Issue No. 033 December 15, 2006 Time to look back; Christ & His fragrant Name

#1 · December 15, 2006, 5:05 am

Quote from Forum Archives on December 15, 2006, 5:05 am
Posted by: gracepeaceu <gracepeaceu@...>
An e-periodical for spiritual enlightenment,
edification and encouragement

Issue No. 033     December 15, 2006

gracepeaceu@yahoo.com        Subscription details in the end

In this issue

Perspective: Time to look back

Meditation:-   CHRIST AND HIS FRAGRANT NAME

Outline: Five Yokes

Anecdote: Partial conversion

Worth Quote: Truth

Perspective

Time to look back

NTK

        Once again the time has come to look back and evaluate our life and performance. There are some who think it is futile to recall the past. According to them, ‘simply forget the past and move forward; face life as it comes’. In one aspect it’s right for we do have biblical commandments to forget what went before; like the failures and sufferings etc. Phil. 3:13.

        Yet, we have numerous scripture portions that call upon the people of God to remember the days that have just gone by. The last book of Moses-Deuteronomy- is called the ‘Book of remembrance’. In this volume Moses repeatedly reminds the Israelites not to forget the past when they reach the Promised Land shortly. He is concerned about their life even after he leaves them before long. One of the main injunctions is to ‘REMEMBER’. Notice the things they have to remember.

 Their past unworthiness. Deut. 5:15. –Slaves in Egypt.
 The day of redemption. Deut. 16:3 –the cost-blood of the lamb.
 God’s dealings with the enemies. Deut. 7:18 –drowned-never to attack again.
 God’s dealings with them in the past. Deut.8:2 –led, fed, clothed etc.
 God’s mercy at their rebellion. Deut.9:7,24,25. –Provoked God often.
 God’s disciplinary actions among the brethren. Deut.24:9 –punished some to warn.

     All these should be brought to their mind consciously and think upon it. As they reflect upon such stories of the last days, Moses believed, they will become humble, grateful and more obedient and holy in their walk before the Lord.

    We too need to consider the past in the same line. Then we too shall be humble and thankful to the Lord for all the benefits He has bestowed upon us. We also need to learn from the failures and trust the Lord for victories ahead. Let us learn lessons and be challenged from history. Conscious and sincere recollections always break and mould us for better.

    Living life just as it comes is foolishness. The wise always review the past and make necessary changes to perform better. Before the end of this year shall we do that. Go to a quite corner and reflect upon the last days. With all sincerity and humility tell the Lord what ever you feel about the last days. Sure, God will have mercy upon us. The revelation of His glory will humble us. He will show us our failures and cleanse us as we confess. Is.6. Not only that, He will empower and equip us for better service. Rev.1:17--19.

Meditation:-

Song of Solomon 1. 1-3 CHRIST AND HIS FRAGRANT NAME

Michael Browne,   Bath , England.

        Of the thousand and five songs Solomon wrote, (1 Kings 4.32), this is his masterpiece. It is ‘the song of songs’. It is the song therefore the Holy Spirit has chosen to be included in Scripture redolent of Christ’s fragrance, beauty, and love for His Bride.

His Kiss v.2. In scripture the kiss is the token of reconciliation, peace, and as here, of love. So David kissed Absalom, and the woman that was a sinner kissed the Saviour’s feet. The Shulamite, chosen and won by Solomon, longs for the intensity of his affections experienced by his many kisses. Our lovely Lord Jesus, the greater than Solomon, has reconciled us to God by His blood, spoken peace to our rebel hearts, and now we long for ‘the kisses of his mouth’—for deeper revelations of His love seen in His word.

His Love v.2.   This kiss of pure and holy affection is a picture of the love existing between Christ and His Church. O how He loves us! It is a love that is better than wine. In Eph 5.18 Paul draws a relationship between wine and the Spirit, ‘Be not drunk with wine… but be filled with the Spirit’. Not the heady influence of natural wine, but better far the intoxicating love of Christ applied by the Spirit’s fullness to the heart is what we are taught here, cp. Rom 5.5.

His Name v.3 is as ‘perfume poured forth’, and its fragrance pervades the house of God today as did Mary’s scented nard the house in John 12. If Solomon’s name was fragrant to the Shulamite, how much more sweet is our Beloved’s name to us! All that He is and has done is told out wherever the fragrance of His Name is spread abroad.

To God He was a sweet smelling savour in His death, Eph 5.2. To His people is given the high privilege of manifesting ‘the fragrance of His knowledge’ in every place as they live and witness to His Name, 2 Cor 2.14. To the sinner the Name of Jesus is ‘the fragrance of life unto life’ if they will but turn to Him in faith. (2 Cor 2.16).

In giving Christ Jesus ‘a name which is above every name’, the Father has ensured the fragrance of that lovely Name shall be poured out for ever, perfuming eternity with its sweetness.


Outline

Five Yokes

                                          Yoke of Sin: —Sinner’s Slavery. Deut. 28:48; Prov.5:22
                                          Yoke of bondage: —Sinner’s Religion. Galatians. 5:1; Acts. 15:10; Matt.23:4
                                          Yoke of Christ: —Sin bearer’s Burden. Lamentations 1:4; Isaiah. 53:6
                                          Yoke of obedience: —Saint’s Submission. Matt.11:29,30
                                          Yoke of Service: -- The Servants’ Fellowship. Phil.4:3; 1 Timo.6:1

Anecdote

Partial conversion

At the Santal Ashram in India, one day in the week was declared a holiday for the low-cast sweepers. The ashramites would volunteer to do the sweeping, scavenging and cleaning the latrines. A member of the ashram, a Brahmin convert was reluctant to scavenge and clean latrines. When asked by Dr. Stanly Jones when he was going to do his part, he replied, “Well, I am converted but I am not converted for that far.”

,

Worthy Quotes

Truth

“A love which violates or even merely neutralizes truth is an ‘accursed love’.”
                                                                                                                                      --Martin Luther

“Truth is always strong, no matter how weak it looks, and falsehood is always weak; no matter how strong it looks.”
                                                                                                                                        ----Philips Brooks


To ponder over

Hebrews.10:31

“It is a fearful thing to fall in to the hands of the living God.”

'Grace & Peace' is an electronic periodical, sent out on alternate weeks,
aiming the overall spiritual growth of the Christian Believers.
Please feel free to forward it to potential subscribers and encourage them to subscribe directly by

sending a blank message to: gracepeace-join@welovegod.org

You may unsubscribe (to be removed from the mailing list) at any time by sending

a blank email to: gracepeace-leave@welovegod.org

In case of difficulty, please send a mail to: gracepeaceu@yahoo.com

Edited and posted by Nelson Thomas Kumaramparampil for the Glory of God & the Joy of the saints.

Posted by: gracepeaceu <gracepeaceu@...>

An e-periodical for spiritual enlightenment,
edification and encouragement

Issue No. 033 December 15, 2006

gracepeaceu@yahoo.com Subscription details in the end

In this issue

Perspective: Time to look back
Meditation:- CHRIST AND HIS FRAGRANT NAME
Outline: Five Yokes
Anecdote: Partial conversion
Worth Quote: Truth

Perspective

Time to look back

NTK

Once again the time has come to look back and evaluate our life and performance. There are some who think it is futile to recall the past. According to them, ‘simply forget the past and move forward; face life as it comes’. In one aspect it’s right for we do have biblical commandments to forget what went before; like the failures and sufferings etc. Phil. 3:13.

Yet, we have numerous scripture portions that call upon the people of God to remember the days that have just gone by. The last book of Moses-Deuteronomy- is called the ‘Book of remembrance’. In this volume Moses repeatedly reminds the Israelites not to forget the past when they reach the Promised Land shortly. He is concerned about their life even after he leaves them before long. One of the main injunctions is to ‘REMEMBER’. Notice the things they have to remember.

 Their past unworthiness. Deut. 5:15. –Slaves in Egypt.
 The day of redemption. Deut. 16:3 –the cost-blood of the lamb.
 God’s dealings with the enemies. Deut. 7:18 –drowned-never to attack again.
 God’s dealings with them in the past. Deut.8:2 –led, fed, clothed etc.
 God’s mercy at their rebellion. Deut.9:7,24,25. –Provoked God often.
 God’s disciplinary actions among the brethren. Deut.24:9 –punished some to warn.

All these should be brought to their mind consciously and think upon it. As they reflect upon such stories of the last days, Moses believed, they will become humble, grateful and more obedient and holy in their walk before the Lord.

We too need to consider the past in the same line. Then we too shall be humble and thankful to the Lord for all the benefits He has bestowed upon us. We also need to learn from the failures and trust the Lord for victories ahead. Let us learn lessons and be challenged from history. Conscious and sincere recollections always break and mould us for better.

Living life just as it comes is foolishness. The wise always review the past and make necessary changes to perform better. Before the end of this year shall we do that. Go to a quite corner and reflect upon the last days. With all sincerity and humility tell the Lord what ever you feel about the last days. Sure, God will have mercy upon us. The revelation of His glory will humble us. He will show us our failures and cleanse us as we confess. Is.6. Not only that, He will empower and equip us for better service. Rev.1:17--19.

Meditation:-

Song of Solomon 1. 1-3 CHRIST AND HIS FRAGRANT NAME

Michael Browne, Bath , England.

Of the thousand and five songs Solomon wrote, (1 Kings 4.32), this is his masterpiece. It is ‘the song of songs’. It is the song therefore the Holy Spirit has chosen to be included in Scripture redolent of Christ’s fragrance, beauty, and love for His Bride.

His Kiss v.2. In scripture the kiss is the token of reconciliation, peace, and as here, of love. So David kissed Absalom, and the woman that was a sinner kissed the Saviour’s feet. The Shulamite, chosen and won by Solomon, longs for the intensity of his affections experienced by his many kisses. Our lovely Lord Jesus, the greater than Solomon, has reconciled us to God by His blood, spoken peace to our rebel hearts, and now we long for ‘the kisses of his mouth’—for deeper revelations of His love seen in His word.

His Love v.2. This kiss of pure and holy affection is a picture of the love existing between Christ and His Church. O how He loves us! It is a love that is better than wine. In Eph 5.18 Paul draws a relationship between wine and the Spirit, ‘Be not drunk with wine… but be filled with the Spirit’. Not the heady influence of natural wine, but better far the intoxicating love of Christ applied by the Spirit’s fullness to the heart is what we are taught here, cp. Rom 5.5.

His Name v.3 is as ‘perfume poured forth’, and its fragrance pervades the house of God today as did Mary’s scented nard the house in John 12. If Solomon’s name was fragrant to the Shulamite, how much more sweet is our Beloved’s name to us! All that He is and has done is told out wherever the fragrance of His Name is spread abroad.

To God He was a sweet smelling savour in His death, Eph 5.2. To His people is given the high privilege of manifesting ‘the fragrance of His knowledge’ in every place as they live and witness to His Name, 2 Cor 2.14. To the sinner the Name of Jesus is ‘the fragrance of life unto life’ if they will but turn to Him in faith. (2 Cor 2.16).

In giving Christ Jesus ‘a name which is above every name’, the Father has ensured the fragrance of that lovely Name shall be poured out for ever, perfuming eternity with its sweetness.

Outline

Five Yokes

                                          Yoke of Sin: —Sinner’s Slavery. Deut. 28:48; Prov.5:22
                                          Yoke of bondage: —Sinner’s Religion. Galatians. 5:1; Acts. 15:10; Matt.23:4
                                          Yoke of Christ: —Sin bearer’s Burden. Lamentations 1:4; Isaiah. 53:6
                                          Yoke of obedience: —Saint’s Submission. Matt.11:29,30
                                          Yoke of Service: -- The Servants’ Fellowship. Phil.4:3; 1 Timo.6:1

Anecdote

Partial conversion

At the Santal Ashram in India, one day in the week was declared a holiday for the low-cast sweepers. The ashramites would volunteer to do the sweeping, scavenging and cleaning the latrines. A member of the ashram, a Brahmin convert was reluctant to scavenge and clean latrines. When asked by Dr. Stanly Jones when he was going to do his part, he replied, “Well, I am converted but I am not converted for that far.”

Worthy Quotes

Truth

“A love which violates or even merely neutralizes truth is an ‘accursed love’.”
--Martin Luther

“Truth is always strong, no matter how weak it looks, and falsehood is always weak; no matter how strong it looks.”
----Philips Brooks

To ponder over

Hebrews.10:31

“It is a fearful thing to fall in to the hands of the living God.”

'Grace & Peace' is an electronic periodical, sent out on alternate weeks,
aiming the overall spiritual growth of the Christian Believers.
Please feel free to forward it to potential subscribers and encourage them to subscribe directly by

sending a blank message to: gracepeace-join@welovegod.org

You may unsubscribe (to be removed from the mailing list) at any time by sending

a blank email to: gracepeace-leave@welovegod.org

In case of difficulty, please send a mail to: gracepeaceu@yahoo.com

Edited and posted by Nelson Thomas Kumaramparampil for the Glory of God & the Joy of the saints.