Now when they were got almost quite out of this wilderness, Faithful chanced to cast his eye back, and espied one coming after them, and he knew him. Oh! said Faithful to his brother, who comes yonder? Then Christian looked, and said, It is my good friend Evangelist. Aye, and my good friend too, said Faithful, for ‘twas he that set me on the way to the gate. Now was Evangelist come up unto them, and thus saluted them.
EVANGELIST: Peace be with you, dearly beloved, and peace be to your helpers.
CHRISTIAN: Welcome, welcome, my good Evangelist: the sight of thy countenance brings to my remembrance thy ancient kindness and unwearied labors for my eternal good.
FAITHFUL: And a thousand times welcome, said good Faithful, thy company, O sweet Evangelist; how desirable is it to us poor pilgrims!
EVANGELIST: Then said Evangelist, How hath it fared with you, my friends, since the time of our last parting? What have you met with, and how have you behaved yourselves?
Then Christian and Faithful told him of all things that had happened to them in the way; and how, and with what difficulty, they had arrived to that place.
Right glad am I, said Evangelist, not that you have met with trials, but that you have been victors, and for that you have, notwithstanding many weaknesses, continued in the way to this very day.
I say, right glad am I of this thing, and that for mine own sake and yours: I have sowed, and you have reaped; and the day is coming, when “both he that soweth, and they that reap, shall rejoice together,” John 4:36; that is, if you hold out: “for in due season ye shall reap, if ye faint not.” Gal. 6:9. The crown is before you, and it is an incorruptible one; “so run that ye may obtain it.” 1 Cor. 9:24-27. Some there be that set out for this crown, and after they have gone far for it, another comes in and takes it from them: “hold fast, therefore, that you have; let no man take your crown.” Rev. 3:11. You are not yet out of the gunshot of the devil; “you have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” Let the kingdom be always before you, and believe steadfastly concerning the things that are invisible. Let nothing that is on this side the other world get within you. And, above all, look well to your own hearts and to the lusts thereof; for they are “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” Set your faces like a flint; you have all power in heaven and earth on your side.
CHRISTIAN: Then Christian thanked him for his exhortations; but told him withal, that they would have him speak farther to them for their help the rest of the way; and the rather, for that they well knew that he was a prophet, and could tell them of things that might happen unto them, and also how they might resist and overcome them. To which request Faithful also consented. So Evangelist began as followeth.
EVANGELIST: My sons, you have heard in the word of the truth of the Gospel, that you must “through many tribulations enter into the kingdom of heaven;” and again, that “in every city, bonds and afflictions abide you;” and therefore you cannot expect that you should go long on your pilgrimage without them, in some sort or other. You have found something of the truth of these testimonies upon you already, and more will immediately follow: for now, as you see, you are almost out of this wilderness, and therefore you will soon come into a town that you will by and by see before you; and in that town you will be hardly beset with enemies, who will strain hard but they will kill you; and be you sure that one or both of you must seal the testimony which you hold, with blood; but “be you faithful unto death, and the King will give you a crown of life.” He that shall die there, although his death will be unnatural, and his pain, perhaps, great, he will yet have the better of his fellow; not only because he will be arrived at the Celestial City soonest, but because he will escape many miseries that the other will meet with in the rest of his journey. But when you are come to the town, and shall find fulfilled what I have here related, then remember your friend, and quit yourselves like men, and “commit the keeping of your souls to God in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”
Then I saw in my dream, that when they were got out of the wilderness, they presently saw a town before them, and the name of that town is Vanity; and at the town there is a fair kept, called Vanity Fair. It is kept all the year long. It beareth the name of Vanity Fair, because the town where it is kept is lighter than vanity, Psa. 62:9; and also because all that is there sold, or that cometh thither, is vanity; as is the saying of the wise, “All that cometh is vanity.” Eccl. 11:8; see also 1:2-14; 2:11-17; Isa. 40:17.
This fair is no new-erected business but a thing of ancient standing. I will show you the original of it.
Almost five thousand years ago there were pilgrims walking to the Celestial City, as these two honest persons are: and Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Legion, with their companions, perceiving by the path that the pilgrims made, that their way to the city lay through this town of Vanity, they contrived here to set up a fair; a fair wherein should be sold all sorts of vanity, and that it should last all the year long. Therefore, at this fair are all such merchandise sold as houses, lands, trades, places, honors, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures; and delights of all sorts, as harlots, wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones, and what not.
And moreover, at this fair there is at all times to be seen jugglings, cheats, games, plays, fools, apes, knaves, and rogues, and that of every kind.
Here are to be seen, too, and that for nothing, thefts, murders, adulteries, false-swearers, and that of a blood-red color.
And, as in other fairs of less moment, there are the several rows and streets under their proper names, where such and such wares are vended; so here, likewise, you have the proper places, rows, streets, (namely, countries and kingdoms,) where the wares of this fair are soonest to be found. Here is the Britain Row, the French Row, the Italian Row, the Spanish Row, the German Row, where several sorts of vanities are to be sold. But, as in other fairs, some one commodity is as the chief of all the fair; so the ware of Rome and her merchandise is greatly promoted in this fair; only our English nation, with some others, have taken a dislike thereat.
Genesis 4
"My Way"?
"And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:9 KJV)
There are several things wrong with the question Abel asks here: First of all, it questions the authority of God! We are not to question this type of authority; by doing so, we make ourselves the authority! We "demand" of Him and answer, as if He should answer to us! None can question God! Secondly; it was an evasive answer. It was not an answer, but a "stall tactic"! Here Cain had a chance to confess and obtain forgiveness, but, as it was, he evaded the answer and bore his reproach. Third, it was a foolish question. God is concerned with all of mankind, not just "me". To be as He is, to love as He loves, we must all be our brothers keeper, and gladly so. Cain had no love for his brother, let alone his fellow man. The "way of Cain" (Jude 11) is the way of "self", of pride, of jealousy, of the "I" complex.
Cain was only doing what his dad was supposed to do--tilling the ground. Adam was driven out of Eden "to till the ground," (3:23), and so he did. Abel decided to be a shepherd, while Cain followed in his dads’ footsteps. We all know the story, but we are not told of the blood sacrifice, when God covered their nakedness with the skin of an innocent lamb, the rule was established. The innocent must die for the shame (sin) of the guilty. The "embryo" of the redemption plan was seen this early in the Bible, but Cain wanted to do it his way! Be careful of doing things our way, (Prov 14:12), because our way is not usually Gods way. Our way leads to death, while God’s way leads to life everlasting.
Marty Dunn
Doing, Not Saying
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”
Matthew 7:26–27
Not obeying the Lord is as serious as building your home on a weak foundation.
While D.L. Moody was attending a convention in Indianapolis on evangelism, he asked his song leader Ira Sankey to meet him at six o'clock one evening at a certain street corner. When Sankey arrived, Mr. Moody asked him to stand on a box and sing. Once a crowd had gathered, Moody spoke briefly and then invited the people to follow him to the nearby convention hall. Soon the auditorium was filled with spiritually hungry people, and the great evangelist preached the Gospel to them. Then the convention delegates began to arrive. Moody stopped preaching and said, “Now we must close, as the brethren of the convention wish to come and discuss the topic, ‘How to reach the masses.’” Moody graphically illustrated the difference between talking about doing something and going out and doing it.
I’m sure Moody had heard preaching on the topic of evangelism before and had more than likely preached sermons about it as well. But rather than simply discussing the newest methods, best areas to go to, or the best way to evangelize; he put actions to his words and told others of Christ.
What good would it be for me to write one hundred devotions on the subject of witnessing if none of us actually went out and witnessed to others? While they may be encouraging and communicate to you the need for a godly witness, they are to no affect if we are not witnessing to others.
Even so, God’s Word commands us to share God’s message with the lost. Very clearly in Matthew 28:19–20 Christ shares with His disciples that the main focus of their ministry would be to spread the Good News of the Gospel to the uttermost part of the world, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
So God has commanded us to go and warns us of not obeying His command in Matthew 7:26, “And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.” God compares the Christian who does not obey His words to a man who builds his house on an unstable foundation.
Are you actively obeying God’s commands? Do you apply His Word to your life each day? God desires that you would not only hear His words, but also obey them. Not obeying the Lord is as serious as building your home on a weak foundation; it will eventually fall! In order to have a firm life grounded in Christ, you must be both hearing the Word of God and obeying the commands God has given.
Spend time reading the Bible right now. Look for commands the Lord has given you. Commit to applying God’s Word to your life and to obeying every command God has presented in His Word.
To find out more about Pastor Paul Chappell visit his blog or follow him on twitter.
To learn more about the ministries of Lancaster Baptist Church and Pastor Chappell, please visit lancasterbaptist.org.
Daily Bible Reading
Numbers 12-14 • Mark 5:21-43
Abimelech the Watermelon - Creation Moments
Judges 9:53: "And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech’s head, and all to brake his skull."
In the book of Judges we read of how "a certain woman" gave the Philistine leader Abimelech a skull fracture when she threw a millstone on him from a tower. Some biblical scholars concluded that no woman could lift a millstone to throw it. Besides, what would a millstone be doing at the top of a tower?
However, archaeologists easily answered these questions. First, the large round stones, often powered by a donkey, weren't invented until a thousand years later. The type of millstone in use at the time of this incident was a round, loaf-shaped stone that weighed between four and seven pounds. Archaeologists have found many of them in the Holy Land. It was used to grind flour in a stone base at a time when every household ground their own flour every day. This job was often done on a roof, in the cool breeze, under an awning.
To test the story, archaeologists in Israel assembled the type of stones that would have been used and a watermelon. They used a magic marker to give the melon a face and named it Abimelech. Then, with the help of several women volunteers, they tossed their stones from an ancient two-story tower. Abimelech did not survive.
Whether the Bible is talking about salvation or history, we know we can trust it as God's Word.
"Thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation." - Psalm 91:9
The Israelites in the wilderness were continually exposed to change. Whenever the pillar stayed its motion, the tents were pitched; but tomorrow, ere the morning sun had risen, the trumpet sounded, the ark was in motion, and the fiery, cloudy pillar was leading the way through the narrow defiles of the mountain, up the hillside, or along the arid waste of the wilderness. They had scarcely time to rest a little before they heard the sound of "Away! this is not your rest; you must still be onward journeying towards Canaan!" They were never long in one place. Even wells and palm trees could not detain them. Yet they had an abiding home in their God, His cloudy pillar was their roof-tree, and its flame by night their household fire. They must go onward from place to place, continually changing, never having time to settle, and to say, "Now we are secure; in this place we shall dwell." "Yet," says Moses, "though we are always changing, Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place throughout all generations." The Christian knows no change with regard to God. He may be rich to-day and poor to-morrow; he may be sickly to-day and well to-morrow; he may be in happiness to-day, to-morrow he may be distressed--but there is no change with regard to his relationship to God. If He loved me yesterday, He loves me to-day. My unmoving mansion of rest is my blessed Lord. Let prospects be blighted; let hopes be blasted; let joy be withered; let mildews destroy everything; I have lost nothing of what I have in God. He is "my strong habitation whereunto I can continually resort." I am a pilgrim in the world, but at home in my God. In the earth I wander, but in God I dwell in a quiet habitation.
Ezekiel 10:1-13:8, Psalm 124
Ezekiel 10
1 Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.
2 And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight.
3 Now the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court.
4 Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD'S glory.
5 And the sound of the cherubims' wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh.
6 And it came to pass, that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels.
7 And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out.
8 And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man's hand under their wings.
9 And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the colour of a beryl stone.
10 And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.
11 When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place whither the head looked they followed it; they turned not as they went.
12 And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.
13 As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel.
14 And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
15 And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.
16 And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them.
17 When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the living creature was in them.
18 Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.
19 And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD'S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
20 This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims.
21 Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.
22 And the likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearances and themselves: they went every one straight forward.
Ezekiel 11
1 Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the LORD'S house, which looketh eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.
2 Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:
3 Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.
4 Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.
5 And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus saith the LORD; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.
6 Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.
8 Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord GOD.
9 And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.
10 Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
11 This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel:
12 And ye shall know that I am the LORD: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you.
13 And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?
14 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
15 Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.
16 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
17 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
21 But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD.
22 Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
23 And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.
24 Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.
25 Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the LORD had shewed me.
Ezekiel 12
1 The word of the LORD also came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.
3 Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house.
4 Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.
5 Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.
6 In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.
7 And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.
8 And in the morning came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,
9 Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou?
10 Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.
11 Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.
12 And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.
13 My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.
14 And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.
15 And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.
16 But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
17 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
18 Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness;
19 And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.
20 And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
21 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
22 Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?
23 Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.
24 For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.
25 For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord GOD.
26 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
27 Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.
28 Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 13:1-8
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD.
3 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing.
4 O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
5 Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.
6 They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.
7 Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken?
8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.
Psalm 124
A Song of degrees of David.
1 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;
2 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us:
3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
6 Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
The Holy Ghost in David
by Henry Morris, Ph.D. | Feb. 27, 2009
"For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness." (Psalm 95:7-8)
It is an interesting coincidence that verses 7-11 of Psalm 95 are quoted almost verbatim in verses 7-11 of Hebrews 3. The two writers are both referring, of course, to the 40 years of wandering by the children of Israel in the wilderness.
The Hebrews reference contains an important insight on biblical inspiration. It is introduced by the words "the Holy Ghost saith" (Hebrews 3:7), showing that God was actually the real author of the psalm. Then, the same phrase ("To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation") is quoted again in Hebrews 3:15, but this time it is introduced merely by "it is said."
Then, remarkably, it is quoted still a third time (Hebrews 4:7), where it tells us that God was "saying in David" this grave warning. In other words, the same Scripture was attributed both to David and to the Holy Spirit. Perhaps even more significantly, the phrase "it is said" is seen to be equivalent to "God says." All of this is a clear affirmation of the divine inspiration of the Old Testament Scriptures.
Finally, the fact that the same warning ("Harden not your hearts") is cited three times in the space of just 19 verses, all quoting the original warning in Psalm 95:8, must mean that God considers it extremely important that we harden not our hearts! It is possible that even a child of God can become so involved in doubts concerning God’s Word that he becomes ...
Prayer Proved by God’s Intervention, PT. 2
“The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.” - Psalms 126:3
Throughout the Psalms we find recitals of Jehovah’s great works for His chosen people, Israel. Many lengthy Psalms, such as 73, 78, 89, 105, 106 and 107 describe God’s intervening on Israel’s behalf to protect her from all enemies. Psalm 126 is a short Psalm of praise for God’s protection, deliverance and intervention.
Without God’s intervention and hand of protection, Israel would not exist. Romans 9:29 tells us, quoting Isaiah 1:9, that “Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.” Likewise, for the believer in Christ we know that without Him we would likewise perish (Luke 13:3).
Romans 10:13 tells us “that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” This is a quotation of Joel 2:32 which spoke of God’s deliverance of the Jewish remnant in Jerusalem. God intervened for ancient Israel; He intervenes for them today (Rom. 11:26) and in the future (Joel 2:28-3:2); and He intervenes for the Christian at all times, an always present strength in time of trouble! (Psalm 37:39)
· Is God’s work in your life real to you?
· As you study God’s Word, make a point to note how God is at work in the lives of the people spoken of. “It is no secret, what God can do; what He has done for others, He will do for you.” (It Is No Secret, by Stuart Hamblen)
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Genesis 2
"God Breathed"
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7 KJV)
The "Breath of God" is a mighty breath indeed. It produces power, "Quickening " power. In John 20:22 we see Jesus giving this "power" to His disciples in the upper room by breathing on them. Oh, for the breath of God in our lives, and in our hearts!
Notice that there was a special significance to this "breath of God", that is, "And man became a living soul". Animals have life, because "the life of all flesh is in the blood" (Lev. 17:10,14), but they do not have a living soul; they do not have "the breath of God" in them. This "breath" can only be given by God Himself, by His breathing His Spirit into them. So glorious is this precious breath.
As soon as man became a living soul, God put him to work! He put man in Eden "to till the ground". This paradise was a place where God and man walked together, where communion and fellowship prevailed. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" (Amos 3:3). The question is asked, the answer is obvious, no, they cannot. This new living soul could not walk with God, talk with God, be close to God, unless they be agreed.
And God saw that it was "not good that man should be alone," so God made a "helpmeet" for him. Adam needed a human companion, though he walked with God, he needed a close companion to share his life with. God saw this need, and met it. Praise God for woman, who was created for man.
Marty Dunn
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