Apr 13
6
Christ in You, the Hope of Glory (Colossians 1:27).
When men are sick, they are glad to see the doctor and happy to follow his advice, but when they have recovered from the illness they don’t want him to stay. It is a fact we have come to know and see played out in our own experience as well as in the religion of our day. Someone becomes very ill, or meets with a calamity, or suffers a great loss and they come to church looking for answers and comfort. And so, a quick remedy is prescribed, and they do what they’re told, and when the pain and sorrow go away, so does the “doctor” and “his remedy.”
It is not so with Christ. He is the Great Physician and He is himself the remedy. He is not the expensive errand boy that religion describes bringing this and that to us from God, but is Himself the Gift of God. Radiating from His person is life, peace, comfort, joy, love, kindness, fellowship, and mercy. Salvation is in Him, life is in Him, and therefore Christ in you is the hope of Glory. Take away Christ and the leprosy is still there. Take away Christ and we return to the beggar’s blanket. Take away Christ and we return to our paralysis by the pool waiting for a hand to lift us into the waters.
To have Christ is to have a well of water springing up, bread continually coming down from God out of heaven, and wisdom that leaves the foolish physicians scratching their heads. “Of Him (God) are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.” (1 Cor. 1:30) The gospel is the glorious name of our God manifested in His Son who saves sinners by the merits and means of Himself. “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Darvin Pruit.
PREVAILING INTERCESSION MacDuff.
“This is the resting place, let the weary rest; and this is the place of repose”—
“We have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens.” Hebrews 4:14
We never can recline too often or too devoutly under this Palm-shade of most divine comfort. The great Apostle felt the special delight of reposing under its fronds. He speaks of other favorite trees in the sacred grove under which he loved to repose; but he would seem to reserve this for the last in the enumeration; singling it out with peculiar emphasis amid its peers—”Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Rom. 8:34). Elevating and delightful, truly, is the contemplation of Jesus seated “at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man” (Heb. 8:2); pleading the merits of His obedience and death on behalf of His Church and people!
The Temple-service of old was the shadow of these sublime heavenly things. The Jewish High Priest, having offered on the great day of Atonement the sacrificial offering on the altar of burned-offering, attired himself in a dress of pure white linen—linen robes, and linen girdle, and linen mitre, white from head to foot. Thus arrayed, he carried the blood in one hand, and the censer of live coals in the other, into the Most Holy place. Beating small some fragrant incense, he mixed it with the burning coals. A grateful cloud arose; the whole Temple-court was fragrant with the perfume, and enveloped in smoke.
Significant type, surely, of Him who has entered, through the rent veil of His own crucified body, into the Holiest of all; carrying with Him the memorials of His precious blood-shedding and the fragrant incense of His adorable merits! As the Jewish High Priest sprinkled the blood on the pavement before the mercy-seat, as well as on the mercy-seat; so, our Divine Intercessor sprinkled His blood first on the floor of earth where He shed it, and now He sprinkles it on the throne of heaven. There, with the true incense and fire, He pleads. Attired in the white linen vesture of His perfect obedience and righteousness, He confesses His people’s sins—He stands between the congregation in the outer court of earth and the Divine Shekinah glory. He waves the fragrant censer—and the whole heavenly house is filled with the odor of the incense. Him “the Father always hears” (John 11:42). They are His own remarkable words, “In that day you will no longer ask Me anything. I tell you the truth, My Father will give you whatever you ask in My Name” (John 16:23). How prevailing that ‘Name’ and that plea must be, when we look to the host of petitioners who are warranted to use it!
It is a beautiful part of the vision of the Covenant-angel in Revelation, with “the censer full of much incense” in His hand, that they are “the prayers of ALL saints,” which, perfumed with His spotless merits, ascend before God’s throne and are accepted! (Rev. 8:3.) It is not merely the pleadings of patriarchs and prophets, apostles and martyrs—men strong in faith giving glory to God; but the groan, the glance, the tear, the tremulous aspiration of smitten penitents, the very lisping of infant tongues; the unlettered morning and evening petitions of the cottage home, where the earthen floor is knelt upon—where the only altar is the altar of the lowly heart, and the sacrifice that of a broken and contrite spirit.
It may be affirmed of the Father, regarding one and all of these pleas of the Divine Intercessor, in the prophetic words of the Psalmist—”You have given Him His heart’s desire, and have not withheld the request of His lips” (Ps. 21:2). Yes, He has a loving regard for each separate child of His redeemed family; He carries the case of each before God. The one hundred and forty-four thousand harpers on the sea of glass—the representatives of the Church of the glorified—do not exclude His tender concern in those who are still suppliants in the outer courts. He has the name of each separate believer imperishably engraved on His heart. He, the Gracious Shepherd, seated on the Everlasting Hills, and looking down on the earthly pastures, “calls His own sheep by name and leads them out.” And that personal intercession will never cease, from the hour when the believer is first brought a lowly suppliant to the foot of the cross, until the final petition (unheard by weeping relatives in the death-chamber on earth) ascends from the lips of the Great Intercessor in heaven—”Father, I want those You have given Me, to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory.”
The Jewish High Priest acted as the nation’s Intercessor for one day only—once every year—and for only a part of that one day. But, day and night is our Intercessor pleading. He never ceases His intercessions; His love never cools; His ardor never decays! The true Moses on the Heavenly Rephidim, His hands never grow heavy; for of Him it is sublimely said, “He faints not, neither is weary.”
Even on earth, what a joy and comfort it is, in seasons of difficulty, to turn to a tried and loving friend, in whose tenderness and affection we can place unhesitating reliance! What an ease to unbosom in a brother’s ear the difficulty that is harassing us, and solicit his wise and faithful counsel! Jesus is this blessed resort—”the Wonderful Counselor” (Isa. 9:6 marg.).
“O gracious Lord, ascended up on high!
You Great High Priest within the Temple veil;
To all that call upon You ever nigh,
‘Prince who has power with God, and must prevail.’
“Let down Your golden censer from above;
And let our waiting souls the blessings share,
Which You have promised to all those, who love
To gather round the hallowed gates of prayer!”
The Perfect Priest With The Perfect Sacrifice
Tom Harding
In Leviticus 21 and 22 the Lord instructed Moses and Aaron with the most vital and fundamental information on how to approach and worship Him. The high priest could not have any defect, deformity or blemish (Lev. 21:16-21). Likewise, the sacrifice could not have any blemish at all (Lev.22: 17-24). If the priest had no defect, yet brought a sacrifice with blemishes it would not be accepted, for it “must be perfect to be accepted” (Lev. 22:21). Likewise, if the sacrifice had no blemish, but the priest that offered it had any blemish, the sacrifice would not be accepted at all, for it “must be perfect to be accepted.”
All of this declares the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the perfect and great High Priest without blemish, spot, defect, deformity or sin (Heb. 4:14-15; Heb. 7:26; 8:1). Not only is that true, but He is also the perfect sacrifice. He is the Lamb without blemish or spot (John 1:29; 1Peter.1: 18-20). It is only through the Lord Jesus Christ and His glorious sacrifice, that we can be justified from all sin (Acts 13:38-39; Heb. 9:12). In the Lord Jesus Christ every believer is a priest with no blemish, no sin (Rev. 1:5-6; 5:9-10). Likewise, in Christ’s precious blood atonement we can approach the throne of grace with boldness (Heb. 4:16), because we have a perfect sacrifice that fully, eternally satisfies the holy justice of God (Rom. 3:24-26; Col. 1:19-22; Jude 1:24-25). Through Christ, we meet God’s standard, “It must be perfect to be accepted,” all of this, “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved” (Eph. 1:6).
THE NAME OF GOD
“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” Proverbs 18:10
Strong indeed! “We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts.” Every ATTRIBUTE of Godhead is such a tower. Every perfection such a rampart- all combined
to insure the believer’s everlasting security. Reader, “Go, inspect the city of Jerusalem. Walk around and count the many towers. Take note of the fortified walls, and tour all the citadels, that you may describe them to future generations. For that is what God is like. He is our God forever and ever, and he will be our guide until we die.” Psalm 48:12-14.
Mark the strong Tower of OMNIPOTENCE. It proclaims that Almightiness is on your side- that there is One with you and for you, boundless in His resources, greater far than all that can be against you!
Mark the strong Tower of UNCHANGEABLENESS. All earthly fabrics are tottering and crumbling around you. The dearest of all your earthly refuges has written on it the doom of the dust. But, sheltered here, you can gaze unawed on all the fitful changes of life, and exult in an unchanging God!
Mark the strong Tower of WISDOM. When dealings are dark, and chastisements mysterious, do you know what it is to retire within this fortress, and to be reminded that all, all that befalls you, is the planning of unerring rectitude and faithfulness?- to see inscribed on the chamber-walls, “The only Wise God!”
Mark the strong Tower of LOVE. When the hurricane has been fierce, your heart breaking with new trials, the past dark, the future a dreary waste, no lull in the storm, no light in the clouds– oh! is it no comfort to you to retire into this most hallowed of bulwarks, and read the living motto emblazoned on its every turret- “God is love!” My soul! are you safe in this impregnable fortress? Have you entered within the gate? Remember, it is not to be “near” the city, but “in” it. Not to know about Christ, but to “win Him, and be found in Him.” One footstep outside the walls, and the Avenger of blood can cut you down! “Turn, then, to the stronghold!” as a “prisoner of hope!”
Once, these were colossal walls to ‘exclude’. Now, they are unassailable barriers to ‘protect’- a citadel where His saints are “kept” by the power of God. Every portal is open; and the God of Mercy issues the gracious proclamation- “Come, my people, enter into your chambers!” How safe! how happy here! “If there be tossing and doubting, it is the heaving of a ship at anchor- not the dashing on the rocks.” (Evans)
IN GOD! “There is, in this,” says Jonathan Edwards, speaking of the same blessed truth, “secured to me, as it were, a calm, sweet aspect, or appearance, of glory in almost everything.” We can hear, amid the surges of life, a voice high above the storm, the Name of the Lord- “It is I!”
“It is I,” “were as much as an hundred names. It is I! I, your Lord and Master. I, the Commander of winds and waters. I, the Sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth. I, the God of Spirits. Let Heaven be but as one Scroll, and let it be written all over with titles- they cannot express more than- It is I! Oh, sweet and seasonable word of a gracious Savior!- able to calm all tempests- able to revive all hearts- say but so to my soul, and I am safe!” “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Psalm 4:8