Oct 17
23
HE SHALL CHOOSE OUR INHERITANCE FOR US
Ps. 47:4
Robert Hawker
(1753-1827)
“He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom he loved. Selah.”–Ps. x1vii. 4.
My soul, to whom, but to the all-lovely and all-loving Jesus, couldest thou have thought this blessed verse referred, even had this little word Selah not been placed at the end, by way of marking the emphasis of the Holy Ghost? Who couldest thou have considered suitable to have chosen the inheritance of his people, but he who is the Lord of his people, and himself their inheritance and their portion for ever? It was God thy Father that chose him to be the excellency of Jacob, when he gave him for a covenant to the people; and when to the infinite mind of Jehovah, this One glorious Person, in the holiness and purity of his nature, came up before him here, on him the Lord placed his choice. And had all his people been present; had it been possible for the whole of the chosen of Zion to have been consulted in the choice, would not every soul have fixed its longing eyes upon him, and from the millions of tongues resounding his blessed and blissful name from every heart, the universal voice would have been heard in the delightful words of this scripture: “He shall choose our inheritance for us; the excellency of Jacob, whom he loved!” Hail! thou dear and blessed Lord! thou art indeed our inheritance, and our portion for ever! And hail, thou glorious, gracious, and almighty Father! thy choice, and thy gift, and thine appointment, gives and confirms, sweetens and sanctifies the eternal and unspeakable mercy. And hail, thou holy and blessed Spirit! do thou cause my poor soul to live by grace here, and in glory, to all eternity, upon this excellency of Jacob, whom Jehovah loved!
>From the POOR MAN’S MORNING AND EVENING PORTIONS.
Notice when God created Adam and his bride and blessed them he called “their name, Adam.” It pictures the union between Christ and his bride. Each of God’s elect are “joined to the Lord” and “married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” (Zec 2: 11; Rom 7: 4) As a husband and wife before were two, yet when married, become one flesh, likewise, when the believer is joined to the Lord by the Spirit of Christ dwelling within us we can truly say that our Maker is our Husband. (Is 54: 5) As Adam received Eve declaring, “this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” so every believer united with Christ is now “members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” (Gen 2: 23; Eph 5: 30)
Therefore, like Adam’s bride, we have but one name. We are called Christians because “their name” is Christ. Our name is “the Lord our Righteousness” because Christ is “the LORD our Righteousness.” (Jer 23: 6; 33: 16) This is a real, vital union, between Jesus Christ and our regenerate souls. We are made partakers of Christ’s nature so that out of his fullness we receive grace for grace. The Holy Spirit declares through the apostle Paul this is “a great mystery.” (Eph 5: 32) But it is so because God the Father shall give Christ his petition, “Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me, shall be where I am, that they may be one with thee; even as thou, O Father, and I are one, I in them, and they in me, that we all may be made perfect in one.” (Jn 17: 22-23)
What wonderful mysterious union! Thus the apostle says, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” (Gal 2: 20) He said to the Corinthians; “Know ye not, that Christ is in you, unless you be reprobates?” (2 Cor 13: 5); He said to the Colossians, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col 1: 27) Incomprehensible union! Every believer and our Redeemer “are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” (Mt 19:6) And none shall for, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Ro 8:35)
Clay Curtis.
Scripture says there is none righteous, no not one. Why then do the Scriptures speak so much of the righteous? If there are no such persons on earth, why do Scripture always speak of the righteous. This is a point of great importance: the Lord settle it well in your heart and mine. We are poor sinners in ourselves; we have no righteousness of our own; yet, saith the Lord Jesus, the righteous one, their righteousness is of me (Isaiah 54:17). We are made the righteousness of God in Christ (II Corinthians 5:21). When we are taught this by the Spirit of truth, instead of looking into ourselves for righteousness, we cry out in the joy of faith, I have found it: “in the Lord hath I righteousness” (Isaiah 45:24). Then we have a living union with the Lord our righteousness, by faith; being perfectly righteous in him, we have righteous hopes, fears, desires, a righteous walk, and righteous expectations; for we know our salvation is on the Lord. The Spirit of truth does not lead us to the unrighteous notions of salvation on account of our own works, duties, and performances, either in whole or in part; but He shows us such matchless glory in our Lord’s one everlasting righteousness, that we renounce all our own righteousness, and all dependence on it for salvation. May the Lord increase our faith in Him, and may the Lord our righteousness quicken our love to him for making us righteous. — William Mason (1719-1791)
THEN AND NOW
Brethren, as we read articles in the bulletin from preachers of the past we see that things then are the same as things now. The following article by William Gadsby (1733-1844) is an example:
“It does appear that most teachers think there should be a distinction made between the sheep and goats, but does it not appear that the greatest part of preachers, in this day, are attempting to give to the goats what belongs to the sheep, and to the sheep what belongs to the goats? For when on the one hand they address the unconverted, they tell them that it is their duty to look to Christ, and believe in him, and that they are warranted to offer them all the blessings of the gospel, thus making the gospel the unconverted man’s rule of faith and practice; they, on the other hand, send the sheep to the law of works, and tell them that their comfort depends upon their walking according thereunto. And when any poor soul is in darkness, through the power of the world, the flesh, or the devil, instead of pointing them to Christ, and telling them that it has pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, they tell them to ‘remove the cause, and the effect will cease;’ and thus the goats are sent to the law of life, and the sheep to the killing letter.”
The believer’s eternal union with Christ is a subject that few seem to grasp, though it is written as with a sunbeam upon the pages of Holy Scripture. We are “Accepted in the Beloved,” and have been from eternity. That union of our souls with our Savior was made by the triune God himself before the world began, and can never be dissolved or even altered. The Lord God sees us in His Son, as one with His Son, and as His Son, because we really are in His Son, as one with His Son, and as His Son. Therefore it is written, “…as He is so are we.” As no spot, blemish, or any such thing is in Christ, but only perfection, His Father is well pleased in Him, and with all who are in Him. The Book of God declares, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel” (Numbers 23:21). Therefore, we shall “have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is so are we in this world.”
Don Fortner
The Necessity of the Husband’s Glory
Clay Curtis
Isaiah 4: 1: And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
It is improper for the bride to propose to the man. Merely taking his name does not constitute a marriage. If her reproach will be taken away, Christ the GodMan must draw his bride in cords of love, unite himself to her in a holy, unbreakable union, and provide all her needs.
God created one wife for his beloved Son. She is the church made up of his elect people out of ever nation on this earth. God espoused this bride to one husband even Christ Jesus his own Son. He is her All and she is his all.
First, the full provision Christ bestows upon his bride is found in his name which he gives her. The maiden name of a sinner is that of our father Adam. Our maiden name is a name of reproach, of disobedience to God, a name which declares we are dead in trespasses and in sins. But Christ gives his bride his name and his name declares her reproach is taken away by him. Jeremiah 23:6: In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Jeremiah 33:16: In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.
Secondly, the name of Righteousness given to his bride declares that Christ has fully met every requirement of a faithful husband. Concerning the responsibility of the husband the law states, If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish. Christ shall never take another bride as sinful men do for he has everlastingly loved the bride betrothed to him by his Father. Christ is her Food (Life) and thus Christ’s bride shall never be found begging bread. Christ is her raiment of Righteousness thus she is arrayed in the finest garment. Christ the Son of God unites himself intimately with her, which scripture terms the “the duty of marriage”, by making himself one with her nature that he might make her one with his nature (Ephesians 5: 30-32; Heb 2: 11, 14-16; Eze 36: 27; 2 Peter 1: 3, 4; Rom 8: 9-12.)
The marriage is about much more than the bride’s reproach being taken away, it is about Christ’s glory in being a true and faithful Husband. Christ is that glorious Husband thus the reproach of his bride is forever removed.