“Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.”–JOHN xxi. 1.

      “All ye shall be offended because of Me this night; for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.  But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.”  So had the Chief Shepherd spoken to His sad and anxious followers on the night of His betrayal.  They little understood His meaning, and would perhaps have even forgotten the appointment of the rendezvous, unless it had been recalled again and yet again to their minds.  But they were not allowed to forget.  On the resurrection morn, the angel said to the first visitants at the empty grave: “Go your way, tell His disciples, and Peter, that He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him as He said unto you.”  And as they went to execute this bidding, Jesus Himself met them and said: “Be not afraid; go tell My brethren, that they go into Galilee; there shall they see Me.”  The customs of the Passover Feast forbade their instant compliance with this command,
and the Master sanctioned their delay by appearing to them twice whilst they yet lingered in the metropolis.  But as soon as it was possible they hastened back to the familiar scenes of their early life and of the Master’s ministry.

     We cannot fathom all the reasons that led our Lord to make such special
arrangements for meeting with them in Galilee; but it was natural that He should wish to associate His risen life with scenes in which He had spent so large a part of His earthly ministry; and there the greatest proportion of His followers was gathered, and He would have the quietest and securest opportunity of meeting with the five hundred brethren at once.  The disciples little thought that this was a farewell visit to their homes, and that within a few weeks they must return to Jerusalem, to stay there for a time, and then to wander forth to all lands, from the ancient Indus on the east to the far-famed shores of Tarshish on the west.
I. It was in the early part of May when they returned to Galilee.  They were in evident bewilderment as to their next step.  What should they do?  Should they continue to lead the artificial life which they had taken up during the Master’s ministry?  That seemed impossible and needless.  Should they do nothing but wait?  That appeared unwise when life was yet strong in them, and their means of livelihood were scant. It was of course possible to go back to fishing-smacks and fishing-tackle; but should they?  And they hesitated.

     But one evening came; the fragrance of thyme and rosemary and of a
hundred flowers filled the air; the lake lay dimpled in the light of the setting sun; the purple hills that stood sentinel around seemed by their very peacefulness to promise that no storm should imperil the lives of those that ventured on the blue depths.  There stood the boats, yonder lay the nets, in those waters were the finny tribes; the old instinct of the fisherman arose in their hearts, and found expression on the lips of the one from whom we should have expected it. “Peter said unto them, I go a-fishing.”  I see no harm in it.  The Master never forbade it.  He cannot mean us to loiter our time away. We cannot be preachers without Him.  I shall go back to the life from
which He called me three years ago, and if it pleases Him to come again, He can find us now, as He found us once, among the fishing-tackle.

     The proposal met with an instant assent: “We also go with thee.”  And in a few moments Peter with six others had leaped into a boat, and they were preparing for the night’s work with all the enthusiasm with which men throw themselves into a craft which for some time they have disused.  But their ardor was soon checked.  Hour after hour passed. The lights went out in the hamlets and towns.  The chill night damps enwrapped them.  The grey morning at last began to break, whilst again and again the nets were hauled up and let down, but in vain; not a single fish had entered them.  “That night they caught nothing.”  Why this non-success?  The night was the most favorable time!  These men knew the lake well, and were experienced in their craft.  They did their best, but they caught nothing!  Why was this?  Was it a chance? No, it was a providence; it was carefully arranged, disappointing and vexing though it was, by One who was too wise to err, too good to be
unkind, and who was preparing to teach them a lesson which should enrich them and the whole Church forever.

     The failure put an arrest on their temporal pursuits.  Had they been successful that night, it would have been very much harder for them to renounce the craft forever; but their non-success made them more willing to give it up, and to turn their thoughts to the evangelization of the world.  Then, too, our Lord surely meant to teach them that whilst they were doing His work, whether that work was waiting or active service, it was not necessary for them to be anxious about their maintenance; He Himself would see to that, though He had, for each meal, to light a fire and prepare it Himself.  And, deeper than all this, there were surely great spiritual lessons to be gained respecting the conditions of success in catching men in the net of His Gospel.

     It is difficult to understand how a man can call himself a Christian, and how he can face the awful possibilities of life, except he believes that all is ruled by One who loves us with a love that is infinite, and who wields all power on earth and in heaven.  If, however, that be your fixed belief, you may find it often severely tested.  “I have waited this livelong night; can this be Christ’s will?”  “I have done my best in vain; can this be Christ’s will?”  “I have labored without a single gleam of success; can this be Christ’s will?”  Yes, most certainly it is.  It is His love which is arranging all, in order to teach you some of the sweetest, deepest lessons that ever entered your heart.  There is not a cross, a loss, a disappointment, a case of failure in your
life, which is not arranged and controlled by the loving Saviour, and intended to teach some lesson which else could never be acquired. Fitfully, curiously, without apparent art or fixed design, is the web of our lives woven; thread seems thrown with thread at random, no orderly pattern immediately appears, but yet of all that web there is not a single thread whose place and color are not arranged with consummate skill and love.

     But what good can failure do?  It may shut up a path which you were pursuing too eagerly.  It may put you out of heart with things seen and temporal, and give you an appetite for things unseen and eternal.  It may teach you your own helplessness, and turn you to trust more implicitly in the provision of Christ.  It is clear that Christians have often to toil all night in vain, that Christ may have a background black and sombre enough to set forth all the glories of His interposition.
II. In the morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.  It was customary for fish-dealers to go down to greet fishers on their return from the night’s toil, in order to buy up fish.  Such a one now seemed waiting on the sand in the grey light, and His question was such as a fish-dealer might put: “Children, have you any food?”  It therefore never occurred to the disciples to think that it was Jesus.  And indeed, after the miracle was wrought, it was only the keen eye of love that knew Him to be the Lord.  How often is the Lord near us, and we know Him not!  He is standing there in the midst of scenes of natural beauty though His foot leaves no impression on the untrodden sand, and His form casts no shadow on the flowers or greensward.  He is standing there in that dingy counting-house, or amid the whirr of the deafening machinery, though He fills no space, and utters no word audible to human ears.  He is standing there in that home, watching the sick, noting unkindness and rudeness, smiling on the little deeds done for His sake, though none ever heard the floors creak
beneath His weight, or saw the doors open to admit His person.  How much we miss because we fail to discern Him!

     By acting thus He not only taught His disciples the reality of His presence, but He prepared them also for that new kind of life which they were henceforth to lead–a life of faith rather than of sense; a life of spiritual communion rather than of physical fellowship.  He kept showing them that, though out of sight, He was still in their midst.  By easy stepping-stones He joined Calvary and Olivet.  By gentle progressive lessons those who had believed because they had seen were taught to walk by faith, not by sight, and to love One whom they did not see.  And thus it came about that they trod no shore however desolate, went to no land however distant, dealt with no people however boorish, without carrying ever with them the thought, The Master is here!

     But let me say here that if you would see Christ everywhere, you must be like John, the disciple of love.  Love will trace Him everywhere, as dear friends detect each other by little touches that are meaningless to others.  Love’s quick eye penetrates disguises impenetrable to colder scrutiny.  Not for the wise, nor for the few, but for the least that love, is the vision possible that can make a desert isle like Patmos gleam with the light of Paradise itself.
III. How great a difference Christ’s directions made!  Before He spoke they were disconsolately dragging an empty net to shore.  The moment after He had spoken, and they had done His bidding, that net was filled with a shoal of fish so heavy that it was no easy matter to drag it behind the ship.

     Great lessons await us here!  We, like these, have embarked in a great fishing enterprise–we are fishers of men!  Our aim is to catch men alive for Christ our Lord.  For this we are ready to toil, to pray, to wait.  But our success depends wholly upon our Lord.  He will not give it us until we can bear it, and have learned the lesson of the night of fruitless toil.  And if we are to succeed it must be in His realized companionship, and in obedience to His word.

     There is a right side of the ship, and a wrong one; there is a time to plant, and a time to be still; to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.  We do not know these.  If we are left to ourselves, we may cast the net on the left side of the ship at the time when we should be casting it on the right, and on the right side of the ship when we should be casting it on the left.  Christ alone knows, and He will teach us exactly how and when to act with the very best results.
IV. Christ’s provision for the needs of His servants.  I should imagine that the disciples were somewhat anxious about their bodily needs and their supply.  They did not realize that if they were doing Christ’s work, Christ would look after their real needs.  Christ let them meet with non-success to show how fruitless their toil was.  And in the morning, when He stood on the shore, He filled their nets with fish, and called them to fire and bread and fish, to show how easily He could supply all their need.  Of course this does not apply to all promiscuously, but it does apply to those who give up time, and labor, and earthly toil, for the cause of Christ.  If they are really called to the work, Christ seems to say to them:  “Do the best you can for Me, and do not try in addition to make up for your time and labor by night work–you had better use the night for necessary rest; the longest night spent in unbelieving labor will not profit; but I in a single moment in the morning can more than make up to you for all you have spent.”  Christ never lets us be in His debt.  If we lend Him a boat for pulpit, He weighs it down to the gunwale.  If we give Him time, He makes up what we have lost.  If we seek first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness, He sees that all things else are added.  It is vain for you to rise up early and to sit up late, to eat the bread of carefulness.  He giveth His beloved when they sleep.

     What delicate attentions to these men!  Christ knew that they were drenched with spray, chilled with the keen air, and so He prepared a fire–so thoughtful is He of the tiniest matters that will alleviate discomfort and increase our pleasure.  At the same time He is frugal of the miraculous.  He will deal lavishly in miracles so long as needed, but not an inch beyond.  He might have created fish enough on that fire to supply them all, but that was needless so long as a hundred fifty and three great fishes lay within easy reach; so Jesus said, “Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.”

     When Peter heard John say, “It is the Lord,” true to his character he sprang into the sea and swam to shore, leaving the rest to drag the heavy net as best they could.  Now he seems to remember his failure to bear his share in the toil; so he goes to the margin of the lake, lands the net, counts its contents, and examines the meshes, to find them unbroken, and then returns with fish enough to make a breakfast for them all.  It was only when all this was done that Jesus said to them, “Come and dine.”  Then He came forward and took the bread and fish, and gave to them.  All were convinced that it was Jesus, but they were dumb with amazement and awe; they would have liked to ask questions, but they felt that they need not; their senses were convinced almost in spite of themselves.  “None of the disciples durst ask Him, Who art Thou? knowing that it was the Lord.”

     This, says John, was the third time that Jesus had showed Himself; not
literally the third time that He had shown Himself to any one; but the third time that He had shown Himself to the disciples assembled in any considerable number.  The first time was in the evening of the resurrection day; the second, when Thomas was there; the third, in the incident here recorded.

     We all need our rest times, our times of learning, our times of fellowship with Jesus.  Happy are we when Jesus says, “Come and dine,” and leads us off to sup with Him in desert places!  It may be in the loneliness of nature, or of the sick-bed, or of thwarted love; but, wherever it is, it is well if only He is there to feed us with His own dear hand.

     The time will come when the night of this sunless world shall be over, and the morning of eternity shall break upon us; it may be that in the hour of death we shall find that our work has not been so fruitless as we feared: on the quiet beach we shall see Jesus standing and know that it is He.  Then one last plunge through the chill flood, and we shall partake of the preparations which His love has made, and He will say, “Come and dine.”

     Paul faces the possibility of old age, decay, and death with no rebellion and no sadness. Paul never hid from himself the effect which his work had upon him; he knew it was killing him, and, like his Master, he was old before his time; but there was no whining and no retiring from the work. Paul was not a fool; he did not waste his energy ridiculously, neither did he ignore the fact that it was his genuine apostolic work and nothing else that was wearing him out. Michelangelo said a wonderful thing: “The more the marble wears, the better the image grows,” and it is an illustration of this truth. Every wasting of nerve and brain in work for God brings a corresponding uplifting and strengthening to spiritual muscle and fiber.

-From The Love of God by Oswald Chambers

Picture from AllPosters.com

1. How to dress yourself for Russian winter.  I laughed all the way through this, but I suppose it’s only funny if you have listened to repeated scoldings from Russian grandmothers!

2. Idols Ashes - ”Here I am again, building a funeral pyre on which to sacrifice a vision.  Like the pilgrims of so long ago, I leave a trail of graves behind me as I travel—each one where I have buried a hope, a dream, a goal, a plan, a love.  The only eternal unchangeable in life is Yahweh.  And that is as it should be.”

3. The restoration of the banished - “He spares not His Son, but sends Him in quest of the exiles. He comes into the land of banishment, lies in an exile’s cradle, becomes a banished man for them, lives a banished life, endures an exile’s shame, dies an exile’s death, is buried in an exile’s tomb.”

4. Love and marriage - a great article about what our purpose and goal in life should be.

5. The sandhill cranes are back in Nebraska! My brother took these pictures on a foggy morning.

     I recently finished reading through the 1599 Geneva Bible and thought I would share a few observations about it. This version of the Bible had a significant impact on history and only recently has been made available again to modern readers. In the 1500’s, a group of English scholars (who had fled England because of the persecution of Bloody Mary) gathered in Geneva, Switzerland to produce a new translation of the Scriptures in English. This translation was overseen by famous reformers such as John Knox and John Calvin. 

     The significance of this translation cannot be overstated. This was the first English Bible that was translated entirely from the original languages, using ancient Greek and Hebrew manuscripts. It was printed in small, affordable editions that anyone could obtain. This Bible, along with its study notes, was the fruit of the Reformation and the product of the work of many Godly men. This was the Bible of the Pilgrims and of early America. The Geneva Bible helped to combat and tear down the errors of Roman Catholicism and royal tyranny. The study notes pointed out that the notion of the “divine right” of kings is unscriptural, which infuriated King James I so much that he sponsored a new translation of the Bible for himself without the offensive annotations (hence the King James Version).

In the past few years, a new edition of the original Geneva Bible has been printed. The spelling has been updated and the type re-set for clarity, but other than that no significant changes have been made. Reading the original study notes is enlightening and often refreshing, as they are free from modern prejudices. For example, the notes about Psalm 128:3 (Thy wife shall be as the fruitful vine on the sides of thine house, and thy children like the olive plants round about thy table.) say:

“Because God’s favor appeareth in none outward thing, more than in increase of children, he promiseth to enrich the faithful with this gift.”

Not too politically correct, right? Although some of the study notes deal with political issues of the times that aren’t too relevant today, most of the annotations are simply explanations or restatements to help the average person understand the Scriptures better. Most of the notes are of a devotional nature, to help the reader apply Scripture to his daily life. In other words, it’s target audience is people like you and me. The language is only slightly more archaic than the KJV, so although you may not necessarily use this version for your daily devotions, it’s a useful study Bible to have for reference. I personally like the Psalms – the quaint English in this version only adds to their beauty.

     You can read more information about the history of the Geneva Bible here. A free download of the book of Romans is available at the bottom of this page. You can get the reprinted 1599 Geneva Bible here or here.

God’s Way

Dear Lord, I often tell Thee that I fain
Would give some great and costly gift to Thee;
Yea, I have almost courted loss and pain,
If I thereby might proved and humble be.

And now the Hand that I have asked to take
From out my store some dear, some precious thing,
Does not disdain this bruised heart to break,
To get possession of its offering.

Yes, blood-drops ooze from many a rent that Thou
Thyself has torn, and I am faint and sore;
I feel a death-like moisture on my brow
And on my dizzy brain wild voices roar.

But oh I waver not! Thou knowest well
I meant that Thou shouldst take me at my word,
The bitter waves of anguish rise and swell,
But heed them not, my Master and my Lord.

Keep what Thou hast in wise and tender grace,
Snatched from my deepest depths, nor left to me
Option or choice; love shines upon Thy face,
Thou knowest best what I can spare for Thee.

But oh, by all this pain, this bleeding heart,
Subdue, control, beat down and lay me low;
New knowledge of Thyself to me impart,
Jesus, my Savior, let me learn to know.

I smart, I writhe, I bleed – and still I cry -
Lo that Thou hast is Thine, is mine no more;
Thou Master of my treasures are, and I
In this new poverty Thy name adore!

-From Golden hours: Heart-hymns of the Christian life
by Elizabeth Prentiss

Picture from AllPosters.com

     When people think of Oswald Chambers, they usually think of the dozens of books that bear his name as the author. It may come as a surprise, then, to find out that Oswald Chambers only published a few books during his lifetime and never aspired to become the famous author he is now. His works and his name would probably have been forgotten apart from the work of his diligent and faithful wife Biddy, who carefully edited and published his sermons in book form after his death. The life of this humble lady is a story in itself.

     Gertrude (later nicknamed “Biddy” by her husband) was born in 1884. Bouts of illness often kept her confined at home, but she used her extra time to become proficient at shorthand. Her father’s death close to her fifteenth birthday created much financial hardship for the family. After Biddy finished school, she continued to live at home and helped support her family through her skill in shorthand.

     In 1908, Biddy met Oswald Chambers and in 1910, they were married. Oswald started a small Bible college shortly thereafter, and Biddy proved to be the perfect helpmeet for the task. The entire college became her home and she cheerfully and hospitably cared for the students and a constant stream of visitors. She took careful shorthand notes of her husband’s lectures and served as his secretary. The birth of her daughter in 1913 only added the joy of a busy household.

     A major change for the family occurred in 1915 when, with World War I in full swing, Oswald sensed God’s direction to go and minister to soldiers in Egypt. The Bible college was closed, and Oswald, Biddy, and their little daughter Kathleen started pouring their lives into a new ministry. Biddy continued her diligent lifestyle of hospitality, often serving groups of hundreds of soldiers. Somehow, in the midst of so much work, she found time to record her husband’s sermons in shorthand, carefully preserving them for the future. Little did she know that this would form the basis of her future life work.

     After just two years in Egypt, Oswald died suddenly of complications from appendicitis, leaving Biddy a widow. Still in her thirties, she suddenly found herself alone, unsure of what to do next. Just a few months later, however, a friend showed her a folder of her husband’s sermons and suggested she have them printed as leaflets. When the first one was eagerly received and requests poured in for more, Biddy realized that she had discovered a way to continue her husband’s work. She possessed an enormous quantity of her own shorthand transcriptions of Oswald’s sermons and lectures. After returning to England, she poured her heart and soul into what she called “the work of the books”.

     Over the next few decades until her death in 1966, she trusted God to provide for her while she diligently edited and compiled her husband’s sermons into book form. All profits she received from the sale of books were used to print more books. In spite of the work she put into publishing her husband’s words, she never put her name to any of them. She was content to be a servant, not desiring to be noticed for her work. All fifty of the books she compiled bear her husband’s name, not her own. The most well-known of them – My Utmost for His Highest – is read by people around the world every day. Millions of people have been blessed through the humble work of this one woman.

“We are not called to be successful in accordance with ordinary standards, but in accordance with a corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying, becoming in that way what it never could be if it were to abide alone.” -Oswald Chambers

Recommended reading:
Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God – The Life Story of the Author of My Utmost for His Highest

     I quickly designed a simple nine-patch pattern on graph paper.

     I’ll be sure to post a picture of the finished product!

“The first day of the week.”–JOHN xx. 1.

 
     It may be helpful if we tabulate in a brief and concise form the various appearances of our Lord on the great day, when He was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.

     Mary of Magdala–a squalid Arab village on the south of the plain of Gennesaret still bears that name–with another Mary had remained beside the tomb, till the trumpet of the Passover Sabbath and the gathering darkness had warned them to retire.  They rested the Sabbath day, according to the commandment, in the saddest, darkest grief that ever oppressed the human heart; for they had not only lost the dearest object of their affection, under the most harrowing circumstances, but their hopes that this was the Messiah seemed to have been rudely shattered.  But how tenacious is human love, especially the love of women!  How it will cling around the ruins of the temple, even when some rude shock of earthquake has shattered it to the ground!  So, when the Sabbath was over (after sundown on Saturday), they stole out to purchase additional sweet spices, which they prepared that night in order to complete the embalming of the body, which had been left incomplete on the day of crucifixion.  They would probably sleep outside the city gates, which only opened at daybreak, because they were resolved to reach the sepulchre while it was yet dark.

     But before they could arrive the sublime event had occurred, which has
filled the world with light and joy in all succeeding years.  For behold, whilst the Roman sentries were pacing to and fro before the sepulchre, there had been a great earthquake, and the angel of the Lord had descended from heaven, rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.  Then from that opened door the Lord had come forth unperceived by the eye of man (for the watchers were dazed and dazzled by the appearance of the angel and the terror of the earthquake), and in sublime majesty had become the Firstborn from among the dead, and the First-fruits of them that sleep.

     The women, meanwhile, were hurrying to the grave, debating as they did so, how they would be able to roll away the stone from its mouth. Probably they had heard nothing of the seals and sentries with which the Sanhedrim had endeavored to guard against all eventualities; for, had they known, they would hardly have ventured to come at all.  They were greatly startled, however, when, on approaching the grave, they saw that the stone was rolled away.  Mary of Magdala apparently detected this first; and without staying to see further, and with the conviction that it must have been rifled of its precious contents, started off to apprise Simon Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved. What a shock, as she broke in on their grief, with the tidings, “They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid Him.”

     What a series of mistakes was hers!  She had gone to anoint the dead while the morning light still lingered over the hills of Moab; she did not realize that He could not be holden by the bands of death, and had passed out into the richer, fuller life, of which death is the portal.

     She came with aromatic spices that her means had bought, and her hands
prepared; she did not know that all His garments were already smelling of aloes and cassia, of the perfume of heaven with which His Father had made Him glad.

     She came to a Victim, so she thought, who had fallen beneath the knife of His foes as a Lamb led to slaughter, she was not aware that He was a Priest on the point of entering the most Holy Place on her behalf.

     She came for the Vanquished; but failed to understand that He was a Victor over the principalities and powers of hell; and that the keys of Hades and the grave were hanging at His girdle, whilst the serpent was bruised beneath His feet.

     She thought that she had come to put a final touch, such as only a woman can, to a life of sad and irremediable failure; but had no conception that on that morning a career had been inaugurated which was not only endless and indissoluble in itself, but was destined to vitalize uncounted myriads.

     She thought that the empty tomb could only be accounted for by the rifling hands that had taken away the precious body, but could not guess that the Rifler of the perquisites of death was none other than the Lord Himself.

     We all make mistakes like this.  Our treasures, whether of things or people, which had been our pride and joy, pass from us; and we stand beside the grave, gazing in on vacancy and emptiness; we think that we can never be happy again: we suppose that God’s mercies are clean gone forever, and that His mercies have failed forevermore.  But, all the while, near at hand, the radiant vision of a transfigured blessing waits to greet us, and to fill us with an ecstasy that shall never pall upon us, but make our after-life one long summer day.

     In the meanwhile, the other women had pursued their way to the grave.
The guard had already fled in terror, so there was none to intercept or frighten them; and entering the sepulchre they saw a young man, emblem of the immortal youth of God’s angels, sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment, and they were affrighted.  Presently, as they were much perplexed, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments; and as they were afraid and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, “Be not affrighted, ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.  He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.  Remember how He said into you when He was yet in Galilee, that He would rise again.  Come, see the place where they laid Him.  And go quickly, tell His disciples, and Peter, that He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him, as He said unto you.”  And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring His
disciples word.

     In the meanwhile, Peter and John were hurrying to the sepulchre by another route, and probably reached it just after the women had left. John, younger than Peter, had outrun him, but was withheld by reverential awe from doing more than peering into the empty grave.  The linen clothes, lying orderly disposed, seem to have specially arrested his notice, yet went he not in.  Peter, however, went at once into the sepulchre; he also saw the linen clothes, and especially that the cloth which had covered the face of the dead was wrapped together in a place by itself.  Then John also went in; he saw and believed.  It was evident to them both that the tomb had not been rifled, nor the body stolen by violent hands; for these garments and the spices would have been of more value to thieves than a naked corpse.  In any case,
thieves would not have been at the pains to fold the garments up so carefully.  Whilst the same indications proved that the body had not been removed by friends; for they would not have left the grave-clothes behind.

     When the disciples had gone back to their own home, Mary stood without at the door of the sepulchre weeping; and as she wept she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre.  What earnest heart is there, that has not at some time stood there with her, looking down into the grave of ordinances, of spent emotions, of old and sacred memories, seeking everywhere for the Redeemer, who had been once the dearest reality, the one object of love and life?  The two sentry-angels, who sat, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain, sought in vain to comfort her.  “Woman,” they said, in effect, “there is no need for tears; didst thou but know, couldst thou but understand, thy heart would overflow with supreme joy, and thy tears become smiles.”  “They have taken away my Lord,” she said, “and I know not where they have laid Him.”  What could angel voices do for her, who longed to hear one voice only?  What were the griefs of others in
comparison with hers?  In an especial sense Jesus was hers! my Lord! Had He not cast out from her seven devils?

     Some slight movement behind, or perhaps, as Chrysostom finely supposes, because of an expression of love and awe which passed over the angel faces, led her to turn herself back, and she saw Jesus standing, but she knew not that it was Jesus.  Supposing him, in her grief and confusion, to be the gardener, she said that if he knew the whereabouts of the body she sought, she would gladly have it removed at her expense: nay, she even volunteered to bear it off herself.  Then He spoke the old familiar name with the old intonation and emphasis, and she answered in the country tongue they both knew and loved so well, “Rabboni!”  In her rapture she sought to embrace Him, but this must not be; and there was need for Christ to work in her love, with His high art, as the artificer may carve the stone, or engrave some legend on the intaglio.  He therefore withdrew Himself, saying, “Touch Me not.” To Thomas afterward He said, “Behold My hands and My side; reach hither thy finger”: because there was no danger of his abusing the permission, or leaning unduly on the sensuous and physical.  But Mary must learn to exchange the outward for the inward, the transient for the eternal, and to pass from the old fellowship with Jesus as friend and companion into a spiritual relationship which would subsist to all eternity. Therefore Jesus spoke of His ascension, and bade her look upward, and see, gleaming on high, diviner things.  So she was prepared for the time, when, in the upper room, she should continue steadfastly in prayer, and come nearer to Him whom she loved than ever previously.

     Did you ever realize that the intonations of the voice of Jesus, which had passed unimpaired through death, suggest that in that new life, which lies on the other side of death, we shall hear the voices speak again which have been familiar to us from childhood?  As is the heavenly, so are they who are heavenly; and as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall bear that of the heavenly, and shall speak again with those whom we have lost awhile, and they with us.

     Mary Magdalene went and told them that had been with Him, as they mourned and wept, that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things unto her.  But they, when they had heard that He was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.

     In close succession, the Lord appeared to others of the little group. To the women, as they did run to bring His disciples word.  To Peter, whom He encountered on His way back, in lonely astonishment and awe, and restored with gracious words of forgiveness.  To the two that walked to Emmaus, in the afternoon, and talked of all that had happened.  Finally He appeared to the whole company of the apostles, as they sat at meat.  They had carefully shut their doors, since there was every reason to fear that the rumors of the events of the morning would arouse against them the strong hate and fear of the Pharisees.  It may be that they were startled by every passing footfall, and every movement on the stair, as when the two returned from Emmaus to tell how Jesus had been made known unto them in the breaking of bread.  Then, suddenly, without announcement or preparation, the figure of their
beloved Master stood in the midst of them, with the familiar greeting of peace!  And, as the sacred historian naïvely puts it, they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they were gazing on a spirit.  But the Lord allayed their fears, first by showing them His hands and His feet; and next, by partaking of a piece of broiled fish and of an honeycomb.

     Evidently He was clothed in the resurrection or spiritual body of which the Apostle Paul speaks.  He was not subject to all the laws that govern our physical life.  He could pass freely through unopened doors, and at will He could manifest Himself, speak, stand, and walk, or subject Himself to physical sense.

     His words were very significant.  He began by upbraiding them for their
reluctance to believe that He had risen.  Again He said, “Peace be unto you”; and accompanied His words with the indication of His wounds–”He showed them His hands and side.”  This was the peace of forgiveness, which falls on our conscience-stricken hearts, as the dew distils on the parched heritage.  “Look at the wounds of Jesus,” cried Staupitz to Luther; and there is no other sign that will give rest to the penitent.

     After this He opened their understandings, that they might understand the Scriptures, and showed them that a suffering Messiah was the thought which pervaded the entire Hebrew Scriptures.  “Thus it is written, and thus it behoved the Messiah to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.”  What would we not give to have some transcript of that wonderful conversation!  With what new eyes should we read the Bible, if only we could know what Jesus said on that occasion!

     Next He repeated the “Peace be unto you,” and told them that He was sending them forth as the Father had sent Him–”Go ye unto all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.”  But He added, “Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.”  “And these signs shall follow them that believe.  In My name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

     Then, to fit them for this time of waiting, and that the Holy Spirit might prepare them to receive His fuller inflow, the Lord breathed on them and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”  By which He surely meant that there was no other way by which sins would be forgiven and put away than by the preaching of the Gospel, which He now committed to their trust.  They are therefore parallel with Peter’s statement in after days, “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name given under heaven, among men, by which we must be saved.”  The Church of God alone can proclaim to men the conditions of evangelical repentance,–and those who refuse her testimony, and disbelieve her Gospel, expose themselves to unspeakable condemnation and loss.  “There remaineth no other sacrifice for sin; but a certain looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation.”  Refuse Christ, and there is no alternative way of
salvation.  Whatever else is contained in these words, it is quite clear that there was nothing exclusively reserved to the apostles and their successors, which is not equally the possession of all who believe; for we know that the Lord’s words were spoken not to the apostles only, but to the two that had come from Emmaus with burning hearts, and to those who were in the habit of commingling with the immediate followers of Christ.  “Them that were with them” (Luke xxiv. 33, 35, 36).  All had been witnesses of these things, and all were now to proclaim in His name repentance and remission of sins among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

     Thomas was not there on that memorable occasion.  He was always
accustomed to look on the dark side of things.  When Jesus proposed to go into Judaea to raise Lazarus, he made sure that there was no alternative but to die with Him; and when the Master spoke of His impending absence, he said gloomily, “Lord, we know not whither Thou goest, and how can we know the way?”  He was doubtless at this time wandering alone over the scenes of that awful tragedy, which had so deeply imprinted itself on his imagination that he could not forget the print of the nails, and the wound in His side, and the unlikelihood of any surviving such treatment as He had received.

     When he heard the story of the others, he seemed inclined to treat them as too credulous; and with the air of superior caution said, that he must not only see the wounds which death had made, but touch them with his fingers and hand.  Yet we may be grateful for this story.  First, because it wears the aspect of truth.  What weaver of an imaginary history would ever have dared to suggest that the resurrection was impugned by some of Christ’s close followers?  And, next, because it shows us that the resurrection was subjected to the severest tests, just those which we would ourselves apply.

     Thomas was left for a whole week.  Day after day he heard the repeated story of Christ’s appearances; and waited for Him to come again; and became more and more confirmed in his sad presentment that the whole story was a myth.  How great must have been his anguish during those days, as he tossed between hope and fear, saw on other faces the light which he might not share, and thought that the Master, if really living, was neglectful of His friend!

     At last Jesus came, not to anathematize or exclude him, not to break the bruised reed or quench the smoking flax, but to restore him, and to lift on him the light of His countenance.

     He suited himself to his needs.  He stooped to comply with the conditions that his poor faith had laid down.  He was willing to give proofs, over and above those which were absolutely necessary, to win faith.  So eager was He to win one poor soul to Himself and blessedness, that He said unto Thomas, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side; and be not faithless but believing.”

     I do not suppose that Thomas availed himself of the invitation.  It was
sufficient to see.  Such an act of cold scrutiny would hardly have been compatible with his joyous shout, “My Lord and my God.”  Christ’s voice and form, omniscience and humility, in taking such trouble to win one to Himself–these were sufficient to convince him, and dispel all doubt.

     Ah, Thomas, in that glad outburst of thine, thou reachedst a higher level than all the rest; and thou art not the last man, who has seemed a hopeless and helpless wreck, unable to exercise the faith that seemed so natural to others; but who, after a time, under the teaching of Jesus, has been enabled to assume a position to which none of his associates could aspire!

     Because he saw, he believed.  Too many wait for signs and manifestations, for sensible emotion and conviction: but there is a more excellent way–when we do not see, and yet believe.  When there is no star on the bosom of night, no chart on the unknown sea, no lover or friend or interpreter of the ways of God; and when, in spite of all, the soul knows Him whom it has believed, and clings to Him though unseen, and reckons that neither life, nor death, nor principalities, nor powers, can shut out the love of God in Christ.  “Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.”

     If Jesus Christ were manifested now, would we be like Him? Or would we have a hundred and one things to do before we could be as He is? We have not been taking time to purify ourselves as He is pure because we have been restless and annoyed; we have imagined that we have things to do that no one can do but ourselves. It may be true, but as soon as we think it, we lose out. There is only one lodestar to the saint, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have no business to get into circumstances God does not put us into. Faith means keeping absolutely right with God. He does all the rest. We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation. What God looks at is what we are in the dark – the imaginations of our minds; the thoughts of our hearts, the habits of our bodies; these are the things that mark us in God’s sight.

-From The Love of God by Oswald Chambers

Picture from FreeFoto.com

    “Young women fervently in love with Jesus Christ aren’t worried what other people think – their eyes are seeking only the applause of heaven. And, like Christ, they approach every circumstance in life with the knowledge that their heavenly Father is handling the situation – their role is not to manipulate or control. Their role is merely to yield themselves fully to Him. And they have found great joy in this abandoned life, so much so that they truly embrace singleness as a gift, rather than resenting it as a stigma.”

     I have been looking forward for a while to reading Sacred Singleness: The Set-Apart Girl’s Guide to Purpose and Fulfillment by Leslie Ludy . So many confusing messages are directed towards single Christian girls these days that there is a longing among some to bring clarity and focus to what can be a touchy subject. Leslie’s message in this book is clear: the unmarried woman (as the Scripture says) is to be passionately devoted to serving and pleasing her Heavenly Bridegroom. This is not another book about how  to fix what’s wrong with your life so that you can find a husband. This is not just another book about singleness that ends up being mostly about getting married. Rather, this book directs you towards the One who is worthy of your attention and full surrender.

     In contrast to modern advice that is circulating among some evangelical circles today, encouraging young women make themselves more available and be just a little forward about getting married, Leslie encourages young ladies to pour their energies into serving the Lord and allow the Lord to bring marriage into their lives in His timing. The book is heavily interspersed with real-life stories about young ladies who are using their single years to serve the Lord. The nice thing about these stories is that they don’t all end with the young ladies getting married. Leslie points out that there is a greater, a much greater purpose to our lives than being married. The Lord Himself is worthy of our highest praise, honor, and worship. Marriage is only for this life. Our relationship with the Lord is forever.

     While this book does an excellent job of dealing with the spiritual aspects of singleness, it doesn’t get into the practical aspects very much (i.e. where to live, financial issues, matchmakers, and so forth). Sometimes I think the practical issues of singleness are harder to deal with than the emotional ones. For example, I often find that older, married people don’t understand how extremely different my generation is. A committed marriage is no longer the norm for today’s young people, and the rise of immorality and divorce within the church makes marriage somewhat of a minefield for today’s Christian young lady. I often find it hard to explain to well-meaning people that going to college or those silly single’s groups is not going to help me (or anyone like me) get married. I am too wierd different, and that is just not going to work. I haven’t quite figured out yet how to bridge the generational gap to help them understand what is really going on.

     All such issues aside, I found that reading this book helped me to re-focus on what I should be doing with my life and how I should be living. It reminded me that Christ-centered singleness is a beautiful thing, as I have discovered already. It confirmed my desire to spend my life serving “the least of these” in this world. It pointed me back to what the Scriptures actually say about the unmarried state. I appreciate the message of this book and would highly recommend it to any single young lady from the teenage years on up. I would also recommend it to married women to help them understand how to train their daughters to serve the Lord in this present world, since long-term singleness is quite common at this time. You can get it here.