Tag: j3k

Charles J. Rolls, Featured Writers, God Loves Us, Jesus, Messiah, Yahweh

Infinite Love Is Revealed

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

The Corn of Wheat

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit (John 12:24).

Death, the experience which is fatal to most folk in destroying their influence, was to become the most forceful factor in promoting forever the prestige of Christ. The extent to which memory exercises its influence over the living is definitely limited. If a leader’s work is to develop extensively, it is not thought desirable that He should die in the prime of life. However, in this case it was otherwise. Because Christ as the Corn of Wheat fell into the ground and died, He became Administrator of the mightiest authority ever wielded over the minds of millions. He encountered the most odious instrument of death in the form of a crude Roman gibbet, but by virtue of that shameful death He overpowered the cruelest foe, the Devil, and overcame the strongest enemy, Death. Christ’s greatest honor arises from His deepest humiliation. He ascended from the zero of shame to the zenith of sovereignty.

Christ, crucified, has an irresistible attractiveness and has become the center to which all contrite hearts are drawn. His own application of this figure makes it crystal clear, “And, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die” (John 12:32, 33). Here infinite love is revealed stooping to die; immortal glory condescends to bear the blame of guilt; intrinsic holiness submits to being made sin for us that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor 5:21). When His body was buried in the tomb, it was not as the Romans considered it, a corpse, but what prophecy foretold, a seed; therefore resurrection was assured (Acts 2:27, 28). Likewise the sayings of the Savior when He was dying survive death and serve to stimulate all successive generations.

 Charles J. Rolls, The Indescribable Christ: Names and Titles of Jesus Christ: A-G (Loizeaux Brothers, 1984).

Speak this as a personal prayer back to Jesus;

Death, the experience which is fatal to most folk in destroying their influence, became the most forceful factor in promoting forever your prestige Messiah Jesus. The extent to which memory exercises its influence over the living is definitely limited. If a leader’s work is to develop extensively, it is not thought desirable that he should die in the prime of life. However, in this case, it is otherwise; because you, Messiah Jesus, are the Corn of Wheat that fell into the ground and died, you became Administrator of the mightiest authority ever wielded over the minds of millions. You encountered the most odious instrument of death in the form of a crude Roman gibbet (cross), but by virtue of that shameful death Jesus, you overpowered the cruelest foe, the Devil, and overcame the strongest enemy, Death. Your greatest honor arises from your deepest humiliation. Father God raised you from the zero of shame to the zenith of sovereignty. Jesus, crucified, you now have an irresistible attractiveness and have become the center to which all contrite hearts are drawn. Your own application of this figure makes it crystal clear, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto Me. This you said, signifying what death you should die” (John 12:32, 33). Here your infinite love is revealed stooping to die; immortal glory condescends to bear the blame of my guilt; intrinsic holiness submits to being made sin for me that I may be made the righteousness of God in you (2 Cor 5:21), O wonderful Savior. When your body was buried in the tomb, it was not, as the Romans considered it, a corpse, but what prophecy foretold, a seed; therefore, resurrection was assured (Acts 2:27, 28). Likewise, what you said while dying survives death and serves to stimulate all successive generations.

(J3 Khai Restoration Ministries made Charles Roll’s devotion into a personal prayer.)

Charles J. Rolls, Featured Writers, God Loves Us, Jehovah, Jesus, Messiah, Recommended Reading, Yahweh, Yehovah

The Confessor Before Pilate

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 6:13).

Our Lord was brought before Pilate as One who had made a claim to kingship. Standing as a prisoner, condemned, and without any visible palace, such a claim seemed preposterous. Altogether devoid of stately robes and courtly attendants and minus even crown or scepter, He nevertheless affirmed emphatically, “I am a king,” “My kingdom is not of this world.” Christ disclaimed the vainglory of a temporal diadem, but He did not deny His claim to crown rights of a nobler royalty than that shared by earthly rulers. Although He was betrayed, accused and mocked, yet with unflinching, undaunted courage He remained uncowed and uncompromising before the Roman regent; and by patient courtesy and perfect control, He vindicated the essential truthfulness of His superior sovereignty. Remember that within the confines of His Deity this Confessor dwells in light which no one can approach unto and which no man hath seen nor can see (1 Timothy 6:16).

If He deemed it wise and worthwhile to acknowledge His claim and right, soldiers of the Cross should learn a lesson from their Captain. “Though it doth not appear what we shall be,” let us be prepared to bear witness to the truth of the King’s return. Paul the aged, as he termed himself, had borne the burden and brunt of battle and was seeking a successor for his trusteeship. He admonishes Timothy to stick to his business and stand by His witness while focusing faith on the great File-leader. Confession of our faith in the truth of God is our solemn obligation and responsibility, likewise also confession of faith in Christ (John 18:37; Romans 10:9, 10). Jesus Christ as a confessor of truth is now glorified, and this fact should stimulate all of us to faithfulness in witness. The Savior testified concerning His kingdom of spiritual truth, of sovereign power, of steadfast righteousness and of sanctified citizenship. Said He, “For this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth” (John 18:37). Is this not the very cause and core of the campaign in which we are enlisted? Let us see to it, while our comrades march to face the foe, while our fighting forces shout in the field, and while our friends pray for us in all fidelity, that we often and openly commend and confess Him while the opportunity is ours.

 Charles J. Rolls, The Indescribable Christ: Names and Titles of Jesus Christ: A-G (Loizeaux Brothers, 1984).

Featured Writers, God Loves Us, Jehovah, Jesus, Mental Health, Messiah, Recommended Reading, Sylvia Gunter, Yahweh

God is Able

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

You can sign up to receive Sylvia Gunters weekly devotional at: https://thefathersbusiness.com/devotion/god-is-able/

Able is the Greek word dunatos, related to dunamis, meaning ability, abundance, capability, mighty works, miraculous power, prevailing strength. “God is able” means God has the mighty power to do a miraculous work out of His abundance and strength. Romans 16:25 says God is able to establish you. Listen to the richness of the verse when read with its full definition “God has mighty power to do a miraculous work out of His abundance and strength to establish you.”

Bring your inability to the ability of God. As you read these verses drink in the bigness of God as you replace “able” with “has the mighty power to do a miraculous work out of His abundance and strength.”

God is …
Able to give much more. 2 Chron 25:9
Able to deliver from fire. Dan 3:17
Able to raise up children of Abraham from stones. Mat 3:9
Able to give sight to the blind. Mat 9:28-29
Able to destroy in hell. Mat 10:28, James 4:12
Able to perform what He promised. Rom 4:21
Able to graft in the Gentiles. Rom 11:23
Able to make you stand. Rom 14:4
Able to establish you. Rom 16:25
Able to make a way through temptation. 1 Cor 10:13
Able to make all grace abound to you. 2 Cor 9:8
Able to do exceedingly beyond all your asking. Eph 3:20
Able to subdue everything under His control. Phil 3:21
Able to keep all we have committed to Him. 2 Tim 1:12
Able to help the tempted. Heb 2:18
Able to save from death. Heb 5:7
Able to save completely, to the utmost. Heb 7:25
Able to raise men from the dead. Heb 11:19
Able to keep you from falling and to present you before His presence without fault and with great joy. Jude 24

To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power, and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. Jude 25

Be blessed in the name of God who is able.

© Sylvia Gunter, 2016, Prayer Essentials For Living In His Presence Volume 1,

David Coffield, Featured Writers, God Loves Us, Guest Post, Jehovah, Jesus, Messiah, Testimonies, Yahweh, Yehovah

How God feels about us is unshakeable.

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

Dear Mike,

How God feels about us is unshakeable.  It is never dependent on how good we are or how poorly we behave.  

God looks at His children, clothed in the righteousness of His Son, and He is forever delighted.  Not a delight that I have ever deserved or earned or ever could deserve or earn.  Those who think they can merit God’s pleasure have no idea of His holiness nor their sin.

It leaves us in a wonderful place of being able to rejoice in our Father’s love and pleasure without worrying about our performance.

Does God engage with us to help us grow up?  Yes.  Does sin produce death?  Certainly.  Is all of our sin paid for on Calvary?  Yes.  I can never sin my way out of my relationship with Father.  I can affect the way that He deals with me.  He is always about growing us up into the image of His Son Jesus.

Hebrews speaks of “fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and perfector of faith”, Paul speaks of “not being drawn away from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Jesus.”  

Despite my brokenness, despite my failures, despite my weakness, foolishness, stupidity—I am deeply loved by my Father.  It leaves me in the posture of rejoicing in God’s love for me, settled and confident in who I am to my Father (regardless of what others or my performance is saying), and free to move forward in love.

Your brother,

David

Charles J. Rolls, God Loves Us, J3 Khai Ambassadors, J3 Khai Restoration, J3Khai Ambassadors, Jehovah, Jesus, Messiah, Yahweh, Yehovah

The Counselor

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

“Who has encompassed the Spirit of Yahweh, Or as His counselor has informed Him? With whom did He take counsel and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge and made Him know the way of understanding? (Isaiah 40:13–14).”

  Whenever the word “counselor” is used in Scripture the fact of creation stands in close proximity (see Isaiah 40:26; also, Romans 11:34, 36). Whatever the Counselor determines is done and none can revoke His decision or rescind His decree. 

Make the following your prayer to Jesus the Counselor

  All the divine ordinances pertaining to the sun, stars, seas, and seasons are controlled and coordinated by the counsel of your omnipotence Counselor Jesus. You are both Generator and governor of all the great features and forces of the entire universe. You are the Counselor who asked the Patriarch Job if he were competent enough to bind the sweet influences of Pleiades or to lose the bands of Orion (Job 38:31). According to astronomical estimates Pleiades is three thousand billion miles away from the sun and yet this constellation controls the whole of our solar system. Whose counsel, other than yours Jesus, is authoritative enough to ordain ordinances that will operate such majestic constellation over the range of these gigantic distances with meticulous precision?

  As this same Counselor Jesus, you communicated to the prophets a clear, concise account of future events, which you call prophecy. You commissioned Isaiah to issue a challenge to human counselors to forecast the future or to foreordain things to come. Isaiah returned with the report that he failed to find a single one who could do it (Isaiah 41:22, 23, 28). In contrast with this impotence stands your divine omnipotence, “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done. Saying, ‘My counsel will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’, Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of My counsel from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have formed it, surely, I will do it.” (Isaiah 46:10, 11). Jesus you are the only Counselor who has communicated to man a complete record of the ages from the commencement to the consummation.

  You also asked Isaiah to announce the names of collaborators, if there were any, with whom you took counsel in order to ask for advice and aid in your administration; but Isaiah could not submit one solitary name (Isaiah 40:13, 14). Since I am incapable of coining or changing a single decree in your divine purpose, or of constructing or correcting one solitary sentence of your revealed will; since I am incompetent to create and control either planet or comet or determine its orbit, why don’t I acknowledge and adore you Messiah Jesus as the wonderful Counselor, and wholly yield my life to your will, which you prove to be good, acceptable and perfect? (Compare Romans 11:33–36 with Romans 12:1, 2).

    No one else possesses a greater and fuller claim or better title than you Jesus to counsel me. You are altogether entitled to do so because you are the all-wise Creator and also because you submitted to a cruel cross in order to redeem and reconcile. Jesus you are abundantly entitled to counsel me because you are the only One who conquered death and the Devil and defeated the powers of darkness. You are admirably entitled to counsel me because as Heir of all things you alone bear the qualifications to confer heirship; you alone maintain my right to inherit an incorruptible estate by continually making intercession for me. Jesus, you are assuredly entitled to counsel me because of your care under all conditions; you have secured the cancellation of my sins and comfort me in times of sorrow. “With Your counsel You will lead me, And afterward take me in glory.” (Psalm 73:24)

We edited Charles “The Counselor” to be a personal prayer. Charles J. Rolls, The Indescribable Christ: Names and Titles of Jesus Christ: A-G (Loizeaux Brothers, 1984).

David Coffield, Featured Writers, Guest Post, Jehovah, Jesus, Mental Health, Messiah, Recommended Reading, Testimonies, Uncategorized, Yahweh, Yehovah

Embrace the suck

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

Written by Dave Coffield

“God is far more likely to use pain, suffering, sorrow, grief, troubles, and such to grow us up into the character and image of His Son than He is to use happy times and pleasure.  I know what I like better.”  

“There is a reason that James says to ‘count it all joy when you encounter various trials’ and Paul says, ‘not only this but we also exult in our tribulations‘.  What would it be like to rejoice in the goodness of the Lord in the difficult times that He brings into our lives to accomplish good things in us?”

“The Army has a term I like.  ‘Embrace the suck’.  The understanding that you will be in environments that are difficult, painful, stressful, etc.  You endure it.  Hebrews says of Jesus, ‘Who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame…‘”

David Coffield, Featured Writers, Guest Post, J3 Khai Restoration, Jesus, Recommended Reading, Testimonies

Our faith grows to the extent that we grow in our connection and relationship with Jesus.

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

It is a great privilege to share with you my experience as a broken man with a mighty God.  The older I get, the more impressed I am with Him and the less impressed I am with me.

I think Hebrews 12 has great advice for us.  “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith.”  Endurance is basically hanging in there, moving on when we would rather stop.  I have run a 20 miler.  The question at mile 17 was no longer whether I could run again, but whether I could keep walking.  

Our couple’s study was working on James 2 last night and our discussion helped my understanding.  Faith is an ongoing connection with God.  It is not a one-time intellectual assent to God’s existence.  The noun (faith) and the verb (believe) share the same root word.  Our faith grows to the extent that we grow in our connection and relationship with Jesus.

Pick up the Bible, listen to the voice of God as He speaks.  Respond to Him.  It is as simple and profound as it gets.

Nobody does it well all the time.  Nobody gets it right all the time.  No one.  And it is ok because every believer has been clothed in the righteousness of Christ, all our sins have been forgiven, we have been adopted into His family, we are completely loved and accepted, we have eternal life.  Incredible. 

When Thanksgiving rolls around, I am drawn to Hebrews where it says, “Through Him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.”  Giving thanks is a sacrifice we give to God.  Proud people are never thankful, they are entitled, they deserve it.  Humble people recognize that everything they have that is good comes from the hand of our loving Father (the bad and the good).  And we give thanks.

Your brother,

David

Featured Writers, Guest Post, Testimonies, Ukraine, Uncategorized

Eyewitness Account From Ukraine

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

From my friend, Valentyn Korenevych, in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Dear friends, remember that now I wish everyone not a good day, but God’s day. You admit that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine began on February 20, 2014, when the Russians captured Crimea and then eastern Ukraine. Eight years later, the Russians decided to capture and destroy the whole of Ukraine, so on February 24, 2022, at 4 am, they began bombing our Ukrainian airfields, military units and cities. Today is the forty-first day of the active phase of the war. We Ukrainians defend our faith, our way of life, our land. A strong servant of Satan, hidden in the Kremlin walls of ancient Mordor: an old evil that pretends to be light under the guise of pagan Orthodoxy and Z occultism, is leading Russia to its doom. The unburied corpse of an idol man (Lenin) for about 100 years lies in the center of the Russian capital, near the cemetery of the same murderers and thieves.
We Ukrainians, as residents of the state of Gondor in the Tolkien writer, live in Mordor (Muscovy), and since 1487, we have been fighting with the Muscovite orcs for the right to live freely and believe in God.

This is my little introduction to give you a better understanding of how I feel and what is happening around me in Ukraine. Because I noticed that many people from other countries do not understand the essence of these events and continue to believe in fairy tales about good Russia. By the way, the name Russia is also was stolen by orcs in Kievan Rus, as now Russian orcs steal and take out of our cities, even fleeing Ukraine, refrigerators, washing machines, TVs, toilets, tablets, computers and more. But it’s not scary, we will still work and buy it all. It is not terrible that they destroyed our cities, we will rebuild. The scary thing is that they are killing our people by throwing bombs and missiles at us. And even worse is what they do with locals and children in the occupation. The city of Bucha, near Kyiv, where someone called the second Srebrenica. The name is not for the number of deaths, but for the cruelty. People and children were shot, tortured and raped by orcs there. Corpses, corpses… people. But it is not yet known what is being done in other Russian-occupied cities.

I have been with my family in Kyiv for a week now. Arrived on March 29 with my family (five of us). It helped a lot to have a car that all you raised money for me. We left Kyiv in this car for Cherkasy and we came back, and now I am transporting some things for the military in this car. Because transport is almost non-existent in Ukraine now. Thank you all again. May our God bless you all with His blessings.

In Kyiv I try to be useful to other people.
I communicate with military chaplains over the phone and various messengers.
I support them in various ways.
I take medicine to military units.
Every night for 41 days I have a church prayer for our military.
I join the online seminary every Sunday night.
Every Monday I conduct online communication with the employees of Olive Branch Ukraine.
On Sunday, I worshiped with the Lord’s Supper in our military building. Now there is no electricity and it is very cold.
On Thursday, Vasily and I will teach our pastors to understand chaplaincy.

The Russians have already left Kyiv, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr and Sumy oblasts, so military teams are currently working there to clear roads and buildings. Today the first road to Chernihiv, my mother’s city, was opened. The city is 70% destroyed, and there is no water, gas, electricity or heating. My mother begs for food and an apartment every day, which she does not have, and still does not have a safe way there. My mother is 79 years old, I don’t know if she understands that or if she’s so stubborn. Maybe in ten days I will try to go to Chernihiv.

Today, at the door of our rented room called “Olive Branch” and the Church “Way of Truth”, I hung an announcement for needy people that those who need food, please contact. We plan to help those who do not have jobs and money for food, especially refugees.

Thank you, my friends, co-workers with God, I feel your prayers and other help. We all Ukrainians feel. The Russians bombed almost all our strategic enterprises, oil depots, food bases, airports, blocked seaports and river ports, but thanks to you our army fires bullets, shells, missiles, our tanks, cars and planes are at war, air defense is alive. Four million refugees are abroad, and they are safe.

I thank God and you for your countries contribution to all this. God works through you in times of war. I would like to thank you all in some way, but I do not know what and how?

Postscript. In Cherkasy on March 8, Marina and I went outside for a walk. We walked 500 meters to the city center when the alarm siren sounded. Marina immediately hunched over like a very old woman. It’s scary when you’re standing in the middle of the street of a still peaceful city, and the sirens around you are buzzing around, and you realize that you’re standing face to face in front of a cruise missile, and you’re defenseless (I didn’t mention God right away). I still didn’t have time to understand how Marina dragged me to the bomb shelter at a school. We waited at school for a while, but without waiting for the alarm to end, we went outside. We walked another 500 meters and I saw something strange, surreal. Near the market, right during the alarm, women were selling yellow and red tulips. It flashed in my head, today is Women’s Day, April 5th! And even more surprising was the fact that these tulips were lined up for men of all ages, who nervously shrugged, looked around, but stood in line, and they bought these flowers, mostly only one flower. To this day, I have before my eyes a picture: anxiety, the market, tense men, yellow and red tulips. I did not dare to stand in line, and did not buy a flower for Marina, because then such a purchase seemed strange and inappropriate. When I came home and calmed down, I was a little ashamed that I did not overcome myself and did not buy a flower for Marina. Suddenly, about an hour later, the son of the owner of the apartment where we lived, Lieutenant Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine., came and brought three flowers for Marina. Such are our military in Ukraine!
That is why Women’s Day, thanks to the military in Ukraine, exists even during the war.
Thank God for Ukraine and America and our other friends in Europe.

Valentyn Korenevych,
Colonel (Retired)

President of the Public organization “Olive Branch” Ukraine

www.olivebranch.org.ua
Program director of “Pastors-Chaplains Leadership” of the Kiev Theological Seminary
www.ktsonline.org

Charles J. Rolls, God Loves Us, Jehovah, Jesus, Messiah, Uncategorized, Yehovah

Are you hangry for Love? Jesus is the Bread of Life!

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

“Christ is the true legacy of life; He heartily loves, tenderly calls, sincerely welcomes and gladly receives all who come to Him. No one can have too much of His preciousness, sweetness, or loveliness; all He bestows is fresh and fragrant and satisfies forevermore.”

The Bread of God

The bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world (John 6:33).

The context shows that the emancipation from Egypt, which was followed by the supply of manna forty years in the wilderness under Moses, is closely associated with this new claim. During that period of national history, four outstanding experiences are recorded. These experiences relate to the Passover lamb, the Red Sea deliverance, the uplifted serpent and the fording of Jordan. The Apostle John introduces the spiritual significance of these same four features in the opening three chapters of this Gospel. These memorable links with the past, together with Jacob’s well (John 4), and the pool at the sheep gate (John 5), furnish an illuminating background in relation to the far-reaching claim Christ made of being the Bread of God from heaven.

The secret of Israel’s sustained strength was linked with the lamb in Egypt, the power at the Red Sea, the manna in the wilderness and the old corn in Canaan. These reflect Christ in His personal holiness at the crucifixion, “a Lamb without spot,” His prevailing power in resurrection (John 2:19), His perfect humility in submission, “the Bread which came down from heaven,” and His pre-eminent honor in glorification, as the One enthroned high above all principality and power.

The third of these is the subject here, where Christ declared Himself to be the Bread of God. To draw definite attention to the fact of His own manifestation and ordained mission, He refers to the source from whence He came and the sequence of that coming. Bread, in the use we make of it, is brought to nourish those who are alive; but Christ the Bread of God imparts life eternal. John is careful to mention among the essentials of this life, birth, breath and bread, and attributes these in turn to the Triune God. The physical bread we eat is from wheat grown in the ground, from whence our bodies are derived. The calcium, silicon, iodine, iron, phosphates, etc. in an organic form are packed into the wheat in order to build up our strength. In like manner, if we are to become partakers of spiritual life and immortality we must needs eat the Bread of God, which is made up of righteousness, goodness, lovingkindness, graciousness, perfectness, holiness, and such like which result in Godlikeness.

Our Lord also claimed, “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me” (John 6:37). This is a sure anchorage for faith; for by our coming it is obvious we form part of the Father’s gift. The decision to do so leads to a great discovery. “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). An eternal mystery is unveiled to everyone that comes. Christ is the true legacy of life; He heartily loves, tenderly calls, sincerely welcomes and gladly receives all who come to Him. No one can have too much of His preciousness, sweetness, or loveliness; all He bestows is fresh and fragrant and satisfies forevermore.

 Charles J. Rolls, The Indescribable Christ: Names and Titles of Jesus Christ: A-G (Loizeaux Brothers, 1984).

Charles J. Rolls, God Loves Us, Jehovah, Jesus, Messiah, Uncategorized

Jesus “is affectionately loving, altogether lovely and always lovable.”

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

“Christ monopolizes loveliness by His heart of lowliness, He multiplies preciousness by His spirit of meekness and He magnifies graciousness by His deeds of kindness. As Bridegroom He is affectionately loving, altogether lovely and always lovable.”

The Bridegroom of the Bride

He that hath the bride is the bridegroom (John 3:29).
In that bright and beautiful narrative of the book of Ruth, Boaz, the notable kinsman who played the part of restorer and nourisher, also became the beloved bridegroom (Ruth 4:15). When the storm of sorrow and the waves of dire distress which Ruth had encountered died down, a new dawn of radiant splendor broke upon her life, in that she made the soul-stirring discovery that Boaz, the mighty man of wealth, was actually her kinsman and her redeemer. The damsel found in this nobleman a stronger sympathy than she had known before, a sweeter society than she had previously experienced and a dearer relationship of remarkable renown; for Boaz, the mighty, became her very own bridegroom.

The greater reality of the New Testament is reflected in this record; for the Son of God became the Son of man, our near kinsman; so that by identity of life and integrity of love, He might redeem and raise up His Bride, the Church, to share the intimacy and immortality of an eternal union with Himself. The illustrious and illuminating portrayal in the record of Ruth supplies an index to infinite movements that find complete consummation in the marriage of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7).
By virtue of Christ’s identifying Himself with human history, God wrought out His great regenerative purpose of salvation. If the celestial One had not entered into the realm of the terrestrial and overcome the infernal power of darkness, mankind would not have had any title to the heritage of light with its infinite glory and incorruptibility.
The Apostle Peter presents this Bridegroom as the perfection of all preciousness, the sum-total of exquisite beauty and majesty; whose life is everlasting, whose love is everabiding and whose endowments in an unwithering inheritance are to be eternally enjoyed. Christ monopolizes loveliness by His heart of lowliness, He multiplies preciousness by His spirit of meekness and He magnifies graciousness by His deeds of kindness. As Bridegroom He is affectionately loving, altogether lovely and always lovable.

The Scriptures disclose a series of illustrious bridegrooms in whose lives are given glimpses in faintest tracery of the tenderness of this eternal Lover. Glimmers of Him are reflected in the first love of Adam for Eve, in the faithful love of Abraham for Sarah, in the fervent love of Isaac for Rebecca, in the fragrant love of Jacob for Rachel, in the fruitful love of Joseph for Asenath, in the faultless love of Boaz for Ruth, and in the fascinating love of Jonathan for David.

The majestic countenance of the heavenly Bridegroom shines as the sun in its strength, so that the mystery of beauty is manifest at its best and brightest. Through Him the divine luster of lovingkindness beams forth in all the richness of moral goodness. He discharges the highest obligations perfectly. He has always been chivalrous in conflict, valiant in victory, constant in courtesy, loyal in love, thoughtful in tenderness, kingly in kindness and gracious in gentleness. No one is able to find in Him a single trace of failure or the slightest taint of fault or forgetfulness.

How solicitous He is in His care, how steadfast in His love, how sympathetic His heart and how sensitive His Spirit in understanding! Emanuel displayed infinite affection in coming to earth to select and secure His Bride, the Church, and to present her to Himself without spot or wrinkle or any such blemish. He has designed that His Bride share with Him in joint heirship His celestial home and heritage. Little wonder that the name of this Bridegroom is adored for its unrivaled glory and that His love is admired for its unchanging fidelity.

What a thrill comes to the soul when we anticipate sharing a home with Christ beyond the hills and the horizon. A mansion beyond the mists and the mountains. A possession beyond the plains and the planets. A society beyond the stars and the sky. A dominion beyond the darkness and death. A state of bliss beyond the sun and the shadows. A titled estate beyond the trials and tribulations of time. A paradise beyond the perils and pains of the present era.

Thou glorious Bridegroom of our hearts
Thy present smile a heaven imparts,
O lift the veil, if veil there be,
Let every saint Thy beauties see.

Charles J. Rolls, The Indescribable Christ: Names and Titles of Jesus Christ: A-G (Loizeaux Brothers, 1984).

Uncategorized

The Gospel is about how Good God is, not how bad we are!!!

Michael J. Weiss, Sr.

The Lord Has No Equal

To whom will you compare me?
Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
Look up into the heavens.
Who created all the stars?
He brings them out like an army, one after another,
calling each by its name.
Because of his great power and incomparable strength,
not a single one is missing.
O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?
O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:25-31 (NLT)