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“But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.” (2 Timothy 3:14)

This encouraging exhortation by Paul is in the midst of a discouraging prophetic warning of things to come. “In the last days,” he said, “perilous times shall come” (v. 1). We may very well be entering those times, and, in any case, we do well to be alert for the signs of those times. The doleful description that follows seems to be a very accurate picture of the beliefs and practices of modern secular humanists, including those religionists who have “a form of godliness” but deny “the power thereof” (v. 5).

Moreover, there is little prospect that the situation will get better, for “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived,” and “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (vv. 13, 12). Should we, therefore, tremble and flee, perhaps compromise, or even surrender to such powerful and persuasive deceivers?

No, we should continue! Just keep on believing and obeying God’s Word. Even in the dark last days, the holy Scriptures are still able to make a man “wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (v. 15). Since they are all “given by inspiration of God,” they are still just as powerful and just as profitable for every need, “that the man of God may be perfect” (that is, ready for whatever comes) and fully equipped “unto all good works” (vv. 16–17).

Paul himself set an inspiring example of “patient continuance in well doing” (Romans 2:7) under conditions of great trial. Awaiting execution in a Roman dungeon even as he wrote, he still requested his books and parchments that he might continue to study and prepare himself (2 Timothy 4:13). May God enable us also to continue, to remain, to abide, and to stand in His truth in these last days. HMM

He Rides Upon the Heaven

“There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.” (Deuteronomy 33:26)

Chapter 33 of Deuteronomy contains the last recorded words of a truly great man: Moses, “whom the LORD knew face to face” (34:10). Many times Moses had addressed the people of Israel with mixed blessing and warning, listing conditions for blessing and the inevitable results of rejecting God’s plan. But here, as he prepared for his impending death (32:48–52), Moses spoke only of God’s majestic character and the privileges of those who serve Him.

The God of Jeshurun (literally “upright,” here a symbolic name for Israel) is an active God, for He rides in His excellency across the heaven to help us, as we see in our text. He strongly acts on our behalf. “The eternal God is [our] refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (33:27). He is not like the gods of the heathen who do nothing.

Next, He is a God of grandeur. Here He rides across the sky and the heavens; elsewhere we are told that He “rideth upon the heavens of heavens” (Psalm 68:33). He walks (104:3) and flies “upon the wings of the wind” (18:10). “The LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet” (Nahum 1:3).

Finally, God is eternal. The “eternal God” with “everlasting arms” assures us of eternal victory (Deuteronomy 33:27). “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” (Revelation 1:18).

Such was Moses’ God and the God whom we serve today—the One who showers us with incomparable blessings. Indeed, “who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD” (Deuteronomy 33:29), to have such a One as our God? JDM

The Settled Word

“Forever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.” (Psalm 119:89)

Most who read the Bible regularly are probably familiar with these sweeping statements from the Scriptures.

    “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).
    “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18).
    “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
    “But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:25).

On this foundation, the psalmist made additional promises to his Lord in this stanza (Psalm 119:89–96). He noted the affliction that almost took his life (v. 92) and the wicked who tried to destroy him (v. 95), which are common enough occurrences among the godly. But in spite of the troubles in life, this godly man knew that the evidence abounds for God’s faithfulness throughout the earth (vv. 90–91).

God’s 77 rhetorical questions to Job (Job 38–41) centered on the evidence of His control and care for the universe. This sovereignty of God prompted the psalmist to reiterate his commitment to a firm familiarity with God’s precepts and a continual effort to seek them (Psalm 119:93–94).

He knew that the wicked would continue trying to destroy and that human affairs limit the possibility of perfection. But the godly man would understand God’s testimonies, since they are sufficient to apply to all situations (v. 96). HMM III

Faithful Sayings

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” (1 Timothy 1:15)

The adjective “faithful” is usually applied either to God or to those godly men and women who remain true to their words and convictions. However, there are eight New Testament references to words (or “sayings”) that are faithful.

Six of the references to faithful sayings are found in Paul’s pastoral epistles as he gave counsel to young pastors Timothy and Titus, the first being our text for the day. Here are Paul’s faithful sayings: (1) “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”; (2) “If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work” (1 Timothy 3:1); (3) “Bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things” (1 Timothy 4:8); (4) “If we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us” (2 Timothy 2:11–12); (5) “They which have believed in God [should] be careful to maintain good works” (Titus 3:8). The sixth reference is a command that any “bishop” must continue “holding fast the faithful word [same as ‘saying’] as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers” (Titus 1:9).

The final two references are in the Bible’s last two chapters, stressing that the words of Revelation are indeed true and believable. After stating His glorious promises for the future life, Christ told John, “Write: for these words [i.e., ‘sayings’] are true and faithful” (Revelation 21:5). Then, after the magnificent description of the Holy City, the angel said, “These sayings are faithful and true” (Revelation 22:6).

All the Bible’s sayings are true, of course, but these that are specifically called “faithful” surely warrant our special attention. HMM

Come Forth as Gold

“That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:7)

These words of Peter are certainly applicable today, but they have always been true. That proper character and testimony are of supreme importance to God was certainly recognized by godly Job in the midst of his heavy trials, for he claimed, “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). The context for this stirring statement of faith proves instructive.

Just as most people do, whether Christian or not, Job appealed to heaven for relief from his troubles (v. 3). Job felt he was suffering unjustly and wanted to state his case before God (v. 4), but more importantly, Job desired to know God’s will in the matter. “I would [i.e., desire to] know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me” (v. 5). He knew God well enough to know that God had a purpose in his suffering, and Job asked for knowledge of that purpose. Job knew God’s goodness, that He would not punish him for his questions, and felt that greater understanding would give him strength to continue. But without God’s revelation, Job knew he was unable to understand or even find God (vv. 8-9). God mercifully and lovingly allows trials to discipline, guide, and develop us. Such trials will, in the end, work to our advantage as impurities are removed, leaving behind only that which is lasting and precious.

The goal of our lives should be to bring “praise and honour and glory” unto our Lord, and if tribulation can best accomplish these goals, so be it! As David said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word” (Psalm 119:67). God knows what is best for us. He knows what He is doing, and we can rest in that fact. JDM

Inspired Words

“Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” (Luke 21:33)

The doctrine of plenary verbal inspiration, wrongly considered antiquated by many modern neo-evangelicals, is actually essential to the Christian faith. “All scripture [that is every word written down or inscribed] is given by inspiration [literally ‘breathed in’] of God,” not man (2 Timothy 3:16)!

We acknowledge, of course, that problems of transmission and translation exist, but these are relatively trivial in the entire context. We also acknowledge that the process of inspiration may have varied, but the end result is as if the entire Bible had been dictated and transcribed word by word.

This is the way Jesus Christ—the Creator, the Living Word, the Author of Scripture—viewed the Scriptures. “The scripture cannot be broken,” He said (John 10:35). “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18). “Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken....And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:25, 27). The Bible, every word of it, is divinely inspired without error, is infallibly true, and has absolute authority in every area of our lives. The words of Christ, who taught these truths, are forever “settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89) and “shall not pass away” (our text)

It is mortally dangerous, therefore, “unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book” to “add unto these things” as cultists do or to “take away from the words of the book of this prophecy” as liberals do (Revelation 22:18-19). Would it not be much better to say with the psalmist, “Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors” (Psalm 119:24)? HMM

Adam's Failure, Christ's Strength

“By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” (Romans 5:18)

When Adam rebelled against God, he experienced many new things—things that have haunted mankind ever since. All of these things were experienced by Christ in an intense way as He redeemed fallen mankind and the cursed creation.

Adam had never seen or experienced death (Genesis 2:17) until he sinned (3:19, 22). Adam and Eve had been naked and unashamed (2:25), but sin distorted everything (3:7, 21). Before sin, Adam and Eve had known only blessing (1:28), but the universal curse followed (3:14-19). They had known joy and fellowship, but then they knew sorrow (3:17) and separation (3:23). They had lived in a garden (2:8), but then the plants brought forth thorns (3:18). Prior to sin they had been given work (2:15), but because of sin they would sweat (3:19) as they toiled. The angel’s weapon kept them from returning to Eden (3:24), and outside violence reigned (4:8, 23; 6:13). Childbearing was originally created to be easy but then was accompanied by sorrow (1:28; 3:16).

Likewise, Christ experienced death on the cross (John 19:30), but by His resurrection He conquered death (1 Corinthians 15:54-57). He experienced nakedness (John 19:23; Psalm 22:18), the full thrust of the Curse (Galatians 3:13), sorrow (Isaiah 53:3), and separation from God (Matthew 27:46). Cruel thorns were placed on His head (John 19:2), and He sweat great drops of blood (Luke 22:44). The soldier’s weapon pierced Him (John 19:34), finally ending a series of violent acts (Luke 22:63; Matthew 27:26, 29-30; Isaiah 52:14; etc.). But through His suffering He overcame the Curse and redeemed His fallen creation. As a result, many children have been brought forth (Hebrews 2:9-10), reborn into a glorious state through His suffering. JDM

The Pilgrims

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.” (1 Peter 1:1)

These “strangers” to whom Peter wrote his two epistles were actually “pilgrims.” He used the same Greek word (parepidemos) in 1 Peter 2:11: “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts.” The word means a resident foreigner, and its only other New Testament usage is in Hebrews 11:13, speaking of the ancient patriarchs who “confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”

We give honor today to the American pilgrims, as they called themselves, who left their homelands to better serve God in a foreign land. The pilgrims to whom Peter was writing likewise had been “scattered abroad” for their faith (note Acts 8:4).

For that matter, every born-again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is really just a pilgrim here on Earth, ambassadors for Christ in a foreign land. “For our conversation is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). That is, we are citizens of heaven (the Greek word translated “conversation” in this verse is politeuma, meaning “a community” or “citizenship”) and are here only for a time to serve our Lord until He calls us home.

And while we are here, we may endure many trials and sorrows just as did those Massachusetts pilgrims. But He nevertheless supplies our needs—just as He did for them—and we ought to abound in thanksgiving as they did.

Thus, Christians all over the world have cause for thanksgiving every day. Since we are “enriched in every thing” through our Savior, this “causeth through us thanksgiving to God” (2 Corinthians 9:11), and we should be “abounding therein with thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:7). HMM

The Faithful Creator

“Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.” (1 Peter 4:19)

This is the only verse in the New Testament describing the Creator as faithful. God had a very specific purpose in creating the universe and especially people, and He will surely accomplish that great purpose.

The Scriptures repeatedly stress God’s faithfulness. With respect to the physical universe, “for ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth” (Psalm 119:89-90). As far as His promises to His people are concerned, “know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations” (Deuteronomy 7:9).

The faithful Creator is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, and He rebukes the compromising church of the last days with these majestic words: “These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God” (Revelation 3:14). Although many professing believers will prove unfaithful to Him, “yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).

The triumphant book of Revelation comes directly “from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness” (Revelation 1:5). When He finally returns to Earth in power and glory, His very name shall be “called Faithful and True” (Revelation 19:11). He is both Alpha and Omega, and thus all His “words are true and faithful” (Revelation 21:5). Our salvation is sure, therefore, because “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9). “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24). HMM

I Need No Other Argument

“[The Father] hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”
(Colossians 1:13-14)

Each of the four verses of the majestic hymn “My Faith Has Found a Resting Place” repeats the theme that Christ’s blood was shed on our behalf, and it is enough. Nothing else remains to be done. The final verse adds perspective to the other three.

My great Physician heals the sick, The lost He came to save;
For me His precious blood He shed, For me His life He gave.
I need no other argument, I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died, And that He died for me.

Christ is certainly “the great physician,” for He “went about all Galilee...healing all manner of sickness” (Matthew 4:23). But His ministry was not only to the physically ill, for as He said, God “hast sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives” (Luke 4:18). His mission was a deeper one, that of healing the sin-sickness of the soul. “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

As we read in our text, “we have redemption through his blood” and through His blood alone. As a result, we have “forgiveness of sins,” we are “delivered from the power of darkness,” and we are given a home in “the kingdom of his dear Son.”

And there we will join in singing “a new song, saying, Thou art worthy...for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5:9). He has done it all, and He has done it “for me”! JDM