Our Saviour’s Highest Honor

And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. Zechariah 13:6.
“I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.” Revelation 21:1. The fire that consumes the wicked purifies the earth. Every trace of the curse is swept away….
One reminder alone remains: Our Redeemer will ever bear the marks of His crucifixion. Upon His wounded head, upon His side, His hands and feet, are the only traces of the cruel work that sin has wrought. Says the prophet, beholding Christ in His glory: “He had bright beams coming out of his side: and there was the hiding of his power.” Habakkuk 3:4, margin. That pierced side whence flowed the crimson stream that reconciled man to God—there is the Saviour’s glory, there “the hiding of his power.” … And the tokens of His humiliation are His highest honor; through the eternal ages the wounds of Calvary will show forth His praise and declare His power.
The cross of Christ will be the science and the song of the redeemed through all eternity. In Christ glorified they will behold Christ crucified. Never will it be forgotten that He whose power created and upheld the unnumbered worlds through the vast realms of space, the Beloved of God, the Majesty of heaven, He whom cherub and shining seraph delighted to adore—humbled Himself to uplift fallen man; that He bore the guilt and shame of sin, and the hiding of His Father’s face, till the woes of a lost world broke His heart and crushed out His life on Calvary’s cross. That the Maker of all worlds, the Arbiter of all destinies, should lay aside His glory and humiliate Himself from love to man will ever excite the wonder and adoration of the universe. As the nations of the saved look upon their Redeemer and behold the eternal glory of the Father shining in His countenance; as they behold His throne, which is from everlasting to everlasting, and know that His kingdom is to have no end, they break forth in rapturous song: “Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His own most precious blood!”
Maranatha p. 362
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Prayer Requests
—–update—he had the surgery and all went well. Karen
—–Ronnie Jay got home safely. Thank you for your prayers. Please also pray that Brian can soon find a job preferably in ministry. Rose
—–I CANNOT SING! My voice has been damaged and I NEED YOUR HELP AND PRAYERS!! This is a bad situation for a full-time Christian singer and preacher! Christian Berdahl
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Dear Friends,
In the 1890’s, when my grandfather, Edwin Harmon, was a little boy, his father got a job for a short time in Philadelphia. They left the farm where they had lived most of their lives and moved into a tiny upstairs apartment in that big city. For Ed and his little brother, Harold, this was very confining. They were used to roaming the fields and doing chores. Now they had nothing to do. The old saying ?Idle hands are the devil’s workshop? held true for them. They spent their idle time thinking of some mischief to do. They knew they were in for a hard beating if they got caught, but they were used to beatings as their father beat them each day when he came home from work.
One day Ed came into the apartment with stack of small paper sacks in his hand. Harold was about to ask him why he had all those sacks, but Ed quickly put his finger to his lips. Harold watched in silence as Ed hid those sacks until their mother went shopping. They did not have long to wait. The very next day their mother told them, “I have to go to the grocer’s. You two boys stay inside until I get back.” After they promised that they would obey, she left.
Ada had not been gone long, when Ed drew the sacks from their hiding place. Harold stood ready to join into whatever plan Ed had. He filled one of the sacks almost full with water and twisted the top closed. Quickly he went over to the open window and looked down on the street below. There were many people walking just below them. Ed took aim and dropped the water-filled sack. Immediately he ducked. Harold wanted to watch the sack hit its target, but Ed pulled him down with him. Instantly they heard a scream as some unsuspecting woman received a “shower.” The two boys suppressed their urge to burst out with laughter as they laid on the floor listening to the commotion below.
After all had settled down and the passersby went on their way, Ed ran to fill another sack with water. Again he peered out of the window and soon had another victim in view. Again he dropped the sack and flattened himself against the floor. A shout of surprise and anger met the boys’ ears. Again they had a hard time suppressing the giggles that threatened to let their presence known to the people below. One or two more people received an unwanted bath that day before Ed and Harold decided they had better stop before they got caught. They would save the rest of the sacks for another day.
Work is a gift our Wise Creator gave to us. It is a gift that we do not always appreciate, but we need it. If a person has nothing to occupy his mind and his hands, he soon is tempted to do wrong. It is when a child has nothing to do that the evil one steals away his heart. Soon little habits become big ones and the character becomes deformed and sin-stained. Before sin, man’s work was easy and pleasureable, but after the fall, God had to make it more difficult for mankind’s own good. To Adam God said, “Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life, Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Gen 3:17-19
Even when sin and sinners are no more, we will keep busy. Isaiah tells us, ?For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. . . . And they shall build houses, and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit, they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble, for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.? Isa 65:17-24
May we accept this gift from our Great Creator as a blessing from His hand is my prayer.
Rose