The Glory of God

[Sean James]

As Jesus walked through this world, so we are called to walk. While His faithfulness to the Father's will led Him to uncomplainingly endure the trials that led to His crucifixion, He was constantly exerting a heavenly influence for the kingdom that He came to establish. We are invited to surrender all of our hearts to Christ so He can establish His kingdom of grace in our hearts. This is only possible as we receive and appropriate truth to our lives and characters. As we learn of Christ in humility, learning what it is to be still and know that He is God, we can take the time necessary for His life and lessons to exert such power upon us that we gladly yield to Christ. I appreciate the lessons we can gather from beholding Christ's trial before Pilate, for we are all by nature vacillating and weak without Christ's truth in our hearts. We need a Savior, and Christ offers Himself freely to us today just as surely as He offered Himself before Pilate as a living witness of the kingdom that will never pass away.

"My kingdom is not of this world," He said; "if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto Him, Art Thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice." 
     Christ affirmed that His word was in itself a key which would unlock the mystery to those who were prepared to receive it. It had a self-commending power, and this was the secret of the spread of His kingdom of truth. He desired Pilate to understand that only by receiving and appropriating truth could his ruined nature be reconstructed.   

Will you receive the word of God into your soul? Christ, the word, will accomplish all He promises in the lives of those who are willing and obedient. The fruit of truly learning of Christ and yielding our will to Christ is that He comes to take up the throne of the heart and casts out sin, fear, and guilt through the merits of His atoning blood, and then He imparts His Spirit so that love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance--all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing--will have an ever-widening influence in our lives so that we will be able, through Christ, to reveal what it is to live by the divine nature in every circumstance. Let us look upon Jesus and be transformed! This is the reason we exist (to bring God pleasure and to enjoy Him), and in Him we find life, and life more abundantly!

[Sean James]

By beholding Jesus there is converting grace strong enough to transform the vilest sinner (as I am, and as Paul understood, see 1 Timothy 1:15), and make us saints who have new hearts and minds, partakers of the divine nature!!

Jesus understands the most fierce and fiery temptations, and at Calvary Satan did everything He could to seek to drive Jesus to despair. But read Psalm 22, and you know that Christ was victor. "It is finished" came from His lips, even though His heart was broken by our sin, for He became sin for us. I am so thankful for Jesus as my Savior, for in Him I find strength to resist temptation--no matter how strong--as the power of what He did at Calvary impels me to remember that Satan has been vanquished, Christ is victorious, and by a living faith surrender to Christ, I may continually share in His victory to walk above the clamor of the world, the flesh and the devil by having Christ imbue me with the Holy Spirit so that every trait of His divine nature--not one missing--will be manifest as the reason He came to this planet. He came to save us to the uttermost. Let us allow Jesus to have all of us continually!!

Satan with his fierce temptations wrung the heart of Jesus. The Saviour could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a conqueror, or tell Him of the Father's acceptance of the sacrifice. He feared that sin was so offensive to God that Their separation was to be eternal. Christ felt the anguish which the sinner will feel when mercy shall no longer plead for the guilty race. It was the sense of sin, bringing the Father's wrath upon Him as man's substitute, that made the cup He drank so bitter, and broke the heart of the Son of God.

[Sean James]

Christ's death was victory, and as we identify fully with what He has accomplished at Calvary, it is as we die to self that victory also becomes our experience. Victory over what? The victory in Christ is over the world, the flesh, and the devil, for these antagonistic powers are constantly seeking to intercept the true glory of life: union and communion with God by the Holy Spirit given us in Christ. How may the victory be gained? By beholding the Lamb of God, true repentance is offered us as a gift, and the desire to be transformed is created in the soul. The soul, yielding to the divine agency of the Holy Spirit, yields the whole heart and mind by a simple surrender of the will, and a new being is created in the image of God. Even if ONLY ONE OF US would have chosen to experience this miracle (conversion), Jesus STILL would have come to die on Calvary and proclaim "It is finished." What value we have in the sight of God! Now may we go forth as happy, peaceful and obedient witnesses reflecting all of the Spirit without one missing as we keep Christ uppermost in our thoughts!

Well, then, might the angels rejoice as they looked upon the Saviour's cross; for though they did not then understand all, they knew that the destruction of sin and Satan was forever made certain, that the redemption of man was assured, and that the universe was made eternally secure. Christ Himself fully comprehended the results of the sacrifice made upon Calvary. To all these He looked forward when upon the cross He cried out, "It is finished." 

[Sean James]

A strong, unshakable faith arose in the experience of Nicodemus after beholding the crucifixion of Christ. So it may be with us. As we behold what Jesus Christ has accomplished for us at Calvary, His loveliness can so move our hearts to a complete surrender that we will experience true conversion, and the fruit of that will be all of the fruits of the Spirit in our lives without one missing, gladly doing what God's providence designs for us to do for the glory of God!!

Nicodemus, when he saw Jesus lifted up on the cross, remembered His words spoken by night in the Mount of Olives: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:14, 15. On that Sabbath, when Christ lay in the grave, Nicodemus had opportunity for reflection. A clearer light now illuminated his mind, and the words which Jesus had spoken to him were no longer mysterious. He felt that he had lost much by not connecting himself with the Saviour during His life. Now he recalled the events of Calvary. The prayer of Christ for His murderers and His answer to the petition of the dying thief spoke to the heart of the learned councilor. Again he looked upon the Saviour in His agony; again he heard that last cry, "It is finished," spoken like the words of a conqueror. Again he beheld the reeling earth, the darkened heavens, the rent veil, the shivered rocks, and his faith was forever established. The very event that destroyed the hopes of the disciples convinced Joseph and Nicodemus of the divinity of Jesus. Their fears were overcome by the courage of a firm and unwavering faith. 

May we come through the season when the coronavirus has affected our world with a stronger faith as we use this time for deeper study of the character of God in His word, in His providential leadings, in communion with Him in, prayer, in meditation upon God's love, and enjoying the blessings He has for us in nature. Greater trials can yield greater blessings if we learn and profit from the experience.

[Sean James]

When we have an eternal perspective like Jesus had, in which He understood the result of His mission, whether we are sick, dying, in quarantine, or facing any other type of adversity (or blessing!) we can keep it all in perspective. I am so happy to find in Jesus the lasting source of life's joy that is not dependent upon changing circumstances (and yes, they are seemingly ever changing). May you, by a complete surrender to Christ, know the blessedness of a life in which fear of death or any other circumstance is swallowed up in the reality of the "blessed hope" (Titus 2:13) that Jesus is about to return, and that even if we have lost loved ones before He returns, if they have fully yielded to Christ and experienced His converting grace, then death is but a short "nap" so to speak before Jesus raises them to glorious, immortal life! With news this good, how can we be sad, and how can we be silent?! Let the world know the real hope is in Christ!!

 To the believer, death is but a small matter. Christ speaks of it as if it were of little moment. "If a man keep My saying, he shall never see death," "he shall never taste of death." To the Christian, death is but a sleep, a moment of silence and darkness. The life is hid with Christ in God, and "when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." John 8:51, 52; Colossians 3:4.

I remember when I was 15 at my mom's funeral in 2002 after she passed away from cancer sharing the hope that is in Christ. I still have that hope burning in my heart to this day, and it is a LIVING HOPE that the world needs now!

[Sean James]

Let us fix our eyes on the One who has power to save the uttermost, bring peace to the soul in every perplexity, and give strength to the weakest soul who surrenders fully to Him!!

We are more than conquerors through Christ who has loved us! What does that mean in our day-to-day, moment-by-moment experience? It means that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead has power to keep us from falling into sin! It means that the same good news that thrilled the hearts of the disciples when they realized Jesus was risen and not dead is the kind of good news we can give to the world because we know JESUS IS COMING AGAIN! When our focus is lifted above the things of this world onto Jesus, we have eternal joy and lasting pleasure! Let us be light bearers on the way to heaven because we know HE LIVES!!!

Oh that the bowed head might be lifted, that the eyes might be opened to behold Him, that the ears might listen to His voice! "Go quickly, and tell His disciples that He is risen." Bid them look not to Joseph's new tomb, that was closed with a great stone, and sealed with the Roman seal. Christ is not there. Look not to the empty sepulcher. Mourn not as those who are hopeless and helpless. Jesus lives, and because He lives, we shall live also. From grateful hearts, from lips touched with holy fire, let the glad song ring out, Christ is risen! He lives to make intercession for us. Grasp this hope, and it will hold the soul like a sure, tried anchor. Believe, and thou shalt see the glory of God.

[Sean James]

Praise the Lord for the privilege of being able to have our faith anchored in what is the most convincing evidence of Christ's divinity--that His life is a fulfillment of the prophecies given in the Old Testament! When we read incredible passages like Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, and promises like Genesis 3:15, we see that the Bible establishes Christ as the Messiah in a way that the miracles of His life were an evidence of His divine character, but not the STRONGEST EVIDENCE. If we desire evidence of God's will, the strongest evidence is that what He is leading us to do is FROM THE SCRIPTURES. Even Satan and his evil angels at times are permitted to perform miracles for the purpose of deception (see Revelation 16:14), but only Christ and those who are in a converted union and communion with Him will bear evidence of lives that are to be found in complete harmony with Scripture, not only manifesting all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing, but fulfilling their specific purpose in God's eternal plan. Let us allow our lives to be so shaped by the word of God that this becomes the reason why we do what we do, and let God bring miracles or other evidences if it is best. Even Christ never worked a miracle except to supply a genuine necessity, and He never worked a miracle for His own benefit (hence why He did not turn stones into bread for Himself as accorded in Matthew 4). We can depend completely on God to lead us each step of the way towards heaven because we have the heavenly guidebook, the Bible, a precious revelation of Jesus!!

It is the voice of Christ that speaks through patriarchs and prophets, from the days of Adam even to the closing scenes of time. The Saviour is revealed in the Old Testament as clearly as in the New. It is the light from the prophetic past that brings out the life of Christ and the teachings of the New Testament with clearness and beauty. The miracles of Christ are a proof of His divinity; but a stronger proof that He is the world's Redeemer is found in comparing the prophecies of the Old Testament with the history of the New. 

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105). May the light of God's perfect word direct you in the formation of a character after the image of Jesus, who promises by His Spirit to be "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).

[Sean James]

God gives us true freedom of conscience. This is only fully experienced to its utmost capacity in complete surrender to Christ for His will alone to be done--nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else. Let us yield unreservedly to Jesus so He may abide in our hearts and reveal the attributes of His divine nature to all with whom we come in contact both now and for eternity!

In matters of conscience the soul must be left untrammeled. No one is to control another's mind, to judge for another, or to prescribe his duty. God gives to every soul freedom to think, and to follow his own convictions. "Every one of us shall give account of himself to God." No one has a right to merge his own individuality in that of another. In all matters where principle is involved, "let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." Romans 14:12, 5. In Christ's kingdom there is no lordly oppression, no compulsion of manner. The angels of heaven do not come to the earth to rule, and to exact homage, but as messengers of mercy, to co-operate with men in uplifting humanity.   

Let us cooperate with Jesus today in His plan to bless the world with the light of His character. We are free to do God's will as we let the Holy Spirit direct our steps. May this freedom be more deeply appreciated than ever before as Jesus is about to return in power and great glory!

[Sean James]

Does Jesus know your unuttered desires? Yes! Jesus knew that Zacchaeus desired to see Him, and He knows that our deepest longing--whether we know it or not--is for Him! Jesus truly is the fulfillment of this prophecy: "And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts" (Haggai 2:7). He is "the desire of all nations," and only in Him and in complete surrender to His will do we find an experience in which all of the fruits of the Spirit will be manifest without one missing in humble, self-distrustful obedience to God's law of love!

Above the clamor of priests and rabbis and the shouts of welcome from the multitude, that unuttered desire of the chief publican spoke to the heart of Jesus. Suddenly, just beneath the fig tree, a group halts, the company before and behind come to a standstill, and One looks upward whose glance seems to read the soul. Almost doubting his senses,the man in the tree hears the words, "Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house." 

Let us invite Jesus into our hearts and homes, let us make Him all in all! As Christ is central, our hearts will become renewed by His grace to be His abiding place!

[Sean James]

What victory we find in Jesus!

"Never before had the world seen such a triumphal procession. It was not like that of the earth's famous conquerors. No train of mourning captives, as trophies of kingly valor, made a feature of that scene. But about the Saviour were the glorious trophies of His labors of love for sinful man. There were the captives whom He had rescued from Satan's power, praising God for their deliverance. The blind whom He had restored to sight were leading the way. The dumb whose tongues He had loosed shouted the loudest hosannas. The cripples whom He had healed bounded with joy, and were the most active in breaking the palm branches and waving them before the Saviour. Widows and orphans were exalting the name of Jesus for His works of mercy to them. The lepers whom He had cleansed spread their untainted garments in His path, and hailed Him as the King of glory. Those whom His voice had awakened from the sleep of death were in that throng. Lazarus, whose body had seen corruption in the grave, but who now rejoiced in the strength of glorious manhood, led the beast on which the Saviour rode. 

Let us look upward to Jesus and allow Him to give us a new heart--filled with His love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance as we obey His law of love from a heart renewed by His grace!

[Sean James]

What does Jesus say through His prophet Hosea? "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is thine help" (Hosea 13:9).

When the fig tree was cursed by Jesus it was a warning and a lesson for us, too!

The parable of the fig tree, spoken before Christ's visit to Jerusalem, had a direct connection with the lesson He taught in cursing the fruitless tree. For the barren tree of the parable the gardener pleaded, Let it alone this year, until I shall dig about it and dress it; and if it bear fruit, well; but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down. Increased care was to be given the unfruitful tree. It was to have every advantage. But if it remained fruitless, nothing could save it from destruction. In the parable the result of the gardener's work was not foretold. It depended upon that people to whom Christ's words were spoken. They were represented by the fruitless tree, and it rested with them to decide their own destiny. Every advantage that Heaven could bestow was given them, but they did not profit by their increased blessings. By Christ's act in cursing the barren fig tree, the result was shown. They had determined their own destruction.

We are choosing our eternal destiny, for we reap what we sow, we reap more than what we sow, and we reap later than what we sow. God is letting things in our world reach a final harvest point so that the righteous and the wicked "go to seed" in the sense that they come to full maturity. We are invited to "go to seed" in Christ and bear much fruit to His glory! "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God" (Luke 8:11). Rather than have a fruitless experience, let us have roots deep in His word of love, branches reaching high to experience the "Sun of righteousness" (Malachi 4:2) and fruit that is from God as these which are all present when the heart is fully yielded to Christ: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23).

[Sean James]

God has infinite wisdom to cleanse us from ALL of our sins and to heal us from ALL of our diseases in His perfect way, timing, and plan. Let us see how Jesus ministered in the temple that He cleansed the second time:

"And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple; and He healed them. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise? And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and He lodged there" (Matthew 21:12-17).

In infinite wisdom, God chose the foundation stone, and laid it Himself. He called it "a sure foundation." The entire world may lay upon it their burdens and griefs; it can endure them all. With perfect safety they may build upon it. Christ is a "tried stone." Those who trust in Him, He never disappoints. He has borne every test. He has endured the pressure of Adam's guilt, and the guilt of his posterity, and has come off more than conqueror of the powers of evil. He has borne the burdens cast upon Him by every repenting sinner. In Christ the guilty heart has found relief. He is the sure foundation. All who make Him their dependence rest in perfect security.   

Let us learn of Christ and find in Him the rest and cleansing that only comes from His abiding presence! Surrendering the whole heart to Christ, He cleanses us from sin, renews our will to be cleansed from desiring evil, and imparts a freshness and vigor to all of the fruits of the Spirit that He brings in our lives that will not be missing as long as we abide in Him with a complete surrender! Wholehearted obedience then freely comes to Christ as we see in the Ten Commandments His path of freedom and the narrow way to heaven!

[Sean James]

Let us learn of God's love today, receiving into our experience to dispel our fear and impart freshness and vigor to all of our faculties! Only when the love of Christ constrains us will we consider it a delight to be anything or nothing as His providence shall indicate!

"And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, Thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but He: And to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, He said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask Him any question" (Mark 12:28-34).

The scribe was near to the kingdom of God, in that he recognized deeds of righteousness as more acceptable to God than burnt offerings and sacrifices. But he needed to recognize the divine character of Christ, and through faith in Him receive power to do the works of righteousness. The ritual service was of no value, unless connected with Christ by living faith. Even the moral law fails of its purpose, unless it is understood in its relation to the Saviour. Christ had repeatedly shown that His Father's law contained something deeper than mere authoritative commands. In the law is embodied the same principle that is revealed in the gospel. The law points out man's duty and shows him his guilt. To Christ he must look for pardon and for power to do what the law enjoins. 

Let us behold Jesus on Calvary's cross by faith, and as His grace melts and subdues our hearts, we will find in Christ transformation of character whereby the life comes into harmony with God's will, being a blessing to others as we reflect Jesus!! All of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives without one missing as we abide in Jesus continually!

[Sean James]

Look upon upon the countenance of Jesus as He yearns over His people: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matthew 23:37-39).

Divine pity marked the countenance of the Son of God as He cast one lingering look upon the temple and then upon His hearers. In a voice choked by deep anguish of heart and bitter tears He exclaimed, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" This is the separation struggle. In the lamentation of Christ the very heart of God is pouring itself forth. It is the mysterious farewell of the long-suffering love of the Deity. 
 
As we look upon Jesus, we see that there is so much pain in His heart over His wayward children. Let us lessen the pain of the heart of God by helping others see His true character, for when even one sinner repents, all heaven rejoices! As we receive the gift of repentance from Jesus by beholding the goodness of God and realizing it true in our experience, others may also come a knowledge of the truth and turn in full surrender to Christ, so He may transform the life by His atoning blood and the infilling of the Holy Spirit! Let us yield fully to Jesus!!

[Sean James]

Let us continually choose Jesus! He is our strength in these extremely trying last days that culminate in the Time of Trouble, the Sunday Law crisis, the outpouring of the seven last plaques, and the glorious return of Christ in power and glory! We have every reason to be ALL IN for Jesus!! We live in the most exciting time of all!!

The seed buried in the ground produces fruit, and in turn this is planted. Thus the harvest is multiplied. So the death of Christ on the cross of Calvary will bear fruit unto eternal life. The contemplation of this sacrifice will be the glory of those who, as the fruit of it, will live through the eternal ages. 

Just as Jesus went to Calvary, God's people will be tried to the uttermost while continually choosing to remain vitally connected to the Holy Spirit as a living demonstration that Christ has power to reproduce His character in the weakest of the weak (the fallen race keeps degenerating from generation to generation). By putting ourselves in the center of God's will, we are thus placed in the place where we are needed most, and God can use us to draw souls to Him as we uplift Jesus CONTINUALLY!