Bible Gems

May 4

"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich." 
(2 Corinthians 8:9)

How rich was He?  Such a question plunges us into thoughts of His glory that amaze and astonish.  His riches include all His glory in deity. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1) Can we poor finite creatures comprehend that?  No.  Go back before Genesis 1, go back before the world was, back as far as the mind can go; and when you get there, He "was" there, and He "was God."  "All things were created by Him and for Him." (Colossians 1:16) There is no single exception; all was created by Him and for Him.

Go through the Word of God and you will find many verses which tell of His riches.  He speaks through Isaiah the prophet, "I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering."  (Isaiah 50:3)  Yes, He "was rich"; not as man saw Him in His pathway on earth.  Here He was with the poor and, according to men's standards, He was poor.  We never read of the Lord having had a piece of money.  He came into the world in the stable of an inn.  He was laid in one man's manger, and when He was to leave the world, He was placed in another man's tomb.  Surely when Scripture speaks of His having been rich, it refers to all that He had before He became a man.  (Paul Wilson.)

N.J. Hiebert # 3694

May 5

Satisfaction

I.  "I shall be satisfied." (Psalm 17:15)

I SHALL be satisfied,
But not while here below,
Where every earthly cup of bliss
Is wisely mixed with woe.
When this frail form shall be
For ever laid aside,
And in His likeness I awake,
I shall be satisfied

II. "He . . . shall be satisfied."  (Isaiah 53:11)

He shall be satisfied
When all He died to win,
By loving-kindness gently drawn,
Are safely gathered in.
When in the glory bright
He views His glorious bride,
Sees of the travail of His soul,
He shall be satisfied

These lines were found in the Bible of a young believer after she had departed to be with Christ.  Ed.

(Christian Friend, Vol. 16, 1889, p. 196 -
Submitted, with thanks, from a reader.)

N.J. Hiebert # 3695