A Preparation for the Lord’s Supper

Posted on June 7, 2024 by The Editor

Philippians 2:3; Matthew 5:21-24

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): Matthew 5:23-24 is usually applied with reference to communion with God in the Lord’s Supper, but equally extensive to any other part of worship and prayer, 1 Timothy 2:8.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): When we are addressing ourselves to any religious exercises, it is good for us to take that occasion of serious reflection and self-examination: there are many things to be remembered—and this among the rest, whether “our brother hath aught against us.”

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Our blessed Lord had declared that a wrathful word was in fact a species and degree of murder: and from thence He takes occasion to inculcate the necessity of exercising in every respect a spirit of love—not only to entertain no anger in one’s own heart against others, but so as not to leave room for the exercise of it in the hearts of others towards us.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): If we have wronged another, we are to pause, cease from the worship, and hasten to seek reconciliation. We easily remember if we have ought against our brother, but now the memory is to be turned the other way. Only when we have remembered our own wrong doing, and made reconciliation can we hope for acceptance with the Lord.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): “Confess your faults one to another,” saith James—your lapses and offences one against another, and then “pray one for another, that ye may be healed,” James 3:16; as Abraham, after reconciliation, prayed for Abimelech, and the Lord healed him, Genesis 20.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): It may be that you are saying, “I do not know that I have anything against anyone.” Has anyone anything against you? Is there someone who thinks you have done them wrong? Perhaps you have not; but it may be they think you have. I will tell you what I would do before I go to sleep tonight; I would go and see them, and have the question settled. You will find that you will be greatly blessed in the very act.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Seek to appease the anger of the one who has been offended, obtaining his forgiveness, regaining his favour and friendship, by humbling yourself before him, asking his pardon, and satisfying him for any injury which may have been done to him.

EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): I am aware that this is a most disagreeable duty. Nothing can be harder, or more painful to our proud hearts. But it will be far easier to perform it, than to suffer the consequences of neglecting it…Jesus plainly intimates, that God will accept no gift of us, receive no thanks from us, listen to none of our prayers, so long as we neglect to make satisfaction to those whom we have injured.

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): You will be little in prayer to God, if much in squabbling with your brethren. It is impossible to go from wrangling to praying with a free spirit. And if you should be so bold as to knock at God’s door, you are sure to have cold wel­come. “Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” God will not have the incense of prayer put to such strange fire; nor will He eat of our leavened bread, taste of any perform­ance soured with malice and bitterness of spirit. First the peace was renewed, and a covenant of love and friendship struck between Laban and Jacob, Genesis 31:44, and then, “Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread,” Genesis 31:54—and dare we go up to God’s altar, bow our knees to Him in prayer, while our hearts are roiled and swollen with anger, envy, and malice? O God humble us.

MATTHEW HENRY: Many give this as a reason why they do not come to the communion, because they are at variance with some neighbour; and whose fault is that? One sin will never excuse another, but will rather double the guilt. Want of charity cannot justify the want of piety. The difficulty is easily got over; those who have wronged us, we must forgive; and those whom we have wronged, we must make satisfaction to, or at least make a tender of it, and desire a renewal of the friendship, so that if reconciliation be not made, it may not be our fault—Go, and be reconciled to thy brother, be just to him, be friendly with him, because while the quarrel continues, as thou art unfit to come to the table of the Lord—if thou persist in this sin, there is danger lest thou be suddenly snatched away by the wrath of God.

JEREMY TAYLOR (1613-1667): Therefore before every communion especially, we must remember what differences or jealousies are between us and anyone else, and recompose all such disunions, and cause right understandings between each other, offering to satisfy whom we have injured, and to forgive those who have injured us.

ALEXANDER WHYTE (1836-1921): One of our elders on the Sabbath before one communion heard a sermon on the text, “Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way: first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” Now that elder had long ago had a miserable quarrel with a man whose office was in the same street as his own. And on the Monday before the communion, he left his own office and crossed the street and rang his enemy’s bell. He felt, as he told me himself, that he would almost as soon have faced a lighted cannon as rung that bell. But he did it. And when he stood before his old foe, he did not speak. He only held out his hand. The two estranged men looked at one another. They shook hands and parted without words. But a load of anger and hatred and wickedness that had lain like a mill-stone on both their hearts was from that moment removed. And the two men came to the table next Sabbath reconciled to God and to one another.

JOHN TRAPP: And, as a bone once broken is stronger after well setting, so let love be after reconciliation; that if it be possible, as much as in us lieth, we may live peaceably with all men. Let it not stick on our part howsoever, but seek peace and ensue it.

MATTHEW HENRY: “Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” Ephesians 4:1-3. Peace is a bond, as it unites persons, and makes them live friendly one with another. A peaceable disposition and conduct bind Christians together, whereas discord and quarrelling disunite hearts and affections.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Thus love, which has been interrupted by our fault, must be restored by acknowledging and asking pardon for the fault—“Forbearing one another in love.” This agrees with what is elsewhere taught, that “love suffereth long and is kind,” 1 Corinthians 13:4. Where love is strong and prevalent, we shall perform many acts of mutual forbearance.

C. H. SPURGEON: In disagreements be eager for peace. Leave off strife before you begin.

 

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The Breath of Life

Posted on May 31, 2024 by The Editor

Genesis 2:7; John 20:19-22; 1 Corinthians 15:45-49

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

JOHN HOWE (1630-1705): Adam was at first “a living soul,” God breathed into him the “breath of life,”—that pure, divine, and heavenly breath—and he became “a living soul;” so, then to have asked the question, ‘What is man?’ must have been to receive the answer, ‘He is a living soul: he is all soul, and that soul all life.’ But now, is this living soul buried in flesh, a lost thing to all the true, and great, and noble ends and purposes of that life which was at first given it?

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): When Adam fell, in that fall he spiritually died—he did not die in body: for he lived many years after, and had children. But he died in spirit. He lost all spiritual apprehension of divine things. And all his posterity, are literally born the same. Generation from father to son, is only in nature: and “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,” 1 Corinthians 2:14.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Nicodemus thought that when the Messiah came, and His kingdom was set up, they should all share in it, they being the descendants of Abraham: but Christ assures him that he must be “born again;” in distinction from, and opposition to his first birth by nature: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” John 3:3; and, unless a man has this work wrought on his soul, he will never understand divine and spiritual things; nor can he be thought to have passed from death to life, and to have entered into an open state of grace, and the kingdom of it; and that living and dying so, he shall never “enter into the kingdom of heaven,” John 3:5; for unless a man is regenerated, he is not born heir apparent to it.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): The action of our Lord, “He breathed on them,” John 20:22, stands completely alone in the New Testament, and the Greek word is nowhere else used. On no occasion but this do we find the Lord “breathing” on any one. Of course it was a symbolical action, and the only question is, What did it symbolize? and why was it used? My own belief is that the true explanation is to be found in the account of man’s creation in Genesis.

FRIEDRICH ADOLPH LAMPE (1683-1729): I think that our Lord breathed on all the disciples at once, and not on each separately.

J. C. RYLE: It is probable that was so. The words, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” are almost as deep and mysterious as the action of breathing. They can only signify, “I bestow on you the Holy Ghost.” But in what sense the Holy Ghost was bestowed, is a point that demands attention. Our Lord cannot have meant that the disciples were now to “receive the Holy Ghost” for the first time. They had doubtless received Him in the day when they were first converted and believed. Whether they realized it or not, the Holy Ghost was in their hearts already; “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost,” 1 Corinthians 12:3. I believe our Lord taught the disciples, by this action of breathing on them, that the beginning of all ministerial qualification is to have the Holy Spirit breathed into us; until the Holy Ghost is planted in our hearts, we are not rightly commissioned for the work of the ministry. However, I do not feel that this view completely exhausts the meaning of our Lord when He breathed on the disciples.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): In this breathing He evidently alluded to the first creation of man.

J. C. RYLE: I cannot forget that they had all forsaken their Master the night that He was taken prisoner, fallen away from their profession, and forfeited their title to confidence as Apostles. May we not therefore reasonably believe that this breathing pointed to a revival of life in the hearts of the Apostles, and to a restoration of their privileges as trusted and commissioned messengers, notwithstanding their grievous fall?

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): There is a Spirit which gives life, and Christ is the Lord of that Spirit. The whole fullness of the Divine energies is gathered in the Holy Spirit, and this is His chiefest work—to breathe into our deadness the breath of life.

JOHN HOWE: “The first man Adam was made a living soul; the second Adam was a quickening Spirit.” This latter is a great deal more. A living soul signified him to live himself; but a quickening spirit signifies a power to make others live. That the first Adam could not do—he could never have given it, by any power or immediate efficiency of his own, to another. Here, the constitution of the second Adam was far above that of the first, in that he could quicken others—a quickening spirit, not only quickened passively, but quickened actively with such a spirit as could give spirit, and diffuse life.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: Many other names belong to the Holy Spirit. He is ‘the Spirit of adoption,’ He is ‘the Spirit of Supplication,’ He is ‘the Spirit of Holiness,’ He is ‘the Spirit of Wisdom,’ He is ‘the Spirit of Power and of Love and of a sound mind,’ He is ‘the Spirit of Counsel and Might’; but highest of all is the name which expresses His mightiest work, the ‘Spirit of Life.’

THE EDITOR: And He is “the Spirit of Christ,” Romans 8:9—“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” And surely the timing of Christ’s breathing on them has significance; it was in the evening on the day of His resurrection. Therefore, I see Christ’s action as an immediate fruit of His resurrection; it was a re-creation, a symbolic representation of man’s restoration to that spiritual life and communion with God which was lost in Adam’s fall, by the Holy Spirit’s regenerating work, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

ADAM CLARKE: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty,” Revelation 1:8; that is, as alpha is the beginning of the alphabet, so omega is the last letter of the alphabet. It is worthy of remark that, in Greek, the union of Α—alpha, and Ω—omega, makes the verb αω, ‘I breathe,’ and may, in such a symbolic book as Revelation, point out Him in Whom we live, and move, and have our being; for having formed man out of the dust of the earth, He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul; and it is by the inspiration or inbreathing of His Spirit that the souls of men are quickened, made alive from the dead, and fitted for life eternal.

THE EDITOR: Believers are “new creatures in Christ,” 2 Corinthians 5:17; thus, spiritually in Him, we can truly say as did Elihu, “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life,” Job 33:4.

 

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The Importance of Correct Scripture Terminology

Posted on May 24, 2024 by The Editor

Psalm 12:6; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:26,27

The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): It is an article of faith in the Roman Catholic Church, to believe in the perpetual virginity of Mary.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): Mary, the mother of our Lord, is never called the “Virgin Mary” in Scripture.

THE EDITOR: “Every Word of God is pure.” Therefore, the correct use of Scriptural terminology is important. It is most obviously recognized when seemingly Scriptural expressions are corrupted into titles. Referring to Mary as the “Mother of God,” contributes to the Roman Catholic deification of Mary, a false doctrine which then leads to a wrong practice of prayer to her as an intercessor to her son Jesus Christ. Now Mary’s virginity at the birth of Jesus is an historical fact in fulfilment of prophecy. But when it is corrupted into a title never used in Scripture, even that phrase “Virgin Mary” adds its connotation of exaltation, and leads into the Roman Catholic false doctrine of Mary’s “perpetual virginity.” What necessarily follows that initial error, is an even greater corruption of Scripture, because other texts must then be wrested from their true meaning to justify it.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): “Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” Luke 1:34. The conjecture which some have drawn from these words, that she had formed a vow of perpetual virginity, is unfounded and altogether absurd. She would, in that case, have committed treachery by allowing herself to be united to a husband, and would have poured contempt on the holy covenant of marriage; which could not have been done without mockery of God.

ADAM CLARKE: “Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut,” Ezekiel 44:2. This verse has been adduced by the Roman Catholics to prove the “perpetual virginity” of the mother of our Lord; and it may be allowed to be as much to the purpose as any other that has been brought to prove that very precarious point, on which no stress should ever be laid by any man. Our blessed Lord, it is true, was her first born, while she was yet a virgin; but no man can prove that He was her last.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Whether she continued after this a virgin—that she vowed virginity, as Papists say, we deny: for how could she promise virginity to God, and marriage to Joseph?

ADAM CLARKE: “Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us?” Matthew 13:55,56. Would not any person of plain common sense suppose, from this account, that these were the children of Joseph and Mary, and the brothers and sisters of our Lord, according to the flesh?

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Much has been said concerning the “perpetual virginity” of Mary: Jerome was very angry with Helvidius for denying it. But it is certain that it cannot be proved from scripture.

THE EDITOR: But it’s not just a case of misusing terminology concerning Mary. See the same practical misuse with the adjective “reverend.” It means “worthy of worship,” and the only actual Scriptural usage of that term is in reference to God Himself, “holy and reverend is His name,” Psalm 111:9.

MATTHEW HENRY: Because God’s name is holy—therefore it is “reverend.”

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): How good men can endure to be called “reverend,” we know not! It may be said that the title of reverend is only one of courtesy, but then so was the title of Rabbi among the Jews, yet the disciples were not to be called Rabbi, Matthew 23:7. It is, at any rate, a suspicious circumstance that among mankind no class of persons should so commonly describe themselves by a pretentious title as the professed ministers of the lowly Jesus. Peter and Paul were right reverend men, but they would have been the last to have called themselves so. No sensible person does reverence us one jot the more because we assume the title. This may be a trifle―many no doubt so regard it―why, then, are they not prepared to abstain from it? The less the value of the epithet the less reason for continuing the use of it.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): None of the prophets had ever received this title of rabbi, nor any of the Jewish doctors before the time of Hillel and Shammai, which was about the time of our Lord; and, as disputes on several subjects had run high between these two schools, the people were of course divided; some acknowledging Hillel as rabbi―infallible teacher, and others giving this title to Shammai. The Pharisees, who always sought the honour that comes from men, assumed the title, and got their followers to address them by it.

JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): The Jewish rabbis were also called father and master, by their disciples, whom they required to believe implicitly what they affirmed, without asking any farther reason; to obey implicitly what they enjoined, without seeking farther authority. Our Lord, therefore, by forbidding us either to give or receive the title of rabbi, master, or father, forbids us either to receive any such reverence, or to pay any such to any but God.

THE EDITOR: The same thing happened with the term “Holy Father,” John 17:11, a phrase used only by our Lord Jesus in prayer to His Father! Roman Catholicism turned it into a title for their Pope, who then claimed infallibility for himself. Religious titles are corruptions of Scripture, the ragged remnants of Popish priestcraft in the exaltation of its “clergy.” Furthermore, exalted titles like Saint so-and-so are designations which also led into false doctrines and wrong intercessory practices. Scripturally, all believers are termed “saints,” and all such usages are directly contrary to the spirit and intention of Christ’s prohibition: “Be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven,” Matthew 23:8,9. Are Protestants exempted to use the term “pastor” as a title? Surely not. Indeed, a “pastor” is a legitimate church office, as is “deacon;” as also “apostle” and “evangelist” were once offices in the early church; but nowhere do we read of “Pastor Paul,” “Deacon Stephen,” “Apostle Peter,” or “Evangelist Philip.” In Scripture, an office is never corrupted into a title to dignify any men above their brethren.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Many are still bound by the grave clothes of tradition, or misunderstanding.

C. H. SPURGEON: If a man were to assume the title of “reverend” for the first time in history, it would look ridiculous, if not presumptuous or profane. Why does not the Sunday-school teacher call himself “the Respectable John Jones,” or the City Missionary dub himself “the Hard-working William Evans?”

THE EDITOR: Surely Protestants ought to be as Elihu, who said to Job, “Let me not, I pray you, accept any man’s person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man. For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away,” Job 32:21,22.

 

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The Feast of Pentecost

Posted on May 17, 2024 by The Editor

Exodus 34:22; Leviticus 23:15-17; Leviticus 23:20,21; Isaiah 2:1-3; Acts 2:1-5

Thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest.

Ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

J. C. BAYLEY (circa 1884): It is not merely a matter of conjecture when we say the Hebrew Festivals were typical of future dispensations.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Let us study the spiritual meaning of these types.

J. C. BAYLEY: The antitype of this is given in Acts 2:1-47, “when the day of Pentecost was fully come,—that is, not merely come, but “fully” come in the antitype—the disciples being together, the Holy Ghost descended upon them and formed them into the one body of the church.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): The feast of Pentecost commenced on the fiftieth day reckoned from the morrow after the paschal lamb was offered. On Pentecost, God gave His law on Mount Sinai, accompanied with thunderings and lightnings. On Pentecost, God sent down His Holy Spirit, like a rushing mighty wind; and tongues of fire sat upon each disciple, that by His influence that new law of light and life might be promulgated and established. The new law of grace was given from Mount Sion, at the same time as when the law of Moses was given from Mount Sinai, Isaiah 2:-33; Acts 2:1-5—at the feast of Pentecost, when the apostles having received the first-fruits of the Spirit, gathered in three thousand souls, whom they presented unto God and the Lamb, hallowed or anointed with the unction of the Spirit, as a kind of first-fruits of the new creation.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): God had ordained that this feast of Pentecost should be observed in Israel as the type of the beginning of a new dispensation when a new meal offering would be offered to the Lord: “Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves—baken with leaven.” These could not typify our Lord because they had leaven in them: leaven is a type of sin and He was the sinless one. But the loaves do typify those, who through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, are presented to God a new creation—Jew and Gentile—sinners in themselves, but their sins judged in the light of the cross of Christ.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,” Ephesians 2:15, 16. The meaning of Paul’s words is now clear—the middle wall of partition hindered Christ from forming Jews and Gentiles into one body. Therefore this wall has been broken down.

STEPHEN CHARNOCK (1628-1680): It was the custom of the Jews that dwelt among other nations, at a distance from Jerusalem, to assemble together at Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost: and God pitched upon this season, that there might be witnesses of this miracle in many parts of the world: there were some of every nation under heaven; that is, of that known part of the world, so saith the text. Fourteen several nations are mentioned—and “proselytes,” as well as Jews by birth, Acts 2:10—whether Jews or Gentiles, or mixed with both.

ALFRED EDERSHEIM (1825-1889): “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore,” Psalm 133:1-3. In this prayer and song of the unity of the church, it is noteworthy how, commencing with the fundamental idea of “brethren,” we rise to the realization of the Elder Brother, Who is our common anointed High Priest. It is the bond of His priesthood which joins us together. It is the common anointing which flows down to the skirts of the garment of our High Priest which marks our being brethren.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Theodoret (393-457), thinks some respect is had here to the pouring down of the Spirit on the apostles in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): This dew is not to be taken literally. And if it seem strange that the dew should be taken literally in the first clause, and mystically in the next, we have a like instance in Matthew 8:22, “Let the dead,”—spiritually, “bury the dead,”—naturally.

THE EDITOR: Indeed, the Holy Spirit, poured out through Jesus Christ, is “the dew from heaven” descending on Mount Zion, uniting Jews and Gentiles together as brethren, as one body in the Lord; “for there the Lord commanded the blessing;” thus they were commanded by our Lord to wait in Jerusalem until they received power; then, after the Holy Ghost had come upon them, they were “to be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth,” Acts 1:8. That witness began immediately and literally in Peter’s sermon on that day of Pentecost.

THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): The feast of Pentecost was under the old law the feast of the “first fruits,” Leviticus 23:10. Thus it was in the type, and the apostles on that day received for the church of the New Testament “the first fruits of the Spirit,” Romans 8:23.

ADAM CLARKE: Those of them that believed were the first fruits of that astonishing harvest which God has since reaped over the whole Gentile world. “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures,” James 1:18…The Holy Spirit seems to have designed all these analogies to show that, through all preceding ages, God had the Gospel continually in view; and the old law and its ordinances were only designed as preparatives for the new. Thus, the analogy between the Egyptian bondage occasioned by sin—the deliverance from Egypt and redemption from sin—the giving of the law, with all its emblematic accompaniments, and sending down the Spirit, with its symbols of light, life, and power, has been exactly preserved.

THE EDITOR: Even exactly to the fiftieth day—not the forty-ninth day, the Jewish seventh day Sabbath under the old Mosaic law.

THOMAS GOODWIN: The Holy Ghost, when Christ was set in heaven, fell down upon the feast of Pentecost, which was upon the first day of the week, our Lord’s Day.

C. H. SPURGEON: The Levitical feast of Pentecost contains, among its regulations, that no servile work is to be done—it sends a lesson to many Christians who seem to have little regard for the Lord’s Day, who break its rest in a thousand frivolous ways and half regret they cannot pursue their earthly callings throughout the whole seven days of the week. It is true we consider these days, weeks and sacred festivals to have become obsolete by the fulfillment of the great truths of God which they typified, but we may at least learn from the Jews’ strict observance of the Sabbath, the Passover and the feast of Pentecost, to guard with care the one great festival which remains to the Church, namely, the Lord’s Day. On our Sabbath let us do no needless work, but seek rest both for body and soul.

WILHELMUS à BRAKEL  (1635-1711): We sin when we make a work day out of this day—or a day of worldly pleasure.

 

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The Most Famous Mother of All Time

Posted on May 10, 2024 by The Editor

Genesis 3:20; Luke 1:26-28; Luke 1:41-43

And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): What has the word “Eve” to do with being “the mother of all living?” A man who does not understand the original cannot possibly comprehend what is said here.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): The Hebrew word signifies either a living, or, the giver or preserver of life.

ADAM CLARKE: It is a pity our translators had not followed the Septuagint Greek translation, which is literal and correct: “And Adam called his wife’s name Life, because she was the mother of all the living.” This is a proper and faithful representation of the Hebrew text. The original Hebrew word, which we have corrupted into Eve, makes it destitute of all meaning.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Eve would be not only the mother of all men living in succeeding generations, but particularly of one descending from her, Who would be the mother of Him that should bring life and immortality to light, or be the Author of all life, natural, spiritual, and eternal; and Who is called ζωη, “the life,” John 1:4; 14:6, which is the same word by which the Greek version renders Eve.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Adam gave her this name in reference to that great expected event: Eve, the mother of all, or universal life; for the Hebrew will bear this sense; and Jesus Christ is universal life, the life of the world.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): It was likewise a confirmation of the promise now made, that the seed of the woman—of this woman, should break the serpent’s head, Genesis 3:15. The blessing of a Redeemer, and promised seed, to whom Adam had an eye, in calling his wife Eve—life; for He should be the life of all the living, and in Him all the families of the earth should be blessed.

THE EDITOR: Scripturally, therefore Eve must be the most famous mother in all human history. Still, in general popular opinion, Mary, as the mother of Jesus, is more likely to be considered as the world’s most famous mother. “Blessed art thou among women.” Do not the angel Gabriel’s words suggest that?

THOMAS COKE: She of all others was singled out to be distinguished with peculiar honour, and to be called blessed in all generations, as the mother of the Messiah. The popish plea for the adoration of the virgin Mary, drawn from this passage, is absurd and utterly unsupported; these words in no wise implying prayer or worship, but merely a friendly salutation.

ADAM CLARKE: “Hail, thou that art highly favoured.” That is, thou art favoured beyond all others. “Highly favoured,” as being chosen in preference to all the women upon earth, to be the mother of the Messiah. But not the “mother of God,” for that is blasphemy.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Whether the blessed virgin were the Mother of God, raised great storms in the Council of Ephesus in 421 A.D., and came to commotions in the secular part, and excommunications among the Bishops, inasmuch as the Emperor declared both sides heretics—but forasmuch as she was the mother of Christ, Matthew 1:23, and Christ is God; in bringing forth Christ, she was the “mother of God.”

JOHN GILL: She would be the mother of Him, as man, Who, in His divine nature, is Lord of all angels, and men, and every creature; and in an especial manner was her Lord, and the Lord of all the saints; by His Father’s gift from eternity, by His own purchase in time, and by the power of His grace on each of their souls. Thus the virgin is said to be “the mother of our Lord,” and so may be called “the mother of God;” because she was parent of that child, which was in union with Him, who is truly Lord and God.

WILLIAM KELLY (1821-1906): Mary is the mother of Him who is God; but not the “mother of God,” as the Roman Catholics say.

THE EDITOR: Our God is a self-existent Being. Christ, being God, existed in the Godhead “from everlasting to everlasting,” and thus, He Who is “God come in the flesh,” has no mother. But as the man Christ Jesus, conceived by the Holy Ghost in Mary’s womb, thus Mary may quite legitimately be called the “mother of the Man Christ Jesus,” or “mother of the Messiah,” or even “the mother of my Lord,” as Elizabeth addressed her, Luke 1:43. But to style her as “the Mother of God,” is both misleading and theologically inaccurate terminology. Scriptural terminology is important, because errors in terminology are corrupt roots that usually produce bad fruits—both in doctrine and practice.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Papists call her “Mother of God,” but she herself never whispers such a thing in her song. No, it is “my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,” Luke 1:47; just such words as the sinner who is speaking to you might use, and expressions as you sinners who are hearing me can use, too.

ADAM CLARKE: “All generations shall call me blessed,” Luke 1:48. This was the character by which alone she wished to be known; the blessed or happy virgin. What dishonour those do to this holy woman, who give her names and characters which her pure soul would abhor; and which properly belong to God her Saviour! By her votaries she is addressed as the Queen of Heaven, and the Mother of God, titles both absurd and blasphemous.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Perhaps a word is called for in connection with our Lord’s form of address to her. So far as the record of the four gospels go, never once did He call her “Mother.”

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Why does He reduce her to the rank of woman, and not even deign to call her mother?

A. W. PINK: It is significant that the two times Christ addressed His mother as “woman” are both recorded in John’s Gospel, which sets forth His Deity. The employment of this term “woman” denotes Christ’s omniscience; with prophetic foresight He anticipated the horrible idolatry which was to ascribe Divine honours to her. He knew that in the centuries which were to follow, men would entitle her the Queen of angels and the “Mother of God.” Hence, He refused to use a term which would in any wise countenance the monstrous system of Mariolatry. Christ would here teach us that Mary was only a woman—“Blessed among women,” but not “blessed above women.”

C. H. SPURGEON: Our Saviour, with all the love of His Manhood towards His mother, acted towards her in such a way as to forever forbid any degree of religious worship being rendered to her. He gave no countenance to the superstitious titles of “Our Lady,” “Mother of God,” and so forth; but, on the contrary, He taught that the nearest fleshly relationship to Himself was as nothing, compared with spiritual union to Him. Remember how it is written: “Then one said to Him, Behold, your mother and your brethren stand outside, desiring to speak with you. But He answered and said unto him that told Him, Who is My mother? And who are My brethren? And He stretched forth His hand towards His disciples and said, Behold My mother and My brethren! For whoever shall do the will of My Father which is in Heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother,” Matthew 12:47-50.

 

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Active Living Faith

Posted on May 3, 2024 by The Editor

James 2:14-18; Ephesians 2:10

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): We read in the text, “Created in Christ Jesus.” We are the branches; He is the Vine out of which we grow. Your life, and all your fruit-producing power lie in your union to Christ. Beloved, if you are what you profess to be, you are one with Jesus by that vital union which cannot be dissolved; and good works follow upon that union. Joined to Jesus by faith in Him, love to Him, and imitation of Him, you walk in good works. Our good works must flow from our union with Christ by virtue of our faith in Him.

JOHN OWEN (1616-1683): Faith is the spring and cause of all obedience, for “without faith it is impossible to please God,” Hebrews 11:6; and the obedience that is accepted with Him is “the obedience of faith.”

THOMAS BROOKS (1608-1680): Till men have faith in Christ, their best services are but glorious sins.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981):  Without faith, you can’t begin―faith is the beginning, that’s essential.

THE EDITOR: It is significant that the entire chapter of Hebrews 11, after stating its initial definitions of faith, extensively describes its nature, and its effects, in acts of faith by the saints, as evidences of their faith.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): If a man believes, then he will do “good works.”

C. H. SPURGEON: The faith which does not produce good works is not saving faith: it is not the faith of God’s elect: it is not faith at all in the Scriptural sense…Faith shows itself by good works, and therefore is no dead faith. God’s house is a hive for workers, not a nest for drones. Those who rejoice that everything is done for them by another, even the Lord Jesus, and therefore hate legality, are the best doers in the world upon gospel principles. If we are not positively serving the Lord, and doing His holy will to the best of our power, we may seriously debate our interest in divine things…If a man says he has faith, and has no works, he lies.

THOMAS MANTON (1620-1677): Faith is not an idle grace.

MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): Faith is a living, restless thing. It cannot be inoperative.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): We have got to act on our faith. There is no point or purpose in reading the doctrine and understanding the teaching if we do nothing about it. We have got to translate it into practice.

HORATIUS BONAR (1808-1889): The faith which goes no further than the intellect can neither save nor sanctify. It is no faith at all. It is unbelief.

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: There is always an element of venture in faith. Faith is entirely different from a mere intellectual assent and belief. Faith is putting what we believe into practice and into operation. I am tempted to repeat a story to illustrate this point―a person was standing on one side of Niagara Falls, watching a man who could not only walk over the Falls on a tightrope, but who could actually trundle a wheelbarrow across as well. He turned to a man standing by and said: “Do you believe that I can not only take a wheelbarrow over to the other side, but that I can also take it across with a man sitting in it?” “Yes, I do,” said the man. “Well,” he replied, “take your seat in the wheelbarrow.” But he would not! The story represents the difference between intellectual assent and true faith. Faith gets into the wheelbarrow! It believes the message to such an extent that it begins to practise it. The proof of true faith is that it is practiced―that it shows itself in action. 

ROWLAND HILL (1744-1833): Faith is a mere imagination, unless it is proved by works; if we are believers, we have that “faith which worketh by love,” Galatians 5:6.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Faith, where it is true, is a working grace: it works by love, love to God and love to our brethren; and faith, thus working by love, is all in all in our Christianity…Here is the procuring cause of all, namely, Christ, who purchased the Spirit and His saving gifts and graces. All come through Him as a Saviour…“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life, Titus 3:5-7.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): “Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end,” Hebrews 3:6. The word “hope” I take for faith; and indeed hope is nothing else but the constancy of faith.

WILLIAM GOUGE (1575-1653): Where there is no hope, there is no faith.

THOMAS BROOKS: A man full of hope, will be full of action.

MATTHEW HENRY: Paul says to Titus, “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works,” Titus 3:8. This is a true Christian doctrine of highest importance, which ministers must most earnestly and constantly press, that those who have believed in God do not think that a bare naked faith will save them; but it must be an operative working faith, bringing forth the fruit of righteousness; they must make it their care “to maintain good works,” not to do them occasionally, only when opportunities come their way, but to seek opportunities for doing them.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): To “maintain” these according to the significance of the word used, is to excel in them; to outdo others, by way of example, and so to provoke to love and to good works, to make them the employment and business of men’s lives; for which there should be a thoughtfulness, a carefulness, a studious concern in those who “have believed in God,” who are regenerated and renewed by the Spirit of God, and are justified by faith in the righteousness of Christ; who believe in Him for peace, pardon, righteousness, life, and salvation: these are under great obligations to perform good works; the love of Christ should constrain them to do them; and they are the only persons that are capable of doing them well, for they are sanctified—made ready for every good work; they are created in Christ Jesus to them; they have the Spirit of Christ in them, and the strength of Christ with them, without which they cannot be performed well; and they have faith in Christ, without which it is impossible to please God.

THE EDITOR: True believers do good works because they have eternal life, not to obtain eternal life. Good works show the world a visible evidence of the Christian’s faith.

JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): Faith is not a notional and historical assent in the head; it is a principle of life—a principle of strength.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: Faith is the principle of works; works are the manifestation of faith, making it visible.

AUGUSTUS TOPLADY (1713-1778): If God gives you Paul’s faith, He will give you James’s works.

 

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What is True Saving Faith?

Posted on April 26, 2024 by The Editor

Ephesians 2:8,9; Hebrews 11:1-3; John 13:23

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. 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.

Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.

CASPER OLEVIANUS (1536-1587): What is true faith?

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): It is “the substance of things hoped for.” Faith and hope go together; and the same things that are the object of our hope, are the object of our faith. It is a firm persuasion and expectation that God will perform all that He has promised to us in Christ…It is “the evidence of things not seen.” Faith demonstrates to the eye of the mind the reality of things that cannot be discerned by the eye of the body. Faith is the firm assent of the soul to the divine revelation and every part of it, and sets to its seal that God is true. It is a full approbation of all that God has revealed as holy, just, and good.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Faith comprehends within its grasp the past, the present, and the future. By it, the Christian knows that the universe, but a few thousand years ago, had no existence, and that it was created out of nothing by the Word of God.

ZACHARIAS URSINUS (1534-1583): True faith is not only a certain knowledge, whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in His Word, but also an assured confidence, which the Holy Ghost works by the gospel in my heart; that not only to others, but to me also, remission of sin, everlasting righteousness and salvation, are freely given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ’s merits.

HULDREICH ZWINGLI (1484-1531): Faith is a matter of fact, not of knowledge or opinion; for it is born only when a man begins to despair of himself, and to see that he must trust in God alone. And it is perfected when a man wholly casts himself off and prostrates himself before the mercy of God alone, in such a fashion as to have entire trust in it because of Christ who was given for us. What man of faith can be unaware of this? For then only are you free from sin when the mind trusts itself unwaveringly to the death of Christ and finds rest there.

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): Faith is that act of the soul whereby it rests on Christ crucified for pardon and life, and that upon the warrant of the Word. The person of Christ is the object of faith as justifying: secondly, Christ as crucified. First, the person of Christ, not any axiom or proposition in the Word―this is the object of assurance, not of faith. Assurance saith, “I believe my sins are pardoned through Christ;” Faith’s language is, “I believe on Christ for the pardon of them.”

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): What is faith? Even those who know what faith is, personally and experimentally, do not always find it easy to give a good definition of it. They think they have hit the mark; then, afterwards, they lament that they have failed. Straining themselves to describe one part of faith, they find they have forgotten another, and in the excess of their earnestness to clear the poor sinner out of one mistake, they often lead him into a worse error. So that I think I may say that, while faith is the simplest thing in all the world, yet it is one of most difficult upon which to write.

JOHN G. PATON (1824-1907): For a long time no equivalent could be found for the word “faith” in the native language of Aniwa Island, and my work of Bible translation was paralyzed for the want of so fundamental a term. The natives apparently regarded the verb “to hear” as equivalent to “to believe.” I would ask a native whether he believed a certain statement, and his reply would be, should he credit the statement, “Yes, I heard it,” but should he disbelieve it, he would answer, “No, I did not hear it,” meaning, not that his ears had failed to catch the words, but that he did not regard them as true. This definition of faith was obviously insufficient.

I prayed continually that God would supply the missing link, and spared no effort in interrogating the most intelligent native pundits, but all in vain, none caught the hidden meaning of the word. One day I was in the Mission House anxiously pondering. I sat on an ordinary kitchen chair, my feet resting on the floor. Just as an intelligent native woman entered the room, the thought flashed through my mind to ask the all-absorbing question again, if possible in a new light. Was I not resting on the chair? Would that attitude lend itself to the discovery? I said, “What am I doing now?” “Koikae ana,” the native replied, “you are sitting down.”

Then I drew up my feet and placed them upon the bar of the chair just above the floor, and leaning back in an attitude of repose, asked, “What am I doing now?” “Fakarongrongo,” she said, meaning “you are leaning wholly, or you have lifted yourself from every other support.” “That’s it!” I shouted with an exultant cry; and a sense of holy joy awed me, as I realized that my prayer had been fully answered. To “lean on” Jesus wholly and only, is surely the true meaning of saving faith. And now “Fakarongrongo Iesu ea anea mouri,”—leaning on Jesus unto eternal life, or, for all the things of eternal life, is the happy experience of those Christian Islanders, as it is of all who thus cast themselves unreservedly on the Saviour of the world for salvation.

ALEXANDER COMRIE (1706-1774): It will mean that they rest their whole weight upon Him, upon the Christ. O! as long as a man leans and supports himself partly upon Jesus, and partly upon duties, for sure the left hand will be pierced by the broken reed of Egypt, by legal duties, and self-strength. Here we must lean upon Him and upon none other, else we shall ever be wrong in the exercise.

C. H. SPURGEON: It is essential that our faith rest alone on Jesus. Mix anything with Christ, and you are undone. If your faith stand with one foot upon the rock of His merits, and the other foot upon the sand of your own duties, it will fall, and great will be the fall. Recumbency on the truth was the word which the old preachers used. You will understand that word: Leaning on it; saying, “This is truth, I trust my salvation on it.” Now, true faith, in its very essence rests in this—a leaning upon Christ. It will not save me to know that Christ is a Saviour; but it will save me to trust Him to be my Saviour. I shall not be delivered from the wrath to come by believing that His atonement is sufficient, but I shall be saved by making that atonement my trust, my refuge, and my all. The pith, the essence of faith lies in this—a casting one-self on the promise.

MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): Many are lost because they cannot use possessive pronouns.

HUGH BINNING (1625-1654): To believe in Christ is simply this: that I, whatsoever I be, ungodly, wretched, polluted, desperate—am willing to have Jesus Christ for my Saviour. I have no help or hope if it be not in Him.

 

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When Nations Depart From God

Posted on April 19, 2024 by The Editor

Isaiah 3:4,5; Isaiah 3:8-12; Isaiah 29:10

And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory. The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him. As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.

For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564):  To show more clearly the source of this blindness, Isaiah attributes it to the judgment of God, who determined to punish in this manner the wickedness of the people. As it belongs to Him to give eyes to see, and to enlighten minds by the spirit of judgment and understanding, so He alone deprives us of all light, when He sees that by a wicked and depraved hatred of the truth we of our own accord wish for darkness. Isaiah adds that the people are deprived of those helps which ought to have imparted light to the understanding and given direction to others. Such was the office of the prophets, whom he describes by both of these names, “prophets” and “seers.” He means not only that men who are endued with reason and understanding will be deprived of common sense, but that their teachers also, whose duty it was to enlighten others, will be altogether senseless so as not to know the road, and, being covered with the darkness of ignorance, will shamefully go astray, and will be so far from directing others, that they will not even be able to guide themselves.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): The present generation has, for the most part, been reared not only in an atmosphere of negative unbelief but of hostile unbelief—Doubt as to moral and spiritual truth is distilled through a score of channels. Our seats of learning are hotbeds of agnosticism.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Some are learned fools. Unconverted men, whatever they know, are only educated fools. Between the ignorant man who cannot read a letter and the learned man who is apt in all knowledge, there is small difference if they are both ignorant of Christ! Indeed, the scholar’s folly is, in this case, the greater of the two! The learned fool generally proves himself the worst of fools, for he invents theories which would be ridiculed if they could be understood—he brings forth speculations which, if judged by common sense would be scouted from the universe with a hiss of derision!

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): What is taught in the schools, that all the earth we see now, and everything upon it, came out of a ball of fire. It is a great deal easier to believe that man was made after the image of God, than to believe, as some young men and women are being taught now, that he is the offspring of a monkey.

A. W. PINK: Even those brought up in Christian homes are being corrupted by the paganism of modern education, are bewildered by the conflicting teachings they receive from parents and the school, and are harassed by doubts. The vast majority in the English-speaking world are totally ignorant of the contents of the Bible, know not that it is a Divine revelation, yea, question whether there be any God at all.

C. H. SPURGEON: There are fools of all sorts. There are fools in colleges.

THE EDITOR: What else can we call university students barely able to read and write, who think gender is an individual choice from a multi-option “spectrum,” however perverse that may be. These unruly children seek “safe spaces” where they hide from censure, and yet, determined to rule over what others may think, attempt to silence anyone daring to speak against their insanity. Knowing nothing of history, or the Bible, such evil unnatural nonsense is now taught even to elementary schoolchildren!

JOHN CALVIN: This notion is wholly inconsistent with common sense and experience.

A. W. PINK: Modern skepticism is rarely candid, but is rather a refuge in which multitudes are sheltering from an accusing conscience.

JOHN CALVIN: It is incontrovertible that God will not approve or excuse what the common sense of mankind declares to be obscene; for, although lewdness has everywhere been rampant in every age, still the opinion could never be utterly extinguished, that fornication is a scandal and a sin. Accordingly, when men are blind, and especially in things so plain and obvious, we perceive His righteous judgment—God is said sometimes to inebriate men when He stupifies them, and drives them at one time to madness, and at another time deprives them of common sense and understanding, so that they become like beasts.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Wicked men are mad upon their lusts, and mad against the saints, and all that is good.

THE EDITOR: From kindergarten to university, North American schools have become indoctrination centres, where not only absurdities, but anti-Christian and anti-Semitic political agendas are promoted. The evil triad of Feminism, Multiculturalism, and the Homosexual Rights Movement, is an unholy political alliance whose real agenda is not equality, but dominance. Whatever they disagree about between themselves, they are completely united in being anti-Christian: Feminists hate Christianity, because what the Bible says about the role of women, directly contradicts their lust to “empower” women; Multiculturalism hates Christianity, because their lie that ‘all cultures are equal, and other religions are just different paths to God,’ is absolutely refuted by Jesus Christ, who says, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” Homosexuals hate the Bible because it clearly condemns their perverse sexual lusts. Their insidious madness now permeates society—in the media, in governments, the courts and corporations.

D. L. MOODY: There is nothing at all in the Bible that does not conform to common sense; it is God’s truth. Let others reject, if they will, at their own peril, this imperishable truth.

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): As we deal with truth, so we deal with God Himself; he that despiseth that, despiseth Him. He that abandons the truth of God, renounces the God of truth.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): As the world grows older, it will grow more mad—very many that shall live in the world, yea, in the bosom of the church, “will not endure sound doctrine,” will not endure that preaching which hath any soundness in it, or is of any tendency, life, power, or efficacy, to recover their souls from the diseases of sin and lusts. “But after their own lusts,”—in favour of their own lusts, and to secure their satisfaction in them, “shall they heap to themselves teachers,” 2 Timothy 4:3,4; they will be finding out teachers, not according to God’s heart, but to their own hearts; and there will be plenty of them to be found.

THE EDITOR: Whenever nations depart from God, truth, and common sense—obviously, insanity prevails; without repentance, political, economic, and social chaos inevitably follows.

C. H. SPURGEON: That is common sense.

EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): Our republic, driven by the gales of faction, and hurried still faster by the secret current of luxury and vice, is following the same course, and fast approaching the same rocks which proved fatal to so many before us. In vain does experience offer us the wisdom of past ages for our direction: in vain does history point out the ruin towards which we are advancing…That blind accursed infatuation which ever appears to govern mankind when their most important interests are concerned, leads us, in defiance of reason, experience, and common sense, to flatter ourselves that the same causes which have proved fatal to all other governments, will lose their pernicious tendency when exerted on our own.

 

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Apostolic Evangelical Preaching

Posted on April 12, 2024 by The Editor

1 Corinthians 2:2

For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): If we turn to the first preachers of the gospel, we shall find each of them saying, with the inspired apostle, “We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord,” 2 Corinthians 4:5.

THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): So Paul, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, seemed by the matter of his sermon to have “known nothing but Christ, and Him as crucified.” Thus, in his Epistle to the Galatians, he calls his preaching among them “the preaching of faith,” Galatians 3:2. And what was the main scope of it, but the picturing out—as the word is, of “Christ crucified before their eyes”? Galatians 3:1. So he preached Him, and so they received Him, and so they “began in the spirit,” Galatians 3:3. And thus also do the sacraments, the seals of the promises present Christ to a believer’s eye; as they hold forth Christ as crucified; their scope being to “show forth His death till He come,” 1 Corinthians 11:26; bread signifying Christ’s body broken in the sufferings of it; and the cup signifying the sufferings of His soul, and the pouring of it forth unto death.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): The mystery of Christ crucified was a stumbling-block to the Jews, and was, by many of the Gentiles, accounted foolishness and absurdity; but the apostles proposed it simply and indifferently to all.

WILLIAM JAY: If they would persuade men by the terrors of the Lord, they were His terrors; if they spake of the wrath of the Almighty, it was the great day of His wrath: “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when His wrath is kindled but a little,” Psalm 2:12. Did they speak of the divine perfections? they made them shine forth in the face of Jesus Christ. Did they speak of providence? they placed the reins of universal empire in His hand, and made Him “Head over all things to His church which is His body,” Ephesians 1:23. Did they speak of heaven? they made it to consist in seeing His glory—in “seeing Him as He is,” 1 John 3:2; and in “being forever with the Lord,” 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): The basis of “The Great Commission” is the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This must never be lost sight of. “It behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day,” Luke 24:46. It is a risen Christ that sends forth His heralds to preach “repentance and remission of sins.” The incarnation and the crucifixion are great cardinal truths of Christianity—but let all preachers remember the place which resurrection holds in apostolic preaching and teaching. “With great power gave the apostles witness.” Of what? Incarnation or crucifixion merely? Not so; but “of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,” Acts 4:33.

C. E. STUART (1828-1903): “Repent ye and believe the gospel.” Regarding repentance, in the New Testament we meet with that call repeated. John the Baptist preached it, and the Lord called men to it, Mark 1:1,14,15. The apostles before His crucifixion went out to insist on it, and after His ascension continued to enforce it; as repentance forms so prominent a topic in the preaching of the apostles, it may well be a subject for inquiry, how far this element of apostolic preaching enters into the general evangelical teaching of the present day.

WILLIAM JAY: Did they speak of repentance? they never thought of fetching this water out of the millstone of man’s natural heart; they knew that the tear of penitence could only drop from the eye of faith, in sight of the cross; as it is written, “They shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and they shall be in bitterness as one that is in bitterness for his first-born” Zecharian 12:10.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Everything centers in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified,”—that is, the person, and the work. The person of Christ was always presented in apostolic preaching. Men were not asked to believe a creed or to subscribe to a system of doctrine, but they were asked to receive a person—the Lord Jesus Christ.

WILLIAM JAY: Jesus Christ is all, and in all, in the gospel ministry. He is the grand theme. If they called upon persons to pray, it was to ask in His name. “Yea,” said they, “whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.” Colossians 3:10.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Whatever we do not preach, let us preach Jesus Christ. I have found, wherever I have been in England, that though there might not be a road to this place or that, there was sure to be a London road. Now, if your sermon does not happen to have the doctrine of election, or the doctrine of final perseverance in it, let it always have Christ in it. Have a road to London—a road to Christ—in every sermon.

H. A. IRONSIDE: Years ago a gentleman living in a country town in England went to London and while there heard some renowned preachers. Writing home to his wife, he said, “Last Sunday I went in the morning to hear Dr. so-and-so—he named one of the most eloquent men occupying a London pulpit at that time; and in the evening I went to the Metropolitan Tabernacle to listen to C. H. Spurgeon. I was quite impressed by both of them. Dr. so-and-so is certainly a great preacher, but Spurgeon has a great Saviour.” Do you see the difference?

JOHN NEWTON: We preach Christ crucified, Christ the end of the law for righteousness, and the power of God for sanctification, to every one that believeth. We preach salvation by grace through faith in His blood, and we are sure that they who receive this doctrine unfeignedly, will, by their lives and conversations, demonstrate it to be a doctrine according to godliness. They are not indeed delivered from infirmities, they are liable to mistakes and indiscretions, and see more amiss in themselves than their worst enemies can charge them with. But sin is their burden, they sigh to be delivered from it, and they expect a complete redemption.

THOMAS GOODWIN: Thus did the apostles also in their sermons…And so it follows, “We preach Christ crucified, unto them which are called, the power of God,” 1 Corinthians 1:23,24.

GEORGE WHITEFIELD (1714-1770): The Holy Ghost shall be sent down on you, if you do but believe; for Christ ascended up on high to receive this gift even for the vilest of men. Come then, all ye that are weary and heavy laden with the sense of your sins—lay hold on Christ by faith, and He will give you rest; for salvation is the free gift of God to all that believe. And though you may think this too good news to be true, yet I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not. This is the gospel, this is the glad tidings which we are commissioned to preach to every creature. Be not faithless then, but believing.

 

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Touch Me Not

Posted on April 5, 2024 by The Editor

Mark 16:9; John 20:11-17

Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.

But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): This saying of our Lord is undeniably a very “deep thing,” and the real meaning of it is a point which has greatly perplexed commentators.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): There are two no mean difficulties: one about the sense of the prohibition, when our Saviour forbade this woman to touch Him—when after His resurrection, He suffered the women to hold Him by the feet, Matthew 28:29.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Not that His body was an aerial one, or a mere “phantom,” which could not be touched; the prohibition itself shows the contrary.

RICHARD SIBBES (1577-1635): Mary was too much addicted to Christ’s bodily presence.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): She had caught him by the feet—as the Shunammite did Elisha—and there she would have held him longer, out of inconsiderate zeal. He takes her off this corporal conceit, that she may learn to live by faith, and not by sense; to be drawn after Him to heaven, whither He was now ascending, and to go tell His brethren what she had seen and heard.

ALEXANDER WHYTE (1836-1921): “Touch Me not.” Had He not said that, she would have been holding His feet there to this day.

THE EDITOR: But the text doesn’t say that Mary “had caught Him by the feet,” though that was probably her intent.

MATTHEW POOLE: The other difficulty is: What force of a reason there could be for her not touching Him because “He had not yet ascended?”

THE EDITOR: Jesus stated it as the specific reason He prevented her from touching Him.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): His prohibition encloses a permission. ‘Touch Me not! for I am not yet ascended,’ implies ‘When I am, you may.’

THE EDITOR: Yes. So why was it permissible for the other women to touch Him only minutes later, but not now?

J. C. RYLE: The message which our Lord desires Mary to carry to His disciples is remarkable. He does not bid her say “I have risen,” but “I ascend.”

THE EDITOR: But why send a message to His disciples about an ascension into heaven forty days later? Jesus knew He would talk with them face to face later that same evening. Surely that present tense phrasing, “I ascend,” has an important immediate significance. A third difficult point here is also never considered—When Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, what was He wearing? Peter and John had seen the linen grave clothes which had wrapped Christ’s naked body for burial, lying in the tomb, John 20:4-7. Now Jesus wasn’t standing there naked when Mary mistook Him for the gardener! So what was He wearing?

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): By comparing Scripture with Scripture, perhaps a light is thrown on the subject.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): The office of the High Priest was but half performed when he had slain the sacrifice: he must carry the blood within the veil, to sprinkle it upon the Mercy-seat; and he must burn incense also before the Mercy-seat, Leviticus 16:13,14. Now our blessed Lord was to execute every part of the priestly office; and therefore He must carry His own blood within the veil, and present also before the Mercy-seat the incense of His continual intercession. Agreeably to this we are told, “that by his own blood he is entered into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption for us,” Hebrews 9:12—So, our Lord was under a necessity of rising again, that He might enter into heaven with His own blood, that He might there present it before the mercy-seat.

HENRY AINSWORTH (1571–1622): The burning of incense preceded the sprinkling of the blood, Leviticus 16:13,14.

CHARLES SIMEON: It was not till after the high priest had covered the mercy-seat with the clouds of incense, that he had any authority to bless the people. Thus was our Lord, not only to offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin, and to enter into heaven with His own blood, but He was to make intercession for us at the right hand of God. This was stipulated between the Father and Him as one part of the condition, on which the conversion of sinners was to depend; “Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession,” Psalm 2:8.

THE EDITOR: Leviticus 16 shows the procedure required of the high priest to go in and out of the Holy of Holies, although Christ needed no atonement for Himself, as did the Old Testament high priest: “He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore he shall wash his flesh in water, and so put them on,” Leviticus 16:4. After burning incense and sprinkling the blood inside the Holy of Holies, then the high priest returned into the tabernacle.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The high priest must then put off his linen garments in the tabernacle, and leave them there—the Jews say never to be worn again by himself or any other, for they made new ones every year.

THE EDITOR: That signified Christ’s finished work, and His once for all atonement for our sins. Next, the priest changed his clothes again to “come forth” outside the tabernacle to perform the burnt offerings, Leviticus 16:23,24.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): It is significant that when the priest entered the Holiest of all he did not wear his gorgeous apparel, but was clothed in a garment of simple and pure white linen.

THE EDITOR: Yes. And it explains what Jesus was wearing when He appeared unto Mary Magdalene. He was wearing the pure white linen garment of His own perfect holy righteousness. Why? Because He must be perfectly “undefiled” to fulfill the Scriptures in entering the Holy of Holies, Hebrews 7:26,27. But Christ’s body had been truly dead, and though His body saw not corruption, any contact with a dead body causes a ceremonial defilement, Haggai 2:11-13. Also, according to that Levitical law, a washing with water to cleanse his body was required before the high priest put on the holy garments. Spiritually, that washing was fulfilled by Christ’s resurrection itself, as it is also in our own regeneration, 1 Corinthians 15:42-44; Titus 3:5.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): This is a most striking detail not obvious at first sight, but which is clearly established by a comparison of Scripture with Scripture…How this illustrates the need of diligently comparing Scripture with Scripture if we would obtain the full teaching of the Word on any subject!

THE EDITOR: That same reference in Haggai also proves that contact with anything not perfectly pure is defiling. Therefore, if Mary had touched Him, being of sinful human flesh, she would have defiled Him and made Him unclean according to the law. I believe this explains the specific reason for Christ’s prohibition; and that His entry into the heavenly Holy of Holies was the immediate ascension which Jesus said had “not yet” happened—because in marvellously tender grace, He had tarried briefly to comfort a weeping Mary Magdalene. Thus these Old Testament Scriptures were fulfilled between His appearance to her, and His meeting with the other women shortly afterwards, who then were allowed to touch Him.

 

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