the word boanerges only occurs in mark 3.17
where Jesus' chosen 12 disciples are named..
'..and james, the son of zebedee,
and john the brother of james
(to them He gave the name
BOANERGES,
which means,
'SONS OF THUNDER'.
the word is transliterated
(to change the characters/letters of a word in one language
into corresponding characters/letters of another language.
ie. the greek letter X has the sound of ch
and so in words where this letter occurs in Greek,
when transliterated into english
this letter is represented by the letters ch
so that the sound, as much as possible, in the greek
is preserved in the english transliteration.)
from the aramaic into greek by Jesus.
(He must have liked nicknames
that reflected obvious personal characteristics.)
following is lenski's comments on the verse.
..'the plural 'as names' refers to these two disciples.
the aramaic root of 'boanerges' has not as yet been cleared up;
linguists hold various opinions.
but peter and mark understood the name
to mean 'sons of thunder',
and they knew both aramaic and greek.
it is not reported on what occasion Jesus bestowed this name.
thunder cannot refer to the eloquence of these two brothers
as has been supposed
and would hardly fit the idea of powerful faith,
the supposition of others.
it is best to make the name designate
FIERY ZEAL
which they manifested for their Lord,
as is exemplified in
mark 9.38 john said to Him 'teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name,
and we tried to hinder him because he was not following us.
but Jesus said ,
'do not hinder him...
luke 9.53-4 and they did not receive Him (village of the samaritans)
because He was journeying with His face toward jerusalem.
and when His disciples James and John
saw this,
they said,
'Lord, do You want US
to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?
and He turned and rebuked them..
'you do not know what kind of spirit you are of
for the Son of man did not come to destroy men's lives,
but to save them..
and elsewhere.
john is often pictured as being sweet and mild,
but his symbol is the eagle,
and his entire character is marked by power.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
3.7.2013 JESUS' ENEMIES: DO I RELATE THE SAME WAY TO MINE?
this morning meditating on Luke 22.52-7...
52 and Jesus said to
the chief priests and the officers of the temple and elders,
who had come against Him,
'have YOU COME OUT with swords and clubs as against a robber?
53 while I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands of Mr;
but THIS HOUR AND THE POWER OF DARKNESS ARE YOURS.
i was struck, first, by the fact that Jesus used the second person as He begins speaking.
greek, similar to spanish, has both the normal or third person as well as the second.
the third is used for talking to someone you are not familiar with, or if familiar,
not close to...used much more frequently.
the second is the familiar, you might almost say, the intimate mode of address.
you only use this with someone who you are very close with, someone you
like very much, are intimate with, are very close friends with..like that.
and here Jesus uses it with those coming under cover of darkness,
and intent on doing harm to..on doing away with Him.
this flattened me..
it 'spoke' to me of the love that Jesus has for me
even when i am or have turned away from Him.
it spoke to me of the vast distance
that separates my heart from His
when it comes to His command
to imitate Him.
the next impression was more like whiplash.
ok, Jesus is letting them know He highly esteems these men
who are coming to do Him in.
then come the thunderous impact of the next words:
'but this is to you the hour and the POWER (exUsEa) of DARKNESS.'
He's letting them know He loves them
by using the second person
by telling them, but enigmatically, that they are on the wrong side
of things. (He'll keep drawing them to Him by His total lack of
condemnation...by returning good to them with hints of who He is
ie. He had just healed the slave of the high priest's ear.
...hoping they had been listening to what He said about darkness,
what His followers already knew/believed..
john 1.5 in Him was life and the life was the light of men.
and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not (overpower) it.
3.19 and this is the judgment,
that light is come into the world,
and men loved the darkness rather than the light;
for their deeds were evil.
8.12and again Jesus spoke to them..
'I am the light of the world;
he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness,
but shall have the light of life.
12.35 Jesus...said to them,
for a little while longer the light is among you.
walk while you have the light,
that darkness may not overtake you'
he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes.
the exUsEa they were acting under was a false authority,
'swiped' from God, who allowed it to bring glory to Himself,
God's own authority as Creator over creation,
as Redeemer over those He bought out of slavery to sin.
acts 26.18 (the risen Jesus' commission to saul/paul..
'to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light
and from the dominion (exUsEa...stolen from God) of satan to God,
in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins
and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith
in Me.
O Lord help me to realize that i don't wrestle against people
but satan.
help me SUBMIT myself to You
RESIST and
STAND FIRM for You.
52 and Jesus said to
the chief priests and the officers of the temple and elders,
who had come against Him,
'have YOU COME OUT with swords and clubs as against a robber?
53 while I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands of Mr;
but THIS HOUR AND THE POWER OF DARKNESS ARE YOURS.
i was struck, first, by the fact that Jesus used the second person as He begins speaking.
greek, similar to spanish, has both the normal or third person as well as the second.
the third is used for talking to someone you are not familiar with, or if familiar,
not close to...used much more frequently.
the second is the familiar, you might almost say, the intimate mode of address.
you only use this with someone who you are very close with, someone you
like very much, are intimate with, are very close friends with..like that.
and here Jesus uses it with those coming under cover of darkness,
and intent on doing harm to..on doing away with Him.
this flattened me..
it 'spoke' to me of the love that Jesus has for me
even when i am or have turned away from Him.
it spoke to me of the vast distance
that separates my heart from His
when it comes to His command
to imitate Him.
the next impression was more like whiplash.
ok, Jesus is letting them know He highly esteems these men
who are coming to do Him in.
then come the thunderous impact of the next words:
'but this is to you the hour and the POWER (exUsEa) of DARKNESS.'
He's letting them know He loves them
by using the second person
by telling them, but enigmatically, that they are on the wrong side
of things. (He'll keep drawing them to Him by His total lack of
condemnation...by returning good to them with hints of who He is
ie. He had just healed the slave of the high priest's ear.
...hoping they had been listening to what He said about darkness,
what His followers already knew/believed..
john 1.5 in Him was life and the life was the light of men.
and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not (overpower) it.
3.19 and this is the judgment,
that light is come into the world,
and men loved the darkness rather than the light;
for their deeds were evil.
8.12and again Jesus spoke to them..
'I am the light of the world;
he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness,
but shall have the light of life.
12.35 Jesus...said to them,
for a little while longer the light is among you.
walk while you have the light,
that darkness may not overtake you'
he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes.
the exUsEa they were acting under was a false authority,
'swiped' from God, who allowed it to bring glory to Himself,
God's own authority as Creator over creation,
as Redeemer over those He bought out of slavery to sin.
acts 26.18 (the risen Jesus' commission to saul/paul..
'to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light
and from the dominion (exUsEa...stolen from God) of satan to God,
in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins
and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith
in Me.
O Lord help me to realize that i don't wrestle against people
but satan.
help me SUBMIT myself to You
RESIST and
STAND FIRM for You.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
3.6.2013 MAKE OF ME A FRIEND IN NEED
this morning as God searched my heart it came to mind for the thousandth time
...all the individuals, some very close in relation, others less so,
who are holding something against me or
against whom i am holding something.
as i sat there i was reminded of philip henry's principle
of confessing every sin one knows himself to have committed
ideally, i suppose, immediately,
but most healthily and definitely before sleep swallows the day.
i have found great help in this
and been encouraged by it.
but there are these long standing 'difficulties'
that satan keeps dragging out to try to drown me spiritually..
old wounds, offenses, call them what i will,
they still remain.
i try to excuse myself pointing to the lamentable state of
the visible church.
a church i have perceived to be and now
have found by personal experience to be
so far from following Jesus' words commanding
what we now refer to as church discipline
as to offer a context in which
sins committed by one supposed brother against another
can be resolved as Jesus taught in matthew 18.15-20.
in each of these cases i have either approached
with desire for reconciliation and/or scripture in hand..
repeatedly...
only to have the other, so far from apologizing
or admitting
to either stonewall (refuse to answer, refuse to even talk)
or justify what they have done/are doing
inspite of the black and white evidence before them
of what God says about this.
but recently i was led to do a quick look at all the occurrences
of the word 'synagogue' (both singular and plural"
which occur in the new testament.
the evidence is undeniable that Jesus never forsook
the synagogue from beginning to end.
the one in His home town of nazareth,
from which He was driven in rage
and only because it was not His time
escaped being murdered....
He returned to.
many of His controversies with the religious leaders
took place within the meeting area of the synagogue
and there was more than one occasion in which
he brought life changing healing to individuals there.
so i have come to the conclusion
that to avoid controversy over truth in the visible church
would be contrary to the example of Jesus.
who knows, many might be healed
who would otherwise possibly remain spiritually maimed
for life...(to their own destruction?)
so more turbulent waters seem to lie ahead..if i obey.
but i know one thing is true in principle,
that every time i have done bloody battle with
personal sin in my life...
the result has been well worth the agony and difficulty.
based on that i assume the same will hold true
battling sin,
unconfessed
and in many instances never lovingly reproved
among those who profess faith in Christ.
years ago i read in augustus strong's theology,
speaking of church discipline,
an illustration of what it means to ignore it..because difficult.
an old man is quoted as saying,
'i hate to comb my hair!
i do it every six months
and then it nearly kills me!!"
so another great test lies before me:
will people who know me,
if they were honest,
testify that they found me a true friend while here on earth?
my mind this morning went from,
again,
for the 'manyeth' time (!)
agonizing in mental conversation with those
with whom i have tried to reconcile differences...
for some reason,
to the verses in proverbs speaking of being a friend.
they are: 17.17;18.24;27.5-6
17.17-a friend love at all times
and a brother is born for adversity.
(this commentary is taken from delitzsch on the proverbs)
he translates,
at all times the right friend shows himself loving;
and as a brother is he born for adversity.
his thought is that 'friend' and 'brother' are not two different persons
but rather are fused into one person,
in other words the friend who shows himself loving at all times
especially in time of adversity,
is a true, a right kind of friend
and in the end he has been found to be as close as a natural born
brother would be.
his comments..the relation of a friend and brother are accordingly
related to each other climatically
(climate-prevailing temper; temper is adjustment)
in other words, he seems to be saying that it doesn't matter what
one's title of relationship is
but rather it matters how, exactly, he relates.
in title he may be 'brother'
but as his way of relating is adjusted to
-loving at all times
-ie. even loving in time of affliction
his name may be friend
but his function is brotherly.
18.24-a man of many friends comes to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
he translates,
a man of many friends cometh off a loser;
but there is a friend more faithful than a brother.
many 'friends' bring a person to loss
(literally, make a person brittle)
24b points back to 17.17 above
immanuel has given the right explanation:
'a man who sets himself to gain many friends comes finally to be a loser,
for he squanders his means,
and is impoverished in favour of others.'
but, on the other hand,
if one has one single friend who never leaves him no matter what,
and is there to assist him through difficulty..
that one has all that is needed, true?
(of course this is the picture of the Lord Jesus...
but it is a blessedness to encounter His double, with flesh on.)
27.5-6- better is open rebuke than love that is concealed.
faithful are the wounds of a friend,
but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.
he translates,
better is open accusation than secret love.
faithful are the wounds of a friend,
and overloaded (plentiful) the kisses of an enemy.
concealed censure is concealed love;
but it is much rather the neglected duty of love,
-love without mutual discipline is weak, faint hearted,
and, if it is not too blind to remark
in a friend what is worthy of blame,
is altogether too forbearing,
and essentially without conscience;
but it is not 'hidden and concealed love'.
the meaning of the proverb is different;
it is better to be courageously and sternly corrected-
on account of some fault committed-
by any one, whether he be a foe or a friend,
than to be the object of a love
which may exist indeed in the heart,
but which fails to make itself
manifest in outward act.
there are men who continually assure us of
the reality and depth of their friendship;
but when it is necessary for them
to prove their love to be self denying and generous,
they are like a torrent which is dry
when one expects to drink water from it. job 6.15
such 'secret' love, or, since the word is not nesetarth
but midetharath, love confined to the heart alone,
is like a fire which,
when it burns secretly,
neither lightens nor warms;
and before such a friend, any one who
frankly and freely tells the truth
has by far the preference,
for although he may pain us,
yet he does us good;
while the former deceives us,
for he leaves us in the lurch
when it is necessary to love us,
not merely in word and with the tongue,
but in deed and in truth I john 3.18
the contrast to neemanim, true, ie. honourable and good
(with the transference of the character of the person to his act),
would be fraudulenta ie. false.
concerning the description of the kisses..
literally 'to heap up, properly a heap of goods or treasures.
this third meaning gives to the kisses of an enemy a natural adjective:
they are too abundant, so much the more plentiful to veil over the hatred,
like the kisses by means of which judas betrayed his Lord..
in conclusion, we learn from scripture that a friend
1. always loves (ie. does what God would)
2. can be counted on to 'be there' to help even in, and through, the greatest difficulty.
3. tells you when you are not as God ('s word) would have you.
...all the individuals, some very close in relation, others less so,
who are holding something against me or
against whom i am holding something.
as i sat there i was reminded of philip henry's principle
of confessing every sin one knows himself to have committed
ideally, i suppose, immediately,
but most healthily and definitely before sleep swallows the day.
i have found great help in this
and been encouraged by it.
but there are these long standing 'difficulties'
that satan keeps dragging out to try to drown me spiritually..
old wounds, offenses, call them what i will,
they still remain.
i try to excuse myself pointing to the lamentable state of
the visible church.
a church i have perceived to be and now
have found by personal experience to be
so far from following Jesus' words commanding
what we now refer to as church discipline
as to offer a context in which
sins committed by one supposed brother against another
can be resolved as Jesus taught in matthew 18.15-20.
in each of these cases i have either approached
with desire for reconciliation and/or scripture in hand..
repeatedly...
only to have the other, so far from apologizing
or admitting
to either stonewall (refuse to answer, refuse to even talk)
or justify what they have done/are doing
inspite of the black and white evidence before them
of what God says about this.
but recently i was led to do a quick look at all the occurrences
of the word 'synagogue' (both singular and plural"
which occur in the new testament.
the evidence is undeniable that Jesus never forsook
the synagogue from beginning to end.
the one in His home town of nazareth,
from which He was driven in rage
and only because it was not His time
escaped being murdered....
He returned to.
many of His controversies with the religious leaders
took place within the meeting area of the synagogue
and there was more than one occasion in which
he brought life changing healing to individuals there.
so i have come to the conclusion
that to avoid controversy over truth in the visible church
would be contrary to the example of Jesus.
who knows, many might be healed
who would otherwise possibly remain spiritually maimed
for life...(to their own destruction?)
so more turbulent waters seem to lie ahead..if i obey.
but i know one thing is true in principle,
that every time i have done bloody battle with
personal sin in my life...
the result has been well worth the agony and difficulty.
based on that i assume the same will hold true
battling sin,
unconfessed
and in many instances never lovingly reproved
among those who profess faith in Christ.
years ago i read in augustus strong's theology,
speaking of church discipline,
an illustration of what it means to ignore it..because difficult.
an old man is quoted as saying,
'i hate to comb my hair!
i do it every six months
and then it nearly kills me!!"
so another great test lies before me:
will people who know me,
if they were honest,
testify that they found me a true friend while here on earth?
my mind this morning went from,
again,
for the 'manyeth' time (!)
agonizing in mental conversation with those
with whom i have tried to reconcile differences...
for some reason,
to the verses in proverbs speaking of being a friend.
they are: 17.17;18.24;27.5-6
17.17-a friend love at all times
and a brother is born for adversity.
(this commentary is taken from delitzsch on the proverbs)
he translates,
at all times the right friend shows himself loving;
and as a brother is he born for adversity.
his thought is that 'friend' and 'brother' are not two different persons
but rather are fused into one person,
in other words the friend who shows himself loving at all times
especially in time of adversity,
is a true, a right kind of friend
and in the end he has been found to be as close as a natural born
brother would be.
his comments..the relation of a friend and brother are accordingly
related to each other climatically
(climate-prevailing temper; temper is adjustment)
in other words, he seems to be saying that it doesn't matter what
one's title of relationship is
but rather it matters how, exactly, he relates.
in title he may be 'brother'
but as his way of relating is adjusted to
-loving at all times
-ie. even loving in time of affliction
his name may be friend
but his function is brotherly.
18.24-a man of many friends comes to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
he translates,
a man of many friends cometh off a loser;
but there is a friend more faithful than a brother.
many 'friends' bring a person to loss
(literally, make a person brittle)
24b points back to 17.17 above
immanuel has given the right explanation:
'a man who sets himself to gain many friends comes finally to be a loser,
for he squanders his means,
and is impoverished in favour of others.'
but, on the other hand,
if one has one single friend who never leaves him no matter what,
and is there to assist him through difficulty..
that one has all that is needed, true?
(of course this is the picture of the Lord Jesus...
but it is a blessedness to encounter His double, with flesh on.)
27.5-6- better is open rebuke than love that is concealed.
faithful are the wounds of a friend,
but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.
he translates,
better is open accusation than secret love.
faithful are the wounds of a friend,
and overloaded (plentiful) the kisses of an enemy.
concealed censure is concealed love;
but it is much rather the neglected duty of love,
-love without mutual discipline is weak, faint hearted,
and, if it is not too blind to remark
in a friend what is worthy of blame,
is altogether too forbearing,
and essentially without conscience;
but it is not 'hidden and concealed love'.
the meaning of the proverb is different;
it is better to be courageously and sternly corrected-
on account of some fault committed-
by any one, whether he be a foe or a friend,
than to be the object of a love
which may exist indeed in the heart,
but which fails to make itself
manifest in outward act.
there are men who continually assure us of
the reality and depth of their friendship;
but when it is necessary for them
to prove their love to be self denying and generous,
they are like a torrent which is dry
when one expects to drink water from it. job 6.15
such 'secret' love, or, since the word is not nesetarth
but midetharath, love confined to the heart alone,
is like a fire which,
when it burns secretly,
neither lightens nor warms;
and before such a friend, any one who
frankly and freely tells the truth
has by far the preference,
for although he may pain us,
yet he does us good;
while the former deceives us,
for he leaves us in the lurch
when it is necessary to love us,
not merely in word and with the tongue,
but in deed and in truth I john 3.18
the contrast to neemanim, true, ie. honourable and good
(with the transference of the character of the person to his act),
would be fraudulenta ie. false.
concerning the description of the kisses..
literally 'to heap up, properly a heap of goods or treasures.
this third meaning gives to the kisses of an enemy a natural adjective:
they are too abundant, so much the more plentiful to veil over the hatred,
like the kisses by means of which judas betrayed his Lord..
in conclusion, we learn from scripture that a friend
1. always loves (ie. does what God would)
2. can be counted on to 'be there' to help even in, and through, the greatest difficulty.
3. tells you when you are not as God ('s word) would have you.
3.6.2013 WALKING BACKWARD DOWN THE STAIRS
on the way over to the library i was listening to larry norman singing this song...so apropos to the story of my life...thinking i'm going up (or worse yet, 'arrived') and actually going backwards. nobody else is fooled when i'm not at all like God..even me.
the lyrics-
walking backwards down the stairs
trying to get higher
how can i get anywhere
walking backwards down the stairs
watching life elude me
slipping through my grasp
oh i know the truth at last
but to reach the top i've got to stop from
walking backwards down the stairs trying to get higher
how can i get anywhere
walking backwards down the stairs
people stop to watch me
wonder what i'm doing
what direction i'm pursuing
i pretend i'm free but actually i'm
walking backwards down the stairs
trying to get higher, higher
how can i get anywhere
walking backwards down the stairs
i so relate to these words
and ask God this morning for His mercy and grace
to actually come closer to Him
by doing consistently what He says
and by actually desiring to please Him
in every thought, word and deed.
(not one seeing but Him..)
the lyrics-
walking backwards down the stairs
trying to get higher
how can i get anywhere
walking backwards down the stairs
watching life elude me
slipping through my grasp
oh i know the truth at last
but to reach the top i've got to stop from
walking backwards down the stairs trying to get higher
how can i get anywhere
walking backwards down the stairs
people stop to watch me
wonder what i'm doing
what direction i'm pursuing
i pretend i'm free but actually i'm
walking backwards down the stairs
trying to get higher, higher
how can i get anywhere
walking backwards down the stairs
i so relate to these words
and ask God this morning for His mercy and grace
to actually come closer to Him
by doing consistently what He says
and by actually desiring to please Him
in every thought, word and deed.
(not one seeing but Him..)
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
3.5.2013 PETER HENRY IV
'honor is like the shadow which flees from those who pursue it
and follows those who flee from it.
'duty is ours; events are God's
though a man cannot bring his condition to be as big as his heart,
yet, if he can bring his heart to be as little as his condition, ;
from thence is contentment.
earthly minded me..are like moles; they live in the earth;
they see no beauty in holiness, no comeliness in Jesus Christ.
the three questions which he advised people
to put to themselves in self examination before the sacrament, were,
what am i?
what have i done?
what do i want?
what am i? in sin, or in Christ?
am i effectually called, or am i not?
if not, it is dangerous coming.
ask what am i,
that if i am not as i should be,
i may mend my state.
if not alive, then go to God for spiritual life.
and when God gives life,
then away to the sacrament for the support of the spiritual life.
those mentioned in acts 2,
as soon as they were converted,
were presently in church fellowship.
what have i don?
here is work for self examination.
to consider our sins; the sin of our nature;
the sins of our hearts and lives;
the sins of our particular relations;
sabbath sin; tongue sins, etc.
when we have found out our sins,
then we must repent.
repenting includes contrition, hearty sorrow;
contrition is the breaking of the heart, pounding it as in a mortar.
confession, telling God what we have done.
conversion, turning from sin.
with all these, hearty prayer must be joined.
what do i want?
a condemned malefactor wants a pardon;
a hungry soul wants bread;
a debtor wants a surety;
a traveller wants a guide;
a guilty person wants a city of refuge;
a blind man wants eye salve;
a weak soul wants strength;
a graceless heart wants grace;
a sinner wants a saviour.
now all these are to be had with Christ.
all these are offered in the sacrament.
in one word, Christ and all His benefits.
when we are going to a market,
we look about the house to see what is wanting.
when we have found out our wants,
we must represent them to god in prayer.
in reference to this subject he would say;
-self examination is required before the communion;
and he was urgent in pressing it;
he frequently explained the nature of the duty
and pointed out the hinderances of it;
such as laziness, self love, pride and ignorance of its necessity.
many think, he remarks,
every man is bound to believe his sins are pardoned
and that God is his Father
that it is a fault to question it.
they are ignorant of the nature and way of the duty;
know not how to examine, where to begin,
nor want to inquire after.
some are hindered by a desperate resolution -to what purpose should they try?
-they resolve to continue as they are, come what will;\
this preciseness will not suit them;
they must have liberty.
the world is a snare to many.
false persuasions, that the work is done already, hinder others.
(foot: they are fully persuaded that Christ died for them and that they shall be saved. how they came by this persuasion they cannot tell. but is is suspicious to have goods and know not how one came by them the doctrine of faith, by john rogers 1634)
many who do examine, yet do it by halves;
they go about it in their own strength, and so miscarry.
as motives to it, he would urge, that multitudes perish who thought all was well
prov 14.12; luke 13.25;18.10-11; revelations 3.17.
-it is an easy and a common thing to be mistaken;
there are many bye ways;
the heart is deceitful.
the least despairing are most desperate, isaiah 44.20.
what if death should come before thou hast tried?
thou wilt be lost for ever; there will be no trying in the grave.
shortly, God will try you.
besides, there is great advantage in it.
if unconverted, it will be a means to bring thee out of that condition.
if in Christ, it will marvellously further consolation;
in this way and no other thou mayest attain assurance, II pet. 1.10
which will produce admirable sweetness;
sweetness in every condition, let publick troubles be what they man.
it will abate the terribleness of death and judgment,
and add wings to obedience.
he would say, by way of direction;
-art thou resolved to set about it?
sequester thyself from all other employments.
implore the spirit's assistance by hearty prayer, psalm 139.20
pitch upon such a time when you are fittest for the work, -best disposed.
have in readiness some scripture marks of truth and grace, and then try,
-it it thus with me, or is it not?
give not over till it be brought to some issue;
let the sentence pass without fear or flattery.
when thou knowest they condition, be affected accordingly.
if thou find thou art, to this day, in thy sins,
oh, tremble, and make haste!
do not conclude it is in vain to turn.
if otherwise, rejoice and be exceeding glad.
on another occasion he writes.
are ye passed from death unto life?
there is such a thing, and it may be known,
and we can have no comfort in living the life of nature,
if we are not spiritually alive;
if we do not live the life of grace.
now, one good mark to know it by is the END that we live to.
is that God or self?
another, is by the FOOD that we live upon.
is that Chris?-His merit and righteousness for justification;
His Spirit and grace for sanctification?
another, is by the RULE that we live by.
is that the rule of the new creature,-the word of God/
is that the card and compass we sail by,
-the light and lamp we walk by?
or, is it something else,
-the dictates of our own corrupt nature, carnal reason, fleshly appetites,
the course and custom of this vain world?
try by this.
...matthew 7.24 preached..
therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him...
he observed, that he who hears sermons, and doth not do them, is a monster in religion.
he is all head and ears, having neither hands to work with nor feet to walk with.
there is a disease, which children have, called the rickets,
wherein their heads swell as large as two heads,
and their legs are crooked, which hinder their going.
we have many ricketty christians;
they hear much and their heads swell with empty notions and indigested opinions,
but their legs are crooked, their walking is perverse. (turned away)
every such person is a mocker of God,
a deceiver of himself,
a discourager of ministers, barren soil,
a bad servant,
a beholder of his natural face in a glass,
a builder of his house upon the sand.
...the great thing that he condemned and witnessed against in the church of rome,
was their monopolizing of the church,
and condemning all that are not in with their interests,
which is so directly contrary to the spirit of the gospel,
as nothing can be more.
he sometimes said,
i am too much a catholick to be a roman catholick.
..noticing the common objection urged against the strictness of a holy life;
-it is more than needs.
i have a good heart towards God;
i go to church and give to every man his own;
and what do the best more?
i will tell thee, saith he.
-they do more;
they watch against the occasions of sin
and pray and endeavour, that the wicked one may not touch them.
then he hath touched them and they have sinned,
it is the great grief of their souls, caused them to mourn bitterly.
they take hold, by FAITH, on the blood of Christ
and receive remission through Him...
..earthly riches are uncertain riches I tim. 6.17;
but spiritual mercies are sure mercies. isaiah 60.3
..he observed, from numbers 10.12
-that all our removes in this world,
are but from one wilderness to another.
upon any change that is before us,
we are apt to promise ourselves a canaan,
but we shall be deceived,
it will prove a wilderness.
..on the duty of christian reproof, he observes;
-when we reprove our brother, we must be careful we violate not his credit.
so Christ looked only upon peter, lest, if He had spoken to him,
the jews, over hearing, might have reviled and upbraided him
with his treachery to his master.
so also, at supper, when he reproved judas,
He speaks in general terms;-'one of you'
again;-to reprove a brother, is like as,
when he is fallen, to help him up again;
when he is wounded, to help to cure him;
when he hath broken a bone, to help to set it;
when he is out of his way,to put him in it;
when he is fallen into the fire, to pluck him out'
when he hath contracted defilement, to help to cleanse him.
in reproving, temper zeal with charity.
in the ark, as there was aaron's rod, so there was also the pot of manna;
virga severitatis manna dulcedinis;
bitter pills must be gilded over with love and meekness.
he would not bear that any should be evil spoken of in his hearing;
it was to him as vinegar to the teeth.
he would mind those who reflected upon people behind their backs,
of that law, lev. 19.14; thou shalt not cures the deaf.
those that are absent are deaf,
they cannot right themselves
and therefore say no ill of them.
a friend of his inquiring of him concerning a matter
which tended to reflect upon some people;
he began to give him an account of the story,
but immediately broke off and checked himself with these words,
but our rule is, to speak evil of no man,
and would proceed no further in the story.
it was but the week before he died, that one desired him to lend hims such a book.
truly, saith he, i would lend it you, but that it rakes in the faults of some,
which should rather be covered with a mantle of love.
it were easy to multiply instances of this.
when some zealous people in the country would have him to preach against
top-knots and other vanities in apparel,
he would say, that was none of his business;
if he could but persuade people to Christ,
the pride and vanity, and excess of those things
would fall of course;
and yet he had a dislike to vanity and gaiety of dress
and allowed it not in those that he had influence upon.
...when some complained to him of a relation of their's
that would not let them dress his children with ribbons, and other fine things;
why truly, saith mr. henry,
those things are fit for children;
thereby reproving both him that would not allow them to his children
and them that perhaps minded them too much themselves.
on first wearing a new suit of clothes, he wrote,
-lord, clothe me with Thy righteousness, which is
a comely, costly, lasting, everlasting garment.
..on one occasion, he writes,
-none should despair, because God can help them;
none should presume, because God can cross them.
..the will of God's purpose is the rule of all His actions;
the will of His precept is the rule of all our actions.
god can provide for us without us;
so cannot we for ourselves without God.
mr henry said he had observed concerning himself,
that he was sometimes the worse for eating,
but never for abstinence;
sometimes the worse for wearing too few clothes,
but never for wearing too many;
sometimes the worse for speaking,
but never the worse for keeping silence. (
(foot: xenocrates, holding his peace at some detractive discourse, was asked, why he spoke not?
'because i have sometimes repented of speaking,
but never of holding my peace.)
as to his letters, he was very free in writing to his friends.
a good letter, he would say,
may perhaps do more good than o good sermon,
because the address is more particular,
and that which is written remains.
his language and expressions in his letters were
always pious and heavenly and seasoned with the salt of grace;
and when there was occasion, he would excellently administer
counsels, reproofs or comforts by letter.
he kept no copies...
in a letter to his son..
we are well, but in daily expectation of that which we are born
and born again to, and that is trouble in this world
(foot: as God hath hedged up our way with strict commands,
so He hath strewed it likewise with thorns of afflictions.)
yet rejoicing in hope of the glory of God,
which we are reaching after and pressing towards,
as we trust you are also.
where you are, you see more of the glittering vanities of this world in a day,
than we here do in an age;
and are you more and more in love with them,
or dead and dying to them?
i hope dead and dying to them
for they are poor things and perish in the using;
make many worse that enjoy them, but none better.
what is translated vexation of spirit, eccl. 1.2,
bay be read feeding upon wind,
compare hosea 12.1.
and can wind satisfy?
the Lord preserve and keep you from all evil...
it is some short refreshment to friends and relations,
to see and hear from one another, but it passeth away,
and we have here no continuing city,
no abiding delights in this world;
our rest remains elsewhere;
those we have, lose much of their sweetness,
form the thoughts of parting with them while we enjoy them,
but the happiness to come is eternal:
after millions of millions of ages,
if we may so speak of eternity,
as far from an end as the first moment..
keep that in your eye , my dear child, and it will, as much as any thing,
dazzle your eyes, to all the fading, deceiving vanities of this lower world;
and will be a quickening motive to you,
to abound always in the work of the Lord,
forasmuch as you know your labour
shall not be in vain in the Lord.
...he that girdeth on the harness,
must not boast as he that puts it off.
while the world we live in is under the moon,
-constant in nothing but inconstancy,
-and such changes are made in other families,
why should we alone promise ourselves
immunity from the common lot?
there would be no need of faith and patience,
which are winter graces,
if it should be always summer time with us.
we have three unchangeables
to oppose to all other mutabilities;
an unchangeable covenant,
and unchangeable God
and an unchangeable heaven.
and while these three remain the same yesterday, to day and for ever,
welcome the will of our heavenly Father
in all events that may happen to us;
come what will,
nothing can come amiss to us.
the further progress you make in your studies,
you will find them the easier;
it is so with religion,
the worst is at first.
it is like the picture that frowned at first entrance,
but afterwards smiles and looks pleasant.
they that walk in sinful ways,
meet with some difficulties at first,
which custom conquers, and they become as nothing.
it is good accustoming ourselves to that which is good.
the more we do the more we may do in religion.
your acquaintance, i doubt not,
increaseth abroad,
and accordingly your watch must be;
for by that oftentimes, ere we are aware, we are ensnared.
he that walketh with wised men shall be wise.
...your improvement is our joy.
be sincere and serious, clothed with humility,
abounding always in the work of the Lord;
and when you have done all, saying,
i am an unprofitable servant,
i have done only what was my duty to do.
it was the good advice of the moral philosopher,
in your converse with men
-Distrust.
but i must add, in everything towards God,
-Believe.
expect temptation and a snare at every turn,
and walk accordingly.
we have a good cause,
-a vanquished enemy..
-an extraordinary pay;...
i would have you redeem time for hearing the word
in season and out of season;
your other studies will prosper never the worse,
especially if you could return immediately from it
to the closet again,
without cooling divertisements (diversion or entertainment)
by the way.
see your need of Christ more and more, and live upon Him;
no life like it, so sweet, so safe.
(foot: He is sweet food, I pet 2.3; song of songs 2.3. He is sweet in His pardons, His promises, His ordinances, His offices, His comforts, His communion. those who have fed upon Christ are lively in the ways of God; their appetites are dead to the world; they are solicitous to bring in others;
and they are desirous after more.)
we cannot be discharged from the guilt of any evil we do,
without His merit to satisfy:
we cannot move in the performance of any good required,
which out His spirit and grace to assist and enable for it;
and when we have done all,
that all is nothing,
without His mediation and intercession to make it acceptable;
so that every day, in everything, He is All in all....
be careful of your health...
but especially neglect not the main matter.
the soul is the man;
if that do well, all is well.
..redeem time, especially for your soul.
expect trouble in this world and prepare for it.
(foot: mr. greenham said, 'he never looked for a better estate than that wherein he was,
but often prepared himself for a worse.)
expect happiness in the other world,
and walk worthy of it, unto all pleasing.
a good book is a good companion at any time,
but especially a good God, who is always ready to hold communion
with those that desire and seek communion with Him.
keep low and humble in your thoughts and opinion of yourself;
but aim high in your desires and expectations,
(foot: covet grace earnestly, but beware of coveting any creature earnestly, john 4.27; col. 3.2
'pitch thy behaviour low, they projects high;
so shalt thou humble and magnanimous be;
(generous in forgiving insult or injury)
sink not in spirit. who aimeth at the sky,
shoots higher much than he that means a tree.
the church porch. herbert's poems)
even as high as the kingdom of heaven itself,
and resolve to take up with nothing short of it...
immediately after his son was ordained to the work of the ministry at london,
in the year 1687, he thus wrote to him..
are you now a minster of Jesus Christ?
hath He counted you faithful, putting you into the ministry?
then, be faithful.
out of love to Him feed His lambs.
make it your to ergon (the work),
as a workman that needs not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth...
i am and shall be, according to my duty and promise,
earnest at the throne of grace, on your behalf,
that the Lord will pour out upon you of Hid Holy Spirit,
that He would take you off your own bottom,
and lay you low in the sense of your own
unworthiness, inability and insufficiency,
that you may say...woe is me, i am undone!
and with jeremiah, i am a child
and with paul, i am nothing.
where this is not, the main thing is wanting;
for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble...
..to one of his daughters, concerning her little ones,
he thus writes; - 'they are but bubbles.
(foot: 'like to the falling of a star,
or as the flights of eagles are
or like the fresh spring's gaudy hue
or silver drops of morning dew
or like a wind that *chafes the flood
(to 'wear' by rubbing)
or bubbles which on water stood
even such is man, whose borrowed light
is strait called in and paid tonight.
the wind blows out; the bubble dies
the spring entomb'd in autumn lies
the dew dries up; the star is shot
the flight is past and man forgot.)
we have many warnings to sit loose.
the less we rely upon them in our joys and hopes,
the more likely to have them continued to us.
our God is a jealous God;
nor will he suffer the creature
to usurp his throne in our affections.
..to one who desired his direction for the attaining the gift of prayer
he wrote the following letter of advice.
if you would be able in words and expressions of your own,
without the help of a form,
to offer up prayers to God,
observe these following rules of direction,
in the use whereof,
by God's blessing, you may in time attain thereunto.
1. you must be thoroughly convinced, that,
where such a gift is it is of great use to a christian,
both very comfortable and very profitable
and therefore very desirable and worth your serious endeavours.
this must first be or else all that follows will signify nothing.
for it is as the wise man saith,
prov. 18.1 through desire, a man having separated himself,\
seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom;
that is, till we are brought, in some good measure, to desire the end,
we shall never in good earnest apply ourselves to the means
for the obtaining of it.
it is a gift that fits a person to be of use to others in the duty of prayer
according as there is occasion, either in a family or in christian communion.
(foot: an ingenuous man would be ashamed to pretend unto any art or faculty,
wherein he is grossly ignorant:so may that man be to profess religion,
who neglects to attain this gift.
a christian that cannot pray,
is like a orator that cannot speak,
or a traveller that cannot go. bishop wilkins on prayer..)
it is also of great advantage to ourselves.
for how can any form though never so exact
be possibly contrived so as to reach all the circumstances of my particular case?
and yet it is my duty, in everything, to make my requests known to God.
3.you must rightly understand and consider who it is,
(foot: by prayer we honour God in the acknowledgment of our dependence upon Him
and in the owning of Him as all sufficient,
able to supply all our needs;
also an all seeing and all knowing God.
therefore, to restrain prayer,
is to deny Him that service and homage which are His due.
but then prayer is an inward thing.
tis heart work.
it must be done in the spirit, ephesians 6.18
He regards not what words, but what desires.
desires.without words are prayers;
but words without desires are but babbling.)
with whom you have to do in prayer,
for your encouragement to come to Him,
though in the midst of many infirmities and imperfections.
he is your Father, your loving, tender hearted Father,
who knows your frame and remembers you are but dust;
who is not extreme to mark what we do amiss in manner and expression,
where the heart is upright with Him.
you may judge a little concerning His love,
by the disposition that is in you towards your children,
when they come to ask things needful of you.
and believe Him to be infinitely more merciful and compassionate
than the most merciful and compassionate of fathers and mothers are or can be..
4. you must pray that you may pray.
(do but think how a poor condemned creature would carry it, if he might but find
so much favour as to be admitted into the king's presence, to speak for himself.
beg of God, the Father of lights,
form whom every good and perfect gift comes,
to bestow this gift upon you. ...
5. it is good, before you address yourself to the duty,
to read a portion of holy scripture, which will be of great use to furnish you
both with matter and words for prayer,
especially david's psalms and paul's epistles.
the Holy spirit hath provided for us a treasury or store house
of what is suitable for all occasions, ...
6. there must be some acquaintance with our own hearts,
with our spiritual state and condition,
our wants and way,
or else no good will be done in this matter.
It is sense of need, hunger, thirst, cold, nakedness,
that supplies the poor beggar at your door with
pertinent expressions and arguments;
he needs not the help of any friend or book to furnish him.
\so if we know ourselves, and feel our condition,
and set God before us as our God.
able and ready to help us.
words will easity follow wherewith to offer up our desires to Him,
who understands the language even of sighs and tears and groanings
which cannot be uttered. romans 8.26
(foot: prayers not self by us, are seldom heart by God. p.henry)
and follows those who flee from it.
'duty is ours; events are God's
though a man cannot bring his condition to be as big as his heart,
yet, if he can bring his heart to be as little as his condition, ;
from thence is contentment.
earthly minded me..are like moles; they live in the earth;
they see no beauty in holiness, no comeliness in Jesus Christ.
the three questions which he advised people
to put to themselves in self examination before the sacrament, were,
what am i?
what have i done?
what do i want?
what am i? in sin, or in Christ?
am i effectually called, or am i not?
if not, it is dangerous coming.
ask what am i,
that if i am not as i should be,
i may mend my state.
if not alive, then go to God for spiritual life.
and when God gives life,
then away to the sacrament for the support of the spiritual life.
those mentioned in acts 2,
as soon as they were converted,
were presently in church fellowship.
what have i don?
here is work for self examination.
to consider our sins; the sin of our nature;
the sins of our hearts and lives;
the sins of our particular relations;
sabbath sin; tongue sins, etc.
when we have found out our sins,
then we must repent.
repenting includes contrition, hearty sorrow;
contrition is the breaking of the heart, pounding it as in a mortar.
confession, telling God what we have done.
conversion, turning from sin.
with all these, hearty prayer must be joined.
what do i want?
a condemned malefactor wants a pardon;
a hungry soul wants bread;
a debtor wants a surety;
a traveller wants a guide;
a guilty person wants a city of refuge;
a blind man wants eye salve;
a weak soul wants strength;
a graceless heart wants grace;
a sinner wants a saviour.
now all these are to be had with Christ.
all these are offered in the sacrament.
in one word, Christ and all His benefits.
when we are going to a market,
we look about the house to see what is wanting.
when we have found out our wants,
we must represent them to god in prayer.
in reference to this subject he would say;
-self examination is required before the communion;
and he was urgent in pressing it;
he frequently explained the nature of the duty
and pointed out the hinderances of it;
such as laziness, self love, pride and ignorance of its necessity.
many think, he remarks,
every man is bound to believe his sins are pardoned
and that God is his Father
that it is a fault to question it.
they are ignorant of the nature and way of the duty;
know not how to examine, where to begin,
nor want to inquire after.
some are hindered by a desperate resolution -to what purpose should they try?
-they resolve to continue as they are, come what will;\
this preciseness will not suit them;
they must have liberty.
the world is a snare to many.
false persuasions, that the work is done already, hinder others.
(foot: they are fully persuaded that Christ died for them and that they shall be saved. how they came by this persuasion they cannot tell. but is is suspicious to have goods and know not how one came by them the doctrine of faith, by john rogers 1634)
many who do examine, yet do it by halves;
they go about it in their own strength, and so miscarry.
as motives to it, he would urge, that multitudes perish who thought all was well
prov 14.12; luke 13.25;18.10-11; revelations 3.17.
-it is an easy and a common thing to be mistaken;
there are many bye ways;
the heart is deceitful.
the least despairing are most desperate, isaiah 44.20.
what if death should come before thou hast tried?
thou wilt be lost for ever; there will be no trying in the grave.
shortly, God will try you.
besides, there is great advantage in it.
if unconverted, it will be a means to bring thee out of that condition.
if in Christ, it will marvellously further consolation;
in this way and no other thou mayest attain assurance, II pet. 1.10
which will produce admirable sweetness;
sweetness in every condition, let publick troubles be what they man.
it will abate the terribleness of death and judgment,
and add wings to obedience.
he would say, by way of direction;
-art thou resolved to set about it?
sequester thyself from all other employments.
implore the spirit's assistance by hearty prayer, psalm 139.20
pitch upon such a time when you are fittest for the work, -best disposed.
have in readiness some scripture marks of truth and grace, and then try,
-it it thus with me, or is it not?
give not over till it be brought to some issue;
let the sentence pass without fear or flattery.
when thou knowest they condition, be affected accordingly.
if thou find thou art, to this day, in thy sins,
oh, tremble, and make haste!
do not conclude it is in vain to turn.
if otherwise, rejoice and be exceeding glad.
on another occasion he writes.
are ye passed from death unto life?
there is such a thing, and it may be known,
and we can have no comfort in living the life of nature,
if we are not spiritually alive;
if we do not live the life of grace.
now, one good mark to know it by is the END that we live to.
is that God or self?
another, is by the FOOD that we live upon.
is that Chris?-His merit and righteousness for justification;
His Spirit and grace for sanctification?
another, is by the RULE that we live by.
is that the rule of the new creature,-the word of God/
is that the card and compass we sail by,
-the light and lamp we walk by?
or, is it something else,
-the dictates of our own corrupt nature, carnal reason, fleshly appetites,
the course and custom of this vain world?
try by this.
...matthew 7.24 preached..
therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him...
he observed, that he who hears sermons, and doth not do them, is a monster in religion.
he is all head and ears, having neither hands to work with nor feet to walk with.
there is a disease, which children have, called the rickets,
wherein their heads swell as large as two heads,
and their legs are crooked, which hinder their going.
we have many ricketty christians;
they hear much and their heads swell with empty notions and indigested opinions,
but their legs are crooked, their walking is perverse. (turned away)
every such person is a mocker of God,
a deceiver of himself,
a discourager of ministers, barren soil,
a bad servant,
a beholder of his natural face in a glass,
a builder of his house upon the sand.
...the great thing that he condemned and witnessed against in the church of rome,
was their monopolizing of the church,
and condemning all that are not in with their interests,
which is so directly contrary to the spirit of the gospel,
as nothing can be more.
he sometimes said,
i am too much a catholick to be a roman catholick.
..noticing the common objection urged against the strictness of a holy life;
-it is more than needs.
i have a good heart towards God;
i go to church and give to every man his own;
and what do the best more?
i will tell thee, saith he.
-they do more;
they watch against the occasions of sin
and pray and endeavour, that the wicked one may not touch them.
then he hath touched them and they have sinned,
it is the great grief of their souls, caused them to mourn bitterly.
they take hold, by FAITH, on the blood of Christ
and receive remission through Him...
..earthly riches are uncertain riches I tim. 6.17;
but spiritual mercies are sure mercies. isaiah 60.3
..he observed, from numbers 10.12
-that all our removes in this world,
are but from one wilderness to another.
upon any change that is before us,
we are apt to promise ourselves a canaan,
but we shall be deceived,
it will prove a wilderness.
..on the duty of christian reproof, he observes;
-when we reprove our brother, we must be careful we violate not his credit.
so Christ looked only upon peter, lest, if He had spoken to him,
the jews, over hearing, might have reviled and upbraided him
with his treachery to his master.
so also, at supper, when he reproved judas,
He speaks in general terms;-'one of you'
again;-to reprove a brother, is like as,
when he is fallen, to help him up again;
when he is wounded, to help to cure him;
when he hath broken a bone, to help to set it;
when he is out of his way,to put him in it;
when he is fallen into the fire, to pluck him out'
when he hath contracted defilement, to help to cleanse him.
in reproving, temper zeal with charity.
in the ark, as there was aaron's rod, so there was also the pot of manna;
virga severitatis manna dulcedinis;
bitter pills must be gilded over with love and meekness.
he would not bear that any should be evil spoken of in his hearing;
it was to him as vinegar to the teeth.
he would mind those who reflected upon people behind their backs,
of that law, lev. 19.14; thou shalt not cures the deaf.
those that are absent are deaf,
they cannot right themselves
and therefore say no ill of them.
a friend of his inquiring of him concerning a matter
which tended to reflect upon some people;
he began to give him an account of the story,
but immediately broke off and checked himself with these words,
but our rule is, to speak evil of no man,
and would proceed no further in the story.
it was but the week before he died, that one desired him to lend hims such a book.
truly, saith he, i would lend it you, but that it rakes in the faults of some,
which should rather be covered with a mantle of love.
it were easy to multiply instances of this.
when some zealous people in the country would have him to preach against
top-knots and other vanities in apparel,
he would say, that was none of his business;
if he could but persuade people to Christ,
the pride and vanity, and excess of those things
would fall of course;
and yet he had a dislike to vanity and gaiety of dress
and allowed it not in those that he had influence upon.
...when some complained to him of a relation of their's
that would not let them dress his children with ribbons, and other fine things;
why truly, saith mr. henry,
those things are fit for children;
thereby reproving both him that would not allow them to his children
and them that perhaps minded them too much themselves.
on first wearing a new suit of clothes, he wrote,
-lord, clothe me with Thy righteousness, which is
a comely, costly, lasting, everlasting garment.
..on one occasion, he writes,
-none should despair, because God can help them;
none should presume, because God can cross them.
..the will of God's purpose is the rule of all His actions;
the will of His precept is the rule of all our actions.
god can provide for us without us;
so cannot we for ourselves without God.
mr henry said he had observed concerning himself,
that he was sometimes the worse for eating,
but never for abstinence;
sometimes the worse for wearing too few clothes,
but never for wearing too many;
sometimes the worse for speaking,
but never the worse for keeping silence. (
(foot: xenocrates, holding his peace at some detractive discourse, was asked, why he spoke not?
'because i have sometimes repented of speaking,
but never of holding my peace.)
as to his letters, he was very free in writing to his friends.
a good letter, he would say,
may perhaps do more good than o good sermon,
because the address is more particular,
and that which is written remains.
his language and expressions in his letters were
always pious and heavenly and seasoned with the salt of grace;
and when there was occasion, he would excellently administer
counsels, reproofs or comforts by letter.
he kept no copies...
in a letter to his son..
we are well, but in daily expectation of that which we are born
and born again to, and that is trouble in this world
(foot: as God hath hedged up our way with strict commands,
so He hath strewed it likewise with thorns of afflictions.)
yet rejoicing in hope of the glory of God,
which we are reaching after and pressing towards,
as we trust you are also.
where you are, you see more of the glittering vanities of this world in a day,
than we here do in an age;
and are you more and more in love with them,
or dead and dying to them?
i hope dead and dying to them
for they are poor things and perish in the using;
make many worse that enjoy them, but none better.
what is translated vexation of spirit, eccl. 1.2,
bay be read feeding upon wind,
compare hosea 12.1.
and can wind satisfy?
the Lord preserve and keep you from all evil...
it is some short refreshment to friends and relations,
to see and hear from one another, but it passeth away,
and we have here no continuing city,
no abiding delights in this world;
our rest remains elsewhere;
those we have, lose much of their sweetness,
form the thoughts of parting with them while we enjoy them,
but the happiness to come is eternal:
after millions of millions of ages,
if we may so speak of eternity,
as far from an end as the first moment..
keep that in your eye , my dear child, and it will, as much as any thing,
dazzle your eyes, to all the fading, deceiving vanities of this lower world;
and will be a quickening motive to you,
to abound always in the work of the Lord,
forasmuch as you know your labour
shall not be in vain in the Lord.
...he that girdeth on the harness,
must not boast as he that puts it off.
while the world we live in is under the moon,
-constant in nothing but inconstancy,
-and such changes are made in other families,
why should we alone promise ourselves
immunity from the common lot?
there would be no need of faith and patience,
which are winter graces,
if it should be always summer time with us.
we have three unchangeables
to oppose to all other mutabilities;
an unchangeable covenant,
and unchangeable God
and an unchangeable heaven.
and while these three remain the same yesterday, to day and for ever,
welcome the will of our heavenly Father
in all events that may happen to us;
come what will,
nothing can come amiss to us.
the further progress you make in your studies,
you will find them the easier;
it is so with religion,
the worst is at first.
it is like the picture that frowned at first entrance,
but afterwards smiles and looks pleasant.
they that walk in sinful ways,
meet with some difficulties at first,
which custom conquers, and they become as nothing.
it is good accustoming ourselves to that which is good.
the more we do the more we may do in religion.
your acquaintance, i doubt not,
increaseth abroad,
and accordingly your watch must be;
for by that oftentimes, ere we are aware, we are ensnared.
he that walketh with wised men shall be wise.
...your improvement is our joy.
be sincere and serious, clothed with humility,
abounding always in the work of the Lord;
and when you have done all, saying,
i am an unprofitable servant,
i have done only what was my duty to do.
it was the good advice of the moral philosopher,
in your converse with men
-Distrust.
but i must add, in everything towards God,
-Believe.
expect temptation and a snare at every turn,
and walk accordingly.
we have a good cause,
-a vanquished enemy..
-an extraordinary pay;...
i would have you redeem time for hearing the word
in season and out of season;
your other studies will prosper never the worse,
especially if you could return immediately from it
to the closet again,
without cooling divertisements (diversion or entertainment)
by the way.
see your need of Christ more and more, and live upon Him;
no life like it, so sweet, so safe.
(foot: He is sweet food, I pet 2.3; song of songs 2.3. He is sweet in His pardons, His promises, His ordinances, His offices, His comforts, His communion. those who have fed upon Christ are lively in the ways of God; their appetites are dead to the world; they are solicitous to bring in others;
and they are desirous after more.)
we cannot be discharged from the guilt of any evil we do,
without His merit to satisfy:
we cannot move in the performance of any good required,
which out His spirit and grace to assist and enable for it;
and when we have done all,
that all is nothing,
without His mediation and intercession to make it acceptable;
so that every day, in everything, He is All in all....
be careful of your health...
but especially neglect not the main matter.
the soul is the man;
if that do well, all is well.
..redeem time, especially for your soul.
expect trouble in this world and prepare for it.
(foot: mr. greenham said, 'he never looked for a better estate than that wherein he was,
but often prepared himself for a worse.)
expect happiness in the other world,
and walk worthy of it, unto all pleasing.
a good book is a good companion at any time,
but especially a good God, who is always ready to hold communion
with those that desire and seek communion with Him.
keep low and humble in your thoughts and opinion of yourself;
but aim high in your desires and expectations,
(foot: covet grace earnestly, but beware of coveting any creature earnestly, john 4.27; col. 3.2
'pitch thy behaviour low, they projects high;
so shalt thou humble and magnanimous be;
(generous in forgiving insult or injury)
sink not in spirit. who aimeth at the sky,
shoots higher much than he that means a tree.
the church porch. herbert's poems)
even as high as the kingdom of heaven itself,
and resolve to take up with nothing short of it...
immediately after his son was ordained to the work of the ministry at london,
in the year 1687, he thus wrote to him..
are you now a minster of Jesus Christ?
hath He counted you faithful, putting you into the ministry?
then, be faithful.
out of love to Him feed His lambs.
make it your to ergon (the work),
as a workman that needs not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth...
i am and shall be, according to my duty and promise,
earnest at the throne of grace, on your behalf,
that the Lord will pour out upon you of Hid Holy Spirit,
that He would take you off your own bottom,
and lay you low in the sense of your own
unworthiness, inability and insufficiency,
that you may say...woe is me, i am undone!
and with jeremiah, i am a child
and with paul, i am nothing.
where this is not, the main thing is wanting;
for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble...
..to one of his daughters, concerning her little ones,
he thus writes; - 'they are but bubbles.
(foot: 'like to the falling of a star,
or as the flights of eagles are
or like the fresh spring's gaudy hue
or silver drops of morning dew
or like a wind that *chafes the flood
(to 'wear' by rubbing)
or bubbles which on water stood
even such is man, whose borrowed light
is strait called in and paid tonight.
the wind blows out; the bubble dies
the spring entomb'd in autumn lies
the dew dries up; the star is shot
the flight is past and man forgot.)
we have many warnings to sit loose.
the less we rely upon them in our joys and hopes,
the more likely to have them continued to us.
our God is a jealous God;
nor will he suffer the creature
to usurp his throne in our affections.
..to one who desired his direction for the attaining the gift of prayer
he wrote the following letter of advice.
if you would be able in words and expressions of your own,
without the help of a form,
to offer up prayers to God,
observe these following rules of direction,
in the use whereof,
by God's blessing, you may in time attain thereunto.
1. you must be thoroughly convinced, that,
where such a gift is it is of great use to a christian,
both very comfortable and very profitable
and therefore very desirable and worth your serious endeavours.
this must first be or else all that follows will signify nothing.
for it is as the wise man saith,
prov. 18.1 through desire, a man having separated himself,\
seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom;
that is, till we are brought, in some good measure, to desire the end,
we shall never in good earnest apply ourselves to the means
for the obtaining of it.
it is a gift that fits a person to be of use to others in the duty of prayer
according as there is occasion, either in a family or in christian communion.
(foot: an ingenuous man would be ashamed to pretend unto any art or faculty,
wherein he is grossly ignorant:so may that man be to profess religion,
who neglects to attain this gift.
a christian that cannot pray,
is like a orator that cannot speak,
or a traveller that cannot go. bishop wilkins on prayer..)
it is also of great advantage to ourselves.
for how can any form though never so exact
be possibly contrived so as to reach all the circumstances of my particular case?
and yet it is my duty, in everything, to make my requests known to God.
3.you must rightly understand and consider who it is,
(foot: by prayer we honour God in the acknowledgment of our dependence upon Him
and in the owning of Him as all sufficient,
able to supply all our needs;
also an all seeing and all knowing God.
therefore, to restrain prayer,
is to deny Him that service and homage which are His due.
but then prayer is an inward thing.
tis heart work.
it must be done in the spirit, ephesians 6.18
He regards not what words, but what desires.
desires.without words are prayers;
but words without desires are but babbling.)
with whom you have to do in prayer,
for your encouragement to come to Him,
though in the midst of many infirmities and imperfections.
he is your Father, your loving, tender hearted Father,
who knows your frame and remembers you are but dust;
who is not extreme to mark what we do amiss in manner and expression,
where the heart is upright with Him.
you may judge a little concerning His love,
by the disposition that is in you towards your children,
when they come to ask things needful of you.
and believe Him to be infinitely more merciful and compassionate
than the most merciful and compassionate of fathers and mothers are or can be..
4. you must pray that you may pray.
(do but think how a poor condemned creature would carry it, if he might but find
so much favour as to be admitted into the king's presence, to speak for himself.
beg of God, the Father of lights,
form whom every good and perfect gift comes,
to bestow this gift upon you. ...
5. it is good, before you address yourself to the duty,
to read a portion of holy scripture, which will be of great use to furnish you
both with matter and words for prayer,
especially david's psalms and paul's epistles.
the Holy spirit hath provided for us a treasury or store house
of what is suitable for all occasions, ...
6. there must be some acquaintance with our own hearts,
with our spiritual state and condition,
our wants and way,
or else no good will be done in this matter.
It is sense of need, hunger, thirst, cold, nakedness,
that supplies the poor beggar at your door with
pertinent expressions and arguments;
he needs not the help of any friend or book to furnish him.
\so if we know ourselves, and feel our condition,
and set God before us as our God.
able and ready to help us.
words will easity follow wherewith to offer up our desires to Him,
who understands the language even of sighs and tears and groanings
which cannot be uttered. romans 8.26
(foot: prayers not self by us, are seldom heart by God. p.henry)
3.5.2013 WOULD JESUS BE IRONIC?
IRONY -
1. a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another
assumed in order to make the other's false conceptions conspicuous
by adroit questioning.
(this definition including the last three words is technically
the description of socrates' teaching method called
socratic irony.)
2. the root of irony is the greek word eirOn or dissembler.
(one who hides under a false appearance; to put on the appearance of;
synonym: simulate. (Jesus here simulates agreement with the
human thoughts of His disciples. it is only apparent not actual.)
the Lord spoke to me through luke 22.35-38 this morning.
these verses cover Jesus' 'teaching' about the sword.
35 and He said to them.
when I sent you out without
purse and bag and sandals,
you did not lack anything, did you?
and they said,
no, nothing.
36 and He said to them,
but now, let him who has a purse
take it along,
likewise also a bag
and let him who has no sword
sell his robe and buy one.
37 for I tell you,
that this which is written
must be fulfilled in Me,
'and He was numbered among the transgressors;
for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment.
38 and they said,
Lord, look, here are two swords.
and He said to them,
it is enough.
as i meditated on this section several things occurred.
it began to appear that this was just one more
of, what i am beginning to realize,
was just another way of teaching truth.
it appeared odd that Jesus brought up again
the instructions He gave them before
He sent them out to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom.
but now it is night.
they aren't being sent out.
they had just finished eating the passover meal
and He had just warned them all
that a great time of temptation and trouble
was immanent...especially for peter.
was it not evident to them as well.?
hadn't they witnessed the constant confrontations
between Jesus and the powerful religious leaders?
would it be incredible to think
that despite peter's bravado
that he would go to prison,
nay, he would even die with Christ,
given human fear,
they would not have already procured
two swords for the group..
just to be on the safe side?
would it be incredible to think that Jesus
already knew all this without them knowing?
so why go back to the sending out instructions?
could they not have provided a useful palette
with which to paint another truth..
a truth needed right now in the situation
that faced them?
strange isn't it, that Jesus first ask them
you did NOT LACK ANYTHING, did you,
and then go on and change the original instructions?
how can one improve on having no need?
He uses the PURSE and the BAG again,
but then He adds in a new item, the ROBE.
now the purse was to hold extra money
and they had found that they didn't need it
for Jesus provided perfectly just when in need.
the bag was for provisions, whether to hold
an extra pair of sandals which most quickly
might wear out,
or some food just in case their journey
did not yield an ready food,
but they had amazingly found that
all things were provided AS NEEDED.
strange..but explainable for they had learned
total trust and so need not be thus limited.
but the ROBE! this was the heavier outer garment
which was very necessary often at night
to have protection from the cold.
but he tells them to sell that
and buy a sword!
these questions come to mind:
1. had Jesus ever needed a sword?
2. had He ever told THEM to buy anything?
3. hadn't He Himself constantly provided all they
needed?
but now it seemed almost like a hidden message
if you are going to stop trusting Me to provide
what you need and provide for yourselves...
then I'll let you do that!
they still don't know that He knows..
and He goes on.
He tells them that He will fulfill a prophecy,
'and He was numbered with transgressors'.
so what does that have to do with this.
this seems to look down the long corridor
of the present church age,
where many of His followers too
would be looked upon
and treated like
transgressors.
they, like He would ever and always do two things:
speak truth and do good to others.
and for that they would be seen as
and treated like
transgressors.
(so He has now expanded this teaching to them
as well.)
the disciples
(were they sensing Jesus already knew of
their secret purchase?)
not knowing quite what to say
or how to respond to this curious
collection of statements say,
Lord, LOOK,
HERE are two swords!
A REVELATION!
they had never carried swords and had never feared.
they have secretly purchased a couple
and all of the sudden Jesus is teaching that they
should buy a sword!
(we're obedient!) HERE THEY ARE!
we're getting better aren't we Lord ?
we're doing what You tell us to do
BEFORE You tell us!
Jesus says several non-descript
acknowledgement words.
He has set the stage.
they very soon are confronted
with those who come for Jesus.
11 verses past the sword teaching we find,
'and when those who were around Him
(trying to protect Him?!)
saw what was going to happen, they said,
Lord, shall we strike with the sword?'
interesting!
the Lord makes no answer.
He wants them to wrestle with the difference
between His total lack of fear..
His, as usual, making no effort to
protect Himself
and their human instinct
to hurt those who hurt them
or someone they love.
He says nothing.
they v50 'a certain one of them (peter, who else?)
struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his..ear.
NOW Jesus responds instantly,
'STOP! NO MORE OF THIS!'
and He touched his ear and healed him.
Jesus, within the space of..say..several hours
completely countermands what He had just
commanded them to do
and undoes the damage they have done.
Jesus, it seems, is not so much socratic in His method,
but under the appearance of ignorance
has set the stage to deeply impress upon
His disciples the fact that
if He did not come to destroy but to deliver men
(He wanted them to see the ugliness that happens
when we are of a different Spirit..and then heal it.)
they, rightly following Him, should always
do the same...
even to the end of this world
if they would rightly represent Him.
may our only reaction to persecution and death be
rejoicing with great gladness and
speaking truth and loving and helping those near us
as long as we draw breath.
what does this say to me?
1. Jesus does not seem to 'come down on' blatant unbelief.
2. He sympathizes with my weaknesses.
3. He does not, at least sometimes, intervene to keep me from making mistakes
so that i can see the results of my thinking/behavior.
4. there can come great harm when i am not doing what He wants, but
5. Jesus has the ability to make all things right, even things which are horrible,
that i may do.
6. if i am following Jesus' example, could i ever try to protect myself
to avoid suffering harm and experiencing difficulty and danger?
7. to those who are twisted He shows Himself twisted.
8. He doesn't seem to hold it against someone who really screws up royally,
to someone whose thinking is all awry...He understands our weaknesses.
...also i think of the verse in psalm 18, of david, 'who spoke to the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of saul..'
v.25-6..with the kind Thou dost show Thyself kind;
with the blameless Thou dost show Thyself blameless;
with the pure Thou dost show Thyself pure;
and with the CROOKED Thou dost show Thyself ASTUTE.
these same words are reported historically in II samuel 22, entitled david's psalm of deliverance.
in vs. 27 there, verse 26 here is repeated except the translators replaced CROOKED with PERVERSE. it is the same hebrew word in both places.
-the word for crooked/perverse is aqash and has the idea brought out by 'perverse'..to TURN AWAY,
in this case, from God('s way)..what He wants.
-the word astute comes from the root 'twist'. when i turn away from God's, His way with me is 'twisted'. this situation described above might just be an instance of this. if i give into my human, desires, or in this case fears, then God may choose to let me go my way (away from Him)...so that now..in this case..i have to provide for myself, i have to protect myself..i am left on my own to try and make my own way and see how it goes...to experience it and to come to realize how bad it goes..david says in psalm 119, 'before i was afflicted, i went astray, but now i keep Thy word'. so He shows Himself to us as a reflection in the mirror of where our heart is toward Him. if i am His, i will let me go my own way so as to learn not to stray...it's a process..evidently.
1. a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another
assumed in order to make the other's false conceptions conspicuous
by adroit questioning.
(this definition including the last three words is technically
the description of socrates' teaching method called
socratic irony.)
2. the root of irony is the greek word eirOn or dissembler.
(one who hides under a false appearance; to put on the appearance of;
synonym: simulate. (Jesus here simulates agreement with the
human thoughts of His disciples. it is only apparent not actual.)
the Lord spoke to me through luke 22.35-38 this morning.
these verses cover Jesus' 'teaching' about the sword.
35 and He said to them.
when I sent you out without
purse and bag and sandals,
you did not lack anything, did you?
and they said,
no, nothing.
36 and He said to them,
but now, let him who has a purse
take it along,
likewise also a bag
and let him who has no sword
sell his robe and buy one.
37 for I tell you,
that this which is written
must be fulfilled in Me,
'and He was numbered among the transgressors;
for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment.
38 and they said,
Lord, look, here are two swords.
and He said to them,
it is enough.
as i meditated on this section several things occurred.
it began to appear that this was just one more
of, what i am beginning to realize,
was just another way of teaching truth.
it appeared odd that Jesus brought up again
the instructions He gave them before
He sent them out to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom.
but now it is night.
they aren't being sent out.
they had just finished eating the passover meal
and He had just warned them all
that a great time of temptation and trouble
was immanent...especially for peter.
was it not evident to them as well.?
hadn't they witnessed the constant confrontations
between Jesus and the powerful religious leaders?
would it be incredible to think
that despite peter's bravado
that he would go to prison,
nay, he would even die with Christ,
given human fear,
they would not have already procured
two swords for the group..
just to be on the safe side?
would it be incredible to think that Jesus
already knew all this without them knowing?
so why go back to the sending out instructions?
could they not have provided a useful palette
with which to paint another truth..
a truth needed right now in the situation
that faced them?
strange isn't it, that Jesus first ask them
you did NOT LACK ANYTHING, did you,
and then go on and change the original instructions?
how can one improve on having no need?
He uses the PURSE and the BAG again,
but then He adds in a new item, the ROBE.
now the purse was to hold extra money
and they had found that they didn't need it
for Jesus provided perfectly just when in need.
the bag was for provisions, whether to hold
an extra pair of sandals which most quickly
might wear out,
or some food just in case their journey
did not yield an ready food,
but they had amazingly found that
all things were provided AS NEEDED.
strange..but explainable for they had learned
total trust and so need not be thus limited.
but the ROBE! this was the heavier outer garment
which was very necessary often at night
to have protection from the cold.
but he tells them to sell that
and buy a sword!
these questions come to mind:
1. had Jesus ever needed a sword?
2. had He ever told THEM to buy anything?
3. hadn't He Himself constantly provided all they
needed?
but now it seemed almost like a hidden message
if you are going to stop trusting Me to provide
what you need and provide for yourselves...
then I'll let you do that!
they still don't know that He knows..
and He goes on.
He tells them that He will fulfill a prophecy,
'and He was numbered with transgressors'.
so what does that have to do with this.
this seems to look down the long corridor
of the present church age,
where many of His followers too
would be looked upon
and treated like
transgressors.
they, like He would ever and always do two things:
speak truth and do good to others.
and for that they would be seen as
and treated like
transgressors.
(so He has now expanded this teaching to them
as well.)
the disciples
(were they sensing Jesus already knew of
their secret purchase?)
not knowing quite what to say
or how to respond to this curious
collection of statements say,
Lord, LOOK,
HERE are two swords!
A REVELATION!
they had never carried swords and had never feared.
they have secretly purchased a couple
and all of the sudden Jesus is teaching that they
should buy a sword!
(we're obedient!) HERE THEY ARE!
we're getting better aren't we Lord ?
we're doing what You tell us to do
BEFORE You tell us!
Jesus says several non-descript
acknowledgement words.
He has set the stage.
they very soon are confronted
with those who come for Jesus.
11 verses past the sword teaching we find,
'and when those who were around Him
(trying to protect Him?!)
saw what was going to happen, they said,
Lord, shall we strike with the sword?'
interesting!
the Lord makes no answer.
He wants them to wrestle with the difference
between His total lack of fear..
His, as usual, making no effort to
protect Himself
and their human instinct
to hurt those who hurt them
or someone they love.
He says nothing.
they v50 'a certain one of them (peter, who else?)
struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his..ear.
NOW Jesus responds instantly,
'STOP! NO MORE OF THIS!'
and He touched his ear and healed him.
Jesus, within the space of..say..several hours
completely countermands what He had just
commanded them to do
and undoes the damage they have done.
Jesus, it seems, is not so much socratic in His method,
but under the appearance of ignorance
has set the stage to deeply impress upon
His disciples the fact that
if He did not come to destroy but to deliver men
(He wanted them to see the ugliness that happens
when we are of a different Spirit..and then heal it.)
they, rightly following Him, should always
do the same...
even to the end of this world
if they would rightly represent Him.
may our only reaction to persecution and death be
rejoicing with great gladness and
speaking truth and loving and helping those near us
as long as we draw breath.
what does this say to me?
1. Jesus does not seem to 'come down on' blatant unbelief.
2. He sympathizes with my weaknesses.
3. He does not, at least sometimes, intervene to keep me from making mistakes
so that i can see the results of my thinking/behavior.
4. there can come great harm when i am not doing what He wants, but
5. Jesus has the ability to make all things right, even things which are horrible,
that i may do.
6. if i am following Jesus' example, could i ever try to protect myself
to avoid suffering harm and experiencing difficulty and danger?
7. to those who are twisted He shows Himself twisted.
8. He doesn't seem to hold it against someone who really screws up royally,
to someone whose thinking is all awry...He understands our weaknesses.
...also i think of the verse in psalm 18, of david, 'who spoke to the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of saul..'
v.25-6..with the kind Thou dost show Thyself kind;
with the blameless Thou dost show Thyself blameless;
with the pure Thou dost show Thyself pure;
and with the CROOKED Thou dost show Thyself ASTUTE.
these same words are reported historically in II samuel 22, entitled david's psalm of deliverance.
in vs. 27 there, verse 26 here is repeated except the translators replaced CROOKED with PERVERSE. it is the same hebrew word in both places.
-the word for crooked/perverse is aqash and has the idea brought out by 'perverse'..to TURN AWAY,
in this case, from God('s way)..what He wants.
-the word astute comes from the root 'twist'. when i turn away from God's, His way with me is 'twisted'. this situation described above might just be an instance of this. if i give into my human, desires, or in this case fears, then God may choose to let me go my way (away from Him)...so that now..in this case..i have to provide for myself, i have to protect myself..i am left on my own to try and make my own way and see how it goes...to experience it and to come to realize how bad it goes..david says in psalm 119, 'before i was afflicted, i went astray, but now i keep Thy word'. so He shows Himself to us as a reflection in the mirror of where our heart is toward Him. if i am His, i will let me go my own way so as to learn not to stray...it's a process..evidently.
Monday, March 4, 2013
3.4.2013 HAVE I FALLEN TOO LOW!?
this morning another number of hours 'frozen' in the bed...not wanting to face another day. i was supposed to be finished working at the end of 2010 and use the rest of my life 24/7 for God. here i am 3.4.2013 still lying face down in the muck of an incorrigible 'old nature'...easily swayed away from doing DUTY, easily putting myself first, not wanting to face the horror of fixing up 54 and selling it. why?
1. i hate working on my own house...always have...don't know why, but i do.
2. as i try to pull away the junk i've accumulated from my flesh, the beat up old down-around-the-ears house seems, growingly more and more precious each day. it, rather than Jesus, evidently is my security.
3. i have so little faith in the One who has, in a number of amazing ways...especially since selling my properties in allentown, abundantly, at times miraculously, provided all i need and more.
why do i say this?
i fear that if i get rid of my possessions so the Lord would be able to move me wherever He desires,
that He will leave me high and dry and i will have nothing to 'save' me from...from what!
dying of hunger, or exposure to the elements, or people hostile to hearing the good news of Jesus...
i don't know, a frightened mind can conjure up totally ridiculous images.
and even if that would actually happened, especially the last, wouldn't that be cause for great joy,
because suffering on account of Jesus' name?
the last time i experienced anything like this was when i was pushed into my own business:
frozen in terror.
look what happened. all debt gone. money in the bank.
oh me of miserable, non-existent faith!
so what did the Lord do? what was His response to another royal slap in the face by my
ungrateful, unbelieving heart? He had me come to the place in luke where He relates to peter...
He spoke gently into my spirit, soothing, calming, giving another improbable dawn of hope...
out of the despair of my inexcusable sin by letting me see His love for peter and for the other 10 who were all thinking about their greatness rather than about Jesus' imminent suffering, abuse and death.
below is lenski's commentary on luke 22.31-4..
in verse 24 they had a strife over who was the greatest among them. Jesus' response?
-again teaching them (had done so a few days earlier mt. 20.25-8) what true greatness is...
being as the youngest among others, being as a servant to all the rest.
-then demonstrating this by washing all their feet before eating the passover meal
-then thankfully acknowledging that they 'have remained through with Me in My temptations' v28
-then saying to them, 'I appoint unto you a kingdom', as My Father has Me v29
-then encouraging them that they may eat and drink at his table in His kingdom v30
-then encouraging them further that they 'may sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of israel
the kind of grace i continually experience at His loving hand,
i give little, usually nothing...and He comes so graciously...ESPECIALLY
when i am enabled to admit explicitly and sorrowfully the latest heinous sin committed
against Him.
v31-2 simon, simon,
lo, satan did ask to have you (humas) to sift as the wheat,
but i Myself begged concerning thee lest thy faith eclipse.
and thou, once having turned, make thy brethren firm.
the doubling of the address expresses deep solicitude;
it is like the doubling in 'martha, martha,
'jerusalem, jerusalem',
and in david's heartbroken cry:
'o absalom, my son, my son!'
the emotion differs in each case but is deep in all of them.
whereas 'simon' was the name that was commonly used to designate him,
in the present instance it is the proper term, not 'peter, peter'.
which would apply to the rocklike nature of the apostle,
which was so lacking in him this night.
Jesus addresses only simon
although what he says applies to humas 'you',
to all the eleven.
we see why Jesus does this.
in the first place,
the others are present and hear that they are all involved;
in the second place, (peri su) 'concerning thee, follows
and shows that simon was involved in a special way
-we know that this was due to his denial of Jesus,
regarding which Jesus also warns him in v34 before them all.
'satan did ask to have you'..
draws back the curtain
and in a starling way reveals who was back of the ordeal
through which the eleven would pass this night.
the verb (ask)..intends to allude to Job 1,
satan's request to try out Job.
satan is not free to assail us at will
and with what power he pleases.
satan my try us out only by God's permission-
a might comfort for us all.
God is faithful in all our temptations
and ever makes a way of escape, I cor. 10.13.
the exposure which Jesus makes of satan's intent
is to aid simon and the eleven as all the warnings of Jesus do.
although they will be struck down by satan's assault,
their escape and recovery are already planned
and jesus is taking the first steps in that plan.
the infinitive with tou states the object of satan's asking;
'to sift (you) as the wheat'.
satan did not, of course, use this figure;
his request was made with the though that the disciples
would not be wheat but only strawy stuff that would remain
in the sieve to be burned.
this figure belongs to Jesus who uses it to illustrate
what the coming ordeal is to be for the disciples.
wheat must be sifted,
wheat cannot escape sifting.
it must be cleaned because of its value.
yet this simple simile of Jesus should not be made
an allegory with a number of points of comparison.
there is really only one tertium comparationis or point of comparison,
namely the violent and continuous shaking of the sieve
to cause all the sound, solid wheat to fall through
on the pile of wheat below
while all the shaking leaves
the strawy and chaffy stuff in the sieve.
so the disciples were with God's own permission
to be put through the severest trials
to see whether they, indeed, had faith or not.
when Jesus returned to this subject
on the way out to gethsemane,
he used another figure,
the smiting the shepherd and scattering the sheep,
which pictures the same painful experience. matt. 26.31
32. it was simon, impetuous and headstrong simon,
who would get into the greatest danger by his own fault.
that is why Jesus addresses him
and lets the others only hear.
and that is why Jesus begged in supplication for him personally
lest his faith totally eclipse (active, aorist-states fact, subjunctive-states possibility rather than reality),
utterly fail and go out.
if the question is asked as to why Jesus did not pray equally for the rest,
we see in john 17 that He sis pray for them,
but the story of peter's denial shows that
he was far worse than the others.
why did peter need the warning given in v34,
he and not the rest?
for the same reason that he needed
the personal and individual intercession
which the rest did not need equally with him.
the aorist 'I did beg'
implies that Jesus' supplication was not in vain.
it was God's will that simon, too, be sifted like the rest,
but it was not his will that simon should disobey Jesus' warning.
it was this sin of simon's
which caused the great Advocate to intercede for him.
but we should not get the idea that jesus' prayer
was heart by God in an absolute or arbitrary way.
God and Jesus used the means that proved effective in simon's case.
the warning about the cock's crowing
after the threefold denial was such a means.
a point is usually brought out by reference to judas.
would he not have repented as simon did
if Jesus had interceded for him in the same way?
the answer is that Jesus applied even stronger means,
mightier warnings to the traitor,
applied them all in vain.
and while He was applying these means
He certainly also prayed for judas,
and yet judas went to perdition (a state of final spiritual ruin).
the prayers and intercessions of Jesus
are not absolute.
man's wicked will is able to damn him nonetheless.
(note: wouldn't i be the trophy to God's grace if we all find judas in heaven with us.
typically judged condemned, he seems to me to have evidenced what looks like
repentence. the last director of Voice of the Martyrs, committed suicide when he
was about to be publicly accused of molesting a child (would it, in fact have been
true or false, i don't know...but whether true or false does that mean he was not
truly saved. there are many reasons of all different natures that human beings ra-
tionalize suicide. some may be sinful but as far as i understand, the only sin not
forgivable is the clear (public?) attributing to satan of what the Holy Spirit does.
did the director of Voice of the Martyrs do this? the following director supposed
that he may have wanted to protect Voice of the Martyrs from wanton slander
(attached to a lie?) judas may have
wanted to protect Jesus, may have been so anguished over what his predilection
for greed drove him to actually do!? or any other motive, sinful or no, of which
we know nothing. i think it would be the capstone of the beautiful Grace of God
for him to be there with all the rest of us undeserving, many times (secretly? openly?)
reprehensible sinners. maybe he never knew the Lord's grace...but i'm rooting for
judas too..)
the grace, the means, even the greatest,
and the intercessions can all be nullified in their effect.
Christ's omniscience knows the outcome in advance.
it is this foreknowledge which already now tells peter
that his faith will not perish utterly.
this telling is a part of the means for saving him.
so also is Jesus' order to him, that,
after he has once turned, he should make his brethren firm,
namely when they, too, passed through the sifting attacks of satan.
why did Jesus not give such a command to the other disciples?
the answer is not that of the romanists:
because peter was to be the first pope;
and not that of many others:
because he was the foremost of the apostles and their leader.
the answer is almost the opposite.
because he fell so deeply, fell as none of the rest fell,
therefore, when he recovered, he was the one who could help the others
by means of his own sad experience,
should make the wavering faith of the others firm again
so that it would not give way as his own faith
had given way almost completely.
his brethren are the other ten.
the fact that simon would aid his brethren in the wider sense
in a similar way throughout his ministry is only a deduction.
Jesus deals only with the ordeal of the apostles.
we see that He is thus preparing the means which He needs
and that will be most effective, special means
for simon's special case
and his recovery as an present command to peter,
which is based on his foreknowledge, is to help them all.
the participle epistrepsas is intransitive
and speaks of simon's having turned back from his fall
in repentance.
this is not conversion in the absolute sense as though
every spark of simon's faith had gone out.
but in the relative sense as when a disciple
turns back from a course that has almost destroyed
his faith.
'once' on having turned, Jesus says,
because He is not specifying when the turn will take place.
we cannot agree that this participle is transitive:
'once having turned thy brethren, make them firm'.
so little does the adverb 'once' support this sense
that it actually forbids it
since 'once' intends to leave unsaid just
when simon will turn and recover,
and that this turning of his alone will enable him
to do anything for his fellow apostles.
we catch a glimpse of simon's aid to them in 24.34
where the others are jubilant in reporting that Jesus had appeared to simon.
33. but he said to him, Lord,
together with Thee i am ready to
go into prison and into death!
but He said, I tell thee, peter,
a cock will not crow today
till thrice thou didst deny to know Me!
it is thus that simon answers the warning of his Lord.
how can satan harm simon when he is so strong,
so valiant?
why, if it should come to such a test,
even prison and even death
have no terrors for him.
he does not say:
'by Thy help" or 'by God's help'.
simon's reaction to Jesus' warning and intercessions for is
is that Jesus can count on him and need never worry about
a man who is as brave as he is.
poor, proud simon!
34. over against peter's contradicting words
Jesus places His authoritative 'I tell thee!'
Jesus overrides peter's self confidence and trust
in his own powers.
straws are they in the hurricane
that is about to descend.
why did Jesus now change from 'simon' to 'peter'?
it is too weak an answer to say,
'in order to remind him that he was not
acting or speaking like peter, the Rock'.
he was trying to do that very thing,
and Jesus practically says to him:
'so thou art already peter-
thou, who this very night, before the cock crows,
wilt have already denied me no less than three times!'
peter will give his own words the lie.
he will be so frightened at prison and death
that he will openly deny once, twice, three times,
in fact, that he even knows Jesus.
the verb means 'to say no'
and thus 'to deny', and the aorist expresses the fact.
this crowing of a cock is not some casual crowing of an individual cock.
two crowings were distinguished, one occurring near midnight,
the other just before dawn.
they helped to divide the night into the midnight or silent period.
the period before dawn, and the period after dawn.
pliny calls the fourth watch secundum gallicinium.
mark 14.30, in the second warning to peter,
refers to both crowings:
'before the cock crows twice,' ie. before the day dawns.
luke and john refer only to the crowing before dawn.
the phrase is not a mere expression of time
but refers to other actual crowings of the cocks that night.
the word is also spoken with a special purpose.
it does more than merely to foretell
how soon peter will fall,
it already prepares the help
to raise peter from his fall.
peter will actually hear the crowing when it begins;
that will bring Jesus word to his mind;
and this together with a look from Jesus' eyes v61
will cause the tears of repentance to flow.
the effort to discredit the evangelists
by advancing the contention that no chickens
were kept in a city like jerusalem
and that no cocks crowed within range of peter's ears,
has long ago been met by ample evidence to the contrary.
1. i hate working on my own house...always have...don't know why, but i do.
2. as i try to pull away the junk i've accumulated from my flesh, the beat up old down-around-the-ears house seems, growingly more and more precious each day. it, rather than Jesus, evidently is my security.
3. i have so little faith in the One who has, in a number of amazing ways...especially since selling my properties in allentown, abundantly, at times miraculously, provided all i need and more.
why do i say this?
i fear that if i get rid of my possessions so the Lord would be able to move me wherever He desires,
that He will leave me high and dry and i will have nothing to 'save' me from...from what!
dying of hunger, or exposure to the elements, or people hostile to hearing the good news of Jesus...
i don't know, a frightened mind can conjure up totally ridiculous images.
and even if that would actually happened, especially the last, wouldn't that be cause for great joy,
because suffering on account of Jesus' name?
the last time i experienced anything like this was when i was pushed into my own business:
frozen in terror.
look what happened. all debt gone. money in the bank.
oh me of miserable, non-existent faith!
so what did the Lord do? what was His response to another royal slap in the face by my
ungrateful, unbelieving heart? He had me come to the place in luke where He relates to peter...
He spoke gently into my spirit, soothing, calming, giving another improbable dawn of hope...
out of the despair of my inexcusable sin by letting me see His love for peter and for the other 10 who were all thinking about their greatness rather than about Jesus' imminent suffering, abuse and death.
below is lenski's commentary on luke 22.31-4..
in verse 24 they had a strife over who was the greatest among them. Jesus' response?
-again teaching them (had done so a few days earlier mt. 20.25-8) what true greatness is...
being as the youngest among others, being as a servant to all the rest.
-then demonstrating this by washing all their feet before eating the passover meal
-then thankfully acknowledging that they 'have remained through with Me in My temptations' v28
-then saying to them, 'I appoint unto you a kingdom', as My Father has Me v29
-then encouraging them that they may eat and drink at his table in His kingdom v30
-then encouraging them further that they 'may sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of israel
the kind of grace i continually experience at His loving hand,
i give little, usually nothing...and He comes so graciously...ESPECIALLY
when i am enabled to admit explicitly and sorrowfully the latest heinous sin committed
against Him.
v31-2 simon, simon,
lo, satan did ask to have you (humas) to sift as the wheat,
but i Myself begged concerning thee lest thy faith eclipse.
and thou, once having turned, make thy brethren firm.
the doubling of the address expresses deep solicitude;
it is like the doubling in 'martha, martha,
'jerusalem, jerusalem',
and in david's heartbroken cry:
'o absalom, my son, my son!'
the emotion differs in each case but is deep in all of them.
whereas 'simon' was the name that was commonly used to designate him,
in the present instance it is the proper term, not 'peter, peter'.
which would apply to the rocklike nature of the apostle,
which was so lacking in him this night.
Jesus addresses only simon
although what he says applies to humas 'you',
to all the eleven.
we see why Jesus does this.
in the first place,
the others are present and hear that they are all involved;
in the second place, (peri su) 'concerning thee, follows
and shows that simon was involved in a special way
-we know that this was due to his denial of Jesus,
regarding which Jesus also warns him in v34 before them all.
'satan did ask to have you'..
draws back the curtain
and in a starling way reveals who was back of the ordeal
through which the eleven would pass this night.
the verb (ask)..intends to allude to Job 1,
satan's request to try out Job.
satan is not free to assail us at will
and with what power he pleases.
satan my try us out only by God's permission-
a might comfort for us all.
God is faithful in all our temptations
and ever makes a way of escape, I cor. 10.13.
the exposure which Jesus makes of satan's intent
is to aid simon and the eleven as all the warnings of Jesus do.
although they will be struck down by satan's assault,
their escape and recovery are already planned
and jesus is taking the first steps in that plan.
the infinitive with tou states the object of satan's asking;
'to sift (you) as the wheat'.
satan did not, of course, use this figure;
his request was made with the though that the disciples
would not be wheat but only strawy stuff that would remain
in the sieve to be burned.
this figure belongs to Jesus who uses it to illustrate
what the coming ordeal is to be for the disciples.
wheat must be sifted,
wheat cannot escape sifting.
it must be cleaned because of its value.
yet this simple simile of Jesus should not be made
an allegory with a number of points of comparison.
there is really only one tertium comparationis or point of comparison,
namely the violent and continuous shaking of the sieve
to cause all the sound, solid wheat to fall through
on the pile of wheat below
while all the shaking leaves
the strawy and chaffy stuff in the sieve.
so the disciples were with God's own permission
to be put through the severest trials
to see whether they, indeed, had faith or not.
when Jesus returned to this subject
on the way out to gethsemane,
he used another figure,
the smiting the shepherd and scattering the sheep,
which pictures the same painful experience. matt. 26.31
32. it was simon, impetuous and headstrong simon,
who would get into the greatest danger by his own fault.
that is why Jesus addresses him
and lets the others only hear.
and that is why Jesus begged in supplication for him personally
lest his faith totally eclipse (active, aorist-states fact, subjunctive-states possibility rather than reality),
utterly fail and go out.
if the question is asked as to why Jesus did not pray equally for the rest,
we see in john 17 that He sis pray for them,
but the story of peter's denial shows that
he was far worse than the others.
why did peter need the warning given in v34,
he and not the rest?
for the same reason that he needed
the personal and individual intercession
which the rest did not need equally with him.
the aorist 'I did beg'
implies that Jesus' supplication was not in vain.
it was God's will that simon, too, be sifted like the rest,
but it was not his will that simon should disobey Jesus' warning.
it was this sin of simon's
which caused the great Advocate to intercede for him.
but we should not get the idea that jesus' prayer
was heart by God in an absolute or arbitrary way.
God and Jesus used the means that proved effective in simon's case.
the warning about the cock's crowing
after the threefold denial was such a means.
a point is usually brought out by reference to judas.
would he not have repented as simon did
if Jesus had interceded for him in the same way?
the answer is that Jesus applied even stronger means,
mightier warnings to the traitor,
applied them all in vain.
and while He was applying these means
He certainly also prayed for judas,
and yet judas went to perdition (a state of final spiritual ruin).
the prayers and intercessions of Jesus
are not absolute.
man's wicked will is able to damn him nonetheless.
(note: wouldn't i be the trophy to God's grace if we all find judas in heaven with us.
typically judged condemned, he seems to me to have evidenced what looks like
repentence. the last director of Voice of the Martyrs, committed suicide when he
was about to be publicly accused of molesting a child (would it, in fact have been
true or false, i don't know...but whether true or false does that mean he was not
truly saved. there are many reasons of all different natures that human beings ra-
tionalize suicide. some may be sinful but as far as i understand, the only sin not
forgivable is the clear (public?) attributing to satan of what the Holy Spirit does.
did the director of Voice of the Martyrs do this? the following director supposed
that he may have wanted to protect Voice of the Martyrs from wanton slander
(attached to a lie?) judas may have
wanted to protect Jesus, may have been so anguished over what his predilection
for greed drove him to actually do!? or any other motive, sinful or no, of which
we know nothing. i think it would be the capstone of the beautiful Grace of God
for him to be there with all the rest of us undeserving, many times (secretly? openly?)
reprehensible sinners. maybe he never knew the Lord's grace...but i'm rooting for
judas too..)
the grace, the means, even the greatest,
and the intercessions can all be nullified in their effect.
Christ's omniscience knows the outcome in advance.
it is this foreknowledge which already now tells peter
that his faith will not perish utterly.
this telling is a part of the means for saving him.
so also is Jesus' order to him, that,
after he has once turned, he should make his brethren firm,
namely when they, too, passed through the sifting attacks of satan.
why did Jesus not give such a command to the other disciples?
the answer is not that of the romanists:
because peter was to be the first pope;
and not that of many others:
because he was the foremost of the apostles and their leader.
the answer is almost the opposite.
because he fell so deeply, fell as none of the rest fell,
therefore, when he recovered, he was the one who could help the others
by means of his own sad experience,
should make the wavering faith of the others firm again
so that it would not give way as his own faith
had given way almost completely.
his brethren are the other ten.
the fact that simon would aid his brethren in the wider sense
in a similar way throughout his ministry is only a deduction.
Jesus deals only with the ordeal of the apostles.
we see that He is thus preparing the means which He needs
and that will be most effective, special means
for simon's special case
and his recovery as an present command to peter,
which is based on his foreknowledge, is to help them all.
the participle epistrepsas is intransitive
and speaks of simon's having turned back from his fall
in repentance.
this is not conversion in the absolute sense as though
every spark of simon's faith had gone out.
but in the relative sense as when a disciple
turns back from a course that has almost destroyed
his faith.
'once' on having turned, Jesus says,
because He is not specifying when the turn will take place.
we cannot agree that this participle is transitive:
'once having turned thy brethren, make them firm'.
so little does the adverb 'once' support this sense
that it actually forbids it
since 'once' intends to leave unsaid just
when simon will turn and recover,
and that this turning of his alone will enable him
to do anything for his fellow apostles.
we catch a glimpse of simon's aid to them in 24.34
where the others are jubilant in reporting that Jesus had appeared to simon.
33. but he said to him, Lord,
together with Thee i am ready to
go into prison and into death!
but He said, I tell thee, peter,
a cock will not crow today
till thrice thou didst deny to know Me!
it is thus that simon answers the warning of his Lord.
how can satan harm simon when he is so strong,
so valiant?
why, if it should come to such a test,
even prison and even death
have no terrors for him.
he does not say:
'by Thy help" or 'by God's help'.
simon's reaction to Jesus' warning and intercessions for is
is that Jesus can count on him and need never worry about
a man who is as brave as he is.
poor, proud simon!
34. over against peter's contradicting words
Jesus places His authoritative 'I tell thee!'
Jesus overrides peter's self confidence and trust
in his own powers.
straws are they in the hurricane
that is about to descend.
why did Jesus now change from 'simon' to 'peter'?
it is too weak an answer to say,
'in order to remind him that he was not
acting or speaking like peter, the Rock'.
he was trying to do that very thing,
and Jesus practically says to him:
'so thou art already peter-
thou, who this very night, before the cock crows,
wilt have already denied me no less than three times!'
peter will give his own words the lie.
he will be so frightened at prison and death
that he will openly deny once, twice, three times,
in fact, that he even knows Jesus.
the verb means 'to say no'
and thus 'to deny', and the aorist expresses the fact.
this crowing of a cock is not some casual crowing of an individual cock.
two crowings were distinguished, one occurring near midnight,
the other just before dawn.
they helped to divide the night into the midnight or silent period.
the period before dawn, and the period after dawn.
pliny calls the fourth watch secundum gallicinium.
mark 14.30, in the second warning to peter,
refers to both crowings:
'before the cock crows twice,' ie. before the day dawns.
luke and john refer only to the crowing before dawn.
the phrase is not a mere expression of time
but refers to other actual crowings of the cocks that night.
the word is also spoken with a special purpose.
it does more than merely to foretell
how soon peter will fall,
it already prepares the help
to raise peter from his fall.
peter will actually hear the crowing when it begins;
that will bring Jesus word to his mind;
and this together with a look from Jesus' eyes v61
will cause the tears of repentance to flow.
the effort to discredit the evangelists
by advancing the contention that no chickens
were kept in a city like jerusalem
and that no cocks crowed within range of peter's ears,
has long ago been met by ample evidence to the contrary.
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