Their soul shall be as a watered garden. (Jeremiah 31:12)

Their soul shall be as a watered garden. (Jeremiah 31:12)

Oh, to have one's soul under heavenly cultivation; no longer a wilderness but a garden of the Lord! Enclosed from the waste, walled around by grace, planted by instruction, visited by love, weeded by heavenly discipline, and guarded by divine power, one's favored soul is prepared to yield fruit unto the Lord.

But a garden may become parched for want of water, and then all its herbs decline and are ready to die. O my soul, how soon would this be the case were the Lord to leave thee! In the East, a garden without water soon ceases to be a garden at all: nothing can come to perfection, grow, or even live. When irrigation is kept up, the result is charming. Oh, to have one's soul watered by the Holy Spirit uniformly--every part of the garden having its own stream; plentifully--a sufficient refreshment coming to every tree and herb, however thirsty by nature it may be; continually--each hour bringing not only its heat, but its refreshment; wisely--each plant receiving just what it needs. In a garden you can see by the verdure where the water flows, and you can soon perceive when the Spirit of God comes.

O Lord, water me this day and cause me to yield Thee a full reward for Jesus' sake. Amen.

As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. (Psalm 55:16)

As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. (Psalm 55:16)

Yes, I must and will pray. What else can I do! What better can I do? Betrayed, forsaken, grieved, baffled, O my Lord, I will call upon Thee. My Ziklag is in ashes, and men speak of stoning me; but I encourage my heart in the Lord, who will bear me through this trial as He has borne me through so many others. Jehovah shall save me; I am sure He will, and I declare my faith.

The Lord and no one else shall save me. I desire no other helper and would not trust in an arm of flesh even if I could. I will cry to Him evening, and morning, and noon, and I will cry to no one else, for He is all sufficient.

How He will save me I cannot guess; but He will do it, I know. He will do it in the best and surest way, and He will do it in the largest, truest, and fullest sense. Out of this trouble and all future troubles the great I AM will bring me as surely as He lives; and when death comes and all the mysteries of eternity follow thereon, still will this be true: "the Lord shall save me." This shall be my song all through this autumn day. Is it not as a ripe apple from the tree of life? I will feed upon it. How sweet it is to my taste!

I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. (Isaiah 48:10)

I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. (Isaiah 48:10)

This has long been the motto fixed before our eye upon the wall of our bedroom, and in many ways it has also been written on our heart. It is no mean thing to be chosen of God. God's choice makes chosen men choice men. Better to be the elect of God than the elect of a whole nation. So eminent is this privilege, that whatever drawback may be joined to it we very joyfully accept it, even as the Jew ate the bitter herbs for the sake of the Paschal Lamb. We choose the furnace, since God chooses us in it.

We are chosen as an afflicted people and not as a prosperous people, chosen not in the palace but in the furnace. In the furnace beauty is marred, fashion is destroyed, strength is melted, glory is consumed, and yet here eternal love reveals its secrets and declares its choice. So has it been in our case. In times of severest trial God has made to us our calling and election plain, and we have made it sure: then have we chosen the Lord to be our God, and He has shown that we are assuredly His chosen. Therefore, if today the furnace be heated seven times hotter, we will not dread it, for the glorious Son of God will walk with us amid the glowing coals.

He says: "This gospel [Good News] of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come" (Matt. 24:14).

Did Jesus have anything special to say to us about war? We dread the violence, the slaughter of civilians and of combatants. We don't want even to watch it on our TV screens. Yes, Jesus spoke of this time. Worldwide, millions of "hearts" are "failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth." There is "distress of nations, with perplexity" (Luke 21:26, 25). Rampant fear!

But listen, as we look at Christ's Good News agenda for this world: (1) He says: "This gospel [Good News] of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come" (Matt. 24:14). Watch for it!

(2) This is explained further in Revelation 14, pinpointing this same "time of the end": "I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." He is "followed" by two more angels also proclaiming the same "gospel" (vss. 6-12).

(3) Before the "end" can "come," the fairness and mercy of God must send a fourth angel "having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory." He "cries mightily with a strong voice" (18:1-4). Yes, look long and earnestly at this inspired picture of coming happier events. That "everlasting gospel" is the full-blown truth of justification by faith.

(4) But God must have cooperation from His people. Just proclaiming a "wimpish" counterfeit gospel gives Satan opportunity to wreak havoc again like in World Wars I and II--both, horrors unnecessary but for "our" unbelief. Only if we proclaim a mature "everlasting gospel" which "seals" those who believe (a first in human history!) can God's "four angels" succeed in holding back the "four winds" of war that otherwise must "blow" (see Rev. 7:1-3).

Something serious is brewing; may the Holy Spirit help us stay awake.

The "truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5)

Millions are studying about how we should witness more, how it is our duty to do so, and what we must do, possibly resulting in guilt for not doing more.

But there is a bright spot: Christ's death was complete for the whole world--for every human being. As a wise writer has said, "The atonement for a lost world was ... exceedingly abundant to reach every soul that God had created. It could not be restricted so as not to exceed the number who would accept the great Gift. ... There [is] enough and to spare."

Thank God for this truth that Christ accomplished something for every human soul. He died for the world. You can tell anyone, "Christ died for you; He paid the price for your sins; He died your second death; there is no reason under heaven why you must die the second death--He died it for you! What He accomplished is a blessed gift, it's far more than an 'offer' that depends on your goodness."

There are many in the world who will respond when the message is told them clearly and simply so they can understand. The bottleneck right now is our own failure to understand how good the Good News really is!

Jesus made one of His most profound statements when He said that if anyone truly believes in Him, he or she will become a source of the Good News. In His deepest soul will flow a well of living water. You won't be consuming precious time lamenting how little you have done; you won't be dreading the final judgment day because you haven't done more. The "truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5) will captivate your interest and your enthusiasm; it will flow out from you to others without your realizing what's happening.

"It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, l will hear" (Isaiah 65:24).

"It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, l will hear"   (Isaiah 65:24).

Quick work this! The LORD hears us before we call and often answers us in the same speedy manner. Foreseeing our needs and our prayers, He so arranges providence that before the need actually arises He has supplied it, before the trial assails us He has armed us against it. This is the promptitude of omniscience, and we have often seen it exercised. Before we dreamed of the affliction which was coming, the strong consolation which was to sustain us under it had arrived. What a prayer-answering God we have!

The second clause suggests the telephone. Though God be in heaven and we upon earth, yet He makes our word, like His own word, to travel very swiftly. When we pray aright we speak into the ear of God. Our gracious Mediator presents our petitions at once, and the great Father hears them and smiles upon them. Grand praying this! Who would not be much in prayer when he knows that he has the ear of the King of kings? This day I will pray in faith, not only believing that I shall be heard, but that I am heard; not only that I shall be answered, but that I have the answer already. Holy Spirit, help me in this!

"behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29)

In focusing our study on the humanity of the Son of God, nothing detracts in the least from His divinity. We "behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), and in so doing will "behold" Him as the One whose "name [is] Immanuel, which is translated, 'God with us'" (Matt. 1:23).

In order for us humans to "behold" Him, we must see Him as He has revealed Himself to us. That is, He is "the Word [which] became flesh and dwelt among us." It is there that we "behold His glory" (John 1:14). "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given" (Isa. 9:6). "The humanity of the Son of God is everything to us," says a thoughtful writer. And Jesus Himself tells us to look, and look, and look to Him in His humanity, for only thus can we perceive Him in His divinity.

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:14). To "believe" in Him is the same as to choose to "behold" Him. That was the only hope for the Israelites in the wilderness bitten by the poisonous serpents--to "behold" that serpent on the pole that Moses had made at the command of God, representing Christ.

Yes, our very life itself, our salvation, depends on "beholding" Him in His humanity, which veils His divinity. No one can spend too much time "beholding the Lamb of God" there. In Hebrews one we "behold" Him in His pre-incarnation divinity, as "God" (vs. 8); but the inspired author says we don't "see" Him clearly until we "see Him" "made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, ... that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone" (2:9). We must see Him in His humanity.

The chapter goes on to focus our view intensely on Him as One who "likewise took part" of the same "flesh and blood" that we have, so that "in all things He had to be made like His brethren" (vss. 14-17). Only so, as He has "suffered, being tempted, [is He] able to aid [us] who are tempted" (vs. 18). As we "behold" Him thus, are we becoming fanatical? A million times, no! Why, He is our only hope!

The climax is Revelation 18: "another angel" is to "come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth [will be] lightened with his glory" (vs. 1).

The time is coming soon when the Good News of Christ's salvation is to be proclaimed to all ethnic branches of humanity (Matt. 24:14). The climax is Revelation 18: "another angel" is to "come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth [will be] lightened with his glory" (vs. 1).

Jesus explained how this is to be, in John 12:32, 33: "And I, IF I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all [people] unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He would die." That IF is pivotal. The blessed work of "lightening the earth with glory" is the same as lifting Christ up as the crucified One. Proclaiming Him on His cross is the only way that the earth can be lightened!

The great Protestant Reformation of the 16th century came close to doing it, but it fell short, woefully so. By and large the Reformers embraced the pagan/papal doctrine of natural immortality of the human soul. The truth is not a trivial theological quirk; if one embraces the idea of natural immortality his vision of the cross is clouded with confusion, no matter how many crucifixes he looks at. He cannot comprehend the kind of death the Son of God experienced; in fact, he cannot believe that Christ truly died. The cross is robbed of its genuine reality, which is that Christ "tasted death for every man" (Heb. 2:9), that is, the second death.

And then as a natural result, the one who believes in natural immortality is prevented from "comprehending" the "breadth, and length, and depth, and height" of "the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge" (agape; Eph. 3:17-19). The false doctrine of the nature of man has vitiated the sacrifice of the Savior and prevents His being "lifted up" so as to "draw all people unto" Himself.

The Lord in His great mercy has sent to His people this most precious truth that reveals Christ uplifted on His cross in all His glory. It's not a psychological gimmick acquired by mastering techniques of "soul-winning." We cannot "evangelize" unless self is "crucified with Christ," buried "with Him" (Rom. 6:3-6). A wise person once said there will be deep humbling of hearts before God on the part of all who remain faithful and true to the end.

"The LORD God will help me" (Isaiah 50:7).

"The LORD God will help me"   (Isaiah 50:7).

                

These are in prophecy the words of Messiah in the day of His obedience unto death, when He gave His back to the smiters and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. He was confident in divine support and trusted in Jehovah.

O my soul, thy sorrows are as the small dust of the balance compared with thy LORD's! Canst thou not believe that the LORD God will help thee? Thy LORD was in a peculiar position; for as the representative of sinful men -- their substitute and sacrifice -- it was needful that the Father should leave Him and cause Him to come under desertion of soul. No such necessity is laid upon thee: thou art not bound to cry, "Why hast thou forsaken me?" Did thy Savior even in such a case still rely upon God, and canst not thou? He died for thee and thus made it impossible that thou shouldst be left alone; wherefore, be of good cheer.

In this day's labors or trials say, "The LORD God will help me." Go forth boldly. Set your face like a flint and resolve that no faintness or shamefacedness shall come near you. If God helps, who can hinder? If you are sure of omnipotent aid, what can be too heavy for you? Begin the day joyously, and let no shade of doubt come between thee and the eternal sunshine.

Yes, the LORD will be with us in our holy war, but He demands of us that we strictly follow His rules

"Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the Law, which Moses My servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest"   (Joshua 1:7).

Yes, the LORD will be with us in our holy war, but He demands of us that we strictly follow His rules, Our victories will very much depend upon our obeying Him with all our heart, throwing strength and courage into the actions of our faith. If we are halfhearted we cannot expect more than half a blessing.

We must obey the LORD with care and thoughtfulness. "Observe to do" is the phrase used, and it is full of meaning. This is referred to every part of the divine will; we must obey with universal readiness. Our rule of conduct is "according to all the law." We may not pick and choose, but we must take the LORD's commands as they come, one and all. In all this we must go on with exactness and constancy. Ours is to be a straightforward course which bends neither to the right nor to the left. We are not to err by being more rigid than the law, nor turn out of levity to a more see and easy way. With such obedience there will come spiritual prosperity. O LORD, help us to see if it be not even so! We shall not test Thy promise in vain.

How does one get to know Him?

Is it possible that the difference between eternal life and eternal death can be boiled down to a simple matter of knowing something? Jesus says, Yes! It's in John 17:3: "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent."

How does one get to know Him?

Everything depends on that. Step number one must be to learn how to distinguish the true God from false gods; and that also requires distinguishing the true Christ from "false christs." Jesus warns us that in these last days "there shall arise false christs ... and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive even the very elect" (Matt. 24:24).

The "false christ" is the "antichrist" that John speaks of in 1 John 4:1-3: "Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist." Hebrews makes clear that "as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, [Christ] also Himself likewise took part of the same, ... in all things ... made like unto His brethren" (2:14, 17). Paul makes clear what it means for the true Christ to "come in the flesh": "God [sent] His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3). The word "likeness" in the Greek is homoioma, from which we derive a number of English words that mean "sameness," "identical."

Therefore, to "know Jesus Christ" is to know the reality of His taking upon His sinless nature our sinful nature, that He might "in all points [be] tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15). In His human nature He had to deny self, to deny His own will, that He might "seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me" (John 5:30). This self-denial extended throughout His life on earth right up to His cross.

Would you like to follow Him? "If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me," He says (Luke 9:23). Yes, you will know Him intimately!

"The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide." (Psalm 37:31).

"The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide."   (Psalm 37:31).

Put the law into the heart, and the whole man is right. This is where the law should be; for then it lies, like the tables of stone in the ark, in the place appointed for it. In the head it puzzles, on the back it burdens, in the heart it upholds.

What a choice word is here used, "the law of his God"! When we know the LORD as our own God, His law becomes liberty to us. God with us in covenant makes us eager to obey His will and walk in His commands. Is the precept my Father's precept? Then I delight in it.

We are here guaranteed that obedient-hearted man shall be sustained in every step that he takes. He will do that which is right, and he shall therefore do that which is wise. Holy action is always the most prudent, though it may not at the time seem to be so, We are moving along the great highroad of God's providence and grace when we keep to the way of His law. The Word of God has never misled a single soul yet; its plain directions to walk humbly, justly, lovingly, and in the fear of the LORD are as much words of wisdom to make our way prosperous as rules of holiness to keep our garments clean. He walks surely who walks righteously.

"And I will establish my covenant between me and thee..to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." (Genesis 17:7).

"And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee."   (Genesis 17:7).

O LORD, Thou hast made a covenant with me, Thy servant, in Christ Jesus my LORD; and now, I beseech Thee, let my children be included in its gracious provisions. Permit me to believe this promise as made to me as well as to Abraham. I know that my children are born in sin and shapen in iniquity, even as those of other men; therefore, I ask nothing on the ground of their birth, for well l know that "that which is born of the flesh is flesh" and nothing more. LORD, make them to be born under Thy covenant of grace by Thy Holy Spirit!

I pray for my descendants throughout all generations. Be Thou their God as Thou art mine. My highest honor is that Thou hast permitted me to serve Thee; may my offspring serve Thee in all years to come. O God of Abraham, be the God of his Isaac! O God of Hannah, accept her Samuel!

If, LORD, Thou hast favored me in my family, I pray Thee remember other households of Thy people which remain unblest. Be the God of all the families of Israel. Let not one of those who fear Thy name be tried with a godless and wicked household, for Thy Son Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

It's time "children" "grew up" to appreciate what Christ accomplished on His cross.

There's a vast encyclopedia of loving knowledge in the silence of God--in what He does NOT say. For example, when He warned our first parents in Eden not to join the fallen Lucifer's rebellion against God's principle of love, He told them not to eat of the fruit of "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Note what God did NOT say: He did not say, "In the day thou eatest thereof I will surely kill you." No; He said, "thou shalt surely die."

"Well," says someone, "that means He will kill them, for didn't He destroy almost the entire human race in the Flood of Noah?" Yes, He did. "And didn't He destroy almost the entire population of Sodom and Gomorrah?" Yes, He did. But ... look again:

Note what John 3:16 does NOT say. It does not say, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, who will torture anyone who does not believe in Him." Again there is a holy silence. The text says, "He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light" (vss. 18, 19). We are quite capable of condemning ourselves in the sight of the universe without God's help.

A wise writer has said, "God does not stand toward the sinner as an Executioner of the sentence against transgression." He will not coerce by fear what He would win only by love. He does not want to pack Heaven with fear-driven people motivated by the desire for reward. If we insist on giving fear a 51 percent share and love (agape) 49 percent in motivation, we shall perpetuate a lukewarmness of devotion in our churches, a sterile paralysis of heart that makes our sermons and worship services as "dry as the hills of Gilboa" were of rain and dew.

But if we accord God's love (agape) its full 50 percent share, then Paul will be proven right: agape will win out as "the greatest of these" (1 Cor. 13:13). It's time "children" "grew up" to appreciate what Christ accomplished on His cross.