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.

REFLECTIONS

Brotherly Love Rather Than Race-Hatred

“For we also were sometimes foolish, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.” –Tit. iii.3.

“What a dark picture of the state of human nature and of human society! Whence comes such a sad condition of things, worse even than we see among animals? The answer is: “From Adam’s Fall.” Just think how Cain, the first child born on earth, born of man whom God had created, shed the blood of his brother Abel. Yes, the first child born on earth was the murderer of his own brother, and came under the power of the devil, who “was a murderer from the beginning.” “God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” No wonder that he destroyed mankind by a flood. Yet soon after the flood there were signs that man was still under the power of sin.

No wonder that man’s love of his own people, implanted in his heart by nature, soon changed to hatred of other peoples. Love of country became the fruitful source of race-hatred, war, and bloodshed. Note how, here in South Africa, God has placed the two races side by side, as in a school, to see if our Christianity will enable us to overcome race-hatred, and in the power of Christ’s love, prove that “in the new creature there is neither Greek nor Jew, barbarian nor Scythian, bond or free, but are all one in Christ Jesus.”

What an opening there is for the Church of Christ and her ministers to preach and proclaim the love of God, and to prove its might to change race-hatred into brotherly love! God has abundant power to bring this to pass.

What a call to every Christian to pray for himself and his brethren, that we may not make the Word of God of none effect by our unbelief!

 

O God, make known to us Thy love in Heavenly power, and let it take full possession of our lives!”

-Andrew Murray, (1828-1917) Reformed Pastor in South Africa, from God’s Best Secrets  Published by Zondervan 1979  USA  September 13 Meditation.

REFLECTIONS

“Final End of Creation

b. The final purpose of creation. Some find the final end or purpose of creation is the happiness of man. They say that God could not make Himself the final end, because He is sufficient unto Himself. But it would seem to be self-evident that God does not exist for man, but man for God. The creature cannot be the final end of creation. The Bible teaches us clearly that God created the world for the manifestation of His glory. Naturally, the revelation of the glory of God is not intended as an empty show to be admired by the creature, but also aims at promoting their welfare and attuning their hearts to the praise of the Creator. Isa. 43:7; 60:21; 61:3; Ezek. 36: 21,22; 39:7; Luke 2:14; Rom. 9:17; 11:36; 1 Cor. 15:28; Eph. 1:5,6,12,14; 3:9,10; Col. 1:16.

c. Substitutes for the doctrine of creation. They who reject the doctrine of creation resort to one of three categories for the explanation of the world. (1) Some say that original matter is eternal, and of it the world arose, either by mere chance, or by some higher directing force. But this is impossible, because you cannot have two eternals and therefore two infinites alongside of each other. (2) Others maintain that God and the world are essentially one, and that the world is a necessary (outflow) of the divine being. But this view robs God of His power and self-determination, and men of their freedom and of their moral and responsible character. It also makes God responsible for all the evil in the world. (3) Still others take refuge in the theory of evolution. But this is clearly a mistake, since evolution offers no explanation of the world. It already presupposes something that evolves.”

-Louis Berkhof from Summary of Christian Doctrine  Published by Eerdmans Publishing Company  Grand Rapids, MI  1938  Republished in 1975  Page 52.

REFLECTIONS

Gospel Peace 

“Only the Gospel can form a plaster to draw out the every core of contention from the heart. The apostle Paul testifies how he and his brothers were healed of malicious attitudes:

“We ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another” (Titus 3:3). And the Paul writes in some detail how that healing came: “But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by work of righteousness which we have done, but  according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:4-5). He was saying, “If this love of God to us in Christ had not appeared, if we had not been washed by His regenerating Spirit, we would still be paralyzed under the power of our lusts.”

Mortification is a work of the Spirit. “If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:13). And the Gospel is the sacrificing knife in the hand of the Spirit, the “sword” God uses to kill sin in the hearts of His people (Ephesians 6:17).

Just as the Gospel lays the axe to strife and digs it up by its bitter roots, so it fills the hearts of men who embrace with principle, leading to peace and unity. Some of these tenets are self-denial, long-suffering, and gentleness. Self-denial prefers that another be honored before himself. Long-suffering is bearing that which makes one easily provoked. And if gentleness is pushed by a wrong, it holds the door open for peace to come in again.

We can see a whole bundle of these sweet herbs growing in one bed: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23). Now this fruit does not crop up in just every hedge, but only from Gospel seed.”

From the Puritan William Gurnall  Found in The Christian in Complete Armour-Daily Reading in Spiritual Warfare   Published by Moody Press Chicago  1994  First Published  in 1655.

REFLECTIONS

"Blessed are they who mourn."

“This marks off the Christian as being quite unlike the man who is not a Christian and who belongs to the world. The one thing the world tries to shun is mourning; its whole organization is based on the supposition that that is something to avoid, the philosophy of the world is, “Forget your troubles, turn your back on them, do everything you can not to face them.” The whole organization of life, the pleasure mania, the money, the energy and enthusiasm that are expended in entertaining people, are all just an expression of the great aim of the world to get away from this idea of mourning and this spirit of mourning. But the gospel says, "Happy are they that mourn." Indeed, they are the only ones who are happy! (See also Luke 6).

This is something which is never found in the world. This is something which is not as evident in the Church today as it once was and as it is in the New Testament. And idea has gained currency that if we as Christians are to attract those who are not Christians we must deliberately affect an appearance of brightness and joviality-not something that arises from within, but something which is put on.

I cannot help feeling that the final explanation of the state of the Church today is a defective sense of sin and a defective doctrine of sin. Coupled with that, of course, is a failure to understand the true nature of Christian joy. These things, working together, of necessity produce a superficial kind of person and a very inadequate kind of Christian life. It is not surprising that the Church is failing in her mission if her dual conception of sin and joy are thus defective and inadequate. Conviction must of necessity precede conversion, a real sense of sin must come before there can be true joy of salvation. So many people spend all their lives trying to find this Christian joy. They want joy apart from conviction of sin. But that is impossible; it can never be obtained."

-D. M. Lloyd-Jones from Reflections  Published by World Publishing  USA  1994

REFLECTIONS

"Perfection

Distinctive of God:

God is perfectly good. All the perfection we can arrive at in this life is sincerity. We may resemble God a little, but not equal Him; He is infinitely perfect. Thomas Watson

Goal of the saints:

This is the sum of all; for he which can abstain not only from evil, but from the appearance of evil, is so perfect as a man can be in this sinful life. Henry Smith

This life was not intended to be the place of perfection, but the preparation for it. Richard Baxter

A prayer of the saints:

O good God, guide me by Thy holy hand, that I may keep myself within the lists of Christianity, being modest in apparel, moderate (in) diet, chaste and temperate in speech, sober in fashion and my ordinary deportment, respective to my superiors, amiable to my equals, without pride and insolency towards those that are below me, courteous and affable and yet without vanity and popularity towards all. Samuel Hieron"

-From A Puritan Golden Treasury Complied by I.D.E. Thomas Published by The Banner of Truth Trust Carlisle, PA 1997 Page 207