Bible Gems

February 21

"...Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria... let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you... hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying THE LORD WILL DELIVER US." (2 Kings 18:29-32)

Woe to him who listens to him, for the prince of this world (Satan) never makes a man happy.  Is it necessary to reason with him, to enter into controversy, or even conversation with him, even to answer him?  Our first parents only proved it too well, to their own ruin and that of their posterity;  the man of faith is not tempted to answer him.  "But the people were silent and answered him not a word; for the king's command was, saying, Answer him not" (2 Kings 18:36).  It is only a matter of keeping silent and leaving the enemy to his threats or to his honeyed words."  (H.L. Rossier - Meditations on the Second Book of Kings)

N.J. Hiebert # 2167

February 22

"So he paid the fare thereof."  (Jonah 1:3)

Of course he did!  A terribly high fare it must have been for that long journey.  The Lord asks, "Who goeth a warfare at any time at his own charges?" (1 Corinthians 9:7)  If we are going in the service of the Lord, we may be quite sure that He will see about "the fare;" but if we are going to please ourselves, or in the service of the devil, "the fare" must be paid!  Friends, how very costly is that fare at times!  There is many a man who has refused the call of God, and turned to his own way and "the fare" has been the loss of his peace of mind, the rest of heart that the Lord alone can give as we bear His yoke, and perhaps the loss, the eternal loss, of his children.  A comfortable home down here, a nice car, a big bank balance - all these cannot begin to make up for the price we have had to pay for "the fare."  It is a costly thing to disobey God.  Note that although Jonah had paid the fare to Tarshish (a long, long journey, and we may be sure a very high fare), yet we never hear that he got a refund because he did not get to his destination.  The devil takes but he does not give, and the only wages he pays is death. (Romans 6:23)  His service is bad, his "fares" are the highest, and his wages are the worst: yet strange to say, he always has a mighty following.  G.Christopher Willis - Lessons From Jonah the Prophet) 

N.J. Hiebert # 2168

February 19

"Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter."  (Revelation 1:19) 

    It has often been truthfully said, every Book in the Bible contains a key which unlocks the Book.  The Revelation is no exception.  John the beloved disciple was in banishment in the isle of Patmos, as Daniel the man greatly beloved, was a captive in Babylon.  The Lord called these two great servants to behold the panorama of the future.  Both wrote down their visions.  While in the Book of Daniel we find no direct command to write, we find such a command in the first chapter of Revelation.  John received divine instruction how to write the Revelation. (Revelation 1:19)

    John guided by the Holy Spirit then wrote the Revelation according to the divine direction.  In examining this command to write we find that three things are mentioned.  He is to write first the things he had seen, then the things which are, and finally the things that are about to be after these.  When John received these instructions he had already seen something, and the vision he had he was instructed to write down.  Then present things, the things which are, and future things, to be after present things have passed away, must be located in this book.  So we have the past, present ant the future in this key verse.  (A.C. Gabelein - Revelation)

N.J. Hiebert # 2165 

February 20

"What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin, that GRACE may abound?... What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under GRACE?" (Romans 6:1,15)

    In both case the answer is "God forbid" (By no means).  

    Imagine that you owned a fine cafeteria.  One day, you hear this tremendous commotion out in the alley where the garbage dumpsters are.  You open the back door to see what's going on, and you see the most pitiful-looking human being you have ever seen in your life - ME - fighting with several stray cats over the food scraps in the dumpster.  I am a virtual living skeleton.  It's obvious that I am living on the edge of starvation, and probably have been for a long time.  There is nothing about me to provoke liking or affection in you, but you are moved to pity.

    "Hey, hey!" you yell.  Get out of the garbage.  Don't eat that stuff!  Come over here."  I trudge over to you, half-seeing you through hopeless eyes.

    "Listen," you say.  "I can't stand to see you eating garbage like that.  Come into my cafeteria and eat."

    "But I don't have any money," I reply.

    "It doesn't matter," you say.  "My chain of restaurants has done very well, and I can afford it.  I want you to eat here every day from now on, absolutely free of charge!"  You take my arm and lead me inside the restaurant.  I cannot believe my eyes.  I have never seen a cafeteria line before.  With huge, unbelieving eyes I stare at the spread: vegetables...salads...fruits...beef...fish...chicken...cakes...pies....In my wildest dreams, I have never even imagined that such things could be.

    I look at you intently.  "Are you saying I can eat anything I want?"

    "Yes, anything." 

    "Really, anything I want ?" I ask again.

    "Yes, I said anything you want," you answer.

    Then slowly, with a gleam in my eye, I ask, "Can I eat some garbage?"    

    What would you thing of me?  You would think I was insane, wouldn't you?  In the face of all that delicious food, all I can think of to ask is whether I can eat garbage.  But that is exactly how I feel when people ask me if they can sin because they are under grace!

    Jesus Christ laid down His life for us to take away, once and for all, our sins and guilt before a holy God.  Then He gave His life to us to raise us from the dead spiritually.  He gave us His righteousness, total acceptance, sonship in the family of God.  He has made us to be "A chosen (people), a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light." (1 Peter 2:9)  (Selected)

N.J. Hiebert # 2166

February 17

"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee." (Psalm 119:11) 

1)  What have I hid?  "Thy word."  It is not man's word, but the Word of God, that liveth and abideth forever.  This is the thing to hide.  It is a treasure worth hiding.  No thief can steal it, no moth can corrupt it.  It increases by being hidden in the way here spoken of.  We cannot set too high a value upon the Word of God.  So the Psalmist thought when he "hid" it.  This _expression sets forth how intensely he prized the Word.  I have "hid" it.  He placed it out of reach of everyone and everything that could deprive him of it.  May we ponder it - may we understand it - may we imitate it!

2)  Where have I hit it?  "In my heart."  It was not in his head or in his intellect, but in his heart - the seat of his affections - the centre of his moral being - the source of all the influences that swayed his entire career.  This is the right place to hide the Word.  It is not hiding it under a bed, or under a bushel, or in the earth.  it is not basely cushioning it, through a slavish dread of men, lest they should sneer at us or oppose us.  This will not do.  We must hide the Word where the Psalmist hid it, even in the heart.  May we ponder this - may we understand ot - may we imitate it!

3)  Why have I hid it?  For a very weighty reason - a most important reason.  "That I might not sin against Thee."  It was not that he might have a rich fund of new ideas to talk about and show off upon.  Nor yet was it that he might be able to confound in argument all his opposers, and silence them.  The Psalmist did not care about any of these things.  He had a horror of sin - a holy horror.  He knew that the most effectual safeguard against sin was the  Word of God, and therefore he hid it in his heart.  May we ponder this - may we understand it - may we imitate it!  (Christian Truth - Vol. 19 - 1966)

N.J. Hiebert # 2163

February 18

"But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God....  Having therefore brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus."  (Hebrews 10:12,19)

Christ will be the Repairer of every breach.  But the greatest breach of all was in the conscience of the sinner.  There is mischief and confusion abroad in creation still.  There is mischief abroad in the house of Israel.  Christ has not yet set to His hand to repair that.  There is a breach in the throne of David - Christ has not yet applied Himself to heal that.  But the mightiest breach of all was between you and God.  By-and-by He will turn the groans of creation into the praises of creation; but He began His character as a Repairer by applying Himself to repair the breach that separated you from God; and now we have boldness to enter into the holiest.  (J.G. Bellett - Musings on the Epistle to the Hebrews) 

N.J. Hiebert # 2164

February 15

"And (Andrew) brought (Simon) to Jesus, and when Jesus beheld him, He said, thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone." (John 1:42) 

The changing of the name, then, implied that the one whose name was changed was the vassal (servant), the subject, the property of the one who so changed it.  The Lord said, as it were, Simon, you are Mine, spirit, soul, and body, and I shall do what I like with you.  "The hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25), was being fulfilled in the Galilean fisherman's history.  Simon heard the voice of the Son of God then, and though, perhaps at the time, he did not know the meaning of what He said, yet when he wrote his first epistle afterwards he had found it out, for he says, "To whom coming, as unto a living stone,... ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house" (1 Peter 2:4,5).  What is a stone?    A little bit of a rock.  And what is a Christian?  A little bit of Christ, for he is a member of Christ.  (W.T.P. Wolston - Simon Peter His life and Letters.) 

N.J. Hiebert # 2161

February 16

"And they (Chief priests) took counsel, and bought with them (thirty pieces of silver) the potter's field, to bury strangers in."  (Matthew 27:7) 

It is noticeable, that with the money paid for the betrayal of the Lord Jesus, the "potter's field" was purchased to be a place to bury strangers in.  This earth is but the Potter's field.  It was ever His own: but in a most solemn sense it was purchased by the suffering of the Son of God; and what a vast burial-place it is!  He, the heavenly stranger, was buried in it Himself; but He rose in triumph, and is alive forevermore.  Soon, from earth and sea, He shall call into life the dust of all His saints to share His excellent glory; and, later, awake the unrepentant by the summons to judgment!  (H.A. Ironside - Reflections on the Book of Jeremiah)   

N.J. Hiebert # 2162

February 12

"Most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."  (2 Corinthians 12:9) 

    There is a story about an old grandfather clock that had stood for three generations in the same corner of a room, faithfully ticking off the minutes and hours, day after day.  In the clock was a heavy weight that was pulled to the top each night to keep it running.

    Then one day the clock was sold, and the new owner noticed the heavy weight.  "Too bad," he said, "That such an old clock should have to bear so great a load ."  So he took the weight off the chain.  At once the clock stopped ticking.

    "Why did you do that?"  asked the clock."

    "I wanted to lighten your burden," said the man.

    "Please put it back," said the clock.  "That's what keeps me going!"

    Most people are looking for an easy way through life.  They think that if they had no burdens they cold live pleasantly and triumphantly.  They don't realize that God often keeps us going spiritually by the weights that seem to pull us down.  Trials can give our feet spiritual traction.  Our burdens not only bring us blessing in this life, but they also are "working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17).  (HGB)

One day at a time, and the day is His day:

He has numbered its hours, though they haste or delay,

His grace is sufficient; we walk not alone;

As the day, so the strength that He gives to His own!  -- Flint 

 

THE HEAVIER THE LOAD, THE BETTER THE TRACTION

OUR DAILY BREAD, RBC MINISTRIES, COPYRIGHT 1998, GRAND RAPIDS, MI, REPRINTED PERMISSION 

N.J. Hiebert # 2158

February 13

"And when (Jesus) had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward an hungered.  And when the tempter (Devil) came to Him, he said, If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.  But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."  (Matthew 4:2-4)

This, then, is the answer of our Lord to the first temptation.  Why should He turn the stones into bread?  He hung upon God's word: His Father had not told Him to do so.  So should it ever be with us.  Where we have no clear expression of the mind of God, it is always our place to wait till we have.  Sometimes it may show our weakness that we do not know the mind of God, and this is distasteful to us.  Restlessness would like to go some-where, or do something, but this is not faith.  Faith proves itself in waiting for God to manifest His will."  (William Kelly - Lectures on the Gospel of Matthew)

N.J. Hiebert # 2159

February 14

"Whatsoever things are true...honest...just...pure...lovely...of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." (Philippians 4:8)

Notice well, "Whatsoever things are true", comes first in our list of those things on which we are to meditate.  It also has the first place in the Armour of God: "Having your loins girt about with truth." (Ephesians 6:14).  May God help us, like Moses of old, to learn to refuse, and to choose!  Te refuse the false, and to choose the true!  (G. Christopher Willis) 

N.J. Hiebert # 2160