The greatest moment of our lives

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:2-3 ESV)

Theologians call this “the beatific vision.” We will call it the greatest moment of our lives—to see Christas he is; not as he was. . .

Keep reading “Our Greatest Moment” by Steve DeWitt.

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Who is Jesus?

Born as a son,
led forth as a lamb,
sacrificed as a sheep,
buried as a man,
he rose from the dead as a God,
for he was by nature God and man.

He is all things:
he judges, and so he is Law;
he teaches, and so he is Wisdom;
he saves, and so he is Grace;
he suffers, and so he is sacrifice;
he is buried, and so he is man;
he rises again, and so he is God.

This is Jesus Christ,
to whom belongs glory for all ages.

- Melito, bishop of Sardis (d. 180) 

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None like Jesus!

“If I never write any more, let these be my last words:

There is none like Christ, none like Christ, none like Christ! Nothing like redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

There is no learning or knowledge like the knowledge of Christ. No life like Christ living in the heart by faith. No work like the spiritual service of Christ. No riches or wealth like the unsearchable riches of Christ. No rest or comfort like the rest and consolations of Christ. No pleasure like the pleasure of fellowship with Christ.

Little as I know of Christ, I would not exchange the learning of one hour’s fellowship with Christ for all the learning of ten thousand universities during ten thousand ages, even if angels were my teachers.”

~ John Brown of Haddington, Scotland

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The True Superhero!

Appreciate this post by Barry York at Gentle Reformation

In this summer of superheroes, why not “marvel” over these truths?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was baptized as Man—

but He remitted sins as God.

He was tempted as Man,

but He conquered as God.

He hungered—

but He fed thousands; yea, He is the Bread that giveth life.

He thirsted—

but He cried,” If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.”

He was wearied,

but He is the Rest of them that are weary and heavy laden.

He was heavy with sleep,

but He walked lightly over the sea.

He pays tribute,

but it is out of a fish; yea, He is the King of those who demanded it.

He is called a demoniac;

but He drives out demons and sinks in the sea legions of foul spirits.

He prays,

but He hears prayer.

He weeps,

but He causes tears to cease.

He asks where Lazarus was laid, for He was Man;

but He raises Lazarus, for He was God.

He is sold, very cheap, only for thirty pieces of silver;

but He redeems the world and that at a great price, His own blood.

As a sheep He is led to the slaughter,

but He is the Shepherd of Israel, and now of the whole world also.

He is bruised and wounded,

but He healeth every disease and every infirmity.

He is lifted up and nailed to the Tree,

but by the Tree of Life He restoreth us.

He is given vinegar to drink mingled with gall.

Who? He who turned the water into wine.

He lays down His life,

but He has power to take it again.

He dies,

but He gives life.

He is buried,

but He rises again.

He ascends to Heaven,

and shall come again to judge the quick and the dead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adapted from The Third Theological Oration. On the Son . by Gregory Nazianzen.

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Christ has never been sweeter

I trust that Christ is sweet in your life!

LORD,

My sin has never been more repulsive to my spiritual senses, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My strength has never more acutely felt like weakness, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My awareness of living in a fallen world has never seemed more real, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My lovelessness has never seemed more insurmountable, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My unrest has never felt more like fleshly striving, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My selfishness has never appeared more pervasive, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My weariness has never seemed more soul-gripping, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My inadequacy has never felt more crippling, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My anxiety has never been more obvious as unbelief, but Christ has never been sweeter.

My perseverance has never felt so thin, but Christ has never been sweeter.

Come, my sweet Lord Jesus.

Written by Paul Tautages

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Seven Things Christ Is

1) He is the Way; men without him are Cains, wanderers, vagabonds:—

2) He is the Truth; men without him are liars, like the devil, who was so of old:—

3) He is the Life; without him men are dead, dead in trespasses and sins :—

4) He is the Light; without him men are in darkness, and go they know not whither:—

5) He is the Vine; those that are not grafted in him are withered branches, prepared for the fire:—

6) He is the Rock; men not built on him are carried away with a flood:—

7) He is Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the author and the ender, the founder and the finisher of our salvation.

~John Owen

P.S. He that hath not him, hath neither beginning of good, nor shall have end of misery.

from a sermon entitled A Vision of Unchangeable, Free Mercy ; Volume 8, page 36

HT: The Essential Owen

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Keep your focus!

Focus on Jesus today!

HT: Persecution Blog

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The greatest act of love

On the cross, we see the greatest act of love ever demonstrated, its effects reverberating down through history and permanently altering the lives of those who believe. The importance of the cross will never diminish. In heaven, Scripture tells us, the majestic beings around the throne of God worship by saying, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12) When the love of God is extolled, both in heaven and on earth, the sacrifice of Christ on the cross is always the focal point, for there God showed his love in the most real and powerful way imaginable—by dying for those who hate him.

But the cross did not simply display love. On the cross, Jesus performed a real, tangible, beneficial action on our behalf. Though we are by nature children of wrath, Jesus died in order to achieve something for us. He “died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3), so that we can be “justified by his blood” and “saved by him from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:9).

Perhaps no writer in Scripture says it better than the prophet Isaiah, despite the fact that he preceded Christ by centuries: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4–5). Scripture plainly and clearly teaches that Jesus died in our place, as our substitute, taking from God the punishment for our sins.

On the cross, Jesus performed the ultimate act of love, and that act genuinely accomplished something—the Son of God absorbed the wrath of God on our behalf, taking our guilt away and enabling us to receive Christ’s perfect righteousness credited to us, so that we might be presented before him as righteous.

Adapted from Casey Lute, “But God…“ (Kindle Edition) HT: Aaron A

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Jesus never stops praying for you!

Jesus our High Priest lives for ever as a powerful Intercessor in heaven for believers. The very sight of Christ, our High priest in heaven, prevails exceedingly with God, and turns away his displeasure from us.

It gives sweet relief against the defects still in our sanctification. We want a great deal of faith, love, heavenly-mindedness, mortification, knowledge. Well, if grace be but yet in its weak beginnings, and infancy in thy soul, this may encourage, that by reason of Christ’s intercession, it shall live, grow, and increase itself in thy heart.

He is ever begging new and fresh mercies for you in heaven; and will never cease till all your wants be supplied.

— John Flavel, The Fountain of Life

Check out a quote like this every day at First Importance

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His Name: Wonderful Counselor

700 years before Jesus Christ came to this earth the first time, the prophet Isaiah foretold of his birth.  He used kingly language to describe Jesus.  The centerpiece of OT prophecy regarding His coming might well be Isaiah 9:6-7.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

This king is described as possessing humanity: He is a child who is born and a son given.  But he also reflects deity for all of human government shall be subsumed under His authority.  This King who we know as Jesus will bear many names.  The first one given here is “Wonderful Counselor”.  There has never been, will never be, and currently is no counselor who is as wonderful or more wonderful than Jesus Christ, who is is called Wisdom in the OT.

I ran across this quote at Aaron’s blog the other day and I commend it to you this day as you reflect on this name given to our King!

And if there is one on earth to whose difficulties, perplexities, and anxieties Christ is prepared to give counsel and help, it is he who, through sin, and doubt, and darkness, is working and struggling to find his way to Himself. To such an one He says, “Poor soul! do you inquire after me? Am I the object of your desire, your search, your love? Are you perplexed with doubts, trembling with fears, struggling with difficulties, and yet through all, though faint, still pursuing the one great object of your soul- salvation? then I will help you, I will strengthen you, yes, I will guide you, and bring you into my kingdom of grace here, and finally into my kingdom of glory hereafter.” And what, as such, is the counsel Christ gives to all anxious, sin-burdened, Jesus-seeking souls? Oh, it is counsel like Himself, loving, gracious, free. “Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” “I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich, and white clothing that you may be clothed.” Oh, heed then His gracious counsels; approach Him, though with burdened mind, and anxious heart, and trembling faith, for He has promised, ” Him that comes unto Me, I will in no wise cast out.”

What a precious Counselor is Christ in seasons of deep affliction! If, in the course of the Christian’s life, he feels the need of one to feel for him, to think for him, to act for him, it is when the hand of God is heavy and sore upon him. Your calamity has, perhaps, stunned, paralyzed, crushed you. Your mind seems to have lost the faculty of thought, your heart the power of feeling. You find yourself, through overwhelming grief and sin, totally incapacitated to think, to decide, to act for yourself. Oh, uplift that eye, swimming with tears; that heart crushed with woe, to Jesus, your promised, faithful, present Counselor! Place your case in His hands; He will undertake and accomplish all for you now.

Octavius Winslow, Emmanuel, or The TItles of Christ, as published in The Works of Octavius Winslow  (Monergism Books, Kindle Edition)

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