New Articles
of the last months

The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews 1 alludes to the fine scene recorded in Genesis 28. In Hebrews 13:5, we read, “He has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” Thus the promise made to Jacob is appropriated to the ... moreChristian. So we may rightly conclude that in the story of Genesis 28 there is a shadowing forth of good things to come. In Genesis God is speaking to one of the fathers in a dream; in the Epistle to the Hebrews we have, no longer the partial revelation of a dream, but, the full revelation in the Person of the Son.

Short biography of the editors

The name of this greatest of all illusions is—The world. By this, of course, is meant, not the material earth, not the people comprising its population, but the great “world-system” with its supply of every imaginable gratification ... morefor human desires, without God. In this fearful and wonderful organization, evolved by the master-mind of Satan, we have all had our share. Its favours fall to the few, its miseries are tasted by the many; but whatever may have been the particular part played, my reader, if unconverted, is inevitably involved in it with the prospect of sharing in its ultimate ruin.

How striking a testimony would be rendered if we were marked by that brotherly love which expresses itself in hospitality and practical sympathy, by natural love preserved in undefiled honour, and by a holy contentment, the fruit of the realized ... morepresence of God, and the very opposite of the mad covetousness and discontent of the world.

Short biography of the editors

Not only through the Corona demonstrations, but also in our private circle we have been quickly confronted with the claim that everything is actually quite different with regard to Covid-19, that we are permanently fooled by scientists and ... morepoliticians, robbed of our freedom and our basic rights through restrictions here and obligations there, and fed with fake news.

We are often asked questions that we would like to answer here in general. Of course, we are not surprised that we hear some questions again and again, because we do not want to address only Christians of a certain group with this internet work, but ... morewe want to serve the church in general.

It has shown that individual personalities with all their aptitudes and capabilities (which are called soft skills) are often more important than professional qualifications. Every sector requires different skills: communication skills or teamwork, ... moresensitivity, sociability or the gift to motivate others to reach a shared goal. In business it has shown that three soft skills are elementary and crucial, which are also crucial for the success of our "business" for the Lord:

There is a vast difference between an assembly of people gathered round some gifted man, and one gathered simply to the Lord Himself, on the ground of the one body. It is one thing to be gathered by ministry, and quite another to be gathered to it. ... moreIf people are merely gathered to ministry, when the ministry goes they are apt to go too. But when earnest, true-hearted, devoted souls are gathered simply to the Lord Himself, then, while they are most thankful for true ministry when they can get it, they are not dependent upon it. They do not value gift less, but they value the Giver more. They are thankful for the streams, but they depend only upon the Fountain.

I know if the Lord were to come tonight I should not be left behind, because I know that I am ready to go, and I long to see the face of the One who died for me, and I do feel like singing all the day because my sins are washed away, and I ... morecan’t help loving the One who died to wash them away.

To begin a life which is worth living one must have spiritual life – a new life altogether. It was this which Nicodemus could not understand. Our Lord had said, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ... moreNicodemus answered, “How can a man be born when he is old?” As a religious leader of the Jews he could understand ordinances and observances, but to be “born again” – to have a new beginning of life altogether – puzzled him completely.

The secret source and spring and power of all real godliness is found in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. There can be no true piety without a true Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who dwells in the believer and who produces in his life all that is ... morefruit for God, ever stresses the truth concerning the glorious Person of the Son of God, that our hearts may be engaged with Him, and that beholding His glory we may become like Him and express Him in our walk and ways.

Blessed indeed it is, when we have felt “weary of self and laden with our sin,” to have our eyes directed by the Holy Ghost to Him who is “the Man of God’s right hand, the Son of Man” whom He “has made strong for ... moreHimself.”

Peace has been procured. “Having made peace.” You need not seek to make it, anxious sinner. Jesus made it. He made the world beneath your feet. You could not make a world. And though you lived and laboured, worried and wept ten thousand ... morelives away, you could not contribute one iota towards making that which has been already made—peace with God.

The third psalm gives us another thing. Passing over the second, and going back to the first psalm, it seems to give us the position in this world of the blessed Lord Himself, and also our position. It shows Him surrounded by enemies. It is the ... moredescription of the path, and of the infinitely-blessed resources, for Him who is for God in this world. There is nothing more important or more necessary for us. We may speak of sorrows, distresses, and failures; what we have lost, and what we have fallen from; but what remains? What is the remedy? What we have here. It is nearness to Himself. The spirit of the world is just opposed to this. “There is no help for him in God.” That is the way the world points at the separated One (Matt. 27:43); and the world does so still towards those that are of Him and for Him in it. In the third psalm we have the enemies, the surroundings; and the One who is here for God is the blessed Lord Himself. So it is written, “I cried, and He heard.” That is the great point with us. It is not merely crying because of sorrows and difficulties here, but it is having the sense in our souls that He hears.

I have not read this psalm in view of its dispensational meaning. I suppose most of us know that it is the confession of the believing Jewish remnant before God, on the ground of having caused the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. They confess their ... morebloodguiltiness, and thus come into blessing – the fruit of that death in expiation. What I wish you now to look at a little is the personal, directly personal, application and meaning of the psalm. There is a wonderful reality in it, and in its meaning too. You may say the Psalms do not apply to Christians, that the Christian state is beyond them; but here, at any rate, is a psalm that, if we will only consider it simply, will search our hearts in the reality of having to do with God. We have here the characteristics of a man after God’s own heart, for David was such a man. But how was this true of him? What was there in him, and about him, in his life and ways, to entitle him to this distinction? A little study of this psalm will help us to understand, as we get light from God upon it, what it is to be in this world according to the heart of God.

It is commonly taught among Christians, that the believer’s rule of walk is the moral law, or the Ten Commandments. It is admitted, of course, by all, that the believer is not justified by the deeds of the law, and that if the law be thus ... moreused, it will only add to man’s condemnation. His justification must clearly be by grace, and on the principle of faith; but when justified, what is the standard by which his life is to be governed? This, it is generally held, is the moral law, which was undoubtedly the rule given to Israel, and for its own purpose is, therefore, as perfect as all the other works of God’s hands. It is true that believers are said to be under grace, and not under law; but this, it is maintained, applies to justification, not to walk. They are urged also not to return to law, but this is explained to mean the ceremonial law, not the moral. These distinctions are intelligible, but are they scriptural? Where does the word of God speak of a believer as being under the law for one purpose, and not for another? Where does it declare that while the ceremonial law is abrogated, the moral law is still in force as the rule for Christian walk? No doubt there is a distinction between the moral and ceremonial law, and also between the law as a ground of justification, and the law as a rule of life; but when this distinction is used to make Scripture harmonize with theology, it behoves us to inquire whether Scripture is thus fairly interpreted.