Possession Of The Son

“Therefore, holy brothers and companions in a heavenly calling,

consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession;”

Hebrews 3:1 HCBS

Recently, I read a story about a man by the name of Hudson Taylor. He was a master missionary. While he never wrote a book on missions or church planting, he did write a very small commentary on the Song of Solomon. The key to his success was that he loved his Lord, and he believed that you could only cultivate love in aloneness with the one you love.

A. W. Tozer was one of the few men who preached consistently on the need to be a worshiper of God, telling the church that worship was the missing jewel in her crown.

C. S. Lewis believed that God communicates His presence to men in the process of worship. And Oswald Chambers called worship “the great essential of fitness.” He went on to say, “If you have not been worshipping…, when you get into work you will not only be useless yourself, but a tremendous hindrance to those who are associated with you.”

Worship is a vital element of our freedom in Christ. I love the idea of worship being a jewel in our crown. The following excerpt titled “Consider Jesus” is from Andrew Murray’s classic The Holiest of All:

Consider Jesus! This is the central thought of the verse, and of the passage of which it is a part, as it is indeed of the whole Epistle. It is the one aim of the writer to persuade the Hebrews that, if they but knew aright the Lord Jesus as the faithful, compassionate, and almighty High Priest in heaven, they would find in Him all they needed for a life such as God would have them lead.

Their life would be in harmony with their faith, in harmony with the life of Him whom their faith would apprehend. The words might have been taken as the title of my book: Consider Jesus! It is indeed the keynote of the Epistle.

The word consider, from the root of the Latin word for Star, originally means to contemplate the stars. It suggests the idea of the astronomer, and the quiet, patient, persevering, concentrated gaze with which he seeks to discover all that can be possibly known of the stars which the object of his study are.

And Jesus, who is God, who became man, and perfected our human nature in His wonderful life of suffering and obedience, and now dwells in heaven to communicate to us its life and blessedness—oh, what reason there is for saying, consider Jesus.

Gaze upon Him, contemplate Him. For some increased knowledge of the stars what devotion, what enthusiasm, what sacrifices are often times witnessed. Oh, let the study and possession of the Son of God waken our devotion and our enthusiasm, that we may be able to tell men what beauty and what glory there is in Jesus.

Selah.

A Living Faithful Helper

“For because He Himself [in His humanity] has suffered in being tempted (tested and tried), He is able [immediately] to run to the cry of (assist, relieve) those who are being tempted and tested and tried [and who therefore are being exposed to suffering].” 

Hebrews 2:18 Amplified Bible

I once heard that unless you can explain something simply you do not know it well enough. My goals for this blog include being able to explain salvation (or as Murray likes to say “so great a salvation”).

I have never mentioned before that I am dyslexic. It is very difficult for me to learn from books. I comprehend slowly, and retain little. Thankfully, scripture is “alive and active” (Hebrews 4:12). I have found that the word of God transfers off the page and into our hearts regardless of whether we understand everything about it. However, to explain something to others requires deep understanding.

The Old Testament story linking Jesus’ sacrifice for us was never explained to me as a new Christian. And because of the dyslexia I did not know how to go about connecting the dots. When I set out on this journey to find freedom in Christ huge parts of the big picture were missing for me.

I believe that frequently the gospel presentation is incomplete. I cannot help but think that if I can find a way to explain it simply, maybe it will help other people experience a deeper salvation as well. And that is what leads to freedom in Christ.

I love how Andrew Murray digs deep to discuss every angle. I do want to point out that the word succor here means so much more than simply help. It also means relief, comfort, and even rescue.

The following excerpt is titled “A High Priest Able to Succor,” from Andrew Murray’s classic The Holiest of All:

This is the greatest and most blessed part of His work in bringing us to God, that, as the Leader in the path of suffering and perfection, He inspires us with His own dispositions, and, by the mighty operation of His Spirit within us, gives us His help in every time of need. The one thing we need is, to know and trust Him fully.

To know Him as High Priest who not only has opened a way to God for us to walk in, and not only in heaven prays for us, but who undertakes to keep us so in fellowship with Himself, and under the covering of His power, and in the experience of His full redemption, that temptation can never conquer us.

His divinity secures to us His unfailing and never ceasing presence. His humanity assures us of His sympathy and compassion. More ever-present and more mighty than the temptation, His unfailing love is always near to give the victory. He can and will do it.

Our High Priest is a living, faithful helper: let us trust Him. Salvation is not a thing He gives us apart from Himself. Full salvation is nothing but Jesus Himself, most compassionately and most faithfully watching over us in daily life, most really and fully giving and living His life in us.

The abiding, indwelling presence of Jesus, able to succor, is the true secret of the Christian life. Faith will lead us into the experience that Jesus is and does all that is said of Him.

Selah. 

Union With Himself

“For it is clear that He does not reach out to help angels,

but to help Abraham’s offspring.” Hebrews 2:16 HCSB

God has to provide all the right circumstances for me to be able to create a blog post. A few weeks ago, He clearly stopped providing. As hard as it was for me to relent, I knew I could trust Him. I was beyond swamped in caring for my friend in “the valley.” Thankfully, I have managed to bring order out of chaos.

I will only be blogging once a week until I can successfully manage my obligations as a helpmeet to my husband, keeper of two homes (including the caregiving of my friend), and my cancer therapy. I will continue to post on Wednesdays aiming for morning, but the timing is always in God’s hands.

I am excited to say that in the absence of writing I found the creative energy to resume the design of my new blog site. The designer I originally hired was not the right person for the job. Please join me in praying for a new designer so I can move on with the plans.

Andrew Murray had me quite confused over some of his material at the end of chapter two in Hebrews. It prompted me to resume studying under a teacher who has guided this same study repeatedly for many years. You can find his website here. He recommends reading the book of Hebrews daily (or at the very least weekly) while working through this study. He points out any errors in Murray’s teaching in his live audio sessions (many of them are online; the others are available by request).

I am thrilled to be engaging in this study once again. We find ourselves reviewing in this excerpt titled “A High Priest Able to Succor” from Andrew Murray’s The Holiest of All:

In the first chapter we saw the writer quoting text after text from the Old Testament, in order that he might bring us to the full apprehension of the truth and the meaning of our Lord's divinity. In this chapter we see him in the same way, time after time, reiterate the fact of our Lord's humanity, lest we should not fully realize all that it means.

So it is here. He had just said, since the children were sharers of flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same. It is as if He feels the insufficiency of the words, and therefore once again repeats and confirms his statement: For verily not of angels doth He take hold, but He takes hold of the seed of Abraham. Man may have been made lower than the angels, but this honor have they not, that He took hold of them—He takes hold of the seed of Abraham.

And how doth He take hold? There is no way in which God can take hold of a creature other than by entering into him with His life and spirit, so imparting His own goodness and power, and bringing him into union with Himself. So did Jesus take hold of man. He entered into humanity and became one with it. And so he takes hold of individual souls by entering with each into personal union and fellowship.

Selah.