Daily Bread  -  October, 2008

by Robert J. Wieland

Psalm 130 is the cry of a burdened soul who knows that he is lost eternally and in disgrace, but for the much more abounding grace of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

It is the cry of King David when he was overwhelmed with guilt for his double murder of adultery and murder, when the king cried out in anguish, “Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me!” (Psalm 51:11). David knew he was lost forever, except for that “grace” of Christ. The pain of his guilt was tremendous.

If that anguish has come upon you, do not give up in despair; “the Savior of all men” still loved David, and He still loves you.

No matter how deep is the guilt of the sin that torments you, the Savior has not given up on you and you must not give up on Him.

The Good News in Psalm 130 is in verse 4: “There is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared [reverenced].”

Especially for the one who is in “the depths” is that promise precious!

Perhaps it is only those who have been in “the depths” who can appreciate the heights of that more abounding grace of Christ!

But don’t put the Lord’s grace on trial; don’t abuse it; walk softly, as did the exceedingly wicked King Ahab when he finally repented: “[King] Ahab put sack cloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before Me?” (1 Kings 21:27-29).

In a discussion we got hung up on a question about a little unknown boy. His unknown mother had baked him five little barley loaves, and cooked two small fishes, all to be his lunch. Whatever fun outing he had planned for himself that day, he changed his plans and went instead to hear Jesus preach. (That showed some faith, didn’t it?) At the meeting, his interest was such that he came down near the front and apparently mingled with the Twelve. Hungry late in the day, he wanted to eat his lunch as much as anybody else, but he heard Jesus tell the Twelve to feed the people, 5000. He heard the apostles bewail their lack of food, and childlike in his gladsome enthusiasm told Andrew that he would give his lunch to Jesus. (That showed a commendable denial of self for a hungry boy, didn’t it? Was he motivated by the love of Christ? Was he helping Jesus, or only as a 2-year old “helps” you sweep the floor?) See John 6:1-11.

Jesus accepted the little boy’s sacrifice, thanked His Father for the pitifully little gift in His hands, prayed for His blessing upon it, and forthwith fed the 5000 with its multiplied bounty.

Now for the question: did He NEED that little boy’s sacrificial lunch? If the child had refused to give it, could Jesus have fed that multitude?

Thereupon in our discussion, we split. Most said, “Yes, He could have brought manna down from heaven!” I asked, “Suppose we individually refuse to do our duty in telling the world the gospel message, can the Lord use someone else?” “Yes,” was the immediate response; “He’ll use the angels; they’ll finish the work!”

To me that sounded like a dangerous cop-out. Why bother to answer the Holy Spirit’s convictions of duty? Reach for your remote and flip on your TV. The angels will finish the work!

I maintained that the Lord Jesus needed that little boy’s gift of his lunch. Yes, He COULD have brought down manna from heaven, but He WOULD NOT any more than He could change those stones in the wilderness into bread (Matt. 4). I believe that little boy was tremendously important that day. Jesus really did need Him. (The conclusion of course is, He really needs you, too; if you cop out, someone will be lost.) Am I wrong??

The Book of Hebrews is excellent bedtime reading because it is brimful of GOOD News that rejoices hearts. We want to read in the Bible the truth that stretches our minds and hearts to “comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love (agape) of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:16-19). The mental exertion is well worthwhile!

For example, look at this from Hebrews: “The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God” (7:19).

That “better hope” makes us “perfect”! Ready for the second coming of Jesus. That’s the “better hope” of the New Covenant—the promises of God rather than our own weak, faulty promises (cf. Steps to Christ, p. 47).

Hebrews is a comment on the story of the 144,000 who stand before God “without fault” (Rev. 14:1-5; a literal number, or it could be a symbolic number; there is room in that wonderful group for you and me because Jesus promised us, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37; that promise is still good today!).

But the Book of Hebrews also has a stern warning for us: ”How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation ... ?” (2:3). “Neglect” means to forget, to disregard, to pass over thoughtlessly.

TV off, radio off, do what Jesus says: “Shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret” (Matt. 6:6). “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living [while I am still alive!]. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord” (Psalm 27:13, 14). All this is within that “shut door,” where you get to know “your Father which is in heaven” intimately.

You have a loved one for whom you are praying. Often our beloved family members are those whom we find most difficult to help spiritually; something in the past has built a wall between us. You plead in prayer, “Please, Lord, I don’t know what to do or say! Let some good angel lead

him/her to salvation.”

There is some special Good News in the Bible put there to encourage us: ”If anyone sees his brother [or sister] sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He [God] will give him [the one praying] life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death” (1 John 5:16, 17, NKJV). Let us glean the Good News:

(1) If you feel a heart-burden for the salvation of someone, you can know that it is the Holy Spirit who gives you that burden. He would never burden you to pray for someone who has committed the unpardonable sin.

(2)”Sin not leading to death” is obviously still sin, but it is sin which the sinner is capable of repenting of. (If it is never repented of, then of course it becomes “sin leading to death.”)

(3) The solution that God has for the problem is to give YOU “life” for that person, not somebody else or even an angel.

(4) The reason is that God knows that nobody else can be as efficient an agent in reaching that person as you can be.

(5) That means you need repentance yourself, great sensitivity, and insight, to discern what to do or say and what not to do or say. Sometimes the first good step is to say nothing, to get out of the way of the Holy Spirit, to give Him some freedom to work without your interference. It can be a real blessing to learn how to pray for someone without nagging him or her.

(6) When and if it comes time to say something, then is when the Holy Spirit will “give [you] life” for that person; knowing what and how to say it—that’s worth praying about VERY seriously!

(7) And just remember, the Lord loves that person more than you do!

The Holy Spirit inspired the writing of the Book of Hebrews. This means that the Lord intended that the Book will be understandable for common people—in other words, good “bedtime reading.”

“We see Jesus,” it says (2:9); out of the shadows and confusion that so often prevail in our thinking, here is a clear, sunlit view of the Son of God:

(a) He is “the express image” of His Father’s person, “the brightness of His glory” (1:3). He is at the very top.

(b) He “upholds all things by the word of His power.”

(c) The same “word” that holds the Milky Way holds you and me from sin; it saves us deeply from it.

(d) The correct word that Hebrews uses is that it “purges” us from sin—a thorough cleansing. The purging process goes down into the heart and leaves us “at-one” with the Lord and at one with His vast unfallen universe.

(e) This high and holy Son of God is worshipped by all the angels.

(f) Because of His love for righteousness He is “anointed with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows” (vs. 9). In simple language, that means that Jesus is the happiest Person in all the universe.

(g) That is because He endured the cross—on which He died the second death for “every man.” That death is the final punishment for sin—the withdrawal of the Father’s reconciling face—what the Son of God endured as He hung on the cross.

(h) The holy angels minister this supreme happiness of victory over death to us “who shall be heirs of salvation.”

(i) We cannot endure the pain of the “second death,” but we can learn to appreciate what it cost Jesus to save us. This is what the Book of Hebrews wants to tell us—it’s a Book about the heart.

(j) Verse 14 (chapter 2) reminds us that in His incarnation Jesus “likewise took part of the same” nature as fallen men have, and “through [that] death He paralyzes Satan who had the power of death” (read it!).

(k) The death of Jesus did not destroy Satan; we still have him to contend with—but Jesus has paralyzed him. He is like the lions in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress who could roar at Pilgrim, but could not touch him.

(l) “The faith of Jesus” requires that we not be afraid of Satan.

(m) We are to believe Jesus when He says: “Let not your heart be troubled ...” (John14:1-3).

The Book of Hebrews is the “New Covenant” book that God has given us. It glorifies Jesus as God, equal with the Father (1:3-8), yet as the One who was “made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death” (2:9). He is the only Boy who was born in our 6000+ years who grew up knowing that He must die a “death for every man” (2:9).

What we call “death” the Bible calls a “sleep.” But this death that Jesus must “taste for every man” is not that death; Jesus did not merely go to sleep for us for a weekend; and it would not make sense to say that He merely slept “for every man.”

The death that Jesus died “for every man” has to be the “second death” that is mentioned in Revelation 2:11 and 20:14. It comes at the end of the 1000 years of Revelation 20, after the second resurrection. “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power” (Rev. 20:6).

The Book of Hebrews makes clear that Jesus died that death “for every man.” The only possible conclusion is that no one on earth needs to die that second death at last unless he despises and rejects what the Son of God has already done for him.

This is illustrated in the experience of Esau; he had the “birthright,” it was his by inheritance as the elder son of Jacob. But our Book of Hebrews tells us that “for one morsel of meat [Esau] sold his birthright” (12:16). In modern language, Esau gave up his title to the kingdom of God and eternal life for what we ordinarily call a mere “square meal” of venison, when he was hungry.

To be fair, we must say that the younger twin Jacob took a cruel advantage of his older twin brother Esau when the latter was inordinately hungry; Jacob knew the exact spices to use. But the deed done had eternal consequences. “Afterward, when he [Esau] would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears” (12:17). He cried tears forever afterwards.

The most expensive “good square meal” the world has ever known about!

The Book of Hebrews is not only for great theologians whose offices are in the ivory towers: simple, ordinary people love it because it is their lifeline to salvation.

The Book says: “It was fitting that God ... should make the Pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings; ... [we are] all of one stock. That is why He [Christ] does not shrink from calling men His brothers. ... Since the children share in flesh and blood, He too shared in them, so that by dying [that is, our second death] He might break the power of him who had death at his command, that is, the devil, and might liberate those who all their lifetime had been in servitude through fear of death” (2:10-15, REB).

Those words are so simple and clear that they need no one to “explain” them.

The sacrifice of Christ on His cross did not destroy Satan; Satan still lives. But his “power” has been “broken,” the text says. The KJV for verse 14 says Satan is “destroyed,” but this needs to be understood for there is a powerful truth buried here.

No, when Christ died, Satan did not die; he still lives to tempt and harass us.

But what this blessed book of Hebrews is saying is that Satan is now paralyzed.

He is like the lions in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress who roared at the pilgrims walking the path to the Holy City; but as the pilgrims choose to believe the word of the Lord and keep on the blessed path, they see that the lions are chained.

The Lord does not excuse us from the duty of rebuking Satan; we need to see him cowering at our feet. We are the boss—“in Christ” (but no pride!).

The Lord does not take us in a chariot filled with roses, to heaven; we have a battle to fight, but it is the battle of faith; and personally triumphing over Satan is part of the course.

Do what the Lord has qualified you to do: command Satan to get out of your life.

The New Testament Book of Hebrews may take us into the theological stratosphere in the knowledge of God, but it is also written for the little child to learn to know the Lord who saved us on His cross.

Paul says, “We see Jesus”! That’s what we want above all else! Not big heavy books that no one can understand, but something we can grasp.

John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). That’s the same as Hebrews says, “we see Jesus.”

How do we see Him there?

(a) “He was made a little lower than the angels,” made to be what He was not by nature.

(b) But because He bore that cross on which He died our terrible second death, Jesus is forever “crowned with glory and honor.”

(c) Jesus was born for that very purpose; our children grow up expecting to live; but this Boy grew up expecting to die—and not our ordinary death, but the death which lasts forever in hell.

(d) Hebrews tells us here that Jesus “took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham” ( 2:16). Thus, specifically, Hebrews tells us that the nature which Jesus “took” in His incarnation was our fallen, sinful nature.

(e) But the glory of it all is that in that fallen, sinful nature like we all have, Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life. “We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (4:15).

(f) If you can think of any temptation that is alluring to you, that you think it’s impossible to say “No!” to, read again. “In all points LIKE” we are. Our salvation is not our work, it’s His work.

(g) It’s great Good News: He will have 144, 000 (maybe a figurative number) at His second coming who will welcome Him in joy, “without fault before the throne of God” (Rev. 14:1-5).

(h) It’s not a legalism contest; it’s the “much more abounding grace” of Jesus.

Simply writing today’s date brings to mind the significant history of God’s people in this “time of the end” in which we now live (cf. Dan. 12:4).

The story of October 22, 1844, is the story of a sincere group of faithful Christian people who were deeply impressed with the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation, and especially with the prophecy of Daniel 8:14, “Unto 2300 days [years in prophetic symbolism], then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”

They had learned several important truths:

(a) Daniel’s “time of the end” had begun at the end of the 1260 years of papal oppression, 538-1798 (12:4; 7:23-25).

(b) The rise of the thirteen colonies that became the United States of America had pinpointed the sad history of those more than a millennia of persecution history in Europe. Those Bible students were very close to that history.

(c) Many undeniable wonders had marked the beginning of this “time of the end,” such as the “increase of knowledge “ and the rather sudden end of persecution.

(d) A phenomenal interest in Bible prophecy had mysteriously developed; in all lands and all cultures this interest in the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation had evolved suddenly.

(e) Part of that interest was pinpointed in the rise of the United States as the lamblike “beast” of Revelation 13:11.

(f) For those whose hearts were open to the gospel, this was all delightful “good news.”

(g) It was naturally assumed that Daniel’s “cleansing of the sanctuary” meant the return of Jesus in answer to His promise, “I will come again” (John 14:1-3).

(h) This conviction of the “cleansing of the sanctuary” captured the confidence of devout Christians of different denominations; William Miller’s Spirit-directed preaching had impacted thousands of sincere Christians of nearly all churches.

(i) The precise date October 22 was arrived at by the careful study of the Jewish sources.

(j) Their mistake was not in the time, but in identifying the event.

(k) Almost immediately that mistake was rectified, and October 22, 1844, became the icon date for the teachings of Seventh-day Adventists.

Yes, the Book of Hebrews can take us into the stratosphere of the knowledge of God; but true to God’s infinite agape-love it is concerned also with our lowly day-to-day living in the knowledge of Christ.

For example, take chapter two:

“We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (2:9).

There’s a vast theological tome in that one simple little verse!

Jesus was “made” what He was not; He was God the Son, on the highest place in the vast universe; but for our sake He was “made” to be what He was not—“lower than the angels.” In fact, He was made so low that He was “made” to be one of us; yes, worse than that—“He was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Millions are not aware that the Bile says such a thing! Jesus hanging on His cross was “made” to be what He was not—made to be sin itself!

When He cried out “My God! My God! Why have You forsaken Me?” He was screaming in terror the truth: He did feel totally that the Father had turned His back on Him. No human on earth has ever felt so alone, so hopeless, so crushed, as Jesus felt on that cross. (See Luke 23:46.)

The sublime exchange had taken place, unique in the history of the universe: the Righteous One was “made” to be sin (what He was not); and we, the unrighteous ones were “made,” that is, considered to be, justified when in fact we were not—as yet, righteous.

The Book of Hebrews has come down out of the stratosphere to the lowly place where we are: “we see Jesus” it says; fasten your seat-belt; as we go through Hebrews, we go for a ride.

The Book of Hebrews takes us into the stratosphere of knowing God. But it astonishes us with the pure simplicity of God’s revelation of Himself—it is not stratospheric!

We don’t climb up into heaven in order to find God; He descends down to where we are! That’s how He reveals Himself to us:

“We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death” (2:9): that means that Jesus as a boy growing up realized something that we don’t think of when we are children: He was born to die!  We are born to live—that’s the difference.

When He was 12 Joseph and Mary took Him to His first Passover; He doubtless asked each one, “What does this mean?” They could not tell Him except that “Moses told us to do it, so we do!”

But the Holy Spirit told Him, for He told them there at that Passover,  “I must be about My Father’s business” (Luke 2:46-50).

What was the “Father’s business”?

Die for the sins of the world.

But not just die as we die—go quietly to sleep; no, He must die on the cross, the most awful death known to man. It wasn’t enduring physical pain, then a weekend of deep sleep: no, it was the world’s “second death” (hell itself) that He died. And He gave Himself to it at the tender age of 12.

A boy of 12 can understand a tremendous lot, even we; but He, the Son of God, understood as we can’t the “breadth, and length, and depth, and height” of love (agape). That Boy of 12 knew that He must “taste death [the real thing!] for every man” (Heb. 2:9).

“Behold the Lamb of God”! Look; ponder; think; and appreciate. Let your shriveled up little heart be “enlarged” (read Psalm 119:32) to “comprehend” those grand dimensions of His love.

Have you ever been summoned with a subpoena to court? With not one but a battery of prosecuting attorneys inquiring into intimate details of your life?

The word “subpoena” doesn’t appear in the Bible but the idea is in 2 Corinthians 5:10: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” The next verse speaks of “the terror of the Lord.” Rather frightening!

Dial Daily Bread is devoted to telling Good News, but this sounds like Bad News. Jesus says, “There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known” (Matt. 10:26). But that verse itself is Good News, for He adds, “Fear them not therefore,” that is, don’t be afraid of your prosecutors (or your persecutors!). Why? Because in that appearance before “the judgment seat of Christ” He will be your Friend, not your Enemy if today you will simply LET Him.

(1) The Father Himself refuses to condemn you (see John 5:22). (2) Jesus also refused to condemn anyone in that day (see John 12:47, 48). (3) Therefore the only “condemnation” will come from what is written of “the things done in the body,” a record that is indisputable, recorded not only in the “books” of heaven, but in your own soul as well. Jesus won’t have to say a word; the “book” will be open. Paul says, “Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after” (1 Tim. 5:24).

The Good News is: even though there are shameful things you don’t want opened up, you can “send them on beforehand to judgment.” You can get on your knees and confess them to your Savior, you can even let bitter tears fall; the Holy Spirit can teach your sinful heart to hate those sins; your heart can be truly converted; you can be a new person; you can believe the promise, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Good News? You betcha!

Is it a sin to be afraid? You say No. Okay. Let me ask another question: can fear deprive you of the protection God would like to give you?

Two men delivered the same God-given message to wicked King Jehoiakim and his court. God protected one man from the death the princes threatened; but He did not intervene to protect the other prophet from being slain by Jehoiakim’s sword. Why the difference? Was God showing partiality?

“Urijah the son of Shemaiah” proclaimed the same message faithfully “in the name of the Lord.” “When Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death.” Then Urijah did what you and I would feel like doing. “He was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt.” Surely God would have wanted to protect him from that murderous hatred; but something made it impossible: Urijah “was afraid” (Jer. 26:20, 21).

In contrast, when Jeremiah proclaimed the same message and the “priests and the prophets [and] princes” threatened to kill him (mind you, these are all God’s people, members of His true church!), Jeremiah stood his ground boldly. “Know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, ... for of a truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these words” (vss. 10-15). Jeremiah’s holy boldness made it possible for God to impress the “princes and all the people” to protect Jeremiah (vss. 16-19). Agape is the kind of “love divine, all loves excelling” that casts out fear. The Holy Spirit wants to “shed [it] abroad in your heart”(Rom. 5:5; 1 John 4:18).

Let Him do so!

The Book of Hebrews is the most heavily theological of any book in the New Testament. It takes you up into the stratosphere of the theological knowledge of God.

The theologians write their ponderous tomes about this great book and its lofty themes.

But the essence of the message of this great book is summed up near the end of the book. You can understand Hebrews! Its vast outreaches of theology are made so clear that your little child can grasp it easily: Speaking for the Lord, it assures us: “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (13:5).  Happy is your child if he/she can grasp that assurance while he is young!

All of Hebrews’ lofty theological acumen is in that one promise!

The ministry of Christ in His Most Holy Apartment in the heavenly sanctuary reveals Him as being close to us; as a true High Priest in ancient Israel who was always “for the people,” always concerned for them, always revealing to them his nearness and his love, so Christ in His second apartment in the heavenly sanctuary, the Most Holy Apartment, is ministering His presence and His blessing to us as one who is described in Proverbs 18:24—He is “closer than a brother.”

He took on Himself the fallen, sinful nature of our father Adam so that He might reach us where we are; therefore He was “in all points tempted like as we are [tempted], yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15).

This is a revelation of Christ that millions don’t as yet perceive: to be tempted is not sin: before temptation can be sin you must yield to it, give in to it, let the temptation become the sinful act. Christ has conquered sin, has trampled on it, defeated it, condemned sin in our fallen sinful flesh. “Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God” (2:17).

Sing Hallelujah, rejoice forever more!

The Bible speaks of some people whom “the Lord abhors” (Prov. 22:14). Sounds pretty bad for them.

One such was King David himself, a man whom the Lord had especially picked out as one He loved; but when David fell into that deep and abysmal “pit” of adultery with his neighbor’s wife, he was indeed “abhorred” of the Lord.

But don’t jump to a wrong conclusion: the Lord still loved poor David, in spite of his falling into that deep “pit.”

It was David’s character that the Lord “abhorred,” while He still loved his fallen soul.

That seems a mystery to us: how the Lord could still love a person whom He actually “abhorred” in character.

The closer you come to the Lord, the more you will “abhor” yourself because of the unChristlikeness you can see of your character. That was basically the soul experience that young Isaiah had when he was in the Lord’s temple and saw the glory of the Lord’s character and appreciated His agape-love, how Christ had taken on Himself the second death of the world. Isaiah said, “Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (6:5).

Two things Isaiah “saw”: his unChristlikeness of soul, and the glory of the Lord’s agape-love.

Welcome the vision yourself!

There is comfort almost buried (at least many have not seen it!) in Isaiah 61:1, 2.

It’s Jesus speaking in prophecy of Himself:

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed me to ... bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound: to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God ...”

Note: the abundant time of the loving acceptance of the Lord toward repentant sinners is as an entire year of 365 days, compared with only one day of His punishing “vengeance.”

Paul says that “where sin abounded, [the Lord’s] grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5:20). The “grace” wins out.

What saves us is not craven fear of punishment, although for millennia people have assumed that the only way to control wickedness is the terror of threatened punishment.

There is a wonderful passage in Paul’s Letters that on the surface at first seems to suggest that: “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men ...” (2 Cor. 5:11).

But look a wee bit further:

“The love of Christ constraineth us: because we thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead [all would be dead if He had not died for “all”]; and that He died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them ...” (vss. 14, 15).

When your sinful heart contemplates, judges, comprehends that “grace,” suddenly the bands of wickedness are broken, you are set free, and “henceforth” you are “constrained” to “live unto Him who died for you” your second death; now nothing can stop you from giving yourself, heart and soul, to the Savior who died for you—yes, died your second death, entered hell to find you there and save you!

There is almost unbelievable encouragement buried in one of Jesus’ parables—a message for parents especially, but yes for teachers and anyone who wants to be a spiritual help to someone else. Ministering spiritual help to others is laying up treasure in heaven—preparing to experience a vast pleasure in God’s coming eternal kingdom when you at last see the fruit of your love and life labors.

The parable is in Luke 11. It tells of a man who has had an unexpected guest show up when he has no “bread” in his pantry to feed him. (That’s me, by the way! I have nothing of myself to set before people.)

So in his desperation he goes to his neighbor-friend at midnight and bangs on his door, “Please let me have some bread, not to feed myself but that I may share it with a friend of mine who has come in his journey, and I have nothing to set before him” (see Luke 11:5ff).

Maybe you know that desperate feeling in real life—you are not ready for guests yet they’ve come. The parable is beautifully crafted (as only Jesus could conceive of a parable!) to encourage us who want to help others on their path to heaven.

We may wonder sometimes if the prayer we are praying is “according to the will of God.” In this instance, don’t wonder: the Lord wants you to help others and He will give you the spiritual truth you need to make your ministry helpful.

“Asking to give” is an excellent title for this parable: you become a channel through which the blessings of heaven flow to someone else.

In the process, you yourself must be richly blessed; the water of life cannot flow through you unless on the way it refreshes you, the “pipe” through which it flows!

What do you do when your world seems to come to an end? When disasters strike? Hopefully that’s not you at the moment, but it will be good to do a little thinking ahead of time.

David had problems and setbacks galore, but the nadir of his experience came at Ziklag. That’s when his world collapsed. Again and again he had been condemned and attacked by the nation’s leader who was the “Anointed of the Lord” (King Saul), driven into the wilderness like a wild animal. He was an exile from his own nation, taking refuge among the Philistines. While doing what he thought was his duty, the Amalekites raided his village where his family was considered safe. They burned his and the homes of his men, and took captive their families to be sold as slaves.

David was overwhelmed, “greatly distressed,” as were his men. They had already been severely tried many times; could they be sure that God would bless this man, that he would someday be king of Israel? Everything now had turned against David, and his case appeared hopeless. His own decision had brought them to this ruin. So his loyal supporters had a meeting and talked even of stoning him. “David, it seems that God is against you! Everything has gone wrong! You are the cause of this ruin for us!” The story is in 1 Samuel 30:1-6. “David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice, and wept until they had no more power to weep.”

Then he did something that you and I can do: “David encouraged himself in the Lord” (vs. 6). He did this before he had any supernatural evidence that God would bless! He chose to believe that God would not forsake him, not because he was himself faithful, but because he believed in the character of God. He repeated the faith of Job; even if God should prove unfaithful and should forsake him, he would still believe in God’s faithfulness. He has asked God for bread; it appears that God has ridiculed him and given him a stone. But David will remain full of faith even if God appears to be un-faithful! A terrible trial, but we too can gain the victory “in Christ.”

Is it too late in history for God to have men and women who stand loyally for what is right, all alone, in the face of opposition? The Bible tells of many such heroes: Noah, Abraham, Joseph, David hunted by King Saul like a wild beast, Jeremiah, and yes, Jesus Himself (“Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him ?” John 7:48). Jeremiah was “shut up” in prison, silenced, tortured, despised by the kings of Judah; but he was right and they were dead wrong. In the final judgment day, which would you rather be—lonely Jeremiah in his dungeon or King Jehoikim or King Zedekiah on his throne?

In an issue of American History there is the story of William Penn, a foppish, worldly young man of London who became converted to the most active, self-sacrificing Christlike group of Christians of that day. He published a tract criticizing the Church of England, so that the Bishop of London threw him into the Tower. But God’s providence provided for him after his famous and wealthy father’s death to “purchase” from the King of England the largest real estate deal then known: the entire tract of land in the New World that is known as Pennsylvania. And he went on to write a wonderful book entitled, NO CROSS, NO CROWN. He helped enormously to prepare the way for the establishment of the United States of America as a refuge for persecuted people where they could find religious liberty. In the final judgment, which would you rather be? William Penn, or the lorldly Bishop of London?

You may today stand all alone for Christ and for His truth in your school, your office, your home, your neighborhood; but take courage. The dear Saviour has promised: “Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 10:32). No, it’s not too late to stand alone for Him!

The spiritual blessings you received yesterday are wonderful; but you need a fresh infilling today.

We’re not a bus running on a tank of fuel; we’re the old-fashioned streetcar that ran by a constant touch with the “third rail.”

Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11).

But that’s what we forget so easily to make sure we have.

It’s not merely human forgetfulness: there is sin in this forgetting. It’s a lack of appetite for heavenly bread. And that means we yearn for what this world provides; we’re in serious malnourishment. Skin and bones ends in death.

Jesus said, “You must work, not for this perishable food, but for the food that lasts, the food of eternal life” (John 6:27, NEB).

Think of the Lord as our Chef (He is!). I have observed that when someone cooks up something nice for the family, he/she is pleased when they express appreciation.

Oh, that rare appetite for heavenly food! The problem is that “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Rom. 8:7), and that means a distaste for heavenly bread.

But “blessed [happy] are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness” (Matt. 5:6).

The glory comes next: “They shall be filled.” Oh, the joy of having a square meal of righteousness.

Make sure that you have it.

One of the most serious problems we have is what to do when we feel depressed. It’s easy for some one to tell you, “Snap out of it!” But you can’t. All kinds of remedies are suggested: some say, “Go take a drink of alcohol”—we know that’s not good! Or, “Take some drug”—that’s not good. Or, “Get out and help somebody else in trouble”—always good advice, but when you’re depressed, you don’t have the energy to do so. “Go see a psychiatrist”?—Well, that depends on who the psychiatrist is. If you spell it with a capital P, your divine Psychiatrist, your Saviour, I say YES. But often we don’t know how to talk with Him; does He listen or answer us? Let’s be honest: we do need help.

Here’s where it is—at the cross of Jesus, for without understanding His cross we can’t understand His High Priestly ministry. No one has ever been so depressed as Jesus was as He hung there in the darkness, “made to be sin for us who knew no sin,” feeling forsaken by His Father, without hope, seeing no light ahead. His broken heart cried out sincerely, “My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

If you are depressed, you need something more solid than a shot of pop psychology to stir your emotions. You need some rock-bottom truth to stand on, irrespective of your feelings. And here it is: when Jesus felt totally forsaken by His Father, the truth was that His Father was near, suffering with Him. His Father had never forsaken Him! Jesus only FELT forsaken, because He had been “made to be sin for us.”

A “broken relationship” does not mean that God has turned His back on you. There in the darkness Jesus chose to believe that His Father accepted Him when everything else, His feelings, said the opposite.

There in the darkness He built a bridge called THE ATONEMENT, the reconciliation, on which you and I can walk into the light of eternal life. Jesus was “made to be sin” itself, yet He believed and trusted, while in the total darkness. So can you; and so WILL you as you appreciate what it cost the Son of God to save you from the darkest hell. Say Thank You, even though it’s dark outside and inside. “Be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20).

Is it possible to e-mail Jesus, to send Him a question and get an answer back?

Some will probably say “No,” implying that He’s too busy running the universe to bother with little e-mail messages from everyone here and there. But it seems to me that what Jesus said in the Bible indicates that the answer has to be Yes. Not that you will use AOL or Yahoo or whatever “server”; but if you wish to ask Jesus a question, and you are willing to think it out reasonably and you are serious as you ask it, He has promised to respond. “Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you”; all this He says (see Matt. 7:7). Sounds encouraging! But I will say again, be serious; no fooling around thoughtlessly.

The problem is not getting His attention; the problem is getting your attention when it comes to His response. If you are playing around like a foolish, fickle little child who doesn’t know what he wants, “let not that person think that he shall receive anything of the Lord” (James 1:7). But if you mean business, He has promised that the Holy Spirit will be sent to you as a “Comforter,” the word meaning literally “One who is called to sit down beside you and never leave you” (John 14:16). And His assignment from Jesus includes answering your questions: “When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. ... He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you” ( 16:13, 14).

But let us remember that God has promised specifically that He will answer our questions by directing our attention to what He says in His word, the Bible. He will not by-pass the prophets and apostles whom He sent. The Holy Spirit will direct you to the Bible; He will enlighten your mind to comprehend what it says. For example, suppose you want to send Jesus this e-mail: “Jesus, please tell me—will I be saved eternally or will I be lost?” He will answer: “Our Saviour ... will have all persons to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3, 4). “He hath chosen [you] in Him before the foundation of the world, that [you] should be holy and without blame before Him in agape: having predestined [you] unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself” (Eph. 1:4, 5).

There’s your answer; but now what will you do with it? Are you willing to “come unto the knowledge of the truth,” willing to study and learn; or do you prefer to waste your time on TV? Are you also willing to be “holy and without blame”? Takes effort!

How can you pray, if you don’t know how, and you feel like you’re too unworthy to try?

The disciples of Jesus were far from being perfect, yet they came to Jesus and asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1).

What followed was “Prayer 101,” and we would like to join the class.

The four Gospels teach us several prayers that we can pray, unworthy as we are, which are guaranteed to be answered with a “Yes!”

(a) The poor sinful publican in Luke 18:13, “standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner” (the original Greek has it, “the sinner,” contrasting himself with the Pharisee supposedly praying next to him). You know that the Lord received that prayer and answered it!

(b) The poor distraught father in Mark 9:24 prayed, “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.” You know, that prayer is always answered, no matter how unworthy you may be!

(c) The prayer that Jesus prayed for us all in Luke 23:34, you know has been answered for you and me. When the wicked men were driving the spikes through His hands and ankle bones, He prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do!” A heart that is thankful for that forgiveness is the heart with which you and I come to Jesus in prayer, unworthy though we surely know we are.

Around the world today (the holy Sabbath) millions are studying in the Bible about the “atonement.”

That is not a Latin word; it’s a plain old Anglo-Saxon word that means simply two estranged, alienated people become “one” again. A happy experience.

But think of the heavenly joy that comes to us as we realize that this gulf of alienation from God has been bridged by an “at-onement” with Him again.

In our case, our natural state is estrangement from the Lord, for “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Rom. 8:7). It’s a condition of never-ending ill-at-ease; it puts you out of synch with the universe itself, which means you are an alien from the blessed kingdom of God.

Atonement 101 is the realization that the bridging of the gulf of alienation is 100 per cent the work of the Lord Jesus; it required His coming close to us. We sinners had nothing to do with the atonement; it was all done outside of us.

That meant that the divine Son of God must step down from His high and holy place to where we are, that He might bring us into one-ness with Himself. As Philippians 2 says He “made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant [slave], and was made in the likeness of men” (vs. 7).

Contemplating this, we see the nuts and bolts of the “atonement” taking shape; “made in the likeness of men” means that He took upon Himself the poor fallen nature of humanity, coming as close to us in our fallen state as it was possible for Him to do. If anyone lets himself doubt that Reality, He is frustrating the atonement at its very beginning.

Step number two: “And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself” (vs. 8). It simply means that as the Baby Jesus grew up, He continued to renounce His original exaltation as the Vicegerent of God, and accepted in Himself the subjective judicial verdict of condemnation that the fallen Adam has given to all of us; and in so doing, Christ as the “second” or “last Adam” has transformed that judicial verdict of condemnation into a judicial verdict of acquittal for “every man.”

 <