Written for all mankind: 'Here He is'

(new article tomorrow)

Mark 15:33: [33] And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

“From 9 o’clock ‘til noon Jesus Christ is being mocked and persecuted by men for speaking and doing the will of His Father,” explains Richard Jordan. “From noon to three o’clock darkness falls over the land and that’s the period when sin is being judged by God in order to accomplish eternal redemption. So there’s a division in those six hours.

I John 1:5: [5] This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
[6] If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

“When you have darkness you have an absence of God. It’s as though God drew a curtain over the sun and withdrew Himself from the scene. Darkness represents the judgment of God and Christ suffers on the Cross, under that darkness, for those three hours. That’s when the judgment of sin is taking place in the soul and body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

*****

"There’s only one time the term Calvary appears in Scripture and it’s in Luke 23:33: And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.

“We sing that song that goes, ‘Years I spent in vanity and pride, caring not my Lord was crucified at Calvary.’ That’s a term that in Christian parlance is the essence of the gospel.

“Do you know that term’s not found in any of the new Bibles? It’s completely taken out of all the English Bibles after 1881. They say, ‘Well, it’s a bad translation because it should say the skull.’ Well, notice John 19:17: ‘And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha.’

“Golgotha is the Hebrew term that means the skull. Calvary is a Latin term that means the same thing. It’s a perfectly good translation, and the fact that you can translate it and it be legitimate, John 19 tells you that.

“Over and over Luke crafts his gospel to point to Christ, not simply as Israel’s Messiah, but Israel’s Messiah through whom all the nations of the earth are going to blessed. So it’s not surprising that Luke would have a term that would focus on the Latin.

“Why that gets to be important is in the next two verses: ‘Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.

[19] And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.’

“All three languages have ‘This is Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews.’ It’s written over His head so that everybody can see it. It’s written for all of mankind to see: ‘Here He is.’

“God is the God who invented languages. He never confined His Word to only one. He designed it to be available in the language of the nations and this is an illustration of that."

Rainbow through the rain

A classic hymn from 1882, O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go, was written by George Matheson in only 5 minutes!

The song's lyrics:            1.  O Love that wilt not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in thee;

I give thee back the life I owe,

That in thine ocean depths its flow

May richer, fuller be.

    2.  O light that foll'west all my way,

I yield my flick'ring torch to thee;

My heart restores its borrowed ray,

That in thy sunshine's blaze its day

May brighter, fairer be.

    3.  O Joy that seekest me through pain,

I cannot close my heart to thee;

I trace the rainbow through the rain,

And feel the promise is not vain,

That morn shall tearless be.

    4.  O Cross that liftest up my head,

I dare not ask to fly from thee;

I lay in dust life's glory dead,

And from the ground there blossoms red

Life that shall endless be.

Scottish-born Matheson (1842-1906) was the eldest and brightest of eight children. He graduated from Glasgow University (where he studied Classics, Logic and Philosophy) with first-class honors at the age of 19!

The tragedy for him was that even as he was completing his studies he was rapidly going blind from an incurable condition. To make his trial tougher, his marriage engagement to a fellow student he'd fallen in love with was nullified by her after she learned of his impending blindness. 

"Her blunt answer came to him with the force of a dagger to his heart, 'I do not want to be the wife of a blind man,' she said – and with that they parted," says an online profile from a Baptist church in Derbyshire, U.K.

"Years later the memory of that rebuff came flooding back on the evening of his sister’s wedding (who was his caretaker but would not be going forward due to her marriage) and he recalls the pain of that night as he tells how it was on that occasion that he penned his most famous hymn:

“ 'My hymn was composed in the manse of Innellan on the evening of the 6th of June, 1882, when I was 40 years of age. I was alone in the manse at that time. It was the night of my sister’s marriage, and the rest of the family were staying overnight in Glasgow. Something happened to me, which was known only to myself, and which caused me the most severe mental suffering.

'The hymn was the fruit of that suffering. It was the quickest bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the impression of having it dictated to me by some inward voice rather than of working it out myself. I am quite sure that the whole work was completed in five minutes, and equally sure that it never received at my hands any retouching or correction.

'I have no natural gift of rhythm. All the other verses I have ever written are manufactured articles; this came like a dayspring from on high.'

"It was through the deep trials of illness and desertion that George Matheson had come to place all his trust and hope in the love of God in Jesus Christ as his Saviour. From then on, despite his blindness, he had resolved to study Theology and Christian History and to enter the Christian ministry.

Matheson went on to preach and "wrote a number of books on spiritual matters which proved popular with contemporary Christians. His ministry and writings came to the attention of Queen Victoria and when in Scotland she invited him to preach at Balmoral. She also had one of his sermons, on the Book of Job, published.

"In 1886 he moved to Edinburgh, where he became minister of St. Bernard’s Parish Church for 13 years. It was here that his chief work as a preacher was done.

"George never did marry but he continued to prove the truth of his hymn, that there was a love that would never let him go – the love of Christ for the sinner."

In spite of ANY human experience

Hebrews 11: [3] Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

[4] By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

Abel, in spite of all the excellence of Cain and all the reputation of Cain, all the excellence of human good and what man can accomplish, Abel said, “I’ll just trust God’s Word,” explains Richard Jordan.

[5] By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

Enoch walked with God in a world that Cain produced. In spite of all of the value and the wisdom and the advancement that Cain’s world was producing, Enoch said, “I’m going to trust what God said.”

Then you come to Noah, and he’s going to walk with God in spite of the fact he doesn’t see any evidence for what God says is going to happen. God says, “It’s going to rain, and the water’s going to come up and cover everything,” and Noah scratches his head and says, “That ain’t ever happened before. I don’t even know what rain is!”

In spite of all of the experience he had and that ANYBODY had ever had, and the opinions of the world, Noah said, “I’ll just trust what God said.” His faith is going to trust God in spite of there being ANY human experience that would validate what God said.

[7] By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

That’s the whole story of Noah’s life in one verse. You can go to Genesis and read more about it, but most of what you read there is about what the world’s doing.

Notice the verse begins and ends with the words “by faith.” That’s an interesting thing. There’s not many verses in the Bible that begin with the same two words they end with.

You have to appreciate Noah’s an important figure in human history. If it wasn’t for Noah and his faith, there wouldn’t be any human race. You’d have been exterminated in the Flood. Except for the faith of Noah your ancestors would have been drowned out.

So there’s a special aspect of attention in Noah’s faith, in trusting God despite a lack of human experience. You see how he says in the verse, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet"?

In other words, the seeing is going to come later. He’s believing God’s Word now so that later on what God says he’ll see.

Noah is mentioned eight times in the New Testament. In Matthew 24 is a passage that most people think about when they think about Noah. Christ has given the second sermon on the mount, the Olivet Discourse, and talks about His Second Coming.

Matthew 24: [36] But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
[37] But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
[38] For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
[39] And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

If you want to know what life is going to be like on the earth before Christ comes back, it will be like the days of Noah. The days of Noah are telling you, “Be ready for Christ’s coming because you’re not going to know when it happens.”

When we think about the days of Noah we’re thinking about a picture of the days before the Second Coming of Christ.

(to be continued tomorrow for certain. haven’t been feeling well at all today and hope I’m not coming down with something)

O for grace to trust Him more

(new article tomorrow)

As a teen­ag­er in Dover, England, Louisa Stead (1850-1917), author of the great old hymn, 'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus, was said to have "felt called to be a mis­sion­a­ry." She emigrated to Am­er­i­ca at age 21, living in Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio.

"She at­tend­ed a camp meet­ing in Ur­ba­na, Ohio, where she felt the call to be a mis­sion­ary ev­en strong­er.  However, due to her frail health, she was un­a­ble to go to China and serve. So in 1875, decided to settle down and have a family instead," says an online biography.

She married William Stead in 1875 and they had a daughter, Lily. Hymnologist Kenneth Osbeck describes this major tragedy to soon hit the young family:

“When the child was four years of age, the family decided one day to enjoy the sunny beach at Long Island Sound, New York. While eating their picnic lunch, they suddenly heard cries of help and spotted a drowning boy in the sea. Mr. Stead charged into the water. As often happens, however, the struggling boy pulled his rescuer under water with him, and both drowned before the terrified eyes of wife and daughter. Out of her ‘why?’ struggle with God during the ensuing days glowed these meaningful words from the soul of Louisa Stead."

From another biography: "Without her husband, Louisa and her daughter became destitute. Around 1880, she emigrated to Cape Colony, South Af­ri­ca, where she finally served as a mis­sion­a­ry for 15 years. There she ­mar­ried a Ro­bert Wode­house, but her health declined and she returned to Am­er­i­ca in 1895 to re­co­ver. When she had, she returned to the mis­sion field in southern Rho­de­sia in 1901 with her husband, who has pastored a Methodist congregation. There, her daugh­ter Li­ly was mar­ried and be­came a mis­sion­a­ry herself, following in her mother’s footsteps." 

Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His Word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
And to know, "Thus says the Lord!"

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!

O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust His cleansing blood;
And in simple faith to plunge me
'Neath the healing, cleansing flood!

Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just from sin and self to cease;
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest, and joy and peace.

I'm so glad I learned to trust Thee,
Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;
And I know that Thou art with me,
Wilt be with me to the end.

Passed knowing; never-ending

I am not technologically inclined at all. I have been trying to pay my tolls online since my car visit to Chicago (knowing my I-PASS account credit card is defunct) the other weekend and can't seem to get anywhere. It has been 14 days now so I absolutely must call their 1-800 number first thing in the morning to avoid penalties.

On Friday, I tried like the dickens to get my relatively new laptop's camera to work ahead of my church's monthly ZOOM meeting but I just couldn't figure it out. It ends up just outerspace-like fuzz.

*****

"I went into Baker Books (Christian bookstore in Grand Rapids, MI) where first you see the new books and then you get to the old books. I've always found the old books to be the ones I'd be interested in.

"It's fascinating how all these new books have the structures of theology and systematic theology and doctrine and all this stuff and it's all structured in a very similar way," explains Richard Jordan.

"Systematic theology was developed in church history, basically founded on the ideas and approach of Thomas Aquinas. It's the way you organize thinking together.

"You hear about bibliology and pneumatology and anthropology and soteriology, and all the different ologies, and so forth and that's all the different branches of theology. The idea is if you study those things then you get this whole host of information.

"The difficulty is that that the information is structured together; all of the parts of the house are put together on the lot, but there's a blueprint about how to put them together successfully that isn't used.

"What you have to have is a blueprint. Paul says in I Corinthians 3:10: According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

"You have to have a blueprint about how you put the doctrine together so that you have the house built. Imagine a building like our church here and you try and put all these parts to the building together but you didn't have a blueprint.

"Consequently, you don't know where a window goes. You don't know where the lights are supposed to be. You just came in one day and said, 'Well, you know I'm an electrician; I think I'll do all the electrical work here,' and you start doing it willy-nilly.

"I used to do roofing work. If you showed up at the worksite and it was cool outside, what might you think would be a good thing to do that day? Roofing work because it's good to do that in cool weather.

"So, if you show up at the worksite and there's the shingles and the nails and you say, 'Well, I think I'll lay some roof,' and you roll that felt out there on the grass and you get the little plumbline and start putting out shingles on the front lawn, you could lay them as straight and perfectly square as you want to but the problem is you're putting them in the wrong place. They're not made to be put on the front lawn; there made to be put on the roofing after the structure's been completed. 

"If you take truth, perfectly presented, but it isn't structured into your understanding according to the divine pattern, it will do you no more good--it will be of no more value--then those shingles out there on the ground in the rain.

"So what you have to have is a way to put the doctrine together the way God designed it to be put together so that it will produce in you the impact He wants you to have."

*****

Paul writes in Ephesians 3:: May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;” And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

"It says He wants you to comprehend with all the saints, with everybody. This is not something for a particular, small elitist group. This is not something limited to a privileged few. Everybody, every saint, every member of the Body of Christ is to be able to comprehend this.

"If you're going to know the love of Christ, it's going to be because you understand the breadth, the length, the depth and the height, but you notice Paul didn't tell you of what. Oh, what Paul? So that's where the commentaries, they jump off the end of the pier.

"In grammar there's a thing called an ellipsis. If I say to you, 'Shut the door,' what's the subject? You, but it's not in the sentence. It's 'you' understood; you understand it's there. I don't have to say 'David, shut the door.' I can just say, 'Shut the door.'

"In the context here, what's the subject of Ephesians 3? It's this great mystery that's been revealed through Paul. So the breadth, length, depth and height of what? What he calls in verse 11: 'according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus.'

"All that God's doing through the Lord Jesus Christ, He wants you to see the dimensions of that and comprehend it. I love that word comprehend. You see the 'prehend' at the end of it? That comes from the Latin word 'prehendry.' A monkey has a prehensil tail. That means that monkey has a tail that can grasp on to a limb and hold on and not let go; get a grip on it.

"When you comprehend, you take your mind and you get a grip on something. You get your mind around it so that you grasp it. You make it your own. It's mine. I got it!

"The fascinating thing is he says in verse 19, 'And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.'

"Now, wait a minute, I'm supposed to grasp something that's passed knowing. You say, 'What is that?!' He's not saying you can't know it, because he just told you God could give you the capacity and the supernatural ability. What's He's saying by it 'passeth knowledge' is it's a never-ending process."

A mother's love, virtue

If there's a mother's love story in the Bible, it's with a lady named Rizpah, a concubine of King Saul. 

She wasn't just a political concubine; they had a love relationship. She was valuable to Saul and they had children together.

Saul was deposed and killed and afterward the enemies came in to humiliate him, taking Rizpah's boys and slaughtering them, says Richard Jordan.

II Samuel 21:

[8] But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:
[9] And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.
[10] And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

You've got to think about that. Those boys were butchered at the harvest in the fall and hung there until after harvest--weeks, months. There Rizpah's boys are, murdered, held up in public humiliation and now the birds and the animals are coming. They're bodies are decaying.

You know what momma did? She went and got a sackcloth and climbed out there on those rocks and laid that burlap sack down and said, "I'm going to sleep by my boys."

When the birds came, and the animals came, she said, "Get away! Get away!" What in the world would motivate a little woman to go out on a hillside, on a rockslide, like that and do such an act of bravery, tenacity? That's the lengths to which a mother's love will go. I say, "That's how mom loves and, friend, that's how God Himself loves you."

When you understand how much God loves you, it becomes easy to love others, and when you learn to love others the way God loves you, your behavior changes toward them and that love flows.

*****

Proverbs 31:10 says, [10] Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

This question is not designed to present a dilemma; it’s a challenge, a declaration: "Let me tell you how you find her because her price is far above rubies." The idea is if you have a precious stone, the longer you have it, its value goes up.

The value of a virtuous woman is the longer she lives the more her value increases. The word "virtue" means "moral excellence." It’s the outward display of wisdom.

When you try to define a word, the best way to look for a definition is to find a verse in the Bible that defines it for you, because then you know how the Bible uses the word. Sometimes a dictionary gives you six different definitions of a word and you’re not sure which one it ought to be.

I used to be puzzled about God’s idea of virtue because of this really odd verse in Luke 8: [46] And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.

What flowed out of Him? Power to heal that woman, so virtue has to do with the strength that is produced by moral excellence.

It’s not just that she’s correct, but it’s that there’s a strength; there’s an internal character of strength produced by the truth of God’s Word.

*****

Isaiah 33:6 says, [6] And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.

God has this treasure chest and the way you get into it is the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It tells you what’s in the treasure chest and it’s the key that unlocks it and allows you to begin to get out of it the treasure that’s in it.

The wisdom and knowledge that’s in that treasure chest is going to be stability of the times and strength of salvation.

You look at the world we live in today—is there much stability? Everything’s turned on its head. Look at the social structure, all the stuff going on, and you say, "Doesn’t anybody have any common sense?!"

That verse tells you why. There’s no wisdom and knowledge; there’s no fear of God that lets you go into the treasure chest and bring out some understanding that would give stability to the culture you live in.

The virtuous woman is the one who understands how to have the stability and the deliverance. Where did her virtue come from? Proverbs 31:26 says, [26] She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.

Where did she get the wisdom from? Verse 30: [30] Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.

You see that? She understood how to fear God. She understood how to put what God said above anything else.

The fear of God is an interesting thing. We usually think about it as running from God, but that’s a fool’s errand. How good did Adam and Eve do with that? You can run from God, but you can’t get away from Him. Jonah fled from the presence of God, but how did that work for him? David said, "If I make my bed in hell, thou art there." No matter where you go, He’s there!

The fear of God is the ability to be afraid of running from God to sin in order to alleviate your problems, rather than allow God’s word to alleviate them for you. That’s why in Ephesians 5, Paul says we’re to "submit ourselves one to another in the fear of God."

That’s why Paul says in Philippians 2 to you and me that we’re to obey God’s word "with fear and trembling." That is, "I understand that’s truth and I FEAR the results of not obeying it, because to not obey it is sin and I fear the consequences of sin and what God says they are, and I fear forsaking Him, running to sin to solve my anxieties and my difficulties."

*****

In Scripture, every time Jesus Christ addresses His mother, He calls her "woman." John 2:3-5, for example, relays, [3] And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.

[4] Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
[5] His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

If you want Mary to tell you what to do, here it is. Folks, if you really wanted to give the reverence due to the mother of Christ, if you really wanted to honor her, do what she says when she speaks in the Scripture. What she says is, "Whatever He says to you, do it." That’s interesting.

My Friend in trials sore

An ultimate classic of classic Christian songs I was fortunate to have grown up hearing at home on the record player and singing often in church, "Softly and Tenderly," was written in 1880 by Will L. Thompson, who said he based the tune on Mark 10:49: [49] And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.

1. Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
   Calling for you and for me;
   See, on the portals He’s waiting and watching,
   Watching for you and for me.
   • Refrain:
     Come home, come home,
     You who are weary, come home;
     Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
     Calling, O sinner, come home!
2. Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading,
   Pleading for you and for me?
   Why should we linger and heed not His mercies,
   Mercies for you and for me?
3. Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing,
   Passing from you and from me;
   Shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming,
   Coming for you and for me.

Thompson (1847-1909) actually wrote one of his most popular songs, “Gathering Shells from the Sea Shore,” in only 10 minutes at the age of 26.  It sold 246,000 copies.

The last stanza: But now we are growing up in years, Maud, Our locks are silvered and gray;

Yet the vows that we made on the shore, Maud,

Are fresh in our memories to-day.

There still is a charm in those bright shells

And the sound of the deep ocean's roar.

For they call back the days that we spent, Maud,

Gathering up the shells from the shore.

"It became such a hit that it swept the nation from shore to shore and gathered a fortune for its youthful composer who became known as the 'bard of Ohio,' " says an article on hymnstudiesblog. "However, after a very successful career writing secular and patriotic music, at age 40 Thompson turned to composing sacred songs and established the Will L. Thompson Co., a profitable music publishing firm with offices both in East Liverpool, Ohio and in Chicago, IL.

"In Chicago, he became a personal friend of revival evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody and his chief song director Ira David Sankey.  'Softly and Tenderly,' sometimes given the title of, 'For You and For Me,' was apparently produced and copyrighted in 1880 and was a favorite of Moody’s. It was soon widely used as an invitation song in the great evangelistic campaigns conducted by Moody and Sankey in both the United States and Great Britain."

When the famed evangelist lay dying, Thompson visited Moody to lend spiritual comfort. "The story is told that in 1899 Thompson made a visit to Northfield, MA, where Moody was lying on his deathbed.  Visitors were forbidden, but when Moody heard that Thompson was there, the dying evangelist ignored doctors’ orders and demanded that his old friend be admitted. 

"Though very ill, Moody greeted the songwriter most cordially, took him by the hand, and feebly whispered, 'Will, I would rather have written ‘Softly and Tenderly’ than anything I have been able to do in my whole life.' ”

“United Methodist Hymnal editor, the Rev. Carlton R. Young, notes: “This is a typical lullaby in the gospel hymn tradition that characterizes Jesus as a mother, gently rocking and comforting a child. This attribute contributes to the continuing popularity of this genre of religious song that presents Jesus as waiting, caring, and forgiving in intimate—and for many, compelling—metaphors.”

Other well-known hymns by Thompson include: “Jesus is All the World to Me,” "Lead Me Gently Home, Father" and "There’s A Great Day Coming."

Another blog says, "Even though he became quite rich, Thompson continued to live a life of service.  He supported various civic and religious activities generously.  He was also aware of the fact that small-town people had very little exposure to good music, so he loaded a piano on a horse-drawn wagon and went through small Ohio towns giving concerts of his music."

Lyrics to "Jesus is All the World to Me":

1.  Jesus is all the world to me,
My life, my joy, my all;
He is my strength from day to day,
Without Him I would fall.
When I am sad, to Him I go,
No other one can cheer me so;
When I am sad, He makes me glad,
He’s my Friend.

2.  Jesus is all the world to me,
My Friend in trials sore;
I go to Him for blessings, and
He gives them o’er and o’er.
He sends the sunshine and the rain,
He sends the harvest’s golden grain;
Sunshine and rain, harvest of grain,
He’s my Friend.

3.  Jesus is all the world to me,
And true to Him I’ll be;
Oh, how could I this Friend deny,
When He’s so true to me?
Following Him I know I’m right,
He watches o’er me day and night;
Following Him by day and night,
He’s my Friend.

4.  Jesus is all the world to me,
I want no better Friend;
I trust Him now, I’ll trust Him when
Life’s fleeting days shall end.
Beautiful life with such a Friend,
Beautiful life that has no end;
Eternal life, eternal joy,
He’s my Friend.

Linking 13s with 666s

Thirteen is the number of rebellion; it’s a source of rebellion. Jesus Christ listed 13 things that come from within that defile a person in Mark 7:

[20] And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
[21] For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
[22] Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
[23] All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Revelation 17:5, talking about the woman riding the beast, the Antichrist, as 13 words: [5] And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

Where does Babylon come from in the Bible? The kingdom of Babylon was established by a guy by the name of Nimrod. Nimrod is the 13^th in the line of Ham. The kingdom of rebellion that resulted in the Tower of Babel, which resulted in a religious system that has dominated this planet from that time until Revelation 19, started with the 13^th from Noah’s boy, Ham.

John 13:13: [13] Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.

Is it enough to call Him Master and Lord? You make the outward profession, but is that enough? No. Notice how many words are in that verse. There are 13 words and 39 letters. Thirty-nine is three times 13.

Galatians 3:13: [13] Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

The verse that tells you that Christ redeeming you from the curse of the law is in chapter 3:13.

I’m only going over five to six examples of these but, folks, you can do this all day long!

Look at Acts 13:39, which is 13, 13, 13: [39] And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

What does the law of Moses put you under? The curse. If you want to be redeemed from the curse of the law, Christ redeems you from the curse, and the verse says by Him all that believe are justified from the curse. You see the curse associated with the 13s?

Revelation 13 links the 13s and the 666s. The whole chapter is about the man of sin, the son of perdition and the false prophet, the false religious and political leaders.

Revelation 13:18: [18] Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Eighteen is three times six. It’s really six plus six plus six.

By the way, did you ever read about Goliath, how he was six cubits tall and had six pieces of armament and the spear head is six hundred shekels of iron? There are 18 major types of the Antichrist in the Bible and Goliath is one of them.

There are 21 major types of Jesus in the Bible. That’s seven, seven, seven. Just fascinating.

Did you ever notice about King Solomon? He built himself a house and throne and the stairs going up into that thing had six steps on them. There were six lions on one side and six lions on the other. That’s 666 going up to Solomon’s throne.

II Chronicles 9:13: [13] Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold;

I’m talking about the connections between 13s and 666s. There’s a paragraph mark in front of that verse that alerts you to the fact that Solomon, in that verse, changes from a type of Christ (the first half of that chapter with the Queen of Sheba) into a type of the Antichrist, which is exactly how the career of Solomon ended up.

You know how the Bible marked this for you? It marked 666 in what verse? Just a coincidence, I understand.

Ezra 2:13 is the other verse in the Bible where this happens: [13] The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six.

You notice the guy’s name? You know what Adonikam means if you look it up in a dictionary? It means “the lord of rebellion.”

(to be continued)

Christ starts ministry in darkest-most region

(still working on new article and will post tomorrow now. I had major dental work done today and my mouth is sore and tender)

John 1: [29] The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

[30] This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.
[31] And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.

"Do you hear preachers explain why they water baptize today? Have you ever heard one say, 'I'm trying to make Jesus manifest to the nation of Israel'? No, what you hear is, 'Water baptism is an outward expression of an inward faith' and all that kind of stuff," explains Alex Kurz.

"Not one verse says that's why you get water baptized. John warns apostate Israel, 'You know why you need to get water baptized? To flee the wrath to come.' I've not heard preachers who water baptize explain why they're doing it. Is it to flee the wrath to come? Is it to make Jesus manifest to the nation of Israel? Is it to 'save yourself from this untoward generation,' as Peter states it in Acts 2?

*****

Matthew 4: [23] And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

[24] And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

"This is what Jesus is doing when He begins his messianic ministry; He begins the conflict by entering into the darkest region of Israel (Galilee), taking the battle right to the powers of darkness. What's He doing? He's casting out all of these devils.

"By the way, these devils know who He is. They say, 'We know who you are.' See, the issue is the timing. They say, 'Wait a minute, you're not supposed to be doing this.' Kind of interesting. Even the devils know something about dispensationalism. They understand some basic things about timing and so on.

"He takes the conflict right to these entities that are trespassing--'They're in my land! And my people, they're cut off.' Galilee of the Gentiles. They're treated as inferior to the rest of the nation of Israel. Why? Because they've adopted to the ways of the Gentiles, participating in Baal worship, etc.

Matthew 4: [15] The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;

[16] The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
[17] From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

"See the geo-political connotation there? You have darkness that is occupying a region. This region is the northern part of the Promised Land. It's the region and shadow of death, as the passage continues.

"Here's the problem. You have this digression. The Gentiles are in darkness and God's people are light, but now all of a sudden you see darkness encroaching upon 'the people,' meaning the nation of Israel.

"Historically, Galilee was not an attractive or appealing area. I Kings 9 gives a little bit of the history of Galilee.

Verse 11: [11] (Now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire,) that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

Solomon says, 'Thank you so much. I'm going to give you 20 cities in the land of Galilee.'

[12] And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not.
[13] And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day.

"Cabul means worthless. It means 'as nothing.' Twenty cities, that's a quite a gift, and the guy says, 'I'm not happy about this. You've given me a wasteland!'

II Kings 15:29: [29] In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maachah, and Jonoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.

"Here we have this Assyrian invasion. My understanding is when you study military warfare and so forth the Assyrians, as well as the Babylonians, when they invaded the land, they came out of the north. By the way, doesn't Daniel say a lot about the Antichrist coming from the north?

"When Assyria came in, they came down through historic Galilee and we see that is going to be a problem.

Matthew 4:16-17 is quoting Isaiah 9: [1] Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.

[2] The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

"You see how those two tribal regions are being singled out? Look at what God is saying about those two tribal areas. It says 'at the first He lightly afflicted the land.'

"That would be a reference to the Assyrian captivity. When the Assyrians came down and invaded Naphtali and Zebulun, they depopulated that area. Obviously if you're going to bring captives back to Assyria, you're displacing the Israelites.

"Remember, for example, in Exodus when Israel is in a strange land, it's a 'darkness that can be felt.' It's a 'horror of great darkness.' This time the Gentiles are now invading and ultimately influencing the northern part of the Promised Land.

"At first God lightly afflicted the land, but notice 'and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.'

"That's probably a reference to the Babylonian captivity. Things are only going to get worse for that land mass.

"You have darkness encroaching and it's an area that even Israel viewed as being cut off. That area belongs to the nations. Jesus, in an act of mercy, is reversing the courses of punishment that God levied against the nation of Israel.,

"I think it's just remarkable that Jesus, as the Light, He goes into the darkest-most region of the Promised Land. Isaiah 9:2 says 'they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.'

"That's the Lord Jesus being merciful and gracious. His ministry campaign begins in the darkest-most place. Light has sprung up."

Realization of the inexplicable

When you think about the people in your life who have "saved you" in the truest sense of the phrase, you usually can never forget them. You never forget them because you keep on-and-off realizing, sometimes in the most unusual ways, that they have become part of your psyche, and that you might really have not gotten this far without them!

******

Here's an old post and new article tomorrow:

Paul writes in Philippians 1: [20] According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

[21] For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

"A guy told me once that it sounded like Paul had a suicide complex. He said he thought Paul got it in Acts 14," says Richard Jordan.

"In Acts 14, Paul goes into a town, he preaches, they don't like him, they drag him outside and stone him and leave him for dead. If you stone somebody and you leave them for dead, the probability is you check for a pulse and they're dead.

"The next verse says, 'But he rose up and went back into the same city and preached again and left the next day and went to preach somewhere else.'

"Up until that point in Acts 14, every time Paul had been in a city and they rejected him . . . in Acts 13 he shook the dust off his feet and went to the next city. The next city to reject him, he departed.

"Now the dude dies, he's resurrected and goes right back into the place where they killed him. You say, 'What's that about?' Then, in the next few verses, he goes back to the other places where they tried to kill him. It's like he had a suicide complex: 'I died, it went pretty good, let's go try and do it again.'

"In II Corinthians 12, Paul says, 'I knew a man 14 years ago.' That book was written in Acts 20 and if you backtrack to Acts 14, you find the period is about 14 years.

He said in chapter 12, [2] I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.

[3] And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)
[4] How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

"Was he dead? I don't know. Seems like he was; maybe he wasn't. But he said what happened to him is he got caught up into the third heaven and saw things that were so wonderful, so magnificent, so inexplicable that he couldn't 'speak' them. He said, 'I can't tell you about it; I don't have the capacity.'

"It's like he's saying, 'Hey, man, to die is gain. It don't scare me because I get to go back up there and see Christ magnified in a way that I can't explain to you now.'

"Now, I don't think Paul had a suicide complex, but that's not a bad idea, understanding that to die is gain, and why he would think that way.

"What Paul's doing there, it's more than a suicide complex. Look at Philippians 1: 8-9: [8] For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.

[9] And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;

WE, the body, are His fulness to fill

The church which is His body is an exclusive term to describe the church used only by the Apostle Paul. It’s also Paul’s favorite term to describe the church.

What is that “body” terminology trying to say to you? You have many members in one body, says an illustration in Romans 12. He’s the head; we’re the body. We are organically united. If something’s organic, it means it’s living. When you’re in organic union with something, you’re in living union with it, explains Richard Jordan.

Your hand is organically, livingly, connected to your arm. Your arm is livingly connected to your body and your body is livingly connected with your head. The same life goes through all of your body and that’s why when Paul uses that term “the body of Christ,” he’s describing the living oneness we have with Christ.

But what’s the body really for? Your body is the vehicle that carries around your inner man. Ephesians 3:16: [16] That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man

I heard a guy say one time, “You know, I just don’t think it’s spiritual when people shout in church.” The guy he was talking to responded, “Well, have you ever heard of a spirit shout?” To say “Amen” you have to have a body. Your body is the vehicle that carries your inner man around on Planet Earth and expresses the life that’s inside of it.

You body is the vehicle to make visible the life that dwells within it, so the “body of Christ” has a purpose. It’s the vehicle through whom the actions, the attitudes, the life of Christ is to be made visible. It’s to bring visibility to who He is and what He’ s doing in us and through us.

II Corinthians 4: [7] But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
[8] We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
[9] Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
[10] Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
[11] For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

Notice, you can be troubled, persecuted, cast down, but then there’s an inner man reaction. You’re not distressed, you’re not in despair—that’s something inside. You’re not forsaken is an understanding inside.

Verse 16: [16] For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

The difficult circumstances become a context in which you renew your mind and that renews your spirit in your inner man and all of a sudden these things that were meant for evil turn out to be context in which growth occurs. Where? In your inner man.

II Corinthians 4:10 is another way of saying, “It’s not I . . . I died; I’m not the issue, but Christ.”

And when your faith rests and stands in the identity God gives you in His Son, and the power that He’s put in you in His Son . . . when your faith rests in the reality of that . . . Not just in a big concept of it, but in saying, “In this circumstance here’s how God would think and I. by faith, will think the way He thinks.”

Woah, now I’m not just living a desire-oriented life. I’m living godly, soberly, righteously. I’m thinking the way I ought to think; I’m thinking in the identity God gives me in His Son. Now there’s a god-likeness that’s produced. That’s what the body is about. That’s why he calls us a body.

Ephesians 1:23: [23] Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

For some reason when you listen to preachers talk about that verse, and you read the commentaries, they just go into a dither.  I have two commentaries on the Book of Ephesians written by seminary professors and they have two pages each on that one part of that verse, arguing about what it is, and neither one of them have any idea about what it ought to be.

That verse isn’t hard. His body . . . what are we? We’re the fullness of Him. There’s the Him. Listen, in Christ all the fulness of the godhead dwells bodily. The Father’s put all fulness in His Son. He doesn’t need you and me to complete Him. There’s nothing incomplete about Him.

The fulness there is not Him. The fullness is the body the church. What is He going to fill up? All those positions in the heavenly places, and you’re His fulness. You’re the fulness that He’s going to fill those places with! How hard is that?

His goal is to fill the universe with the glory of His Son. That’s the reason for the head-and-body analogy. Because we’re in living union with the head; we share His life and we’re the vehicle that demonstrates forth who He is. That’s His goal for us for eternity. Paul wants you to understand that’s the reality now, too.