“We preach CHRIST CRUCIFIED” (1 Cor 1:23). What self-respecting Jew would ever glory in a cross, the embodiment of a curse and shame? Erich Sauer writes in his classic In the Arena of Faith: Years ago we were in the Colosseum…the scene of Nero’s persecution of Christians…What streams of martyr blood had flowed on this […]
CHRIST the HIGHEST (Isa 52:13). David Baron, in The Servant of Jehovah, explains, “The climax in the height of Christ’s exaltation, as set forth by the three verbs in this sentence, is expressed by the word m’od, literally, “very much,” with which the sentence ends. ‘He shall be exalted and lifted up and be high […]
CHRIST “the END of the LAW to everyone who believes” (Rom 10:4). Come, man woman, do you believe? No weightier question can be asked. “Do you believe on the Son of God?” And what is it to believe? It is not merely to accept a set of doctrines and to say that such and such […]
CHRIST ALWAYS WITH YOU (Mt 28:20). F.B. Meyer writes: “In the early morning, as soon as you awake, remember that you are in the very presence of God, who has been watching beside you through the long, dark hours; look into His face and thank Him. Consecrate to Him those first moments before you leave […]
CHRIST our CAPTAIN (Heb 2:12). “It was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Heb 2:10). Faith likes how God thinks and is prepared to trust Him. When the Scriptures say, “faith […]
CHRIST the PRIZE (Php 3:14). James Gunn, in “The Christian’s Ambition,” explains that the word philotimeomai is found just 3x in the NT. Variously translated, it means something like “a desire or love for doing the honorable thing,” a good kind of ambitiousness. What are the three times which describe what ought to be our […]
CHRIST the REDEEMER (Isa 59:20). My friend Gerald and I were visiting some believers living along the shore of the beautiful Gaspé Peninsula in Québec. En route, we stopped on a high promontory overlooking the famous Percé Rock. Perched beside us was a small church building which we entered. On either side of the entrance […]
CHRIST our LIFE (Col 3:4). C.H. Mackintosh writes: God looks for reality. He is not satisfied with mere words of high profession. He says to us, “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” He, blessed be His name, did not love us in word […]
CHRIST our RIGHTEOUSNESS (1 Cor 1:30). J.A. von Poseck tells about two eager believers, but one had a deep sorrow: his wife was not saved. He, of the two, went to heaven first. Before he died, he asked his friend, “Promise me you will press on my wife her need of salvation.” He agreed and, […]