Bible Gems

Nov 29, 2008 at 17:29 o\clock

Gems for the Week

by: soundwords

December 1

"It (the body) is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption."
 (1 Corinthians 15:42)
 
    Years ago, I heard a story about a man looking for flowers for spring planting.  At the greenhouse he came across a golden chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms.  To his surprise, it was hidden in a corner and growing in an old, dented rusty bucket.
    "If this were my flower," he said to himself, "I would place it in a beautiful pot and display it proudly!  Why is it confined in this old bucket and hidden away in this concealed place?"
    When he remarked to the owner about the flower, she explained, "Oh, I started the plant in that old bucket until it blossomed.  But it's just for a short time.  Soon I'll transplant it to my garden."
    The man laughed, and imagined such a scene in heaven.  "There's a beautiful one," God will say, "the product of My loving kindness and grace.  Now it's confined in a broken body and in obscurity, but soon, in My garden, how tall and lovely this soul will stand!"
    So we may now be "planted" in bent and battered containers for a short time while our Lord beautifies our souls.  But, "as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man." (1 Corinthians 15:49).  Then He will display His handiwork and our loveliness for all to see.  This is our assurance and delight.  (David Roper)
 
In bodies that will ne'er grow old,
We'll reign with Him through years untold;
O precious thought: We all shall be
With Christ through all eternity. (Watson)
 
While God is preparing a place for us, He is preparing us for that place.
________________________________________________________________________
 
Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries, Copyright 2006, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted permission.
 
N.J. Hiebert # 3540

December 2

"They weave the spider's web . . . Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works . . ."  (Isaiah 59:5,6)
 
    The spider's web is just foam, and proceeds from the spider himself.  It looks very beautiful.  Many preachers like those spiders spin the webs out of themselves, out of their own heads.  They do not bring them from the Word of God.  And people who try to clothe themselves with their own righteousness are like those who might try to make garments out of spiders' webs.  It has been tried, but found impossible.  What a contrast there is between a spider's web and a silk cocoon, though both come out of the creature itself, one from the spider and one from the silkworm.  Yet the cocoon furnishes the material that makes the most beautiful and lasting clothing for kings and princes while the other is a bit of foam that soon disappears. 
    Christ, and Christ alone, can save.  His gospel is unfailing and peace-giving.  It is no spider's web, "but the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth."         (H.A. Ironside)
 
N.J. Hiebert # 3541 

December 3

"Now faith is the substance (substantiation) of things hoped for, the evidence (conviction) of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)
 
This is not a definition of faith, but rather an explanation of what faith does; it enables one to lay hold of the things hoped for, as though he possessed them.  It gives real conviction of things that are not seen with the natural eye.  Thus it brings the things we anticipate by faith into present realities and substances to be known and enjoyed now.  "Whom having not seen ye love." (1 Peter 1:8)  Do we love one who does not exist? but we do love One who has first loved us, One whom we know and have proved.  Ask a true believer if he would give up Christ; his answer will be a firm and unequivocal, "Never."  And so all that we are to have and share with Christ can be enjoyed now.  The Christian lays hold of the unseen by faith, and his hope is sure; his hope is not an uncertainty, but merely delayed certainty.  (Selected)
 
N.J. Hiebert # 3542 

December 4

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity (love), these three; but the greatest of these is charity."  (1 Corinthians 13:13)
 
As great as faith and hope are now, there is coming a time when we will actually possess that which to us is now delayed certainty.  We will no longer require faith or hope when all this comes to fruition - is an actuality.  And when in possession of that which we now enjoy by faith, love will still be there; for we will dwell in the Father's house, in the reality of love, for "God is love."  Love will always abide; therefore it is greater than faith and hope.   (Selected)
 
N.J. Hiebert # 3543

Nov 25, 2008 at 06:20 o\clock

Gems for the Week

by: soundwords

November 28

"Behold I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." (Revelation 22:12)
 
    Although no true-hearted Christian renders service to the Lord Jesus for the sake or thought of reward, God has seen fit to promise rewards; and His object in doing so seems to be to win His people "from the pursuit of earthly riches and pleasures, to sustain them in the fires of persecution, and to encourage them in the exercise of Christians virtues."  Five crowns, or forms of reward, are spoke of:
 
1.  The Crown of joy - the soul-winner's reward.  (1 Thessalonians 2:19)
2.  The crown of righteousness - to lovers of His appearing.  (2 Timothy 4:8)
3.  The crown of glory - the shepherd's reward.  (1 Peter 5:1-4)
4.  The incorruptible crown - the athlete's reward  (Corinthians 9:25-27)
5. The crown of life - the martyr's reward.  (Revelation 2:10)
(George Henderson - Heaven's Cure for Earth's Care)
 
N.J. Hiebert # 3537

November 29

"Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"  (Genesis 3:1)      
 
Before Satan introduced lusts into man's heart, he produced distrust of God; when this was brought in, man was easily a prey - all was really done.  So with what infinite goodness and surpassing grace God attracts and warrants confidence for the chief of sinners in Christ. (Extract) 
 
N.J. Hiebert # 3538

November 30

"If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain."  (James 1:26)  
 
    Worse still, as not only careless, but wicked, is the slander which gossips away a character in an afternoon, and runs lightly over a whole series of acquaintances, leaving a drop of poison on them all, some suspicion, or some ominous silence - 'Have you not heard?' - 'No one would believe it, but -!' and then silence; while the shake of the head, or the shrug of the shoulders, finishes the sentence with a mute meaning worse than words.
   Do you ever think of the irrevocable nature of speech?  The things you say are often said for ever.  You may find, years after your light word was spoken, that it has made a whole life unhappy, or ruined the peace of a household. (Constance M. Whishaw - Being & Doing - 1902)
 
N.J. Hiebert # 3539

Nov 22, 2008 at 22:49 o\clock

Gems for the Week

by: soundwords

November 25

"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."  (Hebrews 4:15,16)  
 
    You will find that there are many who will feel for you.  There are very few, if indeed any, who can feel with you.  How few there are who are free enough from themselves to say to you, "I feel much with you, I have traversed that path, I have passed through those circumstances; my heart has entered into all that."
    And that is just what is so blessed in its perfection about Christ - that He came down here and went through the circumstances in order that He might be able to feel with His poor saints when in them!  (TCN)    
 
N.J. Hiebert # 3534

 

November 26

 

"Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom . . . Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." 
(Proverbs 4:7;3:5)
 
    There is a difference between intelligence and wisdom.  Intelligence is of the earth; wisdom is a gift of God.  Our senses give us information about the world around us.  The better a person handles that which his senses convey to him, the more intelligent he is.  Wisdom is the gift to recognize God's presence in every situation and to act accordingly.
    To the intelligent person, wisdom often seems foolish, because it acts and thinks in a different way from that which intelligence may demand.  Intelligence gives outward prosperity; wisdom gives inward peace.  Intelligence is concerned with this world, wisdom with the future world as well as this present world.  That is why we can pray for wisdom.  (Corrie Ten Boom - This Day is the Lord's)
 
N.J. Hiebert # 3535 

November 27

"I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."  (John 10:9) 
 
"I am the Door," the words are but four,
Millions are in but there's room for more,
The door's open wide, come right inside, and you will be saved.
(Unknown) 
 
A door.  What a simple and wonderful image to communicate to us the work of Christ.  Every day we face many types of doors: open doors, closed doors, revolving doors, plain doors, decorated doors, large and small doors.  Every dwelling place, great or humble has one.  We all understand that to enter, all we have to do is go through the door.  Heaven has a door too - Jesus Christ.  Will you enter through Him?  There is no other way.  (Duncan Maxwell)
 
N.J. Hiebert # 3536

 

Nov 19, 2008 at 03:56 o\clock

Gems for the Week

by: soundwords

November 23

"There came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto Him (Jesus), Get Thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill Thee.  And He said unto them, go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected."  (Luke 13:31,32) 
    When the Pharisees tried to frighten our Lord with a threat from Herod our Lord gave an amazing  answer, found only in Luke.  He said in effect, "I have a life work to do and a ministry to perform and I will complete it."  When man sets out to do the will of God he will hear from the Pharisees and the "foxes," to use our Lord's word for Herod, who intends to divert and destroy it.  But this passage is just another way of saying that when we are in God's work and will we are immortal until our work is done.
    When the Pharisees and the foxes try to confuse and discourage us with their predictions and warnings, let us tell them we are on God's schedule and He who has begun a good work in us will finish it.  The man who has set out to do the will of God in his life is linked up with heaven, and nothing that happens on earth can defeat him unless he himself departs from what God called him to do and be. 
    Jesus was often saying, "My time is not yet come."  Then on the night of His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane He said, "This is your hour, and the power of darkness."  His hour and the Jewish leaders' hour met in a head-on collision.  It looked like Jesus lost, but He won through death and resurrection.  Whoever lives for Christ is immortal; he lives until his work is finished on earth, and he then continues life in heaven.  (Vance Havner - Don't Miss Your Miracle)     
N.J. Hiebert # 3532
November 24
"The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness."  (Psalm 41:3)
    Those who are ill can get strength and comfort from the passage above.  The Hebrew indicates, "Thou turnest or changest his bed in his sickness."
    This is most wonderful!  God takes a personal interest in His sick saints!  He whispers words of comfort to them, and in many ways, makes their "bed" of suffering - whereon they are languishing - easier to lie on.  He not only eases the pain, but He assures His children who are enduring affliction that their "light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."  
(2 Corinthians 4:17)
    Be encouraged, dear suffering saint.  Your affliction, if faithfully endured, for His glory, is actually working for you - piling up GLORY!   
    To get the needed strength, day by day, in the time of testing, it is necessary that we "look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal: but the things which are not see are eternal." 
(2 Corinthians 4:18)   (Selected)
N.J. Hiebert # 3533
 

Nov 18, 2008 at 03:04 o\clock

Gems for the Week

by: soundwords

November 19

"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."
(1 John 1:7)
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel's veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
(Wm. Cowper)
"Blood system in crisis," read the bold headline announcing a meeting of Canada's Health ministers.  "There's a shortage of blood.  We have to have more blood," stated Dr. B. Muirhead.  The sin-cleansing blood of Christ is never in short supply.  Jesus shed enough to atone for the sins of the entire human race - including yours.  Confess your sins and know them forgiven today.  (Arnot P. McIntee)
N.J. Hiebert # 3528

November 20

"His name shall be called WONDERFUL."  (Isaiah 9:6)
Wonderful name He bears,
Wonderful crown He wears,
Wonderful blessings His triumphs afford;
Wonderful Calvary,
Wonderful grace for me,
Wonderful love of my Wonderful Lord.
(A.H. Ackley)
N.J. Hiebert # 3529

November 21

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall
not fall on the ground without your Father." 
(Matthew 10:29)
Benjamin Franklin
At the Constitutional Convention 1787
"I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth that God governs in the affairs of men.  And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?  We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that 'except the Lord build the house they labour in vain that build it.'  I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the builders of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). . . I therefore beg leave to move - that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings be on our deliberations . . ."   
N.J. Hiebert # 3530

November 22

"Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all. "
(2 Corinthians 3:2)
About 30 years ago two of us helped a widow to excavate for a new home.  We measured the length and width, but one inch of the yardstick had been cut off, and we did not know it.  When the mason came to lay the bricks, he was disgusted to find the hole in the ground was too small both ways.  We were sincere; we did not know there was an inch missing - never dreamed of it.  We had to be convinced.  But we were using a faulty standard of measurement, and the result showed up in our work.  The mason came along and saw the error.  And if we use the wrong measuring stick in our work down here for God, we can expect our work to be faulty.  We want to be sure in our Christian life and testimony that we are making room for the whole scope and realm of God's full and free revelation.  (C.H. Brown - 1966)
N.J. Hiebert # 3531

Nov 13, 2008 at 18:47 o\clock

Gems for the Week

by: soundwords

November 18

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Romans 8:14,15)
In our natural state we were "darkness"; now, as redeemed and brought to God, and made partakers of the divine nature, we are "light in the Lord."  What a change, both of place and condition! 
- Once afar off, but now in God's presence in Christ, brought nigh through His blood;
- Once enemies, now reconciled and in cloudless light, able to look up into God's face and say, "Abba Father"! 
- Once incapable of having a common thought or feeling or desire with God, now possessed of the divine nature, and able to have fellowship with Him, and with His Son Jesus Christ!  (A.H. Rule)
N.J. Hiebert # 3527

Nov 10, 2008 at 15:23 o\clock

Gems for the Week

by: soundwords

November 14

"Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself . . ."
(Daniel 1:8)
 
"For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
 (Philippians 1:21)
 
How much better to have the heart full of lively affection for Christ than to have the intellect stored with the most accurate knowledge of the letter of Scripture!  What is the melancholy characteristic of the present time?  A wide diffusion of Scriptural knowledge with little love for Christ, and little devotedness to His work; abundant readiness to quote Scripture, like the scribes and chief priests, but little purpose of heart, like the wise men, to open the treasures and present to Christ the willing offerings of a heart filled by the sense of what He is.  What we want is personal devotedness, and not the mere empty display of knowledge.  (Selected)
 
N.J. Hiebert # 3523  

November 15

How Much I Owe
(Robert Murray McCheyne - May, 1837)
 
When this passing world is done,
When has sunk yon glowing sun,
When we stand with Christ in glory,
Looking o'er life's finished story,
Then, Lord, shall I fully know -
Not till then - how much I owe.
 
Even on earth, as through a glass
Darkly, let Thy glory pass,
Make forgiveness feel so sweet,
Make Thy Spirit's help so meet.
Even on earth, Lord, make me know
Something of how much I owe.
 
N.J. Hiebert # 3524

November 16

Prisoners of Time
"Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."
(Psalm 90:12) 
    TIME is a happening that affects us all.  We may employ it as a servant or fight it as an enemy.  We may pay the price and buy up its opportunities or squander it as of little value.  We may think we are "passing the time" when all the while it is passing us at sixty seconds every minute.  We may lose money, health, or friends, and recover our loss; but if we waste our time, it is gone forever.  We may complain there is not enough time to do all we want to do, but there is ample time to do all that God has willed us to do.
    He who has no vision of eternity will never know the true value and use of time.  The Lord has a purpose for each of us to fulfill in the present.  If we "number our days", walking always in the fear of God, we will be ready to face eternity at any moment.  (Extract) 
N.J. Hiebert # 3525

November 17

"And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And He (Jesus) was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake Him, and say unto Him, Master, carest Thou not that we perish?"  
(Mark 4:37,38)
    The One who had made the sea and could hold the winds in His almighty grasp, lay sleeping in the hinder part of the ship, and allowed the sea and the wind to treat Him as unceremoniously as though He were an ordinary man.  Such was the reality of the human nature of our blessed Lord.  He was weary; He slept; and He was tossed on the bosom of that sea which His hands had made.  Pause and meditate on this wondrous sight.  Look closely; think deeply.  No tongue, no pen, can do justice to such a scene.  We cannot expatiate (elaborate); we can only muse and worship.
    Unbelief roused the blessed Lord out of His sleep.  "They awake Him, and say unto him, Master, carest Thou not that we perish?" 
    What a question! "Carest Thou not?"  How it must have wounded the heart of the Lord Jesus!  How could they ever think that He was indifferent to their trouble and danger?   How completely must they have lost sight of His love, to say nothing of His power, when they could bring themselves to say, "Carest Thou not?"    (Christian Truth - Vol. 22 - Dec. 1969)
N.J. Hiebert # 3526

Nov 8, 2008 at 18:03 o\clock

Gems for the Week

by: soundwords

November 12

"Except ye repent ye shall . . . perish." 
(Luke 13:3)
"Three die at sight of missing stop sign," read a headline.  Workers were on their way to replace a sign which had been blown off a pole by a 60-mile-an-hour wind.  The sign was blown down at 11:10 a.m.  At 11:18 a.m., a truck hit a small car, killing all its occupants.  On the road of life God clearly warns: Except ye repent ye shall perish.  His warning signs never blow away.  Heed them and trust the Saviour today. 
(Arnot P. McIntee) 
N.J. Hiebert # 3521 

November 13

". . .  they shall never see light!"  (Psalm 49:19)
    There is a certain horror about absolute darkness that throws a chill over the human soul; for man was made to live in the light!  Heaven is always depicted as a place of eternal brightness where there is "no night."  The psalmist, however, declares that the wicked shall "never see light"; and Jesus warns that they shall be cast into "outer darkness"!  What a horror of blackness that will be when each doomed soul is curtained off from every other in an eternity of utter loneliness.
    Recently I was in a cave in Kentucky.  When we had gone deep into the bowels of the earth through many winding passage-ways, the guide suddenly turned off all the lights and said, "I alone know the way out.  If I were to leave you in this dark chamber, you would probably never make your way to the surface.  Those who have been lost in this cavern have become insane inside of a week from the oppressive loneliness and the maddening, incessant drip of the water from the roof. Be quiet for a moment and feel the darkness!"  I remember my youngster clutching my arm.  Soon terror began to edge its way into all of our hearts.  After about thirty seconds, someone in the party could endure the ordeal no longer and whimpered piteously, "Turn on the light!  I'm going crazy NOW!"  The guide laughed, but none of us will ever forget that eerie experience.  I thought of the "outer darkness" of an eternal Hell and shuddered!  
    An evangelist once encountered a skeptic who, when asked to receive Christ, said, "I am not afraid of Hell - all the Hell we get is here on earth!"  The preacher's reply was quick and devastating, "I'll give you three reasons why this cannot be Hell.  
- First, I am a Christian, and there are no Christians in Hell! 
- Secondly, there is a place just around the corner where you can slake your thirst, but there is no water in Hell! 
- Thirdly, I have been preaching Christ to you, and there is no Gospel in Hell!"
    Friend, would you escape the eternal darkness of Hell?  Receive Christ who is the Light!  (H.G.B.)
O do hot let the Word depart,
Nor close thine eyes against the Light.
Poor sinner, harden not your heart;
Escape God's wrath - be saved tonight!
(E. Reed)
"Unbelief is the door to Hell!"
(G.W.)
N.J. Hiebert # 3522

Nov 5, 2008 at 19:24 o\clock

Gems for the Week

by: soundwords

November 10

"The shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked (evil one)."  (Ephesians 6:16)
The word used for shield signifies a great oblong shield which covers the whole body, and the dart mentioned here is the kind which when it strikes a hard object catches fire.  The promise is that when the dart strikes the great shield of faith, though it is set on fire, it is quenched. It cannot pierce the shield.  It cannot burn the one who is behind the shield. The promise covers all manner of darts.  The kind of dart hurled against us makes no difference to the promise.  "All" means all.  Do we expect "all" to mean all?  Is there a secret fear in our hearts about a certain kind of temptation which perhaps we shall not be able to overcome?  Away with this fear!  It is of the devil.  The shield of faith is ready to be taken up and used.  If we take it up and use it, not a single dart of any sort will pierce it. "All" means all.  (Amy Carmichael - Edges of His Ways)
N.J. Hiebert # 3519

November 11

"If thou canst believe, all things are possible
to him that believeth" (Mark 9:23)
    Prayer takes the people to the Bank of Faith, and obtains the golden blessing.  Mind how you pray!  Pray!  Make real business of it!  Never let it be a dead formality!  People pray a long time, but do not get what they are supposed to ask for, because they do not plead the promise in a truthful business-like way.  If you were to go into a bank and stand an hour talking to the clerk, and then come out again without your cash, what would be the good of it?  (C.H. Spurgeon)
    Have you ever given God the chance to answer the Prayer of Faith?  Do not let us lose our last chance of believing by waiting till the dawn has broken into day!  (Lillias Trotter)
If radio's slim finger can pluck a melody
From night, and toss it over a continent or sea;
If the petaled white notes of a violin
Are blown across a mountain or a city's din;
If songs, like crimson roses, are culled from thin blue air -
Why should mortals wonder if God hears prayer?
(ETHEL ROMIG FULLER)
    When all things can be accomplished by prayer,
why not yield to the test? 
Why not pray on?  And through?  
(Springs in the Valley)
N.J. Hiebert # 3520 

Nov 4, 2008 at 01:08 o\clock

Gems for the Week

by: soundwords

November 5

"Be not afraid, only believe." 
(Mark 5:36)
"Hold the beginning of our (your) confidence steadfast unto the end."
(Hebrews 3:14)
"Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward."  (Hebrews 10:35)
"Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked." 
(Ephesians 6:16)
- Are you assaulted by dark thoughts of unbelief? 
- Have you arrived at a point in your earthly path at which you see graver difficulties before you than you ever anticipated? 
- Do you feel the dark waters of sorrow, trial, and temptation deepening around you, and the heavy clouds of unbelief and despondency gathering more thickly above  you? 
Then, remember,
- The loving heart of Jesus is occupied about you. 
- His eye is resting solicitously upon you. 
- He knows what you are feeling. 
- He sees every fiery dart that the tempter is leveling at you.
Jesus says to you . . . (Note the verses quoted above.)   
    What we want is confidence in God, come what may.  Simple faith can lift the head above the deepest waters, and pierce through the thickest gloom that ever enwrapped the soul.  "Be not afraid, only believe."  May these words fall with power on every doubting, trembling heart!  (C.H. Mackintosh)   
N.J. Hiebert # 3514 

November 6

"Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."  (Matthew 18:3)
 
    Not long ago I loafed all morning in a small town, waiting for my "ship" to come along.  On a grassy church lawn I "unlaxed" and watched the world go by.
    There came along somewhere a dainty, light-haired, blue-eyed little child just out to pass the time away.  Together we sat through the sunny morning and became good friends in that artless playfulness that our superficial modern sport tries so vainly to recover.  Finally the little fellow must go, and as far as I could watch down the street, he turned every few seconds to wave a fresh good-by.
    That left me in the grass a little lonesome and "smitten with the plague of thought."  The Lord said, "Except ye be converted and become as a little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven," and I do not wonder that He said that.  How we do strain and pose to be impressive when the truest soul is most gently simple and childlike!  When the Lord wanted a type for His disciples He set a little child in the midst of them.  Some of us need to lay aside our weighty volumes and forsake our strenuous strivings to learn a lesson from the babies.  (Vance Havner - In Tune with Heaven - May 24, 1931)
 
N.J. Hiebert # 3515 

November 7

"For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him" 
(2 Corinthians 5:21)
Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood:
Hallelujah! WHAT A SAVIOUR!
(P.P. Bliss)
God could never overlook sin, for that would be unjust.  The very character of God would be at stake.  God could have been harsh and unforgiving, and damned sinners to a lost eternity.  Instead, Christ, the spotless One, with no violations, no record or charge of sin against Him, was charged with your sin and mine.  To Him and upon Him was our debt placed.  Because of this, the character of God is untarnished.  God is still holy, still just and still loving.  He is satisfied and we are, too, all because He was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. (James Comte)
N.J. Hiebert # 3516 

November 8

"Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days." (Ecclesiastes 11:1)
 
In the Battle of Tarawa, in November 1943, Harry Starner was wounded and lost a lot of blood.  As medics transfused plasma into his veins, he saw his own name on the bag.  His life was being rescued by the very blood that he had donated before leaving the U.S.!  While the chance of that occurring was one in ten million, it is a sure and certain promise of God that: "if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday"  (Isaiah 58:10).  Let's spread heaven's bread today.  (D. Logan)
 
N.J. Hiebert # 3517

November 9

"And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. . . . And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents."  (Genesis 25:24,27)
 
We cannot find a better example of two men with equal background and opportunity than that of Jacob and Esau, for they were not merely brothers of different ages; they were twins.  And yet one of them had faith in God, and the other did not.  While Jacob valued God's promise to the land of Canaan, his brother Esau sold his birthright - the natural title to the promised land - for one very ordinary meal.  God's comment is, "Thus Esau despised his birth right." (Genesis 25:34).  Because of this, God calls him a profane man.

Thus it is today with the people of this world; they make everything as sure as they can for this life, and ignore the life which is hereafter.  They make no provision for the future; that is, beyond the grave.  In the book of Revelation there is a class frequently mentioned as "those that dwell on the earth."  This has a moral character and denotes the attitude of having their hopes and aspirations down here.  (Selected)
 
N.J. Hiebert # 3518