The song of the redeemed

The theme of redemption is one that angels desire to look into; it will
be the science and the song of the redeemed throughout the ceaseless
ages of eternity.  Is it not worthy of careful thought and study now?

        -- Signs of the Times, April 18, 1906

Can you imagine how a man can continue to truly love a woman who is mean to him?

Can you imagine how a man can continue to truly love a woman who is mean to him? Such a love may be rare, but it is the kind of a love that “suffers long,” that “bears all things, ... endures all things,” a love that “never fails” (1 Cor. 13:4-8). Don’t be surprised. That word translated as “love” is agape, which is not only the spiritual love of Christ for us--it is also conjugal love, the love of a man for a woman (see Eph. 5:25 where we read the same word in “husbands, love your wives”). That is a love beyond the “chemistry” that is mere sexual passion in a brief infatuation. It’s the kind of love similar to that of Abraham Lincoln when he gave Mary Todd a ring inscribed, “Love is eternal.”

Can you imagine the conjugal love that Jesus has for a church that He says is His “wife”? It’s a love that is more than mere pity or compassion or forgiveness; the love of a husband for a “wife” who has mistreated him when he still loves her is the kind of love that “controls” him--and that’s the love Christ has for His Bride-to-be, His church (Eph. 5:25; Rev. 19:7, 8). He does not stand toward her as a Judge, but as a Lover. True, His church is feeble, defective, and unfaithful; but He still cannot turn from her to another “woman,” mysterious as that love may be for us to understand. He simply loves “one.”

The love that is agape does not depend on the goodness or value of its object, but it creates value in its object. A heart response to that love will motivate His church to “make herself ready” for “the marriage of the Lamb.”

Are you perplexed and confused about how the world is going?

Are you perplexed and confused about how the world is going? What our future holds? What book to read that will make you understand Revelation? Or Daniel? Start looking for someone's book to explain it all and you'll probably end up in confusion unlimited (that's what Revelation's "Babylon" is). Here's some common sense guidance:

(1) Do precisely what Jesus said to do: read Daniel for yourself. "Whoso readeth, let him understand" (Matt. 24:15). The message is clear: The book is UN-sealed today (Dan. 12:3, 4, 10). God wants you to understand! This is not to say reject all help any book can give you (several old books have given me great help); but the promise is firm that "whoso reads let the Holy Spirit (who is willing) teach him to understand." "Take heed that no man deceive you," says Jesus (Matt. 24:4).

(2) Do precisely what the Holy Spirit invites you to do in Revelation 1:1-3. "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep [cherish] those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." Simple enough, right?

Mix some good self-humbling common sense with your reading. Paul cautions us, "I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man [or woman, anthropos] that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith" (Rom. 12:3). Resist the temptation to think that you are a genius; read in order to find the "bread of life" that will nourish your own famishing soul (John 6:35, 48-63). Don't wander away from the cross of Jesus into vain political or theological speculations.

(3) Peter plants our feet on solid ground: "No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation" (2 Peter 1:20, 21). Respect the accumulated wisdom of consecrated Protestant Bible students of past centuries; the Holy Spirit has not been asleep. He has guided the thinking of those who understood Daniel and Revelation in the time-honored historicist understandings. When Jesus said "let [the reader] understand" He obviously meant: don't resist the Holy Spirit's teaching. He wants to teach you--more than you may want to learn! What you yearn to see is Jesus in history.

there shall be showers of blessing."-Ezekiel 34:26

"I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing."-Ezekiel 34:26

Here is sovereign mercy-"I will give them the shower in its season." Is it not sovereign, divine mercy?-for who can say, "I will give them showers," except God? There is only one voice which can speak to the clouds, and bid them beget the rain. Who sendeth down the rain upon the earth? Who scattereth the showers upon the green herb? Do not I, the Lord? So grace is the gift of God, and is not to be created by man. It is also needed grace. What would the ground do without showers? You may break the clods, you may sow your seeds, but what can you do without the rain? As absolutely needful is the divine blessing. In vain you labour, until God the plenteous shower bestows, and sends salvation down. Then, it is plenteous grace. "I will send them showers." It does not say, "I will send them drops," but "showers." So it is with grace. If God gives a blessing, He usually gives it in such a measure that there is not room enough to receive it. Plenteous grace! Ah! we want plenteous gra!

ce to keep us humble, to make us prayerful, to make us holy; plenteous grace to make us zealous, to preserve us through this life, and at last to land us in heaven. We cannot do without saturating showers of grace. Again, it is seasonable grace. "I will cause the shower to come down in his season." What is thy season this morning? Is it the season of drought? Then that is the season for showers. Is it a season of great heaviness and black clouds? Then that is the season for showers. "As thy days so shall thy strength be." And here is a varied blessing. "I will give thee showers of blessing." The word is in the plural. All kinds of blessings God will send. All God's blessings go together, like links in a golden chain. If He gives converting grace, He will also give comforting grace. He will send "showers of blessing." Look up to-day, O parched plant, and open thy leaves and flowers for a heavenly watering.

He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great. (Psalm 115:13)

He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great. (Psalm 115:13)

This is a word of cheer to those who are of humble station and mean estate. Our God has a very gracious consideration for those of small property, small talent, small influence, small weight. God careth for the small things in creation and even regards sparrows in their lighting upon the ground. Nothing is small to God, for He makes use of insignificant agents for the accomplishment of His purposes. Let the least among men seek of God a blessing upon his littleness, and he shall find his contracted sphere to be a happy one.

Among those who fear the Lord there are little and great. Some are babes, and others are giants. But these are all blessed. Little faith is blessed faith. Trembling hope is blessed hope. Every grace of the Holy Spirit, even though it be only in the bud, bears a blessing within it. Moreover, the Lord Jesus bought both the small and the great with the same precious blood, and He has engaged to preserve the lambs as well as the full-grown sheep. No mother overlooks her child because it is little; nay, the smaller it is, the more tenderly does she nurse it. If there be any preference with the Lord, He does not arrange them as "great and small" but as "small and great."

Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. (Nahum 1:12)

Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. (Nahum 1:12)

There is a limit to affliction. God sends it, and God removes it. Do you sigh and say, "When will the end be?" Remember that our griefs will surely and finally end when this poor earthly life is over, Let us quietly wait and patiently endure the will of the Lord till He cometh.

Meanwhile, our Father in heaven takes away the rod when His design in using it is fully served. When He has whipped away our folly, there will be no more strokes. Or, if the affliction is sent for testing us, that our graces may glorify God, it will end when the Lord has made us bear witness to His praise. We would not wish the affliction to depart till God has gotten out of us all the honor which we can possibly yield Him.

There may today be "a great calm." Who knows how soon those raging billows will give place to a sea of glass, and the sea birds sit on the gentle waves? After long tribulation the Rail is hung up, and the wheat rests in the garner. We may, before many hours are past, be just as happy as now we are sorrowful. It is not hard for the Lord to turn night into day. He that sends the clouds can as easily clear the skies. Let us be of good cheer. It is better on before. Let us sing hallelujah by anticipation.

The more closely the Scriptures are studied, the more clearly shall we understand the true character of our thoughts and actions.

The more closely the Scriptures are studied, the more clearly shall we
understand the true character of our thoughts and actions.  But
thousands put the Bible on one side for the same reason that Ahab hated
Micaiah.  Because it prophesies evil against the sinner, they claim that
they find objections and contradictions in God's word.  While professing
to be open to conviction, they allow prejudice to hold sway, and refuse
to see the truth which that word reveals.

        -- Youth's Instructor, June 10, 1897

He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. (Psalm 145:19)

He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. (Psalm 145:19)

His own Spirit has wrought this desire in us, and therefore He will answer it. It is His own life within which prompts the cry, and therefore He will hear it. Those who fear Him are men under the holiest influence, and, therefore, their desire is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Like Daniel, they are men of desires, and the Lord will cause them to realize their aspirations.

Holy desires are grace in the blade, and the heavenly Husbandman will cultivate them till they come to the full corn in the ear. God-fearing men desire to be holy, to be useful, to be a blessing to others, and so to honor their Lord. They desire supplies for their need, help under burdens, guidance in perplexity, deliverance in distress; and sometimes this desire is so strong and their case so pressing that they cry out in agony like little children in pain, and then the Lord works most comprehensively and does all that is needful according to this Word--"and will save them."

Yes, if we fear God, we have nothing else to fear; if we cry to the Lord, our salvation is certain.

Let the reader lay this text on his tongue and keep it in his mouth all the day, and it will be to him as "a wafer made with honey."

The death of Christ justified the claims of the law.

Christ consented to die in the sinner's stead, that man, by a life of
obedience, might escape the penalty of the Law of God. His death did
not make the Law of God of none effect; it did not slay the law, lessen
its claims, or detract from its sacred dignity. The death of Christ
proclaimed the justice of his Father's law in punishing the
transgressor, in that he consented to suffer the penalty of the law
transgressed himself, in order to save fallen man from its curse. The
death of God's beloved Son on the cross shows the immutability of the
Law of God. His death magnifies the Law and makes it honorable, and
gives evidence to man of its changeless character. From his own divine
lips are heard the words, "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law
or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." The death of
Christ justified the claims of the law.

But the doctrine is now largely taught that the Gospel of Christ has
made the Law of God of no effect; that by "believing" we are released
from the necessity of being doers of the word. But this is the doctrine
of the Nicolaitans, which Christ so unsparingly condemned. To the
church of Ephesus he says: "I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy
patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil; and thou hast
tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them
liars; and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast
labored, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against
thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from
whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I
will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his
place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the
deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate."

Those who are teaching this doctrine today have much to say in regard to
faith and the righteousness of Christ; but they pervert the truth, and
make it serve the cause of error. They declare that we have only to
believe on Jesus Christ, and that faith is all-sufficient; that the
righteousness of Christ is to be the sinner's credentials; that this
imputed righteousness fulfils the law for us, and that we are under no
obligation to obey the law of God. This class claim that Christ came to
save sinners, and that he has saved them. "I am saved," they will
repeat over and over again. But are they saved while transgressing the
law of Jehovah? -- No; for the garments of Christ's righteousness are
not a cloak for iniquity. Such teaching is a gross deception, and
Christ becomes to these persons a stumbling-block as he did to the Jews,
-- to the Jews because they would not receive him as their personal
Saviour; to these professed believers in Christ, because they separate
Christ and the Law, and regard faith as a substitute for obedience.
They separate the Father and the Son, the Saviour of the world.
Virtually they teach, both by precept and example, that Christ, by his
death, saves men in their transgressions.

-- Signs of the Times, February 25, 1897

He that trusteth the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. (Psalm 32:10)

He that trusteth  the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. (Psalm 32:10)

O fair reward of trust! My Lord, grant it me to the full! The truster above all men feels himself to be a sinner; and lo, mercy is prepared for him: he knows himself to have no deservings, but mercy comes in and keeps house for him on a liberal scale. O Lord, give me this mercy, even as I trust in Thee!

Observe, my soul, what a bodyguard thou hast! As a prince is compassed about with soldiery, so art thou compassed about with mercy. Before and behind, and on all sides, ride these mounted guards of grace. We dwell in the center of the system of mercy, for we dwell in Christ Jesus.

O my soul, what an atmosphere dost thou breathe! As the air surrounds thee, even so does the mercy of thy Lord. To the wicked there are many sorrows, but to thee there are so many mercies that thy sorrows are not worth mentioning. David says, "Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart." In obedience to this precept my heart shall triumph in God, and I will tell out my gladness. As Thou hast compassed me with mercy, I will also compass Thine altars, O my God, with songs of thanksgiving!

he Lord and giver of peace delights to manifest His grace to those who seek peace and pursue it.

And the Lord said unto Abraham, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward, for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. (Genesis 13:14-15)

A special blessing for a memorable occasion. Abram had settled a family dispute. He had said, "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between thee and me, for we be brethren"; and hence he received the blessing which belongs to peacemakers. The Lord and giver of peace delights to manifest His grace to those who seek peace and pursue it. If we desire closer communion with God, we must keep closer to the ways of peace.

Abram had behaved very generously to his kinsman, giving him his choice of the land. If we deny ourselves for peace's sake, the Lord will more than make it up to us. As far as the patriarch can see, he can claim, and we may do the like by faith. Abram had to wait for the actual possession, but the Lord entailed the land upon him and his posterity. Boundless blessings belong to us by covenant gift. All things are ours. When we please the Lord, He makes us to look everywhere and see all things our own, whether things present or things to come, all are ours, and we are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

Could He too have been lonely?

When you study your blessed way through the Gospel of John, pause a moment longer with the impotent man of Bethesda, healed after 38 years of despair. He was lying beside what we today would call a swimming pool where sick people would gather, because it was the common superstition that people could be healed one by one if each could jump in the water first when it gurgled mysteriously. An angel supposedly came at these intervals, to heal the lucky person who shoved and elbowed his way first into the pool. Crazy, but it was this poor man’s only hope. (God would not have put the story in the Bible unless it is good for us to think about this man and put ourselves in his place for a bit.)

He had seen people healed, or at least had heard by gossip that some were. When your only hope is as slender as a spider’s web, you hang on. We note that he is friendless. “I have no one to help me!” he wails (John 5:7). Happy, expectant people mill all around him daily, nobody bothers to notice him, everybody too busy to stop and talk with him. He can’t make any friends. On top of his paralysis, he has loneliness to carry. If he had a wife or children or relatives, they have given up on him and live their lives as though he is already buried.

Then the Friend of lonely people stops by to chat. Apparently the paralyzed man is the only one there ready to listen to what He might say. (Could He too have been lonely? The One “despised and rejected of men” is often lonely in big crowds of people.) The two struck up a conversation, and Jesus did what He wants us to do--He put Himself in the man’s place. He felt for him, just wanted to relieve his distress, to bless him. We call it compassion.

The man didn’t even know how to ask to be healed; but he did respond to the Stranger’s question with a lament about loneliness. “Sir, I have no friend ...” He didn’t curse his lot in life, or blame others. He responded to Jesus with simple, courteous conversation. Probably some tears in his eyes. That was all he could do: be courteous to this kind Friend. (If you’re going to die in the next five minutes, at least you can be courteous and respectful to people!)

It was his salvation! He put himself in the arms of his new-found Friend and Savior.

Come now, you do the same.

For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. (Acts 22:15)

For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. (Acts 22:15)

Paul was chosen to see and hear the Lord speaking to him out of heaven. This divine election was a high privilege for himself; but it was not intended to end with him; it was meant to have an influence upon others, yea, upon all men. It is to Paul that Europe owes the gospel at this hour.

It is ours in our measure to be witnesses of that which the Lord has revealed to us, and it is at our peril that we hide the precious revelation. First, we must see and hear, or we shall have nothing to tell; but when we have done so, we must be eager to bear our testimony. It must be personal: "Thou shalt be." It must be for Christ: "Thou shalt be his witness." It must be constant and all absorbing; we are to be this above all other things and to the exclusion of many other matters. Our witness must not be to a select few who will cheerfully receive us but to "all men"--to all whom we can reach, young or old, rich or poor, good or bad. We must never be silent like those who are possessed by a dumb spirit; for the text before us is a command, and a promise, and we must not miss it--"Thou shalt be his witness." "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord."

Yes, the Lord cares about the pain that the denial of love can bring. The loss due to death is grievous,

Sometimes divorce occurs in our sin-cursed world, and somebody is hurt deeply. When one is disappointed thus in love, the wound is profound and lasting--sometimes for an entire life.

Does Jesus care? Does the Holy Spirit, who is infinite, notice the loss? He sees when a little bird falls to the forest floor and He cares (Matt. 10:29, 30). Yes, the Lord cares about the pain that the denial of love can bring. The loss due to death is grievous, but the pain that comes when a loved one turns on you in bitterness and hatred is even more painful to endure. But there is no earthly pain that the "much more abounding grace" of the Lord Jesus (see Rom. 5:20) does not relieve with everlasting comfort.

The Lord has not promised us that we will never have such pain to endure, but He has promised that He will substitute for it the goodness of His personal presence, in deep soul comfort. And no earthly fellowship is so soul enriching; for the One who is both your Creator and your Redeemer knows every single and intensely personal aspect of your individual soul.

That is what Psalm 139 has been telling us all along: "Thou understandest my thought afar off ... and art acquainted with all my ways. .. If I take the wings of the morning, ... even there shall Thy hand lead me. ... Even the night shall be light about me."

Divine love like that (agape) you can't run away from!

"How precious also are [His] thoughts unto [all of us], O God! .. When I awake, I am still with Thee. ... Search me, O God, ... try me, .. and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Amen and amen!

If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, blessed shalt thou be in the city. (Deuteronomy 28:2-3)

If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, blessed shalt thou be in the city. (Deuteronomy 28:2-3)

The city is full of care, and he who has to go there from day to day finds it to be a place of great wear and tear. It is full of noise, and stir, and bustle, and sore travail; many are its temptations, losses, and worries. But to go there with the divine blessing takes off the edge of its difficulty; to remain there with that blessing is to find pleasure in its duties and strength equal to its demands.

A blessing in the city may not make us great, but it will keep us good; it may not make us rich, but it will preserve us honest. Whether we are porters, or clerks, or managers, or merchants, or magistrates, the city will afford us opportunities for usefulness. It is good fishing where there are shoals of fish, and it is hopeful to work for our Lord amid the thronging crowds. We might prefer the quiet of a country life; but if called to town, we may certainly prefer it because there is room for our energies.

Today let us expect good things because of this promise, and let our care be to have an open ear to the voice of the Lord and a ready hand to execute His bidding. Obedience brings the blessing. "In keeping his commandments there is great reward."

When there is discussion about disunity in the church, many say that only "Christian love" can heal those divisions.

When there is discussion about disunity in the church, many say that only "Christian love" can heal those divisions. But what is "Christian love"? Just being nice? Many Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims are "nice." What is uniquely "Christian" about "love"?

The Holy Spirit has injected into the New Testament word for "love" a meaning that non-Christian ideas of love do not, cannot, realize. The reason is that the ordinary idea of "love" presupposes a doctrine held in common by Catholics, Lutherans, Buddhists, Muslims, and Hindus--that is, the natural immortality of the human soul. The ultimate source of that doctrine is paganism. Well, it actually came from the Garden of Eden when "the serpent" told our first parent Eve the lie, "Ye shall not surely die" (Gen. 3:4).

This doctrine makes it impossible to "comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge" (Eph. 3:17-19). It's different than any other idea of love in this world; it is "agape," a love that Jesus was willing to sacrifice eternal life so that we might have eternal life.

His cross was more than physical pain followed by a weekend "vacation." He died the death in which there is no hope, no future, a surrender to eternal darkness of being "forsaken" by God, of enduring what Paul calls "the curse" of God, a "goodbye" forever. It was the death of the cumulative, total guilt of all the world's sins. It was on His part the conscious choice to experience hell itself. "For every man," He "tasted death," the real thing, the anguish the lost will feel at last when they stand before the judgment bar of God.

As our "last Adam," the second Adam, Christ died the second death of "every man" (see Heb. 2:9; Rev. 2:11; 20:14). Isaiah says He "poured out His soul unto death" (53:12). A "love which passeth knowledge"? Yes! But the pagan doctrine of natural immortality makes it impossible for us even to begin to appreciate its dimensions. The idea of agape is being recovered; the Good News is that it will bring true unity within the church.

What do I want today?

He that spared not his nun Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

I f this is not a promise in form, it is in fact. Indeed, it is more than one promise, it is a conglomerate of promises. It is a mass of rubies, and emeralds, and diamonds, with a nugget of gold for their setting. It is a question which can never be answered so as to cause us any anxiety of heart. What can the Lord deny us after giving us Jesus? If we need all things in heaven and earth, He will grant them to us: for if there had been a limit anywhere, He would have kept back His own Son.

What do I want today? I have only to ask for it. I may seek earnestly, but not as if I had to use pressure and extort an unwilling gift from the Lord's hand; for He will give freely. Of His own He gave us His own Son. Certainly no one would have proposed such a gift to Him. No one would have ventured to ask for it. It would have been too presumptuous. He freely gave His Only-begotten, and, O my soul, canst thou not trust thy heavenly Father to give thee anything, to give thee everything? Thy poor prayer would have no force with Omnipotence if force were needed; but His love, like a spring, rises of itself and overflows for the supply of all thy needs.

My God will hear me. (Micah 7:7)

My God will hear me. (Micah 7:7)

Friends may be unfaithful, but the Lord will not turn away from the gracious soul; on the contrary, He will hear all its desires. The prophet says, "Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. A man's enemies are the men of his own house." This is a wretched state of affairs; but even in such a case the Best Friend remains true, and we may tell Him all our grief.

Our wisdom is to look unto the Lord and not to quarrel with men or women. If our loving appeals are disregarded by our relatives, let us wait upon the God of our salvation, for He will hear us. He will hear us all the more because of the unkindness and oppression of others, and we shall soon have reason to cry, "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy!"

Because God is the living God, He can hear; because He is a loving God, He will hear; because He is our covenant God, He has bound Himself to hear us. If we can each one speak of Him as "My God," we may with absolute certainty say, "My God will hear me." Come, then, O bleeding heart, and let thy sorrows tell themselves out to the Lord thy God! I will bow the knee in secret and inwardly whisper, "My God will hear me."