulness of the Lord in Glory--grace upon grace. There is an
unlimited, inexhaustible supply of the water of life from Him who is
the life. For ages the saints of God, saved by grace, have received
grace upon grace. A never ceasing stream of grace has been flowing
forth and it has not impoverished the marvellous eternal supply.
Still it flows undiminished--still there is grace upon grace. Yea
it is grace upon grace by which God's people live. Every hour, every
minute, every second, every moment it is His grace, grace upon grace
which keeps us, surrounds us, flows upon us and overshadows us. And
the more we take and enjoy the more we learn to sing.

   More and more, more and more,
      _Always_ more to follow!
   Oh, His matchless, boundless _Grace_,
      Still there's more to follow!

Will it ever stop? No, never! We shall keep on singing in all
eternity "still there's more to follow!--still there's more to
follow." Hallelujah! "That in the ages to come He might show the
_exceeding_ riches of His Grace in His kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus" (Eph. ii:7). _Always more to follow!_ Still there's
MORE to follow. All Praise to Him who died to have it so for us poor
lost sinners, whose lot should have been, as it is the lot of all
who reject this marvellous grace--always more to follow--in
eternal darkness and despair.

And how simple it is to receive "of His fulness grace upon grace."
Look at this never ceasing spring of pure water, it never fails. You
approach it a weary, thirsty, dustladen traveler. You need to be
refreshed. You need the cooling drink. You need washing. What then
is necessary? Oh! to fill your cup. Just to take for it is for you.
And so this wonderful grace which flows out of His fulness. It is
for you, just come and take. Fill your cup, fill it again! Drink oh
drink! "Of His fulness have all we received, grace upon grace."



The Twenty-second Psalm.


The Cross of Christ.


THE Twenty-second Psalm contains a most remarkable prophecy. The
human instrument through whom this prophecy was given is King David.
The Psalm does not contain the experience of the King, though he
passed through great sufferings, yet the sufferings he speaks of in
this Psalm are not his own. They are the sufferings of Christ. It is
written in the New Testament that the prophets searched and enquired
diligently about the coming salvation. The Spirit of Christ, which
was in them testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ (1 Peter
i:10-11). David was a prophet, and in this great prophecy the Spirit
of Christ testified of the sufferings of Him, who is both David's
Lord and David's son.

The book of Psalms, so rich and full of Himself, so inexhaustible in
description of our ever blessed Lord, is divided into five books,
which correspond to the five books with which the Bible begins, the
Pentateuch. The first book (Psalm i-xli) contains some of the great
prophecies about the Christ of God; these prophecies are in the
so-called messianic Psalms. Perfect and divine is the order in which
they are revealed. _Son of God_--The Second Psalm. _Son of Man_
--The Eighth Psalm. _Obedient One_--The Sixteenth Psalm. _Obedient
unto Death_, the Death of the Cross--The Twenty-second Psalm.
_Highly exalted by God_--Revealed in each of these Psalms. This is
the order in which the Holy Spirit describes the path of the Lord in
Phil. ii:6-11. How perfect the Word of God is!

The Twenty-second Psalm, the center of the first part of the book of
Psalms, the Genesis portion, corresponds to the twenty-second
chapter in the book of Genesis. There we see Isaac bound upon the
altar having been led there and put upon the altar by his Father
while he opened not his mouth. Here we behold the true Isaac on the
cross. Everything in this Psalm speaks of our blessed Lord; in the
first part of His sufferings, in the second part of His Glory and
exaltation.

And we must not overlook the two Hebrew words the Holy Spirit has
put over this Psalm: _Aijeleth Shahar_. The margin tells us they
mean "the hind of the morning." This has a beautiful, though hidden
meaning. Some have thought of the innocent suffering of a wounded
hind and the dawn of the morning brings relief. They have applied
this to the death and resurrection (in the morning dawn) of the
Lord. But the meaning is better still. The oldest Jewish traditions
give us the key. They take the expression "Aijeleth Shahar" to mean
the Shechina, the glory cloud, which was visible among His people
and they speak of "the hind of the morning" as being the dawning of
redemption. The dawning of the morning is compared by them with the
horns of the hind, on account of the rays of light appearing like
horns. According to their tradition the lamb was offered as the
sacrifice in the morning as soon as the watcher on the pinnacle of
the temple cried out "Behold the first rays of morning shine forth."

But what pen can describe the predictions and the fulfilment of His
sufferings, the sufferings of the Holy One! Here we behold what it
cost Him to redeem us. Here we have the full description of what His
atoning work meant. Here we see the full meaning of the sin-offering.

Well may we bow our heads and hearts here and worship as we gaze
upon this picture. The opening word of the Psalm expresses the
consummation of all the sufferings of Christ, that word which came
from the darkness, which surrounded the cross and in which we are
face to face with the unsearchable depths of His atoning work. "My
God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me." He who was ever with the
Father, one with Him in all eternity, who could say on earth "I am
not alone" was left alone. He was forsaken of God. But more than
that. Jehovah bruised Him; He put Him to grief. The spotless One
bore the wrath of God alone. It was then that He who knew no sin was
made sin for us. How significant it is then that the Holy Spirit
puts that word of the Lord Jesus Christ before the predictions of
His physical sufferings. They tell us what our redemption cost Him
--the awful price, forsaken of God. The Psalm also emphasizes what
man under the terrible instigation of Satan did unto Him. We glance
at some of these sufferings as expressed by His own Spirit.

"But I am a worm, and not man; a reproach of men, and despised of
the people" (verse 6). This is His own complaint. No longer a man
but writhing on the ground like a worm, the substitute of sinners,
thus the Holy One felt when He was numbered among the transgressors.
The Hebrew word "worm", means the small insect, the coccus, from
which the scarlet color is obtained by death of this worm, that
color which was used in connection with the tabernacle. Thus He died
as our substitute that our sins though they are as scarlet might be
white as snow. Men reproached Him; His own people despised and
rejected Him. Then we read how He was mocked and scoffed at. They
"laugh me to scorn," they "shoot out the lip," they "shake the
head." The very language of the leaders of the people as they
surrounded the cross is given by the Spirit of God. "He trusted on
the Lord that He would deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him"
(verse 7). What depths of the depravity of the human heart they
reveal! And in all this, while He suffered thus from man His sole
trust was in God (verses 9-10). His whole life was to trust in the
Lord to lean upon Him, till that moment came when God could no
longer know Him as His own, when the sword, the sword of judgment
awoke against the Man, the fellow, the companion of the Lord of
hosts (Zech. xiii:7). What that sword did to Him is expressed by the
cry of the forsaken One.

And what else do we find here? We can follow the whole story of the
cross in the first part of this Psalm. His enemies are described,
the bulls and the ravening and roaring lion.--"I am poured out like
water."--"All my bones are out of joint."--"My heart is like wax;
it is melted in the midst of my bowels." Like fire melteth wax so
His heart melted in the fire of wrath against sin. The strength of
the mighty One, who fainteth not and knows no weariness, failed. His
tongue cleaves to His jaws. "Dogs" and "the assembly of the wicked"
--Gentiles and Jews were there. "They pierced my hands and feet;"
crucifixion, unknown among the Jews when David lived, is here
predicted by the Holy Spirit. "I may tell all my bones" as well as
the words "all my bones are out of joint" refer to His suffering on
the cross. Then after they hung the Prince of Glory at that cross we
read "they look and stare upon Me" (verse 17). "They parted my
garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture." What man did to
Him, what He suffered from man and from Satan's power is here
described. Yet it was God who bruised Him. Concerning man the
sufferer spoke what "they" did unto Him; but He also addresses God
"THOU hast brought me into the dust of death."

And thus He suffered and died for us. Our sins were laid upon Him
and He bore them in His own body on the tree. At what an infinite
cost we have been redeemed! What a price has been paid! The Father
did not spare His only begotten Son, but delivered Him up for us
all. The Son of God, was made sin for us, smitten, stricken and
forsaken of God.

   Jehovah bade His sword awake--
      O Christ, it woke 'gainst thee!
   Thy blood the flaming blade must slake;
      Thy heart its sheath must be--
   All for my sake, my peace to make;
      Now sleeps that sword for me.

   The Holy God did hide His face--
      O Christ, 'twas hid from thee!
   Dumb darkness wrapt thy soul a space--
      The darkness due to me.
   But now that face of radiant grace
      Shines forth in light on me.

Wonderful Love! But how unable we are to realize adequately these
blessed facts! How little after all we think of these marvellous
things and how weak is our devotion to that blessed, loving Lord,
who loved us thus!

And what do we behold about us? An ever increasing darkness; a
turning away from the blessed Gospel of the Son of God as it centers
in the Cross; a greater rejection and neglection of the great
salvation which God has so graciously provided in the great
sacrifice. It is fearful to see the enemies of the cross increasing
and rushing on to their coming doom. What is to be our attitude? It
is for us to glory more and more in the cross of Christ. We must
exalt and magnify the Person and Work of our blessed Lord as never
before. The more He is rejected by the world, His blessed work on
the cross disowned in such latter day delusions as the new theology,
Christian Science and the numerous other systems, the more we must
give Him the pre-eminence.

But it means also for us if we are faithful to Him the fellowship of
His sufferings. God has called us into the fellowship of His Son
Jesus Christ our Lord. This includes the fellowship of His
sufferings. Never, of course, suffering from God as He did. But as
He is rejected and despised so are we called to share His rejection
and take upon us His reproach. He suffered without the gate and the
Word exhorts us "Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the
camp, bearing His reproach." In these last days we must like Moses
"esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of
Egypt (the world)." And if we are faithful to Him, if we walk in
_separation from the world_, including the great "religious world"
with its Christ and the Cross rejecting schemes and tendencies, we
shall know something of the reproach of Christ and the fellowship of
His sufferings. Oh! that we might know more of that in these easy
going days. Such a precious Word of God as contained in 1 Peter
iv:13-14 ought to make us long for bearing His reproach and for
sufferings with Him. "But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of
Christ's sufferings that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be
glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of
Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth
upon you; on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is
glorified."

Be true to Christ and to the cross of Christ. Live out the doctrine
of the cross "crucified with Christ"--dead to the things here
below, then you will have some suffering from the side of men and
Satan as well.

And what will be the awful judgment for the multitudes, the ever
increasing multitudes who reject the Cross of Christ, who are either
opposing it by their ethical gospel, to whom the preaching of the
cross is foolishness, or who are indifferent? The Holy Spirit has
told us that where the Gospel, the Cross of Christ is rejected or
perverted the Anathema, the curse of God must follow (Gal. i:9; 1
Corinth. xvi:22). Well has one said "Distance from God was the
climax of the Lamb's dying sorrow." It is a fearful solemn thought
that the world while with heedless selfconfidence it still pursues
its way, is no nearer now to God than Jesus was when, under the
burden of the world's iniquity, He cried, "My God, my God, why hast
Thou forsaken me?" How solemn this is! May we learn to say more
fully with Paul, "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto
me, and I unto the world."


The Glory of Christ.


The first twenty-one verses of this Psalm describe the sufferings of
Christ. This part closes with an appeal to Jehovah for deliverance.
"But be thou not far from me, O Lord; O my strength, haste thee to
help me. * * * Save me from the lion's mouth." Then comes the joyful
statement that He has been heard. The answer He received to His cry
is resurrection. We find therefore that the second part of this
great Psalm, which reveals so fully the Cross of Christ, is taken up
with the Glory of the forsaken One. God raised Him from the dead,
and so we hear at once in this Psalm the notes of triumph coming
from the lips of Him who is dead and now liveth. His triumph and His
Glory are revealed. All for whom He died, the Church, Israel, the
ends of the earth, the nations are mentioned. He is seen in the
midst of the church as well as in the midst of the future great
congregation. All the ends of the earth are yet to remember and turn
unto the Lord. The nations will come to worship before Him; His will
be the Kingdom, He will rule among the nations. But we must look at
some of these precious predictions a little closer. We need to
consider them as much as the Sufferings, the Cross of Christ.

The day of His Resurrection is first mentioned.

"I will declare Thy Name unto my brethren

"In the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee."

It is a joyous word which stands at the head of the glory section of
this Psalm. Raised from the dead He met His own with an "All hail"
--rejoice. In the Gospel of John we see Him meeting her who sought
the living One among the dead and telling her "Go and tell my
brethren." How literally this prediction has been fulfilled. And
what He tells her of "my Father and your Father, my God and your
God" declares that intimate relationship which is the result of His
death on the cross. Brought through Him to God, we are Sons of God
and Heirs of God. "He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified
are all of one, therefore He is not ashamed to call them brethren"
(Heb. ii:11). Precious truth! He owns us as brethren. He is the
Firstborn among many brethren. The congregation mentioned here is
the church. In the midst of the church His praise is heard (Heb.
ii:12). It is true the church is not revealed in the Old Testament
but it is anticipated. And as we, saved by Grace, in possession of
His life, approach God in His worthy Name His own voice is heard; He
is the leader of our prayers and our praises. That new and intimate
relationship brought about by His atoning death at the cross is
mentioned first. He gave Himself for the church (Eph. v:25). In the
next place we hear Israel praising Him. "All ye the seed of Jacob
glorify Him; and reverence Him all ye the seed of Israel." They who
rejected Him, His people who despised Him and had such a part in the
suffering of Christ, now own Him. They acknowledge Him, whom they
thought afflicted of God, as having been heard of God.

That time will come when He returns in power and glory, when Israel
will see the Man in Glory, the First begotten coming in the clouds
of Heaven. Then they will realize the full truth of Isaiah liii. The
blessed Lord will then have the travail of His soul and be
satisfied. But there is more glory still for Him.

A _great_ congregation is mentioned; there too His praises will be
heard. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn unto the
Lord. Nations will worship before Him.

   "For the Kingdom is Jehovah's
   And He ruleth among the nations" (verse 28).

The great congregation are the nations of the millennial age. Then
the ends of the earth will remember Him while He ruleth among the
nations. What Glory awaits Him! Now we behold Him, who was made a
little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor. It is a spiritual vision; we see Him there by
faith. But a little while longer and He will appear in the Glory of
His Father bringing His co-heirs with Him, the Son bringing many
sons to glory, the sons He is not ashamed to call brethren, for whom
He was forsaken on the cross. What a procession of triumph and glory
that will be when the Heavens open and He is coming forth, bringing
His church with Him! What will be His Glory when Israel at last owns
Him and nations submit under His rule, when His visible Glory will
cover the earth as the waters cover the sea! All hail! Oh blessed,
blessed Lord!

And we do need to consider all these precious predictions, so
numerous in the Scriptures, the prophecies of His Glory. The God of
this age Satan is unfolding the glories of this present age which is
almost at the end, with a skilful master hand. He knows how to blind
the eyes not only of those who believe not, but of many who are
Christians. He makes everything so attractive and many of God's
people have fallen into his snares. We need to look through the Word
of God upon the brightness of His Glory, the glorious things to
come, so that our eyes may be blinded to the miserable playthings of
the dust, which the fire of God's vengeance will ere long consume.
We need these glorious visions of the great realities so that we can
go forward with joyfulness to suffer, be rejected of men and bear
the bright and blessed testimony, the Father expects from His
beloved children. Take up the watchword of the last days! _True to
Christ--all in Christ--all for Christ--Onward to Glory._ Soon He
will call us into His glorious presence.

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us"
(Rom. viii:18).

"For our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. v:17).

   Oh what will be the day when won at last
      The last long weary battle, we shall come
   To those eternal gates the King hath passed,
      Returning from our exile to our Home;
   When earth's last dust is washed from off our feet;
      The last sweat from our brows is wiped away;
   The hopes that made our pilgrim journey sweet
      All met around us, realized that day!

   Oh what will be the day, when we shall stand
      Irradiate with God's eternal light;
   First tread as sinless saints the sinless land,
      No shade nor stain upon our garments white;
   No fear, no shame upon our faces then,
      No mark of sin--oh joy beyond all thought!
   A son of God, a free-born citizen
      Of that bright city where the curse is not!



The Exalted One.


Hebrews i.


SOME thirty-five years ago, when the so-called "Higher Criticism"
had begun its destructive work, a believer living in England,
predicted that within thirty years the storm would gather over one
sacred head. How this has come true! Satan's work of undermining the
authority of the Bible, a pernicious work still going on, is but the
preliminary to an attack of the Person of Christ. To-day as never
before the glorious Person of our Lord is being belittled in the
camp of Christendom. This is done not only in the out and out
denials of His Deity but also in more subtle ways. It is for us who
"deny not His Name" (Revel. iii:8), whose desire is to exalt Him,
ever to remind ourselves of the Blessed One and His Glory. At this
time we desire to look briefly at the teachings of the first chapter
in Hebrews.

This chapter is divided into two parts. In the first part we find
another great description of our adorable Lord, and in the second a
description of His exaltation. The beginning of the chapter gives us
that solid assurance that God has spoken and that the Old Testament
is His Word. "God having spoken in many parts and in many ways
formerly to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days
has spoken to us in (the person of the) Son." The Old Testament
Scriptures are the inspired Word of God; at last God spake in Son,
as it is in the Greek. The Old Testament announced that God would
speak in the person of the Son. For this reason it is impossible to
deny the authority of the Old Testament without denying the
authority of Lord Jesus Christ. The written and the living Word
stand and fall together.

This is followed by a description of Himself. Seven things are
mentioned concerning our Lord.   1. Heir of all Things.   2. By whom
He made the worlds.   3. The Brightness of God's Glory.   4. The
Express image of His Person.   5. The Upholder of all Things.   6.
He has purged our sins.   7. He sat down at the right hand of the
Majesty on high. What wonderful seven things these are! Oh that we
would meditate more on each, how it would strengthen our faith and
deepen our fellowship with Him. It would give us victory when the
hosts of the enemy press upon us. Our defeat is the result of losing
sight of the object of our faith, Christ.

We also can divide the description of our Lord in the first chapter
of Hebrews into three parts.   1. He is the Son of God in eternity;
One with the Father, essentially and absolutely God. This is found
in these great statements "By whom He made the worlds; who being the
brightness of His Glory and the express image of His person, and
upholding all things by the Word of His power." This could never be
said of a creature of God. Our Lord is the Creator Himself, the
express image of the person of God, the one who upholds all things.
What it all means! What a Lord we have! All this harmonizes with the
description of His Person in Colossians.

2. He is the Son of God in incarnation. This is found in the
following sentence "When He had Himself purged out sins" or as it is
literally "Having made by Himself the purification of sins." For
this great purpose He entered His own world. The mighty Creator, the
eternal Son of God, the Holy One is our Redeemer. As Son of God He
walked on the earth in the Spirit of holiness, the holy, spotless
One, God manifested in the flesh. And this wonderful Being was made
Sin for us, went as the willing sacrifice to the cross. Oh what a
record! "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; who
when reviled, reviled not again: when suffering threatened not; . .
. . . . . who Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, . . . .
by whose stripes ye have been healed." What a foundation for our
faith, what assurance! He Himself has accomplished the work for us
and has made peace in the blood of His cross. He only could do it.

3. The Son of God in resurrection. "He sat down on the right hand of
the Majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels as He
hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." And
in verse 2 we read "Whom He (God) hath appointed heir to all
things."

All this is spoken of Him who had died on the cross and who raised
from the dead as glorified Man is at the right hand of the majesty
on high. What He is in that resurrection Glory we shall be with Him.
His Love does not stop short of this. The Glory the Father gave to
Him, He has given to us. He is the image of the invisible God,
because He is God. His redeemed people shall be transformed into His
image, that He might be the first born among many brethren. What a
thought this is! We shall image Him forth in all eternity, as He
images the invisible God. Into what depths we gaze!

Then in the second part of this chapter we find a description of His
exaltation and Glory. The Holy Spirit shows this marvelous theme
from His Word. He quotes from seven Psalms, that book which is one
of the most attacked in the present day. The Holy Spirit gives us a
key in these quotations how we should look for Christ in the Psalms.
What wickedness in face of such Scriptures to deny the messianic
prophecies contained in the Psalms. The Psalms quoted are the
following: "The ii; lxxxix (2 Sam. vii:14); xcvii; civ; xlv; cii and
cx." They reveal His Glory and in what His future Glory will exist.
And we shall share that exaltation with Him. We are destined to be
His Co-heirs. We shall rule with Him and shall be priests with Him.
He is higher than the angels in His resurrection Glory. He was made
a little lower than the angels that He could take us with Himself
into that place above the angels. All Glory and Praise to His Holy
Name. We worship and adore Thee, Thou Son of God, our Saviour and
Lord! What Glory awaits us! What dignity is ours! Oh, child of God,
you need just this one thing, to know Him better, to have the Holy
Spirit make Christ and the things of Christ, the future Glory more
real to your souls. Let Him do it. And soon we shall be with Him.

   Lamb of God, Thy faithful promise
      Says, "Behold, I quickly come;"
   And our hearts, to Thine responsive,
      Cry, "come, Lord, and take us home."
   Oh, the rapture that awaits us
      When we meet Thee in the air,
   And with Thee ascend in triumph,
      All Thy deepest joys to share!



A Glorious Vision.


THE Epistle to the Hebrews, this profound and blessed portion of the
Holy Scriptures, unfolds a most wonderful vision of the Person, the
Glory and the great Redemption work of our adorable Lord. The
portion of the Epistle which is the richest in this respect is the
Second Chapter. Here is a vista for the eyes of faith which is
sublime. Our Lord in His Person, in His humiliation and exaltation,
in His suffering and glory, stands out in a way which makes the
believing heart rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of Glory. What
He has accomplished for us, His present place in Glory and
intercessory work, His future and dominion over the earth, all are
mentioned by the Holy Spirit in this brief chapter. His humiliation
by incarnation is mentioned in these words "Thou madest Him a little
lower than the angels." "Forasmuch, then as the children are
partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of
the same." And He is the One "by whom are all things" (verse 10).

His suffering and death and its blessed results are given in this
chapter. "By the grace of God He should taste death for every man."
"That through death He might destroy him that had the power of
death, that is the devil." He made "reconciliation for sins of the
people."

We read of the gracious relations into which all believing sinners
are brought in virtue of His work on the cross. "For both He that
sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one; for which
cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren." It is that blessed,
deep, eternal relationship of being One with Him and One with God.
Then we find here His presence as Man in Glory. "But we see Jesus,
who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of
death crowned with glory and honor."

In that attitude He is now "the merciful and faithful high Priest."
"For in that He Himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to
succor them that are tempted."

The ultimate result of His work is also stated. He is "bringing many
sons unto glory." And that glory will be His own glory. Not only now
but in that future day of glory He will declare "Behold I and the
children, which God hath given me."

Furthermore we have the fact of His earthly dominion, that He is to
have possession of the earth. "The world to come," that is the
habitable earth, not heaven, is to be put in subjection under Him.
"Thou hast put all things in subjection under His feet." All these
blessed truths are stated in this chapter of Hebrews.

In regard to a subdued earth we read: "But now we see not yet all
things put under Him." That was true when the Holy Spirit penned
these words. This is still true and it will be true until the Father
bringeth in the First begotten into the world, when not alone all
the angels of God will worship Him (Heb. i:6), but when God will
make His enemies the footstool of His blessed feet (Psalm cx:1).

However this coming triumph for Him who was made a little lower than
the angels is not the glorious vision of this chapter. It is time by
faith we may behold the glorious consummation as revealed in the
prophetic Word, but here another vision for our present rejoicing
and present help is put before us. While we see not yet all things
put under His feet "we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor."

This is the great vision for the present. This is what the Holy
Spirit wants us to behold more than anything else. Of Stephen it is
written: "He being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly
into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the
right hand of God" (Acts vii:55). And whenever the Holy Spirit fills
us He will direct the vision of the eyes of our heart to Him who was
made a little lower than the angels and who is now in heaven crowned
with glory and honor. And only the _power_ of the Holy Spirit
filling us can make this great fact and vision a reality.

But what does this glorious vision mean to _us?_ What does it teach
us? Oh, much more than the weak pen of the writer can tell out.

The blessed One who is there crowned with glory and honor is the One
who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of
death; He bore our sins on the cross and died for us. What a
blessed, blessed proof then it is, as we behold Him there, that our
sins are completely and forever gone!

But more than that. In seeing Him there we behold ourselves. The
deliverer of our souls at the right hand of God, the second man,
crowned with glory and honor, is the pattern and forerunner of all
who belong to Him and whom He is not ashamed to call brethren. Grace
has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the
heavenlies in Christ Jesus (Eph. ii:5, 6).

Our eternal destiny, beloved in the Lord, is to be like Him, with
Him and to share His marvelous inheritance as His co-heirs. That
glorious vision is the evidence of our coming glory, when we shall
be transformed into His image that He might be the firstborn among
many brethren. As we gaze in the Spirit on Him who is crowned with
glory and honor we can see ourselves.

And as the age darkens, as the Laodicean state becomes more
prevalent, temptations and snares increase, the enemy's powers and
activities more marked, we need to open our eyes and hearts wider,
to take in the vision of our blessed head in Glory. Only in this way
can we be kept in these evil days. The only way of spiritual
progress, spiritual enjoyment, spiritual worship is to "behold as in
a glass the glory of the Lord," and beholding that glorious vision
we "are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by
the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. vii:18).

This glorious vision will keep us in the place of separation. It
will make us heavenly-minded and produce in our lives the practical
results of the cross of Christ "crucified unto the world and the
world crucified unto me." Why do real Christians, who know the truth
and even know and speak of His Second Coming go along with the world
and delight in its ways? It is because the heart is departed from
Christ and has lost sight of the blessed and glorious vision. Years
ago a saint of God, who is now present with the Lord, made the
following statement:

"It sometimes happens that Christians have got so far away from
Christ in heart, that they become engrossed in the affairs of this
life, and some can even visit and enjoy the poor empty, tinselled
shows of this world's vanity. What could be more lamentable? They
forget that _death's stamp_ is deeply graven on everything this side
of resurrection. But such actions clearly prove that the heart must
have been away from Christ for some time."

Reader! if this means you return unto thy rest. Arise now and seek
His face and behold your Saviour, who was made a little lower than
the angels crowned with glory and honor.

May all our hearts, dear children of God, cry out with him, who knew
Him so well, the prisoner of the Lord "That I may know _Him_, and
the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being made conformable unto His death" (Phil. iii:10). Soon we shall
know Him and all His glory.

   I see a Man at God's right hand,
      Upon the throne of God,
   And there in seven-fold light I see
      The seven-fold sprinkled blood;
   I look upon that glorious Man,
      On that blood-sprinkled throne;
   I know that He sits there for me,
      The glory is my own.

   The heart of God flows forth in love,
      A deep eternal stream;
   Through that beloved Son it flows
      To me as unto Him.
   And, looking on His face, I know--
      Weak, worthless, though I be--
   How deep, how measureless, how sweet,
      That love of God to me.



My Brethren.


OUR Lord Jesus Christ calls those for whom He died and who have
believed on Him "_My Brethren_." What a word it is! The Brethren of
the Man in Glory! Brethren of Him who is at the right hand of God,
the upholder and heir of all things! Pause for a moment, dear
reader. Let your heart lay hold anew of this wonderful message of
God's Grace; Brethren of the Lord Jesus Christ! What depths of love
and grace these words contain! What heights of glory they promise to
us, who were bought by His own precious blood! His Brethren now; His
Brethren forever. One with Him, one with His Father and His God.
Sharers of His life, sharers of His Spirit, sharers of His glory and
His inheritance. Blessed, glorious truth, He calls us His Brethren.

It is in the twenty-second Psalm where we find this truth revealed
prophetically for the first time. That Psalm begins, as we have seen
before, with the utterance of the deepest distress. It closes with
the shout of victory and of triumph. He who was forsaken of God on
the cross, the blessed sin bearer, has received glory. In the midst
of the congregation, His redeemed people, He praises God, who has
delivered Him and who gave Him Glory. In God's own time, in the
coming day of His visible manifestation, all the ends of the world
shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the
nations shall worship before Him. Then the Kingdom will be the
Lord's.

He who suffered on the cross was heard "from the horns of the
unicorn" (Ps. xxii:21). Resurrection was the answer from God; the
power of God raised Him from the dead. At once, after the great work
had been accomplished, there follows the triumphant declaration of
Him whose voice had cried so bitterly in death, "I will declare Thy
Name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I
praise Thee." And blessed was the fulfilment on that day of joy,
when the tomb was empty and He had come forth, the risen Christ. To
Mary Magdalene He said on that glorious resurrection morning, "But
go and tell _my brethren_, and say unto them, I ascend unto my
Father and your Father, and to my God and your God" (John xx:17).
What joy must then have filled His loving heart. From His gracious
lips there bursts forth a message such as He never gave to His own
before His resurrection.

The great work on the cross had been accomplished, sin had been put
away by the sacrifice of Himself. The Only Begotten of the Father,
God's holy Son, one with God, became Man; then passing through
death, in which He fully glorified God, God raised Him from the
dead. And now He gives the blessed results of His own work for those
who believe on Him. He has brought us into the same relationship
with His Father and His God, which He Himself holds, as the Man
Christ Jesus, raised from the dead. His Father, the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, is our Father; His God is our God. And again we
pause as we write this. Let our hearts repeat it: "My Father, your
Father; my God, your God." He has brought us into fellowship with
His Father; He has brought us to God and the place He has with the
Father and with God, is the place God's fathomless Grace has given
to us. How little our hearts take it in! How little reality we
possess of all this! And yet He wants us to enjoy it as He enjoys
the fulness of joy in His Father's and His God's own presence. May
the Holy Spirit work in us unhindered, that through His power we may
lay hold in faith of this mighty truth and have it as a _practical
power_ in our daily lives. My Father, your Father; my God, your God
and Christ, who loved me and gave Himself for me, Christ, who loveth
us, is with His Father and His God. In such relationship, brought to
the Father and to God through the Lord Jesus Christ and kept there
by His own Grace and Power, how happy we should be.

And because we possess now in virtue of Christ's work this blessed
relationship, He owns us joyfully as His brethren. Hebrews ii:11-12
puts this more fully before our hearts: "For both He that
sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one; for which
cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren. Saying, I will
declare Thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I
sing praise unto Thee." The Lord Jesus Christ is He that sanctifieth
and they that are sanctified by His great work and are in Him, are
believing sinners, reconciled to God by His blood. Both He that
sanctifieth and we are all of One and this One is God, the Father.
Therefore He is not ashamed to call them brethren. It is true we
possess this relationship with the Man in Glory, the Lord Jesus
Christ, because we are born of God. We have eternal life, His own
life, and that makes us One with Him. But this is not the truth in
view here. It is the truth that He has identified Himself with us
and through His death and resurrection we are identified with Him.
And what it means "in the midst of the church will I sing praises
unto Thee" we shall not follow at this time.

But let us keep it before our hearts a little while longer. The Lord
of Glory calls us "My Brethren." He who is there in the Father's
house, in the Father's presence and on the Father's throne is not
ashamed to call us brethren. He knows all about us. He knows all the
depths of sin in which we are by nature; that by nature we were
enemies by wicked works and children of wrath, but He took it all
upon Himself and has taken it out of the way and now He looks upon
us and all who have accepted Him by personal faith as being one with
Him and one with His Father; therefore He is not ashamed to call us
brethren. What a comfort it should be to our hearts! What joy it
should create in our souls! He Himself received from God, His
heart's desire and the request of His lips (Ps. xxi:2). And all His
desire and request was in our behalf, that He might bring us, His
many sons, to glory. And now He rejoices in us, for we are His
inheritance. He wants us to rejoice in Him and with Him in an
unspeakable joy and full of glory. Our souls entering into all this
and rejoicing with Him in His salvation, enjoying the comfort of it;
this honors Him and honors God.

It should end the discouragement and unbelief from which we so often
suffer. Though we are weak and erring, imperfect in all our ways,
yet He is not ashamed to call us brethren. Such a fellowship and
relation into which we are brought once and, for all by the Son of
God, should, if accepted in faith, dispel any doubt about ourselves
and free us from all gloom and discouragement. Alas! how dull we are
not to enter fully into the joy and comfort Grace has bestowed upon
us!

And then think of the dignity and honor which is ours. Sons of God
with Him; Heirs of God with Him; one with Him, perfectly identified
with the blessed One in God's presence. Therefore He is not ashamed
to call us brethren. To walk worthy of the Lord is our calling; and
worthy of the Lord we shall walk if we have the great fact of our
fellowship with the Son of God as a reality before our souls. It is
a sad state to speak theoretically of our position in Christ, to
know all this with our intellects and not to manifest it in our
lives and show forth the excellencies of Him, who has called us from
darkness into his marvellous light.

He is not ashamed to call us brethren. It should strengthen the love
for the brethren. Love one another. The weakest, the most imperfect
believer, that one who appears to us so unlovable and so ignorant,
is nevertheless owned by him. Just let us remember in looking upon
all believers, that he is not ashamed to call them brethren, that no
matter where they belong, what their knowledge in the Scriptures
might be, they belong to Christ, and are equally beloved of God. How
we need it in a day when Satan goes about dividing the people of
God. Love for the brethren, a deep, real heart love, will possess us
as our hearts feed upon the fact of our oneness with him and with
His Father and His God.

He is not ashamed to call them brethren. It will be an incentive to
witness for Him. Dishonored as He is, it falls upon us to honor Him
by our personal witness. While in the Father's presence He sings and
is the leader of the praises of His people, we must sing of Him here
and utter His praise on earth. He is not ashamed of us; _how could
we ever be ashamed of Him?_ What an honor to speak His worth, to
tell out, though in feeble way, His glory and exalt His name. And
yet we must beware of an unscriptural familiarity with Him, which
the Holy Spirit does not sanction in the Scriptures. We must not
address Him, as it is so often done, as "my brother," or other
sentimental terms, which our pen is reluctant to repeat. In all this
we must not forget His dignity and glory. While He thus identified
Himself with us and is not ashamed to call us brethren, He is
nevertheless the holy Son of God, the Lord of all. As such we must
adore and worship Him. Some blessed day we shall be just like Him.
We are predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the first born among many brethren (Rom. viii:29). That
will be in the glorious day when we shall meet Him face to face. "We
know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall
see Him as He is" (John iii:2). What it all will mean? What day of
joy and triumph for Him, when He stands as the leader of all whom
the Father has given unto Him, when all according to His prayer will
be the sharers of His Glory. Then He will be glorified in His saints
for they will bear His image and reflect His glory. What a destiny!
Like Him and with Him. And this future of perfect conformity to the
Lord Jesus Christ and possession of the wonderful inheritance,
which, in its riches we cannot grasp now with out finite minds, is
rapidly approaching. How soon it may burst upon us!

Oh, friends, beloved in the Lord! Do we all enjoy this now in faith?
Is it so that the Lord Jesus Christ becomes daily more real and
precious to us? Do we live in the power of all this?



The Patience of Christ.


"BUT the Lord direct your hearts into the Love of God and into the
_Patience of Christ_" (2 Thess. iii:5). With these words Paul
exhorted the Thessalonian believers. They had many trials and
difficulties. They suffered persecutions and were troubled. False
alarms had affected their patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The inspired exhortation puts before their hearts the Patience of
Christ. Comfort and joy, encouragement and peace, would surely come
to their hearts and strengthen them, if they remembered and entered
into the Patience of Christ.

And who can describe or speak fully and worthily of the Patience of
our blessed Lord! It includes so much. All His moral Glory and
Divine perfections are concealed and revealed in this Word. The word
patience has a wide meaning. It means more than we generally express
by it. Submission, endurance in meekness, waiting in faith,
quietness, contentment, composure, forebearance, suffering in
calmness, calmness in suffering; all and more is contained in the
one word, Patience. And such patience in all its fulness and
perfection the Son of God exhibited in His earthly life. Whenever we
look in the Gospels, we behold this calm, quiet, restful patience.
His whole life here on earth is but a continued record of patience.
In patience His childhood was spent, and when in His twelfth year
the Glory of His Deity flashed forth we read "He went down with
them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them." In patience,
He whose mighty power had called the universe in existence, toiled
on, content in Nazareth, submissive to the Father, till after many
years the day would come, when the work He had come to do should be
begun and finished. To describe that Patience during His public
ministry from Nazareth, where He had been brought up, to Golgotha,
would necessitate a close scrutiny of every step of the way, every
act and every utterance which came from His holy lips. What
discoveries of His Grace and moral Glory we make, if under the
guidance of His Spirit we meditate on His life here below. Humility
and submission under God, patient waiting on Him, utter absence of
all haste, perfect calmness of soul and every other characteristic
of perfect patience, we can trace constantly in that wonderful life.
What patience is revealed in the forty days in the wilderness, when
He hungered and was with the wild beasts (Mark i:13). When Satan
tempted Him and asked for stones to be made bread, He exhibited
still His patience. In His service, that marvellous service rendered
by the perfect servant, no ambitiousness or ostentatiousness can
ever be discovered. He pleased not Himself but Him who sent Him. He
was constantly going about doing the Father's will. His kindness and
love were rewarded by rejection and insults, yet no complaint or
murmur ever came from His lips. He was always trusting in God,
perfectly calm, perfectly satisfied.

And how His patience shines out in dealing with men. What patience
He had with His disciples and how He bore with them in love. They
were slow learners. What patience and tenderness in his conversation
with her, whom He had sought, the woman at Samaria's well. And
greatest above all His patience in suffering. He endured the cross.
When He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He suffered, He
threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth
righteously. (1 Pet. ii:23). He was oppressed, and He was afflicted,
yet He opened not His mouth; He was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so He opened
not His mouth. All the buffetings, shame, dishonors, griefs, pains
and sorrows He patiently endured. Oh! the patience of Christ, who
for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame!

And into this patience of Christ our hearts are to be directed. It
is to be the object of our contemplation and to be followed by us,
who belong to Him. The patience of Christ must be manifested in our
lives. For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also
suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His
steps. His humility, submissiveness, contentment, calmness, patience
in endurance, in doing and suffering the will of God, must be
reproduced in our lives. But how little we know of it in reality.
Impatience is the leading characteristic of the closing days of this
present evil age. It is alas! but too prominently seen among God's
people who are influenced by the present day currents. How little
true waiting on the Lord and for the Lord is practiced! How much
reaching out after the things which are but for a moment and which
will soon perish! In consequence there is but little enjoyment of
that which is the glorious and eternal portion of the Saints of God.
How great the haste and hurry of present day life! How little
quietness and contentment! In suffering and loss, murmurings,
fault-finding and words of forced resignation are more frequently heard
than joyful songs of praise. Unrest instead of rest, discontent
instead of contentment, anxiety instead of simple trust, self
exaltation instead of self abnegation, ambitiousness instead of
lowliness of mind are found on all sides among those who name the
name of Christ and who carry His Life in their hearts. And why? Your
heart, dear reader, is so often out of touch with Christ. You lose
sight of Him. His Spirit is grieved and in consequence there is
failure and the impatience of the flesh. Return, oh my soul, unto
thy rest! Direct, O Lord, our hearts into the Patience of Christ.

The Patience of Christ. He is still the patient Christ. Rejected by
the world He has taken His place upon the Father's throne. There He
waits until His enemies are made His footstool. Long ago, in our
human reckoning, He entered there. Long ago the Father said to Him,
"Ask of Me and I will give Thee the heathen for thine inheritance,
and the uttermost part of the earth for Thy possession" (Ps. ii:8).
Up to now He has not yet asked the Father. When He asks it will mean
judgment for this world. In infinite patience He has waited and
waited in the presence of God. And all this time He has carried on
His work as the Priest and Advocate of His people who live on earth.
With what tenderness and patience He has dealt with all who lived in
the past centuries. His mighty power kept them and now they are at
home with Him. The same patience He manifests towards us. How often
we have failed Him and walked in the flesh instead of walking in the
Spirit. We came to Him and confessed and then we found Him so loving
towards us. But ere long we failed again and in His loving patience
His arms were again around us. And thus a hundred times. He changeth
not. He is the same loving, patient Lord towards His own in Glory as
He was on earth. "He shall not be discouraged," the prophet
declared. Even so His Patience knows no discouragement.

In all the dishonor done to His holy, worthy Name, He endures
patiently. He is silent to all what is done by His enemies. The
Patience of Christ. May the Lord grant us His Patience. John said to
himself, "I am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the
kingdom and _patience_ of Jesus Christ" (Rev. i:9). To that kingdom
and Patience of Jesus Christ of which John speaks of belonging we
belong. The martyrs belonged to it. Afflictions, persecutions and
sufferings were their part. They are ours. In humility, in
endurance, unflinching courage, in the patience of Christ, let us
suffer with Him, share His reproach until His Glory is revealed.



He Shall Not Keep Silent.


THE heavens have long been silent. It is one of the leading
characteristics of this present age, the closed, the silent heavens.
But they will not be silent forever. "Our God shall come and shall
not keep silence" (Ps. i:3). In His divine Patience the Lord has
been at the right hand of God for nearly two thousand years. He will
not occupy that place forever. It is not His permanent station to be
upon the Father's throne. He has the promise of His own throne,
which He as the King-Priest must occupy. Nearly two thousand years
have gone since He passed through the heavens and during that time
He has been rejected by the world. Every possible dishonor, insult
and shame has been heaped upon His holy head through the
instrumentality of the enemy, the devil. Never before has the
rejection of the Man in Glory been so pronounced, so radical, so
blasphemous as now. Those who love the Lord Jesus Christ are
constantly seized by an unspeakable grief on account of these awful
denials of the Christ of God and an horror as well. And still He
patiently waits. But He will not always wait. His Patience will some
day be exhausted. He will pray His unprayed prayer in Glory and ask
of the Father the nations and the uttermost parts of the earth. The
Father will then send the Firstborn back to this earth. When He
comes in visible Glory to this earth it will mean the day of
vengeance. The vengeance of God will fall upon His enemies. All the
Christ rejecters, the wicked men and women who received not the love
of the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness, the enemies of
the cross of Christ, though they lived amiable lives (one of Satan's
pet phrases), will meet Him not as the patient lamb, but the Judge,
the lion of the tribe of Judah. What will it be when His Patience is
ended? What will it be when the kingdom and the Patience of Jesus
Christ give way to the kingdom and Glory of Jesus Christ? Rapidly
the day is nearing when the Lord Jesus Christ will be completely
rejected. As long as the true church is still here this complete
rejection is an impossibility. But the church will some day leave
this earth. Then conditions are ripe for the complete rejection of
the Christ and the reception of Antichrist who will then appear. And
when the beast is worshipped (Rev. xiii) and the world defies God
and His anointed as never before, when the nations of apostate
Christendom stand in battle array (Rev. xix:19), then He will come
as the King whose patience is ended and claim His Kingdom. What will
it mean when His Patience is ended? Who can describe it? What
judgments will fall then upon a wicked world and be meted out upon
the enemies of Christ? The day of vengeance is rapidly approaching.
It is the day of vengeance for the world. It is the day of the Glory
of Christ. It is the day of the Glory of the Saints. It is the day
of your Glory as a believer.

Let us suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. Let
us be patient as long as He is patient. "Be ye also patient;
establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned;
behold the Judge standeth before the door" (James v:8, 9).

In His Patience pray for the unsaved. Preach the Gospel, give out
the Gospel, send the Gospel, give for the Gospel, live the Gospel. A
little while longer and His patience will end.

   Trusting in the Lord thy God,
         Onward go.
   Holding fast His faithful word,
         Onward go.
   Not denying His worthy name,
   Though it brings reproach and shame,
   Spreading still His wondrous fame,
         Onward go.

   Has He said the end is near?
         Onward go.
   Serving Him with holy fear,
         Onward go.
   Christ thy portion, Christ thy stay--
   Heavenly bread upon the way,
   Leading on to glorious day--
         Onward go.



The Love of Christ.


THE Patience of Christ was recently the object of our meditation in
these pages. Blessed and inexhaustible it is. And now a still
greater theme is before our hearts. The Love of Christ. The heart
almost shrinks from attempting to write on the matchless,
unfathomable love of our blessed and adorable Lord. All the Saints
of God who have spoken and written on the Love of Christ have never
told out its fulness and vastness, its heights and its depths. "The
Love of Christ which passeth knowledge" (Ephesians iii:19). And yet
we _do_ know the Love of Christ. While we cannot fully grasp that
mighty, eternal Love our hearts can enjoy it and we can ever know
more of it. And He Himself whose Love is set upon us wants us to
drink constantly of the ocean of His never-changing Love and receive
new tokens, new glimpses of it. Surely His own blessed Spirit,
though one feels so insufficient for such an object, will guide us
in our meditation. He is with us and in us to glorify Him and take
of the things of Christ to show them unto us. The Love of Christ,
the Holy Spirit ever longs to make known and to impart to our poor
and feeble hearts.

The Love of our Lord is an eternal Love. It is not a thing of time.
It antedates the foundation of the world.

   "His gracious eye surveyed us
   Ere stars were seen above."

He as the Son of God in the bosom of God was the object of Love.
"Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world" (John xvii:
24). And then He knew us and His Love was even then set upon us,
before we ever were in existence. He knew our sinfulness, our
enmity, our vileness, and in Love which passeth knowledge He looked
forward to the time, when He would manifest this Love to us His
fallen creatures. "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is
high I cannot attain unto it" (Psalm cxxxix:6).

It was Love which brought Him down from the Glory, which He had with
God. What Love to come into this dark, sin-cursed world, a world
full of enemies. What Love to leave that bright and glorious home
and appear as man, made of a woman entering this world He had called
into existence. And there was no room for Him in the inn. It passeth
knowledge.

And then that life, which He lived on earth, was lived in that
mighty Love.

   "A love that led Thee here below
   To tread a lonely path in grace,
   To pass through sorrow, grief and woe,
   The portion of a ruin'd race."

What Love we see in Him, in every step of that lonely path! What
compassion, what tenderness in every action in every word we
discover, ever new and fresh, in that blessed life of God's
unspeakable gift. Wherever we look we behold that Love. Loving
compassion rested upon the multitudes; with Love He compassed the
poor, the sinful, the oppressed, the heartsick and the outcast. Love
carried the weak and failing men, who had believed on him, His
disciples. A blessed word it is, which stands in the beginning of
the thirteenth chapter in the Gospel of John. "Having loved His own
which were in the world, He loved them unto the end." His Love for
His own was expressed by serving them. He pleased not Himself but
had come to minister. He then girded Himself and began to wash the
disciples' feet. What humiliation! Yet it was the fruit of Love. All
He did was born of Love. His was on earth a constant, a never-tiring,
an enduring Love. All the selfishness of His disciples could
not quench that Love. Nothing could quench His Love for His own.
Nothing will ever quench it. Peter denied Him. "And the Lord turned
and looked upon Peter" (Luke xxii:61). Was it a look of reproach?
Was it a frown of displeasure which Peter saw in that beloved face?
Far from it. Love in its divine perfection shone out of the eyes of
the Son of God. And after His resurrection that Love was still the
same. There was no reproach connected with the restoration of Peter
to service. In the greatest tenderness and Love He committed to His
disciple, who had so shamefully denied Him, the lambs and sheep so
dear to His own loving heart.

Again we say, that Love passeth knowledge. How could man's
imagination and invention ever have produced such a loving Person as
our Lord, revealing the perfection of divine Love!

But there is greater Love than the Love which we behold in His
blessed Life on earth. The greater Love is manifested when He laid
down His life. He came into the world to die, to be the propitiation
for our sins. He came to take our place on the cross. He came to
drink the cup of wrath in our stead and suffer the awful penalty of
our sins.

"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for
the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet
peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. _But God
commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us_."

God in Love gave thus His Son, and He gave Himself in Love. From
shame to shame, from suffering to suffering, from pain to pain and
agony to agony that Love went on to plunge into the deepest sorrow,
to reach at last the place where His loving lips had to cry "My God,
My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

   "To death of shame Thy love did reach,
      God's holy judgment then to bear;
   Ah, Lord, what human tongue can teach
      _Or tell the love that brought Thee there_."

Ah! what human tongue can teach or tell the Love that brought Thee
there! It passeth knowledge. But with loving, praising hearts, in
worship and adoration we can look up to that cross on which the
Prince of Glory died and say with Paul, "He loved me, He gave
Himself for me." And again we join with the innumerable hosts of His
own redeemed in the Glory song. "Unto Him that loveth us and washed
us from our sins in His own blood and hath made us Kings and priests
unto God and His Father, to Him be Glory and dominion forever.
Amen." And beloved reader, that Love which knew you and us all
before we ever existed, that Love which came from Glory for you,
that Love which went into the jaws of death, endured the cross and
despised the shame, that Love which gave so willingly, gave as we
can never give, that Love is still the same. It changes not. His
Love knows no fluctuations. That perfect Love cannot grow cold or
indifferent. We all had our first love; when first we saw Him with
the eyes of faith, how our hearts were enraptured. How soon that
Love began to grow cold and decreased instead of increased. Then our
walk and service became affected for thus it must ever be when the
heart is not responding to His Love and not in living, loving touch
with Himself. Oh! the weeks and months and years of our Christian
experience spent without the full enjoyment of His Love and
Presence. But has this changed His Love? Has our unfaithfulness, our
waywardness, our failure and backsliding affected His Love? No. He
is the same loving Lord, the same loving Christ who has borne us and
yearned over us, who has prayed for us and kept us. Whenever we turn
to Him with broken hearts, confessing our sins, when in shame we
hide our faces and tell Him all our failures, we find Him still the
same loving Lord as He was when His loving eyes rested upon Peter.
Oh! how He must love us! How He must love us, with that Love which
passeth knowledge. What treasures that Love contains! Exhaustless it
is ever flowing full and free towards His own.

How it must grieve Him to see us so indifferent, neither hot nor
cold. How it must grieve Him that we enjoy this Love so little that
we permit that Love so little to serve us and give Him so little
opportunity to manifest His mighty Love towards us. Alas! We even
mistrust that Love. When suffering and loss overtake us, when
instead of prosperity adversity is our lot, we doubt that Love.
Fears and anxieties are nothing less than an impeachment of the
Love, which passeth knowledge. His Love will never fail. He will see
us safe home. Let the forces of the enemy roar, let trials and
troubles come, His Love will keep us. His Love is our eternal
portion.

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord."

And soon He will have us with Himself. The church He loved, for
which He gave Himself, the church He sanctified by the washing of
water, this church He will present to Himself a glorious church
(Eph. v:24-27). Even while on earth He made known His loving
purpose, for He prayed, "The Glory, which Thou hast given me I have
given to them."

It is His Love which will make us sharers of His own Glory and
Inheritance. What that Love will do then! How we shall drink deeper
of that Love, than we ever could drink here! Oh the depths of the
Love to be fathomed in all eternity! Oh the length and breadth and
height to be measured! It can never, no never be exhausted.

O, child of God, is not thy poor wandering heart beginning to be
warmed? Is the warmth of His Love, the Love of Christ refreshing
your soul? Thank God for it. It is but a demonstration of His Love.
And do we not want more of it? Do we not need it?

All our indifference, our cold heartedness, our prayerlessness, our
self indulgences, our inactivity and all else which mars our
Christian lives, is because we do not have the Love of Christ before
our hearts. If we were constantly enjoying His Love and this mighty
Love would constrain us, what self-sacrificing lives we would live!
How we would love one another and in love serve one another. What
peace there would be among those of like precious faith. With a
better heart knowledge of the Love of Christ, what joy would be ours
in all trials and suffering and with what boldness we would approach
the throne of Grace and make constant use of our God-given
privilege, prayer.

The Love of Christ would lead us on and on in love for souls, in
service untiring, and yet the same Love too will make us long and
pray for His coming. Oh God our Father, grant unto us all and to all
Thy people throughout this world a greater, a deeper, a more real
knowledge of the Love of thine ever blessed Son, the Love of Christ,
and fill us through it with all the fulness of God.  Amen.



The Joy of the Lord.


IT is written "the joy of the Lord is your strength." Every child of
God knows in some measure what it is to rejoice in the Lord. The
Lord Jesus Christ must ever be the sole object of the believer's
joy, and as eyes and heart look upon Him, we, too, like "the
strangers scattered abroad" to whom Peter wrote shall "rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Pet. i:8). But it is upon our
heart to meditate with our beloved readers on the joy of our
adorable Lord, as his own personal joy. The Blessed One when His
feet walked on the earth spoke not only of "My Peace," but He also
spoke of "My Joy." While He imparts peace and joy and is the peace
and joy of our hearts, He also possesses His own Peace and His own
Joy.

"The Joy of the Lord." There was a time "when the morning stars sang
together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (Job xxxviii:7).
It was in the beginning when the heavens and the earth were created
by Him, who is before all things and by whom all things consist, the
Son of God. With what joy He must have beheld what was called into
existence by Him and for Him (Col. i:16). But even before the
foundation of the world He had joy. With God, in the bosom of the
Father Love, Glory and Joy were His eternal portion. All was known
to Him from the beginning. The fall of Satan, the fall of man
through Satan, the entrance of sin with all its results, the cost
price of redemption, the suffering in the flesh on the cross for the
redemption of the creature, the multitudes, whom no man can number,
redeemed through His work, believing in Him, brought to God, united
with Him, Sons and Heirs with Him, the ultimate victory over all
enemies, so that God would be "all in all"--all was known to Him.

What joy must have filled Him when at His incarnation He announced,
"Lo I come to do Thy will O God" (Heb. x:5, 6). And then He came and
took upon Himself the form of a servant, the first word the heavenly
messenger spoke, sent to the virgin to announce the incarnation, was
a word of joy. Never before had Gabriel been sent with such a
message. "Hail" our English version has it; but the greeting means
"Joy" or "Oh the joy!" And the angel later announced "good tidings
of great joy." And that blessed life which was lived upon earth to
the Glory of God, was a life which knew joy. All along the way from
Bethlehem to Golgotha He had joy before His heart. It is true He
wept, He had sufferings, He was tempted, He was ill-treated, cast
out, maligned, accused of evil and rejected, but joy filled His
heart. His God and Father was His joy, yea, His exceeding joy. To do
His will, who had sent Him was His constant joy. His joy was to walk
in confidence, in dependence on Him. His Father's love and delight,
which rested upon Him were His joy. "Whom have I in heaven but Thee?
and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee" (Ps.
lxxiii:25). This beautiful word must have been His constant
declaration; and that is joy. "I have set the Lord always before me"
(Ps. xvi:8) is another utterance of God's Spirit concerning the holy
life of God's well beloved Son. And that meant joy. The seventy He
had sent forth had returned again with joy, because the demons were
subject unto them. That is sinful man in carnal rejoicing! some
power manifested, some great success fills our proud hearts with
joy. But His words told them of a different joy. They were not to
rejoice that the spirits submitted to them, but that their names
were written in heaven. "In that hour Jesus _rejoiced_ in spirit,
and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that
Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and
hast revealed them to babes; even so Father; for so it seemed good
in Thy sight. All things are delivered to Me of My Father; and no
man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is,
but the Son, and to whom the Son will reveal Him" (Luke x:21, 22).
Thus _He_ rejoiced. In the parable of the treasure in the field He
speaks of His joy. The man who has found the treasure, for joy
thereof goeth and selleth all he hath, and buyeth that field ( Matt.
xiii:44). The man in the parable is the Lord Himself and the field
is the world. With joy He gave up all and came down here to buy us
back. And all His suffering from man and from Satan, the
persecutions He suffered from His own people to whom He came were
borne by Him with joy. He told out His own blessed character in the
beatitudes and in speaking of those who are reviled and persecuted,
He said, "Rejoice, and be exceeding glad." Thus He must have borne
it all with joy. And then the cross. The cross in which He who knew
no sin was made sin for us. He was troubled in His holy soul when He
looked towards the cross (John xii:27). In the garden He saw the
cross. "And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly; and His
sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the
ground" (Luke xii:44). And yet it is written "who for the joy that
was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. xii:2). All
the suffering put upon Him by man, acting under satanic impulses and
the shame connected with the cross, He despised, the cross itself He
could not despise, but He endured that. The joy was that He saw and
knew the full and glorious result of all His work He had come to do.
He saw then the travail of His soul and was satisfied. But in that
cross there was that suffering, which is unfathomable. God's own
hand rested upon Him. All His sorrowful complaints as predicted by
His own Spirit were then fulfilled. "_Thou_ hast laid me in the dust
of death." "All _Thy_ waves and billows go over me." "_Thine_ hand
has pressed me sore." "_Thy_ wrath lieth hard upon me." "_Thy_
fierce wrath goeth over me." "_Thou_ hast laid me in the lowest
pit." Thus He suffered from God--smitten and afflicted of God. It
pleased the Lord to bruise Him. Then from that cross there came that
loud and triumphant cry when He gave His life "It is finished!" Oh!
what joy must have filled then His soul, when He knew the work is
done, all is accomplished. And with equal joy God answered the cry
of His well beloved Son, when He rent the veil from top to bottom.

The risen Lord in meeting His disciples greeted them, with the
greeting of joy, which Gabriel had used. "All Hail"--literally, _Oh
the joy!_ (Matt. xxviii:9.) What joy must then have filled His
loving heart as He met His own again. Oh the joy! thus they had
mocked Him when they crowned Him with a crown of thorns and bowed
the knee and in derision shouted "All hail"--"Rejoice"--"King of
the Jews." But in the resurrection He shouts "Oh the Joy!" The
victory is won. Satan, Sin, Death and the Grave are vanquished. And
what joy is His now! What joy will be His ere long! With a shout He
went up (Ps. xlvii:5). What a joy when He passed through the heavens
and as the glorified man He entered the Holy of Holies! What a joy
when the Father had the well beloved with Him again, and He took His
seat at His own right hand. What joy for Him and the heavens when
Glory and Honor was put upon Him and He was proclaimed throughout
the depths of the universe as Heir of all things! What joy! All
power in heaven and on earth is His. Oh the joy! as sinners are
saved by Grace, whom He redeemed by His blood. And as His body is
building He rejoiceth as the bridegroom over the bride. In
unspeakable joy He carrieth on His loving, tender, priestly work in
behalf of those for whom He died. His joy and delight, as well as
His love and His power is with them, who are His.

But there is greater joy in the future for Him, the Man in Glory.
Though even now He _is_ "anointed with the oil of gladness above all
His fellows." His joy will increase and be full in the future.
Another glad shout will be heard when he leaves the Father's throne
and descends into the air. A shout of triumph and joy it will be,
which will open the graves of the Saints, which will summon those
who remain to meet Him in the air. Oh the joy at last the travail of
His soul will be brought into His presence. Oh the joy! He will have
us then and we will be with Him. With _exceeding joy_ He will
present us faultless before the presence of His Glory (Jud. 24). In
joy and a glorious triumph He will bring many sons to glory. What
joy it will be when He leads forth from heaven's glorious mansions,
those who are "God's workmanship created by Christ Jesus!" Then all
the world will know and angels shout once more for joy in the full
and glorious revelation of the new creation.

Oh! the Joy for Him! when Israel cries out "Blessed is He that
cometh in the name of the Lord!" Oh the joy! when creation sings her
songs of praise to Him, whose pierced hands have removed the curse.
Oh! the joy! when nations hear war no more but sing the worth of the
King of Kings and lay their gifts at His feet.

If we could measure all which was accomplished on Calvary's cross,
then we could also measure His joy, the joy of the Lord.

Reader! If you are saved by Grace, one with the Lord, then all this
is yours. The joy in the Lord and the joy of the Lord is to be your
portion now and in the day of His joy and glory. Murmuring,
discouraged, tempted, complaining, bereaved, downhearted,
halfhearted child of God, ponder over these words. Let God's Spirit
lead you into them. The joy of the Lord is to be your portion. It
will dispel your gloom. It will end your discouragement. It will
give you songs in the night. It will lift you into a holy walk. The
joy of the Lord can do this. He wants you to possess His joy. "These
things have I spoken unto you, and that your joy might be full"
(John xv:11). Let the Holy Spirit, who is given to you of God, make
the Lord Jesus Christ a greater reality in your life. Let the joy of
the Lord be your joy. Rejoice in God, the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Let your joy be to do His will. Accept all from His
hands. Rejoice in all things. "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again
I say, Rejoice" (Phil. iv:4). Rejoice and glory in tribulation.
"Count it all joy when ye fall in divers temptations" (James i:2).
Having Christ, brought nigh to God, a perfect access into His
presence, yea the right to come with boldness, a rejoicing and
praising spirit should be manifested by us.

And look at the joy which is set before us. How it ought to lift us
over all the present day trials and temptations and give us victory
over the cares and anxieties, the pleasures and deceitful riches of
this present evil and fast closing age. "Enter thou into the joy of
_Thy_ Lord." This _is_ our blessed and glorious future. We shall
share His future joy as we shall share His glory. And it is but a
little while longer and weeping, which endured for the night, will
give way to the _joy of the morning_.



"This Same Jesus."


"AND He led them out as far as to Bethany, and He lifted up His
hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them,
He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they
worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were
continually in the temple, praising and blessing God" (Luke xxiv:50-53).
Something else is reported in the first chapter in the book of
Acts in connection with the Return of our blessed Lord to the
Father. "And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went
up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said,
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? _This same
Jesus_, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in
like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven". (Acts i:10-11).
This blessed message must have been the reason why they returned to
Jerusalem with _great_ joy. Instead of tears and sorrow at that
parting there was joy, because they knew and believed that He who
had said "I will come again and receive you unto myself," this same
Jesus would come for them. What a blessed truth it is that the same
Jesus, the same Lord who walked on earth, who spoke such words of
infinite love and tenderness, who wept, healed the sick, raised the
dead and commanded the demons, who calmed the storm, who had gone to
the cross to die that awful death in our stead--that this same
Jesus, raised from the dead, is now in the presence of God for us
and our Advocate with the Father. It is the same loving, tender,
caring, mighty Lord and Saviour, who is there and this same Jesus,
not another, will come again. The reality of this filled the
disciples with joy. They knew He had left them, they knew He lived
and that He would come again. This knowledge gave them power to
witness and to walk in holiness. The reality of this fills still the
believing heart with joy and leads as well as keeps in the blessed
faith life of fellowship with Himself, into which we have been
called by the Grace of God. The heart of the believer under the
control of the Holy Spirit has but one desire. It is to know Him and
know Him better. Other desires for blessings may come up, but that
life which is in the believer ever reaches out after Himself who is
our life. "That I may know Him" was the passion of that wonderful
man, who knew Him so well (Phil. iii:10). And it is just heart
knowledge of this same Jesus in His loveliness, His patience, His
power, His glory, in all His blessed fullness, which we need the
most and through this all other needs are met.

Look up then in faith, child of God, He who is altogether lovely,
whose perfect ways of love and grace, were so blessedly made known
in His life down here, this same Jesus, with all the tenderness of
infinite love, the love that never grows cold, is with the Father.
Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, to-day and forever. The disciples
heard Him pray His great prayer before He went to the cross (John
xvii). As they listened to His words addressed to the Father, they
learned as never before, how dear they all were to Him. How He loved
them, cared for them, what He had done for them, would continue to
do and what their future would be. And whenever we read these words
in His high priestly prayer, we can hear Him still pray. We know
that love for us cannot change; that prayer to keep does not fail;
that concern, so deep and gracious, in all who belong to Him is
unchanged, for it is "this same Jesus," who intercedes for us, whose
loving eyes watch our going in and our going out, our walk down
here.

Oh! for the reality of this! This same blessed Lord is with us, for
us, above us. We can count on His unchanging love. We can count on
His power. The reality of the Person of our exalted Lord keeps us
down here. Oh, draw near, beloved reader, for it is your privilege,
your calling, to know Him and to enjoy Him. His heart is never
satisfied unless you drink deep of His love and you lie in blessed
dependence at His feet. Have you failed Him? Are days, weeks,
perhaps months of wandering your past, days in which you grieved
Him? Return, oh return! it is "this same Jesus" who at the lake of
Tiberias so tenderly restored Peter and who waits for thy return.

And "this same Jesus" comes again. If the joy was so great when He
left, because the heavenly messengers gave the good news that this
same Jesus is coming again, what will be the joy when he _does_
come! He comes as Saviour, which is the meaning of His blessed name.
"For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our body of
humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body"
(Phil. iii:20-21). The glorious appearing of the great God and our
Saviour Jesus Christ who gave Himself for us, will some day take
place. And when He comes into the air and gives the shout, He will
be "this same Jesus." When we are caught up in clouds to meet Him in
the air we shall meet _Him_, the same blessed Person, who walked on
this earth, who died on the cross, who in His unchanging love kept
and carried us and called us home. We shall see Him as He is. He
comes, this same Jesus, to take us to be with Him. What will be His
joy then when all His blood-washed, redeemed people are at last with
Him! Then this same Jesus who bore our sins in His own body on the
tree will bestow upon us His glory, the glory the Father has given
Him.

Reader! Is it even now before you such a living reality, this same
Jesus--is coming again; coming to take us all into the Father's
house with its many mansions, to the place whose portals were opened
with His own blood! And how soon it may be that we shall see Him and
be with Him!

If an angelic message were brought to-day to all Christians, we said
recently in a meeting, and that message would state in terms
unmistakably, one week more and the Lord Jesus Christ comes, one
week more and we shall see Him; what would be the result? We can
imagine the eagerness with which all would begin to serve and reach
out after the unsaved; what self-denials and boldness we would
behold! How all the earthly things, the childish things, the
playthings of the dust, would lose their attractiveness. Then
heaven's glory would break upon us. But such a message is not
promised to us. It is nowhere said that it will take place. No angel
will come to announce the time when "this same Jesus" comes to call
us home. The fact is God has told us in His Word, that His ever
blessed Son will come and that He will come suddenly. He may come
_to-day_. He may call us home before another morning comes. And if
we believe it we shall walk in expectation and in separation. The
Lord graciously revive the blessed Hope in our hearts and through it
make us holy in our lives, zealous for the Gospel, untiring in
service and loving towards all the Saints.



The Wondrous Cross.


WHO can tell out the story of the cross! There was a time when we
thought we knew much of it; but oh! the depths, the wonderful depths
of the cross and the work accomplished there, which constantly break
in upon the heart, as one meditates on the cross. One who knew the
cross, whose eyes were filled with all its glory, because He beheld
Him, who hung on the cross, in highest glory has told us "But God
forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the
world." Crucified unto the world. Dead to the world and to sin are
the blessed effects of the cross.

Some time ago while remembering the Lord on the Lord's Day we sang a
familiar hymn:

   When we survey the wondrous cross
      On which the Lord of glory died,
   Our richest gain we count but loss,
      And pour contempt on all our pride.

How true!--contempt must be poured on all our pride when one
beholds that sight, the cross on which the Lord of glory died. But
is it so, "and pour contempt on all our pride?"

And when we sang the second verse its truth came home still more to
the conscience:

   Forbid it, Lord, that we should boast,
      Save in the death of Christ, our God;
   All the vain things that charm us most,
      We'd sacrifice them to His blood.

How true! If such a one died to deliver us out of this present evil
age then the vain things that charm us most, not the sinful things,
must be relinquished. But is it really so--all the vain things that
charm us most--we'd sacrifice them to His blood?

   There from His head, His hands, His feet,
      Sorrow and love flowed mingled down;
   Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
      Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
   Were the whole realm of nature ours,
      That were an off'ring far too small;
   Love that transcends our highest powers
      Demands our soul, our life, our all.

And then once more the heart said, How true! Marvelous sight the
Lord of Glory on that cross for me! Forsaken of God, paying the
penalty of my sins, drinking the cup of wrath, untasted by me. Such
love surely demands our soul, our life, our all. But is it so? How
often we sing these blessed truths and our lives are strangers to
them. God grant that we may live out the truth of the cross in our
lives. May the deliverance, the victory, the power of His cross be
manifested in our lives. Dead to the world and the world dead to me.



His Legacy.


BLESSED and ever precious are the words, which came from the lips of
our loving Lord, before he went to the cross. His own were gathered
around Him; before He ever comforted them and poured out His loving
heart, He manifested that love by serving them. He arose from the
supper, laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.
What a sight the Son of God girded! "After that He poureth water
into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe
them with the towel wherewith he was girded" (John xiii:5). It was a
great symbolical action. He who stooped so low to wash the feet of
His sinful creatures is the same who declared in the Old Testament
"Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with
thine iniquities" (Isaiah xliii:24). The washing typifies the
service our beloved Lord renders to His saints in cleansing them
from defilement; it is "the washing of water by the Word." And thus
He continues in loving service till at last all His redeemed people
are brought home into the presence of the throne and "the sea of
glass like unto crystal" (Rev. iv:6) where no more defilement is
possible and no more washing is needed.

Many and blessed are the words, which then flowed from His lips,
after Judas had gone out into the dark night. Only He could speak
thus. Thousands upon thousands, countless multitudes have been fed
upon His gracious, comforting words and have been strengthened and
upheld. Their careful and refreshing power is undiminished. Like
Himself His Words are eternal and inexhaustible. The Father's house
with its many mansions, the fact of His personal return, the gift of
the other Comforter, who came to abide with and in His own, the
promises concerning prayer and assurance that the Father Himself
loves them and many other precious truths were spoken by Him ere He
left the world to go to the Father. At that time He gave His blessed
legacy. "_Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you_" (John
xiv:27). And the last word He spoke to His disciples before He
uttered that marvelous high priestly prayer, contains also the
assurance of peace. "These things have I spoken unto you, that _in
Me_ ye might have _peace_. In the world ye shall have tribulation;
but be of good cheer I have overcome the world" (John xvi:33).

The adorable Lord came to this poor sin cursed earth, a world of
sinners and enemies of God by wicked works to make peace. The great
work of reconciliation was effected on the cross. By His death on
the cross the enemies of God, believing in Him, became reconciled to
God. He made peace through the blood of His cross (Col. i:20). As
believing sinners we are justified and _have_ peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Not our walk or service, not our faith or
repentance or anything we have done or are doing is the ground of
peace with God, but what Christ has done for us. Yea He Himself is
our peace. And because _He_ is our peace, it is a peace which can
never be undone or unsettled.

   Oh, the peace forever flowing
      From God's thoughts of His own Son!
   Oh, the peace of simply knowing
      On the cross that all was done!

   Peace with God, the blood in heaven
      Speaks of pardon now to me:
   Peace with God! the Lord is risen!
      Righteousness now counts me free.

When all was finished, the mighty victory over sin, Satan, death and
the grave had been gained, when every foe had been met and fully
conquered, the blessed victor appeared in the midst of His beloved
disciples. It was on "the same day" the day when He arose, when the
mighty power of God opened the grave, on the same day, He suddenly
stood in their midst. The doors were shut. The disciples were full
of fears and doubts. Thomas was not there at all. All at once their
eyes beheld Him once more who had been crucified, had died and was
buried. "Peace be unto you!" This heavenly greeting came from His
lips and soothed their sorrows, cleared their doubts and dispelled
their fears. And He who stood thus in their midst was the same whom
Gideon had seen and who answered His fears with "Peace be unto you;
fear not" (Judges vi:23). Jehovah is peace; He is our peace. On the
glad and glorious resurrection day the gracious Lord appeared in
their midst and proclaimed peace to them. But He also showed them
His hands and His side. The marks of the nails and of the spear were
seen there. They are the evidences of His death for His people. But
He who was dead is risen and lives evermore. Ah! that is peace! The
Christ who died for our sins, who is risen and is in God's own
presence is our peace. Would we enjoy that peace in a greater sense
and have it more real, then let us just have Himself, the Person as
the object of our hearts. "Then were the disciples glad, when they
saw the Lord." Nothing could make them glad aside from the Lord
Himself. Alas! that some of God's people try to find joy and peace
in their service, experiences, knowledge of truth. Dear souls, it is
the Lord only, who gives us peace and gladness.

But the blessed legacy of our Lord is not so much the peace with
God, as it is "His own peace." The peace which He possessed while on
earth, that peace like a majestic river, ever flowing on in silence
with not a moment's interruption. His own peace, He bequeathed to
His own. What a peace was His! What restfulness the divinely
reported scenes of that blessed life breathe! We have written before
on His patience, His joy and His love, the love which passeth
knowledge. How much might be written too on "His peace." But not
half could ever be told. What calmness we see wherever we look. The
threatening multitudes did not disturb Him, nor did the fierce storm
on the Galilean sea; peacefully He rested in sleep, while the angry
waves tossed the little ship aside and the terror-stricken disciples
awoke Him. They cried "Lord, save us; we perish." And then His eyes
opened and in loving tenderness He said unto them, "Why are ye so
fearful, O ye of little faith?" _Then_ He arose and rebuked the
winds and the sea and there was a great calm. Ah! poor human heart!
how canst thou ever doubt with such a Lord at thy side!

And this peace which was His constant portion, was the result of a
constant communion with God. His meat and drink was to do the will
of Him that sent Him. That calm, unruffled peace was the fruit of
His constant trust in God and dependence on Him. And this peace He
wants us to enjoy. In a world full of tribulation, anxiety and care,
a world full of increasing evils, conflicts and sufferings, He wants
us to have His own peace. The enjoyment of this peace of our Lord
Jesus Christ depends on our communion with God and the realization
of our union with Him. On that blessed evening of the resurrection
day the Lord spoke a second time, "Peace be unto you." Why should He
repeat the same greeting? The words which follow explain this. "As
my Father hath sent me, even so send I you" (John xx:22). As
Christians saved by grace and in Christ we are sent by Him as He was
sent by the Father. As we realize this and walk under Him, as we set
the Lord always before our eyes and our life's aim is to do _His_
will and not our own, to please Him and not ourselves, to serve Him
and not man, to let Him plan and not we ourselves, to be nothing
instead of something, to be in the dust instead of exalted, then
shall we enjoy His legacy "His own peace." He wants us to have it.
He wants us to be kept in perfect peace. Are we willing to have it?
And what else honors our absent Lord more than a life which
manifests His peace. What pleases the Father more than to behold His
children reminding Him by their lives of dependence and peace, the
result of the rest of faith, of His own blessed Son. And the Holy
Spirit, who produces all this in us will ever lead us on in the
fuller enjoyment of the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We must expect in the coming days greater tests of faith, greater
conflicts, greater trials. It cannot be otherwise in these perilous
times. We must not expect anything else. But He can and will keep
us. "Thou wilt keep him in _perfect peace_, whose mind is stayed on
Thee, because He trusteth in Thee." And ere long the God of peace
will bruise Satan completely under our feet. What joy--oh what joy
awaits us when we shall see Him face to face, who is our peace.

   "They that trust Him wholly
   Find Him wholly true."
   "Our God is able."



What have I to Do With idols?


MUCH is said in reproof of Ephraim by the prophet Hosea. All the
wicked dealings and defilement of Ephraim is uncovered--and the
Lord said: "I will be unto Ephraim as a lion." Again Jehovah said:
"Ephraim is like a cake not turned." "Ephraim is like a silly dove
without heart." "Ephraim hath made many altars to sin." "Ephraim is
joined to idols, let him alone." But all reproof and chastisement
did not bring Ephraim back. Nothing seemed to be able to draw
Ephraim's heart away from the idols. At the close of the Prophet
Hosea, however, Ephraim is made to speak and a significant word it
is. "Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I
have heard Him, and observed Him; I am like a green fir tree. From
me is thy fruit found" (xiv:8).

A familiar yet blessed truth is contained in this statement. Ephraim
dealt with by judgments after the severe rebukes of the Lord could
not let go the idols. Joined to idols, the Lord said, "Let him
alone." But the day was to come when Ephraim would willingly forsake
all idols and cry out, "What have I any more to do with idols?" And
what brought about Ephraim's conversion? Ephraim heard Him and
observed Him. The sight of the Lord, His love and tenderness, His
patience and kindness beheld in faith, was enough for Ephraim to
forsake all idols and cleave to Him alone. Thus Ephraim became like
a green fir tree.

And this is still true to-day. There is no other way to be separated
from idols and walk wholly with the Lord than Ephraim's way. Why are
God's people joined to idols? Why are Christians half-hearted,
conformed to this present evil age, given to covetousness, which is
idolatry (Col. iii:5)? There is but one answer. Our hearts do not
listen to that blessed voice, which delights to speak to those who
belong to Him. Our eyes do not look upon Him in all His glory and
beauty. We lose sight of Him who is altogether lovely. Our minds
instead of being occupied with the things of Christ are centered
upon earthly things. Our thoughts are so little brought into
captivity to the obedience of Christ and are controlled by our own
imaginations and the spirit of the times. There is no other way of
being delivered from idols, from everything which would draw us
away from Himself and all which hinders from giving to Him the
pre-eminence. That way is heart occupation with our Lord, conscious
communion with Him through His Word in the power of His Spirit. We
must hear Him, we must observe Him. Then He appears to our hearts in
all His lowliness, in all His majesty and glory, and that vision
will be enough to disgust us with the playthings of the dust and He
will become the supreme object of our lives. There is no other way
to practical holiness than hearing Him and observing Him.

   Hast thou heard Him, seen Him, known Him?
      Is not thine a captured heart?
   "Chief among ten thousand" own Him,
      Joyful choose the better part.

   Idols once they won thee, charmed thee,
      Lovely things of time and sense;
   Gilded, thus does sin disarm thee,
      Honey'd lest thou turn thee thence.

   What has stript the seeming beauty
      From the idols of the earth?
   Not the sense of right or duty,
      But the sight of peerless worth.

   Not the crushing of those idols,
      With its bitter void and smart,
   But the beaming of His beauty,
      The unveiling of His heart.

   Who extinguishes their taper
      Till they hail the rising sun?
   Who discards the garb of winter
      Till the summer has begun?

   'Tis that look that melted Peter,
      'Tis that face that Stephen saw,
   'Tis that heart that wept with Mary.
      Can alone from idols draw--

   Draw, and win, and _fill completely_,
      Till the cup o'erflow the brim;
   What have we to do with idols,
      Who have companied with Him?

Reader! Gaze afresh in that lovely face of transcendent beauty.
Think of His great love for you, His never-changing love, His
eternal love. Follow the dictates of that new nature Grace has given
to you and have the Lord constantly before your eyes and heart.
Anything less will lead you to idols. What have I to do any more
with idols? I have heard Him and observed Him.



The Never Changing One.


"JESUS Christ the same yesterday, and to-day and forever" (Heb.
xiii:8). Blessed truth and precious assurance for us poor, weak
creatures, yea, among all His creatures the most changing; _He_
changeth not. "For I am the Lord, I change not" (Mal. iii:6). "Of
old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are
the work of Thy hands. They shall all perish, but Thou shalt endure:
yea all of them shall wax old like a garment, as a vesture shalt
Thou change them, and they shall be changed; but Thou art the same,
and Thy years shall have no end" (Psalm cii:25-27 and Heb. i:10-12).
The above blessed statement puts Him before our hearts as the
unchanging Son of God, the solid rock of ages. It is a verse which
is like Himself, infinite, inexhaustible. Our adorable Lord is here
mentioned as having a past, a present and a future, a yesterday,
to-day and a forever. This Epistle at the close of which we find this
word gives us a definition of the yesterday, the today and the
forever of the Son of God. He is the true God; He had never the
beginning of days, a yesterday, a past without a beginning. By Him
the worlds were made. He is the effulgence of His glory and the
expression of His substance (Heb. i:3). His yesterday is Eternity;
His goings forth are from old, from everlasting (Micah v:2). And in
that yesterday, in the bosom of the Father, the great plan of
redemption was blessedly known. Oh! what a love that knew all and
was ever ready to give all to carry out that wonderful scheme.
"Wherefore coming into the world, He says, sacrifice and offering
Thou willedst not; but Thou hast prepared me a body. Thou hadst no
pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. Then I said, Lo,
I come, in the roll of the book it is written of me, to do, O God,
Thy will" (Heb. x:5-7). And then He came to manifest the eternal
love of God. He came in the form of a servant; He, whose yesterday
is eternity, was made a little lower than the angles (Heb. ii:9).
And while on earth He was the same as in eternity. He showed His
power as the Creator, over nature, disease and death. Though in
humiliation, the Son of God had Glory, yet it was hidden. How
blessed it is to trace His way while on earth and what love, mercy,
patience, meekness, humility, peace and much more we find here. And
then His great work of redemption. It behooved Him in all things to
be made like unto "His brethren, that He might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things relating to God to make propitiation
for the sins of the people (Heb. ii:7). 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 (having
been heard because of His piety); though He were Son yet learned
obedience from the things He suffered; and having been perfected,
became to all of them that obey Him, author of eternal salvation"
(v:7-10). In His yesterday He made purification of sins; He put away
sin by sacrificing Himself. He fulfilled the eternal will of God, by
which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all.

And this Epistle likewise speaks of His "today," the Present of
Himself. His "to-day" began with the opened tomb, that blessed,
glorious resurrection morn. He is the great shepherd of the sheep
brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ (xiii:20). He is
the appointed heir of all things, on the right hand of the majesty
on high, taking a place so much better than the angels, as He
inherits a name more excellent than they (Heb. i:3-5). He is
addressed by God as high priest according to the order of
Melchisedec (v:10). We gaze into the opened heavens and we see Jesus
who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of
death, crowned with glory and honor (ii:9). Now a summary of the
things of which we are speaking is: We have such a one high priest
who has sat down at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in
the heavens; minister of the holy places and the true tabernacle,
which the Lord has pitched and not man (vii:1). He has a priesthood
unchangeable. Whence also He is able to save to the uttermost those
who approach by Him to God, always living to intercede for them
(viii:25). For the Christ is not entered into holy places made with
hands, figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in
the presence of God for us (ix:24). But, He having offered one
sacrifice for sins, sat down in perpetuity at the right hand of God,
waiting from henceforth until His enemies are made His footstool
(x:12). Such and much more is His "to-day." All power in heaven and
on earth is given to Him.

His "forever" will begin when He leaves the Father's throne and when
He is brought into the world again, when all things are to be
subjected under His feet and He will be in the fullest exercise of
His Melchisedec priesthood, a priest upon His throne. And in all,
yesterday, in the days of His humiliation, to-day upon the Father's
throne as our advocate and priest, in His glorious future, upon His
own throne He is the same, the mighty Jehovah, who changeth not, the
Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. He is the unmovable
rock, no storms, no changes can move the rock upon which we stand,
and though heaven and earth pass away neither He, the living,
eternal Word, nor His written Word will change.

His power, His grace, His love, His patience, is kindness, His
sympathy is ever the same towards His own beloved people, who have
trusted in Him and share His life. Having loved His own, who are in
the world, and loved them to the end (John xiii:1); and that end is
eternity. In the beginning of the last book of the Bible, we hear
the voice of the Holy Spirit in the church, worshipping Him, in that
matchless outburst "Unto Him that loved us and has washed us from
our sins in His own blood." But it does not say "loved," but it
reads "Unto Him that _loveth_ us." The love He has for His own is an
abiding, an unchanging love. Oh to think more of that love, that
changeless love, which passeth knowledge! And how true it is what a
saint has sung long ago:

   "Oh! I am weary of my love,
      That doth so little t'wards Thee move;
   Yet do I constantly groan,
      To know the depth of all Thine own.

   That groan, sweet Spirit, is from Thee,
      Nor self-begotten e'er can be;
   No natural heart, oh Lord, of mine
      Could long to lose itself in Thine.

   O love of loves, for me that died;
      The love of Jesus crucified!
   Who lowly took His part with me,
      That I as _one_ with Him might be.

   Loved, and for ever on Thy throne
      Adored, and loved, Thou changeless One;
   Thou wilt thro' one eternal day,
      The height and depth of all display."

   Meanwhile, Thou precious, wondrous Lamb
      Content--at least with this I am,
   To count my love too mean to own,
      And know but Thine--"_Thy love alone_."

And yet how often we doubt that love and by fear, when we have come
short or fallen in sin, insult that mighty changeless love. How
often, too, when trials are upon us and we suffer, we lose sight of
Him, the unchanging One, who loves His own to the end, and deep down
in the heart there is unrest, anxiety, as if some evil could come
upon us. Our weakness, our imperfections, our failures and our sins
do not change His love and His grace.

As He was yesterday with His own and kept them, carried them, was
their strength, their help, their refuge and their safe hiding
place, their peace and their comfort, so is He to-day, so will He be
forever. And in faith we can bring it stiller nearer to our hearts.
He is for each the same loving, sympathizing, caring, interested
Saviour, Friend and Lord. He who helped you yesterday, whose love
was about you in the past, who has not left you since He found you
for a single moment, is the same to-day, and will never be anything
less. He will keep each member of His body, He will carry, He will
lead onward, and with His unchanging love and power deal with each,
as it pleases Him. Oh that we might cast ourselves more upon Him and
spend the remainder of our days here (how few indeed!) in a more
utter dependence upon Him, trusting Him, the changeless One. Oh for
a closer walk with Him in these evil days and to taste more of His
love, His unchanging love. How happy, restful, without care and
anxiety God's people _might_ be if only their hearts were fixed upon
Him who is the same yesterday, to-day and forever. Alas! how often
the things seen are more real to us as the real things, the things
unseen. What a joy it ought to be to our hearts to follow Him now,
to learn over and over again that He is the same, who changeth not,
to find His power and strength as of old manifested in behalf of His
beloved people.



Be of Good Cheer.


"BE of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid" (Matthew xiv:27).

"Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God believe also in
Me. In my father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I
would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to
prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto
myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John xiv:1-3).

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world
giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let
it be afraid" (John xiv:27).

"In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I
have overcome the world" (John xvi:33).

"Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me
where I am" (John xvii:24).

"Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age" (Matthew
xxviii:20).

"He hath said I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews
xiii:5).

"Fear not, I am the first and the last; I am He that liveth and was
dead and behold I am alive forevermore, amen; and I have the keys of
hades and of death" (Rev. i:17, 18).

"Behold I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man
take thy crown" (Rev. iii:11).

"Surely I come quickly. Amen" (Rev. xxii.20).

These precious words of comfort and cheer came from His loving heart
and lips. May we take hold of them. How well it is to remember His
words and Himself. How worthy He is; the mighty, the loving, the
adorable Lord! How He loveth us His own, how He careth for us, is
mindful of us and carrieth us, no heart can fully understand, no pen
describe. How He came from heaven's glory long ago, how He the One,
who was rich, became poor for our sakes and died on the cross, that
we might share eternal riches and glory with Him, is the old story,
which never grows old. It is as fresh and new to the believing heart
as it ever has been. And He who bought us with His own blood, loveth
and carrieth us His poor, weak and sinning people with such love and
infinite patience. The past years of our Christian lives, so all of
us must confess, have been filled with many failures. But as we come
to Him with our failures, our sins, our burdens, we find Him the
same loving, tender Saviour. Ah! who can measure the depths of His
love! He will never cease loving those, who have accepted him as
their Saviour and whom He has accepted as His own. In His gracious
hands we are and all His people. The hands which were pierced for us
on the cross are over us and about us. They carry us, guide us, hold
us and keep us. We are His and nothing can separate us from Him in
time and in eternity. With a joyful heart we can say "I am my
Beloved's and His desire is toward me."

   O Lord! 'tis sweet the thought
      That Thou art mine!
   But brighter still the joy
      That I am Thine.

Oh, dear Christian readers, how happy we might be if only all this
were constantly real to our hearts and our minds were occupied with
that blessed, glorious One. What joy and blessing we will have, if
we walk closer with the Lord and live that life to which we have
been called, live by the faith of the Son of God.

And the words He left us are just like Himself, Love, Hope and
Comfort. There is nothing to fear for one who is in Him. He would
have His beloved people free from all fear, anxiety and care. Twice
He has told us "Let not your heart be troubled." "Fear not!" "Be not
afraid!" How much these words mean if we consider Him who spoke
them. They must calm every fear and lift the trusting child of God
over all the dark and difficult things on the way. The blessed words
we have quoted are the never failing comfort for His people till
they are gathered in His own presence.

The greatest anodyne, however, He has given to us, the anodyne for
all pains and sorrows, griefs and perplexities is the blessed Hope.
"I will come again and receive you unto myself" was spoken long ago,
and yet it is still unfulfilled. Almost the last petition of His
great high-priestly prayer is the petition to have His own with
Himself in the Father's house. "Father, I will that they also, whom
Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am." This prayer is still
unanswered. "Behold I come quickly" are His own words in the third
chapter of Revelation, words so full of meaning for us, exhorting us
to hold fast what we have. And in the very end of the Book, almost
the last word of the Bible is the last word He ever spoke. "_Surely_
I come quickly. Amen." He has not spoken again after this last
utterance, so full of assurance. The next time His blessed voice
will speak will be when He comes into the air and gives the mighty
shout (1 Thess. iv:16) which will call the saints from their graves
and ourselves from earth's sorrow together with them to meet Him in
the air. That blessed Hope is the great anodyne, the soothing as
well as inspiring truth of the Bible, which stands next to and in
closest relation with the Gospel. That blessed Hope is an imminent
Hope. How cheerless it would be to think that the Lord cannot come
for many years, that He cannot fulfill His blessed promise. How
cheerless, yea, how depressing and discouraging it would be if it
were true that the true believers must pass through the great
tribulation, suffer under Antichrist, taste of the wrath, which will
then be poured out. Such an expectation would not be a blessed Hope,
but a depressing outlook. But blessed be God this is not the
teaching of the Word, but only the invention of man. We are not to
wait for the apostasy, the great tribulation, great earthquakes and
disasters, but for Himself. He may come at any time and call us into
His presence. To wait daily for Him is the true Christian attitude,
which is a mighty power in the Christian life, walk and service. How
we shall be weaned away from the passing things of this age, how we
shall look upon all in its true light and be faithful witnesses for
our Lord, if we walk in this daily expectation of meeting Him. And
this we need. The Lord Jesus Christ must become more real to our
hearts. Our fellowship with Him, our trust in Him, our walk in Him,
our waiting for Him, all must become more real. The Holy Spirit in
His power will accomplish this in our lives. In the awful darkness,
which is settling upon this age, only such can abide faithful who
cling closer to the Lord and who wait for His coming. The Lord grant
this to all His people.

      He'll come again,
      And prove our hope not vain;
   We wait the moment, oh, so fair;
   To rise and meet Him in the air;
   His heart, His home, His throne to share--
      O wondrous love!



Make Haste.


THE little book called Solomon's Song, in the Hebrew "the Song of
Songs," because it exalts and describes the Bridegroom, closes with
that longing cry, "Make Haste my Beloved." How this applies
dispensationally we do not follow here. It is the same desire for
Himself, which is found almost the last thing in the Bible, the
great prayer, "Even so come Lord Jesus." The soul which knows Him,
follows closely after Him, and gets daily more of Himself will ever
long for Him and for His Coming. The desire and prayer will arise
many times each day from such a heart, "Make Haste my Beloved"
--"Even so, come Lord Jesus." The Holy Spirit ungrieved and unhindered
in the believer will not alone produce this desire, but keep it
alive in the soul and make it more intense. One may hold the Second
Coming of Christ in a mere intellectual way; there is no profit in
that. The blessed Hope must have its seat in the heart and
affection. It is therefore a good test of our spiritual state. If
our hearts are crying more for Him, longing to be with the Beloved,
and we daily sigh for Himself to come and take us home, we are then
certainly walking in the Spirit. Such a desire will also lead us
into holiness of life and true service for Him. And as we look about
us at the condition of things, surely only the Coming of our Lord
appears to be the remedy. Nothing less than that event can arrest
the dreadful conditions and bring the long promised deliverance.
"The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until
now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first
fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption, the redemption of the body" (Rom. viii:22-23).
What a day it will be when at last He descends into the air to
call His own, His Beloved together! What a day it will be when
together with those who are raised from their graves we shall be
caught up in clouds to meet HIM in the sky! What a day when He
purges the earth by fire and comes with all His Saints to reign.
Make haste! Even so, come Lord Jesus!

            Lord Jesus, come!
         And take Thy people home;
      That all Thy flock, so scattered here,
      With Thee in glory may appear.
         Lord Jesus, come!
   "Soon the day-dawn will be breaking
      And the shadows flee away;
   Now, by faith, in joy and gladness,
      I await the coming day,
   For I know my soul is safely
      Hidden in His wounded side;
   And anon He sweetly tells me
      I shall soon be satisfied.

   Lo! He tells me _now_ His secret,
      Cheering with His heavenly smile;
   Telling me, in love's low whisper,
      It is but 'a little while;'
   Yes, for soon, to brightest glory,
      He will fetch away His bride;
   Then I'll shine in His own likeness,
      And be ever satisfied!"