May 12
25
The Wisdom of the Gospel
The gospel is the sum of wisdom; a collection of knowledge; a treasure-house of truth; and a disclosure of mysterious secrets. In it we see how justice and mercy may be associated; here we see unalterable law entirely satisfied, and sovereign love carrying away the sinner in triumph. Our meditation on it broadens the mind; and as it opens to our soul in successive flashes of glory, we stand astonished at the profound wisdom manifest in it. Yes, dear friends! if you seek wisdom, you will see it displayed in all its greatness; not in the firmness of the earth’s foundations—not in the measured march of the clouds of the sky, nor in the perpetual motions of the waves of the sea; not in the vegetation with all its intricate forms of beauty, nor in the animal with its marvelous tissue of nerve, and vein, and sinew; nor even in man, that last and loftiest work of the Creator. But turn aside and see this great sight!-an incarnate God upon the cross; a substitute atoning for mortal’s guilt; a sacrifice satisfying the vengeance of Heaven, and delivering the rebellious sinner. Here is essential wisdom; enthroned, crowned, and glorified. Admire, you men of the earth, if you are not blind; and you who glory in your learning bow your heads in reverence, and admit that all your skill could not have devised a gospel that is one so just to God, so safe to man.
Charles Spurgeon.
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SOVEREIGNTY
“How precious are Your thoughts unto me, O God!”
“I form the light — and create darkness; I make peace — and create evil! I the LORD do all these things!” — Isaiah 45:7
What a sad world this would be — were it governed by Fate! Were its blended lights and shadows, its joys and sorrows — the result of capricious accident — or blind and wayward chance! How blessed to think that each separate occurrence which befalls me — is “a thought of God” — the fulfillment of His own immutable purpose!
Is it the material world? It is He who “forms the light — and creates darkness” — who appoints the sun and moon for their seasons — who gives to the sea its decree — who watches the sparrow in its fall — who tends the lily in the field — and who paints the tiniest flower that blossoms in the meadow.
Is it the moral world? All events are predetermined and prearranged by Him! “I make peace — and create evil!” Both prosperity and adversity are His appointment. The Lord who of old prepared Jonah’s shade-plant, prepared also the worm. He gives — and He takes away. He molds every tear. He “puts them into His bottle.” He knows them all, counts them all, treasures them all. Not one of them falls unbidden — unnoted.
“The lot is cast into the lap — but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.” Over every occurrence in nature and in providence He writes, “I the Lord do all these things!” True, His thoughts are often mysterious, and His ways are past finding out. We are led at times, amid the bewildering mazes of His providential dealings, to exclaim, “O Lord, how great are Your works, and Your thoughts are very deep!” Be it ours to defer our verdict — until their full development.
We cannot envision the thoughts and intents of the architect or engineer in the first clearing of the ground for the foundation of some gigantic structure. The uninitiated eye can discover nothing but piles of unshapely rubbish — a chaos of confusion. But gradually, as week by week passes — we see his thoughts molding themselves into visible and substantial shapes of order and beauty; and when the edifice at last stands before us complete, we discern that all which was mystery and confusion at first — was a necessary part and portion of the undertaking.
So is it, at present, regarding the mysterious dealings of God. Often, in vain, do we try to comprehend the purposes of the Almighty Architect, amid the dust and debris of the earthly foundations. Let us wait patiently, until we gaze on the finished structure of eternity.
Oh, blessed assurance — ‘precious thought’ of God — that the loom of our life is in the hands of the Great Designer — that it is He who is interweaving the threads of our existence: the light — and the dark, the acknowledged good — and the apparent evil. The chain of what is erroneously called “destiny,” is in His keeping. He knows its every connecting link — He has forged each one on His own anvil! Man’s purposes have failed, and are ever liable to fail — his brightest anticipations may be thwarted; his best-laid schemes may be frustrated.
Life is often a retrospect of crushed hopes — the bright rainbow-hues of morning, passing in its afternoon into damp mist and drizzling rain. “Many are the thoughts in a man’s heart,” (knowing no fulfillment nor fruition) “but the counsel of the Lord — that shall stand.” “From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can oppose what I do. No one can reverse My actions!” “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns!” Revelation 19:6 MacDuff
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Love and the Law
Acts 15: 5: But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses…7: Peter rose up, and said unto them,…10: Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
This certain sect of the Pharisees not only wanted Christ preached but also the Law of Moses. Today, the vast majority of messages are centered on how man should live, how he ought to treat his fellow man, what he should be abstaining from and what he should commit himself to. When Peter opposed this error he called it “tempting God.” Why?
Such messages tempt God because they deny that Christ and him crucified is sufficient to create obedience in God’s people. Preaching the law to make believers obedient tempts God because it denies that the continual preaching of the person of Christ the Lord in whom sinners were chosen, redeemed, regenerated, preserved and shall be conformed unto is enough to make them obedient. It tempts God because it denies that true worship is in the heart and not in the flesh, in the spirit and not in the dead letter.
Commanding men to reform their lives tempts God because it is a denial that Christ’s circumcision of the heart is not sufficient to create a new inner man who loves God his Savior and the brethren. It is a denial that Christ’s blood alone purges the conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Carnal worship tempts God by calling God a liar who says that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed the believer from Moses’ law of sin and death. Preaching series-after-series on abstaining from sexual immorality, or giving, or any other form of morality, is directly tempting God because it puts confidence in the flesh, points sinners to the flesh, worships the flesh and exalts not God, but self.
True believers are obedient to the only ruler of their life, the LORD Jesus Christ. Therefore believers desire to hear Christ speak and to follow his commands. God’s commandment is fulfilled when love for Christ is implanted in the newly created pure heart, resulting in faith unfeigned. Unfeigned faith needs not disguise itself with a show of moral reform for it is true faith which worships God in Spirit, rejoices in Christ Jesus and puts no confidence in the flesh. I Ti. 1: 5: Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: 6: From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; 7: Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.-Clay Curtis.
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“I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”—Rev. 22:13
Exceeding grandeur marks this designation. The crown fits not a mortal head. The jewel sparkles not on human breast. Infinity is its scope. It stretches from everlasting to everlasting. It cannot belong to less than Deity. The ground is evidently hallowed. Let each step now be taken with reverential awe.
At once the echo of Isaiah’s voice is heard. When the seraphic seer would sing Jehovah’s glory, he sounds this high note, “Who has wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am He.” (Isa. 41:4) No fitter words could proclaim Jehovah the eternal God. We listen, and again like terms describe Jehovah’s majesty. “Thus says the Lord the King of Israel, and his Redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and besides Me there is no God.” (Isa. 44:6) Again the prophet strikes his harp, and again Jehovah is the subject. But with all language at his command, with choice of imagery as his handmaid, gifted with all the charms of eloquence, he can employ no terms more suitable or more significant. The same sound still reverberates. “Listen to Me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am He; I am the first, I also am the last.” (Isa. 48:12) Such then is Jehovah’s chosen designation.
Before the Revelation closes, Jesus claims this title as His prerogative. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” The truth then shines forth, “fair as the moon, clear as the sun, terrible as an army with banners.” Jesus is Jehovah. He who is the truth claims Jehovah’s glories, takes Jehovah’s name, ascends Jehovah’s throne, wields Jehovah’s scepter, assumes Jehovah’s crown, demands the homage which is Jehovah’s due. Thus adoration is due to Him as the Creator and Preserver, by whom, and through whom, and to whom are all things. He stands before us as “I am that I am.” He manifests Himself in all the incomprehensible glory of self-existent and eternal Being.
Jesus is the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” He is the foundation, He is the top-stone. The main parts of it are exclusively His work. He is the Alpha, the beginning, and the first before the foundation of the world. In the counsels of the everlasting Covenant, He presented Himself to be the substitute of His people, to receive all their sins, as truly His own acts, in human form, to make atonement for them, to present satisfaction to every outraged attribute of God, to bear all wrath, to endure the law’s total curse, to pay every debt to justice, to meet truth’s every demand, to render all obedience to the requirements of perfect love, to invest with this robe all the family of faith. To execute this work He came, He lived, He died. He challenged all heaven to bear witness, “It is finished.”
He too shall be the Omega, the end, the last. The day shall come when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; and every foe to the eternal reign shall be forever vanquished, and God shall be all in all; and the last stone of salvation’s pyramid shall be brought forth with shouts, “Grace to it, grace to it.”
In contemplation of this glorious work, faith loudly sings, You are worthy O Jesus, to receive blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and might, for You are “the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” of redemption. Henry Law 1877 (extract from Alpha and Omega)