Month: June 2019

Genesis 2:1-2: ^“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.  And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.” The fact that God rested on the seventh day indicates a Sabbath. Although He doesn’t reveal the Sabbath to man until well over two millenniums later. Nehemiah 9:14: “And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:” Exodus 20:8: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”, God does observe it Himself. In fact, the Sabbath serves as a type of Christ. In Matthew 11:28-29, Jesus said, “ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” The best argument against Christians keeping the Sabbath is the fact that the Sabbath is keeping us! Our Sabbath is not a day of the week, but rather the rest for our souls that we find in Christ. Therefore, Colossians 2:16 says, “ Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:” God’s promise of a Sabbath rest remains today. Hebrews 4:1-10 “ Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.  For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.”

Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” The fact that God made the first man “in his own image” is very instructive and points us directly to Christ. Adam, representing the entire human race and loses the image of God in Genesis chapter 3. Consequently, when a son is born unto him, the Holy Spirit records that this son is born in Adam’s image, not in God’s image (Gen. 5:3). No man is born in God’s image until the Lord Jesus Christ is born, and it is expressly stated that He is the “image” of God (Colossians 3:10; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Hebrews 1:3). So Christ is the “last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45) is typified by the first Adam who was the first to have God’s image. The only way for men to have God’s image today is to be “born again” of His Spirit.

       In 2 Kings 4:1-7 is a dramatic incident which has challenged the thinking of every Bible lover from the days of Elisha. In its appeal to life, it is unsurpassed in beauty. In its expression of God’s care for the minute things of one’s life, it is unexcelled in grandeur.

    The story opens with “…a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets…” (verse 1) who was in distressing, heart breaking trouble. Her husband, a prophet of God, had died, leaving her with two boys to care for; and with a debt to a cruel man who demanded pay at the expense of her son’s liberty.

    It would seem that God had let the widow down; that following the cause of righteousness had brought disaster. No day could have been darker. By comparison, your days and mine are flooded with noonday sun.

    The instruction given to this woman is worthy of meditation, “…thou shalt shut the door upon thee…”

    Shut the door to opinion. Had she gone down the street asking for the opinions of the wise ones, those opinions would have been varied and contradictory; but they would have been unanimous, that to follow the prophet’s advice was a foolish thing to do – it would be only a waste of precious time. The good woman would have been advised, “Use what time you have left in trying to refinance your loans.” But she shut the door to opinion.

    You, too, will need to shut the door to the opinions of others if you experience escape from the clutching hold of sin and the starving force carnality.

     Shut the door to fear. How filled our lives are with fear! From morning until night, from the cradle to the grave, fear stalks our pathway. We are afraid the sun will spoil our complexion; we are afraid we will not pass in the high school; we are afraid to attempt college; we are a afraid of…the list is almost endless.

    Shut the door to fear. You may have to die, but only once. You may have to suffer, but only to a point; then comes unconsciousness. You may fail, but there is always another starting line. Close the door to fear, and do it now. Look your problem squarely in the face; take one step toward it; you will discover that the closer you get to it the smaller it becomes.

    Shut the door to unbelief. Unbelief said, “The borrowing of the extra vessels was only lost motion.” Unbelief said, “The whole experience of the race is against expecting a small bottle of oil to fill all those vessels.” The good woman closed the door to unbelief, and filled every cup that faith had brought in.

    Close your door to unbelief. Believe in people. Not everyone is a scoundrel. Endeavour to see in every man the image of God. Believe in yourself. Act as if were impossible to fail. Never allow yourself the luxury of prophesying gloom. Believe in God and God’s son, the Lord Jesus Christ – God transcendent, personal, righteous, compassionate; God, big enough for this day of big things; God, powerful enough for your problems. Enough to get you through life, with honor.

    Shut the door to everything that is little and mean and vile and selfish. There you will find the flowing oil, the manifestations of God, and the glow of a glorious experience of being closer to our Creator.

Genesis 1:14-16: “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:  And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.”

The sun being the “greater light” and the moon the “lesser light” speaks of Christ and His relationship to the church. As the moon reflects to the earth the greater light of the sun, so the church reflects the greater light of Christ to the world, thus becoming a lesser light herself. So both Christ and the church bear the title “the light of the world”

John 8:12: “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

Matthew 5:14: ^“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.”