The Beautiful Wounds of Jesus

Evening by Evening: The Devotions of Charles Spurgeon

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne. – Revelation 5:6

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

Why does our exalted Lord Jesus still carry the evidence of His wounds in glory? It is because His wounds are His glories, His jewels, His sacred adornments. When believers view Jesus, they see Him as white and red, or, as the Scriptures say, “white and ruddy” (Song of Solomon 5:10 KJV): “white” due to His innocence and purity, and “ruddy,” or red, due to His blood. We see Him as the lily of matchless purity and as the crimson rose because of His blood.

When we see Him on the Mount of Olives, the Mount of Transfiguration, or by the Sea of Galilee, He is beautiful; but there has never been such matchless beauty as that of our Christ as He hung upon the cross. It was there we beheld the perfection of His beauty, saw all His attributes and character fully developed, and beheld the perfect expression of His love being poured out.

Beloved Christian, the wounds of Jesus are far more beautiful to our eyes than all the splendor and pomp of kings, and His crown of thorns is far more precious than the most bejeweled imperial crown. It is true that todayHe wields “a measuring rod of gold” (Revelation 21:15), but there was a glory that flashed from His “measuring reed” (Ezekiel 40:3 KJV) of old that no golden scepter can ever match.

Jesus continues to wear the image of a slain Lamb — the very image He wore as He wooed our souls and redeemed us by His perfect atonement. Yet these are not simply adornments, but are visible trophies of His love and His victory. He has “divide[d] the spoils with the strong” (Isaiah 53:12) and has “redeem[ed] as a people for himself ” (2 Samuel 7:23) a great multitude no one can number, and His scars are the memorials of the fight.

Oh, if Christ so loves to maintain the thoughts of His suffering on behalf of His people, how much more precious should His wounds be to us.

Behold how every wound of His
A precious balm distils,
Which heals the scars that sin had made,
And cures all mortal ills.
Those wounds are mouths that preach
His grace;
The ensigns of His love;
The seals of our expected bliss
In paradise above.

— Joseph Stennett, 1663 – 1713

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

It may also be argued that not only will Jesus bear the marks of His suffering on our behalf throughout eternity future but also that He has borne those marks since eternity past, for John described Him as “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (Revelation13:8). Yet Isaiah saw the coming Messiah as “a glorious crown [and] a beautiful wreath” (Isaiah 28:5). Thus, with His sacrifice and His beauty in mind, may these words of David be our prayer:

One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. – Psalm 27:4

Excerpted with permission from Evening by Evening: The Devotions of Charles Spurgeonby Jim Reimann, copyright Zondervan.

Posted from WordPress for Android by Steve Larsson

Footprints of Discipleship. March 29

All people will know that you
are my followers if you love each other.
John 13:35

Watch a small boy follow his dad through the snow. He stretches to step where his dad stepped. Not an easy task. His small legs extend as far as they can so his feet can fall in his father’s prints.
The father, seeing what the son is doing, smiles and begins taking shorter steps, so the son can follow.
It’s a picture of discipleship.
In our faith we follow in someone’s steps. A parent, a teacher, a hero—none of us are the first to walk the trail. All of us have someone we follow. In our faith we leave footprints to guide others. A child, a friend, a recent convert. None should be left to walk the trail alone.
It’s the principle of discipleship.
The Inspirational Study Bible

Posted from WordPress for Android by Steve Larsson

From Heaven Itself. March 20

God made you alive with Christ,
and he forgave all your sins. He canceled the debt,
which listed all the rules we failed to follow.
Colossians 2:13–14

All the world religions can be placed in one of two camps: legalism or grace. Humankind does it or God does it. Salvation as a wage based on deeds done—or salvation as a gift based on Christ’s death.
A legalist believes the supreme force behind salvation is you. If you look right, speak right, and belong to the right segment of the right group, you will be saved. The brunt of responsibility doesn’t lie within God; it lies within you. The result? The outside sparkles. The talk is good and the step is true. But look closely. Listen carefully. Something is missing. What is it? Joy. What’s there? Fear. (That you won’t do enough.) Arrogance. (That you have done enough.) Failure. (That you have made a mistake.) …
Spiritual life is not a human endeavor. It is rooted in and orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. Every spiritual achievement is created and energized by God.

He Still Moves Stones

Posted from WordPress for Android by Steve Larsson

“The Good Steward”

Topic:Living for God
Romans 13:11- 14
Brothers and sisters, “who is wise and understanding among you?” (James 3:13). Let him show the wisdom from above, by walking fitting to his character. If he calls himself a steward of the many gifts of God, let him see that all his thoughts, words, and works fulfill the duty God has assigned him. It is no small thing to lay out for God all which you have received from God. It requires all your wisdom, all your determination, all your patience and faithfulness; far more than ever you had by nature but not more than you may have by grace. His grace is sufficient for you. “All things,” you know, “are possible to him that believes” (Mark 9:23). By faith, then, “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14), “put on the whole armor of God” (Ephesians 6:11), and you will be able to glorify Him in all your words and works. Yes, to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ!
– Edinburgh, May 14, 1768 (30-Day Dev)

Posted from WordPress for Android by Steve Larsson

The Fire Within. March 15

Jesus began to explain
everything that had been written
about himself in the Scriptures.
Luke 24:27

“When [the disciples] saw who he was, he disappeared. They said to each other, ‘It felt like a fire burning in us when Jesus talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us’” (Luke 24:31–32).
Don’t you love that verse? They knew they had been with Jesus because of the fire within them. God reveals his will by setting a torch to your soul. He gave Jeremiah a fire for hard hearts. He gave Nehemiah a fire for a forgotten city. He set Abraham on fire for a land he’d never seen. He set Isaiah on fire with a vision he couldn’t resist. Forty years of fruitless preaching didn’t extinguish the fire of Noah.…
Mark it down: Jesus comes to set you on fire! He walks as a torch from heart to heart, warming the cold and thawing the chilled and stirring the ashes.… He comes to purge infection and illuminate your direction.

The Great House of God

Posted from WordPress for Android by Steve Larsson