From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] daily devotional
Evening...
Hosea 13:5
I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.
Yes, Lord, Thou didst indeed know me in my fallen state, and Thou didst even
then choose me for Thyself. When I was loathsome and self-abhorred, Thou didst
receive me as Thy child, and Thou didst satisfy my craving wants. Blessed for
ever be Thy name for this free, rich, abounding mercy. Since then, my inward
experience has often been a wilderness; but Thou hast owned me still as Thy
beloved, and poured streams of love and grace into me to gladden me, and make
me fruitful. Yea, when my outward circumstances have been at the worst, and I
have wandered in a land of drought, Thy sweet presence has solaced me. Men have
not known me when scorn has awaited me, but Thou hast known my soul in
adversities, for no affliction dims the lustre of Thy love. Most gracious Lord,
I magnify Thee for all Thy faithfulness to me in trying circumstances, and I
deplore that I should at any time have forgotten Thee and been exalted in
heart, when I have owed all to Thy gentleness and love. Have mercy upon Thy
servant in this thing! My soul, if Jesus thus acknowledged thee in thy low
estate, be sure that thou own both Himself and His cause now that thou art in
thy prosperity. Be not lifted up by thy worldly successes so as to be ashamed
of the truth or of the poor church with which thou hast been associated. Follow
Jesus into the wilderness: bear the cross with Him when the heat of persecution
grows hot. He owned thee, O my soul, in thy poverty and shame-never be so
treacherous as to be ashamed of Him. O for more shame at the thought of being
ashamed of my best Beloved! Jesus, my soul cleaveth to Thee.
"I'll turn to Thee in days of light,
As well as nights of care,
Thou brightest amid all that's bright!
Thou fairest of the fair!"
Matthew 16:21-23
(21) From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that
he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief
priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. (22)
Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee,
Lord: this shall not be unto thee. (23) But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get
thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the
things that be of God, but those that be of men.
Like Peter, we could be motivated to believe or disbelieve something,
accept or reject something, say something or keep silent, depending on the
circumstance. Additionally, we may have no reaction at all at the moment of
communication, but the thought is stored and available for later use or
supplementation. It is entirely possible for a person to go through his entire
life as a pawn of Satan and never know it.
This situation reflects a usage of what the Bible's writers term
"spirit." Spirit is the English translation of the Hebrew ruach (Strong's
#7304), in the Old Testament and the Greek pneuma (Strong's #5141) in the New.
It can literally mean "a current of air," "breath," "blast," or "breeze."
However, when used figuratively, it indicates "vital principle," "disposition,"
"the rational soul," etc., or an invisible super-being such as God, Christ, an
angel, or a demon. Whether used literally, as with "wind" or "breath," or
figuratively, as indicating God, angel, or demon, it describes something that
is invisible and immaterial and at the same time powerful, even a thing of
considerable power. The foremost elements of spirit, then, are invisibility,
immateriality, and power.
E.W. Bullinger remarks in Appendix 9 of the Companion Bible:
The meaning of the word is to be deduced only from its usage. The one
root idea running through all of the passages is invisible force. . . . [I]n
whatever sense it is used, [it] always represents that which is invisible
except by its manifestations.
He also shows that ruach is used in nine different ways in the Old
Testament, while pneuma is used fourteen different ways in the New Testament.
In John 6:63, Jesus says, "It is the Spirit [which] gives life; the flesh
profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."
Here is a clear example of the figurative use of "spirit." Words are the
symbols used for communication; they are received into our minds through sight,
as when reading, or sound, as when hearing. But once in the mind, nothing
material is packed into our brain. Words-and thus the concepts they carry with
them-are spirit because they are immaterial, invisible, and of considerable
power, depending on how we use them. Thus, we can receive "spirit" in the form
of words or concepts from a spirit being. In this case, it is in reality
"thought transference" because no sound is heard through our ears.
Just because one is close to Christ does not eliminate the prospect that
a demon will communicate with and through him. As seen in Matthew 16:22-23,
Peter did the speaking, but Jesus spoke directly to Satan, naming him as the
source of Peter's outburst against God's will that Jesus should suffer and die.
Without Peter's recognizing it, he permitted himself to be a conduit for
Satan's will. The disciple's "good" intention was against God's will, and Jesus
thus judged it to be evil.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From Communication and Leaving Babylon (Part Two)
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
daily devotional
Evening...
Psalm 119:53
Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake Thy law.
My soul, feelest thou this holy shuddering at the sins of others? for
otherwise thou lackest inward holiness. David's cheeks were wet with rivers of
waters because of prevailing unholiness; Jeremiah desired eyes like fountains
that he might lament the iniquities of Israel, and Lot was vexed with the
conversation of the men of Sodom. Those upon whom the mark was set in Ezekiel's
vision, were those who sighed and cried for the abominations of Jerusalem. It
cannot but grieve gracious souls to see what pains men take to go to hell. They
know the evil of sin experimentally, and they are alarmed to see others flying
like moths into its blaze. Sin makes the righteous shudder, because it violates
a holy law, which it is to every man's highest interest to keep; it pulls down
the pillars of the commonwealth. Sin in others horrifies a believer, because it
puts him in mind of the baseness of his own heart: when he sees a transgressor
he cries with the saint mentioned by Bernard, "He fell to-day, and I may fall
to-morrow." Sin to a believer is horrible, because it crucified the Saviour; he
sees in every iniquity the nails and spear. How can a saved soul behold that
cursed kill-Christ sin without abhorrence? Say, my heart, dost thou sensibly
join in all this? It is an awful thing to insult God to His face. The good God
deserves better treatment, the great God claims it, the just God will have it,
or repay His adversary to his face. An awakened heart trembles at the audacity
of sin, and stands alarmed at the contemplation of its punishment. How
monstrous a thing is rebellion! How direful a doom is prepared for the ungodly!
My soul, never laugh at sin's fooleries, lest thou come to smile at sin itself.
It is thine enemy, and thy Lord's enemy-view it with detestation, for so only
canst thou evidence the possession of holiness, without which no man can see
the Lord.
Revelation 20:4-5
(4) And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto
them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus,
and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his
image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands;
and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (5) But the rest of
the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the
first resurrection.
The Bible speaks of a "first" resurrection, implying that there will be
more than one resurrection. The second resurrection will contain those who are
not "the dead in Christ," but simply the dead-those millions who are not
Christ's-who have not been converted, who have not heard the Gospel or
understood it.
The sentence, "This is the first resurrection," refers to the
resurrection to immortal life of the firstfruits of God's plan, which will
occur at Christ's return, just before the 1,000-year period begins (verses 4,
6).
But notice the first sentence in verse 5: "But the rest of the dead
[those who have not yet had an opportunity to understand God's truth] lived not
again [would not come up in a resurrection] until the thousand years were
finished."
This resurrection, which will occur after the 1,000 years, is the second
resurrection. It will be a resurrection to mortal life.
From The Last Great Day: God's Master Plan Completed!
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