A Prayer To The God Of My Life

“…the house of Israel has become dross to Me.” Ezekiel 22:17

O God the Lord, what an awful thing it was that Israel had become dross to You; that Your people would turn from You and corrupt themselves so that they became vile and worthless to You- they became wasted, polluted, unfit, unclean and filthy in sin. But such is man, O Lord, and such are our ways. And sadly such was Israel. O God, the Lord, keep us in Your strong grace from the sins that Israel walked in and by which they had become dross to You. Cause us to be purified, as though passed through a fire and made clean, pure, holy and acceptable-as through a fire that purges us of our guilt and burns away all impurities-Your refining fire that sets us apart to You. May we be as precious silver and gold that is refined in this manner for Your enjoyment. May we be as a priceless metal that delights You. And if this requires that we endure many fiery trials by which we are sanctified, then give us grace to endure the painful and necessary furnace of affliction that gloriously changes us. O God our King, to be judged as dross and to suffer Your just punishment and rejection is an unbearable thing to us. To suffer such dishonor as to be cast out as dross by Your mighty hand of judgment is unthinkably horrible to us! To please You, to be pleasing in Your sight, is our blessing O God! Make us to be well-pleasing to You. Cause us to shine forth and reflect Your glories back to You-turn our faces to You in Your faithfulness, love and grace and we shall give You glory! Blessed are You Lord! And blessed are Your ways! To be a vessel of Your mercy for God is wonderful and to be graced by Your kindness is to be made worthy for God’s presence. Change us today and ever yet more fully, day by day, by Your grace and we shall return to You the glory of Your name, O God, and we shall honor You.  Fill us repeatedly by Your Spirit and we shall bless You and obey You and glorify You!  We shall then love You, Lord of all! You alone are worthy of our love and honor O Lord! Cleanse us from our dirtiness and we shall be clean. Purify us and we shall be pure! Magnify Your name in us, Lord, and we shall do what is right in Your sight. In ourselves we are sinful and worthless for we have failed to love You and we fail to do so…but Your more powerful grace is our hope and strength. Glory to you Jesus, O Lamb of God, and all praise to You for You are the pure, holy and righteous and worthy Man whose blood cleanses us sinners and brings us to God! In Christ’s name, Amen.

REFLECTIONS

Christ, Our Rest And Banner

“Christ, The Only Rest

‘And His rest shall be glorious.’ Isaiah 11:10

In the New Testament we hear from the mouth of Bartimeus and others, “Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” Now when Isaiah mentions the root of Jesse (v 10), it is clear enough that he means the Son of God.

We also read in the Bible of that precious confession of Peter, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ That confession was based on such a true and firm ground in order that the Church knows Who the Christ is. The Lord has caused the prophets to describe Him, in former days, by the spoken and written Word of God. The Old Testament writers give us a complete picture of this Person.

If we, with this picture in mind, carefully study Isaiah’s description of the root of Jesse, in Whom rest is to be found, we notice that Isaiah conforms to the picture which the Bible gives us of Christ. Then we must come to the confession that He is the Son of God.

Beloved, thus Christ is the only Savior and Mediator, and the root of Jesse is the Son of God, and therefore He, Who was born in Bethlehem’s manger, Who walked as man in the midst of Israel, Who died upon Golgotha, was greater than all men. He was not only man, but also God, the eternal and only Son of the Father, coessential with the Father and the Holy Ghost.

He did not become the Son of God when He assumed the human nature from the Virgin Mary. No, that is the false doctrine of Socinus. They speak of Jesus as a good man, worthy to be followed. Christ is the root of Jesse. He is therefore the uncreated God from eternity to eternity. He existed before He came upon earth in the flesh. The Bible gives many proofs that He was from eternity. We read in Gal. 4, ‘When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.’ In order to be sent forth, He had to exist. Christ was the true God from all eternity. That is what the prophets and the apostles have declared. They have declared that Christ is the only Savior and in His communion, a sinner may rest only by saving faith.

The Lord has counted Isaiah worthy to sketch an image of the Lord Jesus. Isaiah is sometimes called the evangelist of the Old Testament. With clear words he draws a picture of the Person of Christ. He speaks of the life, experiences, and death of Christ. For example, in his words, he points to the birth of Christ out of the Virgin Mary. He tells of Christ’s life of disdain and contempt. Then Isaiah sketches the glory of His majesty. He lets us see Him in His humiliation and then in His exaltation. He shows us Christ in His offices as Prophet, High Priest, and King.

It is no wonder, beloved, that the book of Isaiah and the Psalms of David are the most precious part of the Bible. Ask only the people of God. Here in verse 10, the prophet is speaking of the Lord Jesus as the root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people. You know that the word ensign or banner, in the original means something that is raised up on high, something very, very visible. These ensigns were formerly used in wars, they had a certain purpose. They raised these banners above the people, and each company, each troop had a banner of their own. We also have an example of it with the serpent that Moses raised up in the wilderness among the people of Israel. It is also translated in Numbers 26 to be something which could be seen afar off.

We could say more about it, but so in like manner the Lord Jesus is the banner whereby God’s people are guided in all their struggles. He is their banner to Whom they must look by faith when they are confused. The duty of that people is to remain close to this banner if they want to prosper in the strife. They have to look to Christ as their leader, to receive strength, wisdom, comfort and life from Him. They have to follow Him by faith and obedience, wherever He leads them, even if they have to die for or with Him. Thus you can understand, beloved, where Jesus goes, they have to go also. That is the way. Jesus says, whosoever will be My disciple, let him take up his cross and follow Me. The experience of that people is, where Jesus is it is always safe.”

-From Christ, The Only Rest, a sermon by Matthijs Heerschap (1911-1993) based on Isaiah 11:10

REFLECTIONS

Bearing The Cross And The Glory

“Matthew 16:24-28

The disciples could not bear the thought of crucifixion. They dreamed of worldly honors and temporal rewards in their Master’s service. They did not understand that true Christians, like Christ, must be made perfect through sufferings. Hence our Lord’s solemn teaching.

If men follow Christ they must make up their minds to trouble and self-denial (v. 24). It is good for us to see this point clearly. The flesh must be crucified daily. The devil must be resisted daily. The world must be overcome daily. There is a warfare to be waged and a battle to be fought. All this is the inseparable accompaniment of true religion. Heaven is not to be won without it. Never was there a truer word than the old saying: ‘No cross, no crown!’

There is nothing so precious as a man’s soul (v. 26). Our Lord teaches this lesson by asking one of the most solemn questions that the New Testament contains, which ought to sound in our ears like a trumpet whenever we are tempted to neglect our eternal interests. He reminds us that there is nothing so precious as a man’s soul. There is nothing that money can buy, or man can give, to be named in comparison with our souls. The world and all that is in it is temporal. It is all fading, perishing, and passing away. The soul is eternal. That one single word ‘eternal’ is the key to the whole question. Let it sink down deeply into our hearts.

The Second Coming is the time when Christ’s people shall receive their rewards (v. 27). Our Lord knows the heart of man. He knows how soon we are ready to be discouraged. He therefore holds out a gracious promise reminding us that when He comes we shall receive good things. The bitter must come before the sweet, the cross before the crown, humiliation before glory, but it shall come.

We have seen the necessity of taking up our cross and denying ourselves. Have we? We have heard of the value of a soul. Do we live as if we believed it? We have heard of Christ’s second advent. Do we anticipate it with joy?

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Matthew 17:1-8

We have in these verses a striking pattern of the glory in which Christ and His people will appear when He comes the second time. There can be little doubt that this was one of the main objects of this vision. It was meant to encourage the disciples by giving them a glimpse of good things yet to come. That ‘face shining as the sun’ and ‘raiment white as the light’ were intended to give the disciples some idea of the majesty in which Jesus will appear to the world when He comes the second time. The corner of the veil was lifted up to show them the Master’s true dignity. They were taught that if He did not yet appear in the guise of a King it was only because the time for putting on royal apparel was not yet come. This is what Peter says (2 Peter 1:16).

We have reason to thank God for this vision. We are often tempted to give up Christ’s service because of the cross and affliction which it entails. We see few with us and many against us. We find our names cast out as evil, and all manner of evil said of us because we believe and love the gospel. Year after year we see our companions in Christ’s service removed by death, and we feel as if we knew little about them except that they are gone to an unknown world and that we are left alone. All these things are trying to flesh and blood. No wonder that the faith of believers sometimes languishes and their eyes fail while they look for their hope.

Let us see in the story of the transfiguration a remedy for such doubting thoughts as these. The vision of the holy mount is a gracious pledge that glorious things are in store for the people of God. Their crucified Saviour shall come again in power and great glory. His saints shall all come with Him and are in safe keeping until that happy day. We may wait patiently (Col. 3:4).

Part of this glory was actually seen by the three competent witnesses on the mount. One of them records this fact (John 1:14). Such witnesses may be surely believed.

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Mark 9:14-29

How dependent Christ’s disciples are on the company of their Master and His help! When our Lord comes down from the mount, He finds His little flock in confusion. His nine apostles were besieged by a party of malicious scribes and baffled in an attempt to heal one possessed by a devil. The very disciples who a short time before had done many miracles and cast out many devils now met with a case too hard for them. They were learning by humbling experience that without Christ they could do nothing (John 15:5). It was useful lesson, no doubt, and overruled to their spiritual good, but it was a bitter lesson at the time. How much we learn from such lessons!  We do not love to learn that we can do nothing without Christ.

We need not look too far to see many illustrations of this truth in the history of God’s people in every age. The very men who at one time have done great exploits in the cause of the gospel at another time have failed entirely and proved weak and unstable as water. Some great Reformers temporarily recanted under pressure. The holiest and best of Christians have nothing that they have not received. They have only to provoke the Lord to leave them for a season and they will soon discover that their power is gone. Like Samson when his hair was shorn, they become weak like other men.

Let us learn a lesson of humility from the failure of the disciples. Let us strive every day to realize our need of the grace and the presence of Christ. With Him we may do all things (Phil. 4:13). With Him we may overcome the greatest temptations. Without Him the least may overcome us. Every morning we need to pray that He will not leave us to ourselves but that His presence might go with us, for we do not know what will happen in any day.”

-From J.C. Ryle’s (1816-1900) Expository Thoughts; Found in Daily Readings From All Four Gospels  Published by Evangelical Press  Auburn, MA  2001  July 8, 9, 12 Devotions