APPENDIX 111

 

THE LIVING GOD -
living in his life

 

FIRST: THE LIVING GOD -

1. The Grandeur of him who lives

It is not the case that God represents a symbol, a form, a proposition or a principle, a tradition, a cultural object, an intellectual quiddity or a moral preference. God is alive.

HE HAS such principles as He pleases, such moral codes as He devises and requires of all, such power as none can restrain and such wisdom as knows no end. He is the living God.

It is true that He is

immutable (Psalm 1102:26);

that His ways are

everlasting (Habakkuk 1:6); that He is

invisible (Hebrews 11:1-3), as becomes the One who made eyes (Psalm 95:9); thatHe is

invariable (James 1:17),

invincible, both in Himself and in His everlasting Word (Hebrews 1:13, 1:1-2:4, Psalm 2), by decree, by total triumph and irresistible executive power ( I Corinthians 2:14, Isaiah 43:13), by judgment (Matthew 7:20-22, John 5:22, Romans 2, Revelation 20), by the power of an endless life (Hebrews 7:22); that He is

impregnable (I Timothy 6:16);

immortal (II Timothy 1:10), having indeed even for His own children "abolished death and brought life and immortality to light";

and that He comes as One

expressive and declared in His ways (John 1:1, 1:18, 8:58; Psalm 138:2, Jeremiah 33:20-22, Matthew 24:35, Isaiah 34:16, Ezekiel 33:30-33),

explicit (Proverbs 8:8),

available in His incarnated and eternal word, Jesus Christ the righteous (Acts 3:14, Philippians 2, I Cor. 3:21-23, John 16:15,28, 17:3),

unsearchable in riches (Ephesians 3:8), as in judgment (Romans 11:33),

marvellous in lovingkindness (Psalm 63:3, I John 4:7-10, John 3:16, 17:23),

magnificent in deliverance (Psalm 18:16, 34:6-7, 50:12-15, Jeremiah 13:22-23) Ephesians 1:19, 3:20),

incomparable in performance (Luke 1:37, Genesis 18:14, Jeremiah 32:17,27, Ephesians 1:11, Psalm 139, 72:18; Matthew 5:17-19, Isaiah 48:1-8, 41:21-23, 43:8-13, 44:24-26, 45:20-21, 46:8-10, I Chronicles 29:11-18 *1),

energising with strength (Isaiah 40:28-31, Ephesians 3:16), and

fashioning in beauty of holiness:

equipped with salvation through faith alone without OUR works, in His Son, because of His being perfect and perfected (Titus 3:5-7, Romans 3:23-28, Hebrews 5),

executed once for all in the format flesh, but

imperial in resurrection (Ephesians 4:8-9, Colossians 1:19-23, Luke 24:25-43).

With all worlds and time His creation, and all formats His possession, transgressions His to weigh, death His sentence and its breach His prerogative (Hosea 13:13-14, Isaiah 26:19, II Timothy 1:9-10), contained by His power and expressive of His sway: He is

triumphant in life (Philippians 3:20-21, I John 1:1-4, 5:13, Acts 2:24,31-32),

and will come as

ultimate in judgment, to apportion to shame, as well as to receive His elect who have come to His salvation and received it (II Tim.2:13, II Thessalonians 2, Daniel 12:1-3).

Indeed, He is

irrepressible, this same Jesus Christ, Lord of Lords and King of Kings, delight of His Father (Isaiah 41:28-42:1, 49:6, Matthew 17:5), once dead but now alive for ever, returning in light to judge by light (Revelation 1:19, 5:6, Matthew 7:21-23, John 5:19-23, 12:49, Matthew 26:31, 25:31-46, I Cor. 2:7-9, Revelation 19:12-16).

Equally, He is

morally impervious (Psalm 145:7, 33:5, 11:7, Hebrews 1:13, Psalm 50:21) and

irradiating in light, so that His people find such an excess and bounty of light that they can live clearly by it (Psalm 27:1, 43:3, 97:11, II Cor. 4:6, Micah 7:8, Isaiah 60:19, John 12:20-26, Rev.22:5).

Yet all this, his grace and gift, does not reduce but rather exhibits the extreme force and entire brilliance of His vitality (I John 1:1-4, Revelation 1:8):

·       for He needs no change, who is always holy and complete, knowing all, all-surpassing without blight, defect or need for growth, for of whom should He gain the rights and privileges to grow!

for He is

boundless in energy and

consummate in all His aspects (Psalm 89:1,5-8, I Tim. 6:16, 34:6-7, Psalm 145:17, 18:30, , 19:7, 119:96, I Peter 1:7-8, James 1:17 , Jude 24-25, Revelation 5:9,12, 7:12, 11:17-18, 22:5, Micah 7:18-120, Ezekiel 1:226-28, Jeremiah 16:19, Isaiah 11:1-10, 44:6-8, 43:10, Matthew 5:48).

Having made light as an instrument, He says through His servant David,

·       "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of They pleasures.

·       For with Thee is the fountain of life:

·       In Thy light shall we see light."

 

Infinite in understanding (Psalm 145:3, Ephesians 3:19),

incommensurable in comprehension, and likewise

immeasurable in faithfulness (Romans 8:30ff., Isaiah 54:7-13, John 10, Ezekiel 34, 36-37, Micah 7:19-20),

He does not change! (Psalm 102:25ff., 90:2, Hebrews 12:25-29, James 1:17, II Timothy 1:9-10). Knowing the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10), indeed declaring it,

eternal is He before our time that passes, began;

for He began it,

whose divine being is the basis and the power
for all that lives and grows

(Ephesians 1:4, Romans 8:28-30).

On Him, all depends, and without whom nothing would be

(Hebrews 11:1-3, 1:3, Colossians 1:17, Revelation 4:11; cf. SMR Chs.1, 2, 3, 10, incl. pp. 149-159; Item 29, pp. 221ff. above).

• God is no mere principle, or proposition, or approach to things, or limiting value: He is the living God who invented the growing understanding and its means, which He accorded to man, made the worlds in which growth and perception are tools of living, and with His impregnable dynamic it is He who rules and appoints to history its parameters, its meaning and in our present world, its end (II Peter 3, Isaiah 51:6). He appoints also its judgment (Matthew 25).

 

For man, and not God, it is to grow. The saved servant of God grows in knowledge and grace into the living marvels of God's depth of wisdom, beauty and strength. As a creature, this he does not in and by himself, but as a child of God, redeemed and adopted, in the graces and environment of His kingdom, in which the cornerstone is Christ and Him crucified (Rev. 5:13) for ever.

The LIVING GOD it is He:

• whom Abraham found, indeed whom he trusted to the point He could raise the very dead (Hebrews 11:16-18);
• whom Moses served (Deut.5:26),
• on whom Joshua depended in his lively projects (Joshua3:10).

 

It is HIS COMMANDMENTS which the Psalmist found to "stand fast for ever and ever" and to be "done in truth and uprightness"; for it is HE

• who is alpha and omega,
• holding the outcomes even from the beginning,
• having chosen in Christ those who are His before the very foundation of the world (Revelation 1:11, 17, 2:8, Isaiah 44:6, Ephesians 1:4) and
• calling fervently on all to repent (Ezekiel 33:11, Proverbs 1, Acts 2:36-38, Jeremiah 3:12, 4:14, 16:19-20, 31:18-20, Ezekiel 18:30-31, Luke 13:13, 19:42) while they may.

 

IT IS BECAUSE OF HIM THAT TO THE UPRIGHT THERE ARISES LIGHT IN DARKNESS (Psalm 97:11, 112:4, 27:14); for light is His in it effusive wonder and energised brilliance, symbol in this world of the transcendental wisdom of the Lord of all worlds, who made them, stretched them out, calls the stars by name and tells the future as if it were the past (Isaiah 48:1-8, 44;24-25, Ezekiel 12:22-25, 26:3-7,19-21,Nahum 3:1-7,).

It is He of whom David writes:

• "Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my God; Thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness" -

Psalm 143:10.

Amongst the mere creation, of which mankind is a part formed for fellowship with Himself, and a very special apart are those who are His (I Peter 2:9, Genesis 1:27, Romans 8:29-39, I Thessalonians 5:9-10, Philippians 3:20-21, Col. 3:1-3), He can even graciously guide with His eye, as one reins a horse on its way (Psalm 32:8, Acts 8:26, 16:7,9, 18:9-10, II Tim.3:16), instructing and teaching in the way to go, and providing it (cf. Isaiah 64:4-5 NKJV, ASV, NASV and Psalm 23:3, 43:3, 77:20, 139:10,24, 78:41, 73:24, II Peter 1:3-4, II Cor. 10:4-5, 12:9, 3:5, Psalm 112:4, 84:11, Proverbs 8:20, and entire record of the Bible).

Among the creation, man is indeed a prodigy, patterned after the divine; but what is a prodigy which can die, compared to the Creator of prodigies, who lives for ever, time His creation, eternity His milieu.

God chooses His way of guidance for the meek (Psalm 25:9, Isaiah 29:18-19), but let no man intervene as if to supersede; yet it is according to His word, so let no man subtract or add, but in the unity of the Lord, the command of His word and way of His grace, His beauty is seen (Psalm 133, Acts 4:23ff.); and in integrity of heart (Galatians 2:14, I Kings 1:18-22, Daniel 12:10)!

So great is His invariable reality and sure word that the person who breaks one of the least of the commandments and teaches accordingly, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven! while the one who obeys and teaches (such) shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Spiritually discerned, these are an excellent test of spirituality and godliness, which brings close to God. To the heart of faith, these words are sweet, to be desired, as we notice in reading Psalm 119.

(See verses noted below especially, showing the objective numerability of God's word, its perfection, urgent desirability, eternity in truth.) (See verses noted below especially, showing the objective numerability of God's word, its perfection, urgent desirability, eternity in truth.)

They are also pure, like silver multiply refined by the furnace.

(Matthew 5:19-20 cf. Isaiah 34:16, II Timothy 3:16, Psalm 119:9,20,35,41,50,66,81,96,103,105,111,115,128,138,142-144, Psalm 12:6.)

Before this living God, he who desires to save his life will lose it, and he who loses it for the Lord's own sake, will keep it

(Matthew 16:25).
 
 

2. THE LIVING WONDER

A.

Paul speaks of the living God in I Timothy 3:15, 4:10, 6:17; in Daniel we read of Him in 6:26, in the Psalms, in 42:2. Says Paul to Timothy: "But I tarry long, that you may know how you ought to behave yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God". Again he writes:

• "For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those who believe".

If ever you wanted assurance of the interest of God in the lost, see there; for it is this living God who in love sent His Son, having so loved the world, even this one, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish. Paul asks Timothy to

• "charge those who are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works..."

Nebuchadnezzar learned of this the hard way, though there are harder. He commanded with words of no small power, after his recovery, and after the plotting of those who envied Daniel was finished in the latter's deliverance, he in whose court the amazing spiritual phenomenon of the power of the wisdom of God through Daniel was multiply evidenced (as indeed through his friends), giving a charge with wisdom for all generations. His rule:

• "I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for He is the living God, and steadfast for ever, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall be even to the end. He delivers and rescues, and He works signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions."

It was impressive and the king of Babylon did not pretend. He learned from the myriads of bases what he was now willing in the drama, at last, to accept.

Majestic and wonderful, the Lord is yet tender and accessible through His covenant, the covenant consummated in the blood of Christ (Matthew 26:28, Hebrews 4:13-16, Chs. 8-9, Ephesians 1:7-11). Thus the Psalmist cries:

• "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God." "As the heart pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after Thee, O God."

It is HIS prerogative, magnificence and Being that is "I am", the everlastingly independent, autonomous basis of all (cf. A Question of Gifts, Section VII, pp. 73ff., SMR pp. 26ff., Ch. 10); and it is His ways which do not change. Thus in Psalm 102, as in Hebrews 1, we read this word:

• "Thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; yes, all of them shall grow old like a garment; as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed. But Thou art the same, and Thy years have

no end" -

• Psalm 102:25-27, Hebrews 1:10.

Without pollution, with no attrition, it is He whose word stands though the universe falls (Isaiah 51:6, Matthew 24:35, I Peter 1:24-25), His children are born of indestructible seed, having a gracious genesis in His kingdom which has no end for them for ever (I Peter 1:23,5, I John 3:9, 5:12-13), He is the living God.

It is not mutability but immutability, not growth but perfection which is His; for perfection needs no growth, and change from entire perfection is less. Growth in heart, in spirit and in understanding is for us who receptive, rejoice in His work (Isaiah 66:2, 61:10, II Peter 3:18, Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:10). Nor does He sit solitary in the heavens, as if the earth were beneath His notice, for He humbles Himself to behold the children of men (Psalm 113:6, 102:16-23); and abundantly provided for, "the meek shall eat and be satisfied" (Psalm 22:26, cf. John 6:51-54, where the results of this death accrue). Indeed, eternal life being obtained through the means of vicarious pain and agonising triumph traced through this 22^nd Psalm, the prophet exclaims:

"May your heart life for ever!"(Cf. Item 17 above, esp. pp. 116ff. - proceeding back to the start of this page, as delivered by hyperllink).

Thus he declares, "those who seek Him will praise the Lord," even "aseed shall serve Him; it shall be declared of the Lord for the generation" (cf. Isaiah 53:8,10). That is, it will be HIS generation, the special one, the "chosen generation ... His own special people" ( I Peter 2:9), the offspring, drawn from all time as if in one time: a cumulative spiritual generation instead of a particular family which the Lord might have had, as Isaiah indicates.

This "generation" is His by declaration. It reminds one of Zion, of which it is said, "This one and that one were born in her; and the Most High Himself shall establish her. The Lord will record, when He registers the peoples: 'This one was born there'" (Psalm 87:5-6): a Zion which is consummated in the heavenly city of which Paul declares, "Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all" (Galatians 4:26). This then is the whole household of faith, the for-all-time citizenry of the Kingdom of Heaven: the testimony to His triumph.

Indeed, says David in this 22nd Psalm, "they shall come, and shall declare His righteousness to a people that shall be born, that He has done this" - Psalm 22:30-31; or as Psalm 102:18 puts it in a parallel passage, "this shall be written for the generation to come"; for then the great humiliation is past, even that of the Cross where sin's attire is disclosed and its sentence evidenced in advance, as well as met for all time for those who are His.
 

 

B.

His wrath also is living :

• "He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, as living as wrath" (Psalm 58:9).
• "According to His fear, so is His wrath"

(Psalm 90:11.  See The Kingdom of Heaven, Ch. 4, for more on this.)
 

 

C.

Moreover, it is living waters which He disposes:

• "He who believes in Me, as the scripture says, out of his midst shall flow rivers of living waters" - John 7:37.

Thus, "Whosever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but thewater that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up intoeverlasting life" - John 4:14.

So the prophet Jeremiah marvels with divinely inspired grief at the morbid preference for the empty and the dead, over the living and the vital:

• "For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewn them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" - 2:13.

On the contrary entirely, in heaven, we read that

• "the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and he shall lead them to living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes" - Revelation 7:17.

 

With God, who made created life in its massive complexity and mobile displays, life uncreated and eternal is present in sheer abundance (I John 1:1-4, John 10:10), so that even those sinners who, reclaimed, then blessedly derive from it, share in something of its exuberance. The life is as a FOUNTAIN OF WATERS springing up to eternal life, as Christ told the Samaritan woman, and His children discover. He is living and His Son was living and death could neither hold nor contain Him, not even when He went into its jaws with plan, to extract the teeth, and presented Himself alive to eat in their midst (Luke 24). Suffering was merely a path; salvation was its end (Luke 24:26).

So it is with all suffering: if the Lord be God to a man, a woman, a child, rich or poor, prisoner or governor, salvation being gained over the head of grief, then its woe has no mastery; and life abundant is the overriding reality, apprehended now, comprehended in time to come, when the devices and plans being shown, the glory of the Lord will be seen. It is part of a test that not all its parts be foreknown; but when the examination is over, the paper is easily read!
 

 

SECOND: LIVING IN HIS LIFE -
 
 

1. THE LIVELY TRUTH
OF ABUNDANT LIFE IN THE LORD

Such is the case here; for now we see as in a glass dimly, but then face to face (I Cor.13); though the principles are all clear already. They're clear as crystal for the performance, though sometimes hard as a hill to master, because of the sin which so easily stretches out its wings and flutters as if to overpower. Yet they are only wings, and His is the wind which sweeps it away.

Life and immortality have been brought to light, and it is the living God who has done so, who is available to His people at any second, who can act in an instant, who is never late, not tardy, who may be grieved, but who knows His own and knows how to protect them, guiding them and keeping them so that they do not perish (John 10:9,27-28), not only giving a life abundant (John 10:10) but place in life eternal (I Thessalonians 5:9-10).

Thus, when the disciples sought His body among the dead, they received the address of the living God: "And as they were afraid, and bowed down their aces to he earth, they said to them,

• "Why do you seek the living among he dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember who He spoke to you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered His words" -

Luke 24:5-8.

 

 

It is now time to remember. The living God is lively with a life which depends on no system, plan or procedure, but is intrinsic, self-existent, self-sufficient, sufficient for all (cf. Psalm 104), brilliant in peace, exuberant in power, fathomless in wisdom, eminently and eternally capable of expression - Christ is the word of God who was with Him at the first (cf. Item 31 above; John 1:1-14, 8:58), one Lord, one God, one faith, one salvation, with one everlasting Gospel (cf. Item 17, above) . He can help you now, heed your cry, when He hears He can answer, and He does always what is good, and no good thing will He withhold from His saints. (See Isaiah 30:15,18-20; Psalm 84:11, 138:3, 145:17-19, 78:34-36, Jeremiah 3:10, Zechariah 7:13, Proverbs 1:28.)

Therefore act like it, think like it, hope like it, pray like it (Romans 13:12-14, I Thessalonians 5:5, Luke11:34-36, Ephesians 5:8, 6:11-18, James 5:17, I Peter 5:6-10, I Thessalonians 5:9-10). Prayer in Christ's name by faith is far more real than a telephone conversation could ever  be, since the power of God's Spirit not merely conveys the prayer, but interprets and assesses, moving from the heart of His  children to the Father, in the name of the effectual Saviour, Jesus Christ, who is "able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them", Himself the forerunner who provides the expectation like an anchor, in His triumphant name (Romans 8:26-28, Hebrews 7:25, 6:18-20, I Cor. 15:55-57, Revelation 11:17-18, 17:14, 12:11). Now the link is there, use it; if it lacks, come to God by Him.

He is the LIVING GOD, and in HIS LIFE is LIGHT, and in His ways there is no change. He is faithful to infinity, reliable, immovable but not static, impregnable but accessible in Christ who has led Him forth, His own expression, through whom He may be found; and being found, His life is like endless streams of living waters, always new, never polluted, neither corrupted nor altered, but intense and immense with a beauty beyond mere bulk or size, for God is a Spirit and those worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth, for such are the worshippers whom He desires (Psalm 96:6-9).

(See That Magnificent Rock, Chs.2 and 3., and SMR pp. 594-631B).

 

2. Five things - yes six that are lovely

In this life in the life of God, let us ponder five things, yes six which have made much impact, amongst the multitude of facets of the jewel that is Christ, the wonder that is God.

1. THE LORD IS GOOD.

If nothing else could be said, this would need saying. He is always good, thoroughly good, good entirely. His goodness is definitively expressed in the face of His Son Jesus Christ (II Cor.4:4-6, Philippians 2:1-10, John 10:14-15, 27-28), that Good Shepherd who as God is predicted by God, who Himself would serve as Shepherd in view of the false and inadequate shepherds (Isaiah 40:10, Psalm 72, Isaiah 11, 42:1-4).

It was He, God Himself, who with His own life would be bringing again what was lost, and healing the sick soul, yes and body too as He wills, providing the spirit of a sound mind, binding up what was broken, restoring what was driven away, acting with grace and gentleness to the bruised reed and covering the smoking flax with His hand, that it burn brightly (Ezekiel 34:1-3,12-16; Isaiah 42:1-4, II Timothy 1:7, Matthew 22:14-30, Luke 9:37-43), not glorying in flesh at all (Luke 11:27-28), but constantly and with faithfulness carrying out His commission (John 8:29, 12:48-50, Matthew 12:48-50).

Far removed therefore from Mariolatry, and other idolatries which distort, deface and defame His name, He acted till the Cross itself, that once only, painful, suffering and blood-draining reality, should occur and the souls of the redeemed thus paid for, for ever (Matthew 20:28, Galatians 3:10-13, Hebrews 9-10).

All this Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory did.

Indeed, His goodness faileth never, and His mercy, His gospel, His life and His faithfulness are all everlasting. (Item 17 above; I Kings 8:56, Joshua 1:5, 21:45, 23:14, Deuteronomy 31:6,8, Psalm 25:10-14, 89:33-34, 73:1, 145:14,19 Isaiah 34:16, Jeremiah 33:20-26, Zephaniah 3:5, Luke 22:32, I John 1:1-4, Revelation 14:6, Galatians 1:6-9, Daniel 7:13-14, Revelation 5:6,13, 3:1,19:11ff.)

It is within His covenant that He is known; but as for those who pertinaciously refuse, turning their faces from His faithfulness, are they not as the chaff that the wind blows away (Psalm 1:4-6), like dirt in a kitchen that is kept clean (Revelation 21:8, Daniel 12:1-30. "Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord has rejected them" - Jeremiah 6:30. But with what lavished concern did He act (Jeremiah 6:26, 9:1-8, 12-13, 9:23-24, 17:19, 17:21-25, 18:1-7, 23:5,-6,9-11, 22, 23-32, 29:13), and enact (Galatians 4:4-7, Jeremiah 23:5ff., Isaiah 30:8ff.,16, Matthew 1:21, Luke 2:25-36).

His own however are saved by grace without works, by faith through grace, and that, the whole thing - as the Greek indicates - is NOT of themselves (Ephesians 2:8, cf. SMR p. 1043). It is the gift of God, the glorious God; without whom is darkness and anguish, and in Him is light, love that does not fail and truth; for God is love and Christ is Truth, and His light is sent forth: one God, on Gospel, one salvation.

To His people, the Lord is ALWAYS good (Psalm 73:1), even to the point of using them, a grand privilege, whether for display (as Job - Job 1, Philippians 1:29) or to purify (I Peter 1:7) or to minister (I Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, Romans 12), to shine as lights in the world (Philippians 2:15), as tender like nurses that are nurses indeed (I Thessalonians 1:7-9). His presence and joy have the savour of heaven now (I Peter 1:8-9), and His power is available for all His good purposes (Ephesians 1:19). His kindness is marvellous and His mercy everlasting (Isaiah 54:8ff., Psalm 31:21, 100:5, 86:5, 107:1).
 

2. THE WORD OF THE LORD IS RIGHT; AND ALL HIS WORKS ARE DONE IN TRUTH (Psalm 33:4, 111:7-8, Isaiah 34:6, Matthew 5:17-20).

The righteous Lord loves righteousness (Psalm 33:5, 11:7), and correlatively, it is joy to the just to do judgment, to work righteousness, for they are from His image, and moulded to Him who, knowing the truth, can follow Him in His wise judgments and supreme counsel in all things (Proverbs 21:15). He is worthy of everlasting praise (Revelation 5:9-13).

We have already looked, under The Grandeur of Him Who Lives, above, at the faithfulness of His ways,

• and of His word,
• which shall endure though the heavens depart (Matthew 24:35) and
• which declares itself such that nothing may be altered in what it depicts (Isaiah 34:16, Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:28, 13:1-5, 29:1 with 29,11-120, 31:9, Joshua 24:2,26, Revelation 22:18-20, Proverbs 30:6, SMR Appendix D),
• for all is both of God and to be rigorously fulfilled;
• so that he who breaks one of the least of these,

His commandments,

• shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven,
• and he who teaches and does (such)
• shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 24:36, 5:17-20).

 

As is seen in Ezekiel's vision, and in the Lord's own ways, straight feet belong to the pilgrimage for His people, feet which turn not to the right or to the left, which follow the narrow way which is shining with that which is an end of all perfection; for electricity does well in a constricted channel, constrained to its task; and His people does He lead within the paths of righteousness. (Cf. Ezekiel 1: 7,12-13,20,24; Isaiah 50:7, Luke 9:51, Hebrews 5:7.) For this also, is He worthy of everlasting praise.

Even a mathematician knows that it is exceedingly narrow which in its application is truly broad, for what is right is not imagined, neither is it guessed; but it is found in its place; and our place who are made by God, is in Him (Psalm 100).
 

3. HIS LOVINGKINDNESS IS BETTER THAN LIFE (Psalm 63:3).

Life without Him would be a worthless bore, a prodigious nuisance, a loathsome disease, a ship without a sea, a liner with no ocean, a spacecraft with no space, appalling an abomination or a delusion or a spurious glamour, a tale told by an idiot, as the bard has it, signifying nothing.

His lovingkindness is better than life! It is in Him that life has itssource, from Him its meaning(cf. SMR Ch.3, esp. pp. 292ff.)and for Him its purpose; and as to Him, there is none like Him in heaven or earth (Psalm 89:6, Romans 11:33)! who having foreknown and predestinated His own, makes all things work together for them, calling, justifying and glorifying them in future time (Romans 8:17-18, 28ff.) .

 

4. POWER BELONGS TO GOD - AND SALVATION IS OF THE LORD.

With Jonah we exclaim it, with David we see it and find it (Jonah 2:9, Psalm 72:18, 57:2); in the Messiah it is and will be exhibited (Isaiah 35, Mark 7:37, Zephaniah 3:13-20) and in His return it will be consummated in exhibition (Psalm 2:8, Isaiah 11, Isaiah 65:17-25, Revelation 20, Habakkuk 3:8-16).
Not only does He do wondrous things (Psalm 72:18), but He ONLY, these focussed in the bodily resurrection, attesting that supreme sovereignty His by eternal power, vested in His rule over His creation and His manifested face in the format of flesh, that men might know the true God who is for ever and ever.

Salvation is not from the labyrinthine torments of seaweed in the refuse chamber of some vast fish, by one's own efforts, as Jonah realised. It is not for a man to run from God by his guile; salvation is an occupation for God, takes His power and realises His love - Psalm 3:8, Titus chs.2-3, Ephesians 2:8.

 

5. GOD FORBID THAT I SHOULD GLORY EXCEPT IN THE CROSS OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST - Galatians 6:14.

This reaches back to its basis in the heart of God, in the acme of holiness, to the full redemption practically wrought, which it portends. Of all Christian life, the life in the life of God, it portends, providing the atmosphere, its grace as criterion, its message the matrix. It harbours meekness and enfolds virtue (cf. Philippians 2).

Moreover, it is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ BY WHICH the world is crucified to me and I to the world. See on the translation, The Kingdom of Heaven..., Appendix, pp. 219-220. The possibilities are spiritually stimulating! Indeed, let us reproduce this note here!
 

*1

• The words "by whom" or "by which" which may occur in the translation of Galatians 6:14 ...? are both grammatically correct?
  
  
• Yes they are. Since however "THE CROSS" of our Lord Jesus Christ is the term in focus - in a phrase "the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" - a term by metonymy in its context, bringing to light the whole plan of salvation from eternity in preparation to payment in history, indeed to redemption now, consummated even in body, in glory to come): there is a caution. (John Murray of Westminster Seminary was very keen on stressing this point about the vast ramifications of the phrase: a just one.)
• Whether we write "by whom" or "by which" in our translation is optional; but the issue itself is unchanged: it is Christ and Him crucified (year rather risen) as Paul also stresses in Romans 8:34: it is THIS sacrificial focus of that Person which is for this declaration, central in the inspired apostle's theme. If therefore I write BOTH, one here, one there, in my renderings, it would seem not inappropriate, since EACH has its contribution to the whole, and any 'ambiguity' in the original seems here to me not to be the case. It is rather a comprehensiveness of reference, the one arm ensuring there is nothing merely wooden in view, the other that there is nothing 'spiritual' at all separate from the sacrifice which is central.
• It is the pivotal expression of love, of redemption, of power in that it is merely a motion of centrality in a theme of glory, of spirituality in that there is none without love and no love which is not prepared to face cost; it is the sublime necessity for man, that he take what is there offered, and the glorious spontaneity for God in this, that there is none to force Him - which produces something of the glory of this inexhaustible wonder, so emphasised here by Paul. It is the mode which betokens the heart, the heart which accepts the mode, it is the PERSON who does it, and WHAT He does: it is all of this, it is Christ and Him crucified, year rather risen.

Does the world attract the dead? Do the glamorously defunct attract the world? Yet though it be so, the world has people and the people are in the image of God, however sensationally defiled, deformed or dwarfed. Hence when He is lifted up on the Cross, and placarded, the dimmed senses may be touched by the justice of the picture of sin, the love which enabled Him to bear it and the necessity to cry to the Lord to be saved. It is the hands of the Lord, which are good hands, and who would have all men to be saved, yet does violence to none to secure salvation (Luke 19:42, Matthew 23:37, Isaiah 5, Ezekiel 33:11, I Timothy 2:1-3).

This verse at once cuts out Romanism, which effectually glories not in the free and eternal pardon of the Cross, granted in Christ to all Christians, but in the liberation of the Mass, which is both bloodless, which the Cross was not, and without suffering, which emphatically the Cross was not. The sacrifice of the Cross was called for by priests, as sacrilegious enemies of the Lord, but freely made by Christ Himself. Those who carried it out were a secular soldiery. Indeed, mass is performed often, which the Cross was not, and was forbidden to be, so that this sacrifice is glorying very definitely in something ELSE. (Cf. above, Item 20, Item 30; The Kingdom of Heaven..., Ch. 7 Separation, pp. 98ff., 105ff.; SMR Ch.10, pp. 1042-1088H; Hebrews Chs. 8-10.)

It cuts out equally Christian Science, since it fails, being without the conviction of evil, to account both for the necessity and reality of the Cross.

Gone equally is the Jehovah's Witness rather antique heresy (a form of Arianism which was dealt with in the first centuries of the Church): for the Christ who is crucified for them neither is the "I am", the Christ of whom Jesus said, Except you believe that I am He you will die in your sins" (John 8:24,58), nor, in parallel with this, is He conferring by this offering a free salvation which nothing can blight (Ephesians 2:8, Romans 8, 5:1-11, Colossians 3:1-3, Philippians 1:19-21, I Thessalonians 5:9-10, John 10:9,27-28, cf. Biblical Blessings, Ch.16, Christ Assurance), because of it. They are not free to glory in what does not save them, since what does is more glorious, and if the Cross is a help of some kind, yet it does not do it, all that is necessary, so that their glory is shared with whatever secures it.

Also removed is Seventh Day Adventism, which similarly is not satisfied with free salvation which saves, whatever names they now want to use; for the performance in the sanctuary is rather long, where an unBiblical Christ with incredible lack of speed is allegedly at work in some way on which the salvation is to depend, despite the choice of His own being registered before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). The Cross, in this line of heresy, did not manage it, so it is assuredly not gloried in as the apostle requires: there is much more to hand, and in need of finding to reach the haven of heaven for them. How Paul excoriates all this sort of thing in Galatians 3:1-10!

In principle the Mormon cult is no different. The Cross does not do it for you and what does, being also required, is somewhat differently organised, but nevertheless emphatically NOT the Cross of Christ, who moreover, for their heresy, was not sent from the God who was there from everlasting to everlasting (Psalm 90, Isaiah 43:10), in the first place, so that the scene, scenario and players are not the same at all. It is a different world with a different God and a different Son and a different Cross, therefore, for them. The apostolic answer does not change: God forbid! *2

To assent in reality to this apostolic and exultant exhortation,

"God forbid I should glory except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the world is crucified to me, and I to the world" ...

is natural for the converted heart, and intolerable in the end, because of distortion, to those not resting wholly, solely and adequately on Him who by one offering has both justified and perfected (brought to completion) for ever those who are sanctified (Hebrews 9:12ff., 10:10-14, Romans 5:1-11, Ephesians 2:8, Titus 3:7, John 6:51, 4:14).

There is a peculiar beauty about the simplicity of salvation, like that of a splendid jewel, which nevertheless appears as dark as night when it is not viewed in the light, however objectively magnificent it may be; and in this case, assuredly is. The Lord is a "tried stone, the precious corner stone, a sure foundation" indeed is "for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty to the residue of His people" (Isaiah 28:5). "For who is God save the Lord? or who is a rock save our God?" (Psalm ;18:31, cf. Isaiah 44:8 - "Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no rock, I know not any!").

Small wonder that the saint rejoices in the Lord "who has saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" ( II Timothy 1:9), so that His people become "a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem on the hand of your God" (Isaiah 62:3), of whom the Lord says, "And they shall be mine ... in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him" - Malachi 3:18.
 

6. GOD CAN MAKE THE CROOKED STRAIGHT - ISAIAH 40:4.

With no small reason, Solomon exclaimed in Ecclesiastes (7:13): "Consider the work of God, for who can make that straight which He has made crooked?"

It is true that the muddled morass of damaged morals, cramped spirits, misleading false ambitions, selfish pride and so forth in thedark deep seas of psychic dissolution and lightlessness, presents a daunting picture. Otherwise put, indeed categorically stated:

"O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake Thee shall be ashamed, and they who depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for Thou art my praise!"

(Jeremiah 17:14). Or again:

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heat, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings."

How well then that one should be cast upon the mercy of the Lord, which will never suffer shame to His own! (Psalm 13:5, 52:8, Micah 7:19-20, Isaiah 45:17, 49:3,23).

However, the LORD HIMSELF can certainly make the crooked straight, and in terms of the Everlasting Gospel (Item 17 above), He does just this. Indeed, as Isaiah declares in the name of the Lord:

·       "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth