Bible Gems

January 21

"Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."  (Isaiah 45:22)

How can God be just and a Saviour?  The cross yields the glorious answer.
 
- There justice had all its very highest claims answered.
- There the majesty of heaven was vindicated. 
- There sin was thoroughly condemned. 
- There all the demands of the throne were perfectly met. 
- There all the divine attributes were gloriously harmonized. 
- There the most convincing evidence was afforded to all created intelligence, that God could never let sin into His presence. 

The cross is the only platform on which we can behold "a just God and a Saviour."  There we see how God can be just and the justifier of him that believes in Jesus.  The atoning death of Christ forms the righteous ground on which God can receive back his "banished."  Christ bore the just judgment of God against sin, in order that as a Saviour He might receive to His bosom the very vilest sinner that simply looks to Him.  (Christian Truth - Vol. 15 - December 1962)

N.J. Hiebert # 3591

January 22

"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?"
(Luke 12:6)

"Not One of Them is Forgotten of God"

God spread out the heavens as curtains,
Placed boundary to ocean and sea;
But He does not forget for one moment,
The little brown sparrow and me.

The moon and the stars in their courses,
His hand guides unceasingly;
Yet He stoops to give each day a portion,
To the little brown sparrow and me.
(Author unknown)

"But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches
in glory by Christ Jesus."
(Philippias 4:19)

N.J. Hiebert - 3592

January 23

"One if them, when he saw that he was healed , turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks . . . and Jesus answering said, were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? . . .   And He said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole." 
(Luke 17:15-19)

It is a poor miserable thing to be content with being saved, and then to go on with the world, and live for self-pleasing and self-interest - to accept salvation as the fruit of Christ's toil and passion, and then live at a distance from Himself.  What should we think of a child who only cared about the good things provided by his father's hand, and never sought his father's company - preferred the company of strangers?  We should justly despise him; but how much more despicable is the Christian who owes his present and his eternal all to the work of Christ and yet is content to live at a cold distance from His blessed Person, caring not for the furtherance of His cause - the promotion of His glory!  (T.C.N.)

N.J. Hiebert # 3593

January 24

". . . Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?  He saith unto Him, Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love thee. . . . He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, Lovest thou Me?  He saith unto Him, Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love thee. . . . He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me?  Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time, Lovest thou Me? And he said unto Him, Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee. . . ."
(John 21:15-17) 

Light must make manifest.  It could not hinder our joy because of our standing in such fullness of grace, and the grace too that is to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Peter never judged the self-confidence of his heart, that which had led to his fall, till the searching question of the Lord's which brought out his reply, "Thou knowest all things."  Sadly as he had failed, yet at the bottom of his heart, the Lord's searching eye could see that he loved the Lord.  Notwithstanding his going out and weeping bitterly, or or the love for his Master manifested by his visit to the sepulcher, and his casting his coat about him and going through the sea to Him, Peter was not restored till the searching of the Lord brought from him, at the third inquiry, "Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee." 

But is there not a time when the counsels of every heart will be made manifest?  Yes; when this comes, every one will have praise of God.  The counsels of each will have praise of God; for the desire of every saint's heart, however he may fail, is to glorify the Lord.  We may make many mistakes and be drawn aside; but after all the counsel of his heart, his inmost desire is to glorify God.
Peter could no longer appeal to his purposes (his acts of course not), but simply cast himself on the Lord's all-searching power.  "Thou knowest all things."  (Selected)

N.J. Hiebert # 3594