The Apostle John seems very fond of these two words. Six times in his first epistle he uses these two words. He uses them in trying to show the believer’s relation to the blessed Lord Jesus. The seventh verse of this first epistle reads like this: “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light,” etc. The natural heart cries out, “How can this be, seeing He is the Son of God?” Yes, He was the second person of the glorious Trinity; but when He was baptized in Jordan the Holy Spirit came upon Him. You …
“And, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.”—Matthew 2:9
The virgin’s child; the Father’s Only Begotten Son: Immanuel! God with us! Let all the people clap their hands and shout for joy! Oh, the depths of meaning to mankind in that God-given name Immanuel! Heaven and Earth come together at His advent. An angel from the throne of God, suddenly coming upon the lowly shepherds at night, announces this stupendous event, while the light of God shines round about them. No wonder they were …
“And Peter answered Him and said, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water. And He said come” (Matthew 14:28–29). We have in this text most surely a picture of letting go and letting God.
God’s Word in dealing with a world covered with darkness and water—a world without form and void—was just one word, “Let.”
Think of all this word “Let” means for the old Earth on which we live. The Earth produces its fruits, its flowers, its fish, its flesh of animals and upon it live this human race because God said, “Let.” …
“But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in that law doth he meditate day and night.”—Psalm 1:2
“Follow your enthusiasms,” was the advice an old artist gave to a young one. The young artist loved to paint his dreams and the old man knew it. The old man knew that “the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” He liked painting with warm red blood pumping in it. So many are learning rules these days, but good as rules are, there comes a time in life’s productions when rules are buried in a sweep of fire …
There was one exhibit at the San Diego Fair which no one could pass unnoticed. Pigeons, pigeons, pigeons, hundreds upon hundreds gathered in the great open court. You would naturally wonder why they stayed so closely to a certain center and had become so tame, until you made your way to them and found the man on the stool in their midst dressed in Spanish costume selling wheat and chopped corn at five cents the sack. You, of course, bought a sack, and immediately you were covered with pigeons: there were three on your hat, two on …
“For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer,” Hosea 4:16.
At the door of the Tabernacle in the wilderness was an altar. It was an altar of brazen. It was called the brazen altar and the “altar of burnt offering.” Its design and description in detail may be found in Exodus 27:1–8. The brazen altar was situated and located in the court of the Tabernacle just before the open door. The altar was the most conspicuous object about the Tabernacle. “All priestly ministry and every act of worship were connected with it.”—Moorehead. By the altar alone could men draw near …
“He brought me to the banqueting house and His banner over me was love.” —Song of Solomon 2:4
The best banquets I ever saw were football banquets, given by some lover of the university to the victorious team. They ate! Oh how that crowd of big huskies ate. They didn’t pick over things and eat a fork full and set it aside. They cleaned up everything in sight. They sang the songs of victory. They shouted out their praise of heroes and they yelled for their university. There was not a dead moment. Every man was a live one and …
“I know thy words. Behold I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it; for thou hast a little strength, and has kept my word, and hast not denied my name.”—Revelation 3:8
There is still an open door in this church age in which we are living. We thank God for this and take courage, and with strong desire we want to enter it. It will not be open long. The time when the Laodicean period of the church age will cause our Lord to spew the professing church out of His mouth is very …
“I am the Almighty God; walk before me and be thou perfect” (Genesis 17:1).
God always sounds out His resources before he asks anything of any man. His is the “I am” before He calls Moses to take the people out of Egypt and unto Canaan land. He is the “I am” and “The Almighty God” before He calls Abraham to leave his own people, his own country, his own plans, his own choices, his own ways and walk before Him and be perfect.
Whenever God calls for a great conquest He shows His own glory, for all that God …
“Go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”—Luke 14:23
There is a picture of this compelling in the story of the Good Samaritan in the 10th chapter of Luke. We can take this story, this good news, this Gospel to a lost and beaten world, and it compels men to come into the Father’s house. We are not to go with the law. Praise God for that, but we are to go and preach this compelling Gospel of the grace of God to a world that has fallen …
