Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of

the Holy Bible. Scripture quotations marked (wey) are taken from The New Testament in
Modern Speech: An Idiomatic Translation into Everyday English from the Text of “The
Resultant Greek Testament” by R. F. (Richard Francis) Weymouth.
Some definitions of Hebrew and Greek words are taken from the electronic versions of Strong’s
Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.

A Cure for Troubled Hearts

ISBN: 978-1-60374-551-2
Printed in the United States of America
© 1979, 2012 by Ardis A. Lockyer

Whitaker House
1030 Hunt Valley Circle
New Kensington, PA 15068
www.whitakerhouse.com

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I preached as never sure to preach again,
and as a dying man to dying men.
—Richard Baxter, 1615–1691
 Preface

Psalmist and apostle unite in declaring their love for the Lover of souls: “I love the Lord”
(Psalm 116:1); “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Christ has set His love
upon us; is our love set upon Him? Do we love Him as He desires? Do we love Him as we
should?
The tragedy is that Christ is not the living, bright reality to us that He ought to be. We sing,
talk, and argue about Him; we try to speak to Him, but He is not real to us. When He lived here
on earth, devoted souls gazed into His noble, heavenly face and found it easy to love Him. Our
difficulty, however, is that we have never seen Jesus, physically. Our vision of Him is one of
faith, and the lack of His visible presence makes affection for Him somewhat difficult.
But Christ’s own ascension gift for His own people was the gracious Holy Spirit, who came to
make Jesus real to believing hearts. It is He who takes the things of Christ and reveals them to
us. Through the portraits of Christ that He paints, it is He who engenders our love for the Savior.
May this same Spirit be pleased to use this book to deepen our affection for the One who
loves His own, and loves them unto the end!
—Herbert Lockyer
Chapter 1
 A Cure for Troubled Hearts

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. (John 14:1)
When Sir Walter Scott, the eminent novelist, lay dying, he said to Lockhart (his son-in-law
and biographer), “Read to me from the Book.” Lockhart replied, “What book?” Scott responded,
“There is only one Book—the Bible.” Taking the sacred volume, Lockhart read from the four-
teenth chapter of the gospel of John. When he had finished reading, Sir Walter Scott said, “Well,
that is a great comfort; I feel as if I were going to be myself again.”
That great man found consolation in those precious words that fell from the lips of Jesus, and
multitudes of people in sorrow have pillowed their heads upon them:
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are
many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am,
there ye may be also. (John 14:1–3)
The Troubled Heart
“Let not your heart be troubled.” You may have noticed that although the Lord Jesus was
addressing eleven men, He used the singular tense: “Let not your heart be troubled.” If I knew
that all of you were suffering and that each of your hearts was burdened with grief, I would try to
console you by saying, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” But with His disciples around Him,
Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled.”
The implication is this: Judas had left the upper chamber to sell his Lord for thirty pieces of
silver. The moment Judas, the betrayer, was away from the group, Jesus knew that there was
unity in their midst. You can never have unity if there is a “Judas” present. You can never have
unity in a church if there is a “Judas” attending it. But the moment Judas departed from the
chamber, Jesus had a sense of liberty, for He said, “Now is the Son of man glorified” (John
13:31) and “Let not your heart [singular] be troubled.”
I have never read these words without reflecting that the one Person in the group who should
have been troubled was Jesus Himself! Yet He made no mention of His own troubles.
How we love self-pity! If we are passing through trials and adversities, we like to concentrate
the sympathy of other people on our own personal needs. Yet Jesus, with the heaviest heart of
the group, spoke as if He had not a care in the world. He thought only of the troubles of the men
surrounding Him.
Consider, for a moment, Christ’s troubles. Judas had just left Him, soon to betray Him with a
kiss. In a little while Peter would deny Christ and declare with an oath that he had never known
Him. The rest of the disciples would also forsake Him and flee. Then, there was the trouble
awaiting Christ outside, and He knew it only too well, for the angry mob thirsted for His blood.
And then there was the ultimate trouble—the agony of the cross itself.
Yet, in spite of all these troubles, Jesus spoke as if He were a stranger to grief. Surely, our
Lord would have us learn the crucial lesson: that the only way we can reduce the weight of our
own burden is to carry the burden of another! In the words of a hymn, “Go, bury thy sorrow, the
world has its share.” You always lighten the load that you may be bearing if you bend your
shoulders to carry the burden of another sufferer.
But what was it that caused these men to have troubled hearts? Why, Jesus had told them the
sad news that He was about to leave them, and they were stunned by our Lord’s declaration. This
is why Jesus uttered the words, “Let not your heart be troubled.” They form a reply to Peter’s
question in the closing verses of the previous chapter: “Lord, why cannot I follow thee now?”
(John 13:37).
We can understand the feelings of those men who had been with Jesus for three years. They
had continued with Him in His temptation; they had heard His voice and, leaving all, had follow-
ed Him. Throughout Christ’s ministry, they had been near at hand, and He was their all in all—
their Friend, Master, Guide, and Teacher. But now, He had revealed the sad news that He was
about to leave them, and they could not bear the thought of a future without Christ.
How would they live and bear witness for this miracle-worker at hand? Suppose Jesus was
taken out of your life altogether—how would you feel? So, the looming separation from Jesus
brought about the heart trouble of these men. In our own lives, there is always someone going
away, and these separations that we must face from time to time bring trouble to our hearts, as
well.
But that day in the upper room, Jesus gave a threefold cure for troubled hearts. It is useless in
days of depression to go up to people who may be in dire circumstances and slap them on the
back with the words, “Cheer up; better days are coming!” You only mock people as you speak to
them that way.
You must give people some cure for their trouble. You must point them to the secret and
source of all strength and consolation. That is what Jesus did that day. Had His precious message
stopped with the opening verse “Let not your heart be troubled,” His disciples would have gone
on with deeper gloom surrounding them. But here is what Jesus does for His disciples in the first
three verses: He gives them three fragrant handkerchiefs with which to dry their tears. Now, they
are comforted, indeed.
Faith in Christ
The first handkerchief is faith in Christ: “Ye believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1).
The second handkerchief is faith in heaven: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were
not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (verse 2). The third handkerchief
for troubled hearts is faith in Christ’s return: “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (verse 3). Let us take
these three handkerchiefs and consider them reverently.
First, there is faith in Christ Himself. Jesus said to these men, in effect, “You believe in God.
Well, if you want the trouble of your hearts relieved, believe also in Me.” The only cure for
trouble, whether it is trouble in your world, nation, community, or personal life, is faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us try to understand the significance of this first verse. These men to whom the Lord
addressed His message were Jews who had had believed in the covenant-keeping God all their
lives. But somehow, Jesus was beginning to disappoint their hopes. Our Lord, anticipating their
disappointment, uttered the words, “Believe also in me.” I have a circle drawn around that word
“also” in my Bible. “Believe also in me.” They had set out with the belief that the Lord Jesus
was going to be their Messiah, and that He would deliver them from the oppression of the
Roman government. They had great hopes for Him as they watched the way He exercised His
miraculous ministry. Yet here He has told them that He is going to die on a wooden cross.
Imagine the pang of disappointment in the words uttered by the disciples as they walked the
road to Emmaus: “We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel” (Luke
24:21). Our Lord was saying, in effect, “Believe in Me; I am not a disappointment. You believe
in God; let Me have the same confidence.” Here, the Lord Jesus puts Himself on the level of
equality with the Father. He demands the same faith and confidence as is reposed in the Father.
“Ye believe in God, believe also in me.”
We must never lose sight of the crucial fact that no faith in God is vital and acceptable unless
there is a corresponding faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the culmination of the revelation of
God. No worship of God is acceptable in His sight if Jesus Christ is not looked upon as coequal
with the Father. He who honors the Son honors the Father, and no honor of God is acceptable
unless there is a corresponding honor attributed to Jesus Christ, His Son.
We live in a time when we need to emphasize what our Lord declared that day. We have great
problems in the church, much of them the result of modernism. What is the sin of modernism? It
espouses a belief in God but not a corresponding belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as what the
Nicene Creed calls “very God of very God.” All modern religious cults have at their heart the
overthrow of the deity and authority of Jesus Christ. The acid test of any religious cult is the
place it gives to Christ. If He lacks the place of preeminence in all things, then their worship of
God is null and void. As Christ Himself said, “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John
14:6).
There is trouble every day because Jesus is not given His rightful place. Give Him His place,
and trouble ceases. So, here is the cure which Christ offers: faith in Himself. “Ye believe in God,
believe also in me.” We live in a time when Jesus is despised and rejected. He looks for people
who are willing to make much of Him, those who will uphold Him. Let us acknowledge Christ
properly: “Behold your God” (Isaiah 40:9).
Faith in Heaven
The second handkerchief that Christ handed to His disciples was faith in heaven. Notice the
natural sequence here: verse 1, faith in Jesus; verse 2, faith in heaven. Unless we have faith in
Jesus, we have no hope of heaven. People never go to heaven because they happen to believe in
God. Our only guarantee of salvation is the assurance that our faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and that we have Him and know Him as our personal Savior.
Listen to Christ’s words in the sixth verse: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). That is true in respect to heaven, true in respect
to salvation, and true in respect to worship, for if we reject the mediation of Jesus Christ, we are
altogether lost. Faith in heaven! We ought to make much of heaven in these materialistic days
when socialism is trying to create a heaven on earth.
 Listen to the music of these words: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not
so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). The word “house” is a
very cold word. You can have a house that is not necessarily a home. The curse of this country is
that we have a multitude of houses but all too few homes. Of course, the reason there are
multitudes of houses and too few homes is the absence of Jesus.
You may have the best house, filled with all the mind could desire. Those who enter it may
covet the rich furnishings and the costly furniture, but it is only a house unless there are love,
unity, and harmony inside it, all based on the recognition of God. Then, no matter how humble
the house may be, it is a home, a foretaste of heaven. Westcott and Hort were right in their
translation of the Greek New Testament when they stated the phrase, “In My Father’s home.”
Heaven is home, and it becomes more of a home every day as earthly homes deteriorate and
disintegrate.
“In my Father’s house are many mansions.” The word “mansions” is perplexing, for we have
in mind some great edifice. It is translated from a Greek word meaning “abode” or “dwelling.”
Or, perhaps, “In My Father’s home are many abiding places.”
I think back fondly to the home in which I was born and reared, although it no longer exists.
In heaven, there are abiding places.
“In My Father’s home are many abiding places; if it were not so, I would have told you.”
Here we have an indirect evidence of our Lord’s preexistence. He knew that there was such a
place as the Father’s home with its abiding places, for He had lived there from past eternity.
Christ is the preexistent One. That is why He said, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58).
Having lived in the bosom of the Father, He knew all about the reality and bliss of the upper
chamber. So, He did not mock these men with troubled hearts. He gave them the word of
assurance, “If it were not so, I would have told you.” I believe in heaven because of what Jesus
said; because, if there was no such place, He would have told us.
“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you.” How did He go?
He did not go as Enoch and Elijah before Him. They went straight into the glory, escaping the
grave. Not so with the Lord Jesus. On His way back to the Father’s home, He died, was buried in
the grave, and rose again. By His death, burial, and resurrection, He made it possible to prepare
men and women for the home that is in store for them. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared
people! If you are to be heaven-bound, then you must be heaven-born. And the only way that
you can be fully prepared for the home Christ is preparing for His own is to appropriate the
finished work of the cross.
Faith in heaven. Let us make more of heaven than we do. We are not here below for very
long. No matter how many years the Lord may privilege you to dwell on this planet, what is
earthly life in comparison with eternity? Because we are to live throughout the countless ages of
eternity in the presence of the Lord, there ought to be more of heaven in our souls. May there be
something of the country we are traveling to in our very appearance! Let us emit the fragrance of
the heavenly country that we soon will enter!
 Faith in His Return
The third handkerchief that Christ gave to His disciples was faith in His return. “And if I go
and prepare a place for you [and it has already taken nearly 2000 years to prepare that place], I
will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John
14:3). Faith in Jesus leads to faith in heaven. If we have Jesus as our Savior, then we are
confident of heaven as our eternal abode.
It is blessed to know that Jesus is coming from heaven to take us to heaven. “I will come
again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” In this third verse is
the first direct reference in John’s gospel to the return of Jesus in the air for His own people.
Every previous reference to the second coming of our Lord refers to Christ’s return to earth, but
here, Jesus was speaking to His own, saying, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also.”
I believe that Jesus is coming back, according to His Word. He was not a mere man that He
should lie. If Christ does not return as He promised, then He is a liar, and it is no use for us to
receive Him as a Savior. But we believe that He spoke the truth when He said to those troubled
men, in effect, “Cheer up! I am going to leave you. I will be away for a while, preparing a home
for you, but I am coining back to receive you to Myself!” Those men believed that the Lord
would come according to His promise.
Do you believe in the return of the Lord Jesus Christ? He may be here at any moment,
according to His Word, and if you are to share in this rapture, you must know Jesus as your
Savior.
The word “receive” occurs twice in the Gospel of John. In John 1:11–12, it reads,
He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them
gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
Then, here in John 14:3, it appears again:
If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where
I am, there ye may be also.
Notice the two truths: “As many as received him” and “I will come again and receive you.”
If you receive Jesus as your Savior, He will receive you when He returns in the air at the
rapture. But Christ’s reception of you at His return depends on your reception of Him. If you
linger in your sin and the Lord should come, then, because you refused to receive Him as your
Savior, He will not receive you. You will be left behind to remorse.
Christ’s willingness to receive us is a cure for troubled hearts. This is the cure for my own
troubled spirit as I look out on a world of chaos and collapse. I would droop beneath my
responsibility if I did not believe that Jesus was on His way to clean up this man-caused mess on
earth. Are you ready for the coming of the Lord?
There’s a Man in yonder glory I have loved for many years;
He has cleared my guilty conscience and has banished all my fears.
 He is coming in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
And no time will be allotted for you to utter one good-bye.
No time to kiss your husband or embrace your loving wife,
If they are but united in the bonds of holy life.
Are you ready, Christian, ready for shout and trump and voice?
Will His coming make you tremble or cause you to rejoice?
Are you walking, talking with Him daily, taking Him your care?
Do you live so close to heaven that a breath would waft you there?
—Herbert Lockyer
Chapter 2
 A Price above Rubies

Thou art worth ten thousand of us. (2 Samuel 18:3)

My beloved is…the chiefest among ten thousand.
(Song of Solomon 5:10)
The world sadly undervalues the Lord Jesus Christ, as illustrated in the betrayal by Judas, who
sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver—the market price for a common slave. (See Matthew
27:3.)
The two passages of Scripture listed above, however, depict the true value of our Lord.
The Example of David
The first reference extols David’s worth. Israel’s king is one of the most magnificent
characters in the Bible. The stories of his life never lose their charm and grip for young and old
alike. But because the Bible tells the truth about each of its characters, portraying the defects as
well as the glories of a reign like David’s, we find him suffering the consequences of his dark sin
of adultery. In fleeing from Absalom, he was reaping what he had sown.
However, the verse we are considering provides us with a beautiful touch in an otherwise sad
story because it reveals the love and loyalty of the men who followed David. To them, David
was worth ten thousand of their best men. There was no other like him. Such admiration brought
comfort to David’s broken heart. His followers encouraged their king to stay behind to help,
guide, and bless those who watched over the soldiers’ supplies. In their minds, if David was to be
killed in battle, their light would be quenched. Because of his kingly qualities, David’s place
could not be filled by another person.
Was not David Israel’s brave leader and king? Had he not been divinely anointed as their
sovereign? Was he not a man after God’s own heart? To the Israelites, David was a mighty vic-
tor, and to the Philistines, he was a source of constant terror.
Was David not willing to suffer with his people? Example, he believed, was better than
precept: “I will surely go forth with you myself also” (2 Samuel 18:2). A military leader always
inspires courage when he shouts, “Follow me!”
Was not David merciful and considerate? Absalom, his wayward son, was the cause of his
anguish. Absalom wanted David killed, but David wanted Absalom spared: “Deal gently for my
sake with the young man, even with Absalom” (verse 5). What true magnanimity! Perhaps
anticipating a New Testament precept, David overcame evil with good.
Was not David loving and forgiving? He carried no revenge against his rebellious son:
“Would God I had died for thee, O Absalom” (verse 33).
When the people saw such noble traits exhibited in the daily life of their king, what else could
they say but, “Thou art worth ten thousand of us”?
The estimation in which David was held is sweetly suggestive of the Lord Jesus Christ, which
brings us to the typical (symbolic) features of our second text. Israel’s illustrious king is an
outstanding type (symbol) of the King eternal. Let us look at the phrases again:
“Thou art worth ten thousand of us.”
“My beloved…is the chiefest among ten thousand.”
Is there any connection between the two? Solomon, who wrote the second of these two
statements, knew all about Israel’s estimation and admiration of his father. And, remembering all
that those brave men had said of David, Solomon placed such language in the mouth of a bride
as she extols her Beloved. Surely, saintly souls are not deluded when they discover in such
language the superior worth of our adorable Lord! For example, Christ is: holier in birth, purer in
life, firmer in friendship, kinder in grace, greater in sacrifice, and higher in honor.
Holier in Birth
Although He condescended to become the man, Christ Jesus, He never took on our sinful
nature. There is a great gulf between Christ’s entrance into the world and ours. Being conceived
of the Holy Spirit, He came into humanity supernaturally. We were born in sin and shaped in ini-
quity; we came into the world by the way of natural generation. Not so with Christ! If our
Redeemer was not miraculously born, then His value is reduced. If His was not a virgin birth, He
is not worth ten thousand of us but only one. We believe, however, that Christ is worth a
multitude of sin-born souls because He was supernaturally born.
Purer in Life
One of the saintliest men of the nineteenth century was Robert Murray McCheyne. Because of
his eminent holiness, he has been described as a “modern saint.” Yet his memoirs are full of con-
fessions of sin. On every page, there is a fresh discovery of his evil heart! Subscribing to the ex-
perience of another, McCheyne could sing the hymn,
And none, O Lord, have perfect rest,
For none are wholly free from sin;
And they who fain would serve Thee best
Are conscious most of wrong within.1
But no such confession ever left the faultless lips of the Lord Jesus! Listen to His own claims:
“Which of you convinceth me of sin?” (John 8:46); “The prince of this world cometh, and hath
nothing in me” (John 14:30). The devil, however, has something even in the best of men—
namely, their old, evil, condemned nature. True, Christ had a dual nature, combining both deity
and humanity, but in another sense, He possessed only one nature—a holy one—and, therefore,
He was unlike us.
Think of the holiest man you have ever heard or read about, or the saintliest woman you have
ever met, and then, compare that person with the perfect life of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is like
comparing a candle with the sun! All people pale before Christ, for He is separate from sin and,
therefore, unmatched and incomparable. Christ is truly worth ten thousand times ten thousand of
the godliest lives that ever breathed! He is the purest of the mighty, and the mightiest of the pure!
 Samuel Rutherford, that saintly soul of whom, after hearing him preach, an English merchant
said, “I heard a little, fair man, and he showed me the loveliness of Christ,” lived and loved to
exalt his Lord. In one of his letters, he wrote, “No pen, no words, no image can express to you
the loveliness of my only, only Lord Jesus.”
Yes, and it is Christ’s passion to make us like Himself. He greatly desires us. He waits to im-
part His own lovely holiness to us. Shall we, by faith, receive it?
Firmer in Friendship
King David was willing to suffer with his loyal people, but, responding to their considerate
words, he remained behind in a safe place. Christ, however, lived out the words of David: “I will
surely go forth with you myself also.” He allowed Himself to be tested in all points as we are.
The beauty of His friendship is seen in that He shares all our experiences, sin excepted. As the
Brother born for adversity, Jesus Christ is with us in all the conflicts of life. All of us have
friends who are kind, generous, and self-sacrificing, but the Lord Jesus is worth ten thousand of
the best friends it is possible to have. The best of earth can fail, but Christ’s friendship is
constant. He is firm, abiding, changeless, and true in His love and sympathy.
What do we know about the undying friendship of this “friend that sticketh closer than a
brother” (Proverbs 18:24)? Is he our Friend? Consider again that letter by Samuel Rutherford:
O pity for evermore that there should be such an one as Christ Jesus, so boundless, so
bottomless, and so incomparable in infinite excellency and sweetness, and so few take
Him! Oh! Oh! You poor, dry and dead souls, why will you not come hither with your
empty souls to this huge, and fair, and deep and sweet well of life, and fill your empty
vessels? O that Christ should be so large in sweetness and worth, and we so narrow, so
pinched, so ebb, and so void of all happiness! And yet men will not take Him! They lose
their love miserably who will not bestow it upon this lovely One.2
Do we bestow our love “upon this lovely One”?
Kinder in Grace
In David’s concern over Absalom, we can trace the Savior’s mercy over the wayward and
rebellious. The forgiving grace of Israel’s king is a faint picture of the loving-kindness of
David’s greater Son and Lord. Earth possesses those who are gracious, kind, and forgiving, who
bear no revenge and carry no animosity even though despised and rejected. But Christ exceeds
and excels them all! There is no love and grace like His. He is peerless in the realm of mercy,
pardon, and forgiveness. The Lord Jesus is worth ten thousand of us in that He forgives so freely.
We have reserves. If a friend grieves us, we say, “Well, I will forgive him, but….” The Lord
Jesus had no “buts”; the old score is not only forgiven, it is also forgotten!
No wonder Rutherford exclaimed:
I find Christ to be Christ, and that he is far, far, even infinite heaven’s height above man.
And that is all our happiness. Sinners can do nothing but make wounds that Christ may
heal them; and make debts, that he may pay them; and make falls, that he may raise
them; and make deaths, that he may quicken them; and spin out and dig hells to
themselves, that he may ransom them!3
 Greater in Sacrifice
It was David’s sorrowful lament that he was not able to die for Absalom, his son. And
although a valiant warrior, David was not allowed to fight with his brave men. The marvel of the
cross, however, is that the Lord Jesus did fight and die. He gave Himself for every rebellious
Absalom, and died for every rebel of Adam’s race. David stayed behind in a safe place, but the
Lord Jesus came out of His ivory palaces and, at Calvary, achieved a glorious victory over sin
and Satan.
Yes, and multitudes have died for Him. Think of the illustrious roll of covenanters, martyrs,
missionaries, and saints who have laid down their lives for Christ’s sake! Think of the thousands
who are ready, like Barnabas and Paul, to hazard their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ! But His death is worth ten thousand such glorious deaths, simply because of its purpose:
Christ died to reconcile man to God. In the words of a glorious hymn, “He died that we might be
forgiven.” In the death of the brave, there may be inspiration; but in the death of the Beloved,
there is redemption!
Highest in Honor
When we think of the most honorable people of earth, including kings, queens, lords, ladies,
elite, noble, wise, and cultured, our hearts fail us, for we are so insignificant. But where is there
nobility comparable to Christ’s? Is He not worth ten thousand of the highest, noblest, and most
well-bred of the land? As the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, is Christ not high above all? O
let us exalt His Person, worth, and honor! Let us say to men, “Behold your God” (Isaiah 40:9).
Let us make much of Him, for He is eternally precious to those who believe!
To adoring hearts, the Savior is the star of brightest splendor. What is He worth to you? To
me, He is the chiefest and fairest of all the earth, since it is to His love and grace that I owe all I
am and have. “God hath made many fair flowers,” wrote Rutherford, “but the fairest of them all
is heaven, and the Flower of all flowers is Christ.”4
The psalmist’s confession was, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon
earth that I desire beside thee” (Psalm 73:25). And, to quote Samuel Rutherford again, “Sure I
am, He is the far best half of heaven; yea, He is all heaven, and more than all heaven.”5 Our
estimation of Christ can be judged by the value we place upon His friendship and by the position
we give Him in our life. Worship and witness are always the test of worth. Christ is the chiefest
but do we give Him this chiefest place in our life? “Christians,” Dr. J. Stuart Holden tells us in
his sermon The Preeminent Lord, “are mainly divisible into three classes—those who give Him
place, those who give Him prominence, and those who give Him preeminence.”
Whose company do we keep? The “little, fair man” who showed that merchant the loveliness
of Christ has stated it well: “Every day we see some new thing in Christ. His love has neither
brim nor bottom.” Is Samuel Rutherford’s experience ours? Listen to him again: “Christ, all the
seasons of the year, is dropping sweetness; if I had vessels I might fill them, but my old riven,
holey, and running-out dish, even when I am at the well, can bring little away. Nothing but glory
will make tight and fast our leaking and rifty vessels….How little of the sea can a child carry in
his hand; as little dow I take away of my great sea, my boundless and running-over Christ
Jesus.”6
 What a beautiful description this is of the all-sufficiency and preeminence of the Master
—“the boundless and running-over Christ Jesus”! May we learn to enjoy His fullness, and to
give Him the place of preeminence in every part of our life and being!

1. Henry Twells, “At Even, Ere the Sun Was Set,” 1868.
2. Samuel Rutherford and Andrew A. Bonar, The Letters of Samuel Rutherford (Endinburgh:
Oliphant, Anderson, & Ferrier, 1891), 446.
3. Samuel Rutherford, The Loveliness of Christ (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2007), 71.
4. Rutherford, The Loveliness of Christ, 184.
5. Rutherford, The Loveliness of Christ, 443.
6. Ibid., 82.
Chapter 3
 The Transfigured Christ

Matthew 17, Luke 9, and Mark 9 all describe the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
disciples never forgot that scene. In later days, Peter declared that he was one of the men with
Jesus on the holy mountain. (See 2 Peter 1:17–18.) They had been eyewitnesses of His majesty
and had beheld His glory. Important problems are faced and solved in this transfiguration
section.
Continuity of Life
First is the problem of the continuity of life and of consciousness. In this materialistic age, the
question posed by Job is being asked again and again: “If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job
14:14). Some people would have us believe that we die like dogs—that there is no afterlife, and
that when we come to the end of our earthly lives, the story of life is never continued in another
world.
But on this day of Christ’s transfiguration, Moses and Elijah appeared on the mountaintop
with Jesus. Who were these two men? Moses had died some fifteen hundred years before Jesus
was born, and Elijah had disappeared in a remarkable fashion around six hundred years later.
(See 2 Kings 2:11.) But now, here they were on the mountaintop. If there is no such thing as
immortality, where did Moses and Elijah come from? Their presence on the mountain is proof of
immortality. We are not confined to the thoughts and theories and speculations of men, for Jesus
had brought life and immortality to light as a result of His gospel.
Recognition in Heaven
When we reflect on that day when the shadows will fall on our lives, when we are called to
part with loved ones, we may think, Is there really such a thing as the recognition of the
departed? Will we really know each other in heaven? Think of what occurred on the day of the
transfiguration.
Moses and Elijah appeared on the mountain, and, of course, Peter had never before physically
seen those Old Testament saints, since they had died many centuries before he was born. Yet the
moment he saw Moses and Elijah, he recognized them, for he said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for
us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses,
and one for Elias” (Matthew 17:4). Peter’s ready identification of Moses and Elijah showed that
these Old Testament saints must have retained their physical identities, for Peter recognized them
immediately. If, on earth, Peter could recognize Moses and Elijah in glorified form, then surely,
when we are glorified in heaven, we will enjoy perfect recognition of other glorified believers!
The question was asked of George MacDonald, “Do you think we will know each other in
heaven?” His reply was, “Do you think we are to be greater fools there than we are here?” Of
course we will know each other better when the mists have rolled away! We will know even as
we are now known by the Lord. (See 1 Corinthians 13:12.) Heaven would not be heaven if there
were no such thing as the recognition of the departed. This recognition will be one of the great
joys of heaven—to walk the golden streets and to recognize those whom we loved and those
about whom we have read. I believe I will recognize Dwight L. Moody when I see him, as well
as Charles Spurgeon, David Livingstone, and William Carey. To be continually recognizing
these mighty saints of God will constitute one of the true joys of heaven.
Heavenly Knowledge of Earth
When your heart is robbed of the treasure of a particular human companion, and half your
heart is in heaven with him or her, don’t you think about that other world, even though you are
still living in this one? When our happy dead leave us, does God blot out all their thoughts and
memories of earth? Does He make them drink of the river of forgetfulness regarding things of
this earth? Or, do our loved ones retain some knowledge of this life? Is there such a thing as a
heavenly interest in things belonging to this present world?
In Luke 9, we learn that Moses and Elijah came down to the mountain from heaven so they
could talk with Jesus about what He was going to do on earth. They talked with Him about His
coming death at Calvary, which means that, in heaven, they knew what Jesus was destined to do
on earth.
Now, our loved ones in heaven have no direct association with those of us on earth, as
spiritualism asserts. It is not difficult to explain what happens in spiritualism, for we are
surrounded with wicked spirits who know about lives, and during so-called “communication
with the dead” sessions, in which they impersonate our deceased loved ones. While I repudiate
the kind of association that spiritualism claims, I believe there is such a thing as the legitimate
interest of heaven in what happens on earth.
You might say, “If my loved ones know what is going on here below, if they have any
conception of what is happening in this wicked world, then there must be sorrow in heaven.” Not
necessarily so. There is no one in heaven who has any conception of what is going on here
below, as the Lord Himself does. There is no place where earth’s sorrows are more felt than in
heaven, and yet, God is not perturbed as He looks down on a sinful world, for He can see the end
from the beginning. He has before Him the final triumph, and He knows that every knee is going
to bow and confess Him as Lord. (See Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:10.) Our happy dead share
this vision that the Lord has; they see the end from the beginning, and they do not sorrow as
those on earth, who have only a very limited understanding of things.
Jesus Only
At the end of the mountaintop experience, Peter, James, and John opened their eyes and saw
Jesus only, for they had been temporarily blinded through the brilliance of our Lord’s inherent
glory. As Alexander MacLaren has reminded us in his Expositions of Holy Scriptures, the words
“Jesus only” reveal two precious truths about the Lord Jesus Christ: He is the solitary One, and
He is the sufficient One.
Jesus only!
In the shadow of the clouds so chill and dim,
We are clinging, loving, trusting,
He with us, and we with Him;
All unseen, though ever nigh,
“Jesus only!”— all our cry.
“Jesus only!” in the glory,
 When the shadows all are flown,
Seeing Him in all His beauty,
Satisfied with Him alone;
May we join His ransomed throng,
“Jesus only!”—all our song!7
Jesus as the Solitary One
“When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only” (Matthew 17:8). The
more I read the gospel story of Jesus, the more I am impressed with His loneliness. Jesus carried
with Him a solitary grandeur. At His birth, there was no room for Him in the inn. Jesus was also
alone in the manner of His birth. I cannot explain the miracle of Christ’s virgin birth, but I
believe the fact that Jesus had a human mother but no human father. We enter the world by
means of natural conception, but not so with the Lord Jesus. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary; He stands alone in the manner of His birth. If we deny the virgin
birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, then the entire fabric of Christianity totters to the ground, for
Christ was God manifest in the flesh.
As we follow Christ, His loneliness seems to grow. There He is in His humble home in
Nazareth. What a lonely man He was! You can be lonely even in the heart of a crowd. Mary,
Christ’s mother, did not understand the significance of His divine calling. His brothers in the
flesh did not believe in Him.
You may have a somewhat similar experience today, living in a home where you are not
understood. Those around you cannot understand the significance of your allegiance to the Lord
Jesus, so you find yourself in solitary fellowship with Him.
Now, watch Christ as He leaves His home and enters His ministry. How lonely He was!
“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his
head” (Luke 9:58). All people would retire to their homes at night, but no one had decency
enough to offer Jesus a bed. So, He retires to the Mount of Olives. As He enters Gethsemane, we
recall the words of Scripture: “Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow”
(Lamentations 1:12) and “I have trodden the winepress alone” (Isaiah 63:3). We sometimes sing
a hymn about following Jesus all the way, even to Gethsemane. But we can never do that. It was
His journey, and His alone.
Then, He climbs the blood-red way leading to Calvary, and here, too, He carries His
loneliness with Him. Jesus understood in some measure those of earth forsaking Him and leaving
Him alone, but think of that cry of anguish escaping His lips, “My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). In the words of the hymn, “Alone, alone, He bore it all alone.”8
Jesus died alone.
Although Jesus was not alone in the form of His death—two thieves were suffering the same
type of punishment as Jesus and experiencing the same physical agonies—Jesus was alone in the
object of His death. The two thieves were dying for their sins; Jesus was dying for our sins.
The nearer we live to the heart of our Lord, the more we must share His loneliness. We need
to go outside the camp, where Christ is bearing His reproach. And yet, this is where we part
company with Him; we are not willing to experience the fellowship of His sufferings in this
respect. If we determine to put the Lord Jesus first and to strive for the spirituality of the church
and our separation from the world, we will realize what it is to share the loneliness of Jesus. We
may find that, in respect to spirituality, our worst enemies are the religious people around us. We
may find ourselves ostracized, cut off. Yet we are never alone, for we have the presence of Him
who said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).
Jesus as the Sufficient One
“When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.” The disciples
required no one else. They didn’t open their eyes and see Moses only, even though there is a
good deal of attraction about Moses. Moses represents the law, for he was the great lawgiver. A
good many people in our churches today see no man, save Moses only, for they live their lives
according to law instead of by grace. Their lives are guided by prohibitions and duties and
morals.
But the disciples opened their eyes and saw Jesus only. Why? Because He was the end of the
law. If I follow Jesus, then I shall fulfill the righteousness of the Mosaic law.
The disciples didn’t open their eyes and see Elijah, even though he was the fiery prophet of
the old dispensation. Elijah represents prophecy. I know a good many preachers who open their
eyes and see no man, save Elijah. They never get away from prophecy. They are forever
preaching on prophetical themes. They see no man, save Elijah only. The people they minister to
grow tired of hearing about Daniel, the book of Revelation, and all the characteristics of the man
of sin. Let us try to preserve balance in our ministry.
The disciples opened their eyes and saw no man, save Jesus only. He was sufficient, for He
was the Fulfiller and the Fulfillment of all past biblical themes. They did not need to see Moses
and Elijah there on the mountain, for they had both of these great men in Jesus: law and
prophecy are combined in Him who stood alone on the mountaintop!
The All-Sufficiency of Christ
The two words “Jesus only” remind us of the all-sufficiency of Christ. Do you know of
anyone who can deliver you in the hour of temptation like the Lord Jesus can? If so, I would like
to meet him, because I am daily tempted by the enemy of my soul, and I want to know the best
deliverer! When the devil comes and dangles his bait before the window of my soul, if I call on
the Lord Jesus, I am delivered. There is a remarkable charm about the name of Jesus; it is the
name the devil hates and before which demons flee. When temptations gather around you,
breathe that holy name in prayer.
All of us are different. Our temptations differ according to our vocation, our age, and our
temperament. But no matter how we are tempted by the enemy of our soul, in Jesus, we have
One who is all-sufficient as a Deliverer, for He met the enemy in the wilderness and triumphed
over him.
When it comes to the satisfaction of a God-created nature, do you know of anyone else who is
all-sufficient in satisfying that God-created nature like the Lord Jesus? If so, I would like to
know him. I meet with multitudes of deluded souls who are drinking at the broken cisterns of the
world, and I want to tell them of One who is well able to satisfy. Tell me honestly, have you
discovered in Jesus the One who is able to completely satisfy?
I wonder if these lines are being read by a worldly-minded Christian. If so, I would have you
know that when you hanker after the things of this world, you give to the world a false
conception of my Lord. By your desire for worldly things, you imply to the world that Jesus
might be fine at saving a person from sin but has no power to satisfy—that you must have
something of the world added to your religion to make you happy.
When I discovered Jesus as my Savior, I found in Him One who could completely satisfy. In
the hour of my conversion, my blind eyes were opened, and I discovered that in His presence is
fullness of joy, and that at His right hand are pleasures forevermore. Does Jesus satisfy you? Can
you truthfully sing, “Thou, O Christ, art all I want; more than all in Thee I find”?
The Comfort of Christ
When it comes to the sorrows and trials and adversities of life, do you know of anyone else
who is an all-sufficient Comforter like the Lord Jesus?
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear.
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds and drives away his fears.9
How some men and women come to the dark hours in life with no Christ to lean upon is
beyond human comprehension! If they only knew Him, life would be different!
I think of those devoted missionaries, who, after their marriage, went out among cannibals,
anticipating many happy years together, but God willed it otherwise. The dear, young wife
sickened and died, and the devoted husband had to dig her grave and bury her remains. No
sooner had he filled in the grave than he had to flee for his life, for he heard the threatening
shouts of the cannibals. In later years, when he looked back on that heart-crushing experience
and wrote his life story, Dr. John G. Paton said, “If it had not been for Jesus and the fellowship
and grace He afforded me, I am certain I would have gone mad or died of grief beside their
lonely graves.”
You know what it is to have the cup of agony pressed to your lips. You think of the day when
the cradle was emptied, when the bottom fell out of things, when your plans and ambitions were
ripped to pieces by the howling winds of adversity. The sun set in your sky, and it seemed as if it
would never rise again. Some cruel disappointment came your way, and you were heartlessly
deceived.
In those dark hours, human sympathy was of little avail, but there stood by you the invisible
Friend who gave you songs in the night. He was there so nearby as you shed those bitter tears. It
was His grace that sustained you. He gave you “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isaiah 61:3). His name? Jesus. You would not be
the man or woman you are today had it not been for Jesus.
What else could we do but love Him? He is our life. He is the hope of our soul, the secret
source of every precious thing. With the psalmist, we say, “I love the Lord” (Psalm 116:1). Is
Jesus a living, bright reality to you, or is He someone about whom you must witness
occasionally? If you want to truly help the people around you, learn to make much of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
The Only Savior from Sin
When it comes to that ugly thing called sin, is anyone all-sufficient as a Savior apart from the
Lord Jesus Christ? Do you know of another person who can break the chains of sin and set the
prisoner free? If so, I would like to know about him, for I live in a world of sin where multitudes
of people long to know someone who can emancipate them.
But Jesus is the only One. They called His name Jesus before His birth, because He would
have the prerogative to save His people. “There is none other name under heaven given among
men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). We think of the day He came our way and found
us in the gutter, and the Holy Spirit gave us a vision of the Savior as the One who could break all
our bonds and lead us out of the prison-house of sin. Even though we couldn’t explain the
miracle at the time, Christ’s red blood made our black hearts whiter than snow. Let us never lose
the thrill and the wonder of our salvation. May the gladness of those early days, when we first
knew Christ as our Savior, never leave us!
My dear friends, the world needs Jesus. It needs the simple declaration of His saving grace.
Do you know what it is to have Him as your Savior? Have you proved Him to be the all-
sufficient One in regard to sin? Or, do you have no saving experience or knowledge of Jesus as
the One who can deliver? May you find Him as the One can break your chains and forever make
you a child of God!
The Power of Jesus
A British chaplain in France during World War II spent his time moving among the men in
their trenches. He entered one trench and found it empty, for the men were in position down the
line. As he looked around, he was horrified by what he saw, for over each bed was hung an
obscene picture. His first impulse was to rush in and tear them all down from the wall. Then, he
said to himself, They don’t belong to me. I have no right to tamper with them. So, he thought of
a better plan. He went to his own trench and searched among his belongings until he came across
the picture that he loved and always carried with him. It helped him in his worship and devotion.
It was the face of Jesus. Bringing it with him, he entered the trench, tried to be blind to these
other things, and pinned the face of Jesus in a very prominent place so that as the men returned,
the first picture to catch their attention was the face of Christ.
Our Sacred Task
Our sacred task is not to go around pulling down dirty pictures but to exalt Jesus. We read in
the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians that those new Christians turned to God from idols, not from
idols to God. Paul had been with these people for about a month, but he had never hammered
away at the idols of those unconverted people; he never went around pulling down all the dirty
pictures he could find. Instead, he magnified his Lord.
These people became so enraptured with the vision Paul gave them of Jesus that when they
received Him, their idols quickly dropped as dead leaves from a tree. “Sir, we would see Jesus.”
That is the cry facing you today. If you fail to present Christ in His all-sufficiency, you fail in
your sacred task. If you do present Christ adequately, it will be said of your hearers, “Then were
the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord” (John 20:20).

7. “Jesus All in All.” A poem by Frances R. Havergal, published in Under the Surface, 1874.
8. Ben H. Price, “Alone,” 1914.
9. John Newton, “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds,” 1779.
Chapter 4
 The Most Remarkable Prayer Ever Prayed

In John 17, we find the high-priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. We often refer to the
prayer in Matthew 6:9–13 as “The Lord’s Prayer,” but we are not told that Jesus actually prayed
that prayer Himself. Seeing the Master in prayer, the disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to
pray” (Luke 11:1). Jesus, then, gave them a model prayer, which is indeed remarkable in its
simplicity and scope.
But in John 17, here is a prayer that Jesus Himself prayed:
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come;
glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.(verse 1)
As we meditate on such words, we feel that we are on holy ground, and that we ought to take
the shoes off of our feet.
The Three Circles
In this prayer, we find the method of all true prayer—a method that all of us ought to adopt in
our prayer lives. So often, we lose a great deal in our prayer life simply because we have no
method. There ought to be as much method about our praying as there is about our preaching and
teaching. We need to learn how to concentrate instead of being vaguely general in our petitions,
if we would enjoy a rich and enriching prayer life. As we meditate on this prayer in John 17, we
find that it moves in three distinct circles.
In the first eight verses, the Lord Jesus is praying about Himself. The Father and the Son are
in sweet communion, and the Son is talking to the Father about His own life and work.
Then, at verse 9, there is a distinct change in our Lord’s petition, for from verse 9 to the end
of verse 19, Jesus is found praying for His own: “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for
them which thou hast given me” (John 17:9).
At verse 20, Christ reaches the third circle. From this verse to the end of the chapter, the Lord
prays for men and women in general: “Neither pray I for these alone [His disciples], but for them
also which shall believe on me through their word” (verse 20). Jesus looked down the vista of the
ages and included all those who were to listen to the Word and become part of His body by
receiving Him as Savior. So, our Lord prays first for Himself, and then for the church, and,
finally, for the world. The first part is personal, the second part is particular, and the third part is
general.
Father, Holy Father,
Righteous Father
As we read the rest of John 17, we see that Jesus used the term “Father” in a threefold way. In
the first eight verses, where Christ was communing with the Father about His work, He twice
used the single filial term “Father.” As we’ve already seen, in verse 1, He said, “Father, the hour
is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.” In verse 5, He said, “Now, O
Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was.” Here, you see the Father and the Son together, and such communion constitutes the Holy
of Holies.
When we reach the second part of Christ’s prayer, in verse 11, our Lord addressed God in a
very unique way; He referred to Him as “Holy Father”—the only time God is mentioned in this
way in all the Bible. As we study this section of Christ’s prayer, we find that the burden of His
petition is that His own people might be sanctified: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is
truth” (verse 17). So, because Christ wanted His own people to be holy, He addressed God as
“Holy Father,” as if to say, “Because Thou art holy, I desire My own to reveal Thy holiness.”
Because of the holiness of God, it is imperative for us to allow the indwelling Holy Spirit to
transform us into the holiness of God. “Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).
In the last section of the prayer, in verse 25, Jesus addressed God as “righteous Father.” Here,
Jesus was praying for people all through the centuries who are to be brought under the sway of
His gospel. He prayed, “O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known
thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me” (verse 25), for the basis of our gospel’s
appeal is the righteousness of God. We know that men and women can be saved and made part
of the church on the basis of the righteousness of God revealed in the finished work of Christ.
Because of His righteousness, sinners can be freely forgiven and cleansed on the basis of the
finished work of the cross.
Christ’s Prayer for Himself
Now, let us return to the first eight verses of our Christ’s prayer in John 17. As we look
carefully at these words, we find that Jesus told the Father four things about Himself, and that all
four of these things began with the same two words: “I have.” “I have glorified thee on the earth:
I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (verse 4). “I have manifested thy name
unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world” (verse 6). “I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me” (verse 8). Now, let’s look at each of these four “I have’s.”
I Have Glorified Thee
“I have glorified thee on the earth” (John 17:4). What a claim to make! Yet our Lord could
truthfully make this claim, for in all His works and words and ways, He glorified the Father; He
always brought glory to God. In this request, Christ asked that He might once again enjoy the
glory which He had had with the Father from past eternity. Christ’s eternal glorious existence
ought to impress our minds as we read His story in the Gospels. At His incarnation, our Lord, in
respect to His humanity, became positionally subordinate to the Father, and positionally
dependent on the Holy Spirit. And because of this subordination to the Father’s will, we find
Christ seeking the glory of God.
I pray that all of us may be able to say at the end of our earthly lives, “I have glorified thee on
the earth.” But do we truly live for the glory of God? It is sadly possible to be eaten up with self-
glory. As Solomon said, “For men to search their own glory is not glory” (Proverbs 25:27).
Nothing can mar our service for the Master like self-glory, for God will never give His glory to
another.
The story is told of a minister who tried in every possible way to honor God. He was highly
gifted, and so he met the temptation in his own heart for self-glory by training himself to say as
he stood up before a congregation to preach, “Now, my soul, is this for the glory of God?”
 In the Westminster Shorter Catechism, we read, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to
enjoy Him forever.”
The story is told of a minister who went around to the homes of his church to catechize the
members and their children. As he came into a home to catechize a boy, he said, “My lad, what
is man’s chief end?”
“Man’s chief end,” the boy replied, “is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”
“Quite right,” replied the minister.
Then, timidly, the boy said to the minister, “But could you tell me what God’s chief end is?”
The minister thought for a minute and then replied, “I’m afraid I cannot answer you.”
The boy responded, “God’s chief end is to glorify man and enjoy him forever.”
If we live for the glory of God here below, we know from Christ’s prayer in John 17 that we
are to be glorified by God, for the express wish of the Savior in this prayer is that we might be
with Him and share in His glory. Let us strive constantly to glorify God, for nothing less can
satisfy His heart.
I Have Finished the Work
The second thing that Jesus told the Father about Himself was, “I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4). Our Lord was anticipating the cross when He prayed
this prayer. As we think of Him in His agony, the last words to escape His lips were “It is
finished” (John 19:30). This was not the cry of a victim. Our Lord was not saying that He was
glad to come to the end of His physical anguish. Instead, when He shouted, “It is finished” (John
19:30), this was the shout of a Victor.
We are born to live; Christ was born to die. He came from glory with the specific purpose of
going to the cross, there to die for our redemption. So, when He uttered that cry, “It is finished,”
He had in mind the overthrow of Satan and the deliverance of our souls out of the bondage of
sin. The words “It is finished” refer to the finished work of Christ. By that one supreme sacrifice
of His, Christ spoiled principalities and powers, and made it possible for the sons and daughters
of Adam’s race to be delivered forever from the penalty of sin.
“I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” The devil tried to keep Jesus from the
cross, for he knew that by that one act, his kingdom would be forever spoiled. But the Master set
His face steadfastly toward Jerusalem and ultimately died on the cross for our salvation. “I have
finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”
I wonder if we can pray this way. Are we striving to complete our God-given tasks, so that
when we come to the end of our earthly lives, we can pray with the Redeemer, “I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do”? All too many of us are like the man in Christ’s gospel
story who began to build a tower but was not able to finish it. (See Luke 14:28–30.) We are good
at fits and starts; we are spasmodic and intermittent; there is not the same completeness about our
ministry that characterized the work of our Lord. Many of us try to serve the Lord in some way
or other, but then, we tire and, through various circumstances, abandon our tasks. Maybe we
were once very active for the Savior, but now, we have resigned from our service, for one reason
or another.
On Calton Hill, in Edinburgh, Scotland, stand six or seven massive columns silhouetted
against the skyline. Soon after the French Revolution, it was the desire of the city to erect a large
Athenian building on the hill. They sent out appeals and tried to gather money. Finances flowed
in, soon reaching twenty thousand pounds, but somehow, the subscriptions ceased, and the city
was able to build only the few columns. There they stand today, and are known as “Pride and
Poverty.” The city began to build but was unable to finish!
One thing that keeps me faithful to my task is this: When the day breaks and the shadows flee
away, and I find myself in the presence of the Lord, He will show me the original plan He had
for my life. God has a plan for my career and a plan for my character. He will show me the
original plan for my life, and I pray that when I stand before Him and He presents the pattern,
my life may fully correspond.
I Have Manifested Thy Name
When we reach verse 6 of John 17, we find Christ communing with the Father about Himself
in these words: “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the
world.” The word translated as “name” represents the character and personality of the person
concerned, so, in effect, our Lord was saying, “I have manifested Thy nature or character unto
the men Thou gavest Me out of the world.” Jesus Christ was the culmination of the revelation of
God. The world wanted to know what God was like, so He came and dwelt with us in a human
body. The Lord Jesus was God manifest in the flesh.
If we want to know what God is like, we must study the life and teachings of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That is why Christ said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). Christ
was the personification of the love of the Father; He reflected the attributes of God. “I have
manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world.” I wonder if we show
the world what the Lord Jesus is like. This is our solemn obligation—not only to glorify Christ,
not only to finish our God-given tasks, but also, day by day, to reveal something of the beauty of
our Lord.
It was easy for men to believe in God after they had seen Christ. I wonder if it is easy for the
people around us to believe in the Savior after they come in contact with us! We may be very or-
thodox and yet so un-Christlike. The world is yearning for the practical manifestation of the life
of Christ in the followers of Christ. Modernism relegates the Lord Jesus to the level of ordinary
humanity. Its gospel is simply the emulation of the example of Jesus: “Follow His footsteps;
emulate all His ways.” But there is no salvation by the mere example of Christ. We must allow
Him to dominate every part of our lives, so that He can express Himself through us—“Christ
liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20). It may be that some people around us will be won for Christ when
they see the Christlikeness that should characterize every one of us.
At a Keswick Conference, I remember hearing Sadhu Sundar Singh, that great Indian
Christian. I was greatly impressed with his presence. Tall, stately, and commanding in his long
robe, with a beautiful white turban wound around his head, he immediately attracted attention.
When Sadhu first arrived in London, he made his way to the home of Walter Sloane, then
Secretary of the Conference. A maid opened the door, but when she saw this dark man, she
turned back, somewhat afraid. Sadhu gave his name and asked to see Mr. Sloane. After the maid
passed the message on to her boss, Mr. Sloane asked what his name was, but the maid said she
didn’t recognize it; it was a very strange name. “Well, what is he like?” asked Mr. Sloane. “He is
like Jesus,” answered the maid.
I wonder if others can say that about us! O, may the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us!
Maybe this is why some of our loved ones are not being won for the Savior.
I Have Given Them Thy Words
The next time we find the Savior telling God about Himself in John 17 is in verse 8: “I have
given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them.” This is striking,
for it says that Jesus did originate the truth He preached and taught. Dwelling in the presence of
the Father, He received from Him that revelation, which, in turn, He transmitted. Just as Moses
climbed the mountain and received the commandments from God, which he, in turn, brought
down and gave to the people, so the Lord Jesus received a divine revelation from the Father and
conveyed it to the people around Him. “I have given unto them the words which thou gavest
me.” This is our solemn obligation as Christian workers in the vineyard of our Lord—not to give
our own thoughts about the Word of God but to communicate the Word of God itself to men and
women in need.
There is a great difference between preachers and messengers. One curse of the ministry is
that there are far too many preachers but all too few messengers. If a man tries to be a popular
preacher, he is tempted to compromise accordingly. To be sure of his position, he must preach to
please.
Several years ago, I was in a certain church in Texas for a conference. A lady belonging to the
church told me that a few Sundays before the conference, the minister had given a sermon that
was somewhat evangelistic. She was delighted and went up to thank him, saying that it would be
good to have more sermons like that, and describing how pleased she was to hear such truth
proclaimed. The next Sunday, however, to her horror, the same minister preached a sermon that
contradicted much of what he had said before. After the service, she said to the minister, “I
would like to have you explain to me why you preached that sermon this morning. Much of it
contradicted what you said last Sunday.” His reply was, “You know as well as I do that we have
two kinds of people in this church, and I must please both parties.”
The True Messenger
A true messenger is a man who gazes into the face of the Eternal and receives a message in
his soul that he must declare. To him, it does not matter what people say or think about his
ministry or about his proclamation of a God-given message.
Jesus was such a Messenger. He communed deeply with the Father, drank in the divine Word,
and then declared it. And He had to pay the price for His faithfulness to a divine revelation. Jesus
was crucified not because of His miracles but because of His words. It was because of His
determination to stand before men and declare what God had revealed to Him that they hurried
Him to the cross.
Because Jesus prayed first about Himself, He could pray with power as He interceded for His
own. Because His prayer was deeply personal, He had added power as He came to pray for His
church, and then for the world in general. Let us also begin with ourselves, for we can never pray
for our brother and sister in Christ with any measure of success unless we know what it is to
have a deeply personal prayer life. Let us pray without ceasing, even as Jesus does: “He ever
liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
Chapter 5
 Supreme in Every Realm

…that in all things he might have the preeminence.

(Colossians 1:18)
The purpose of Paul’s epistle to the Colossians was to prove the preeminence of our Lord in
every realm. “It pleased the Father that in [Christ] should all fulness dwell” (Colossians 1:19).
But the key of this Pauline letter is found in verse 18: “That in all things [Christ] might have the
preeminence.” Christ-less eyes see no beauty in Jesus that they should desire Him, but true faith
acknowledges Him to be the Center and Sum of all things.
Christ is preeminent in Scripture. Scripture exists to reveal Christ. Martin Luther said, “There
is one book and one person. The book is the Bible, and the person is Jesus Christ.” And the Book
exalts the Person! Every part of the holy Scriptures revolves around the Person of Christ: “In the
volume of the book it is written of me” (Hebrews 10:7).
Christ is preeminent in nature. He is the Creator and Sustainer of all the heavenly bodies.
Creation is His child. It is He who upholds all things by the word of His power.
Christ is preeminent in grace. In the realm of grace, Christ is supreme, peerless, and
incomparable. Those of us who are born again can sing, “There is none like Thee as Savior and
Keeper.” His grace is sufficient at all times and under all circumstances. He is the Source of
every precious thing.
The truth of our Lord’s preeminence has been realized and revered by the greatest minds in
every age and in every sphere. He claims the recognition and admiration of the highest and
lowest. In every way, Christ is supreme.
Christ and Scholarship
Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. And the Jews
marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?(John 7:14–15)
The wise men and scholars marveled that Jesus seemed educated, having never studied for-
mally. If Jesus lived as a man on earth today, He would be looked upon by the leaders of most
denominations as an unaccredited minister. Having never passed through formal college training,
He could not expect to receive the official approval of a presiding church board or council.
Christ was not the product of the educational centers of His time. As far as we know, He
never spent years at the feet of some rabbi or master. At around the age of fifteen, Jesus went to
labor at a carpenter’s bench, following His trade until He was about thirty years old.
And yet, even though Jesus was no scholar in the rabbinical order, His teachings have never
been penetrated. His wisdom was from above, and, consequently, it has captivated the greatest of
intellects. His gospel is the greatest educating force in the world; the early pioneers of modern
education were sincere Christians who sat at the feet of the Master. As the Light, Christ banishes
all error and ignorance. Once the heathens come to know Him, they want to know how to read
and write.
 Are you ignorant, uneducated, lacking brilliant gifts? Keep near to Christ, who can become
your wisdom. Are you clever, versatile, gifted, polished, and blessed with all that the finest of
schools can provide? If you are unsaved, you are only a polished pagan without Christ as your
Savior. Let Him take your intellect and use it as He chooses!
Christ and Authorship
Some people have an urge to write. The printer’s ink is in their blood, and they are never
happy unless they see themselves in print. Not so with Jesus! We have no record that He ever
penned a word. He left others to gather up His precious sayings and cast them into permanent
form. Only once are we told that Jesus wrote anything, and that was when He printed a con-
demning message in the dust—a message bringing conviction to the men accusing a woman of
adultery. (See John 8:3–9.) And He wrote it in the dust so that after it had achieved its purpose,
He could easily obliterate it.
Many years ago, fourteen thousand pounds were paid for a few pages of Charles Dickens’
first novel, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. What would we not give for a few
words in the handwriting of Jesus? They would be counted among the world’s greatest treasures.
But here is the marvel: although Christ never wrote an epistle, as did some of His apostles, His
sayings have nevertheless been translated into more than one thousand languages, and new
languages are translated almost daily for the proclamation of His redeeming gospel.
Think of the countless thousands of theological and devotional books that Christ’s spoken
words have inspired! An outstanding American religious writer proudly showed me his library of
seven thousand books, all of which were about Christ and His Word. But what are these among
so many? My friend has only a very small section of the world’s volumes centering around our
Lord. Truly, they are nearly as numberless as the sand on the seashore! After nineteen hundred
years, the total number of books on the Person and influence of the Savior comprises a
staggering number.
And remember the numberless sermons and messages that Christ’s words inspire daily.
Consider one city alone and, in that city, count up all the ministers, Sunday school teachers,
evangelists, and Christian workers who speak about Jesus in all kinds of meetings, and you will
discover what a perennial topic He is.
Christ and Art
In His eternal form, Christ is the Creator of all beauty and color. At creation, He displayed
His artistry, for the universe was made by Him. It was He who decked the flowers with their
beautiful tints and who formed the marvelous landscapes which artists strive to represent. It is
His fingers that are still responsible for the glorious sunsets and matchless rainbows that we all
enjoy.
What pictures Christ could have painted. What colors He could have used! The wonder is that
even though Christ never used a brush and palette, He has inspired most of the great
masterpieces in the realm of art. Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Holman Hunt, and
many other famous artists were all captivated by the thought and vision of Christ. And so
precious are their works that fortunes are paid for them.
 Christ and Architecture
Christ is the great Architect of the universe. It is He who formed the starry heavens, fashioned
the worlds with all their marvels, and hung the earth on nothing. Every part of our planet, as well
as every part of man, reveals wonderful forethought and perfect construction. Plan and order are
everywhere! Christ’s mastermind can be seen even in the formation and properties of a blade of
grass.
Yet, while He was on earth, Christ was so poor that He possessed no home of His own.
“Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay
his head” (Matthew 8:20). He never made a house for Himself, as Solomon did. He lived in
borrowed houses, and when there were none to welcome Him, He sought the covering of the
starlit sky above.
What miracles Christ could have performed! With a single word, He could have enjoyed a
beautiful shelter just as easily and quickly as He caused the gourd to grow for Jonah’s protection.
(See Jonah 4:6.) If it was possible for Him to raise the temple of His body in three days, what a
magnificent structure He could have erected! But Christ never placed one stone upon another.
Having power to rear gorgeous temples out of rubbish, He was content to move among men
without proper habitation.
Once again, however, we discover Christ’s uniqueness, for although He never constructed any
buildings, the greatest cathedrals in the world were erected for the worship of His name. Whether
they be in Milan, Cologne, Rome, London, or many other cities, they all exist so that hundreds of
adoring worshipers might gather at the feet of Christ. Crowning the vast majority of shrines is
the figure of His cross, out of which the church was born, for the death-throes of Calvary were
the birth-throes of the church!
Christ and Poetry
Jesus possessed the poetical gift, for it was His Spirit who inspired those incomparable poems
of the Old Testament. The gracious words leaving Christ’s lips proved that grace had been
poured into them. No man ever spoke as this Man!
Yet Christ never created a poem for His followers to recite. With the most perfect of all
voices—tender, strong, and capable of all inflection—what heart-moving poems He could have
produced! His very speech, and the beauty and charm of His language, indicate what He was
capable of.
But although Christ never left a poem, the greatest poetical productions revolve around His
Person. The world’s master-poets have dipped their pens in the ink of love to Christ. Read
Milton, Shakespeare, Browning, Herbert, Tennyson, Whittier, and a hundred lesser lights in the
poetical world, and you will find that their most soul-inspiring lines are those fragrant with the
thought of Christ!
Christ and Music
We have only one record of the Man of Sorrows singing on earth, and even then His voice
was mingled with others, for He was one of the male-voiced choir that sang a hymn the night on
which He was betrayed. (See Matthew 26:30.) And sing Jesus could, for He was anointed with
the oil of gladness above His fellows. Though the melody of heaven was in His soul, we are told
that Christ played an instrument like David of old. And yet He must have loved beautiful music,
for the morning stars sang together, and Christ has an orchestra of harps and other instruments in
heaven.
But although Jesus left no song behind, He has inspired all the soul-thrilling oratories of our
master-musicians. The creations of Handel, Wagner, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn pulsate with
praise to our adorable Lord. The most sublime music ever written has come from hearts inspired
by the Christ, who is responsible for all melody and harmony. And we are confident that the rich
new song that Christ is creating for us to sing in heaven will surpass the most enchanting rhap-
sodies of earth.
Christ and Social Reform
Ardent socialists claim that Christ’s message and methods were communistic and revolu-
tionary. But in reality, Christ upheld the dignity and order of human government. He urged men
to render unto Caesar the things which were Caesar’s. (See Mark 12:17.) He did not concentrate
on the betterment of man’s outward conditions; instead, His work was deeply spiritual. “Ye must
be born again” (John 3:7) constituted His program. His power was certainly revolutionary, but it
was always spiritual in its nature. Socialists want better earthly conditions, but Jesus was after
better human hearts.
And yet, Christ’s gospel creates a social conscience. Christianity is the mightiest social force
the world has ever known. Whenever and wherever Christ’s precepts are taught and obeyed,
industrial and communal problems are quickly diminished. Greed, selfishness, and the denial of
other people’s rights can never live in the light of His countenance. Where Jesus reigns,
righteousness occupies the thoughts and actions of all concerned.
Christ and Wealth
In His own right, Christ was Owner of all. It was He who put all the silver and gold and
precious jewels into the casket of the earth. The cattle on a thousand hills are His. (See Psalm
50:10.) The earth with all its fullness is His. (See Psalm 89:11.) If hungry, He need tell no man,
for the world with its bountiful store is His pantry.
The mystery wrapped up in Christ’s incarnation, however, is that though He was intrinsically
rich, yet for our sakes He became poor. (See 2 Corinthians 8:9.) And how poor He was! He was
born in a manger and entered a life of voluntary poverty. He actually borrowed a coin in order to
illustrate a lesson in paying taxes and giving to God. When Christ died, He left nothing behind
except His mother and His cross. His mother sought shelter in the borrowed home of John, while
His cross of anguish was what He bequeathed to a lost world.
Yet fortunes have been flung at the feet of the One who lived in poverty at another man’s
table. Think of the surrender that missionaries like Robert Arthington, Frederick Charrington,
and C. T. Studd were willing to make for Christ’s sake! Think of the consecrated giving of
countless thousands of people in all parts of the world! Willingly men and women bring their
silver and gold for use in Christ’s service. It is He who guides the giving of multitudes so that
His cause might be maintained. And He is truly worthy of our last penny!
 Christ and Home
The world gave Christ a very cold reception. At His birth, there was no room for Him in the
inn. When He stepped out into His public ministry, it was to hear the click of closing doors on
every hand. He lived and died the unwanted One. We are told that “his own received him not”
(John 1:11). Sometimes at night, after listening to Christ’s message, the people retired to their
comfortable homes, leaving Jesus to find His way to the Mount of Olives, where with darkness
as His blanket and the green grass as His bed He snatched what sleep He could.
And yet, it is the homeless Christ who creates the Christian home. It is He who secures its
safety and sanctity. Home life reaches its ideal when He is recognized as the Head of the home.
There is beauty all around when Christ’s love is at home. The degraded home life of today, with
all its sad divisions, lovelessness, and tragedy of divorce, needs Jesus. Charles Dickens wrote of
“Heaven’s fallen sister—Home.” When Christ takes up His abode in a home, however, it
becomes heaven’s twin sister. What place does Christ have in your home? If you want a happy
home, let Him occupy its central place.
Because of their acquaintance with suffering, women were drawn to Christ and ministered to
Him. The last person Christ spoke to before His death was a woman, and the first person to hear
His voice after His resurrection was a woman. Women had no hand in His cruel death.
When Jesus outgrew His mother’s care, He had no woman at His side to cheer, encourage,
and inspire Him as only a good woman can. And yet, womanhood owes its high calling to Christ.
Where His name is not known, woman is the slave or drudge of man. Generally speaking,
women are more religious than men and are to be found in greater numbers in the church. And
their devotion is a tribute to Jesus as their Emancipator. The reason men raise their hats, give
their seats, and show deference to women is because Jesus came to earth and lived and died. His
cross is the charter of woman’s freedom.
Lutheran scholar Johann Albrecht Bengel declared that Christ had no earthly child that He
might adopt all children. Homeless and wifeless, He did not have the smiling recognition of a
baby’s face so precious to the heart of a parent. Yet this is the One who loved the children, who
in turn loved Him. It was He who taught the world to prize and value children. “Suffer the little
children to come unto me” (Mark 10:14) was His message to those who attempted to keep the
little feet of children from running to Him.
Think of how children are surrounded with every holy and wholesome influence as the result
of Christ’s gospel. The mothers of Jerusalem brought their children to His arms to be blessed,
and mothers today are delivered from all fear when they know that their young ones have a
conscious experience of the Savior’s grace. When we remember what a marvelous power our
Sunday schools have over the lives of our children, how we praise God for Jesus, who in the
days of His flesh taught His disciples many precious lessons from babes and sucklings!
The Wonderful Christ
Yes, friends, we have a wonderful Christ. Truly there is none like Him! He is the chiefest
among ten thousand to our souls. The Master we love and serve is peerless, matchless, and
incomparable. He has no equal. The question we must honestly face, however, concerns His
supremacy over our lives. Supreme as He is in every other realm, we can forbid His reigning
over the empire of our hearts. Do we give Him the place of preeminence in all things? Have we
brought forth the royal diadem and crowned Him Lord of all—of all our time, talents, and
treasures? If not, may the Holy Spirit remind us that if Christ is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at
all.
In all my heart and will, O Lord Jesus,
Be altogether King;
Make me a loyal subject, Lord Jesus,
To Thee in everything.10

10. J. L. Lyne, “Let Me Come Closer to Thee, Lord Jesus.”

Chapter 6
 A Mystic Union

But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.(Matthew
12:28)
In this portrait of Jesus, we will trace the special union between the holy Son and the Holy
Spirit. The Bible reveals a wonderful intimacy between Christ and the Spirit. In Matthew 12:28,
Jesus said, “I…by the Spirit of God.” This relationship characterizes not only the casting out of
demons but our Lord’s every action, for His life was saturated through and through with the
presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
When the Lord Jesus left heaven to take on humanity, He became subordinate to the Father
and dependent on the Holy Spirit. He declared, “I can of mine own self do nothing” (John 5:30).
And in the above passage from Matthew 12, Jesus stated His dependence on the Spirit of God. In
this, He has left us an example—that we should follow in His footsteps. We can be fruitful in our
service for the Lord only when, like the Master, we are subordinate to the Father and dependent
on the Holy Spirit.
The next thought is this: when our Lord was here on earth, it would seem as if the Holy Spirit
exclusively occupied the Lord Jesus Christ. After Christ’s virgin birth by the Holy Spirit, there is
no reference to the Spirit of God being related to any other individual until our Lord, after His
resurrection, breathed on His disciples and said, “Receive ye the Holy [Spirit]” (John 20:22).
It seems that the Holy Spirit exclusively occupied the Lord Jesus in the days of His earthly
life. This may explain the passage in John 7:39: “The Holy [Spirit] was not yet given; because
that Jesus was not yet glorified.” There had to be a Man who could receive the Holy Spirit in His
fullness before that fullness could be bestowed on all believers.
For the first time, in the Lord Jesus, a Man was well-qualified to receive the Holy Spirit in His
totality. And then, on the day of Pentecost, the Lord Jesus sent the Holy Spirit as His ascension
gift to His believing people. Now, it is possible for any child of God to be filled with the Holy
Spirit, for, through Jesus, He fills a person. Now the gospel exhibits a beautiful blending and
merging that is beautiful to observe.
Prophesied by the Spirit
Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify,
when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
(1 Peter 1:11)
Here, the apostle Peter tells us that the Holy Spirit was in the prophets, testifying beforehand
of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. In 2 Peter 1:20–21, he writes of the
Holy Spirit’s influence on Scripture: “No prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy [Spirit].” Throughout the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit
was preparing the way for the Lord Jesus. We are told by some people today that we can do
without the Old Testament, that the New Testament alone is sufficient. But we cannot understand
the New Testament if we do not study the Old Testament. The words of Peter set the seal of
authority upon the Old Testament, and if the Old Testament was inspired by the Holy Spirit, we
cannot and dare not be without it.
We often refer to John the Baptist as the forerunner of Jesus, and so he was. But the Holy
Spirit was the divine forerunner of Jesus, for it was He who, in the Old Testament, prepared the
way for Jesus. When Jesus appeared among men, He could quote Old Testament Scriptures and
relate them to Himself. “To him give all the prophets witness” (Acts 10:43). In types and
symbols, in the experiences of the people of God as they journeyed through the wilderness, and
in history and poetry and prophecy, we have the way prepared for Jesus.
As the time drew near for our Lord’s birth, the Holy Spirit was especially active in the minds
of godly souls. For example, in Luke 1:67, we read that Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit
and made a distinct prophecy about the coming Savior. In Luke 2:25, the Holy Spirit worked on
the mind of Simeon, when it was revealed to him by the Spirit that he should not die until he had
seen the Lord’s Christ.
It is my conviction that, even as the Holy Spirit prepared the way for the first coming of
Christ, so in these last days the same Spirit is preparing God’s people for the second coming of
Christ, and, in fact, is preparing the whole world.
Born of the Spirit
In Matthew 1:18, we read that Mary was “found with child of the Holy [Spirit].” Here, we
find ourselves in the presence of mystery; we need to look to the Lord for suitable language as
we come to express this most sacred truth. Remember the words of Job: “How can he be clean
that is born of a woman?” (Job 25:4). Our Lord was born of a sinful woman, yet He emerged
with a sinless body! Mary recognized that she was a sinner; she confessed her need of a Savior:
“My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour” (Luke 1:47).
Yet, although Mary was a sinful woman, she gave birth to One who was sinless. We cannot
explain the sinlessness of Jesus apart from His virgin birth. What happened in the incarnation of
our Lord? The Holy Spirit laid hold of that part of the virgin’s flesh out of which the body of
Jesus was to be formed, and He purified it as a chemist purifies metal. This is the implication of
the phrase “that holy thing which shall be born of thee…” (Luke 1:35) in which the “holy thing”
referred to the sinless body of Christ.
To me, this explains why Christ could not sin.
Let us never forget that Jesus Christ brought with Him from glory His whole unsinning
nature, that He came as God, and that, as God, He could not sin. Not only that, but Jesus was also
born with a sinless body, thus, He was doubly secure. We are like the psalmist, who said,
“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). But our
Lord brought with Him, as God, His own impeccable nature, and added to that was His sinless
body.
You may say, “If Jesus could not sin, then there was no point in His temptation.” After all,
what was the purpose of the temptation if Jesus could not sin? The answer is that Jesus presented
Himself as the sinless One to hell as well as to earth, and the devil was not going to let that claim
pass unchallenged. That is the significance of the temptation. Jesus went through the wilderness
and “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). He emerged
totally victorious.
When Satan comes to us, he has something to appeal to, for he has some territory in each one
of us—our sinful nature. Satan did not have that territory in Jesus, for Jesus was born with a
sinless body. There were no evil propensities in the body of our Lord; He emerged with a sinless
body because of His miraculous conception. Here is a blessed truth of Scripture: when the devil
tries to exercise authority over us because of his territory in our old nature, we, too, can be
victorious, for the Holy Spirit is within us to apply the victory of our Lord.
In the incarnation of Christ, the Holy Spirit became the Completer of the union between deity
and humanity; the Lord Jesus was both truly God and truly man—the God-Man. The Holy Spirit
was the love knot between the two natures of our Lord. In the incarnation, the Holy Spirit added
a human nature to our Lord’s already-existing divine nature. In our new birth, the reverse
happens—the Holy Spirit adds a divine nature to our already-existing human nature, and we
become partakers of the divine nature.
This aspect of the mystic union offers a twofold picture. The birth of Jesus by the Spirit is a
picture of our new birth (see John 3:7), and that is the initial work of the Spirit. We all must
begin there. Then, the birth of Jesus by the Spirit is a picture of our sanctification.
My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you…. (Galatians
4:19)
In this verse, the apostle Paul tells the Galatians that he travailed in birth until Christ was
formed in them. What is the significance of the word he uses? As Mary surrendered her body to
the Holy Spirit and said, “Be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38), so we are to
surrender our bodies to the same Holy Spirit, that He might form Jesus within us. This is why we
sing, “O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me.”11
Justified by the Spirit
In 1 Timothy 3:16, we read, “God was manifest in the flesh.” This is the last aspect of the
incarnation of Christ. It is followed by this phrase: “justified in the Spirit,” or “vindicated by the
Spirit.” We can take that phrase and stretch it over the thirty-three years of our Lord’s life, more
particularly, those so-called thirty silent years.
After Christ’s birth, we find Him living out His life in a humble home in Nazareth. After the
legal marriage of Joseph and Mary, children came into their home, and in the course of time,
Jesus found Himself bound to the rest of His human family. Here is what we read about His first
thirty years of earthly life at Nazareth: “Neither did his brethren believe in him” (John 7:5). Jesus
had to rebuke His own mother when He was only twelve years old, for she could not understand
the significance of Christ’s divine vocation. As He grew up among other people, He remained a
mystery to them. As He lived, He was misunderstood; people misconstrued His motives.
But here is a truth that brings great comfort to our hearts: even though Jesus was misunder-
stood by the people around Him, all during that period, He had the vindication of the Spirit. The
Holy Spirit could say “amen” to everything Jesus said and thought and accomplished!
Let us strive after the vindication of the Spirit. Jesus did not try to justify Himself. He left His
vindication to the Holy Spirit; He was not concerned about His own reputation. We read that
Jesus “made himself of no reputation” (Philippians 2:7). Reputation is what people think of us;
character is what God thinks of us. We can afford to be independent regarding our reputation if
we know that our character is right! No matter how people may misunderstand us and
misconstrue our motives, if we are true to the Lord and have His mind and will, sooner or later,
the justification of the Holy Spirit will be ours.
Anointed by the Spirit
In Matthew 12:18, our Lord applied an Old Testament Scripture from Isaiah to Himself: “I
will put my spirit upon him.” In Matthew 3:16, we read, “[John the Baptist] saw the Spirit of
God descending like a dove, and lighting upon [Jesus].” Here, for the first time, the Holy Spirit
came upon Jesus. Jesus had turned His back on His home. It took the Holy Spirit thirty years to
prepare Jesus for a ministry of three-and-a-half years. As He stood at the Jordan River, the Spirit
of God came upon Him in the form of a dove.
This aspect of the mystic union between Christ and the Holy Spirit was clearly presented to
me many years ago in Scotland. I was walking in a country district, reading one of the greatest
books on the Holy Spirit I know of, The Ministry of the Spirit by A. J. Gordon. One chapter in
that volume makes it clear that although Jesus was born of the Spirit and enjoyed the presence of
the Spirit all through those years, He needed this distinct anointing of the Spirit before He went
into His public ministry. We dare not face our own Christian service unless we know something
of this experience.
Led by the Spirit
We read in Matthew 4:1, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted of the devil.” At first, this sounds strange. We would have thought that after the
anointing with the Holy Spirit, Christ would go forth immediately into Galilee to exercise His
miraculous ministry. But no, He went into the wilderness instead, to be tempted of the devil.
I remember how this came to me, too, with wonderful comfort. I had gone home after having
a wonderful transaction with the Spirit of God on a country lane, but I was guilty of self-
exaltation. I said to myself, Now, I have looked to God, and I believe He has anointed me in
some way and is going to accomplish greater things through my ministry. I visualized greater
opportunities—crowds being brought together and worked on by the Spirit of God, men and
women yielding to His convicting work. But instead, I was led into one of the darkest seasons of
my Christian experience. A bitter trial and grievous disappointment came to me, and I was
tempted to doubt the validity of that experience on the country road until I read this: “Then was
Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” So, I thanked God and
took courage!
We rarely have any deep spiritual experience of meeting God in a new way without also
experiencing satanic antagonism. When you are brought up to the mountaintop and have been
visited by the Spirit of God, and you feel that life is going to be different for you, you will surely
face satanic opposition. When you do, remember that Jesus went from the Jordan River, with its
benediction of heaven, into the wilderness for a battle with the devil. Perhaps you know that this
word “led” occurs twice in our Lord’s ministry: at the beginning of it and also at the end of it.
 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit. (Matthew 4:1)
They…led him away to crucify him. (Matthew 27:31)
There is always a cross for a Spirit-led believer!
Empowered by the Spirit
Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. (Luke 4:14)
Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit, and His fame spread abroad. But His ministry in
Galilee came after the wilderness experience. Note the order: first Jordan (the wilderness), then
Galilee. We can never be of much use in our Galilee until we know something of the wilderness.
We can never lead men and women above the level of our own experience. Unless we know
what it is to meet the full weight and strength of the foe, as Jesus did in the wilderness, we can
never be a means of victory for the defeated people around us.
What happens now? Christ has power over Satan, sin, and sickness. Power was manifested by
Christ in the Person of the Spirit. Sometimes, we hear believers in prayer meetings pleading with
God to give them power, as if power is a mysterious “something” that He pours out on them. The
power is the Person. “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you” (Acts
1:8). It was the Holy Spirit working through our Lord that made His miraculous ministry
possible.
Gladdened by the Spirit
Luke 10:21 reads, “Jesus rejoiced in Spirit.”
Dr. Weymouth translates it as follows: “Jesus Christ was filled by the Holy Spirit with
rapturous joy” (wey). We carry with us a false conception of our Lord. Artists are partly
responsible for this conception, for they have given us many somber portraits of the face of
Jesus. It is true that Jesus was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3), but let
us never forget that it is also recorded that He was anointed with the oil of gladness above His
fellows. (See Psalm 45:7.) Jesus was the happiest Man of His day.
The source of Christ’s joy was the Holy Spirit. In Romans 14:17, the apostle Paul brings the
Holy Spirit and joy together: “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness,
and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” On the day of Pentecost, Christ’s disciples became God-
intoxicated men. Because of their elation, the people around them said, “These men are full of
new wine” (Acts 2:13). What they were actually filled with was joy and the Holy Spirit.
Joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit. (See Galatians 5:22–23.) We need to know something of
this in our Christian service. There is so much to depress us that if we are not careful, we give
way to our feelings. We need to know something of the Holy Spirit as the source of joy. There is
a difference between happiness and joy. Dr. Griffith Thomas was very fond of explaining the
difference between the two emotions. He said that happiness depends upon what happens. If
certain things do not happen, we are not very happy. But joy is independent of all circumstances.
We have an illustration of this in Acts 16. Paul and his companion, Silas, are sitting on the floor
in that dark dungeon with their backs lashed and blood oozing out of their wounds, and yet, at
midnight, we find them singing praises to God.
 At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken:
and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.(Acts 16:25–26)
They had joy, and the Holy Spirit was the source of that joy. Truly, we joy in the Holy Spirit.
In some evangelical circles today, rock music is being mistaken for joy. I have been in a few
of these circles where emotions are worked on and feelings are raised to such a pitch that people
believe they are having a joyful time when, in fact, the whole experience is carnal in nature. An
hour after the meeting, the feeling has evaporated. What we need in our inner lives and in our
service is the true joy that the Holy Spirit makes possible.
Put to Death by the Spirit
It was the Holy Spirit who made possible the body of Jesus, who accompanied that body all
through its testing, and who was with that wonderful body all through the ministry of our Lord.
According to Hebrews 9:14, it was also the Holy Spirit who upheld and sustained that body as it
was stretched out on a wooden cross.
Jesus died by the Spirit. In the Person of the Holy Spirit resides the only living Witness to the
sufferings of Jesus in the world today. In Acts 5:32, Peter described the agonies of Jesus: “We
we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost.” The first chain of human
witnesses died more than nineteen hundred years ago, but we still have the remaining Witness—
the Holy Spirit. He was there when Jesus died. He made His death possible.
That is a great encouragement to me, because when I stand before unconverted men and
women and preach the cross, if I rely upon the Holy Spirit, I know that the message will be
blessed, for the Spirit can visualize the cross to the unconverted. That is why the preaching of the
cross “is the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16). In our Christian lives, we can “die”
only in the same way. In Romans 8, Paul spoke of putting to death the deeds of the body. How
can we die spiritually? Only by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit was with Jesus all through His thirty-three years on earth, until His body was
stretched out on the cross. When the body of Jesus was buried in the tomb, the Holy Spirit was
there, standing guard. The Roman government set its seal on the outside of the tomb, indicating
that Jesus was truly dead. But God had His seal inside, declaring that Jesus would rise again! The
Holy Spirit is that seal. (See Ephesians 4:30.) I love to think of the Holy Spirit guarding the body
of Jesus, for He made possible the resurrection of Christ.
Raised by the Spirit
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up
Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
(Romans 8:11)
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to
God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. (1 Peter 3:18)
The Holy Spirit was responsible for Christ’s glorified body. As the Spirit of life, He is
responsible for resurrection, and, because we are indwelt by the same Holy Spirit, we know that
we who are born again shall share in the resurrection of our Lord.
Commanded by the Spirit
The day of Pentecost was the birthday of the church, and the rest of the book of Acts
describes the establishment and extension of God’s church. In Acts 1:2, Jesus gave
“commandments” to His apostles. Through their ministries, churches were established. The
commandments that our Lord gave to those apostles by the Holy Spirit became the policy of the
churches they established. This fact is supported by 1 Thessalonians 4:2: “Ye know what
commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.” No matter where we turn in the book of the
Acts, we find the development of the truth that Jesus gave to His apostles by the Holy Spirit on
that day. We dare not attempt to convey any biblical truth unless we are conscious of being filled
with that same Spirit.
Walking in the Spirit
How did Jesus walk? He walked in the Spirit. Are we allowing all our thoughts, words,
feelings, and actions to be saturated with the Holy Spirit? Our Lord was full of the Spirit, and if
He needed the ministry of the Spirit, how much do we need Him! Let us believe and claim the
promise of Acts 1:8:
Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the
earth.
Let us forsake all known sin, for He is the Spirit of holiness, and we cannot undertake any
significant service for Christ if there is anything contrary to the Spirit’s holy mind and will. Let
us respond immediately to every whisper of His voice. In our Christian life and service, as we
encounter the problems of the world, we need to remember that doubt regarding certain habits
can be taken as the voice of the Spirit. If we give the Holy Spirit the benefit of the doubt, we will
find ourselves victorious.

11. Johann C. Lavater, “O Christ, Grow Thou in Me,” 1780.

Chapter 7
 A Divine Dictatorship

Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not
be moved: he shall judge the people righteously. (Psalm 96:10)
It is refreshing and inspiring in these days of crumbling earthly kingdoms to return to the
book of Psalms with its air of certainty about the present sovereignty and future universal
dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 96 is one such passage in which God’s supremacy is
unchallenged in every realm.
For a summary of this theocratic psalm, we turn to verse 10, which presents a triad of unity:
sovereignty, security, and sanctity.
Sovereignty
“Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth.” This is an age of proud dictatorships;
mankind has little room for God. Brute force appears to be the world’s sovereign Lord. Yet,
among chaos, despair, and godlessness, God still reigns! He is not dead, as some would like to
believe. He may appear to be standing in the shadows, but His throne has not been abdicated.
This guilty earth will yet receive His reckoning!
Security
“The world also shall be established that it shall not be moved.” Right now, there is little
similarity to such settled order in the world. Instead, we live in a changing world. Thrones,
governments, and systems are changing with startling rapidity. But this verse offers us a
changeless world, an order of government that is fixed and immovable. And this will come to
pass when the One who declared Himself to be the Lord who changes not is in complete control.
Sanctity
“He shall judge the people righteously.” Here, again, is a study in contrasts. In our world
today, righteous judgment is a scarce commodity. Instead, deceit, bribery, graft, and corruption
are associated with men and places least suspected.
A few years ago, newspapers carried a report of one of the highest judges in the land who
found himself behind prison bars for dishonest transactions. Yes, the best of men are only men at
best. But a Man is coming—a glorified Man—who will judge the people righteously.
The burden of our message, however, is in the first phrase of Psalm 96:10: “Say among the
heathen that the Lord reigneth.” Psalm 96 is actually a great missionary psalm, for it reveals
Israel’s responsibility to make God known among the nations—with emphasis placed on the
world empire of the heavenly Sovereign. He is declared an Emperor. There is, of course, a
distinction between a king and an emperor. A king is the chief ruler in and over a particular
nation. An emperor, however, is the highest title of sovereignty and suggests a ruler over many
nations and over lesser sovereigns. The day is coming when the kingdoms of this world will
become a world-kingdom, and the Lord Jesus Christ will reign supreme over all. (See Revelation
11:15.)
 Jesus came to earth as King, and the throne from which He reigns is not a gilded one, as the
thrones of earth are, but is the gory cross of Calvary. There is an old Latin hymn which reads,
Fulfilled is all that David told,
In true prophetic song of old,
Amidst the nations, God, saith he,
Hath reigned and triumphed from the tree.12
In the realm of sovereignty, Christ’s cross is His throne. The dying Savior was the triumphant
Lord. He died as a Victor, and not as a victim:
The truth that David learned to sing,
Its deep fulfillment here attains;
Tell all the earth the Lord is King!
Lo, from a cross, a King He reigns!
John Ellerton’s hymn suggests a similar thought:
Throned upon the awful Tree,
King of grief, I watch with Thee.
Let us then meditate on the cross of Calvary and the divine sovereignty of Christ.
The Confessions of Sovereignty
“Say…that the Lord reigneth.”
Divine sovereignty is a truth we need to experience personally and to proclaim nationally. On
every hand there is a tendency to deify and humanize God. Let us therefore proclaim boldly that
God reigns!
Say it to Russia, with her blatant godlessness and bloody rule, that God reigns and will yet
laugh at those who try to exterminate Him.
Say it to Germany, with her once-hellish thirst for dominance and brutal treatment of the
Jews, that God reigns and will yet empty out His curse upon those who curse His own.
Say it to Rome, proud and boastful nationally, that God reigns and will yet see to it that His
Son will be fully worshipped and adored.
Say it to Britain, who once hindered Israel, that God reigns, and will yet have His ancient
people in full possession of the land which is theirs by divine gift and right.
Say it to America, with her self-complacency, extreme worldliness, and gross materialism,
that God reigns and will yet exact the uttermost farthing in judgment.
Yes, and say it to our own hearts when depressed by hostile forces arrayed against us, that
God reigns! He rules and overrules! Glory to His name! The Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let
the earth tremble. And it will tremble and crumble when His power is unleashed.
 The Circumference of Sovereignty
“…among the heathen….”
Divine sovereignty is not limited to the angelic realm. God’s will is accomplished among the
inhabitants of earth, as well as with the army in heaven. All power is His in heaven and on earth.
God reigns among the nations! Right now, the world bears no resemblance to a divine rule.
No matter where we look, truth is on the scaffold, and wrong is on the throne. Strife, suspicion,
hatred, chaos, and bloodshed are all around us. The world is an armed camp.
What kind of world can we expect when Satan is its god? At present, the world is satanically
controlled. Behind destructive engines of war there is a destroyer. Evil forces are inspired by a
figure; godless influences emanate from an individual. Chaos, anguish, and blasted lives and
hopes are caused by Satan, who has been a murderer from the beginning. (See John 8:44.)
The struggle is not against flesh and blood. (See Ephesians 6:12.) One nation rises in the flesh
and tries to conquer another nation prepared to fight back in the flesh. Earth’s conflict, however,
is not human but superhuman and super-terrestrial. We wrestle not against flesh and blood but
against the potentates of the dark, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly sphere.
Yet, we are to say among the nations, torn as they are by war, that God reigns! No matter how
the agony of the world may contradict the truth of divine sovereignty, God is still able to make
the wrath of men and demons to praise Him. God is supreme. Hellish forces may appear to have
the ascendancy, but the devil who commands them is a dog on a leash who cannot go beyond
divine permission.
Our responsibility, then, is to tell it among the nations that God’s day is coming. Perplexed
hearts feel that He is a little inactive, but He can afford to wait. He is never before His time; He
is never behind. God is coming to give the warring earth peace. He will yet reign without a rival.
The uttermost parts of the earth will be His possession as He takes to Himself His undisputed
power, and as He fashions the nations into His own world-kingdom.
The Center of Sovereignty
“God…hath reigned and triumphed from the tree.”
Such a pregnant phrase received from ancient translations brings us to the secret and source of
sovereignty. The cross provided Christ with crown rights. We make a mistake if we limit the
benefits of the cross to the initial work of cleansing a sinner from the penalty and guilt of sin.
Calvary gave the Savior power over spheres as well as souls. In virtue of His anguish, shame,
and sacrifice, Jesus will yet reign from shore to shore. His nail-pierced hand will wield the
scepter of universal dominion. John, in his apocalyptic vision of Revelation, saw a slain Lamb
conquering all hostile powers and establishing His worldwide reign. (See Revelation 5.)
Calvary, then, is a grim battlefield where Satan met his Waterloo. The cross was the bloody
arena where Jesus laid hold of principalities, powers, world rulers, and satanic potentates,
robbing them of all their authority. When He cried, “It is finished” (John 19:30), our Lord had in
mind not only your redemption and mine but also the deliverance of a groaning world from the
domination of Satan.
 The cross, then, was in reality a throne. From the tree, Jesus reigned over His own, and He
will yet reign over the world. The cross transcends all human and hellish power. The blood of the
Lamb made possible the sovereignty of the Lamb. The coat of arms of an ancient Scottish house
is a cross with the words “By this sign we conquer.” A cruel cross, then, will yet turn spears into
pruning hooks, and swords into plowshares. (See Isaiah 2:4.)
Yes, our adorable Lord reigns from His throne, and this is the truth that we must proclaim to
the nations that magnify brute force. At Calvary, Jesus revealed how love can triumph over hate,
unselfishness over greed, holiness over sin, truth over falsity, gentleness over force, and sacrifice
over sordid gain. Truly, Christ’s cross has conquered the world!

12. Saint Venantius Fortunatus, “The Royal Banners Go Forward.”

Chapter 8
 A War That Never Ceases

There is no discharge in that war. (Ecclesiastes 8:8)

When warring nations declare an armistice and peace treaties are signed, millions of military
personnel are quickly demobilized. Because the conflict is over, they are discharged from the
fighting and allowed to return to their own homes and to more peaceful and secure occupations.
What a happy world this would be if only the people of the earth would quit their fighting!
We all would breathe more freely if only we knew that peace is around the corner, and that the
world would no longer require soldiers. But there will never be any discharge from bloody wars
until Jesus comes to usher in His millennial reign.
The purpose of this chapter is to consider some lessons on victory over war and the conditions
of war. There are wars in which we are perpetually engaged and from which there is no
discharge. Although death is the immediate enemy referred to in the theme for this chapter,
“There is no discharge in that war” (Ecclesiastes 8:8), there are other legitimate applications of
this verse. Here are some of the foes which assail the peace of man, as well as the life of
communities and nations. It is these foes that we should, and must, conquer.
Conflict with Sin
The Bible is full of descriptions of the saints’ holy war against sinful foes. Metaphors describ-
ing the conflict are taken from the scenes and images of literal war, which was Paul’s favorite
field of illustration. Our war is against the world, the flesh, and the devil, a war from which there
is no earthly discharge. We must remain soldiers until death, or until the return of Christ makes
possible our demobilization.
The literal meaning of the Greek word translated as “no discharge” in Ecclesiastes 8:8 is “no
casting off weapons.” We can never afford to be off our guard; not for a moment can we afford
to lay aside the weapons of our warfare or to loosen our armor, since Satan waits to take
advantage of the least slackness.
Gird thy heavenly armor on,
Wear it ever, night and day;
Ambushed lies the evil one;
Watch and pray!13
As each new day dawns, we must prepare ourselves for the battle. At times, we may grow
weary in the conflict, but we must wrestle on, claiming the victory of Calvary in which Jesus, by
His death and resurrection, dealt the deathblow to Satan, the enemy of our souls. So, we must
fight the good fight, for no victory and no discharge will be ours until Christ’s church is saved to
sin no more.
Victory over Selfishness
Life is a constant battlefield upon which selfishness at the individual, social, communal, and
national levels must be put to death daily.
 I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.(Romans 7:23)
In Romans 7, the apostle Paul refers to a law warring in his members, and the law of greedy
self still wars among the members of home, business, and church. Until our dying day, we will
be engaged in the hot contest against all forms of greed. The subtle foe of selfishness dies hard!
If we attack the well-fortified enemy of self, whether in the form of sinful habits, favorite
idols, or effective lies, we will need the dauntless spirit and the tried nerve of a gallant soldier.
When self is catered to, it is so easy to walk in silver slippers on the sunny side of the street—
to slink through life without ever striking a blow for the truths which the world hates, without
ever defying ridicule, without ever denouncing injustice, and without ever rebuking selfish vices.
Heroes are not found among people who spend their lives hoarding up a pile of money and using
what they gain upon their own selfish comforts, and who forget that their first consideration
should be how to best serve Christ and advance His cause with what they have.
True soldiers are never discharged from the war against selfishness. They are daily victorious
by the power of Christ, for they know what it is to overcome by the blood of the Lamb. (See
Revelation 12:11.)
Victory over Worries
One translation of Solomon’s pregnant phrase is, “In war there is no furlough.” How true this
is when we come to the cares and responsibilities of life! The firing never ceases in this battle.
Day after day, we have to endure a great fight of afflictions. The battle goes on until we are taken
out of this body in which we work and weep, and are translated to the land where there are no
burdens. This war involves an enlistment for life, for “man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly
upward” (Job 5:7).
Victory in the Domestic World
There are multitudes of women on whom the burdens and cares of life press heavily. They
have only one pair of hands and cannot do everything, and yet, those around who could help lift
the load are not as thoughtful as they could be. If you feel like giving up and running away, cheer
up, for you are serving in the army of the world’s bravest fighters.
It might seem desirable to have no battles in life, to grow on some sheltered plain where the
storms never blow and where there are no tears to shed and no loads to carry, but such pampered
care never creates robust health. The heights of spiritual blessing are reached only through fields
of struggle. Life’s best prizes are for those who graduate from the college of hardships. So,
buckle on your armor and face the cares of your home with the courage of Christ. Your
courageous spirit will hearten those around you more than you realize!
Victory in the Industrial World
These are days of keen competition, tricks of the trade, and pliable business conscience; it is
not easy to be honest, sincere, and above reproach in the business world today. There is no
discharge from the war against trickery, deceit, and underhandedness in this world. It is no easy
thing to denounce tradesmen who use false balances and dishonest methods. It may be hard to
expose the employer who robs employees of their hire, to speak out against the rich who grind
the poor, and to condemn the poor who squander the little they earn on alcohol and worthless
pleasures, but as a bearer of the armor of light, you must live in the pure light of holiness. Yours
is a hard and deadly fight, requiring more than mere physical courage on a battlefield. To be
God’s soldier in every phase of business life requires a determination beyond earthly standards.
Victory in the Religious Realm
Paul urged Timothy to war a good warfare and to fight the good fight of faith. If we have
enlisted beneath the bloodred banner of our divine Captain, we can expect no discharge in the
war against sin and ignorance, at home and abroad. The hardest of all tasks is to live a life of
heroic devotion to God, to be honest and sincere in the midst of a crooked and perverse genera-
tion, to avoid the deceitful paths of sin and accepted customs of society unworthy of our high
calling, and to live above jealousy, criticism, and unforgiving attitudes and to love the Master
with all our heart.
Yet, if we fight bravely under the banner of the cross, when we reach heaven, we will be in
the army of overcomers who follow the Lamb in His final victory over the earth. Until the last
battle is won, each of us must play his or her part. Only cowards run away, leaving braver souls
to face the foe. We need to fight for, and with, the absolute Commander of our life, and to keep
away from entanglements that jeopardize our victory.
The War against Disappointment
The sorrows and adversities of life form another war from which there is no discharge. As
good soldiers of Jesus Christ, we are to endure the hardness of this conflict. Like his Master, Paul
always exemplified his message. He practiced what he preached. Although gentle-hearted, Paul
fought against lions, and against men who were fiercer than lions. At the end of a career
involving great trial, suffering, and disappointment, the apostle Paul declared that he had fought
a good fight.
Perhaps you feel you are in the hottest part of the battle. You have deep wounds that cause
you bitter pain and anguish. You wonder when the fighting will cease and the enemy will retire
so that you can receive a furlough of rest from the trials of life. My friend, there is no discharge
from that war.
You must be valiant. When armies return from a victorious war, the loudest cheers are not for
those who fought the fewest battles or kept their flags the cleanest. The loudest cheers are for the
regiments cut down to a few men, and for the colors that are bloodstained and riddled with
bullets. This is how it will be when we reach heaven, when life’s heaviest sufferers will be
welcomed to their eternal home of rest. Those who have fought the most battles and have borne
the most marks of the Lord Jesus will receive the highest honors.
The War against Illness
Thousands of men who are discharged from a war in which they fought valiantly are never
discharged from sickness, pain, and diseases contracted as the result of war. Think of the many
hospitals where maimed soldiers are forced to live out their days!
Many other people have put up a courageous fight against physical ills that came to them as
the result of unavoidable disease. In spite of the amazing victories of science over many diseases,
appalling tragedies still remain in the physical realm.
Some of you are doomed to suffer for the rest of your days. Aches, pains, and infirmities are
to be yours until you receive your new body. Because there is no discharge from that war, you
must go down to life’s last days as a happy, resigned warrior.
The Fight against Death
The necessity of dying is the war that Solomon had in mind when he wrote, “There is no
discharge in that war” (Ecclesiastes 8:8). We can never obtain our discharge in the war against
death until death itself gains the mastery. Matthew Henry said, “The youngest is not released as a
fresh-water soldier, nor the oldest as a soldier whose merits have entitled him to a discharge.”
The death battle must be fought by each of us; no substitutes are allowed. No champion can fight
in our place; every man must fight his own battle when he enters the dark arena. This grim
contest must last until the final valley, where princes and paupers meet as naked and unworthy
souls before the all-seeing eye of God. But even this last battle holds no dread for those who love
the Savior.
The story is told of a little girl who was being put to bed. “Mother, must I go to sleep in the
dark?”
“Yes, my dear, you will be all right. God will be with you, so there is no need to be afraid.”
But such assurance did not satisfy the child, who replied, “I know God will be with me,
Mother, but I would like someone to be with me with a face.”
Yes, amidst all the darkness and distress of death, we need someone near who has a face of
cheer and encouragement. And we have this Person in Jesus. Let us, therefore, endure all the bat-
tles of life as seeing Him who is invisible.

13. Charlotte Elliott, “Christian, Seek Not Yet Repose,” 1836.

 About the Author

When Dr. Herbert Lockyer (1886–1984) was first deciding on a career, he considered
becoming an actor. Tall and well-spoken, he seemed a natural for the theater. But the Lord had
something better in mind. Instead of the stage, God called Herbert to the pulpit, where, as a
pastor, Bible teacher, and author of more than fifty books, he touched the hearts and lives of
millions of people.
Dr. Lockyer held pastorates in Scotland and England for twenty-five years. As pastor of
Leeds Road Baptist Church in Bradford, England, he became a leader in the Keswick Higher
Life Movement, which emphasized the significance of living in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
This led to an invitation to speak at the Moody Bible Institute’s fiftieth anniversary in 1936. His
warm reception at that event led to his ministry in the United States. He received honorary
degrees from both the Northwestern Evangelical Seminary and the International Academy in
London.
In 1955, he returned to England, where he lived for many years. He then returned to the
United States, where he spent the final years of his life in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with his
son, the Rev. Herbert Lockyer Jr., a Presbyterian minister who became his editor.