"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)

God’s great love for us was not a sentimental, feel-good "love," as the term is used today, but was sacrificial on our behalf. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
Soon after Christ rose from the dead, He appeared to His disciples, who were "glad, when they saw the Lord." But doubting Thomas was not present, and demanded to see proof before he believed. Several days later Jesus reappeared, and desired to remove all stumbling blocks to faith. "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God."  Our Redeemer deserves all praise from redeemed sinners: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus"

Isaiah's great prophecy of Christ's first advent identified "his name as Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).

 The peace He brings is personal, as we see in our text: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." But it is also effective in society at large, a fact borne out in verse 5 of "Crown Him with Many Crowns."

Crown Him the Lord of peace, Whose peace a scepter sways
From pole to pole, that wars may cease, And all be prayer and praise!
His reign shall know no end, And round His pierced feet
Fair flowers of Paradise extend Their fragrance ever sweet.

"Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom." The King of this kingdom is none other than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As the angel announced the birth of Christ, he prophesied: "And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end."  And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?" (Jeremiah 12:1)

One of the perennial theological problems is the apparent prosperity of the ungodly along with the suffering of the righteous. Why would God seem to endorse such a system?

It has been this way for ages. Some 2,000 or more years before Christ, Job asked essentially the same question as did the prophet Jeremiah in our text above. "Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? They seem to spend their days in wealth, and  say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. Likewise the psalmist Asaph complained,  he tells the reader that he was envious when he first saw the prosperity of the wicked, but the good news we know how the it ends for those that choose to love darkness verse loving God. what does it profit a man to gain the world and loose his soul? I would rather crawl into heaven having lost a leg than to walk into hell having both of my legs. Oh men of God let us love righteousness more  than the things of this world, for silver and gold can be stolen away or rust away, if thrown into the fire they shall melt, but that which is of God shall stand the test of time and can not be destroyed. Let us put our faith and place value in the word of God. Not in the things of man.

The real solution to this paradox is not in this present world, but in the world to come, where hell awaits the ungodly, and heaven awaits those whom seek after  God  and  those who have been  redeemed through faith in Christ. The fact that a man may prosper materially is not necessarily a measure of God’s approval. The previous economic boom in this country made many men very wealthy, and most of them seem either indifferent or hostile to God, but their wealth is very ephemeral. As David said in another psalm, "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not

"And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him." (Exodus 34:29).

Moses had been alone with God forty days and forty nights, simply communing with God and receiving the tables with the Ten Commandments. When he finally descended, the glory of God so radiated from him that the people could not bear to look at his face, and he had to wear a veil even to speak to them.

The council of Jewish leaders had a similar experience as they interrogated Stephen concerning his Christian testimony: "And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.."  None of us today ever seem to exhibit such glowing faces, nor is anyone likely to mistake us for an angel. But perhaps this is because we have not spent the time in His presence that Moses did; nor preached the Word in the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit as Stephen did. Nevertheless, we should have a different countenance than before we met the Lord. Men should be able to say of us as it was said of Peter and John: "They marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus."

In fact, God even promises that this will be so to the extent that we spend time in His Word, which itself is alive with the light of His glory.

"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him."

"The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints," (Ephesians 1:17-18)

The "spirit of wisdom" is applied to a wide variety of circumstances. It certainly includes leadership.

But wisdom is also identified with the ability to make beautiful clothing  and to engineer and invent complex equipment. Daniel was said to have "an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts." We are even promised that our "adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist."

A "spirit of revelation" is also made available to us. This revelation (literally, "to take off the cover") is not new doctrine or truth. Revelation is implemented by the Holy Spirit, having the source of His revelatory work from Jesus Christ on behalf of Christ.

The Greek language of the phrase "the eyes of |our| understanding being enlightened", could be translated "the vision of your deep thought will be made to shine," or paraphrased in a more colloquial expression, "the light comes on!"

"Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him" (Psalm 68:4).

The name JAH, by which this verse exhorts us to praise the Lord, is a contracted form of Jehovah, or Yahweh, which is the commonly used name of the self-existing, self-revealing God, usually shown as LORD in English. When combined with the Hebrew verb for "praise" (hallal), it becomes "Hallelujah," meaning "Praise ye the LORD!"

It is no coincidence that this word, "Hallelujah," occurs exactly 22 times in the book of Psalms, also known as the book of the Praises of Israel, for there are exactly 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, the language which God used to reveal His eternal word  to man. This serves to remind us that the very purpose of human languages is to praise the Lord who created us and has died to redeem us.

The first occurrence in the psalms of "Hallelujah" is translated as "Praise ye the LORD" and occurs right at the very end of the great psalm extolling God’s creation, the Flood, and providential care of the post-Flood world

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." (Ephesians 3:20)

The Bible portrays God as omnipotent--all-powerful, able even to create all things from nothing . The individual is portrayed as totally insufficient to do anything but fail. Yet the Bible also teaches that great things will be done in, and through, and to us. How? It is only through God's power and wisdom that anything of substance will be accomplished. He alone is able. Consider the following sampling of tasks He is able to perform for us.

God is able to do the work of salvation in a believer's heart. "Wherefore God is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them". We can entrust that salvation for eternity "unto him that is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy".

In this life we will have physical needs, and included in a passage on the obligation we have to give so that others' needs will be met is Paul's claim that "God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work"

"He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. . . . and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded." (John 13:4-5)

The Greek word usually translated humility occurs seven times in the New Testament, implying self-abasement and suggesting a meekness of spirit. In Greek literature, it was used to describe a slave's demeaning of himself before his master--an outward prostration, not an inward character trait.

The idea that a master would set aside his status and voluntarily become a slave was probably incomprehensible to the world of Jesus' day. Yet we are enjoined to "let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross". He defined humility by His actions, as in our text, and now we are to voluntarily take up His attitude and "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith |we| are called, With all lowliness |humility| and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace".

Christian humility surpasses all other virtues. Expressing itself as more than acting in a humble fashion, it consists of an inward habit of self-abasement, showing consideration to all others.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26:3)

The touching stanzas of the old hymn "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" reveal Charles Wesley's response of love to Christ's gracious love. Verse three seems to reflect the walk of a believer who desires a full and fruitful oneness with Christ.


Thou, O Christ, art all I want; more than all in thee I find; Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, Heal the sick, and lead the blind Just and holy is Thy name; I am all unrighteousness, False and full of sin I am; Thou art full of truth and grace.

Paul's prayer  was "that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God"
In the case of our savior Jesus Christ lovingly came to "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils. He didn't just do this for those who followed Him, but for those who needed it, whether or not they responded in love, and indeed before long, those whom He had befriended turned on Him and demanded He die a sinner's execution. Even though  our savior had the power to avoid Calvary,  but His love was so great that He willingly accepted a sacrificial death for our sins, He died for those that hated him and for the sins of us who were once his enemies. Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.

"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:37)

In this verse and the verses to follow, we find Christ using a marvelous teaching technique. Several times He makes a general, generic statement, but quickly advances from the general and impersonal to the particular and personal.

Note that at the first, Christ tells of an abstract gift to Him from the Father of an entire group, ("all") of which should come to Him for salvation. This is in itself a wonderful truth, for Christ highly values this gift from His Father, we are that gift that He was willing to die for that gift and He has promised that He love for us is so great that He will be with us always. What blessing that Jesus considers us the treasure because the Father gave us to Jesus and that which Jesus has been given he keeps.  So once we are in the hand of Christ nothing can separate us from him and no one can take us from HIM>

 Christ switches in mid-sentence from general to specific: "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out," a concrete statement of the effect of this work on an individual. We are part of a group, without doubt, but also each one of us individually is His precious child.