WHY WE ARE HERE IS SET FORTH ALSO

IN THIS INTRODUCTION TO ONE OF THE RECENT WORKS

The seventh book in this set of volumes on Department of Bible and Spiritual Affairs continues the tradition of examining affairs of heart and justice, truth and righteousness, but especially this in the context of the Bible, the ways and wisdom of which is under constant investigation and application, with the relish some scientists and historians have felt for finding great booty, by research. In the case of the Bible, however, it is already found, and needs to be realised, recognised and applied.

There is therefore much in the joint movements of predictive scriptures and performing history, where it is necessary to see the connection and warn, or exhort, or challenge or inform, while there is time. Indeed, there are many events which might lose their intense significance to those watching them, without biblical perspective and review; and these are now surging so fast that it is like wilfully refusing to have an air-raid shelter, in a blitzkrieg, to  fail  to  attend to the ministry of the word of God which the Bible provides, direct to the heart. It is to one, to all this world in upheaval, to the billions of psyches or souls, and the milling millions of spirits of mankind.

In the hope of the awakening of some, the reinforcement of many, the edification of all, therefore this presentation continues, and it is addressed not to any one nation, or person or group, but in terms of the Great Commission of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28), this time by electronic missionaries, to all. So  do we proceed by the grace of God.  Especially however it is desired to reach those separated from freedom by tyrannical regimes, whether in democracies or not, whether in academic slant or bullets' spattering, as to reach those troubled by doubts, hard put to find help in a hostile environment, those recovering from assault of mind, body or spirit.

May the Lord bless all those who seek, that they may find. Jeremiah 29 always remains relevant, If with all your heart you truly seek Me, you will find Me.

How beautifully Mendelssohn's Elijah presents this, how movingly! But it is necessary to BE moved and to enter the open door (John 10:9), with repentance and faith, not just to wail or rail on the doorstep.

But let us put it more deeply.

This volume continues the work of attesting the praise, purpose, program, procedures and power, the invitations and intimations of the Lord Jesus Christ. May it provide bread for the hungry, meat for the reflective, the Bible's teaching for any and for all, especially those dimmed by false doctrine, darkened by evil counsel, afflicted, persecuted, maligned, oppressed, seeking the glory of the Lord in the face of Christ Jesus, perhaps aborted through the darkening shadow like that of lung cancer, contorted by self-doubts - which are most useful since they can lead on to faith in One far better than any merely human self, who yet aspire to the fire of the living God.

It is He whose words we ponder, whose works we watch, delighted in His power in this, perhaps the generation most blessed with biblical fulfilments, precise in kind, cumulative in consequences that there has ever been, other than that of Christ Himself, starting with the greater Star than any above, at Bethlehem, the greatest Sceptre, Lord of Lords, and delicious in embracing fulfilment, both in cradle and cross, retort and response, power and healing, majesty and glory.

It is He whom indeed we praise, for other than any competitor on this earth's race, He is worthy of it. It is such a relief to find One who deserves blessing and honour and glory and praise, One who taking human flesh as His format for His spiritual function and purpose of salvation, displayed unimpugnable worth in word and deed, from first to last, adorning the human race, not as if to give it pride, but to show it the way, despite its weakness, vulnerability and temptation, hostility and hate, even murder, by penetrating the darkness, and making His light shine in embracing in Himself what is good and displacing the sin of those who call upon Him by faith, resurrecting His very own body, as well as the bodies of others before His own.

For those in Him, death has no fear; for the one whom it is wise to reverence, has shown the way past even that, so that as human birth is our entry, immortality is our exit from this world, until He Himself comes to consummate the program in person, resurrecting His saints, His people, every one who has received in faith, His salvation, which without admixture, grants the grace of pardon and a covenanted eternity.

It is best to be prepared, and who could without becoming contemptible (Daniel 12) forsake such a Lord as this, or turn from such heavily-gained godliness, available through such a door, with not even a coin for entrance. The spiritual coin which matters is faith, and the prime consequence is love, indeed love as Paul says in I Timothy 1, out of a pure heart, a good conscience and unpretended faith. Right with God, you then have deliverance from blight and night, and can walk in the light of life, not the torch of trouble, but the brightness of His coming, Spirit, enablement, the path as sure as the donkey's on the cliff; but more so than this, for it can stumble, but Christ never stumbles, never fails, and always keeps (Zephaniah 3:5, John 10:9,27-28). He is the door (John 10:9), and at that door you drop all the equipment of flesh, trusting in Him who equips with life eternal.