Arno Clemens Gaebelein
The Lord of Glory Meditations on the person, the work and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ

Preface

For a number of years the first pages of each issue of “Our Hope” have been devoted to brief meditations on the Person and Glory of our adorable Lord Jesus Christ. Three reasons led the Editor to do this: 1. He is worthy of all honor and glory, worthy to have the first place in all things. 2. The great need of His people to have His blessed Person, His past and present work, His power and glory, His future manifestation constantly brought before their hearts. 3. There is an ever increasing denial of the Person of our Lord. In the most subtle way His Glory has been denied. It is therefore eminently necessary for those who know Him to tell out His worth. Long and learned discussions on the Person of the Lord have been written in the past, but are not much read in these days. We felt that short and simple meditations on Himself would be welcomed by all believers.

All these brief articles were written with much prayer and often under deep soul exercise. It has pleased the Holy Spirit to own them in a most blessed way. Hundreds of letters were received telling of the great blessing these meditations have been and what refreshing they brought to the hearts of His people. Weary and tired ones were cheered, wandering ones restored and erring ones set right. Many wrote us or told us personally that the Lord Jesus Christ has become a greater reality and power in their lives after following this monthly testimony.

Suggestions were made to issue some of these notes in book form so that these blessed truths may be preserved in a more permanent form. We have done so and send this volume forth with the prayer that the Holy Spirit, who is here to glorify Christ, may use it to the praise and glory of His worthy Name. We are confident that such will be the case.

A. C. G.

New York City, October 1, 1910.

Dedication

“Unto Him who loveth us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever.” – Rev. i: 5-6.

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.” – Rev. v: 12.

“Then they that feared the Lord spake one to another: and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon His Name.” – Mal. iii: 16.

“Let us go forth, therefore, unto Him without the camp bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips, confessing His Name.” – Hebrews xiii: 13-15.

“Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so. Come Lord Jesus.” – Rev. xxii: 20.

The Lord of Glory

1 Cor. ii:8

OUR ever blessed Lord, who died for us, to whom we belong, with whom we shall be forever, is the Lord of Glory. Thus He is called in 1 Cor. ii:8, “for had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.” Eternally He is this because He is “the express image of God, the brightness of His Glory” (Heb. i:3). He possessed Glory with the Father before the world was (John xvii:5). This Glory was beheld by the prophets, for we read that Isaiah “saw His Glory and spake of Him” (John xii:41). All the glorious manifestations of Jehovah recorded in the Word of God are the manifestations of “the Lord of Glory,” who created all things that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, who is before all things and by whom all things consist. He appeared as the God of Glory to Abraham (Acts vii:1); Isaac and Jacob were face to face with Him. Moses beheld His Glory. He saw His Glory on the mountain. The Lord of Glory descended in the cloud and stood with him there (Exod. xxxiv:5). How often the Glory of the Lord appeared in the midst of Israel. And what more could we say of Joshua, David, Daniel, Ezekiel, who all beheld His Glory and stood in the presence of that Lord of Glory.

In the fulness of time He appeared on earth “God manifested in the flesh.” Though He made of Himself no reputation and left His unspeakable Glory behind, yet He was the Lord of Glory, and as such He manifested His Glory. In incarnation in His holy, spotless life He revealed His moral Glory; what perfection and loveliness we find here! We have the testimony of His own “We beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father” (John i:14). “They saw His Glory” (Luke ix:32) when they were with Him in the holy mountain. They heard, they saw with their eyes, they looked upon, their hands handled the Word of life, the life that was manifested (1 John i:1-2). In His mighty miracles the Lord of Glory manifested His Glory, for it is written “this beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth His Glory” (John i:11).

And this Lord of Glory died. The focus of His Glory is the cross. He was obedient unto death, the death of the cross. He gave Himself for us. Without following here all the precious truths connected with that which is the foundation of our salvation and our hope, that the Lord of Glory, Christ died for our sins, we remember that God “raised Him up from the dead and gave Him Glory” (1 Pet. i:21). He was “received up into Glory” (1 Tim. iii:16). “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His Glory” (Luke xxiv:26). The risen Lord of Glory said: “I ascend unto my Father and your Father; to my God and your God.” He is now in the presence of God, the Man in Glory, seated in the highest place of the heaven of heavens “at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” He is there “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come” (Eph. i:21). He is highly exalted, the heir of all things. In that Glory He was beheld by human, mortal eyes. Stephen being full of the Holy Spirit “looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the Glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God” (Acts vii:55). This was the dying testimony of the first Christian martyr. Saul of Tarsus saw this Glory; he “could not see for the Glory of that light” (Acts xxii:11). John beheld Him and fell at His feet as dead. And we see Him with the eye of faith. “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with Glory and Honor” (Heb. ii:9).

But this is not all. The unseen Glory of the Lord and the unseen Lord of Glory will some day be visible, not to a few, but to the whole universe. He will come in the Glory of His Father and the holy angels with Him (Matt. xvi:27). The Lord of Glory will be “revealed from heaven with His mighty angels” (2 Thess. i:7). He will come in power and Glory, come in His own Glory (Luke ix:26) and sit on the throne of His Glory (Matt. xxv:31). His Glory then will cover the heavens (Hab. iii:3) and “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. ii:14). The heavens cannot be silent forever and He who now is the object of the faith of believers, and the One whom the world has rejected, will come forth in all His Majesty and Glory and every eye shall see Him. Then every knee must bow at the name of Jesus and every tongue confess Him as Lord. In that manifestation of the Lord of Glory and the Glory of the Lord we His redeemed will be manifested in Glory. He will then be glorified in His saints and admired in all them that believed (2 Thess. i:10). He will bring His many sons to Glory (Heb. ii:10). We are “partakers of the Glory that shall be revealed” (1 Pet. v:1). The God of all Grace hath indeed called us unto His eternal Glory by Jesus Christ. “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of Glory that fadeth not away” (1 Pet. v:4). “But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, that when His Glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy” (1 Pet. iv:13).

But ere this visible Glory is manifested over the earth and on the earth and He comes forth as the King of kings and Lord of lords His own will be gathered unto Him and be caught up in clouds to meet Him in the air. Then we shall see Him as He is and be like Him. The Glory which the Father has given Him as the head of the body will be bestowed upon the whole body; for thus He prayed “the Glory, which thou hast given me I have given to them” (John xvii:22). And in the Father’s house where He is, in the Holy of Holies we shall behold His Glory. We shall be changed into the same image “that He might be the first born among many brethren” (Rom. viii:29).

And now, dear reader, joint heir with the Lord of Glory, called by God unto the fellowship of His Son, in meditating on these wonderful facts given to us by revelation, does not your heart burn within you? What a blessing, what a place, what a future is ours linked with the Lord of Glory, one with Him! What a stupendous thought that He came from Glory to die for us so that He might have us with Him in Glory!

And these blessed truths concerning the Lord of Glory and the Glory of the Lord we need to hold ever before our hearts in these dreary days when darkest night is fast approaching. To walk worthy of the Lord, to be faithful to the Lord, to render true service, to be more like Him and show forth His excellencies, we but need one thing, to know Him better and to behold the Glory of the Lord. It is written “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the Glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Guided by the Spirit we can look on the Lord of Glory and His Glory, mirrored in all parts of the Word of God. And then as we look on this wonderful person and His relation to us and ours to Him, as we behold His glory both moral and literal, in humiliation and exaltation, past, present and future, we are changed into the same image. Our path will be from Glory to Glory! And some day there will come that supreme moment when we shall be suddenly changed “in a moment, the twinkling of an eye.” Oh child of God see your need! It is Christ, the Lord of Glory set before your heart; all worldly mindedness, all insincerity, all discouragement, all unbelief, all unfaithfulness must flee when we follow on to know the Lord and daily behold “as in a glass the Glory of the Lord.”

“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His Glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”

Jehovah

The “I Am.”

WHEN Moses in the desert beheld the burning bush God answered his question by the revelation of His name as the “I Am.” “And God said unto Moses, I am, that I am: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you” (Exod. iii:14). He who spake thus out of the bush to Moses was the same who in the fullness of time appeared upon the earth in the form of man. Our Lord Jesus Christ is no less person, than the I AM. If we turn to the fourth Gospel in which the Holy Spirit pictures Him as the Son of God, one with the Father, we find His glorious title there as the I AM. In the eighth chapter of that blessed Gospel we read that He said to the Jews, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (v:58). And the Jews took stones to cast them upon Him. In the fifth chapter we read that they wanted to kill Him, not only because He had violated the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God (v:18). They wanted to stone Him because in saying that word “Before Abraham was, I am” He had claimed that holy name for Himself, which was revealed to Moses. The Jews then, as the orthodox Jews do still, reverenced that name to such a degree that they did not even pronounce it, but substituted in its place the word “Adonai.” Little did they realize that the same “I am” who spoke to Moses out of the bush, saying, “I am;” who descended before Moses later in a cloud and proclaimed the name of the Lord (Exod. xxxiv) was standing in their midst in the form of man. And this is not the only time He used this word. We find it in the xviii chapter of John. When the band and officers of the chief priests and Pharisees came with lanterns, torches and weapons, Jesus stepped majestically into their presence with the calm question: “Whom seek ye?” When they had stated that they were seeking Jesus the Nazarene He answered them with one word “I AM.” What happened? They went backward and fell to the ground. What a spectacle that must have been. The dark night, a company of people, all on the same satanic errand, with their lanterns, torches and different kinds of weapons. And then the object of their hatred steps before them and utters one word and they fall helpless to the ground. What warning it should have been to them. Once more He asks the question; again He answers with the “I am” and with the understanding that His own should be free, He allows Himself to be bound.

He likewise called Himself “I am” in talking with the Samaritan woman. In John iv:26 we read, “Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.” This does, however, not express the original. This reads as follows: “I AM that speaks to thee.” After this mighty word had come from His lips the woman had nothing more to say, but left her waterpot and went her way back to the city. The I AM had spoken to her. In chapters vi:20 and viii:28 we find Him using the same “I am” again. In the former passage “It is I” should read “I am.”

Besides these passages in which He speaks of Himself as the self-existing Jehovah, the great “I am,” He saith seven times in this Gospel what He is to His own. I am the Bread of life (chapter vi:35.) I am the Light of the world (chapter ix:5). I am the Door (chapter x:7). I am the Good Shepherd (chapter x:11). I am the Resurrection and the Life (chapter xi:25). I am the Way, the Truth and the Life (chapter xvi:6); and I am the true Vine (chapter xv:1). But this does not exhaust at all what He is and will be now and forever to those who belong to Him. In the Old Testament there are seven great names of the “I AM” which are deep and significant. In them we can trace His rich and wonderful Grace. Jehovah. – Jireh– The Lord provides. The lamb provided (Genesis xxii). Jehovah Rophecah– I am the Lord that healeth thee (Exodus xv). Jehovah – Nissi– The Lord is my banner, He giveth the Victory (Exod. xvii). Jehovah shalom, the Lord is Peace. He is our Peace (Judges vi). Jehovah Roi– The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (Psalm xxiii). Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the Lord is our righteousness (Jeremiah xxiii). Jehovah shammah, the Lord is there (Ezek. xlviii).

But this does not exhaust what He is. I AM – what? Anything and everything what we need in time and eternity.

“When God would teach mankind His name
He called Himself the great, I AM,
And leaves a blank – believers may
Supply those things for which they pray.”

Happy indeed are we, beloved reader, if we know Him, who died for us as the I AM, if we learn more and more to trust Him as the all sufficient One and know that the I AM will supply all our need. In these days in which the person of Christ is so much belittled, attacked; He as the Holy One, the great Jehovah rejected, not by the outside world alone, but by those who call themselves after His own blessed name, let us have for an answer to all these attacks of the enemy a closer walk with Him, a more intimate fellowship with the I AM; a better acquaintance with our Jehovah-Jesus, our gracious Lord. Oh what a union is ours, One with Him the I AM, what a happy, glorious lot. Hallelujah.

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come (Rev. ii:8). I am the bright and morning star (Rev. xxii: 16). What, oh what will He be for His own in all eternity!

That Worthy Name

James ii:7

IN the second chapter of the Epistle of James the Holy Spirit speaks of our ever blessed Lord as “that worthy Name.” Precious Word! precious to every heart that knows Him and delights to exalt His glorious and worthy Name. His Name is “far above every Name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.” (Ephes. i:21.) It is “as ointment poured forth” (Song of Sol. i:3); yea, His Name alone is excellent (Psalm cxlviii:13). But according to His worth that blessed Name is far from being fully known and uttered by the Saints of God. “Thou art worthy” and “Worthy is the Lamb” shall some day burst from the glorified lips of redeemed sinners, brought home to be with Him. In that blessed day when at last we see Him face to face, forever with the Lord, we shall begin to learn the full worth and glory of that Name, the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In a feeble way here below we get glimpses of His precious, worthy Name, of His beauty and loveliness, and then only through the power of the Holy Spirit. The aim of the Spirit of God dwelling in our hearts will always be to tell us more of Himself. Like Abraham’s servant who had so much to say to the elect bride about Isaac, so the Holy Spirit ever delights to show us more of Christ, the Christ of God. Oh! how He is eager to tell us more of His worth, of His glory, of His grace and of all He is and all He has. How it grieves Him when our hearts do not respond to the great message He has for us and when instead we turn to something else to give us joy and comfort. Only Christ can give joy and comfort, peace and rest to the hearts of those who are His. The days are evil and the time is short. Is your heart increasingly attracted to that worthy Name? Do you have a greater burning desire in your heart for Himself? Does He, that worthy Name, become more and more day by day the absorbing object of your heart and life? Do you often weep over your coldheartedness, your lack of real devotion to Him and communion with your Lord? Do you appreciate Him more than ever before? Is the Apostle’s longing cry “that I might know Him” coming also from your heart? Dear reader, these are searching questions. A better knowledge of our blessed Lord, a deeper acquaintance with that worthy Name and greater devotion to Him, is the only true spiritual progress which counts. If you live but little in the reality of all this you lack that joy and rest which is true Christian happiness and the Spirit is grieved. Oh let Him unfold to your heart that worthy name and show you from His Word, His wonderful person, then His power will attract your heart more and more. This is what all God’s people need. “That worthy Name,” the Lord in all His blessed fulness and glorious reality is what we need.

And what the written Word has to tell us of “that worthy Name”! Oh, the titles, the attributes, the names, the glories, the beauties of Himself. And we have discovered but so few of these blessed things. Perhaps a few hundred of the descriptions of that worthy Name are known to God’s Saints; but there are hundreds, still hidden, we have never touched. Yes, God’s Spirit is ever willing to make them known to our hearts.

Just for a few moments think of some of the familiar titles and names of that Name which is above every other name. How these titles of our blessed Lord, what He is and what we have in Him should fill our hearts with praise and our lips with outbursts of praise, lift us above present day conditions and give us courage and boldness. “That worthy Name”; who is He?

The Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father, the living God, the eternal Life; Emmanuel, the God of Glory, the Holy One; Jehovah, the everlasting God, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord of Peace, the Lord our righteousness, the Upholder of all things, the Creator, the Alpha and Omega, the express image of God. He is the Word, the Word of God, the Word of Life, the Wisdom of God, the Angel of the Lord, the Mediator of the better covenant. The good Shepherd, the great Shepherd, the chief Shepherd, the Door, the Way, the Root and offspring of David, the Branch of Righteousness, the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the valley, the true Vine, the Corn of Wheat, the Bread of God, the true Bread from heaven. He is also the Light of the world, the Day dawn, the Star out of Jacob, Sun and Shield, the Bright and Morningstar, the Sun of Righteousness. Thus we read of that worthy Name, that He is, the Great High-priest, the Daysman, the Advocate, Intercessor, Surety, Mercy Seat, the Forerunner, the Rock of Salvation, the Refuge, the Tower, a strong Tower, the Rock of Ages, the Hope of Glory, the Hope of His people, a living Stone. And what else? the Gift of God, the Beloved, the Fountain of Life, Shiloh, He is our Peace, our Redeemer, He is precious, the Amen, the Just Lord, the Bridegroom, the Firstborn from the Dead, Head over all, Head of all principality and power, Heir of all things. He is Captain of the Lord’s Host, Captain of their salvation, Chiefest among Ten Thousand, the Leader, the Counsellor, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Governor, Prince of Peace, the Prince of Life, the Prince of the Kings of the earth, the Judge, the King, the King of Israel, King of Saints, King of Glory, King over all the earth, King in His Beauty, King of Kings and Lord of lords.

All these names and attributes of that worthy Name are familiar. What dignity, what power, what grace and blessing for us for whom He died and shed His precious blood they express. Who can fathom these names? Who can tell out His worth? And hundreds more could be added, and many, many more, which are still undiscovered in the Word of God. What a Lord He is! We worship and adore Thee, Thou worthy One. Draw us O Lord and we will run after Thee. What a joy and delight it ought to be to follow Him, to exalt Him, to be devoted to such a One! Oh! our failures! And still He carries us in kindness and patience. And He also has a Name, which expresses the fulness of His work and glory. No one knows what that is. “He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself” (Rev. xix:12). That unknown Name may never be made known.

But oh! the blessedness which is before us His redeemed people. Of us it is written “They shall see His face”: That blessed, blessed face of that worthy Name, we shall behold at last. We shall see His face! Oh the rapture which fills the heart in the anticipation of that soon coming event. “And His Name shall be on their foreheads” (Rev. xxii:4). We shall be like Him, we shall be a perfect reflection of Himself.

The Doctrine of Christ

2 John 9-11

“WHOSOEVER transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed. For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds” (2 John 9-11). What then is the doctrine of Christ? It is the revealed truth concerning the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, whom the Father sent into the world. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This is the doctrine of Christ. Anyone who does not hold the doctrine of Christ that He is absolutely God, one with the Father come into the world, hath not God. He is without God and hope in the world. He is an Anti-christ. “Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is that spirit of Anti-christ, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world” (1 John iv:2-3). Such a denier of the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is no christian at all and all fellowship even to the greeting must be denied to him. This seems severe and intolerant. But it is not if we consider what the denial of the Person of our holy and blessed Lord means. God grant unto us, who hold the doctrine of Christ, a divine jealousy for His honor and glory, manifested by separation from all who in any way deny the doctrine upon which all Christianity rests.

But how blessed to faith to see in the first Epistle of John the doctrine of Christ revealed and the blessings and comforts brought forth, which are for those who abide in this doctrine. In the Gospel of John the beloved disciple writes by the Holy Spirit about the Son of God, how He came from the Father and was in the world and how He left the world to go back to the Father. The Son of God is also the theme of the Holy Spirit in the first Epistle of John. “Our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ” (i:3). This fellowship means that we share the Father’s thoughts about His Son and to enjoy with the Son His own blessed and eternal relationship with the Father. In the measure our faith enters into the doctrine of Christ in that measure we shall have deeper fellowship with the Father and His Son. Is your cry, dear reader, for more reality in this fellowship? There is one way only which leads to this. It is an increase in the knowledge of the Son of God and as you abide there, you have the Father and the Son.

And now we shall call to our remembrance other passages in the first Epistle of John in which our blessed Lord as the Son of God is mentioned. They are sweet and precious to faith and if read in the Spirit they will bring the joy, the blessing, the peace and the comfort of the doctrine of Christ to our hearts.

“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (i:7). That precious blood, His own blood, has cleansed us once and for all. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil” (iii:8). “And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another as He gave us commandment. And he that keepeth His commandments (which are: believing on Him and loving one another) dwelleth in Him and He in him. And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us” (iii:23-24). “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son into the world to be the propitiation for our sins.” “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (iv:9-11). “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God and God in him” (iv:14-16). “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (v:5) “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He hath testified of His Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave to His Son. And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (v:9-12). “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us” (v:13-14). “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life” (v:20).

May our faith lay hold anew of these simple yet deep and precious revelations. They are the doctrine of Christ. Into this we must enter constantly and manifest in our lives the fruits of this doctrine, love and righteousness. The increasing rejection of the doctrine of Christ demands the increased appreciation of that doctrine. The more the enemy attacks the Person of Christ, the more the Holy Spirit demands of us, who belong to Christ, that we exalt Him. Everything in the present time seems to be aimed at the setting aside of the doctrine upon which our Hope rests. Higher Criticism, the evil doctrines, which reject the eternal punishment of the wicked, the spurious gospels, ethical teachings and every other false doctrine strikes at the blessed Person of our Lord. The shadow of the Anti-christ is cast in our days. Let us heed God’s Word. Let us be separated from those who deny Christ or we are partakers of their evil deeds. The path of the true believer becomes narrower. It must be so. But Christ becomes more precious, more real to our souls.

What awful times are coming upon this age according to God’s Word! With the rejection of the doctrine of Christ this age sides completely with Satan and that wonderful being is both blinding his victims and using them for his own sinister purposes. The blindness is fearful. It will be worse before long. The rush into complete apostasy and from there into the delusion with the lying wonders and on into the darkness forever will come next. Let us praise God for the doctrine of Christ, which is our salvation, and may God give us faith and courage to walk according to that doctrine. What day of joy awaits us, when we shall see him as He is and know the depth of the Love of God by being like Him!

The Pre-Eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ

WHAT a blessed theme the Person and Glory of our Lord! How inexhaustible and unsearchable! How refreshing to the souls of His redeemed people as well as to the heart of our heavenly Father, who, loveth the Son! To meditate on Him, to behold the Glory of the Lord under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Word of God, means spiritual growth and spiritual enjoyment. This only can make the unseen Person a blessed reality in our daily walk. We pray that all our beloved readers are drawn closer to Himself through these brief meditations. Can we truly say the Lord is more precious to our hearts and that we are living more in His presence than ever before? Has He become the absorbing object of our hearts and lives? Are we more devoted to Him? God grant that this may be the case with all of us. It is the great need we have. It is the good part, which Mary, resting at His feet, had chosen.

In the great chapter which begins the Epistle to the Colossians, after that blessed description of the Son of God, stands this word “that in all things He might have the pre-eminence” (Col. i:18). But who can tell out what a pre-eminence, the pre-eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ is? Some day we shall see Him in all His Glory. He Himself will lead us into the Holiest of the third heaven to behold the Glory the Father has given Him (John xvii:24); then we shall know His pre-eminence fully. And yet from Scripture we can learn even now the pre-eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In all eternity the Son of God was the object of Love and Glory.

“Son of God the Father’s bosom
Ever was Thy dwelling place.”

He ever subsisted in the form of God. In all creation He has the pre-eminence. This is made known to us, as man could not discover it, by revelation. We accept this in faith. “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” (Heb. x:3). And all which was called into existence was created by Him and for Him. “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him” (Col. i:16). What a marvellous survey! What power and glory belongs to the blessed Son of God! “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” “The world was made by Him” (John i:3, 10).

He has the pre-eminence in sustaining His creation. All things consist by Him. He upholds all things by the Word of His power (Heb. i:3).

In the Revelation of God He has the pre-eminence. Both books, the book of Nature and the Book of all books, the written Word of God, the Bible, tell out His Glory. The Bible may be compared to a living organism, like the human body. Every book in the Bible has a specific place and service like the members of the body; the life in that marvellous divinely constructed organism of the revelation of God is the Son of God. Apart from Him there is no revelation from God and no manifestation of God. He reveals God throughout the Bible, in every part, He holds the pre-eminence. Greater still is His pre-eminence in redemption. Redemption would be an eternal impossibility without Him. He came from the Father’s bosom to redeem us. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father but by Him. He gives eternal life. Furthermore as the first born from the dead He is the head of the body. That body is the church and every believing sinner is a member in that body. Each is united to Him and possesses His life. This body with its many members He keeps, nourishes, builds up, sanctifies and ultimately glorifies. In all the great and glorious redemptive work He has the pre-eminence.

As the glorified Man He is the Heir of God and as such He holds the pre-eminence in heaven. He has been made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Far above all the angelic beings, higher than the archangel is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Man in Glory.

There is a future pre-eminence for Him. The day of His visible Glory and power is approaching. Now He is rejected, then He will be enthroned. Upon the holy hill of Zion He will be the King of Glory. His Glory will cover the heavens and His Majesty the earth. He will be King of kings and Lord of lords. He will rule as the only potentate and every knee must bow before Him. The song must at last rise in heaven and on earth “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory and blessing.” Such is, briefly sketched, the pre-eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yea, in all things He hath the pre-eminence.

Can we do anything less than to give Him the first place in all things? He is worthy of it. He died for us. He drank the cup of wrath in our stead. His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree. How great has been and still is His love for us, the love, which passeth knowledge. He is worthy of the first place every moment of our lives. He is worthy to possess all we have and are. We are bought with a price, we are not our own. We belong to Him.

What unspeakable grace from God the Father, that He has brought us into fellowship with Him to whom He has given the pre-eminence. We please the Father as we delight ourselves in the Son and walk in that blessed fellowship. We must honor Him whom the Father has honored, and as we serve the Lord Jesus Christ and accord Him the first place, the Father will honor us (John xii:26). Our hearts too can never fully know the blessed peace of God and rest of faith till we give our Lord the first place. Anything less than that will mean dishonor to Him. “Not I – but Christ” must be the constant cry of our hearts. Not I – but Christ in our daily walk; Not I – but Christ in our service. Oh! that we might realize our great and holy calling, our wonderful privilege, a privilege which is ours for but a little while longer to live Him, live for Him, who has in all things the pre-eminence.

Nothing save Him, in all our ways,
Giving the theme for ceaseless praise;
Our whole resource along the road,
Nothing but Christ – the Christ of God.

“Ye are Christ’s – Christ is God’s.”

ONLY a few words, yet how blessedly full of peace and joy! How precious they are to faith! If we, to whom they apply, would remember them daily, how happy in Him we would be. In all our ways, in good and evil days, yea, every moment the truth contained in these words ought to be real to the true believer. Is not all our failure due to the fact that we live not sufficiently in the consciousness and reality of this wonderful fact, that we belong to Christ, that we are one with Him? Before these words in the third chapter of First Corinthians we find the statement “all things are yours.” And after these words it is written “Christ is God’s.” We are Christ’s and Christ is God’s; all things are ours because Grace has brought us into this marvelous relationship. “Christ is God’s” gives us once more the whole story of God’s Love and Grace. As the Only Begotten He ever subsisted in the form of God, the Image of God, one with Him, absolutely God. But He came down, took upon Him the form of a servant, taking His place in the likeness of man. In the form of man He wrought the great work of redemption on the cross and now after His resurrection, by which He is proven Son of God and His presence as the glorified Man in the highest heaven, He is the one in whom and through whom, God the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ gives all blessing. “Christ is God’s,” then, means what we learn from the following scriptures: “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hands” (John iii:35). “Whom He hath appointed heir of all things” (Heb. i:2). “Christ is God’s” is a word which tells us that He who is the Creator of all things, the visible and the invisible, came in incarnation, redeemed us and is now, the beginning, the first-begotten from the dead and the Head of His Body, which is the Church. This is how God has brought us to Himself in the person of His own Son by whom he has redeemed us, in whom He has exalted us and with whom He has given us all things.

To that wonderful person, Christ, the Christ of God, we belong. We are His, who is One with God, by whom and for whom all things were created. The Son of God for such as we are, became poor, even to the poverty of the cross. There He took our place and in His own body He bore our sins and died for us. He saw us then the travail of His soul. We can look back to the cross and say, as His Apostle said: “Who love me and gave Himself for me.” We belong to Him, who has all power in heaven and will have all power before long, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords on earth. We are Christ’s, whom God has appointed as the second Man, the head of the new creation as Heir of all things. We are Christ’s, who is the Head of the Body, to which we belong. In Him and with Him we are the Heirs of God. God and Christ are inseparable and so are Christ and we who have trusted in Him and have His life. All Christ has belongs to us; all Christ is we shall be; where Christ is there we shall be in all eternity. Reader! Child of God, pause! Does your faith lay hold of this? Do you read it only and enjoy it just for a moment or is this great fact of your union with Christ and God becoming daily a greater reality in your life? Is it really so that you enter deeper and deeper into that love which passeth knowledge? Oh! that it may be so with the writer and each believer who reads these feeble words on so great a theme.

“Ye are Christ’s.” Then we are not our own. That is exactly what is elsewhere stated in First Corinthians. “Ye are not your own; we are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. vi:20). Our hearts occupied with Himself, increasingly attracted by the glorious Person of our adorable Lord, realising by the power of His Spirit our glory and destiny with the Lord of Glory, we shall act and walk as such, who are Christ’s. Every step of the way it will resound in our hearts “ye are Christ’s.” In all we do we shall always remember we are Christ’s. Cares, anxieties, worldly ambitions, all manner of temptations, will fall before the fact grasped in faith “I am Christ’s.”

We are convinced that only the Person of Christ put before the heart of the believer through the Word of God and the power of His Spirit can keep the Christian in these awful days of apostasy from going along with the fearful current of the last days. If Christ and our blessing in Him become more real to us we will be beyond the reach of the god of this age with his wiles and sinister purposes.

Furthermore the demand of the hour is for us to exalt Christ. How He is dishonored is a dread reality. The rejection of Christ was never so marked and never so satanic as in these days. God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ expects from us His children that we exalt Him in the days of His rejection and thus share His reproach. Let us do it!

And lastly, if we ever have the Person of Christ before our hearts, we shall walk in obedience to Him as our Lord. Then if we exalt Christ and are obedient to Himself we have the fullest assurance that the Holy Spirit will be with us, upon us and fill us. There is no need to seek “the power” as some express it, nor a baptism of the Spirit. He will be with us and in us in the measure as we exalt Christ and walk in Him.

O gracious Lord, when we reflect
How apt to turn the eye from Thee,
Forget Thee, too, with sad neglect,
And listen to the enemy,
And yet to find Thee still the same —
’Tis this that humbles us with shame.

Astonished at Thy feet we fall,
Thy love exceeds our highest thought,
Henceforth be Thou our all in all,
Thou who our souls with blood hast bought;
May we henceforth more faithful prove,
And ne’er forget Thy ceaseless love.

“Him will I make that overcomes
And stems the advancing flood,
A pillar of might, with glory light,
In the temple of my God.
On him shall the blest Name divine,
And my new name be graven;
And the City’s name, Jerusalem,
That cometh down from heaven.”

The Wonderful

Isaiah ix:6

HIS name shall be called “Wonderful” (Isaiah ix:6). And long before Isaiah had uttered this divine prediction the angel of the Lord had announced his name to be Wonderful. As such He appeared to Manoah. And Manoah said unto the angel of Jehovah, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honor. And the angel of Jehovah said unto Him “why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is Wonderful” (margin, Judges xiii:17-18). This angel of Jehovah, the Person who appeared repeatedly in Old Testament history is an uncreated angel. Of this Being we read that He is the Redeemer, for Jacob speaks of Him “the angel which redeemed me from all evil” (Genesis xlviii:15). He is the angel whose voice must be obeyed, who has power to pardon transgressions, in whom the name of God is (Exodus xxiii:20-23). He is the angel of His Presence who saved them (Isaiah lxiii:9) and Exodus xxxiii:14 must refer to this Being “My presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest.” This angel of Jehovah speaks in the Book of Judges and declared, “I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you into the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said I will never break my covenant with you” (Judges ii:1). He appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush and He spoke to Moses as the I am! (Ex. iii.) The same One appeared before Joshua and he worshipped in His presence. With Him Jacob wrestled, with Jehovah, the God of hosts (Hosea xii:4-6). Malachi iii:1 shows that the Lord Himself is this Angel, the Angel of the Covenant, who also visited Abraham in the form of Man (Genesis xviii).

And after all these manifestations, seven hundred years after Isaiah had announced Him, as the Wonderful, He appeared in human form in the midst of His people. And now we know by divine Revelation in the completed Word of God that He is wonderful in His Person and in his work; but no mind can fathom, no heart can grasp, no pen can describe, how wonderful He is.

He is wonderful if we think of Him as the Only Begotten of the Father. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John i:1-3). “By Him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were made by Him and for Him; and He is before all things and by Him all things consist” (Col. i:16-17). He is the image of the invisible God, the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person. How wonderful such a One, who ever was, with no beginning, One with God!

How wonderful His humiliation. “Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being in fashion as a man He humbled Himself” (Phil. ii:6-8). “For verily He took not on Him the nature of Angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham” (Hebrews ii:16). Wonderful condescension that He who created the angels should be made lower than the angels and lay His Glory by, to appear in the form of man on earth.

Wonderful is He in His incarnation, “that holy thing” as the angel announced Him, truly God and Man. Born of the woman, resting on the bosom of the virgin as a little child and yet He is the One who ever is in the bosom of the Father.

Wonderful that blessed life He lived on earth of which the beloved disciple bears such a beautiful witness. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of Life. For the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us” (1 John i:1-2). Wonderful are the blessed words which came from His lips, wonderful is His moral glory, His untiring service, His love, His patience and everything which the Holy Spirit has been pleased to tell us of His earthly life. The more our hearts contemplate Him the more wonderful He appears. But still greater and more wonderful is it that He went to the cross to give His life as a ransom for many, that the Just One should die for the unjust, that He who knew no sin was made sin for us and pay the penalty of sins on the cross. He is the Wonderful in His great work on the cross, the depths of which have never been fathomed. And what can we say of His wonderful Glory, His wonderful Place, His wonderful Power, His wonderful Grace! How wonderfully He has dealt with us, with each one of us individually. How wonderful it is that He knows each of His sheep, that He guides each, provides for, loveth, succors, stands by, restores, never leaves nor forsakes each who has trusted in Him and belongs to Him. How wonderful are His ways with us, that He guides with His eyes and that His loving power and omnipotent love is on our side. In His coming manifestation He will be wonderful. Wonderful He will be when we shall see Him and stand in His presence. What a day it will be when we see Him face to face! Then we shall know all the loveliness and wonderfulness of His adorable Person and His wonder ways with us. With what wonderment we shall then behold Him. And when He comes with His Saints, when the Heavens are lit up with untold glory, when He comes to judge, to establish His Kingdom, to speak peace to the nations, to restore creation to its right condition, when He reigns and all His redeemed ones with Him – Oh how wonderful it all will be!

He is altogether lovely and he is altogether wonderful. Glory to His name! Well has one said: “He pervades the whole of the New Testament with His presence, so that every doctrine it teaches, every duty it demands, every narrative it records, every comfort it gives, every hope it inspires, gathers about His person and ministers to His glory.” So dear does He thus become to the heart of the believer, that Luther may well be excused for exclaiming, ‘I had rather be in hell with Christ, than in heaven without Him.’

“We believe in Him as our Saviour, Acts vi:31; confess Him as our Lord, Rom. x:9; we have redemption through His blood, Eph. i:7; we look to Him as our Leader, Heb. xii:2; we follow Him as our Teacher, Eph. iv:20, 21; we feed upon Him as our Bread, Jno. vi:48; we go to Him in our Thirst, Jno. vi: 37; we enter by Him as our door, Jno. x:9; we are in Him as our vine, Jno. xv:5; we find in Him our rest, Matt. xi:28; we have in Him our example, Jno. xiii:15; He is our righteousness, 2 Cor. v:21; we are succored by Him in temptation, Heb. ii:18; we turn to Him for sympathy, Heb. iv:15; we obtain through Him our victory, 1 Cor. xv:57; we overcome by Him the world, 1 Jno. v:5; we have in Him eternal life, 1 Jno. v:11, 12; we gain by Him the resurrection, Phil. iii:20, 21; we appear with Him in glory, Col. iii:4, we exult in His everlasting love, Rev. i:5, 6.”

May the Holy Spirit fill our hearts and eyes with Himself and reveal to us through the written Word more of the matchless beauty of the wonderful Person of our Saviour and Lord. We honor and adore Thee, blessed, blessed Lord, and while Thou art rejected we thy feeble people would know more of Thyself and keep closer at Thy feet. Amen.

“We would see Jesus, for the shadows lengthen
Over this little landscape of our life,
We would see Jesus, our weak faith to strengthen,
For the last weariness, the final strife.
We would see Jesus, this is all we’re needing;
Strength, joy and willingness come with the sight;
We would see Jesus, dying, risen, pleading;
Then welcome day, and farewell mortal night.”

Honour and Glory Unto him

IN Revelation V, that great worship scene, beginning some day in heaven and going on into future ages, we read of the Lamb to whom honor and glory are due. He alone is worthy. And every heart who knows Him rejoicing in His love, cries out, “Thou art worthy!” Yea, the sweetest song for the redeemed soul is the outburst of praise, which we find on the threshold of His own Revelation. “Unto Him that loveth us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Soon the great worship John beheld prophetically may become reality.

As long as we His people are here in this present evil age it is God’s call to us to honor and glorify His Son. This surely is God the Father’s expectation from His children, who are begotten of Him. This is His call to us in the last days of this rapidly closing age.

It was on the mountain of transfiguration that the Father bore witness to His Son. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The Father bore not alone this witness, but He vindicated the honor of His Son, whose glory flashed forth on that mountain. Peter had spoken; in fact, he was still speaking when the Father’s voice was heard. “Lord, it is good to be here; if Thou wilt let us make here three tabernacles, one for Thee and one for Moses and one for Elias.” These were Peter’s words. At the first glance they appear harmless. Indeed, they are generally used in spiritual application of having a good time here. But they have a far different meaning. Peter had spoken once more in the impulsiveness of the flesh. By putting the Lord of Glory alongside of Moses and Elias, he had lowered the dignity of Him. The One whom he had but recently confessed as the Christ, the Son of the living God, he now put into the same position and place with Moses and Elias. He lost sight of the wonderful and glorious person of Christ. When he uttered this human suggestion the Shekinah cloud appeared and its glorious splendor covered them. Out of that cloud came the Father’s voice vindicating the honor of His Son. Who is Moses? Who is Elias? Sinful men they were, man of failure and weakness. But here is another. This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear Him. And how that beloved Son is in our day dishonored!

He was in all eternity the beloved Son. When God created all things, for Him and by Him, He was the delight of God. This is the foundation of our faith. When he spoke of coming into the world, as we read in Hebrews X, to do the Father’s will, the Father’s love and delight was upon Him. In humiliation beginning there in Bethlehem He was the beloved Son of God. In all He did, every step of the way, the Holy One had above Himself the loving Father. And then He went to the cross, putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. In the awful suffering on the cross, in the hours of darkness, when as the substitute of sinners He tasted death, God’s holy hand rested upon that beloved One in judgment, so that He uttered that never to be forgotten cry “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” And God in His mighty power opened the grave and brought Him forth. He raised Him from the dead. He was received up in the Glory, exalted into the highest position. He is the heir of all things, the upholder of all things, all things consist and exist by Him. God has given Him the pre-eminence in all things.

And this blessed One, the beloved Son of God is denied, He is rejected, dishonored and refused. God speaks in Him, by Him, and he who has made known God, in whom redemption for man was procured is dishonored. But how is He dishonored and robbed of His Glory? And where is He dishonored? Not in the world as such so much but in Christendom. The harvest of this destructive and evil criticism of the Bible, rejecting the Bible as the inspired Word of God is being reaped. After the written Word has been attacked and lowered the enemy who stands behind “Higher Criticism” in a disguised form has thrown off the mask and bluntly strikes at the Person of the beloved Son of God. First the devil in the garb of “reverend criticism” denied Isaiah vii:14, the promise of the virgin bringing forth a son, as having anything to do with Christ, and now the harvest, the denial of the virgin birth of our Lord. It would take many pages to mention all how our ever beloved Lord is robbed of His Glory, how His Person is dishonored. This denial of the Person of Christ is the apostasy. It is the very breath of the personal antichrist, the man of sin, which we feel in these last days.

The Father’s voice is not heard in these days as it was heard on the transfiguration mountain. The heavens are silent to all the dishonor heaped upon Him, who is in the heaven of heavens. But God the Father looks to His people in whom the Holy Spirit dwells to honor and glorify His Son. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to stand as bold witnesses for Himself and to contend earnestly for the faith once and for all delivered unto the Saints. The Father expects us that we stand up for the honor of His Son. His voice to us is “Honor my Son!”

We feel deeply impressed with this great call of God to us at the present time of increasing darkness and apostasy. Let each child of God act accordingly. Honor your Lord wherever you are. “Be thou not ashamed of the testimony of our Lord” (2 Tim. i:8). If you cannot publicly stand up and honor Christ then honor Him, speak well of Him, in the home circle or wherever you are. O child of God, walk close to Him! Sit more at His feet! Cast yourself more upon Him! Let Him be your all in all! And as He is the sole object of your heart you will honor Him in the day when He is rejected.

But this will mean something else. It means separation. God’s call to His people is to stand aloft from all which dishonors His Son. This means much in our days. How can we honor the Beloved One if we have fellowship with that which dishonors Him? No child of God should go on with any institution, school or church where the written Word is set aside or belittled. The second Epistle of Timothy, which has special reference to our times is very clear on this separation. No one needs to wait for a special call from God to act and separate from the corruption of Christendom. It is all given before hand by the Holy Spirit. “From such turn away” (2 Tim. iii:5). And those from whom God commands us to separate are persons who have the form of godliness and deny the power thereof. Again it is written: “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the master’s use, prepared unto every good work” (2 Tim. ii:20-21). Hear the Word of the Lord! Hear His call! Be faithful to Him! Keep His Word and do not deny His Name! Honor and glorify Him who is our Lord whom we soon shall see face to face.

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