From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] daily devotional
Evening...
Isaiah 33:17
Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty.
The more you know about Christ the less will you be satisfied with
superficial views of Him; and the more deeply you study His transactions in the
eternal covenant, His engagements on your behalf as the eternal Surety, and the
fulness of His grace which shines in all His offices, the more truly will you
see the King in His beauty. Be much in such outlooks. Long more and more to see
Jesus. Meditation and contemplation are often like windows of agate, and gates
of carbuncle, through which we behold the Redeemer. Meditation puts the
telescope to the eye, and enables us to see Jesus after a better sort than we
could have seen Him if we had lived in the days of His flesh. Would that our
conversation were more in heaven, and that we were more taken up with the
person, the work, the beauty of our incarnate Lord. More meditation, and the
beauty of the King would flash upon us with more resplendence. Beloved, it is
very probable that we shall have such a sight of our glorious King as we never
had before, when we come to die. Many saints in dying have looked up from
amidst the stormy waters, and have seen Jesus walking on the waves of the sea,
and heard Him say, "It is I, be not afraid." Ah, yes! when the tenement begins
to shake, and the clay falls away, we see Christ through the rifts, and between
the rafters the sunlight of heaven comes streaming in. But if we want to see
face to face the "King in His beauty" we must go to heaven for the sight, or
the King must come here in person. O that He would come on the wings of the
wind! He is our Husband, and we are widowed by His absence; He is our Brother
dear and fair, and we are lonely without Him. Thick veils and clouds hang
between our souls and their true life: when shall the day break and the shadows
flee away? Oh, long-expected day, begin!
Hebrews 2:10-11
(10) For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all
things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. (11) For both he that sanctifieth and
they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to
call them brethren,
A key word in these verses is "author" from the Greek word archegos,
which is translated variously as "captain (KJV), author, pioneer, trail-blazer,
and founder." One basic concept threads its way through all of the uses of this
word: An archegos is one who begins something so that others may enter into it.
An archegos can found a school that others may follow him into learning.
An archegos can found a city that others may dwell in. An archegos can blaze a
trail that others may follow. An archegos can begin a family that others may be
born into it.
If a ship is foundering on the rocks, and the only way to save the crew
and passengers is for someone to swim ashore with a line and secure it on a
tree or a rock so that others may follow him to shore, the one who swims with
the line is the archegos. He did a deed so that others may follow.
Jesus is the archegos of our salvation! He blazed the trail! He set the
pattern! He entered into a Family that others may follow! And in the process of
blazing the trail, of setting the pattern, of entering into God's Kingdom—He
too was perfect! That is what the verse says.
The author of our salvation was made perfect through suffering. He was
made complete as our Savior and High Priest. He is fully able to be the pioneer
of our salvation, to ensure that we also will enter salvation and to be as He
is.
According to this verse, this was done to bring many sons to glory—the
same glory as the Trailblazer, the Pioneer, the Author, the Captain has.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From We Shall Be God!
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
daily devotional
Evening...
Ecclesiastes 10:9
He that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby.
Oppressors may get their will of poor and needy men as easily as they can
split logs of wood, but they had better mind, for it is a dangerous business,
and a splinter from a tree has often killed the woodman. Jesus is persecuted in
every injured saint, and He is mighty to avenge His beloved ones. Success in
treading down the poor and needy is a thing to be trembled at: if there be no
danger to persecutors here there will be great danger hereafter. To cleave wood
is a common every-day business, and yet it has its dangers; so then, reader,
there are dangers connected with your calling and daily life which it will be
well for you to be aware of. We refer not to hazards by flood and field, or by
disease and sudden death, but to perils of a spiritual sort. Your occupation
may be as humble as log splitting, and yet the devil can tempt you in it. You
may be a domestic servant, a farm labourer, or a mechanic, and you may be
greatly screened from temptations to the grosser vices, and yet some secret sin
may do you damage. Those who dwell at home, and mingle not with the rough
world, may yet be endangered by their very seclusion. Nowhere is he safe who
thinks himself so. Pride may enter a poor man's heart; avarice may reign in a
cottager's bosom; uncleanness may venture into the quietest home; and anger,
and envy, and malice may insinuate themselves into the most rural abode. Even
in speaking a few words to a servant we may sin; a little purchase at a shop
may be the first link in a chain of temptations; the mere looking out of a
window may be the beginning of evil. O Lord, how exposed we are! How shall we
be secured! To keep ourselves is work too hard for us: only Thou Thyself art
able to preserve us in such a world of evils. Spread Thy wings over us, and we,
like little chickens, will cower down beneath Thee, and feel ourselves safe!
1 John 3:4
(4) Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin
is the transgression of the law.
Go to this verse on Bible Tools
In this seemingly straightforward verse, God defines sin
(hamartia) as anomia, rendered "lawlessness" (NKJV, RSV, NIV, REB, NAS) or "the
transgression of the law" (KJV). Other translations use the words "evil"
(Peshitta), "a breaking of God's law" (Phillips) and "iniquity" (Diaglott). The
Greek word anomia literally means "being without law." To get a sense of what
John writes, we can express it as, "Whoever does hamartian also does anomian,
and hamartia is anomia."
The King James and Phillips versions imply that sin is strictly
the breaking of God's law, whereas the other translations consider it more
generally. However we may understand it, John certainly implies God's
involvement as both Lawgiver and Judge. God will judge each person according to
the standards expressed in His law.
In I John 3:4, John argues against the Gnostic idea that the
things done in the body are inconsequential because only the spirit counts.
Gnostics following this school of thought often fell into licentiousness. Some
in John's area of ministry seem to have believed that they could not sin in
their flesh. Since their flesh, matter, was ultimately evil anyway, it could
not be redeemed and was worthless. Thus, they concluded, anything done in the
flesh had no bearing on one's salvation.
They played a semantic game with the words hamartia (sin) and
anomia (lawlessness). They considered hamartia to identify the transgressions
of moral law, particularly sins of the flesh, such as sexual immorality,
gluttony, drunkenness, and stealing. Anomia, however, categorized sins of the
spirit, like rebellion, pride, vanity, and greed—the sins that Satan committed.
They believed God, the eternal Spirit, would look the other way if one
committed hamartia, but committing anomia put one under judgment.
They also made no connection between them; they did not recognize
that one could affect the other. Gnostics would not admit that sins of the
flesh had their origins in the mind (James 1:14-15) or that such sins could in
turn cause their character, their spirit, to degenerate (Jeremiah 7:24). They
saw a total and irreconcilable separation between flesh and spirit.
Thus, John tells them hamartia and anomia are the same; they are
both sin! It does not matter to God whether the sin is committed in the flesh
or in the spirit—to Him it is sin! If God says not to do something, and we do
it, it is sin. He has said not to eat pork and shellfish; if we do, it is sin.
He has said not to commit sexual immorality; if we do, it is sin. He has said
not to hate our brother; if we do, it is sin. He has said to keep the Sabbath;
if we do not, it is sin!
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
From Sin Is Spiritual!
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