REFLECTIONS

Christ in His Glory

“See the gracious way He executes His offices. As a prophet, He came with blessing in His mouth, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’ (Matt. 5:3), and invited those to come to Him whose hearts suggested most exceptions against themselves, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden’ (Matt. 11:28). How did His heart yearn when he saw the people ‘as sheep having no shepherd’ (Matt. 9:36)! He never turned any back again that came to Him, though some went away of themselves. He came to die as a priest for His enemies. In the days of His flesh He dictated a form of prayer unto His disciples, and put petitions unto God into their mouths, and His Spirit to intercede in their hearts. He shed tears for those that shed His blood, and now He makes intercession in heaven for weak Christians, standing between them and God’s anger. He is a meek king; He will admit mourners into His presence, a king of poor and afflicted persons. As He has beams of majesty, so He has a heart of mercy and compassion. He is the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). Why was He tempted, but that He might ‘succor them that are tempted’ (Heb. 2:18)? What mercy may we not expect from so gracious a Mediator (1 Tim. 2:5) who took our nature upon Him that He might be gracious? He is a physician good at all diseases, especially at the binding up of a broken heart. He died that He might heal our souls with a plaster of His own blood, and by that death save us, which we were the procurers of ourselves, by our own sins. And has He not the same heart in heaven? ‘Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?’ cried the Head in heaven, when the foot on earth was trodden on (Acts 9:4). His advancement has not made Him forget His own flesh. Though it has freed Him from passion, yet not from compassion towards us. The Lion of the tribe of Judah will only tear in pieces those that ‘will not have Him rule over them’ (Luke 19:14). He will not show His strength against those who prostrate themselves before Him.”

-Richard Sibbes 1577-1625 From his book The Bruised Reed

REFLECTIONS

Love Forever

About Christopher Love, a 17^th Century Christian Martyr; the following letter was written to his wife:

“July 15, 1651 [the day he expected to be executed]

From the Tower of London

My Dearest Beloved,

I am now going to my long home, yet I must write thee a word before I go hence and shall be seen no more. It is to beg thee to be comforted in my gain and not to be troubled in thy loss. Labor to suppress thy inward fears now that thou art under outward sorrows. As thy outward sufferings abound, let thy consolations in Christ also abound. I know that thou art a woman of a sorrowful spirit. My time is short; I have but few words of counsel to give thee, and then I shall leave thee to God who careth for thee and thine.

1.     While  thou art under desertions, labor rather to strengthen and clear up thy evidences for heaven than question them.

2.     Remember a faith of adherence or reliance on the Lord Jesus brings thee to heaven, though thou want the faith of evidence or assurance.

3.     Labor to find that (and more also) in God which thou hast lost in the creature.

4.     Spend not thy days in heaviness for my death. If there were knowledge of things below or sorrow in heaven, I should grieve to think my beloved should mourn on earth.

5.     Lie under a soul-searching ministry. I know thou are not a spongy hearer, sucking in foul water as well as fair. God hath given thee a good understanding, to be able to discern things that differ. As the mouth tastes meat, thy ear trieth words

6.     Be conversant in Christian meetings and much in the exercises of mortification, in fasting and prayers,yet have respect to the weakness of thy body and thy present condition.

7.     Have a care of thyself and babies. God will take care of thee and them. I can write no more; farewell my dear, farewell, farewell.

My dear, I beg thee to be satisfied. My heart is greatly comforted in God. I can quietly submit to the good pleasure of His will, and I hope thou dost so also. I am delivered by the determinate counsel of God; the will of the Lord be done. Read for thy comfort when I am dead and gone Jeremiah 49:11 and the beginning of 12; Isaiah 9:6-8; Psalm 146:9; 2 Corinthians 4:17-18; and Hebrews 12:6-7.”

-From A Spectacle Unto God the Life and Death of Christopher Love  by Don Kistler Soli Deo Gloria  Morgan, Pa  1994.

REFLECTIONS

The Fear of the Lord

"2. A greater fear of God's majesty.'Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him' (Psa. 33:8). God is so high above us that the thought of His majesty should make us tremble. His power is so great that the realization of it ought to terrify us. He is so ineffably holy, and His abhorrence of sin is so infinite, that the very thought of wrongdoing ought to fill us with horror. 'God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about Him’ (Psa. 89:7).

'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom' (Prov. 9:10), and 'wisdom' is a right use of 'knowledge.' Just so far as God is truly known will He be duly feared. Of the wicked it is written, 'There is no fear of God before their eyes' (Rom. 3.18). They have no realization of His majesty, no concern for His authority, no respect for His commandments, no alarm that He shall judge them. But concerning His covenant people God has promised, 'I will put my fear in their hearts, and they shall not depart from Me' (Jer. 32:40). Therefore do they tremble at His Word (Isa. 66:5), and walk softly before Him.

'The fear of the Lord is to hate evil' (Prov. 8:13). And again, 'By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil' (Prov. 16:6). The man who lives in the fear of God is conscious that 'The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good' (Prov. 15:3), therefore is he conscious about his private conduct as well as his public. The one who is deterred from committing certain sins because the eyes of men are upon him, and who hesitates not to commit them when alone, is destitute of the fear of God. So too, the man who moderates his language when Christians are about him, but does not so at other times, is devoid of God's fear. He has no awe-inspiring consciousness that God sees and hears him at all times. The truly regenerate soul is afraid of disobeying and defying God. Nor does he want to do so. No, his real and deepest desire is to please Him in all things, at all times, and in all places. His earnest prayer is 'Unite my heart to fear thy name' (Psa. 86:11).

Now even the saint has to be taught the fear of God (Psa. 34:11). And here, as ever, it is through the Scriptures that this teaching is given us (Prov. 2:5). It is through them that we learn that God's eye is ever upon us, marking our actions, weighing our motives. As the Holy Spirit applies the Scriptures to our hearts, we give increasing heed to that command, "Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long' (Prov. 23.17). Thus, just so far as we are awed by God's awful majesty, are made conscious that ‘Thou God seest me’(Genesis 16:13), and work out our salvation with ‘fear and trembling’ (Philippians 2:12 ), are we truly profited  from our reading and study of the Bible.”

-From A W. Pink's Profiting From The Word  Published by The Banner of Truth Trust Carlisle, PA  1998

REFLECTIONS

Christ's Sufferings In Our Place

"A worn-out purple robe, once garment of the leader of a Roman cohort, is produced. This is thrown over His back still bleeding from every pore, while the barbarians exult aloud at this supposed witty and appropriate idea. They  then break off twigs from a long-spiked thorn-bush, and twist them into a circle, which is afterwards pressed upon His sacred head as a crown. But in order to complete the image of a mock king, they put into His hands a reed instead of a scepter, and after having thus arrayed Him, they pay mock homage to Him with shouts of derisive laughter. The miscreants bow with pretended reverence to the object of their scorn, bend the knee before Him, and to make the mockery complete, cry out again and again, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' It is not long, however, before they are weary of this abominable sport and turn it into fearful seriousness. With satanic insolence, they place themselves before their ill-treated captive, make the most horrible grimaces at Him, even spit in His face, and in order to fill Up the measure of their cruelty, they snatch the reed out of His hands and repeatedly smite Him with it on the head, so that the thorns pierce deeply while streams of blood flow down the face of the gracious Friend of sinners.

How can we reconcile such revolting occurrences with the government of a just and holy God? A great mystery must lie at the bottom of them, or our belief in a supreme moral government of the world loses its last support. And is not this really the case? What befalls Christ befalls us in Him, who is our representative. The sufferings He endures fall upon our corrupt nature. In Him we receive the due of our misdeeds. With the shudder at the sight of the martyred Lamb of God, ought to be joined adoration of the unsearchable wisdom and mercy of God and the glorious accomplishment of the counsel of grace. Our hell is extinguished in Jesus' wounds; our curse is consumed in Jesus' soul; our guilt is purged away in Jesus' blood. The sword of the wrath of a holy God was necessarily unsheathed against us; and if the Bible is not a falsehood, and the threatening of the law a mere delusion, and God's justice an idle fancy, not a single individual would have escaped the sword, if the Son of God had not endured the stroke and taken upon Himself the payment of our debts."

-From The Suffering Saviour by F. W. Krummacher  First English Edition 1856 Published by The Banner of Truth Trust  2004  Carlisle, PA

REFLECTIONS

The Holy War

Then lend thine ear to what I do relate

Touching the town of Mansoul and her state:

How she was lost, took captive, made a slave;

And how against him set, that should here save,

Yea, how by hostile ways she did oppose

Her Lord, and with his enemy did close.

For they are true: he that will them deny

Must needs the best or records vilify.

For my part, I myself was in the town

Both when ‘twas set up, and when pulling down.

I saw Diabolus in his possession

And Mansoul also under his oppression.

Yea, I was there when she own’d him for lord,

And to him did submit with one accord.

When Mansoul trampled upon things divine,

And wallowed in filth as doth a swine;

When she betook herself unto her arms,

Fought her Emmanuel, despised his charms;

Then I was there, and did rejoice to see

Diabolus and Mansoul so agree.

Let no men, then, count me a fable-maker

Nor make my name or credit a partaker

Of their derision: what is here in view,

Of mine own knowledge, I dare say is true.

I saw Prince’s armed men come down

By troops, by thousands, to besiege the town;

I saw the captains, heard the trumpets sound,

And how his forces covered all the ground.

Yea, how they set themselves in battle-‘ray,

I shall remember to my dying day.

I saw the colors waving in the wind,

And they within to mischief how combined

To ruin Mansoul, and to make away

Her primium mobile without delay.

I saw the mounts cast up against the town,

And how the slings were placed to beat ears it down;

I heard the stones fly whizzing by mine ears,

(What longer kept in mind than got in fears?)

I heard them fall, and saw what work they made,

And how old Mors did cover with his shade

The face of Mansoul; and I heard her cry,

“Woe worth the day, in dying I shall die!”

I saw the battering-rams, and how they play’d

To beat open Ear-gate; and I was afraid

Not only Ear-gate, but the very town

Would by those battering-rams be beaten down.

I saw the fights, and heard the captains shout,

And in each battle saw who faced about:

I saw who wounded were, and who was slain;

And who, when dead, would come to life again.

I heard the cries of those that wounded were,

(While others fought like men bereft of fear,)

And while the cry, “Kill, kill,” was in mine ears,

The gutters ran, not so with blood as tears.

Indeed, the captains did not always fight,

But then they would molest us day and night;

Their cry, “Up, fall on, let us take the town,”

Kept us from sleeping, or from lying down.

I was there when the gates were broken ope,

And saw how Mansoul then was stripp’d of hope;

I saw the captains march into town

How there they fought, and did their foes cut down.

I heard the prince bid Boanerges go

Up to the castle, and there seize his foe;

And saw him and his fellow bring him down

In chains of great contempt quite through the town

I saw Emmanuel, when he possess’d

His town of Mansoul; and how greatly blest

A town his gallant town of Mansoul was

When she received his pardon, loved his laws.

When the Diabolonians were caught

When tried, and when to execution brought,

Then I was there; yea, I was standing by

When Mansoul did the rebels crucify.

I also saw Mansoul clad all in white,

And heard her Prince call her his heart’s delight.

I saw him put upon her chains of gold,

And rings, and bracelets, goodly to behold.

What shall I say? I heard the people’s cries,

And saw the Prince wipe tears from Mansoul’s eyes.

I heard the groans, and saw the joy of many:

Tell you of all, I neither will, nor can I.

But by what here I say, you well may see

That Mansoul’s matchless wars no fables be.

-From The Holy War (1682) by John Bunyan  Published by Moody Press  Chicago, IL 1948.