I Jn. 2:28

“And now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming” (I Jn. 2:28).

A Quote by Given O. Blakely

 “There are times when the hope of glory burns brightly within us, and there are times when we must set our faces steadfastly to go to Jerusalem.” —Given O. Blakely

Tis the Blessed Hour of Prayer

 

1 ‘Tis the blessed hour of prayer, when our hearts lowly bend,

And we gather to Jesus, our Savior and Friend;

If we come to Him in faith, His protection to share,

What a balm for the weary! O how sweet to be there!

Refrain

Blessed hour of prayer, Blessed hour of prayer,

What a balm for the weary! O how sweet to be there!

2 ‘Tis the blessed hour of prayer, when the Savior draws near,

With a tender compassion His children to hear;

When He tells us we may cast at His feet every care,

What a balm for the weary! O how sweet to be there! [Refrain]

3 ‘Tis the blessed hour of prayer, when the tempted and tried

To the Savior who loves them their sorrows confide;

With a sympathizing heart He removes every care;

What a balm for the weary! O how sweet to be there! [Refrain]

4 ‘Tis the blessed hour of prayer, trusting Him we believe,

That the blessings we’re needing we’ll surely receive;

In the fullness of this trust we shall lose every care;

What a balm for the weary! O how sweet to be there! [Refrain]

—Fanny Crosby

A PROPHECY OF CHRIST

A PROPHECY OF CHRIST

“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins” (Isa. 11:1-5).

The King's Business

The King's Business

By E. T. Cassel

I am a stranger here, within a foreign land;

My home is far away, upon a golden strand;

Ambassador to be of realms beyond the sea,

I'm here on business for my King.

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This is the King's command: that all men everywhere,

Repent and turn away from sin's seductive snare;

That all who will obey with Him shall reign for aye,

And that's my business for my King.

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My home is brighter far than Sharon's rosy plain,

Eternal life and joy throughout its vast domain:

My Sovereign bids me tell how mortals there may dwell,

And that's my business for my King.

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Chorus

This is the message that I bring,

A message angels fain would sing:

"Oh, be ye reconciled,"

Thus saith my Lord and King,

"Oh, be ye reconciled to God."

The Anchor of the Soul

The Anchor of the Soul

"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil" (Heb. 10:19). In all the troubles and changes which are part of this life, let us cast our anchor upward within the veil. Let us set our affection continually on things above, from whence also we look for the Savior.

On this side of the veil is time, and the curse, and sin and death. But, bless God, on that side of the veil is our great High Priest and our heavenly Father and joys that are everlasting. This hope that we have is able to presently pass within the veil where the Savior is. We are not speaking here of a "hope so" type hope, but of one that is sure and steadfast, being anchored within the veil, where Christ, our Forerunner and High Priest, has entered (cf. Heb. 6:20).

For those who are willing to deny themselves and take up their cross and follow the Savior, setting their affection on things above, the consideration of both the new covenant and of our great High Priest will afford them a strong consolation, enabling them to make their calling and election sure (II Pet. 1:10). —Albert G. Stoner, Jr.

The Lord's Table

The Lord's Supper. Emile Cailiet, a converted agnostic doctor of philosophy in Paris, in his book, Journey into Light, which recounts his discovery of Christ, says the journey to salvation must ultimately lead to the Lord's table. "It is there the luminosity of the Presence comes into full glow. Indeed, the Lord's table becomes a unique medium of His Presence to those who partake of the bread and wine, thereby being incorporated into His body, and showing His death and His coming in remembrance of His triumphal sacrifice." The Lord's supper consists of:

1. Upward look to God--"He gave thanks."

2. Backward look to Christ--"in remembrance of Him."

3. Inward look to self--"examine oneself."

4. Outward look to the world--"show His death."

5. Forward look to heaven--"till He come."

--Donald A. Nash, "Cup and Loaf," The Voice, Kentucky Christian College, Grayson, KY, May-June 1982, p.2

Your Work of Faith

Your Work of Faith

"Remembering without ceasing your work of faith . . ." (I Th. 1:3).

"There is the whole of the thorny subject of the relation of faith and works packed into a nutshell. It is exactly what James said, and it is exactly what a better than James said. When the Jews came to Him with their externalism, and thought that God was to be pleased by a whole rabble of separate good actions, and so said, 'What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?' Jesus answered, Neyer mind about works. 'This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent' (Jn. 6:28-29), and out of that will come all the rest. That is the mother-tincture; everything else will flow from that. So Paul says, 'Your work of faith.' Does your faith work? Perhaps I should ask other people rather than you. Do men see that your faith works; that its output is different from the output of men who do not possess 'like precious faith'? Ask yourselves the question, and God help you to answer it." --Alexander Maclaren

The Condition of Fruitfulness

 

The Condition of Fruitfulness

Representations Made by Dean E. Boelt

“As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing" (Jn. 15:4-5).

The inexorable condition of fruit bearing for Christ, as He emphasizes in the above declaration, is unity with Him. If we are "united with Him" in His death and resurrection (Rom. 6:4-5, ASV; cf. Col. 2:10-14), fruitfulness will follow. But without that fellowship, "ye can do nothing" of any recognition by God, as He said.

That was the reality which the religious workers of record in Matthew 7:26-27 learned too late. They were attempting to serve God in dissociation from His beloved Son. As the Savior put it on another occasion, "Every plant which My heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up" (15:13). It is a lesson which religious people today who are not in vital fellowship with the exalted Lord also require to learn.

But--praise His Name!--the opposite situation is equally certain. Those who get into, and abide in Jesus, bring forth "much fruit." "So shall ye be My disciples," He continued; that is, by fruit bearing (v.  8 ).

Christ is "the true vine," and His Father is "the husbandman" that sustains the vine. Existence of the "true vine," obviously, presupposes that of false vines. And so there are, have been, and will continue to be as long as this world continues. Hence, the Lord's grave warning of the "false prophets" with which the brethren would certainly be confronted (Mt. 24:11, 24-25).

Paul, of course, followed with grave warnings of the false teachers who would subvert many (Tit. 1:10-11; cf. Acts 15:24; 20:29-30). He himself had to constantly contend with them, and it is certain that they must be confronted and dealt with today. They are "a strange vine" of the earth, as the Prophet probably would say (Jer. 2:21). That is, they are sharply distinguished from that of God's "planting" (Isa, 61:3).

It is heartening to know that personal union with the exalted Christ is ample protection against false teachers and full surety of fruitfulness to God. As Peter declared with reference to such abiding in Christ, "If these things"-the fruits of union with the Lord-"be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (II Pet. 1:8).

The indispensable responsibility of the individual believer, thus, is apparent. It is to abide in Christ, growing "up into Him in all things" (Eph. 4:15). The work of the church is designed to serve the need associated with that responsibility. It is, first, to bring people to the Lord by proclamation of the gospel. Then it is to build them up in the faith by continually nurturing them in Him.

As a congregation, or group of them, gives itself to that assignment, it may be certain that it has the Presence and blessing of the reigning Savior. But only so, it must be added. --From the February 1992 issue of The Banner of Truth