In This Issue:
Out of the Scary Dark
Don’t Just Display the Sword; Take It and Use It!
What Christ Is to the World
Christ’s Last Will and Testament
Seeking Jesus
Jesus, the Protector
Jesus Sees Our Sins
The Verdict
Volume: 962 June 17, 2024
Theme: Jesus
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Out of the Scary Dark
Author Unknown
While crossing a glacier, an Alpine traveler and his guide were forced into a crevasse where no human power could rescue them. At last, a small river was found that pierced the mountain of ice, which they followed into a dark, cold, and ever-narrowing passage. It finally ended in the roaring gulf of a larger sub-glacial river. To plunge into its gloom and whirl seemed to be a leap into the jaws of death, but there was no other alternative.
The guide made the plunge, crying, “Follow me.” They were tossed about the icy waters and deafened by its roar, but they were swept out into Chaumont’s summer air and green vale in a few moments.
Jesus has passed through the sullen stream of death. Because of what He did for us, we need fear no evil but shall find ourselves safely conducted to the summer-land beyond.
“Turn your face toward the Son, and the shadows will all fall behind you.”
Don’t Just Display the Sword; Take It Out and Use It!
C. H. Spurgeon
When a man gets a sword, you cannot be sure how he will use it. If a gentleman has purchased a very expensive sword with a golden hilt and an elaborate scabbard, he may hang it on his wall and exhibit it to his friends. Occasionally, he may draw it from the sheath and say, “Feel how keen the edge is!”
The precious blood of Jesus is not meant for us merely to admire and exhibit. We must not be content to talk about, extol, and do nothing with it. We are to use it in the great crusade against unholiness and unrighteousness. The precious blood is to be used for overcoming our obstacles and holy warfare. We dishonor it if we do not use it to that end.
What Christ Is to the World
Author Unknown
- The world’s Creator: John 1:1-3.
- The world’s Example: Mat. 16:24.
- The world’s Teacher: Mat. 7:28-29.
- The world’s Master: John 13:13.
- The world’s Saviour: Luke 19:10.
- The world’s Lord: Rom. 10:12.
- The world’s King: Rev. 11:15.
- The world’s Light: John 8:12.
- The world’s Life: John 14:6.
- The world’s Love: John 3:16.
Leonardo da Vinci took a friend to examine his masterpiece, “The Last Supper.” The friend remarked, “The most striking thing in the picture is the cup!”
The artist quickly took his brush and wiped out the cup as he said, “Nothing in my painting shall attract more attention than the Master!”
Christ’s Last Will and Testament
Author Unknown
- He left His purse to Judas;
- His body to Joseph of Arimathea;
- His mother to John;
- His clothes to the soldiers;
- His peace to His disciples;
- His supper to His followers;
- Himself as an example and as a servant;
- His Gospel to the world;
- His presence is always with God’s children.
I sought Thee when my heart was low,
I found Thee, and my hopes revived,
And all the world from me shall know
What comfort I from Thee derived;
All that I needed, all and more,
Thy presence did to me restore.
I laid my burden at Thy feet,
My head upon Thy tender breast,
Thy name of Love I did repeat,
And Thou didst understand the rest;
All that I needed, all and more,
Thy presence did to me restore.
I wept the sorrow of my heart,
And Thou mine eyes didst gently dry;
I sighed through fear that we must part,
But Thou didst whisper, “Ever nigh!”
It was enough, I asked no more,
Thy voice did all my life restore.
And now that life to Thee I’ll give,
With calmer trust and brighter joy;
In Thee, and for Thee, I will live,
To do Thy will my sole employ;
Thus, most secure to part no more
With that sweet joy Thou didst restore.
“Jesus used a borrowed tomb because He did not need it for long!”
I doubt not many of the Israelites, when they found that Moses or Aaron were the means of staying the plague among them, rushed to hide themselves under Moses’ or Aaron’s protective care. They rushed to God.
You that know Jesus to be such an effectual Intercessor with God, should you not run to save yourselves from the punishment of sin by throwing yourselves beneath His gracious mercy and protection?
Jesus sees sin not only in our outward acts but in the hidden source of evil, the hearts of man. No soft veil can disguise sin from Jesus’ penetrating eye. He has no illusions from our words as He is the Incarnate Truth and knows our hypocrisy and vice. Wherever we think we have hidden our sin, Jesus still sees it. Our sin was to Him as if a mask were torn off, and a skeleton face was revealed in all its hideousness. Knowing and seeing all He has, Jesus still suffered for all sinners. Oh, what wondrous love He has for the sinner!
The Verdict
Edited from an article by C. H. Spurgeon
I have seen a famous painting entitled “Waiting for the Verdict.” Such interest is displayed on every face in the courtroom! What fear and trembling are upon the prisoner’s countenance, in the face of his wife and the friends around him. What anxiety is seen!
If the jury and judge had given a favorable verdict, the picture would have been painted much differently. What joy would have been seen around the courtroom if the prisoner was acquitted.
It is impossible to bring a verdict of “Not Guilty” for you and me. We are undoubtedly guilty of sin and deserve the worst punishment handed down from the most honorable, righteous Judge. Because of the substitution of Jesus’ death for our sins and God’s divine grace, the Judge will give those who are saved the verdict, “There is now no condemnation.” What joy will be in the countenance of all that hear that from the declaration from God.
“It is a terrible mistake to understand Jesus as having been crucified by some especially bad people in the first century. Jesus was crucified by the highest reach of human religiosity, morality, and political justice.”
— Albert T. Mollegen