Oh! The snow, the beautiful snow, Filling the sky and earth below, Over the housetops, over the street, Over the heads of people you meet; Dancing – Flirting – Skimming along! Beautiful Snow! it can do no wrong; Flying to kiss a fair lady’s cheek, Clinging to lips in frolicksome freak; Beautiful Snow from Heaven above, Pure as an angel, gentle as love!
Oh, the snow, the beautiful snow, How the flakes gather and laugh as they go, Whirling about in maddening fun; Purest of all things under the Sun, Chasing – Laughing – Hurring by, It lights on the face and it sparkles the eye; And the dogs with a bark and a bound Snap at the Crystals as they eddy around; The town is alive, and its heart is aglow, To welcome the coming of beautiful snow!
How wild the crowd goes swaying along, Hailing each other with humour and song; How the gay sleighs like meteors flash by, Bright for a moment, then lost to the eye; Ringing – Swinging – Dashing they go, Over the crest of the beautiful snow; Snow so pure when it falls from the sky, As to make one regret to see it lie, To be trampled and tracked by thousands of feet, Till it blends with the filth in the horrible street.
Once I was pure as the snow, but I fell, Fell like the snow flakes from heaven to hell; Fell to be trampled as filth in the street, Fell to be scoffed, to be spit on and beat; Pleading – Cursing – Dreading to die. Selling my soul to whoever would buy; Dealing in shame from a morsel of bread, Hating the living and fearing the dead. Merciful God!Have I fallen so low! And yet I was once like the beautiful snow.
Once I was fair as the beautiful snow, With an eye like a crystal, a heart like its glow; Once I was loved from my innocent grace – Flattered and sought for the charms of my face! Father – Mother – Sisters – all, God and myself I have lost by my fall; The veriest wretch that goes shivering by, Will make a wide sweep lest I wander too nigh; For all that is on or above me I know, There is nothing so pure as the beautiful snow.
How strange it should be that this beautiful snow, Should fall on a sinner with nowhere to go! How strange it would be when the night comes again, If the snow and ice struck my desperate brain, Fainting – Freezing – Dying alone, Too wicked for prayers, too weak for a moan To be heard in the streets of the crazy town; Gone mad in the joy of snow coming down; To be and to die in my terrible woe, With a bed and a shroud of the beautiful snow.
Helpless and foul as the trampled snow,
Sinner, despair not! Christ stoopeth low To rescue the soul that is lost in sin, And raise it to life and enjoyment again, Groaning – Bleeding – Dying for thee. The Crucified hung on the cursed tree!
His accents of mercy fall soft on thine ear, Is there mercy for me? Will He heed my weak prayer?” O God! In the stream that for sinners did flow
Wash me,
and I shall be brighter than snow.
(Anon.)
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Ephesians 2(ESV)
By Grace Through Faith
(1) And you were dead in the trespasses and sins(2) in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—(3) among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
(4) But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,(5) even when we weredead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—
by grace you have been saved—
(6) and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,(7) so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
(8) For by grace you have been savedthrough faith.
And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,(9) not a result of works, so that no one may boast.(10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
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Here are some free ONLINE reading articles in relation to the Heavenly Father—Jehovah, his Son—Christ Jesus—“a ransom FOR ALL… to be testified in due time” (1 Timothy 2:6), and about the holy Spirit (the understanding of God), with clear explanations about why the anti-Christ teaching of “the trinity”—introduced by the Roman Catholic Church system (the “Beast” in the Book of Revelation)—is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible Students Movement also does not support the false teaching about purgatory nor does it support the Roman Catholic System’s false teaching about people being sent to a place where they burning up forever as this certainly does not reflect Jehovah’s divine, perfect love, justice, power and wisdom … “who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Psalm 103:8). For the interested Reader, we urge you to consider the following articles and posts:
Here is a recording of Hymn No. 21 from the “Hymns of Dawn” to aid God’s people in singing and making melody in their hearts unto God.
“(1) Come, let us shout joyfully to Jehovah!Let us shout in triumph to our Rock of salvation. (2) Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; Let us sing and shout in triumph to him” (Psalm 95:1,2).
“My mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips” (Psalm 63:5).
Lyrics
1.
Behold, what wondrous grace
The Father hath bestowed
On members of a fallen race,
To make them sons of God.
2.
By His dear Son redeemed,
By grace then purified;
What favor that we should be named
For Christ’s joint heir and bride!
3.
Nor doth it yet appear
How great we must be made;
But when we see our Saviour here,
We shall be like our Head.
4.
A hope so much divine
May trials well endure;
May purify our souls from sin,
As Christ, The Lord, is pure.
5.
Now in our Father’s love
We share a filial part;
He grants the spirit from above
To dwell within each heart.
6.
We can no longer lie
Like slaves beneath the throne;
Our hearts now Abba, Father, cry,
And He the kindred owns.
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The History Of This Hymn
Author —Isaac Watts (1674-1748). Verse 2 in the “Hymns of Dawn” is not contained in the lyrics written by Isaac Watts and could not be found in any other Hymnal other than in the Hymns of Dawn.
Composer — No information. From a Google search, the earliest record of the same tune as contained in the Hymns of Dawn, has been found in the “Songs for Social and Public Worship” published in 1863, on page 144. Another tune arrangement (nearly identical to the “Hymns of Dawn” score) is found in “Every Sabbath: A new collection of music adapted to the wants and capacities of Sunday-Schools, the home circle, and devotional gatherings,”page 147 Hymn No. 145a published in 1874.
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Bible Scriptures Associated With This Hymn
John 1:11-13 (ESV)— “(11) He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. (12) But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, (13) who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.“
Acts 15:10, 11 (ESV) — “(10) Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? (11) But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
Romans 3:23, 24 (NIV) — “… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Roman 5:1-2 (KJV) — “(1) Therefore being justified by faith, we havepeacewith God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (2) By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
Romans 6:13, 14 (ESV) — “(13) Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (14) For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”
2 Corinthians 6:1 — “(1) We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (2) (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, nowis the accepted time; behold, nowis the day of salvation.)“
Ephesians 2:8, 9 (ESV) — “(8) For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,(9) not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Titus 2:11-14 (ESV) — “(11) For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,(12) training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,(13) waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,(14) who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Hebrews 4:16 (KJV) — “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
1 John 3:1-3 (KJV) — “(1) Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (2) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shallappear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (3) And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”
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The words below are from Reprint No. 2283, from the OriginalWatchtower and Herald of Christ’s Presence.
“BY GRACE ARE YE SAVED.”
“For the grace of God that bringeth [leads to] salvation hath been manifested for all men—teaching us that renouncing ungodly desires we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age, waiting for the blessed hope, even the glorious manifestation of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, devoted to good works.”—Titus 2:11-14.
[Note: The definition of “renouce” (or “say no to”— NIV Bible): formally declare one’s abandonment of (a claim, right, or possession). Synonyms: reject, refuse to abide by, refuse to recognize, desert, discard, disown, cut off, cast off, lay aside, refuse to fulfil, invalidate, nullify, disclaim, repudiate (which means reject, divorce from, refuse to accept).]
“GRACE, ’tis a charming sound,” sang the poet, nor did he exaggerate; for to all who have learned the true meaning of divine grace, that word, like the word “gospel,” is a synonym for all the divine mercies which God’s people may now or ever enjoy…
The word grace signifies favor—particularly unmerited [not deserved] favor. Acts of grace are thus to be clearly distinguished from acts of justice and from obligations… Every testimony to the effect that God is extending his “grace” to humanity or to the Church is a testimony to their unworthiness to justlydemand those favors or blessings.
The spirit of the world in general is that of self-sufficiency and independence; following their own wisdom and lacking the instruction and wisdom from above, the worldly-wise regard themselves with complacency; they believe themselves to be quite sufficiently righteous to merit a good deal of divine blessing and reward: true, they admit also that they have imperfections, but these they expect to pay for to the full according to some law of divine retribution. Hence they are undisposed to look for or to accept pardon, forgiveness, justification through the great sacrifice for sins which God has provided… And so they regard all of the laws governing humanity as merciless, graceless—strictly just.
The Scripture presentation of the matter does not overlook the law of retribution—that sin of any kind, the transgression of any law, will surely bring its penalty, whoever may be the sinner and whatever may be the conditions. And the propositions respecting divine grace, rightly understood, are not in conflict with this universal law of retribution: the proposition of grace is … not to prevent the wages of sin from following transgression, but to succorthe repentant who desire to reform, and to help him back to divine favor and full recovery, along the lines of strictest justice;—by a willing ransom-price.
And since this succor is wholly unmerited on man’s part and without just obligation on God’s part, it is purely of divine favor—”grace.” Indeed, if it were not for sin and its retributive punishments, there would be no room for grace: it is man’s necessity for grace that constitutes the divine opportunity for its exercise. Grace, however, operates in harmony with the divine laws, and not in violation of them.
Remembering that divine grace signifies God’s unmerited mercy and favor, let us examine its operation in the light of Scripture:—
(1) The first movement of divine grace toward mankind was the exercise of benevolence,love and compassion toward mankind in his fallen and sinful condition. There was nothing in man to merit this compassion and sympathy; quite to the contrary: we were aliens from God and enemies of his righteous rule through wicked works,—the depravity wrought in us through sin voluntarily committed by father Adam.
(2) It was in harmony with this thought of grace on God’s part, or, as we might term it, God’s gracious plan, that he revealed something respecting his purpose of ransom and restitution to father Abraham;—thus preaching first, beforehand, to him the good tidings of a coming blessing or grace, saying, “In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blest.”Abraham, and others who believed God, rejoiced in mind under the influence of this gracious promise—altho even the beginning of its fulfilment was still nearly two thousand years off.
(3) The third step of grace was in the great gift of divine love, our Lord Jesus Christ. It included the gracious arrangement made with the only begotten Son of God, on account of which he joyfully laid aside his heavenly glories and conditions and humbled himself in death as the ransom or substitute for the first Adam and thus incidentally a “ransom for all” [1 Timothy 2:6] the race of Adam.
(4) It was a fourth step of grace when God, having determined to select a Church, a “little flock,” to be heirs of God and joint-heirs of Jesus Christ their Lord, in the dispensing of the divine favors or grace, promised through Abraham, began the work of selecting this Church—receiving at Pentecost the first installment, from the house of servants into the house of sons and joint-heirs. (John 1:12,13.) Altho tests were applied to those received into the family of sons, and altho character qualifications were imposed upon them and will be imposed upon all who will be called and accepted to this high calling [Philippians 3:14], nevertheless this also was a step of grace, because there were no obligations resting upon God to confer upon us such a “high calling,” such “riches of his grace in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
(5) Throughout this Gospel age the same grace has been in operation doing a twofold work; (a) justifying repentant believers from the guilt of their moral obliquity, and giving them thus a standing before God in Christ’s imputed righteousness;—thus making them eligible to the “high calling” to divine sonship and to joint-heirship in God’s Kingdom to come, and (b) then extending to them that “high calling,” inviting them through the divine Word to become the “very elect.” True, there are conditions imposed, and not all the many “called” will be among the few “chosen;” but nevertheless it is an inestimable privilege to be “called” and to have put within our grasp the opportunity and all the needful helps, whereby we may make our calling and election sure.
(6) The grace of God will still further be manifested when the “elect” Church shall all have been sought, found, tried, disciplined, and “made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;” for the blessings which will be conferred upon this glorified Church will not only be such as were not merited, such therefore as were not of obligation upon God’s part, but according to the divine testimony they will be additionally great, super-abounding in grace, “exceedingly abundantly more than we know how to ask or expect;” for “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath in reservation for those that love him.”—1 Cor. 2:9.
(7) Even then, God’s grace will not have exhausted itself;—even after having thus honored and blessed and exalted the Church, the body of Christ, whose only merit consisted first in an honest confession of sin and an acceptance of the divine favor, and second, in their “reasonable service” in rendering their lives in obedience to him who bought them and in and through whom the divine graces were extended.
Then divine grace will begin to be fully manifested—then all shall see it, all shall know it, and all whowill may share it; for then will begin the glorious [R2284] “times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began”—the Millennial age of a thousand years; the time when the knowledge of the Lord shall graciously be caused to fill the whole earth; the time when all the sin-blinded eyes shall be opened; the time when all the prisoners of the pit (death) shall come forth, that they may be instructed in righteousness. Then, according to the grace of the divine promise, he who redeemed the world shall judge the world in righteousness, a trial, an opportunity, that whosoever will, with a knowledge of sin and its penalty, and with a knowledge of righteousness and its rewards, with a knowledge of the goodness and grace of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord, may then stand trial and be judged as to whether they will receive God’s grace and its provisions of eternal life, or whether they will reject these and die the second death.
Here we behold the wonderful steps of grace. No one can intelligently believe in divine grace who holds the theory of evolution or any other theory of salvation than the Scriptural one, which recognizes man’s original creation in the divine likeness, his fall into sin and death, his redemption therefrom by the death of our Redeemer, and his hope for recovery through divine grace extended now to the Church and to be extended by and by through the Church (under Christ its Head) to all the families of the earth.
Coming now to consider present manifestations of divine grace toward the Church, we note that many professed followers of the Lord fail … to appreciate this grace which it is their privilege to enjoy. This is attributable largely to false teaching and preaching… For instance, how common it is for people to hear and to believe that if they “do right” they will have divine rewards at the end of life’s race; but if they “do wrong” they shall have divine punishment at the end of the race. Such views ignore grace entirely…
If we are to be punished in proportion to our shortcomings and rewarded for our obedient deeds, where would be the “grace?“Where would be the mercy?Wherewould be the necessity of a Savior, a sin-offering, an atonement and a reconciliation with God? Where would be the peace through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?None of these mercies and blessings can be rightly recognized except asthe grace of God(his unmerited favor) is seen in them.
The fact is that the divine standard of righteousness is much higher than men generally understand: with God righteousness is synonymous with perfection; and hence “all unrighteousness [all imperfection, however or whenever or wherever]—is [a proof of] sin. Thus all men are proved to be sinners,—because all are imperfect, un-right. And the divine law is that the sinner, the wrongdoer, the un-right, the imperfect, shall not live.“The wages of sin is death.”Whoever [R2285] understands this can see at once that man’s only hope of eternal life liesnot in his own perfection, but in divine mercy, grace.
But, says someone, That is not a fair statement of the case. God made me as I am, imperfect; and justice requires that he shall not demand of me an impossible perfection, nor punish me for weaknesses and imperfections beyond my control. Such reasoning implies a misunderstanding of the case. It is a mistake to assume that God made us imperfect. All “his work is perfect.” (Deut. 32:4; Psa. 18:30; Matt. 5:48.) He neither created idiots nor other physical and mental malformations of humanity, but, as the Scriptures declare, we were “born in sin and shapen in iniquity—in sin did my mother conceive me.”
Our blemishes come to us from our parents, not from God.
The Scriptures not only point out to us father Adam’s sinless perfection, saying that he was created in the image of God, but they plainly declare that it was by his disobedience that the divine sentence of death passed upon him and passed as an inheritance, a legacy of evil, to his offspring, saying, “By one man’s disobedience sin entered into the world and death as a result of sin, and so death passed upon all men, for all are sinners [imperfect].”Truly also, “The fathers have eaten a sour grape [disobedience] and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”—Rom. 5:12,17-19; Jer. 31:29; Ezek. 18:2.
The very basis of all our hopes, then, is this grace of God, operating toward us through Jesus Christ our Lord. God’s grace does not subvert or set aside God’s law, however, and he who would rightly appreciate and use the divine grace should recognize this fact. God’s grace was not intended to frustrate the spirit of his own law: it was not intended to clear the guilty, the wilful transgressor. It acknowledges the divine law, attests its justice, and has fully met its requirements in the person and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus on behalf of Adam and all his race involved in his transgression and his penalty—death. Hence it was that “Christ died, the just for the unjust” in order “that God might be just and yet be the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.”
The only condition upon which God’s grace is offered is:
our acknowledgment of our sin, weakness and imperfection,
a sorrow for these and
a repentance and
reformation to the extent of our ability and
an acceptance of Christ Jesus as the personification of divine grace.
Upon no other condition can we step into this grace of God or walk in its way and inherit its rewards.
And even after we have received Christ and God’s grace in him, and are no longer recognized as strangers, aliens to God, but sons, as servants of righteousness and no longer servants of sin, being imperfect, we are not free from blemishes of word, thought and deed; yet, God’s grace … continues with us to cover our blemishes until perfected in the resurrection. Under its provisions whatever is contrary to our wills, and purely the result of hereditary weakness, may be forgiven; and our obliquity and blameworthiness be gauged only by the measure of wilfulness or assent connected with the wrongdoing. Nevertheless, to some extent, chastisements or natural penalties for violations of law may be expected: but to those under grace these will come as helps by the way, causing them more and more to detest sin, as corrections in righteousness, as chastisements and disciplines for their blessing. And even these sure penalties may be to some extent ameliorated in accordance with the wisdom of our great High priest, who, having borne all our sins in his own body on the tree, is freely empowered to abate for us so much of the penalty of our misdeeds as grace may be able to cover asun-wilful [accidental, not deliberate] transgressions.
There is a disposition in our day, as there was a disposition in the days of the apostles, for those who have once accepted of divine forgiveness, the grace of God through Christ, to turn aside therefrom and to attempt to justify themselves by works. Even while first experiences were those of humble dependence upon divine mercy, subsequent experiences sometimes lead to the rejection of the grace that at first was so thankfully received. The Apostle wrote to some thus affected, saying, “Christ has become of none effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”(Gal. 5:4.)
Judged from this same standard, how many Christians today have backslidden—fallen from grace—lost the trustin the merit of the precious bloodand in divine favorextended to us through the great atonement sacrifice. Now, as then, the disposition is to trust to works of our ownrighteousness, which … our own consciences should prove to us are imperfect, “filthy rags” unfit and unable to cover us. Yes, we need a coveringbefore we could in any manner or degree hope to be acceptable to God, and this covering of our imperfections with the imputed righteousness of Christ, is another statement of the grace of God extended to us. This tendency to depart from a recognition of God’s grace in Christas ouronly hope for eternal life, and to take instead a hope of being able to walk righteously and to do justly, and thus to merit eternal life, is what the Apostle very properly calls “another gospel”—a false gospel.—Gal. 1:6.
This thought of the divine grace as the basis of all our mercies is interwoven with all the promises of God’s Word. Thus the Apostle speaks of the gracious plan of God, and Christ as the exponent of that plan as “the grace of God and the gift by grace.”—Rom. 5:15.
Our approach to God in prayer is spoken of as an approach, not to the throne of justice and equity, but as an approach to “the throne of grace,” where “we may obtain mercy and findgrace to help in every time of need.”—Heb. 4:16.
Again we are exhorted that our hearts be established in grace; and again told that unto every one of us is given graceaccording to the measure of our faith; and again the Apostle declares of himself, “By the grace of God I am what I am” [1 Corinthians 15:10].
According to the testimony of our text this grace is general, “for ALL men,” and must therefore ultimately in some manner or other be extended to all men,—the dead as well as the living. The translation of our Common Version is manifestly faulty here; all men, even in this most enlightened day of the world’s history, have not yet beheld God’s grace in any degree, nor has it as yet brought them salvation. But since it has been provided freely for all, so ultimately it shall be extended to all, that all may avail themselves of it.
The teaching of this grace is not that we may continue in sin that grace may abound; for divine graceis intended tobenefit only those who renounce sin and become servants of righteousness: and thus, as our text declares, God’s grace teaches us that we should repudiate sin and live separate from every ungodly desire, in righteousness, soberness and godlikeness. Furthermore, as our text declares, this grace of God does not claim to have reached its completeness, and to have accomplished in us and for us the grand designs of the God of all grace. On the contrary, it teaches us to WAIT for the consummation of this grace until the glorious manifestation of the Son of God in the majesty and power of his Kingdom, to unite his Church with himself as his Bride and joint heir, the channel of mercies and blessings through which God’s grace shall flow to all the groaning creation.—Rom. 8:18-22; 11:31.
“RECEIVE NOT THE GRACE OF GOD IN VAIN.”
“We then as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.”—2 Cor. 6:1.
This exhortation is addressed to such as have already recognized God’s gracious character and the gift [R2285] of his grace toward mankind,—the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. The Apostle has just been explaining this matter of how God’s grace had provided a reconciliation; “that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them [but unto him who died for them].“ He declares himself an ambassador on behalf of God to declare this grace and exhorts his readers not only to acceptof God’s grace in the forgiveness of sins through Christ, but additionally that they also should become fully reconciled or completely in harmonywith the Lord, as would be represented by full consecration to him and his service, after the example of the Apostle himself.
We take it that this exhortation of our text is the equivalent of the same apostle’s exhortation elsewhere, namely, “I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God [already brethren because already believers in Christ and partakers through him of divine grace], that ye present your bodies living sacrifices, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”—Rom. 12:1.
The Apostle was here urging progress on the part of the believers, advancement from “justification by faith” to the next higher step in divine grace and privilege,—full consecrationeven unto death, in response to the “call” to joint-heirship with Christ in his Kingdom,—to suffer with him in the present time, and to reign with him by and by in glory. These two steps are contrasted by the same Apostle, who says of himself and others who had taken both steps, (1) “Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”(2) “By whom also [additionally] we have access by faith into this [further] grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of [sharing] the glory of God.”—Rom. 5:1,2. [R2286]
In our text the Apostle distinctly implies the possibility that some may receive the grace of God in vain—to no purpose. We see from the connection as we have examined it, that he refers to the grace of God in justification, the forgiveness of our sins, and not to the second step of grace, our acceptance to the new nature through the begetting of the spirit. This implies, therefore, that the only object of justification by faith in this present age, is to give us a footing, a standing of acceptableness with God, from which we may be able to advance and take the second step of self-sacrifice, and become joint-heirs with Christ in his Kingdom. Nevertheless, this first step and all the privileges and blessings connected with it would be “in vain,”profitless to us, if we fail to take the second step, the particular feature of the divine plan which belongs to this Gospel age.
We are not to add to the Word of God, and to say that to receive justification in vain (by not making use of it to progress to a complete consecration and newness of nature) would mean eternal torment, or even the second death: we are simply to understand it as it reads, that the intention of the grace of justification, the first step, being to qualify us for the second step, those who fail to take the second step will have no particular benefit accrue to them from the first step, which would thus have been taken in vain, profitlessly, without permanent results and advantages.
… Only those who take the “narrow way” will gain anyprize offered during this Gospel age, which is specifically the age set apart for the development of the “royal priesthood,” devoted to good works—to self-sacrifices in the service of the Lord and his cause. Indeed, there is only one prize and one hope of our calling during this age—the other prize and other hope and other call will be in the age to come. We cannot therefore expect that any who take the first step of faith in Christ, and who are therefore temporarily justified because of their faith, will have a reward for a faith which did not work by love. The faith that works by love speedily goes on to full consecration and self-sacrifice, and is a sure indication of the kind the Lord is seeking for his “little flock,” the “royal priesthood,” the “joint-heirs.” The faith, therefore, which refuses to work by love, cannot be considered an acceptable faith in God’s sight. Nor can we expect that this class will be counted worthy to share in the earthly phase of the Kingdom with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets.
… While not favored with the “high calling” to the divine nature and jointheirship with Christ, because this “call” was not yet due to be proclaimed, nevertheless, these ancient worthies manifested a faith and a trust in the Lord and his promises which worked, and by their works manifested a love for the Lord and a loyalty to him which did not hesitate to sacrifice reputation, wealth and life itself, in obedience to the principles of righteousness revealed to them… [R2286]
A much misunderstood text respecting grace is the one used as a caption for this article, namely, “By grace are ye saved, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (Eph. 2:8.) The erroneous thought given by many is that our faith is not our own faith, not of our own volition, but an impartation, a gift from God. Of course, in one sense every gift and blessing which we enjoy is indirectly if not directly from God; “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.” (Jas. 1:17.) But the proper understanding of the Apostle’s words, we believe, is this: It is of God’s grace and not of personal merit on our part that salvation is offered to us; and altho that salvation is offered to us as a rewardof faith (including true faith’s obedience), yet we cannot even boast respecting our faith as tho it merited the Lord’s favor,—for our faith is something which is the indirect result of divine providence also; there are millions of others in the world who might exercise just as much faith as we if they had been favored of God with as much light, intelligence, knowledge, as a basis of faith: hence our faith is not to be credited as a meritorious condition but we are to be thankful to God for it, for the circumstances and conditions which have made it possible for us to exercise faith are of his grace.
Br. Charles Russell—the founder of the Bible Students movement, who is the compiler of“Poems and Hymns of Millennial Dawn” which was published in Allegheny, Pa., in 1890. This Bible Students’ devotional originally contained a total of 151 poems and 333 hymns.
The following prefatory to the 1905 publication of Hymns of Millennial Dawn may be of historical interest to many of our readers.
We published in 1890, with several more recent editions, a volume entitled “Poems and Hymns of Millennial Dawn” without music. The same collection of hymns with the music is now urgently needed, and therefore appears in this volume. The poems, although highly prized, are omitted for greater convenience in size. We have preserved the same alphabetical order, because so many of our readers have the older book; and where a different tune is given from that originally suggested the latter is indicated by Alt. for alternative tune, with the number where that tune can be found.
Both words and music are credited to the same class to whom the work is dedicated-to the Lord and His faithful people, “the Saints.” The authors of many of the best of them are unknown to us, and, besides, slight changes have been made in the phraseology and sentiment of quite a number, which we could not be sure their original authors would approve, and to give personal credit to less than one half would seem invidious. To all of these dear “Saints” of all ages we therefore give united and hearty thanks for the blessings which they, as the Lord’s servants and handmaidens, have bestowed upon their fellow-members of “the Church of the Firstborn, whose names are written in Heaven.” Most of them died long ago: their abundant reward will be of the Lord in the resurrection.
That the collection is thoroughly undenominational, unsectarian, will be manifest to those recognizing the fact that it includes the choicest old hymns and tunes used by all denominations.
Although we have gathered far and near and winnowed carefully we cannot hope to have gotten all the golden grains, though we do hope that no chaff can be found. The collection is for the Church, for “believers” “reconciled,” and hence contains none of the “sinners” hymns, such as “Come, ye sinners poor and needy,” because willful sinners are in no sense members of the “Body” of Christ, nor are those who have not yet accepted the Lord as their Savior.
Those who will feel the deepest interest in this collection, and whose sentiments will be most fully voiced in its verses, will undoubtedly be those in fullest degree of sympathy with the divine plan of the ages, as set forth in the several volumes of Millennial Dawn—the eyes of whose understanding have been opened to the clearer, purer light now shining from our great Redeemer’s cross, showing the fulness and the completeness of his salvation.
In fact, this volume, while not numbered as one of the volumes of the Millennial Dawn series, is designed to be a companion volume, a melodious accompaniment to the “new song,” “the song of Moses and the Lamb” (the grand harmony of the Law and the Gospel), as presented in the regular Dawn series.
Let the music of God’s good and great plan ring through your hearts and lives, dear fellow-pilgrims and fellow members of the “royal priesthood,” so that every day and every hour shall be filled with joy and praise and thankfulness! And that this little volume may assist in deepening the work of grace in your hearts is our hope and prayer.
– Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, July, 1905, Allegheny, PA, USA
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Later on, the hymns from this book formed a basis for the hymnal titled “Hymns of Dawn” which was published by the Dawn Bible Students Association in East Rutherford, New Jersey (USA) and the 1999 edition contains a total of 361 hymns.
The Bride and the Bridegroom by Br. Carl Hagensick. A Verse-by-verse Study of Psalm 45. The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom. July/August 2004. http://www.heraldmag.org/2004/04ja_4.htm
And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. —Matthew 14:28, 29
Very early in that morning, Jesus’ disciples were in their little boat on the sea of Galilee. A strong, contrary wind whipped boisterous waves against them. There was almost something personal about this adverse gale.
A Joyous Multitude
It had been a remarkable day. Thousands had come to hear Jesus. The disciples felt honored to be associated with the wonderful Teacher. The crowds hung on his gracious words. His doctrines and manner of teaching were delightful. There was a thrilling challenge in his message that searched the depths of their hearts.
Every hearer had some notion of the kingdom hope and the part Israel was to play in it. Most were natural, even carnal, concepts, appealing to human pride; were they not the people of God? But Jesus’ kingdom was beautiful—the Lord’s hallowed presence enthroned in every heart.
Blessing Now, Blessing Later
The throng was hungry for His teachings. They forgot their hunger for food. But the disciples became aware of practicalities. They noticed the descending sun, and became uneasy. They interrupted Jesus, whispering that he should dismiss his audience.
Then followed an experience that would make their minds tingle on every future recollection. They became instruments in an amazing demonstration of power: one lad’s supper fed the multitude. What a climax to the day! They witnessed a portrayal of that blessed time when all human needs would be divinely satisfied and they would again be the instruments used of the Lord to convey blessings to mankind. They were learning to live with the power of God.
This is essential to the preparation of the future ministers of the kingdom. Each was a vessel of divine grace, a channel of divine love, an instrument through which the Lord would exhibit the glory of his power to give life abundant to whosoever will.
A Need for Quiet
Finally, the crowds dispersed, and Jesus was left alone with his disciples—but not before another wonderful moment occurred. The people were so elated by the experience that groups gathered, rallying the support of all. The disciples realized that the hopeful congregation wanted to proclaim Jesus their king!
Knowing the people’s intent, Jesus motioned to his disciples, climbing higher up the mountain trail to be alone with God. He longed for that future day when men would respond to divine love in a way more enduring than the fervor of that crowd.
Their Stormy Challenge
He told the apostles to proceed to Bethsaida, leaving him alone with his Father in prayer. The disciples in the midst of the sea, and Jesus on high with the Father, depicted the Gospel age night of weary toil for the Church.
It was hard for them. A hazardous storm had risen. They strained at the oars, their struggles seeming to avail nothing. Their Master’s presence seemed remote. For hours they toiled, the journey taking much longer than they had anticipated. They longed for the sight of dawn and the shoreline.
But Jesus knew. From his vantage point on high, he saw their plight. The watches of the night passed. In the fourth watch, they glimpsed a sight which frightened them. It was Jesus, but a Jesus they had yet to know. He was now demonstrating divine abilities.
Winds and waves threatened their ship;
yet there was Jesus,
walking on that troubled water as though it was solid rock.
Consider their fear: Here was a being with superhuman power—power above that of the storm. Even earth’s gravity was impotent beneath his feet.
Our Stormy Challenges
This parallels the mighty power of One whose presence is now recognized by saints on earth. Can we comprehend the vast resources of divine power now available to our returned Lord? He is exercising in this earth’s atmosphere, in the midst of the storms that bring fear into human hearts, the power of the victor over sin, the conqueror of every evil force released on earth.
We do not cry out in fear, but let us shout in worship and praise to our returned King, no longer bound by flesh but glorious in majesty.
“Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously on behalf of truth and meekness and righteousness” (Psalm 45:3, 4).
The disciples feared because they glimpsed a being with powers of another world. This recognition of spirit realm was awesome. Blessed are our eyes that see beyond human sight to celestial glory. In awe we see that One who today stands here amidst the earthly scene.
We Learn from Peter
We were not with him on Galilee. We cannot feel the might of battering waves, the force of gale, the surrounding darkness. But our proxy was there, Peter. How we love his earnest heart!
In Peter we see ourselves. His lessons were enjoyed by saints throughout the age. Yet now, the lessons are for us. When Jesus and the disciples were united in the boat, the storm abated, the wind dropped, the sea became a great calm. Soon they reached the other shore.
The time of troublewill not end, nor the testing of the saints, until the last is gathered to be with the Lord. That is the dispensational message. There is also a personal message for each saint, pertaining to their walk this side of the veil. It has special meaning for us, in this time of the Master’s presence in the very midst of earth’s troubled scenes.
Peter was reassured by the Master’s voice,
“Take courage. It is I!Do notbe afraid!”
What comfort we find in recognizing One who stands before us now endowed with wondrous powers. The earth hears and trembles; Zion hears and is glad. In the midst of so much disturbance, so many demonstrations of the powers of darkness, when all human existence on this earth is threatened, what comfort to our hearts to hear the voice of our Beloved saying,
“Be not afraid. It is I!”
Peter was stirred. He saw that Jesus’ powers could overcome all limitations of flesh. He glimpsed a higher realm. A blessed truth confronted him, and dear, impulsive Peter, wanted to taste that power divine.
Water-walking
The Lord created a scenario, teaching us what Peter sought to learn—how to walk on water.
When Jesus walked upon that sea, he was upheld by an invisible force superior to any power on earth. Here was faith in its fulness, faith-fulness that finds the rock on which to walk throughout life.
Peter asked, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
We should not presume, but meekly ask. The invitation comes from him, “Come. Follow me.”
Peter was not testing God. He was asking for the Master’s power to resist the downward force that gravitates the mind to earth. Peter wanted to experience the power of God.
It was an impulsive request. He had not learned that long-sighted vision which the Spirit would later endow. That Spirit recognizes that a heavenly purpose is working on a grand scale. It is our privilege to co-work with God toward that goal. And the Lord utilized Peter’s impulse to teach us lessons.
First we request the Lord’s help to follow him. He does not ask us to do the impossible. God makes ALL things possible.
We are called to walk in Jesus’ steps. How can we do that? He was holy; we are corrupt. Then Peter had to believe that if Jesus gave the word, Jesus had the power. Believe!
Step out of the rocking boat into the stormy sea.
The power is there. This means more than believing when comfortable, in good health. It means to put ALL our confidence and trust on Someone truly worthy—to accept him as our TOTAL means of support.
Jesus walked on water with no visible support. Our visible support refers to job, home, health, family, friends, position, income, material possessions. We cannot depend on them for our peace of mind.
Our Rocky Boats
Believing meant stepping out of the boat. Even a rocky boat is some means of support. Each human strength is like that rocky boat. Stepping out of the boat requires faith.
Are we then at the mercy of the waves? No, we are abandoning the things that can be shaken and placing our feet on solid rock. Matthew 14:30 records the situation: “When he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord save me! And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”
No one can see what supports the child of faith through tribulation and weakness. But the visible effect of faith can be seen—peace, confidence, joy, at times when the world would expect utter dejection and expect us to sink!
The window of the heart opens to heaven when this body of death is locked in its prison.
The attitude of prayerful praise is the visible evidence of the rock of faith. The confining of the body quickens the spirit of perception that enjoys glorious liberty as God’s sons.
Paul, too, stepped out of a boat and walked on water: “Bonds and afflictions wait for me, but none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto me.” We look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are unseen. No overcomer cowers in the boat. How frightening, when poor Peter found himself sinking!
Our failures teach us deep and permanent lessons.
All saints experience boisterous winds and waves, dark and threatening contradictions to our faith.
Every step of walking on water is a test of faith.
There is no retirement from the life of faith. As the years advance, we become like Enoch: this walk with the Lord becomes so absorbing to our mind that we do not see death, only the victorious Lord at the side of God’s throne, his voice ringing out, “Come!” This is the victory . . . your faith.”
At Golgotha, visible evidence indicated that Jesus had been abandoned. Yet that ultimate contradiction to his faith proved its very reality, faith FULL unto death. Faith is knowing our Father’s abiding faithfulness. We know he is there, he is for us, he knows every detail required to bring us to himself in the bond of perfect trust.
When Peter stepped out, he needed something more sure than the rocking ship made with human hands. He needed the most dependable power that exists. To reach for it, he needed faith that can let go, as surely as it can cling!
Reaching to Jesus
Matthew 14, Mark 6, and John 6, each add some precious detail. We read in Mark 6:48, that as the wonderful Master walked upon those waves, he seemed to be passing them by, proceeding towards the shore. It was this realization that spurred Peter on to request the Lord’s command to follow him.
Peter did not want the Lord to pass him by. He wanted to walk with Jesus. We do not want the Lord to pass us by. We cannot merely watch him from the uncertain safety of our storm-dashed ship.
We are not arm-chair saints.
Our faith is on trialNOW.
THIS is the hour to realize the power of total trust.
Why wait for that hour of tribulation when our ship may break on the rocks? The truth is staring at us today. Jesus defies that which is seen by natural sight. Contradictions are real. This body of humiliation contradicts the high aspirations of the new mind. It humiliates our pure desire for a holy life. Let our clay vessels manifest the miracle of God’s power.
Everyone, not just the Lord’s people, eventually lose the things on which human security depends—health, strength, partner, friends. All have a coded date-stamp beyond which corruption will set in. How vital to our peace that we learn to walk on water NOW, before that evil day.
Then shall we know the triumph of faith that conquers the fury of every storm. Then shall we say:
Let the chill mists gather round me. Let the lights of earth grow dim. Leave me Jesus, only Jesus. I am Satisfied with him.
“I will take the Cup of Salvation” (Psalm 116:13).
With a tender smile on His loving face,
My Lord stood holding the Cup of Grace —
“Wilt thou drink, dear one, today?”
O loving Bridegroom, I am so weak! My enemies even now do seek To cause me to shrink away.
Today the Cup seems a bitter draught That cost Thee Thy life, as once Thou quaffed —
Increase my faith, I pray!
“My Dove, I will show thee the care I take To guard the Cup for thy dear sake, That thou mayst drink each day.”
Oh, wondrous vision my Lord revealed! I saw my soul’s fierce battle-field, And the enemies dreaded by me.
The World, the Flesh and Satan wise Were all made plain in their evil guise, Plotting adversity.
“I will fill the Cup with troubles sore, Pour them in till they’re brimming o’er— I’ll make it a Poison draught!
“So bitter ’twill be that its very breath Will cause her to shrink from such a death!”— Thus Satan in wickedness laughed.
And the World and the Flesh in blindness lent Their aid to his wicked, fell intent: My soul felt their power so dire.
Then I turned and looked at my Bridegroom’s face— The glory from it filled all the place, But His eyes were flames of fire.
“BEGONE, ye enemies of My Bride! The Cup is MINE!” He sternly cried; “I guard this Cup each day.
“And nothing goes in it beyond the power Of My Bride to bear in her weakest hour, If she l
Then He turned to me with the tenderest mien– “My Love, art thou strengthened by what thou hast seen? Canst thou now the enemy face?”
Dear Lord, forgive me, I humbly cried, That I should forget that He who died To redeem my soul, is by my side And holds the Cup in His hand.
Gladly I take the Loving-Cup, Gladly I drink as Thou holdest it up;
To share it with Thee is grand!
And if it should be that this is the day When the flesh, as I drink, shall pass for aye, Then ’twill be the Cup of Joy.
Oh, wondrous miracle of grace! The smile on my loving Bridegroom’s face As I pressed my lips to the Cup,
Filled my soul o’erflowing with peace Divine! And not alone did this peace I find, But my heart with Joy welled up.
And so each day as I take the Cup From my Best Beloved, I meekly look up And whisper a prayer for grace.
And He gives me grace; and Peace Divine,
And Love and Faith and Joy are mine, As I gaze upon His face.
My hope is in faith the Cup to drain That I in His Kingdom with Him may reign; The Cup of Joy I then will claim, Triumphant by His Grace!
Lilla S. Ward.
The above poem is from the “Reprints (No. 5868) of the Original Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence.”
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Romans 5:1-5(ESV)
Peace with God Through Faith
(1) Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.(2) Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (3) Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, (4) and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, (5) and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
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Hebrews 13:20-21 (Weymouth New Testament)
“(20) Now may God who gives peace, and brought Jesus, our Lord, up again from among the dead — even Him who, by virtue of the blood of the eternal Covenant, is the great Shepherd of the sheep — (21) fully equip you with every grace that you may need for the doing of His will, producing in us that which will truly please Him through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory to the Ages of the Ages! Amen.“
“A little while;” now he has come;
The hour draws on apace—
The blessed hour, the glorious morn,
When we shall see his face.
How light our trials then will seem!
How short our pilgrim way!
The life of earth a fitful dream,
Dispelled by dawning day!
Chorus
Then, O Lord Jesus, quickly show
Thy glory and thy light,
And take God’s longing children home,
And end earth’s weary night.
A little while; with patience, Lord,
I fain would ask, “How long?”
For how can I, with such a hope
Of glory and of home,
With such a joy awaiting me,
Not wish the hour were come?
How can I keep the longing back,
And how suppress the groan?
Yet peace, my heart! and hush, my tongue!
Be calm my troubled breast!
Each passing hour prepares thee more
For everlasting rest.
Thou knowest well, the time thy God
Appoints for thee is best.
The morning star already shines;
The glow is in the east.
Bible Scriptures Associated With This Hymn
1 Corinthians 13:12-13 (ESV) —
“12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 15:50-58 (RVIC) —
“(50) Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. (51) Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall all fall asleep, but we shall not all be changed (52) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, in the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (53) For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (54) But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death was swallowed up in victory. (55) O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? (56) But the sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law: (57) but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (58) Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:50-58, RVIC – The American Revised Version Improved and Corrected, 2000).
Song of Songs (“Canticles”) 8:14 (NAS) —
“Hurry, my beloved, And be like a gazelle or a young stag On the mountains of spices.”
The comments below, are a direct quote from “Notes on The Song of Solomon” by Anton Frey in the Bible Student Library CD:
Solomon, expecting to be gone from her immediate presence, though within hearing and speaking range, admonishes her to remain in the beautiful and fragrant gardens. It would be from these that she should be able to maintain communications with him, though not able to actually see him. He went to make the final preparations for the taking of her to her new home; there, to make her his bride, his wife! Already, some of her belongings have been transported to the Palace—the treasures, which she wishes to keep with her, forever and a day! As she now waves to him, she says, very earnestly, “Make haste, my dearly beloved, be like the roe, or the young hart upon the mountains of spices”—return speedily for me, for I can scarcely wait!
The words of the “espoused virgin” at this time, are not any different from those she has uttered to her beloved “Solomon,” from the very beginning of the Gospel age; for they do most beautifully express her hopes—“Come quickly, Lord.” She would have Him be swift, like the roe, or the young hart. She has already told him that she would eagerly be awaiting him—his return to take her to her heavenly home, where he will make of her, his bride, the Lamb’s wife! How she does look forward to the day when he shall change her name to his—“Jehovah Tsidkenu”—the Righteousness of Jehovah (Jeremiah 33:16; 23:6). Her bridal garments are all in readiness (Psalm 45:13, 14) and, already, some of her treasures (tokens of his love given to her during their period of courtship) have been transported to the Royal Palace! Is this not also, the significance of the Master’s words, “I go to prepare a place for you”? (John 14:2) “Come quickly, Lord,” she says… He responds, “I (shall indeed) come quickly” (Rev. 3:11, 22:7); and to which, her final salutation is, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
Let us strive to be worthy of a love so great and tender as His [Christ’s]. Let us seek ever and always to glorify Him before others; and, never, no, never, prove ourselves unworthy! Contemplate… the transcendency of His love; think upon what He has declared He thinks of His beloved: then, endeavor, more and more, to grow into the image and likeness—His “Ideal”!
Hebrews 10:35-39 —
“35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. 36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. 38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”
2 Peter 1:12 —
“Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.”
The three “stepping stones” to understanding Christ’s invisible presence and “parousia” which IS (part of) “the present truth” which the Apostle Peter was talking about in 2 Peter 1:12 are: 1260, 1290, and 1335 and these numbers are prophetic markers all found in both the Book of Revelation and the Book of Daniel.
Br. Charles Russell—the founder of the Bible Students movement, who is the compiler of “Poems and Hymns of Millennial Dawn” which was published in Allegheny, Pa., in 1890. This Bible Students’ devotional originally contained a total of 151 poems and 333 hymns.
Later on, the hymns from this book formed a basis for the hymnal titled ““Hymns of Dawn” which was published by the Dawn Bible Students Association in East Rutherford, New Jersey (USA) and the 1999 edition contains a total of 361 hymns.
Suggested Further Reading —
Click on the links below for the specified article/content matter.
“The Harvest — The End of the Age” by Br. Carl Hagensick. The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom Magazine, Nov-Dec. 2003 issue. http://www.heraldmag.org/2003/03nd_2.htm
“Times and Seasons — The Seventh Trumpet” by Br. Michael Brann. The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom Magazine, Nov-Dec. 2003 issue. http://www.heraldmag.org/2003/03nd_3.htm
Have you ever considered answering these questions in your mind:
WHY do some Christians meet for study on Saturday, while others do so on Sunday? OR WHY did Sunday become a legal day of rest? OR WHY do we even need a “sabbath day” at all?
You have come to the right post for some answers to these questions and by God’s grace,
Let us share the Truth about God’s Truth!
Exodus 20:8-11 gives the fourth of ten commandments. This fourth commandment is about the Sabbath day that God commanded Israel to observe, when he gave Israel His law through Moses, at Mount Sinai.
The fourth commandment does not say to cease from ordinary work and engage in religious work, as many of its advocates seem to suppose. On the contrary, it prohibits allkinds of work—even picking up sticks for kindling a fire (Exodus 35:3, Numbers 15:32-36). Often Sunday is as busy a day as any. How many who claim to keep this commandment do more work in the way of cooking, etc., than on other days?
If that law is now in force and has by any means extended beyond the Israelites (on whom alone it was put), so as to cover Christians, then every Christian violates it repeatedly, and is under jeopardy for “they that violated Moses’ Law died without mercy” (Hebrews 10:20).
But though our views on this subject differ widely from those of many Christian people, we are glad that one day of each week is set apart for rest from business, without regard to which of the seven days is thus observed, or by what law or lawgiver it was originally appointed. We greatly enjoy the day, and think it not only a blessing to those who use it for worship and study, but also for those who use it merely as a day of rest and recreation from toil, to enjoy the beauties of nature, or to visit with their friends and families as they cannot do on other days. And we are specially pleased that the day set apart by the government under which we live is Sunday—the First Day of the week—because of the same blessed memories and associations which gave that day a special sacredness to the Church in the days of the apostles.
But for two reasons we dissent from the idea of the Sabbath common to the majority of Christian people. First, if their claim that we are under the Law (of which the Sabbath day observance was a part), be true, the day they keep as a Sabbath is not the day mentioned in that command. They observe the first day of the week, while the command designated the seventh day. If the Fourth Commandment be binding at all, it is binding as stated, and cannot be changed.
Second, if bound to the Law, the keeping of the Sabbath in any other than the strict way in which its keeping was prescribed is inconsistent. If the command be binding upon us, the manner of its observance, in its details, is no less binding. If the strict significance of it has passed away, surely whatever set aside its strict requirements, has set aside the command entirely. Therefore, if observed at all, it should be observed with all its former strictness.
The only proper reason for the less strict observance of the day, or for the substituting of some other day than the one originally designated, would be an order from God himself to that effect. Men have no right to alter or amend God’s laws. Not even an angel from heaven could sanction the change. But God did not change that Law. It stands exactly as it was given, but it applied only to those to whom it was given—Israelites. If it was altered in any degree, or made applicable to any other people than Israelites, the evidence should be no less clear and positive than its original giving at Mt. Sinai. But no such evidence of change exists.
Those who are Gentiles by nature were not under the Law, for it was not given to them. Therefore the Sabbath ordinance does not apply to them. Those who are Jewish, and have come into Christ, have been freed from the Law, so that they also are no longer subject to the laws of the Sabbath day.
The apostle Paul explains in Romans 7:4 that having come into Christ, Jewish Christians have died to the Law and received a new commitment to God through Jesus. “My brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”
The apostle Paul also wrote to the Colossians about the ordinances of the Law. He said that Jesus“took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross … Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days”(Colossians 2:14-17).
What Work Did the Apostles Do On Sundays?
The apostles used the seventh day as a time for preaching Christ, as they used every day in the week, and especially because on that day the Jews, their most hopeful hearers, met for worship and study. But the Apostles nowhere recognized the seventh-day Sabbath as a day of rest, as the Jewish Law Covenant had enforced it. On the contrary, they taught (Romans 14:5-8) that any and all days are acceptable for good works done in the service of God and for the benefit of fellow men (Matthew 12:10,12).
“5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:5-8).
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“9 He went on from there and entered their synagogue.10 And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?’—so that they might accuse him.11 He said to them, ‘Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.’13 Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other.14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him” (Matthew 12:10-14).
Sunday Worship
Some claim that Sunday gathering and worship was introduced by an edict of one of the popes. But this is a mistake: it had its start in the fact that it was on the first day of the week that our Lord arose from the dead;and that upon that day and evening he met with his disciples, and expounded unto them the Scriptures, until their hearts burned within them.
Christ’s faithful disciple, Luke (the only non-Jewish Gospel writer) recalled the blessing after the Lord Jesus appeared to two disciples (Cleopas and an unnamed companion) on the way to Emmaus, saying: “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and opened unto us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32)
This occurred on the same Sunday that Jesus was raised. He had appeared to the women leaving the tomb (Matthew 28:1-9), then Mary Magdalene after her second visit to the tomb (John 20:1,16), then to Simon (Luke 24:34), and subsequently to the apostles (except Thomas, John 20:24) and others gathered together that evening (Luke 24:33, 36).
They waited another week (John 20:26) for further manifestations from the risen Master, when again he appeared to the Eleven, this time including Thomas. When the holy Spirit came at Pentecost that year, this also was on a Sunday (May 22, AD 33). From these experiences, it is not surprising that without any command from the Lord, the early Church fell into the custom of meeting together on the first day of the week as a commemoration of the joys begotten in them by our Lord’s resurrection and as a reminder, also, of how their hearts burned within them as he on that day of the week had opened unto them the Scriptures (Luke 24:45-49).
Acts 20:7 says that “upon the first day of the week … the disciples came together to break bread.”1 Corinthians 16:2 says that “upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him,” as a donation for some of the poorer brethren in Jerusalem. This text also indicates that the first day of the week became a common day for gathering and Christian worship. Revelation 1:10 says that John was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day,” on the isle of Patmos, evidently after the custom of special worship on the day of the week that Jesus had been raised from the dead.
As gradually the Church became free from close association with Judaism, and particularly after the destruction of Jerusalem and the general disruption of the Jewish system, the influence of the seventh‑day Sabbath waned, and more or less became attached to the first day of the week and the spiritual rest and refreshment of the New Creation, dating from our Lord’s resurrection in glory, honor and immortality.
For a time both days, Saturdays and Sundays, were observed by Christians. Saturday,the seventh day from Jewish custom (and because it furnished the best opportunity for reaching devout Hebrews, the class most likely to be interested in the gospel). Sunday, the first day, in commemoration of our Lord’s resurrection.
Ignatius, AD 75 (a student of the Apostle John, an Elder of the Church of Antioch, and a Christian Martyr,) in his writings mentions some approvingly as “no longer Sabbathizing, but living in observance of the Lord’s day, on which also our life sprang up again.”
When Did Sunday Become a Legal Day of Rest From Work?
The earliest record found in Scripture of the use of the name “Lord’s day” for the first day of the week is in Revelation 1:10 (AD 96), “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.”
The Encyclopaedia Britannica says: “By that name it is almost invariably referred to by all writers of the century immediately succeeding apostolic times….Thefirst writer who mentions the name of Sunday is Justin Martyr: this designation of the first day of the week, which is of heathen origin, had come into general use in the Roman world shortly before Justin wrote. [Second century AD]…As long as the Jewish-Christian element continued to have any prominence or influence in the Church a tendency more or less strong to observe Sabbath as well as Sunday would of course prevail….The earliest recognition of the observance of Sunday as a legal duty is a Constitution of Constantine, AD 321, enacting that all courts of justice, inhabitants of towns and workshops were to be at rest on Sunday, with an exception in favor of those engaged in agricultural labor.”
Not a Papal Mandate
It is, therefore, a misstatement to say that Pope Gregory or any other Pope first by decree instituted Sunday or the Lord’s day as taking the place of the Jewish seventh day Sabbath. The Decretals of Gregory do enjoin Sunday-keeping, saying, “We decree that all Sundays be observed, from vespers to vespers, and that all unlawful work be abstained from, so that in them trading or legal proceedings be not carried on.”But Constantine’s decree was in AD 321, while Gregory did not become a Pope until AD 590. Also Gregory refers to the fact that the work prohibited was already unlawful. Hence his decree is merely confirmatory of the laws of Constantine and other civil rulers preceding him.
The Roman Catholic church does not now, and, so far as we know, never did insist upon a strict observance of Sunday. In Catholic countries today both priests and people attend service in the morning, and give up the afternoon to various forms of pleasure—social recreational activity, etc
What Should True Christians Consider As Their Sabbath Day?
We rejoice that under divine providence the first day of the week, Sunday, is generally observed throughout the civilized world because the Lord’s consecrated few have special advantages and privileges of which they might be deprived were the observance of the day less general. The New Creation in Christ everywhere may surely rejoice greatly that they have the opportunity of setting apart one day in seven specially for worship, spiritual fellowship, etc. May all who are the Lord’s, not only use the day reverently, soberly and in spiritual exercise and pleasure, but, additionally, cast their influence in favor of its observance. To seek that by no word or act of theirs its observance be slacked amongst people in general.
But as some are deluded into thinking that the seventh day of the Jewish Covenant extended to all men as a bondage, so others have come under a similar bondage to the first day, laboring under the delusion that by divine appointment it became clothed with the outward sanctity accorded the seventh day among the Jews under their Law Covenant as a “house of servants,” “under the Law” and not under Grace.
Indeed many, not too religious themselves—professing no consecration—set great store by such observances, and would lose respect for professed children of God who neglected in any measure to utilize the first day of the week for worship and praise, or used it, on the contrary, for secular business.
We advise, for all the above reasons, that those who most clearly discern the liberty wherewith Christ makes free shall not misuse their liberty so as to stumble others; but use it rather as unto God and each other, for opportunities togrow in grace, knowledge, andall the fruits of the Spirit. We advise that within all reasonable bounds the Lord’s consecrated people, and, so far as their influence extends, their families—not only the minor children, but the adult members also—should keep Sunday faithfully.All should be instructed respecting the appropriateness of such a day of worship and praise, and respecting also the necessity of a day of rest from physical toil, not only for the Church, but for the world.
A Practical Good Benefit From The Fourth Commandment
While entirely free from the Jewish Law through Christ’s sacrifice (Colossians 2:14), we may, nevertheless, realize that since its provisions came from the Lord there is every probability that in addition to the typical significance of Israel’s ordinances there was also a practical good connected with them.
For instance, we may see a typical significance in the designation of certain animal foods as clean and fit for food, and of others as unclean and unfit for food; and although we may not understand just how or why some of these foods are unsanitary, unhealthful, we have every reason to believe that this is the case—for instance, swine, rabbits, eels, etc. We violate no law in eating these things, because we are not Jews; nevertheless, we should be rather suspicious of them, and rather on the alert to notice to what degree they are healthful or unhealthful; because we are bound to observe all laws of health, so far as we are able to discern them.
It is generally admitted, even by those who ignore the divine Word entirely, that a rest every seven days is advantageous, not only to the humankind, but also to the beasts of burden.
In France, following the Commune and its period of infidelity, it was determined to obliterate the Sabbath period of the Bible,one day in seven, and instead to have one day in ten as a rest day; but this was found to work unsatisfactorily, and however much the French desired to count on the metrical system they soon discovered that nature had a way of its own, and that nature stamps the number 7 with its approval in some unaccountable manner.
The New Creation needs no special advice respecting the proper use of the day, realizing that their lives as a whole have been consecrated, devoted to the Lord and to his service. Walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit, they will be seeking specially to use such a favorable opportunity to glorify God in their bodies and spirits,which are his. Praise, thanksgiving, meditations, and exhortations in accord with the divine Word and plan, will be in order.
Nor do we urge that the Lord’s Day, or Sunday, must be usedexclusivelyfor religious worship.God has not so commanded, and no one else has the right to do so.However, where our heart is, where our sympathies and love are, there we will delight to be, and we may safely conclude that every member of the New Creation will find his/herchiefest joy, his/her chiefest pleasure, in fellowship and communion with the Lord and with the brethren, and that, consequently, he/she will very rarely forget to assemble himself/herself with them, as the Scriptures exhort (Hebrews 10:25).
What we do voluntarily as unto the Lord, without being commanded, is all the more an evidence of our love and loyalty to him and his, and, undoubtedly, will be appreciated by him accordingly.
Israel’s Sabbath Typical
The Sabbath obligation of the Jewish Law announced at Sinai was given to no other nation than Israel, and consequently was obligatory upon no other people than the Jews. In giving the command of a seventh day rest to Israel, God identified their keeping of a 24-hour period with his own rest on a larger and higher scale. This leads us to infer that, aside from whatever blessing Israel obtained from a weekly rest, there was, additionally, a typical lesson in it for the New Creation; as indeed we find typical lessons in connection with every feature of that people and their Law.
The first mention of a Sabbath day in Scripture is in Exodus 16:23, to the Israelites, a month after the Exodus (see Exodus 16:1,2). This occasion was before the Israelites reached Mount Sinai and received the 10 Commandments.
Genesis 2:2,3 does mention the days of creation, and that “On the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.”However, nothing in Genesis indicates that God mentioned the Sabbath to Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob.
The seventh day, the seventh month, and the seventh year were all prominent under the Law. The seventh daywasa period of cessation from toil, a period of physical rest. The seventh monthwasthe month in which the atonement for sin, thus rest from sin, was effected. The seventh yearwasfor a release from bondage, servitude.
In addition, the seventh year multiplied by itself (7 x 7 equals 49) led up to the fiftieth or Jubilee Year, in which all mortgages, liens and judgments against persons and lands were canceled, and every family was permitted to return to its own estate—relieved from all the burdens of the previous errors, wrongdoings, etc.
The Antitypical Seventh Day
The antitype of Israel’s Jubilee year will be the Millennial Kingdom, and its general “times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets,” the antitype being immensely larger than the type, and applicable to mankind in general.
To explain the antitypical meaning of the “seventh day” in Bible chronology, here is an extract from an article titled “Coming Blessings” by Bro. David Rice:
“In Israel it was customary to labor for six days and rest on the Sabbath. That day was set aside from mundane labor, both in order to focus on spiritual values and worship, and for rest and refreshment of the physical frame from the burdens of daily life. “Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings” (Leviticus 23:3).
This is a picture of the experience of mankind laboring for six days, six millennia, [The 6 epoch periods are listed in the following Post: https://biblestudentsdaily.com/2017/08/16/epoch-periods-in-gods-plan/] under the burden of sin and death, but resting from these burdens on the seventh millennium, a day for holiness and worship of God. The prophet Ezekiel mentions the same concept in the lengthy nine-chapter prophecy about the Millennial Kingdom that closes his book. “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened” (Ezekiel 46:1). For six thousand years the world remains outside the gate of access to God. But during the Millennium they will come to Him with praise, worship, and for instruction.”
We Have a Sabbath Rest by Faith
The Apostle Paul says in Hebrews 4:1-11, ” 1 Let us, therefore, fear lest a promise having been left us of entering into his rest [Sabbath]any of you shouldseem to come short of it…. 3 For we which have believed doenter into rest[the keeping of the Sabbath]…. 6 Seeing, therefore, it remaineth that some must enter therein, and that they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief… 9there remaineth, therefore, a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
Here the Apostle sets before us a double lesson:
(1) That it is our privilege, at the present time,to enter into rest—a perpetualrest of heart, of mind, of faith in the Son of God. As a matter of fact, all who have truly accepted the Lord, and are properly resting and trusting in him, are thus enjoying the antitypical Sabbath, or rest, at the present time.
(2) He also points us to the fact that in order to maintain this present rest, and to insure entrance into the eternal Sabbath “rest that remains for the people of God,” the heavenly Kingdom, it will be necessary for us toabide in the Lord’s favor—continually to exercise toward Him faith, as well as obedience(to the extent of ability in thought, word and deed,) trusting in the Heavenly Father—who is both able and willing to bring us off “more than conquerors“ (Romans 8:37) and grant us a share in the great work of the antitypical Jubilee—when the grand rest will come at the end—to all those who shall finish their course faithfully with joy.
Our Sabbath rest starts with our full acceptance of the Lord Jesus as the High Priest who made the sacrifice, by which our sins were covered by the imputed merit of the Redeemer, the Messiah. It increases as we recognized Christ as the Head of the New Creation, and heir of the Abrahamic promise, and ourselves as being called of God to be Christ’s joint-heirs in that Kingdom of blessing. By submitting our all to God and accepting gratefullyand joyfully His divine mercy and promised guidance through a “narrow way” to the Kingdom, we can rest from our own works, that is, rest from all effort to justify ourselves; we confessed ourselves imperfect and unworthy of divine grace, and unable to make ourselves worthy.
The disciples entered this Sabbath rest on the day of Pentecost, day 50, which follows 7 x 7 days from Passover season. God there fulfilled His gracious promise, and granted that those who had accepted Jesus should enter into his rest—the keeping of the higher Sabbath of the New Creation.
“15See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15,16, KJV).
Brethren, we have work to do!
We are living at the end of the age – at a time when knowledge is so widespread and bountiful, that the average person living in a Metropolitan area will be exposed to more knowledge and input in a week than an entire family of 100 years ago would be exposed to in a year.
Ours is a time when communicationis literally instant; we can see and hear someone on the other side of the world and fluently converse with them when 100 years ago that conversation would not even have been possible.
Ours is a time when travel is so fast and so luxurious that it has made the entire earth navigable by an average individual whereas 100 years ago such travel would have taken months and great risk.
Ours is a time when, for the 1st time in all of human history, leisure time is not only available to the masses, it is expected and it is often considered a human right.Entertainment is no longer an unattainable dream for many; it is now one of the world’s largest and most influential industries!
Thus, we live in a time of distraction, temptation and selfish ambition. A time when personal discipline only applies when we feel like it and a time when integrity and absolutes have all but gone the way of the dinosaur.
Yet, in such a time as this, we as followers of Christ are bound by the scriptural admonition:
“15Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but aswise,16making the most of your time, because the days are evil“ (Ephesians 5:15-16,NASB).
What does it mean tomake the most of our time?
One would think that redeeming the time would be easier in this day of technological genius than ever before, but that is not the case, for with knowledge and technology come choices – lots and lots of choices, embedded in various shades of grey, all designed to capture our hearts and imaginations.
So, my task today is clear – it is to suggest to you a practical plan and path to better serve our Lord and Master – at the expense of ourselves. We will suggest 6 basic principles to focus on and with each, attempt to relay some personal experiences of my own journey as I attempt to do what you are attempting to do – that is, to live selflessly, humbly and sacrificiallyunto death. This is based on my 14 year journey thus far, with Christian Questions.
The word for redeem is only used 4 times in the New Testament. Twice it is in the context of our personal responsibility towards managing our time – our theme text and Colossians 4:5 and twice in the context of Jesus redeeming us from the curse of the Law and bringing us into the adoption of sons.
Thus we can easily see the meaning as Christ nailed the Law to the cross and made it of none effect as it was now replaced with son-ship, we also are required to nail the world, the flesh and the devil and all their demands upon us to our cross and replace them with a clean slate of the only thing we have to offer our Lord in sacrifice – OUR WILLas expressed through how we spend our time.
VISION
“Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18, KJV).
Remember what we just spoke about? With knowledge and technology come choices – lots and lots of choices, embedded in various shades of grey, all designed to capture our hearts and imaginations.
So how do you find the vision that supersedes all these things?
Hence, the secret for redeeming the time relating to establishing a clear vision on the MOST IMPORTANT THING which is based on the 1st commandment:
Thou shalt have “NO other gods before ME“ (Exodus 20:1-17).
“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways”(James 1:8, KJV).
This 1st commandment is one of internal application—it happens inside you. You decide in your heart and mind who or what your God is, and the result of that decision is played out in several of the other commandments.
Focus hard on this! Be brutally honest with the mirror! Who is, what is my God.
“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon”(Matthew 6:24, KJV).
Imagine the quality of your thoughts when the Almighty is “true north”!
“2Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. 3For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry,wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. 4Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith” (Habakkuk 2:2-4, NRSV).
KNOW YOUR VISION! You must HAVE Vision!
Here is Jesus’ vision:
“1Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart” (Hebrews 12:1-3, NRSV).
My mission: Honor God…
Fifteen years ago I came upon a personal crossroad with this, for I knew that I was not using specific talents directly in the Lord’s service. Troubled, I prayed for opportunity– I prayed for months…
Our vision is the big, panoramic picture of our passion and purpose.
Our vision is like the compass that gets us focused in the right direction, and our priorities are what help us determine which roads to take to get us to our “true north.”
PRIORITIES
Priorities are the necessary ordering of the details of our life.
The secret for redeeming the time relates to establishing precise priorities. Here are some principles:
“Husbands, love your wives” (Ephesians 5:25, NASB).
“Fathers… bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord“ (Ephesians 6:4, NASB).
“But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8, NASB).
“… let us do good to all people” (Galatians 6:10, NASB).
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth“ (2 Timothy 2:15, NASB).
KNOW THE TRUTH!
“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you” (Job 15:12, NASB).
“Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ“ (Galatians 6:2, NASB).
All of these and more, must, of necessity be melded together into a harmonious recipe for humble and focused service to the Glory of God!
There is always another road to choose and there is always another internal battle to be fought. Armed with vision and priorities, we are able to choose rightly, even if our humanness would rather not.
“For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please” (Galatians 5:17, NASB).
Here are Jesus’ priorities:
At the beginning:
“And He said to them, ‘Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?'” (Luke 2:49, NASB)
During:
“Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”… 34Jesus said to them, “My food [my nourishment] is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish“ (John 4:31,34, NASB).
His work At the End:
“Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice“ (John 18:37, KJV).
KNOW YOUR PRIORITIES – you MUST HAVE Priorities!!
Sometimes we look at those in a particular service and think how naturally suited they are for that experience and this is often true… BUT:
The appearance of effortless service comes ONLY
as a result of
practice, painandperseverance,
all of which must result from the right focusand activity!
Br. Rick Suraci mentioned in his discourse that each radio broadcast hour represents about 8-10 hours of effort… two hours of radio per week… approximately 719 programs per year and counting… Generally, no weeks off… There is a priority to GET THE JOB DONE because the Lord has GIVEN US this opportunity, [a gift from the Heavenly Father].
We may not always get our priorities right the 1st time, but as long as our vision is strong we can reset!
When we have truly established our priorities based on the big picture, there will naturally develop a deep sense of urgency, for nothing will be more important than following through on that which has proven to be most important!
URGENCY
The secret for redeeming the time (which really is no secret at all) is to maintain urgency, and it is based on the 10th Commandment: Thou shalt NOT Covet.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17, ESV).
The 10th Commandment like the 1st is an internal commandment – no one can really know if you are living a covetous life because this takes place in the heart and mind. Coveting is expressed on the outside only when it is firmly rooted on the inside!
Bottom line – if you have a covetous heart for what others have, you do NOT have an urgent heart towards the vision – you can’t have both…
Listen to the urgency in the following Scriptures [as shared earlier]:
“2Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. 3For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. 4Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith (Habakkuk 2:2-4, NRSV).
Urgently strain forward towards that which is most valuable!
“12NOTthat I have already obtained itor have already become perfect, but I PRESS ON so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13Brethren,I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do:forgetting what lies behindand reaching forward to what lies ahead,14I press on toward the goalfor the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; 16however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained“ (Philippians 3:12-16, NASB).
Here we can see the vision and priorities in place and the deep urgency to fulfill them. Without urgency, vision and priorities are merely theoretical – kind of like New Year’s resolutions…
Here is Jesus’ urgency:
“49I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled! 50But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!” (Luke 12:49-50, NASB).
Success in sacrifice is most often born out of failure. To fail with great intention, over and over again is to live in the hand of God’s mercy – and that is success!
Over years of Christian Questions Radio Program there were (and are) many, many times that the stress and strain of the responsibility are overwhelming – Not knowing what topic to work on next, not having time to develop a topic, Sunday night anxiety when expansion started and the format changed… What kept it always moving forward was the deadline– the urgency that the only thing that mattered was the next broadcast!
What deadline do you have???
[“BIBLE Students DAILY’s” answer: Likewise it is our DEADLINES — the “deadline” of each sharing of Scriptural encouragement to those around us which is like “THE URGENCY METRONOME” of each week with each tick of the “Metronome” marking another sharing of the Gospel message day by day, no matter if hospitalization, household/personal sickness, answering readers’ correspondence, computer/power failures, personal Bible Study or the attacks of the Adversary to have this sharing of God’s Word stopped or through any other 24/7 valleys of experience are encountered, just as our brethren all throughout the world do experience so as to bring—even if it were only one dear reader’s heart and mind as close as possible to GOD through Christ in order to bring the Heavenly Father GLORY, HONOR, PRAISE and JOY—a joy above all joys if only we could, because just to feel GOD’s PERFECT RIGHTEOUS LOVE—IT IS BETTER THAN LIFE ITSELF!!! To feel GOD’s PERFECT (in justice, wisdom and power) LOVE, comes through GREATPAIN,GREAT REJECTION by those around for righteousness sake, GREAT PERSEVERANCE and MUCH joyful in the Lord WORK in the Heavenly Father’s service as our HOPE IN CHRIST, drives the desire of belonging to no other than Christ and by GOD’s grace, reaching the summit of the mountain—OVERCOMING that which the Heavenly Father desires, and having given up ALL THINGS of the FLESH – to GAIN CHRIST – AND GAIN HIM FOREVER!]
The 1st three steps are the necessary elements we must have in place to truly redeem our time. These next three things are the “how to” part of the equation. They represent what must be in place in our hearts and minds to back up and execute the vision, priorities and urgency we have chosen. Next comes inspiration.
INSPIRATION
Inspiration is that which feeds and lifts the heartso that it may overcome.
The secret for redeeming the time related to living an inspired life is to find those things which inspire your spiritual growth– drink them in!
Inspiration works best when we have someone whose struggle can be observed.
“7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfectin weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses,insults, hardships,persecutions, and calamities.
For when I am weak, then I am strong”
(2 Corinthians 12:7-10, ESV).
There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of Biblical accounts, promises and prophecies that we are at liberty to make our own, for the sake of inspiring us to redeem the time. And what about the lives of our own brethren? Look at who inspired the Apostle Paul.
“For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even YOU, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?” (1 Thessalonians 2:19, NASB).
The Apostle Paul drew strength from his brethren – Can we not do the same Brethren?!
Here is Jesus’ inspiration:
“41So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42“I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me” (John 11:41-42, NASB).
Jesus exemplified to everyone there that his strength came from our Heavenly Father!
We can only imagine the depth of Jesus’ inspiration, for he knew the Father, he knew the angels, he knew the prophecies and he knew his mission.
Inspiration is not necessarily delivered in exhilaration and victory. On the contrary, it is often found in those lonely and desperate times of struggle, doubt and fear and it quietly carries you through your present tempest to where you can again find secure footing.
Over these 14 years, inspiration has come in many ways:
Simply proving the Truth through Scripture to others;
Effecting someone’s life by talking to and affecting a specific listener on a specific topic;
Teaching the Kingdom;
Watching the incredible sacrifices of so many other brethren—who sacrifice quietly and tirelessly to do the job for the glory of the Heavenly Father
Being touched countless times by God’s grace in the struggle to prepare for the programs, talks, etc…
Prayers, support and accountability of the brethren.
In somehow or other GOD BLESSES YOUR EFFORTS after you have prayed and talked to the FATHER asking Him to “PLEASE HELP ME.”
Inspiration provides us with the desire to rekindle our vision, reset our priorities and restart our urgency. But inspiration alone cannot keep us there! For inspiration to truly play its part, it must be accompanied by its lesser known and certainly less attractive “younger brother,” “perspiration.“
PERSPIRATION
Perspiration is the result of the continuous exertion that stems from being fully engaged.
“6Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7, NASB).
So there is rest in the spirit, yet…
“8Be of sober spirit, be on thealert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world” (1 Peter 5:6-7, NASB).
Nothing replaces hard work.
We hear the adage – work smarter not harder and this is true, yet for the New Creation we are to work smarter that is through the spirit – and therefore be able to work harder and more productively at those things of greatest importance.
Why would we be willing to sweat?
“7But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted asloss for the sake of Christ.8More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9and may be found in Him, not having a righteousnessof my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead“(Philippians 3:7-11, NASB).
Now, here is an example of a Jesus’ “perspiration” experience:
“41And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, 42saying, ‘Father, if You are willing,remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.’43Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. 44And being in agonyHe was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. 45When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, 46and said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation’” (Luke 22:41-46, NASB).
The more fully engaged we are in the work, the more we find that the greatest effort is often not the work itself, rather it is the effort to position and condition ourselves for that work.
One of my greatest personal lessons from the radio work is this:
We all have perceived limits of what we are capable of giving in service. IF we lay those limits at the feet of the Lord,He may, IF WE ARE WILLING, stretch our perceived capacity a little at a time so we can stretch our perceived limits to be more in line with our actual potential. BE ENGAGED!
With the perspiration of complete engagement in place, there remains but one thing to give a complete picture of redeeming our time. It is a simple thing, yet often overlooked when we set our minds to a service. It is consistency.
CONSISTENCY
Consistency is the continual long term application of all those things necessary towards faithfulness.
Hence another secret for redeeming the time:
Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never give in!!!
“Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crownof life” (Revelation 2:10, NASB).
How do we check ourselves to be sure that we are consistently following the right path, the right thoughts, the right attitudes and the right actions?
“4Rejoice IN the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise,dwell on these things” (Philippians 4:4-8, NASB).
Now, here is Jesus’ inspiration:
“28And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? 29And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28-31, KJV).
Consistency in an effort, is perhaps the least glamorous of all its elements. There is no excitement of an idea, no newness of a project, no giddy anticipation of a beginning. Consistency shines in the quiet times of monotony, in the bruised moments of failure and in the darkness, when the unknown and unsung perseverance of will beckons us to get up one more time and press onby the GRACE [unmerited favor, undeserved kindness]of GOD!
Now see if you can identify your vision, priorities, urgency, inspiration, perspiration and consistency in the following Scriptures:
Psalms 37:1-8 (NASB):
“1 Do not fret because of evildoers, be not envious toward wrongdoers.2 For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb. 3Trust in the LORD and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. 4Delight yourself IN the LORD; And HE WILL give you the desires of your heart. 5Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and HE WILL do it. 6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. 7Rest IN the LORD and waitpatiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. 8Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing
Ephesians 5:1-21 (NASB):
1Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2and walk in love,just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. 3But immoralityor any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; 4and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.5For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7Therefore do not be partakers with them; 8for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light9(for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 12for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. 14For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.” 15Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16making the most of your time, because the days are evil.17So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 21and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.”
Luke 12:31-34(NASB):
“31But seek [PRIORITIES] [“ye first” [URGENCY] – added in Matthew 6:33] His kingdom [VISION], and these things will be added to you. 32“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom [INSPIRATION]. 33“Sell your possessions and give to charity [PERSPIRATION]; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. 34“For where your treasure is, [CONSISTENCY] there your heart will be also.”
OPPORTUNITY
Opportunity can present themselves to us when we mentally make room for them.
“18But someone may will say, ‘You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.’ 19You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?'” (James 2:18-20, NASB).
“(20) Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. (21) And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it'” (Isaiah 30:20-21, NRSV).
Opportunities can be accepted when we spiritually make room for them.
“4For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5, NASB).
Opportunities can flourish when we prayerfully feed and nurture them.
“16Rejoice always; 17pray without ceasing; 18in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19Do not quench the Spirit; 20do not despise prophetic utterances.21But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;22abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-22, NASB).
Reference and Acknowledgment
This post is thanks to the words on the words of great, great inspiration and encouragement IN CHRIST shared by Br. Rick Suraci at the Bible Students’ General Convention in 2012 in his discourse titled “Redeeming the Time” which can be viewed at the following link (and/or YOUTUBE video presentation below) : https://youtu.be/FWKHN8go1o4
The “CHRISTIAN QUESTIONS” team of Brothers and Sisters IN CHRIST are to be commended for their inspiring work in the Heavenly Father’s service, shining the light of the Gospel message to the world of viewers and listeners who’s faith IN CHRIST can be edified and built up through each program they share, which is jam-packed with questions and Scripturally supported answers to provide aid to each follower of Christ, and bring glory, honor and praise to the Heavenly Father through CHRIST Jesus—the Captain of our Salvation. The Christian Questions website: http://christianquestions.com/
A transcription of the below video from a willing, Beloved IN CHRIST, volunteer contributor (which helped to form this post) is another reason for this post and so may it be said “Thank YOU Beloved Brothers and Sisters IN CHRIST for YOUR labours of LOVE IN CHRIST.” May our Heavenly Father’s bless and keep you HIS, according to HIS perfect WILL, until by GOD’s GRACE, we are with our Heavenly Father, Jehovah, and His Son—our Head, Christ Jesus.
The URL of this post is: https://biblestudentsdaily.com/2017/09/20/redeeming-the-time/
When down hearted and discouraged At the trend of life’s affairs, Seek,alone, the quiet places; Give yourself to earnest prayers.
There’s a hint for us, emphatic, In the way our Savior walked; In the open, solitary, Oh, how oft with God he talked.
For all troubles that infest the Pilgrim’s tortuous, earthly way, Holy Writ sets forth the antidote— Importunately pray.
I rejoice that God has told us Always, how to overcome; How the victory is realized, The finished fight is won.
We may often feel dejected, But we never need despair, If we seek, with Christ, the mountain, There to wrestle long in prayer.
Pray until the heavens’ open, And the earth recedes from view; Till in all our fiery trials, God’s grand purposes shine through.
L. Hatcher
THE PRAYERS OF THE NEW CREATION
PRAYER TO GOD, communion with Him, is a great privilege and an evidence of His favor. God does not grant us this privilege, however, in order that He might be informed of our desires, for since we are imperfect ourselves our desires cannot be perfect: “We know not what things to ask for as we ought;” and He does for us better than we know how to ask or think. Nor does God permit us to pray to Him that we may inform Him regarding matters here; for He knoweth the end from the beginning, as well as every intervening step. But He has instituted prayer for our benefit and comfort and instruction.
The object of prayer is to bring the heart and the mind of the child of God into contact with the heart of God, that he may be enabled thus most fully to realize the Fatherhood of God, His love and His deep interest in every item of our welfare; that in deep affliction we may unburden our hearts to God and thus have forcibly brought to our attention His love and care and wisdom—for our encouragement, not His; for ourstrengthening, not His, and for our joy.
This opportunity is not for us to instruct Jehovah how to arrange matters for the best, but to bring our hearts to realize Him as the Center of wisdom and power, that having unburdened our hearts, we may be prepared to listen for His answer and advice through His Word. And he whose knowledge of prayer is confined to the meager information he has imparted to God with “much speaking,” and who has never learned to listen for the answer to his prayer from the Word of God, has, as yet, measurably failed to appreciate the object of prayer.
Earnestness in God’s service will bring His children to Him frequently, to realize at His feet His sympathy with them in the difficulties, discouragements and trials of life, as well as to ask His guidance and overruling of every affair of life, and through His Word to hearken to His wisdom, which will enable them to serve Himacceptably.
The province of prayer is to ask for only such things as God has already declared Himself well pleased to grant. And while we may freely speak to Him as a Father, and tell Him how we understand His Word, and the confidence and trust we have in its ultimate fulfilment, yet we must not only avoid telling the Lord of our will and our plans, and what we would like, but we must avoid and put far from us any such spirit, and must recognize, and bring ourselves into full accord with His will and His plan for accomplishing it. If this thought were appreciated, it would cut short some of the “long prayers,” “much speaking,” and “vain repetitions” by which some endeavor to instruct the Lord in their wishes regarding every matter under heaven. It would send them speedily to the Word of God to search diligently the Plan of God that they might labor as well as pray in harmony with it.
While assuring us that the Father cares for us, and is well pleased to have us come to Him with sincere hearts, the Master informs us of the conditions upon which we may expect an answer. He says, “If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”—John 15:7.
“ABIDE IN ME”
The conditions of the above statement, or promise, are two; the first is, abiding in Christ. But what is it to abide in Christ? Only those can abide in Christ who are in Christ, who have come into Him by faith, repentance andconsecration; and to abide in Him means that the faith will abide, the repentance for sin and the opposition to it will abide, and the consecration to the Lord and His service will abide, and it will be manifest that our will has been wholly consecrated—swallowed up in the will of Christ.
The other condition is also a weighty one: “If My Word abide in you.” Ah! how evident it is that our Lord meant to associate Himself and His Word, the Scriptures, in the minds, in the hearts, in the lives of all who are truly His! They must search the Scriptures to know the will of the Lord; to know what He has promised and what He has not promised; to know what they may ask and what they may not ask; and, ascertaining these, one fully consecrated—one controlled entirely by the will of God—will not want to be, to have, or to do anything except that which will be pleasing to the Lord in respect to himself.
When this position has been reached, the will of Christ governing him, the words of Christ abiding in him, we can readily see that whatever would be asked by one thus well informed with respect to the Divine promises and fully submissive to the Divine will would be things which the Father would be pleased to grant in answer to his requests.
These requests would probably be as simple as was the Master’s petition when He prayed, “Not My will, but Thine, be done!” (Luke 22:42.) In such a condition prayers are always answered; but in such a condition the prayers would be very modest. One’s prayers under such circumstances would be more a thanksgiving for blessings, an expression of confidence and trust, and the committal of his way unto the Lord, confidently realizing the promise that to him under such conditions, all things (even seeming disasters and troubles) shall work together for good. Hence, whatever came, such a one could realize his prayer answered. He could rejoice evermore because he is prepared to rejoice in tribulation as well as in prosperity, in the path of service. He has no will to oppose whatever God permits, knowing that it will work out good.
Such, amongst the Lord’s people, could not pray that their own will be done; for they have no will except God’s. Those who abide in Christ, and in whom His Word abides, can pray for their enemies and those who despitefully use them and persecute them, though they cannot pray God to open the blinded eyes of their enemies at once, nor in their way. Realizing from the indwelling Word of God’s promise that the blinded eyes shall all be opened to the Truth, they can abide His time. Going to God in prayer they may express their forgiveness of their persecutor, their interest in him, and their patient waiting for the day when “the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the whole earth as the waters cover the sea”—ocean deep—and His will shall be done on earth even as it is done in heaven.—Isaiah 11:9.
ANSWERS OFTEN DELAYED
The answer to our prayer is not always granted immediately; but after we have made sure that our requests are in accord with the promises, those things which lie very close to our hearts become our continual prayer, associating in our minds with all of life’s duties and interests, the heart gravitating continually toward the thing we have desired of the Lord, and on suitable opportunities repeating to Him the request. This is the kind of prayer which the Lord commended, saying, “Men ought always to pray and not to faint.” (Luke 18:1.) The Lord’s people ought to continue asking for the right things with some degree of persistency, and should not grow weary, hopeless, faithless, faint in their hearts.
Doubtless there are many reasons why the Lord does not promptly grant all of our requests which are in accordance with His will, in harmony with His Word. We may not know all of these reasons; but some of them are apparent. Undoubtedly one reason for the Lord’s delay in answering us is often to test the strength and the depth of our desires for the good things that we request of Him.
For instance, He informs us that He is more willing to give His Holy Spirit to us who ask than are earthly parents to give good things to their children. Yet the giving of His Holy Spirit is a gradual process; and we are enabled to receive it only in proportion as we are emptied of the worldly or selfish spirit. It requires time to become thus emptied of self and prepared for the mind of Christ; in some it requires longer for this than in others; but all need emptying in order to receive the refilling.
He that seeketh findeth, but the more he seeketh the more he findeth; to him that knocketh it shall be opened, but his continual knocking and his increasing interest in the knocking means his increasing desire to enter, so that as the door of privilege, of opportunity, swings slowly open before him, his courage and his strength increase as he seeks to avail himself of the opening. Thus every way the blessing is greater than if the Lord were to answer the petitions hastily.
We are to think of our Heavenly Father as rich and benevolent, kind and generous, yet wise as well as loving. We are to suppose that He will have pleasure in giving us the desires of our hearts if those desires are in harmony with His plan, which He has already framed on such lines as to include not only our very highest and best interests, but the highest and best interests of all His creatures. Then, whatever comes, His well-informed children can have all the desires of their hearts, because their hearts are in full accord with the Lord; and they desire nothing of the Lord except the good things of His purpose and promise.
“DESIRE, UTTERED OR UNEXPRESSED”
When thus considered, not as a begging arrangement, nor as an occasion of instructing the Lord as to our wills, but as a season of union and communion of heart withthe Father, in which we may relieve our burdened or perplexed hearts and realize Divine sympathy, calling to mind Divine promises, reviewing Divine care, and expressing our confidence in God’s many promises, thus bringing those promises afresh and close to our hearts, as though God now audibly uttered them in our hearing—thus considered, how proper, yea, how necessary is prayer to the true child of God! He cannot live without it. To break off this communion would be like stripping a tree of its leaves; their removal would stunt and hinder its development.
But to suppose that Christian life depends solely upon prayer without earnest study of God’s Word, is like supposing that a tree could flourish from its leaves only, without roots and soil. Both are needful. As good soil and roots will produce leaves and fruitage, so, likewise, the promises of God’s Word absorbed by us will naturally lead to good works and to communion with God in prayer, without which the fruits of the Spirit would soon wither and disappear.
No wonder, then, that Jesus both by precept and by example said, “Watch and pray”(Matthew 26:41), uniting the conditions necessary to our development. Some prayand neglect to watch; others watch and neglect to pray. Both these errors are serious; and it is not possible for us to decide which is the more serious neglect, since either would work disastrous loss of the great “prize” for which we are running.
Nowhere is prayer defined as a duty, though its necessity is stated. The Father desireth such to worship Him as worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23); and it would be contrary to this principle to define prayer as a duty, and to stipulate a set time or place or a formal manner. The earnestness of the service and the peculiarity of the circumstance will regulate the frequency and the subject matter of prayer.
No form of prayer is furnished in the Scriptures. Even the Master, when asked by the disciples for instruction on the subject, gave them, not a form to repeat, but merely an idea or example of how to arrange their prayers to God. He did not say, Pray this prayer, but, “After this manner pray ye.” Our prayers, then, should be after this manner—not an assortment of extravagant demands, but the simple expression of the earnest heart: first, acknowledging and paying homage to God as our Father, the Almighty and Hallowed One; second, expressing our expectation and trust that His Kingdom is coming according to promise, and our eagerness for it, and for the time when His will shall be done on earth as in Heaven; third, our reliance upon Him for “daily bread,” which He has promised us; fourth, our acknowledgment that our ways are not perfect and of our reliance upon His favor (granted through Christ Jesus) for forgiveness; and our willingness to exercise forgiveness toward our debtors, toward those who trespass against us.
“Israel—A Prince With God.” Reprints of the Original Watchtower & Herald of Christ’s Presence: R.2864. http://www.htdbv8.com/1901/r2864.htm Here is a passage from this Reprint article (R.2864):-
Israel—A Prince With God
Golden Text:—“Men ought always to pray and not to faint.”—Luke 18:1 .
FLEEING from his father’s home, Jacob traveled a distance of nearly five hundred miles to Chaldea, the original home of his grandfather Abraham, where his uncle Laban still lived. His esteem for the promise of God had made him a pilgrim and a stranger, a wanderer from home, just as Abraham’s faithfulness to the call had taken him from home in the opposite direction. While the blessings God had promised to Jacob were earthly and temporal, and in these respects differed from the promises which are made to spiritual Israelites, nevertheless, in order to prove Jacob’s worthiness of the blessings—in order to test his faith in God’s promises, he was permitted to pass through various trying experiences and disappointments. One of these was a love-affair with Rachel, his cousin, for whom he served his uncle in all fourteen years, seven before he got her as a wife, and seven years afterward; his uncle taking a dishonest advantage of him in the arrangement. Nevertheless, we see Jacob’s patience and persistency, and note with pleasure that he never for a moment seems to have doubted the promises of God that he should be blessed as the inheritor of the Abrahamic promise.
“Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord,” would seem to apply well to Jacob’s career. So energetic was he in Laban’s service, so successful in all that he undertook, so persevering, that his uncle soon considered his service indispensable, and was glad to make favorable terms with him to have him remain and take chief charge of his property. Shrewdly Jacob bargained for an interest in the increase of the flocks and herds, etc., as his salary, and practically became a partner. There was nothing dishonest in his making a bargain with Laban that all the brown sheep and streaked and speckled goats should be his; nor was there anything wrong in his scientifically increasing the proportionate numbers of these colored and speckled animals. Laban became aware, before long, that he had a very capable and shrewd son-in-law, and, moreover, that the Lord’s blessing was with him. He fain would have had him remain permanently in Chaldea, but Jacob’s mind was full of the Abrahamic promise and of the reiteration of that promise to himself in the vision at Bethel, and he desired to return to the land of promise. He surmised, however, not without good cause, that his uncle would use force to restrain him from leaving, or to take from him some of the cattle, etc., which were properly his under the contract, and hence he chose an opportunity for leaving when Laban was absent.
Laban was evidently a powerful sheik, having many servants, and indeed Jacob had become so by this time, as the narrative shows that he was able, shortly after, to give away as a present to his brother Esau, 220 goats, 220 sheep, 30 camels, 50 head of cattle and 20 asses. But when Laban pursued, with the full intention of bringing back Jacob, his family and servants and flocks and herds, God interfered, warning Laban in a dream, saying, “Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob from good to bad”—margin. In consequence of this dream, and Jacob’s subsequent fair statement of his side of the case, showing clearly that he had not wronged Laban, but that Laban had repeatedly dealt hardly with him, he was let go on his way in peace.
If we draw a lesson from these incidents respecting ourselves, as heirs of the promises of God, spiritual Israelites, it would be that while our hearts are full of rejoicing in God’s promises we should not expect these to come to us wholly without our effort to secure them. If God has promised us spiritual blessings, we should put forth the effort to attain these, just as Jacob had put forth his efforts to attain the temporal blessings promised him. If adversity seems to go with us, and we meet with disappointments and more or less fraudulent conspiracy to take away from us our spiritual blessings, as Jacob met with disappointment which seemed for the time to interfere with his temporal blessings, we, like him, should patiently wait for the Lord,and trust and hope and labor on, knowing that the Lord will bring out the promised results in the end;knowing that he is on our part, and greater than all they that be against us.
We noticed in previous lessons the peaceabledisposition of Abraham, and also of Isaac, and now we note that Jacob not only left home and abandoned his share in the father’s house, and family property belonging to the birthright he had purchased, rather than quarrel with his brother, but that similarly in dealing with his uncle he refused to quarrel; he submitted himself; he trusted to the Lord to bring out the results rather than to his own strength for a conflict, either mental or physical. The Lord apparently would have the spiritual Israelites learn this lesson: “Seek peace and pursue it;” “Patiently wait for the Lord, and he will bring it to pass.” It is not of God’s arrangement that the spiritual Israelites shouldcontend with carnal weapons; but rather that they should submit themselves to the powers that be, learning the lessons which accompany such submission; and have developed in them the faith, the trust,the hope in God, necessary to a maintenance of their relationship to him, and growth in his grace.
As Jacob and his caravan approached Palestine his confidence in God, and his reliance upon the Lord’s promise to bless him, did not hinder him from taking a wise, generous, reasonable course for the conciliation of his brother. He did not stand upon his rights, and say: I purchased the inheritance, and was obliged to flee from it, and now I am differently situated, and will seek my first opportunity to take from Esau the cattle and substance which he received of my father’s estate which are rightfully mine, and should there be any quarrel in the matter, let him look to his own side, for right is on my side and I may exert as much force as is necessary to obtain it. Quite to the contrary of this, Jacob said to himself: I care nothing for the earthly inheritance, I abandoned that all when I left home, and I do not intend to lay any claim to it, now or ever. I merely got what Esau did not appreciate, and now, if he can come to realize that I am not after the property, it will assuage his wrath, his malice, his envy. On the contrary, I will be generous to him; I will send him a valuable present, thus showing him that so far from wishing to take from him earthly goods I am disposed to give him more. Moreover, I will send such a message by my servants as will show him that I treat him as my superior—my lord, and that I rank myself as his inferior. He shall see that I am neither wishing to take the honors of his birthright nor its earthly emoluments, though all of these were purchased—I resign freely all of these temporal good things and honors, that I may have the Lord’s favor, as represented in the original covenant with grandfather Abraham. He carried out his program successfully, and Esau became his friend. The lesson for spiritual Israelites along this line is,—We should not be sticklers for full justice and the last penny in earthly matters. Rather we may use the earthly mammon generously to make and keep the peace, and to forward our spiritual interests. Our readiness to do this will measure or gauge our appreciation of the spiritual interests, in comparison to which earthly blessings, “Mammon” should be esteemed as loss and dross.
A MODEL PRAYER.
Jacob’s prayerat the time he was anticipating a meeting with Esau is recorded in this lesson, and may be considered one of the best examples of prayer to be found in God’s Word. It is so full ofconfidence and trust in God. It recounts the original promise to Abraham, its renewal to Isaac, and its second repetition to Jacob at Bethel, and the Lord’s promise there given him, that he would bring him again to his home country. It shows the humilityof Jacob’s mind, which cried out, “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shown unto thy servant; for with my staff [only] I passed over this Jordan [when fleeing from home], and now I am become two bands [great companies].” He tells the Lord of his fear of Esau, yet shows that his fear is offset by his confidence in the Almighty. It was at this time, and doubtless in answer to this prayer, that the angel of the Lord appeared to Jacob, and so full of faith in the power of God, and in the promise of God was Jacob that he laid physical hold upon the angel, declaring that he would never let go until he got a blessing.
Here, the lesson proper, relating to Jacob’s struggle with the angel, comes in. The angel appeared as a man, as was frequently the case in olden times; Jacob had recognized him, nevertheless, and laying hold of him urged that he as God’s representative, sent to meet him, should give him a blessing. We cannot suppose for a moment that the angel was not powerful enough to release himself from the grasp of Jacob, and hence that the wrestling and struggle between them kept up until the morning light, the angel vainly pleading, “Let me go,” and Jacob as persistently holding on and declaring, “I will not let thee go unless thou bless me.” We must suppose, on the contrary, that the Lord was well pleased to bless Jacob, and had sent the angel for this very purpose; and that the circumstances were intended as an opportunity to draw out Jacob’s longing desires in this respect; to demonstrate to himself how much he really desired the Lord’s favor, the Lord’s blessing. And when the desired result had been obtained—when Jacob had evidenced the intensity of his desire for harmony with God and such blessing as God alone could give—then the blessing came—Jacob’s victory. Not that Jacob prevailed to get from God, through his angel, something the Lord was not pleased to grant; but that he prevailed to obtain the coveted blessing by manifesting thezeal, the energy,thepatience, and thefaith which God was pleased to see and reward.
The lesson of the spiritual Israelite in this circumstance is in harmony with our Lord’s words, “Men ought continuously to pray and not to faint.”God wishes us to be persistent, and our persistence measures and indicates the depth of our desires.
If the blessing in answer to our prayer does not come in the moment of asking we are to continue “instant in prayer,”—patiently waiting for the Lord’s due time, faithfully trusting him that he is willing to give the blessing which he promised, even though he may for a time withhold it with a view to our becoming the more earnest in seeking it.
Although Jacob was a natural man, not a “new creature in Christ Jesus,” nevertheless his prayer is a model one, in that he did not specify even the earthly things which had been promised him. All he asked was a blessing, in whatever manner the Lord might be pleased to give it. Alas, how many spiritual Israelites seem to have a much less keen appreciation of proprieties in such matters than had Jacob! Many ask and receive not because they ask amiss, for things to be consumed upon their earthly desires—wealth or fame or temporal good things. (James. 4:3.) How many forget that the Lord has already promised to take care of the temporal necessitiesof his spirit-begotten children, and to do for them better than they would know how to ask or to think. How few seem to remember that as new creatures our conditions and desires should be specially for the things that pertainto the new creature, and that it is this class of blessing the Lord invites us to ask for and to wrestle to obtain, assuring us that as earthly parents are pleased to give good gifts to their children, so our Heavenly Father is pleased to give the holy spirit to those who ask him. (Luke 11:13.)
If the Lord’s consecrated people could all be brought to the point where the chief aim in life, the burden of all their prayers, would be that they might have a larger measure ofthe spirit of the Lord, the spirit of holiness, the spirit of the truth, the spirit of Christ, the spirit of a sound mind, what a blessing it would mean!
If, then, they should wrestle with the Lord until the breaking of the day their hold upon him would be sure to bring the desired blessing. The Lord has revealed himself to his people for the very purpose of giving them this blessing; nevertheless, he withholds it until they learn to appreciate and earnestly desire it.
Jacob got the blessing and with it a change of name. He was thenceforth called Israel,which signifies “Mighty with God.” This new name would thenceforth be continually a source of encouragement to him, an incentive to fresh zeal and trust in the one whose blessing he had secured. All of Jacob’s posterity adopted this name. They were all known as children of Israel, or Israelites; for God acknowledged the name as applicable to all of the nation. Similarly, in antitype, we have Christ Jesus our Lord, the true, the antitypical Israel, the one who, through faith and obedience to the Father, has prevailed, has overcome the world and the flesh and the Adversary, and has received the divine blessing as the result of his struggle. He has been highly exalted and is declared now to be prince or ruler of the kings of the earth. He has sat down with the Father in his throne.—Revelation 1:5.
Nor does the analogy end here; for, as Jacob had twelve sons, so our Lord Jesus had twelve apostles; and these, and all who come into Christ through their ministry of the gospel, are accepted as the true, the spiritual, Israel. The same name belongs to all of these that belongs to the Head. As with fleshly Israel there were some who were “Israelites indeed,” and others who were not, but of the synagogue of Satan, in the spiritual Israel there are nominal and real Israelites; and only the latter will ultimately obtain the blessing and be joint-heirs with Jesus Christ their Lord. And the name, “Victor,” or “Mighty with God,” will be a name which will apply to everyone of the Lord’s faithful ones in the same manner that it applied to Jesus himself. Each one will be required to manifest his loyalty to the Lord, his faith, his trust, and only those who love the Lord and the promise he has made that they will hold on to his promise, and will not let him go without a blessing—only such will receive the great blessing, only such will be able to overcome the world, the flesh and the Adversary. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith”—in God and in his promises.
Have you ever watched a bird sleeping on its perch and never falling off? How does it manage to do this?
The secret is the tendons of the bird’s legs. They are so constructed that when the leg is bent at the knee, the claws contract and grip like a steel trap. The claws refuse to let go until the knees are unbent again. The bended knee gives the bird the ability to hold on to his perch so tightly.
From sleeping birds we can learn the secret of holding things which are most precious to us—honesty, purity, thoughtfulness, honor, character. That secret is the knee bentin prayer, seeking to get a firmer grip on those values which make life worth living. When we hold firmly to God in prayer, we can rest assured he will hold tightly to us.
“Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face evermore.”—Psalm 105:4
“The Prayer of the New Creature.”Reprints of the Original Watchtower & Herald of Christ’s Presence: R.4983.http://www.htdbv8.com/1912/r4983.htm
Here is a section from this Reprint article (R.4983):-
The URL for this post is: https://biblestudentsdaily.com/2017/08/23/importunate-prayer/
FAITHFUL when with tears thine eyes are dim, Faithful when Joy’s cup o’erflows its brim; Faithful when God seems to veil His face, Faithful when He crowns thy work with grace. Faithful, though thy loved ones turn aside, Lips that praised thee once, in harshness chide; Faithful, though success enwreathe thy brow, Faithful, should the world before thee bow. Faithful till hath fled life’s fleeting breath, Eager hands lie folded still in death.
“Faithful unto death!” Lord, day by day, Help me thus to keep the narrow way! Strengthen me to bear the scorn and shame – Portion of all those who take Thy name. “Faithful unto death!” When all is done, Cross is changed to Crown, the victory won, Let me hear Thee say, O blessed Lord, “Child, come enter into thy reward! Faithful thou hast been, come share with Me Glory, Honor, Immortality!”
Gertrude W. Seibert
Here is an excerpt from “Harvest Gleaning II” by Br. Charles T. Russell, page 121-124—
FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”
It will not be very long, dear fellow soldiers of the cross, until the battle will be over, the victory won; for the “King’s own” are called to victory and not to defeat. Our enlistment is in accord with the great plan of the ages which our Father previously mapped out, and we know that all His purposes shall be accomplished, that His Word which went forth for the calling of this little flock to joint-heirship with Jesus in the kingdom which is promised to be established and to bless all the families of the earth —that word cannot be broken, its fulfillment is sure. Yea, its fulfillment is nigh, even at the door.
Though we are in the world, but not of the world, we, nevertheless, are more or less affected by every matter which affects our neighbors; and hence in the great battle that is now impending between truth and error, between princes and people, between money and labor, and with more or less of right and wrong on both sides of all questions, the “King’s own,”the soldiers of the cross, will have some very trying experiences. It is the present time that the apostle emphasizes as “that evil day” — the period of special trial in the end of this age, saying, “Take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand in that evil day, and, having done all, to stand.” Analyzing these words, we see them to signify that in the end of this age there would be special trials of severe testing; but the apostle’s language also implies that the Lord will make special provision for the protection of His faithful ones, and that this will be an armor of truth, of knowledge, of information granted to them from the great armory, His Word, the Bible. The exhortation that we should take it implies that the Lord will not force it upon any, but to those who are in the right attitude of heart the doors of the armory will be open, and the proper armor supplied in due season, and that they must demonstrate their loyalty and obedience to the Captain by seeking this armor and putting it on. Those who do not thus yield obedience to the Captain’s word will not have the protectionnecessary for this time, and, as intimated in the text by the apostle, they will not be able to stand in this evil day.
Soldiers of the cross in previous times had not so much of the armor supplied, neither did they need the special armor that is needed now. They did not live in “this evil day.” The head knowledge that our grandfathers had respecting the divine plan will surely prove insufficient in this day of so-called higher criticism of the scriptures, evolution theories, theosophy and Christian Science. Whoever has not the proper armor necessary for the present time will be pretty sure to fall in this evil day, this day of special trial and testing; but he who puts on the armor of God, he who possesses the fruits of the Spirit,the Apostle Paul assures us shall never fall, but so doing an entrance shall be abundantly administered unto him into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Many of the tests of this evil day are already upon us, and, as the prophets have foretold, “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand.” (Psa. 91:7) These are falling away from the faith because in many instances they were not spiritual Israelites indeed, but as the Lord declares through the prophet, “Wherefore, because this people draw nigh to me with their lips while their hearts are far from me.” The Lord wants as members of the “King’s own” those who are at heart loyal to Him, loyal to all who have His Spirit and loyal to righteousness and truth. If we are ashamed of Him, ashamed of His brethren, or ashamed of His Word, we are not of the kind that He is seeking now. Those who are to be with Him, to share His throne and glory and to join with Him in the great work of emancipating the world from the power of sin and death during the millennium, must all be loyal at heart, to the core, and the various trials and testings now permitted will demonstrate the degree of loyalty. Let us, dear brethren, be loyal; and even if the time should come when we shall be misunderstood by our neighbors and friends, the children of this world, let us put our confidence in the Lord; let us fight the good fight of faith against sin and error and selfishness within and without, and thus doing lay hold upon eternal life.
* * * *
There is never a path so hidden, But God will show us the way, If we seek for the Spirit’s guidance, And patiently wait and pray.
ARE ye able to walk in the narrow, strait way, With no friend by your side, and no arm for your stay? Can ye bravely go on through the darkening night? Can ye patiently wait till the Lord sends the Light?
Are ye able to crush your soul’s longing for Love, Will ye seek for no friendship save that from above? Can ye pass through this world, lone, unnoticed, unknown, While your faith faintly whispers, “He knoweth His own?”
Where the feet of the Blessed One stood, can ye stand? Can ye follow His steps to a wilderness land? Are ye able to cast aside pleasure and fame? Can ye live but to glorify His precious name?
Can ye smile as His dear voice says tenderly “No,“ When “the field is so white,” and your heart yearns to go? Can ye rest then in silence, contented and still, Till your Lord, the Chief Reaper, revealeth His will?
Are ye able to lay on the altar’s pure flame That most treasured possession, your priceless good name? Can ye ask of your Father a blessing for those, Who see naught in your life but to scorn and oppose?
When the conflict twixt Error and Truth fiercer grows, Can ye wield the strong “Sword” against unnumbered foes? Can ye lift up the “Standard” e’en higher and higher, While His praises ye sing in the midst of the fire?
When ye see the Lord’s cause going down to defeat, Will your courage endure in the seven-fold heat? Will your faith keep you steadfast, though heart and flesh fail, As the New Creature passes beneath the last “Veil?”
Ah, if thus ye can drink of the Cup He shall pour, And if never the Banner of Truth ye would lower, His Beloved ye are, and His crown ye shall wear, In His Throne ye shall sit, and His Glory shall share! – Gertrude W. Seibert
Consecration
Here is an extract froman article titled “Present Truth” by Bro. Carl Hagensick in the Nov. /Dec. 1998 issue of “The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom” Magazine.
The acceptance of Christ as a personal Savior and a dedication to the principles of righteousness are seen by nearly all Christians as an essential to salvation. For many, however, this means no more than a simple belief: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:3; 8:3,7). Many Christians connect this with the concept that once one has been saved there is no chance of losing that salvation: “once in grace, always in grace.”
Quite to the contrary, the Bible’s view of belief is not mere passive acceptance. It includes an active commitment to the service of God, a complete consecration of one’s life to doing God’s will (Psalm 40:8). Consecration is seen as a voluntary surrender of one’s benefits under the ransom, the prospects of an earthly resurrection; thus one is in “jeopardy” of losing life forever if unfaithful to one’s consecration vows (1 Corinthians 15:30).
Even Paul did not “consider to have made it his own” (Philippians 3:13 RSV), but feared that he himself might become a “castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:27). It is little wonder that the Christian is admonished to be faithful “unto death” (Revelation 2:10).
The Christian commitment is not only to faithfulness but to learning from each of life’s experiences those lessons which will be helpful to him in his future work of blessing the human race. They are assured that they will have no temptation “but such as are common to man” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Commonality of temptation with their fellow men’ will qualify them to work side by side with their Master in his kingdom, for he has become a sympathetic high priest by the experiences he shared with his fellow man (Hebrews 2:17, 18; 4:15, 16).
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