The
Word of Life
Part One
I John 1:1
“That which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we
have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;”
“The counsel of the Lord standeth
for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations,” (Psalm 33:11). The
counsel of the Lord, the thoughts of his heart: are eternal as is God himself,
and as they are eternal, they must also be immutable, and they are immutable
because they are perfect. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which
is in heaven is perfect,” (Matthew 5:48). The thoughts of the heart of God are perfectly
conformed to every attribute of God and are expressed in and by the Word of
God; (that is the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ) who is the brightness of
the glory of God, (Hebrews 1:3). “For God, who commanded the light to shine out
of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” (II Corinthians 4:6).
God hath shined in the hearts of
the regenerate, the brightness of his glory in the preached gospel of Jesus
Christ; to give the knowledge of God, and that is to us eternal life. “And this
is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent,” (John 17:3). “And we know that the Son of God is come,
and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we
are in him that is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and
eternal life,” (I John 5:20). This shining in our heart the knowledge of the
glory of God, is eternal life, it is the act of regeneration, or the new birth,
it is of the Holy Ghost; “and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,”
(John 3:6). “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,
by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever,” (I Peter 1:23). “It is
written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God,” (Matthew 4:4). “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the
flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and
they are life,” (John 6:63) “Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people
all the words of this life.” (Acts 5:20). “Holding forth the word of life; that
I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain neither labored
in vain.” (Philippians 2:16) “Of his own will begat he us with the word of
truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures,” (James 1:18).
Now we “beholding as in a glass the
glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as
by the Spirit of the Lord,” (II Corinthians 3:18). This being changed into the
same image, is the effect of the operation of the Holy Ghost in the new heart
in the believer, for “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write them
in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they
shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
know the Lord: for they shall all know me, (which is eternal life, John 17:3) from
the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more,” (Jeremiah 31:33-34). Now it is God; “(9) Who hath saved us, and
called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began, (10) But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus
Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to
light through the gospel,” (II Timothy 1:9-10).
A.J.Ison
No comments:
Post a Comment