| Article | Faith's Persistency
"Now Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower." So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he crouched down on the earth, and put his face between his knees. And he said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea." So he went up and looked and said, "T ...read |
| Article | Faith's Witness in a Dark Day
We are going to be occupied with the book of Daniel, but not with any one particular passage in it. You know that in that great summary of faith's devotion and activities in Hebrews 11, some referred to in this book are mentioned (though not by name) as amongst the great men of faith, that great "cloud of witnesses" (for that is what they are calle ...read |
| Article | Features of the City and Its Inhabitants
Reading: 1 Kings 7:1-12; Revelation 21:2,10-12,16,19.
In both of these representations we have that which is symbolic of the place where the Lord delights and purposes to dwell. The "greater than Solomon" is building His house, and a house also for His Bride. The King is building the city where His throne is to be.
If we read carefully these de ...read |
| Article | Food for the Hungry
"Give ye them to eat" (Matt. 14:16; cf. Mark 6; Luke 9; John 6).
It is significant that the feeding of a multitude by Jesus is something recorded by all four writers of the Gospels, even if the two occasions are not reported by each.
This significance in its general meaning can be easily recognized, although John focuses the occasion upon the p ...read |
| Article | For Such a Time as This
Beloved of God, I have recently been going over writings which expressed the feelings of spiritual people of God at various times during many years. The thing which is characteristic of them all is that the time of writing - although long periods lay between - was felt to be the most critical, ominous, and spiritually difficult or almost unbearable ...read |
| Article | For the Glory of God
From "The Work of the Ministry" - Volume 1.
"This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby" (John 11:4).
"He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go" (John 11:44).
"But t ...read |
| Article | For the Sake of the Name
"For the sake of the Name they went forth" (3 John 7).
"...the world hateth you... they will also persecute you... But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me" (John 15:19-21).
That portion in the Gospel throws light on the statement in the epistle, and shows that it was ignorance as to ...read |
| Article | Foundation Truths
"Ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10.
Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians has been divided into five short chapters which can all be read in about ten minutes. Certain things emerge even as we are reading. The fi ...read |
| Article | Friendship With God
"And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend" (Exodus 33:11).
"Didst not thou, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?" (2 Chronicles 20:7).
"But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham m ...read |
| Article | From Heaven or From Men?
(Matthew 21:25)
We do not propose to discuss the subject raised by the Lord in connection with this interrogation; that is, "the baptism of John". Nor do we concern ourselves here with the dilemma which He created for those interrogated. It is this alternative with which we are concerned - "From heaven, or of men?" It is something which arises d ...read |
| Article | Gather My Saints Together
"Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." (Psalm 50:5).
"Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him" (2 Thess. 2:1).
"Not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the ...read |
| Article | Glory at the End
Reading: Haggai 2:1-9; Ephesians 3:20,21; Revelation 21:10-11.
"The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former." "Unto him be the glory in the church... for ever and ever." "The holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God."
It is something of which we should remind ourselves continually, tha ...read |
| Article | God Needs Gideons
"And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might... have not I sent thee? And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I...? And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee." Judges 6:14-16
Gideon lived at a time when so much in Israel was contrary to the honour and glory of God's name. The Israelites were at the mercy o ...read |
| Article | God's Answer to a State of Declension
We have observed that, when the Divine thought as represented by the temple and Jerusalem was forsaken and lost and the glory had departed, Ezekiel was given and caused to write the vision of a new heavenly house, a house in every detail measured and defined from above. In the same way, when the Church of New Testament times had lost its purity and ...read |
| Article | God's Call to the Life Above
"They that trust in the Lord Are as mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abideth for ever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, So the Lord is round about his people, From this time forth and for evermore." Psalm 125:1-2
Psalms 120 to 134 form a little volume of their own, called the Psalms or Songs of Ascent. They tell of the climb up ...read |
| Article | God's End and God's Way
"Having made known unto us the mystery of His will... to sum up all things in Christ... according to the purpose of Him Who worketh all things after the counsel of His will... He put all things in subjection under His (Christ's) feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in ...read |
| Article | God's Eternal Thought of Sonship
Ultimately it is sonship which represents and embodies all God's thought. So the one thing that is constantly reiterated about Solomon is sonship. "Solomon thy son shall build My house and My courts; for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father" (1 Chron. 28:6). "Thy son... My son." David said, "Of all my sons (for the Lord hath giv ...read |
| Article | God's Faithfulness To Us in His Son
"God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1:9). "There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it ...read |
| Article | God's Good Pleasure
"Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32).
It is upon a part of that statement that I want to dwell: "it is your Father's good pleasure". There is a very great, a vast, opening out of that fragment in the later part of the New Testament - later, that is, so far as our arrangement is conc ...read |
| Article | God's Higher Order of Man
"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are e ...read |
T. Austin-Sparks