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The Unshakable Divine Life

The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken that is, created things so that what cannot be shaken may remain. (Hebrews 12:27 NIV)

In the destruction of Jerusalem toward which the Letter [to the Hebrews] pointed the whole earth was shaken so far as Jewry was concerned. The Temple, as the focal point of that whole world, crashed even with the ground. The priesthood, as gathered up in the high-priestly order, passed away. The temple service ended, and the nation ceased to be an integrated and unified people. These were things capable of being removed. And yet how long they had stood! What forces they had withstood! What confidence there was that they could never cease to be! How assured they were that God was so bound up with it all that it could never be destroyed and cease to be! How they fought and clung to it to the last terrible extremity! But it was of no avail. God was no longer wanting the framework and earthly system, which had taken so much room, and energy, and expenditure, before the really spiritual was reached. The percentage of spiritual value was so small after all, and spiritual interests lay so far along the labyrinthine ways of religious machinery and tradition, that it was not worthwhile. The means to the end was not immediate, that is, there was far too big a distance between the means and the end. There was no immediate touch with the real Divine requirement, and there was far too much that was intermediate. And so it had to go, and, rather than preserve it, God Himself shook it.

What remained after the shaking was just that, and that only, which was Christ in a spiritual and heavenly way: Christ in heaven, and here by His Spirit, the gathering point, or occasion of assembling; Christ in heaven the High Priest and Sacrifice; the order of God's house here a purely spiritual and heavenly one not formal, arranged, imposed, imitated, or material. Order grows out of life, and if that Life is Divine, and unchecked, Divine order will be spontaneous.

For as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you.

This is not your rest. § There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. § Behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus.

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 to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. § With Christ, which is far better.

God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. § There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.

Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven … For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. § Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

Deut. 12:9; Mic. 2:10; Heb. 4:9;  Heb. 6:19,20;  John 14:2,3; Phil. 1:23; Rev. 21:4; Job 3:17; Matt. 6:20,21; Col. 3:2

O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?

The sting of death is sin. § Now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.

1Cor. 15:55;  1Cor.15:56;  Heb. 9:26;  Heb. 9:27;  Heb. 9:28;  Heb. 2:14,15;  2 Tim. 4:6;  2 Tim. 4:7;   2 Tim. 4:8

Desert Riches

 And He said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart, into a desert place, and rest a while" (Mk 6:31).

In the early days of our lonely pilgrimage, the desert is nothing but burning heat and barren sand. As we "keep on keeping on," we see our desert become full of springs and blossom as the rose.

"Has the Father led you into the desert? Has He plucked from under your feet all that you depended upon? Then a glorious experience is yours. See if this be not a way whereby God will glorify you! Do not complain about what you have lost, and do not yearn to have it back again, for then you are like Israel who wished to turn back to Egypt. God leads on, and instead of the flesh-pots He gives you bread from heaven, and instead of water from the Nile, water from the Rock. But you must put your trust in Him also in the desert, and through the days of darkness and difficulty. This is possible, however, only for those who have lost their self-assurance in the desert whereto God beckons His children."

"Are there sorrows that sorely test our hearts? Be assured that our Father intends every one of them to be a road for us to Christ; so that we may reach Him and know Him in some character of His love and power, that otherwise our souls had not known." -C.A.C.

"And they thirsted not when He led them through the deserts: He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them. . . ." ". . .for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ" (Isa 48:21; 1 Cor. 10:4).

Promise of Paradise (Easter Reflections - (4)

He Leads Me