prophecy

Christ is the Mirror of the Church

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, prophecy Leave a comment

All those who see Me ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” – Psalm 22:7,8

He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him: for He said, I am the Son of God. – Matthew 27:43

While thus we see our Lord in His sorrow and His shame as our substitute, we must not forget that He also is there as our representative. That which appears in many a psalm to relate to David is found in the Gospels to refer to Jesus, our Lord. Often the student of the Psalm will say to himself, “Of whom speaketh the prophet this?” He will have to disentangle the threads sometimes, and mark off that which belongs to David and that which relates to the Son of God; and frequently he will not be able to disentangle the threads at all, because they are one, and may relate both to David, and to David’s Lord. This is meant to show us that the life of Christ is an epitome of the life of His people. He not only suffers for us as our substitute, but He suffers before us as our pattern. In Him we see what we have in our measure to endure. “As He is, so are we also in this world.” We also must be crucified to the world, and we may look for somewhat of those tests of faith and taunts of derision which go with such a crucifixion. “Marvel not if the world hate you.” You, too, must suffer without the gate. Not for the world’s redemption, but for the accomplishment of divine purposes in you, and through you to the sons of men, you must be made to know the cross and its shame. Christ is the mirror of the Church. What the head endured every member of the body will also have to endure in its measure. Let us read the text in this light, and come to it saying to ourselves, “Here we see what Jesus suffered in our stead, and we learn hereby to love Him with all our souls. Here, too, we see, as in a prophecy, how great things we are to suffer for His sake at the hands of men.” May the Holy Spirit help us in our meditation, so that at the close of it we may the more carefully arm ourselves with the same mind which enabled Him to endure such contradiction of sinners against Himself. – C.H. Spurgeon

Let Him Deliver Him Now

The Treatment of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, prophecy, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

“He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” – Matthew 27:43 (see also: Psalm 22:7,8)

It is very painful to the heart to picture our blessed Master in His death-agonies, surrounded by a ribald multitude, who watched Him and mocked Him, made sport of His prayer and insulted His faith. Nothing was sacred to them: they invaded the Holy of Holies of His confidence in God and taunted Him concerning that faith in Jehovah which they were compelled to admit. See, dear friends, what an evil thing is sin, since the Sin-bearer suffers so bitterly to make atonement for it! See, also, the shame of sin, since even the Prince of Glory, when bearing the consequences of it, is covered with contempt! Behold, also, how He loved us! For our sake He “endured the cross, despising the shame.” He loved us so much that even scorn of the most cruel sort He deigned to bear, that He might take away our shame and enable us to look up unto God.

Beloved, the treatment of our Lord Jesus Christ by men is the clearest proof of total depravity which can possibly be required or discovered. Those must be stony hearts indeed which can laugh at a dying Saviour, and mock even at His faith in God! Compassion would seem to have deserted humanity, while malice sat supreme on the throne. Painful as the picture is, it will do you good to paint it. You will need neither canvas, nor brush, nor palette, nor colours. Let your thoughts draw the outline, and your love fill in the detail; I shall not complain if imagination heightens the colouring. The Son of God, whom angels adore with veiled faces, is pointed at with scornful fingers by men who thrust out the tongue and mockingly exclaim, “He trusted on the LORD that He would deliver Him: let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him.” May the Holy Spirit help us in our meditation, so that we may more ardently love our Lord, who suffered for us. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

Let Him Deliver Him Now

Made Meet to Depart

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, prophecy, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father Leave a comment

“Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.”- Luke 2:29-30.

Blessed wert thou, O Simeon, for flesh and blood had not revealed this unto thee; neither had it enabled thee so cheerfully to bid the world farewell. The flesh clings to the earth-it is dust and owns affluity to the ground out of which it was taken; it loathes to part from mother earth. Even old age, with its infirmities, does not make men really willing to depart out of this world. By nature we hold to life with a terrible tenacity; and even when we sigh over the evils of life, and repine concerning its ills, and fancy that we wish ourselves away, it is probable that our readiness to depart lies only upon the surface, but down deep in our hearts we have no will to go. Flesh and blood had not revealed unto Simeon that he saw God’s salvation in that babe which he took out of the arms of Mary and embraced with eager joy. God’s grace had taught him that this was the Savior, and God’s grace at the same time loosened the cords which bound him to earth and made him feel the attractions of the better land. Blessed is that man who has received by grace a meekness for heaven, and a willingness to depart to that better land: let him magnify the Lord who has wrought so great a work in him. As Paul says, “Thanks be unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” Certainly, none of us were meet by nature-not even Simeon; the fitness of the venerable man was all the handiwork of God, and so, also, was his anxiety to obtain the inheritance for which God had prepared him. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1014.cfm

Our Earnest Expectation

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, prophecy, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth… – Job 19:25

Job not only knew that the Redeemer lived, but he anticipated the time when He should stand in the latter day upon the earth. No doubt Job referred here to our Savior’s first advent, to the time when Jesus Christ, “the goel,” the kinsman, should stand upon the earth to pay in the blood of His veins the ransom price, which had, indeed, in bond and stipulation, been paid before the foundation of the world in promise. But I cannot think that Job’s vision stayed there; he was looking forward to the second advent of Christ as being the period of the resurrection. We cannot endorse the theory that Job arose from the dead when our Lord died, although certain Jewish believers held this idea very firmly at one time. We are persuaded that “the latter day” refers to the advent of glory rather than to that of shame. Our hope is that the Lord shall come to reign in glory where He once died in agony. The bright and hallowed doctrine of the second advent has been greatly revived in our churches in these latter days, and I look for the best results in consequence! There is always a danger lest it be perverted, and turned by fanatical minds, by prophetic speculations, into an abuse; but the doctrine in itself is one of the most consoling, and, at the same time, one of the most practical, tending to keep the Christian awake—because the bridegroom cometh at such an hour as we think not. Beloved, we believe that the same Jesus who ascended from Olivet shall so come in like manner as He ascended up into heaven! We believe in His personal advent and reign; we believe and expect that when both wise and foolish virgins shall slumber—in the night when sleep is heavy upon the saints, when men shall be eating and drinking as in the days of Noah, that suddenly as the lightning flasheth from heaven, so Christ shall descend with a shout, and the dead in Christ shall rise and reign with Him! We are looking forward to the literal, personal and actual standing of Christ upon earth as the time when Creation’s groans shall be silenced forever—and the earnest expectation of the creature shall be fulfilled. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0504.cfm

Will You Be Wailing or Praising?

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, prophecy, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

…and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen. – Revelation 1:7

“All kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.” “All kindreds of the earth.” Then this sorrow will be very general. You thought, perhaps, that when Christ came, He would come to a glad world, welcoming Him with song and music. You thought that there might be a few ungodly persons who would be destroyed with the breath of His mouth, but that the bulk of mankind would receive Him with delight. See how different— “All kindreds of the earth,” that is, all sorts of men that belong to the earth! All earth‐born men. Men out of all nations and kindreds and tongues shall weep and wail and gnash their teeth at His coming! O Sirs, this is a sad outlook! We have no smooth things to prophesy. What do you think of this?

All the kindreds of the earth shall wail—wail as a mother laments over her dead child—wail as a man might wail who found himself hopelessly imprisoned and doomed to die! Such will be the hopeless grief of all the kindreds of the earth at the sight of Christ in the clouds! If they remain impenitent, they shall not be able to be silent—they shall not be able to repress or conceal their anguish. They shall wail or openly give vent to their horror! What a sound that will be which will go up before high Heaven when Jesus sits upon the cloud and, in the fullness of His power, summons them to judgment! Then “they shall wail because of Him.”

Will your voice be heard in that wailing? Will your heart be breaking in that general dismay? How will you escape? If you are one of the kindreds of the earth and remain impenitent, you will wail with the rest of them! Unless you now fly to Christ and hide yourself in Him and so become one of the kindred of Heaven—one of His chosen and blood‐washed ones who shall praise His name for washing them from their sins—unless you do this, there will be wailing at the Judgment Seat of Christ and you will be in it! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1989.cfm

Seen By All

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, prophecy, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

…and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him… – Revelation 1:7

Note well that He is to be seen of all kinds of living men. Every eye shall see Him—the king and the peasant, the most learned and the most ignorant. Those that were blind, before, shall see when He appears. I remember a man born blind who loved our Lord most intensely and he was known to glory in this, that his eyes had been reserved for his Lord. He said, “The first whom I shall ever see will be the Lord Jesus Christ! The first sight that greets my newly‐opened eyes will be the Son of Man in His Glory!” There is great comfort in this to all who are now unable to behold the sun. Since “every eye shall see Him,” you, also, shall see the King in His beauty!

He will be seen of those who have been long since dead. What a sight that will be for Judas and for Pilate—and for Caiaphas and for Herod! What a sight it will be for those who, in their lifetime, said that there was no Savior and no need of one—or that Jesus was a mere man and that His blood was not a propitiation for sin! Those that scoffed and reviled Him have long since died, but they shall all rise again—and rise to this heritage among the rest—that they shall see Him, whom they blasphemed, sitting in the clouds of Heaven! Prisoners are troubled at the sight of the judge. The trumpet of assize brings no music to the ears of criminals. But you must hear it, O impenitent Sinner! Even in your grave, you must hear the voice of the Son of God—and live and come forth from the tomb to receive the things done in your body—whether they were good or bad! Death cannot hide you, nor the vault conceal you, nor rottenness and corruption deliver you. You are bound to see, in your body, the Lord who will judge both you and your companions! Small pleasure is this to eyes that are full of filthiness and pride—you care not for this sight—and yet you must see it whether you please or do not please! You have up to now shut your eyes to good things, but when Jesus comes you will see Him! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1989.cfm

Every Eye Shall See Him

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, prophecy, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

…every eye shall see Him… – Revelation 1:7

The Lord Jesus Christ will not come spiritually, for in that sense He is always here—He will come really and substantially, for every eye shall see Him—even those unspiritual eyes which gazed on Him with hate and pierced Him! Go not away and dream and say to yourself, “Oh, there is some spiritual meaning about all this.” Do not destroy the teaching of the Holy Spirit by the idea that there will be a spiritual manifestation of the Christ of God and that a literal appearing is out of the question! That would be altering the record. The Lord Jesus shall come to earth a second time as literally as He has come a first time! The same Christ who ate a piece of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb after He had risen from the dead—the same who said—“Handle Me and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see I have”—this same Jesus, with a material body, is to come in the clouds of Heaven! In the same manner as He went up, He shall come down! He shall be literally seen. The words cannot be honestly read in any other way.

“Every eye shall see Him.” Yes, I do literally expect to see my Lord Jesus with these eyes of mine, even as that saint expected who long ago fell asleep, believing that though the worms devoured his body, yet in his flesh he would see God, whom his eyes should see for himself and not another! There will be a real resurrection of the body, though the moderns doubt it—such a resurrection that we shall see Jesus with our own eyes! We shall not find ourselves in a shadowy, dreamy land of floating fictions where we may perceive, but cannot see. We shall not be airy nothings—mysterious, vague, impalpable—but we shall literally see our glorious Lord, whose appearing will be no phantom show, or shadow dance! Never day more real than the Day of Judgement! Never sight more true than the Son of Man upon the Throne of His Glory! Will you take this statement home, that you may feel the force of it? We are getting too far away from facts, nowadays, and too much into the realm of myths and notions. “Every eye shall see Him”—in this there shall be no delusion! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1989.cfm