"And for this because He is the Mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament, they which are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." [Hebrews 11:15]
Somewhere in the universe the righteous will obtain what
the Scriptures call
"A heavenly country" [Hebrews 11:16]
"An inheritance among them that are sanctified" [Acts 26:18]
"The inheritance of the saints in light" [Colossians 1:12]
"The land of the promise" [Hebrews 11:9]
In the present state men soon die and leave their wealth to
others. No human law can write such a deed to a piece of property as will
secure its owner from death. The lease hardly goes beyond threescore years and
ten. But that future inheritance will be "forever,"
"eternal." [Psalm 37:18] Another precious thought is, it will be
"in light." We quickly feel the depressing effects of a dark and
murky atmosphere, or the animating influence of bright and balmy weather.
"Truly the light is sweet" [Ecclesiastes 11:7]
It is sometimes used as a symbol of joy.
"Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the
upright in heart" [Psalm 97:11]
Imagine if you can what a gloomy abode the earth would be if we were we deprived of the present measure of
light which Yehovah has
commanded to shine upon it. (There will be a sevenfold increase of that light
if Isaiah 30:26, is
to be taken literally.) A third feature serving to render that inheritance of
inestimable value is that it will be "among them that are sanctified – set apart" It is well known what
effect neighbours have on the value of a piece of land. Men will pay a large
price for a lot or farm in a good neighbourhood, who would regard it a great
calamity to have to reside on the same piece of land surrounded by bad neighbours.
Well, in this respect the future inheritance will be all that a disciple can wish for. The society will excel in everything that the mind of mortal man
can imagine. A fourth very important and essential feature is that it will be a
"country" a "land" a real and tangible abode for beings
with tangible, immortal, and glorified bodies like their Lord Jesus.
"The righteous shall inherit substance" [Proverbs 8:21]
I cannot imagine how there could be tangible resurrected
bodies without any tangible pedestal or territory to rest upon. After creating
Adam and Eve God gave
them a beautiful and tangible territory to dwell upon. The resurrection of the
Saviour proves that his redeemed will have tangible bodies, for they
"shall be like him," [John 3”2]
Shall
"bear His image” [1 Corinthians 15:49]
and have their bodies
"fashioned like unto his own glorious body." [Philippians 3:21]
That glorious spiritual
body
will never become old but will have the stamp of immortality fixed upon it.
Some giddy people have said, "Better be out of the world than out of the
fashion"; but they had indeed better be out of the world, yes, better
never have come into the world than to be kept out of that fashion when the
Saviour comes.
I have met persons who cry out against
"materiality," when at the same time they are utterly unable to tell
us either where materiality ends, or where their favourite
"immateriality" begins. In denying the tangibility of the future
existence they have denied the tangible resurrection of the body, and thus have
lost themselves in the cold, murky and shoreless ocean of speculation. But
"the disciple whom Jesus loved" was not of that school, for he has
described to us a Saviour whom his
"hands had handled," [1 John 1:1]
and they did even
"eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead." [Acts 10:41]
The Saviour had foretold that he would be crucified and
raised again the third day and had given visible evidence of the resurrection
of the body, in raising the ruler's daughter, the widow's son, and Lazarus. But
still Thomas doubted the real and tangible resurrection of his Lord. Before he
could believe in the literal fulfillment of the Saviour's prophecy he must
"see in his hands
the print of the nails, and put his finger into the print of the nails, and
thrust his hand into his
side." Well, whatever clouded the mind of Thomas, his conversion was
thorough. When permitted to see for himself he cries out, from the depths of his heart he
says, "My Lord and my god - Elohim." [John 20:25-28]
In the resurrected and "spiritual body" there
will be infinitely more reality than in this "mortal body" which
"appears for a
little time and then passes
away." [James 4:14] The perishable blood, which gives life of the present flesh [Deuteronomy 12:23], will be replaced by the imperishable Spirit in
the future constitution of
the body;
so that the body will then be flesh and bones," but not "flesh and
blood." This will make the glory and beauty of the spiritual body
infinitely excel that of the mortal body. According to Chemistry, carbon is the
basis of charcoal, and the Diamond is pure carbon, or charcoal changed,
crystalized, glorified. So, the spiritual body will be the present humble body
"changed," immortalized, glorified. I have read of a Jacinth no
larger than a pea, but which is said to flash and glow with a lustre that seems
to indicate the presence of fire and flame. Even the sun and stars are used to
illustrate the future glory of the redeemed. [Daniel 12:3;
Matthew 8:43] So we may well believe that the
resurrection body will be stronger than the Diamond, more beautiful than the
Jacinth, and bright as the stars or sun; yet without blood.
As already intimated, a great community of such beings must
have a tangible abode; something must be somewhere. On a clear night you can
see a great many stars in the sky; with a telescope you could see more; and
with perfect vision perhaps the whole sky would seem one silvery surface of
star work, without a single blue interspace. But could you point to a single
spot in that star-work and say, on Scriptural authority, "That shall be
forever the saints' secure abode?" Let us then consider where will the
inheritance be? when will it be obtained? and by what means.
1.
Where will the inheritance be? This and
the other two questions are explained under the similitude of a Testament or
covenant promising a certain inheritance to certain heirs. The fact that the
word translated "testament," (diatheke), means also a "covenant
" produces no obscurity in the text but rather brings out the meaning more
clearly; because the testament or will referred to contains within itself the
nature of a covenant also, inasmuch as although it is brought into force by a
death (like a will), yet its bequests are to be given to the heirs on
conditions which (as in a covenant), must be agreed to and carried out by them. And now to find the
inheritance for which we are looking we must first find the testament or
covenant in which it is described. Paul mentions two testaments: the Abrahamic and Mosaic. The latter he
calls "the first testament" because though the last made it was the
first that was brought into force. [Hebrews
11:18] He also calls it "the old
testament" because in his time it had become old and "ready to vanish
away." [2
Corinthians 3:14;
Hebrews 8:13] It is only in a loose or metonymic way
that we speak of all the books from Genesis to Malachi as "The Old
Testament." That volume contains "The Old Testament" i.e., it contains Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers
and Deuteronomy, in which
the old testament or Mosaic covenant was written. It also contains the
"prophets," to whom we are still commanded to "take heed" [2 Peter 1:10]; but we are forbidden to put ourselves
under the Mosaic law. We must therefore distinguish between "the law and
the prophets." Now if we search the Mosaic testament with all eagerness,
we shall never find our eternal inheritance there. That testament has indeed
shown us a nation settled upon e land; but at the same time, it warned them
that they were but "strangers and sojourners" i.e., temporary residents upon it. [Leviticus 25:23] Accordingly, as their history proves,
they "possessed it but a little while." [Isaiah 63:18] An eternal inheritance requires eternal
life as a qualification for it. But the Mosaic testament could not give that
eternal life because it could not give righteousness, of which that life is the
reward; hence the eternal inheritance came not by the law of Moses. In this
argument Paul clearly affirms that none but the righteous can obtain eternal
life, and none but those who have eternal life can obtain the eternal
inheritance.
"As righteousness tends to life: so he that pursues evil pursues it to his own death'" [Proverbs 5:19] “The wages of sin is death, but the gift
of God is eternal life through our Lord Jesus the Messiah." [Romans 6:23; Galatians 3:21; 2:21]
Having shown that the Mosaic
testament or covenant did not give an eternal inheritance, let us now turn to
the Abrahamic testament or covenant. This
is called "the new testament" as distinguished from the Mosaic,
because it is "everlasting;" for what is everlasting must he always
new; and will never become old and pass away,
as the Mosaic law has done. The
effects of this new covenant must remain as long as the redeemed and their
inheritance exist. It is also "new" because although typically
confirmed four hundred and thirty years before the law it was not antitypically
or fully confirmed until about fifteen hundred years after the law, when the
blood of the Messiah was
shed as "the blood of the everlasting covenant," and thus a
different, "a new and living way," was opened up for the pardon of
sin; a way new and different from any that had been seen before, whether under
the Mosaic or the patriarchal dispensation. [Hebrews 13:20; 10:20] The following reasons prove that it is
the Abrahamic covenant in which all Christians now stand, and hence the
inheritance promised in that covenant is theirs:
1st, The
law could not disannul it, [Galatians
3:17]
2nd, the Messiah came "to confirm"
its promises, [Romans
15:8]
3rd, He is
the one Seed named in that covenant and therefore the Heir, while they are the
multitudinous seed and joint-heirs with Him of the same inheritance. [Galatians 3:16, 29; Romans 8:17]
4th, It is
"an everlasting covenant," and therefore still in force. [Genesis 17:7, 8;1 Chronicles 15:15-18]
Paul says this new covenant,
of which the Messiah is
Mediator, is "better" than the Mosaic, and was "established upon
better promises” [Hebrews
8:6] Let us contrast them in a few particulars.
Moses was mediator of the
Mosaic covenant: but the
Messiah
is Mediator of the Abrahamic
covenant.
The Mosaic was dedicated by
blood of calves aud goats "which can never take away sin:" but the
Abrahamic by the precious blood of the
Messiah
which "cleanses us
from all sin." [1 John
1:7]
The Mosaic covenant was only
provisional or temporary, until
the Messiah
should come but the Abrahamic is everlasting. [Galatians 3:19]
The Mosaic covenant could not
confer righteousness, eternal life, nor the eternal heritance: but the
Abrahamic confers all these on its heirs.
The Mosaic bequeathed chiefly
to one nation: the Abrahamic bequeaths to believers of all nations.
All these considerations regarding
the two covenants prove conclusively that it is the Abrahamic covenant in which
we must find the eternal inheritance pointed out. Paul says, "To Abraham
and his Seed were the promises made. He saith not and to seeds, as of many, but
as of one, and to your Seed,
which is the Messiah. And
this I say that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in the Messiah, the law, which was four
hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul that it should make the promise
of no effect. For if the INHERITANCE be of the law, it is no more of
promise." Galatians 3:16-18] In this brief quotation is condensed a
rich treasury of wisdom. Among other
things, it tells us that tho inheritance is the thing promised; that Abraham
and his Seed (i.e., the Messiah and
the saints, (vs. 2) are the heirs; and that these promises,
also called a "covenant" were made four hundred and thirty years
before the law. Now, commencing with the
giving of the law at Sinai, and measuring backwards four hundred and thirty
years, we come lo the days when the covenant was being made, and we hear Yehovah promising to give an eternal
inheritance to Abraham and his Seed. In such expressions as the following the
promise is several times repeated.
"Unto your Seed will I give this land." [Genesis 12:7]
"All the land which you see, to you will I give it, and to your Seed forever" [Genesis 13:15]
"I will give unto you, and to your Seed after you, the land wherein you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an
everlasting possession." [Genesis
17:8]
Nor is this all the
inheritance, for when the
Messiah
and His joint-heirs take possession of that land the kingdom of God will be
established there and will quickly fill the
"whole earth;" [Daniel 2:35]
hence another promise of
Scripture says that the Messiah shall
have
"the uttermost parts of
the earth for his
possession;" [Psalm 2:8]
and another,
"Blessed are the meek for
they shall inherit the earth." [Matthew
5:5]
We have now proved,
1st, That
the Abrahamic covenant is "the New Testament" spoken of in the text.
2nd, That the Messiah is the heir and all the [p 108] righteous joint-heirs
with him;
3rd, That
the land of Canaan and the whole earth will be their "eternal
inheritance."
Some, although they cannot
deny this plain conclusion, try to avoid confessing that the earth is to be our
future inheritance by saying they do not think it ''essential" to believe
it. But this undertaking to sit in judgment on the holy scripture and divide off its truths
into essential and non-essential is a presumptuous and perilous affair. What
would you think of a man who, trying to reduce faith and morals to the utmost
minimum; to a
mere skeleton; would
undertake to form for himself a creed and a moral code omitting every truth and
every grace or virtue except what he might deem "absolutely
essential" to his final salvation? Do you think a character based on such
a creed and such a code as that would be approved in the day of judgment, or that
such a man would be saved at all? To suppress the many precious promises which
declare the whereabouts of the inheritance is like impiously trying to run a
pen through those promises, or to hide their light under a bushel. The Lord has
not revealed anything superfluous.
"Whatsoever things were
written before were
written for our learning." [Romans
15:4]
"All Scripture is
profitable for doctrine" [2
Timothy 3:16]
We should gladly accept
"every word that proceeds out of the mouth of
God." [Matthew
4:4]
The whereabouts of the
inheritance is a prominent part
of that gospel of the kingdom which we must believe in order to be saved.
Compare Matthew 24:14;
Mark 16:16] Yehovah has told us where the
inheritance will be, and has sworn to perform His promise ‘I will perform the oath which I swore unto
Abraham' [Genesis
26],
surely then it is essential to
believe that He will keep His word. The blessed son of God has also told us where it will be,
saying,
"blessed are the meek for
they shall inherit the earth" [Matthew
5:5],
and it is essential to believe
Him also, for
"He that believes not the son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him." [John 3:36]
Common sense teaches us that
in taking a journey to any place we are much more apt to get there and will
have a much easier journey if we know just where it is before we start; otherwise,
we are liable to go in an opposite direction, and perhaps never get there. Does
an attorney in writing a deed of great importance think it nonessential to
specify the whereabouts of the estate conveyed? In the parables of the supper
and the marriage feast [Luke 14; Matthew 22], suppose you that the servants who
carried the invitations neglected to tell the invited ones where the supper or
feast would be? Is it customary to leave out such an important item as that?
Well, the servants in those parables represent those who preach "the
gospel of the kingdom," by which gospel the Lord is inviting us to
"His kingdom and glory." And truly that gospel tells us plainly
enough where the kingdom and glory will be. These are "things which are
revealed" and therefore "belong unto us and to our children
forever." — Deuteronomy 29:29.
2. When
will the inheritance be obtained? "A testament is of force after men are
dead; otherwise, it is of no strength at all while the testator lives." [Hebrews 9:17] And in some instances an estate is not
received until a long time after the testator's death, owing to the underage of some of the heirs. But was
it ever known in any court of law since the world began, that a portion of the
heirs, not only during the underage of
some but also before the birth of some, and even before the death of the
testator were put in possession of the inheritance? Now whether we call the
arrangement alluded to in the text a testament or only a covenant, there can be
no disputing the fact that it required the death of the Messiah to bring it into force. How
then could those heirs who died before the Testator obtain immediately that
inheritance; entering possession of a heavenly Canaan at death, as some people
tell us? Would not this be utterly subversive of the testamentary illustration?
Why speak of the eternal inheritance as something to be obtained by and after
the death of the Messiah if it
could be equally obtained without and before His death? This very epistle to
the Hebrews declares that those who died before the death of the Messiah
"received not the
promise," and shall "not be
made perfect without us." [Hebrewss 11:39, 40]
After Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
had been dead nearly two hundred years the giving of the inheritance to them
was spoken of as still future. [Exodus
6:4] All the heirs will receive it together,
at the resurrection, as many lines of argument converge to prove. Some of those
lines of argument are,
(1) those
testimonies which mention particular heirs;
(2) those
which describe the present condition of the inheritance;
(3) those
relating to the state of the dead;
(4) the
great parables.
Abraham obtained "no
inheritance in it," [Acts 7:5]
and the great Redeemer himself
even while sojourning upon it
"had not where to lay his
head” [Matthew
8:20]
But when He shall
"come in His glory"
He will receive "the uttermost parts of the earth" for his
possession. [Psalm 2:8]
The inheritance itself had yet
to be prepared even for the apostles; how then could the patriarchal heirs who
died during the previous four thousand years be already in it. If the patriarchs were already in it, and
it was good enough for them, was it not good enough for the apostles? But how
can you suppose that the Saviour speaks of heaven above as the place to be
prepared? Since it is already good enough for the Father, the Son, and the holy
angels, I would think that we ought rather to be prepared for that, than that
for us. But it is evident that the groaning earth, waiting to be delivered
shall indeed be prepared and repaired by Him who will
"make all things
new." [Revelation
21:5; Romans 8:21]
The regenerated earth which
the meek shall inherit (Matthew 5:5)
after thus prepared, will be as homogeneous with their risen and glorified
bodies as the present earth is with their present bodies. The Saviour's going
to heaven has much to do with the making ready or preparing of that
inheritance; and we must wait until He shall "come again" and receive
us to himself, before we can enter into possession of it. The present state of
the dead proves they will not obtain it before the resurrection. They
"know not anything" [Ecclesiastes 9:5]
"The grave is their
house" [Job 17:13]
They
"sleep in the dust of the
earth" [Daniel
12:2]
Have
"not ascended into
heaven" [Acts 2:34]
They
"shall be recompensed at
the resurrection of the just" [Luke 14:14]
"when the Son of man
shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels [Matthew 16:27]
and when they
“shall put on the prerequisite
immortality." [1
Corinthians 15:54]
The great parables prove the
same. The laborers in the vineyard were employed at different hours during the
day, but paid off at one stated season, "when evening was come." We
must be content to go by the master’s clock; our times are in His hand. When
the great dial-plate above that marks the times and seasons points to the hour
of his return, He will come
without delay and call the laborers, from "the last" that entered the
vineyard and are still toiling above the sod, to "the first" who
entered it long ago and are now sleeping in the silent grave. "You shalt call, and I will answer you," says Job. Yes, from land and ocean
He will summon them, "gather
my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by
sacrifice," even by the great sacrifice on
Calvary. How beautifully the parable fits with calling persons into the called-out Assembly of God all
through the past ages and dispensations, and rewarding them all together at the
resurrection when the Lord comes! And just as the laborers are not paid off
irregularly through the day, as if the steward were kept in his office
constantly employing one and paying another; so, neither are the wheat and
tares gathered singly and at odd times all through the year, but in the time of
harvest, at the end of the age- aion,"
Also the good fish and bad are represented as arraigned and separated in a
multitude, when the net is full and brought to shore; not one by one, every few minutes, as by a hook and line process. Thus,
with wonderful clearness these parables teach that the righteous are not singly
and every day going from some part or other of the "field" or
"vineyard" or "sea" immediately to glory; though we hear in some funeral sermons
that the deceased has "gone to his reward," but must wait and
"be recompensed at the
resurrection of the just, not at the death of the just”. [Luke 14:14]
The attitude of those who have
turned to God is that of
"waiting for His son from heaven." [1 Thessalonians 1:10]
Even the righteous dead may be
spoken of as waiting for Him, for Job says,
"All the days of my
appointed time will I wait till my change come," and "If I wait the grave,
is my house." [Job 14:14; 17:13]
And so, they have only, as it were, changed
waiting-rooms; they
in the grave, we in the world. I have been told that some of the early
Christians, to express their faith, were buried in a standing posture as if
anxiously "gazing up into heaven" (like the disciples on Olivet),
"not having received the promises," but waiting for the returning
Saviour. The called-out Assembly of
God
has waited long and suffered much during the heavenly bridegroom’s absence in the "far
country" to which he has
gone; and what if in the very act of returning some angelic band were to meet him in the skies and say, "She is even
now dead, for the last Christian on earth has been put to death by
persecution," would even that cause Him to turn back? An earthly
physician, if met on the way by tidings that his patient is dead, turns back
and goes to struggle with death and be again defeated on some other
battlefield. But Oh! it is not so with the Messiah, the great physician. Such
tidings would but hasten him hither, for He could say, as He did of the ruler's
daughter, "She is not dead but sleeps."
And on His arrival, His bright presence will throw a stream of light into the
deepest grave of His people, and his voice
awaken all their dust into life and everlasting joy.
Although neither in life nor
death have the heirs yet obtained their inheritance, yet it is guaranteed to
them in a testament which "cannot be broken"; for its divine Executor
is able to carry out all its provisions even though it requires the raising of
the heirs from the dead. The
Messiah
is related to that will as Testator, Executor, Surety, and Heir. In human
affairs these offices would require four different persons, but when they all centre
in the Messiah they
have an illustrative use which must not be strained beyond that point which
they are intended to elucidate. Thus, the words Lamb, Lion, Vine, Door,
Sacrifice, High Priest, Advocate, Judge, do not
conflict at all as applied to the Messiah, but
are only used to describe the various attributes displayed by him in so many parts and portions of his work. For instance, his first coming to suffer was like a
"Lamb"; His future coming to conquer will be as a "Lion." [Isaiah 53:7; John 1:29; Revelation 5:5]
3.
By what means will the inheritance be
obtained? In the present state men are disqualified from holding everlasting or
eternal possession of their property on account of death, and death itself is
the result of sin;
" By one man's disobedience sin entered into the world, and death by
sin." [Romans
5:12]. How then can. we get rid of sin and
death? Divine mercy has provided a way for us.
"The Messiah died for our sins." 1 Corinthians 15:3]
"God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten son, that
whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life." [John 3:16]
It is therefore "by means
of" the death of Christ that the inheritance is made possible. This
enables us to understand why His blood is called
"the blood of the
everlasting covenant," [Hebrews
13:20]
or the
"blood of the New
Testament shed for many for the remission of sins" [Matthew 25:28]
Hence learn the preciousness
of that inheritance, from the fact that Christ has died to secure it for us.
And so, the whole blood-washed throng of heirs; those who lived before as well as those who lived after his death will meet in the resurrection and
unite with grateful hearts and voices in the song of redemption, saying,
"You were slain and hast redeemed us to
God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and
hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the
earth" [Revelation
5, 10]
See that glorified inheritance
of the saints in light! a perpetual paradise restored! Populous with bright
forms! resounding with angelic odes! and teeming with all pleasant things! And
when you contemplate these things remember the agony and the tears which the
Saviour endured to purchase these
things for
you. And now he
promises that if you will obey
his commandments, he will give you a right; to the tree of life. Oh what amazing love that a sinner without a
right even to a crumb of bread or breath of air, should be offered a right to
the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God! The Saviour's enriching
love is free to the humblest, and mighty to save. Take an instance from his walks among men. On some of the uplands
leading from the great and fertile plain of Esdraelon, stood the little city of
Nain reposing in the quiet sunlight amid the verdant fields and vineyards of
that favoured land. But sadness reigns in at least one household of that city,
for lo! a funeral train is winding like a wintry shadow along the streets and
issuing forth from one of the gates. The corpse is borne by sympathizing
friends; it is a young man, cut down in the morning of his days, torn from the
cheerful society of young persons before the plans of his life had even begun
to be realized perhaps. This was a startling stroke, but what makes it still
more distressing, he was "the only son of his mother," and, sadder
still, “she a widow." In that vast procession, for there was much people of the city
with her. I can
almost imagine that I can see her tottering along, almost blinded with
swift-falling tears; her head bowed with woe, and her heart almost broken as
she thinks "who will care for me
now?" But ah! just over the hills another company is approaching to meet
them by the same pathway. Jesus, the great Prophet of Israel, is there, and his disciples, and throngs of people with him. And little does the weeping mother know
whose all-seeing and pitying eye has already "had compassion on her."
The observant Saviour
has comprehended the whole scene at a glance,
and says unto her "Weep not." Then he came and touched the coffin, and they
that bare him stood still. As if his gentle heart was too full for words, he makes that speaking gesture with hand hand, "Stop!" And what a blest
obedience was that! Suppose they had gone on; his own mother could have advised them,
"Whatsoever he says unto you, do:" a golden saying which
all of us ought to let "sink down into" our hearts, and echo its
musical sweetness along the vista of our pilgrimage, through all the scenes of
life. "Whatsoever he
says unto you do," for
there is a blessing in it. Well, they stood still. And now a solemn hush comes
over that vast assembly, with one thrilling moment of suspense, when probably
not a sound was heard but the uncontrollable sobbing of the mother; and there
sounds out on the air the voice
of Jesus, "young man I say unto you
arise;" "And he that was dead sat up and began to speak," and
"he
delivered him to his mother." There was much for that young man to do in
his own humble sphere. "Let every little candle shine, you in your corner
and I in mine." Perhaps the young man was needful to the comfort of his
widowed mother, and the Saviour would thus teach all young persons to show
piety at home, and to requite their parents: for this is good and acceptable
before God." [1
Timothy 5:4] The Saviour himself even in the rack of
agony which we suffered on the cross did not forget to make provision for His
mother, by commending her to the care of the beloved disciple John. This great miracle teaches us that the Saviour watches over the needs of
parents and pities their bereavements. Fathers and mothers, who then can be so
dear to you as the Lord Jesus? I beseech you to come to Jesus yourselves and
bring your children with you. Yehovah said
unto Noah come you and
all your house
into the ark."
Oh, that we had some Andrews
here. He had a way of bringing his friends to Jesus. He brought Peter that
afterwards became such a great apostle. On another occasion some Greeks desired
to see Jesus and there we find Andrew again lending his assistance. But is
there one in this house today who says, "No one cares for me?" Let
poor old blind Bartimeus tell you that you are mistaken. As he sat by the
wayside begging he heard a commotion of many voices and footsteps and when he
enquired what it was they told him "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." No doubt he had
heard of the Saviour's great miracles, and so he cried out, "Jesus you son of David – meaning the Messiah, have
mercy on me." But the persons around him told him to "hold his
peace." Not discouraged by their coldness however, he cried the more,
"Son of David, have mercy on me." And though everybody seemed to
scorn him, no one to take, him by the hand or give him one word of
encouragement, yet Jesus’ own
quick ear had heard that humble cry, and so h stood still and commanded the poor blind
man to be called unto him. Then
see how quickly the popular voice is changed; they had rebuked him before, but
now they say be of
good comfort, rise; he
is calling you."
And so he came and was healed and followed Jesus. [Mark 10:46-52]
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