prophecy

Look Up!

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

Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? – Acts 1:11

Methinks, if Jesus were among us now we would fix our eyes upon Him, and never withdraw them. He is altogether lovely, and it would seem wicked to yield our eyesight to any inferior object so long as He was to be seen. When He ascended up into heaven it was the duty of His friends to look upon Him. It can never be wrong to look up; we are often bidden to do so, and it is even a holy saying of the Psalmist, “I will direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up”; and, again, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” If it be right to look up into heaven, it must be still more right to look up while Jesus rises to the place of His glory. Surely it had been wrong if they had looked anywhere else; it was due to the Lamb of God that they should behold Him as long as eyes could follow Him. He is the Sun: where should eyes be turned but to His light? He is the King; and where should courtiers within the palace gate turn their eyes but to their King as He ascends to His throne? The truth is, there was nothing wrong in their looking up into heaven; but they went a little further than looking; they stood “gazing.” A little excess in right may be faulty. It may be wise to look, but foolish to gaze. There is a very thin partition sometimes between that which is commendable and that which is censurable…When the person of Jesus was gone out of the azure vault above them, and the cloud had effectually concealed Him, why should they continue to gaze when God Himself had drawn the curtain? If infinite wisdom had withdrawn the object upon which they desired to gaze, what would their gazing be but a sort of reflection upon the wisdom which had removed their Lord? …A steadfast gaze into heaven may be to a devout soul a high order of worship, but if this filled up much of our working time it might become the idlest form of folly. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1817.cfm

Christ’s Second Descension

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

“And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.”-Acts 1:10, 11.

All Christian minds delight to dwell upon His birth, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension. These make four rungs in that ladder of light, the foot of which is upon the earth, but the top whereof reacheth to heaven. We could not afford to dispense with any one of those four events, nor would it be profitable for us to forget, or to under-estimate the value of any one of them. That the Son of God was born of a woman creates in us the intense delight of a brotherhood springing out of a common humanity. That Jesus once suffered unto the death for our sins, and thereby made a full atonement for us, is the rest and life of our spirits. The manger and the cross together are divine seals of love. That the Lord Jesus rose again from the dead is the warrant of our justification, and also a transcendently delightful assurance of the resurrection of all His people, and of their eternal life in Him. Hath He not said, “Because I live ye shall live also”? The resurrection of Christ is the morning star of our future glory. Equally delightful is the remembrance of His ascension. No song is sweeter than this-“Thou hast ascended on high; Thou hast led captivity captive, Thou hast received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.”

As for His ascension, He could not a second time descend if He had not first ascended; but having perfumed heaven with His presence, and prepared a place for His people, we may fitly expect that He will come again and receive us unto Himself, that where He is there we may be also. I want you, therefore, as in contemplation you pass with joyful footsteps over these four grand events, as your faith leaps from His birth to His death, and from His resurrection to His ascension, to be looking forward, and even hastening unto this crowning fact of our Lord’s history; for ere long He shall so come in like manner as He was seen go up into heaven. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1817.cfm

A Strong West Wind and Thunderbolts

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

Yet have I set My king upon My holy hill of Zion. – Psalm 2:6

By every possible contrivance, in these modern days, they have tried to drive Christ out of His own church. A Christless, bloodless gospel defiles many a pulpit, and Christ is thus angered; but He is in heaven still. At the right hand of God He sits; and let this be our continual prayer to Him, “Look down from heaven, O Lord! Cast an eye upon Thy failing, faltering, fickle church. Look down from heaven.”

“Ye that make mention of the Lord-ye that are the Lord’s remembrances-keep not silence, and give Him no rest; take no rest, and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” “That little cloud”, said one of old, when Julian the apostate threatened to extirpate Christianity, “That little church will soon be gone.” All that I see to-day of darkness, is but a wave of smoke. Behold, the Lord God Himself shall chase it away with a strong west wind. He doth but blow with His wind, and the clouds disappear; and what stands before us to-day shall be as nothing… The old Romans picture Jove as hurling thunderbolts. Sometimes God makes His servants thunderbolts, and when He hurls them, they will go crashing through everything until they reach their mark. Wherefore; be not for a moment discouraged; but trust you in God, and be glad without a shadow of fear. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2258.cfm

His Perfect Salvation

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, promises, prophecy, repentance, salvation 1 Comment

Then said I, Lo, I come. – Psalm 40:7

Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. – Isaiah 28:16

Have you not seen people engaged in urgent work who did not understand their business Apprentices, and other unskillful people, are muddling time away. They are making bad worse, and running great risk. Perhaps a great calamity will occur if the work is not done well and quickly. A first-rate worker is sent for. See, the man has come who understands the business. He cries, “Let me come! Stand out of my way! You are on the wrong track: let me do it myself!” You have not blamed him for egotism, for the thing needed to be done, and he could do it, and the others could not. Everybody recognized the master workman, and gave place to him. The announcement of his coming was the end of the muddle, and the signal of hope. Even so Jesus comes to you sinners, and His presence is your salvation. He says, “Lo, I come.” What does He mean? He means, the setting of all else on one side. There is the priest-he has not helped you much; he may go, for Jesus says, “Lo, I come.” There are your own efforts and doings; there are your feelings and thinkings; there are your ceremonies and austerities; there are your prayers and tears; there are your hearings and readings-all these must be laid aside as grounds of confidence, and Jesus alone must be your trust. He can do for you what none of these can. You are trying to work yourself up to repentance and faith, and you cannot succeed. Let Him come, and He will bring every good thing with Him. It is glorious to see our Lord throwing down all our bowing walls and tottering fences, and to hear Him cry, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation.” Everything else vanishes before His perfect salvation. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2203.cfm

In The Book Written by the Finger of God

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, prophecy, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit 2 Comments

In the volume of the book it is written of Me… – Psalm 40:7; Hebrews 10:7

There was a time before all time, when there was no day but the Ancient of Days, when all that existed was the Lord, who is all in all: then the sacred Three entered into covenant, in mutual agreement, for a sublime end. Man sinning, the Son of God shall be the surety. Christ shall bear the result of man’s offense; He shall vindicate the law of God, and make Jehovah’s name more glorious than ever it has been. The second person of the divine Unity was pledged to come, and take up the nature of men, and so become the firstborn among many brethren to lift up a fallen race, and to save a number that no man can number, elect of God the Father, and given to the Son to be His heritage, His portion, His bride. Then did the Well-beloved strike hands with the eternal God, and enter into covenant engagements on our behalf: “In the volume of the book it is written.” That sealed book, upon whose secrets no angel’s eye has looked, a book written by the finger of God long before He wrote the Book of the law upon tables of stone, that book of God may be spoken of in the Psalm, “And in Thy book all My members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” Our Lord came to carry out all His suretyship engagements: His work is the exact fulfillment of His engagements recorded in the eternal covenant, “ordered in all things and sure.” He acts out every mysterious line and syllable, even to the full. Then He said, “A body hast Thou prepared Me. Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me.” It is ever a pleasing study to see our Lord, both in the written Word, and in the eternal covenant of grace. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2202.cfm

In the Volume of the Book it is written of Him

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, prophecy, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father 1 Comment

“Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire, mine ears hast Thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast Thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart.” – Psalm 40:6-8. (compare: Hebrews 10:5-7)

We rejoice that the Lord Jesus Himself here speaks of Himself. Who but He can declare His own generation? Here He is both the subject of the words and the speaker also. The word is from Himself and of Himself, and so we have double reason for devout attention. He tells us what He said long ago. He declares, “Lo, I come.”

Here is a message worth the telling…Tell the Ethiopians, the Chinese, the Hindoos, and all the islands of the sea that God has come hither to save men, and has taken a prepared body, that He might give to God all He required, and all that He desired, that sinful men might be accepted in the Beloved, with whom God the Father is well pleased. Go, and take to the heathen this sacred Book. “In the volume of the book it is written of Him.” Do not begin to doubt the Book yourself. Why should you send missionaries to teach them about a book in which you do not yourself believe? Tell the nations that “In the volume of the book it is written of Him.” Believe this Book, and spread it. Help Bible societies, and all such efforts; and aid missionary societies, which carry the Book and proclaim the Savior. The men of the Book of God are the men of God, such as the world needs. Bid such men go and open the Book of God, and teach the nations its blessed news. Go, dear friends, and assure the heathen that there is happiness in obedience to God. So the Savior found it. He delighted in God’s will, even to the death, and they will also know delight as in their measures they bow before the authority of the Word and the will of the one living and true God, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Jehovah, the I AM, must be worshiped, for beside Him there is none else. Give glory unto God, whom our Lord Jesus has come to glorify. Amen. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2202.cfm

Taught of the Lord

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

And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. – Isaiah 30:21

The Holy Spirit is given to lead us into all truth. Truth is like a vast grotto, and the Holy Spirit brings torches, and shows us all the splendour of the roof; and since the passage seems intricate, He knows the way, and He lead us into the deep things of God. He opens up to us one truth after another, by His light and by His guidance, and thus we are “taught of the Lord.” He is also our practical guide to heaven, helping and directing us on the upward journey. I wish Christian people oftener inquired of the Holy Ghost as to guidance in their daily life. Know ye not that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? You need not always be running to this friend and to that to get direction: wait upon the Lord in silence, sit still in quiet before the oracle of God. Use the judgment God has given you; but when that suffices not, resort to Him whom Mr. Bunyan calls “the Lord High Secretary,” who lives within, who is infinitely wise, and who can guide you by making you to “hear a voice behind you saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.” The Holy Ghost will guide you in life; He will guide you in death; and He will guide you to glory. He will guard you from modern error, and from ancient error, too. He will guide you in a way that you know not; and through the darkness He will lead you in a way you have not seen: these things will He do unto you, and not forsake you. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2200.cfm