Charles Spurgeon

JESUS! In Word and Song

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WEEK 53

CHRIST THE KING DAY

“On the last Sunday of the liturgical year, Catholics celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. [T]his feast is designed to give special recognition to the dominion Christ our Lord has over all aspects of our lives.”1 “Even though it was created by a pope less than a hundred years ago, some Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, and Presbyterians celebrate the feast.”2

“[T]his feast reminds us that whatever earth powers may do or ask of us, Christ is the true king that should reign in our hearts.”3

This feast is a fitting way to send us into Advent, the season of preparing our hearts to better recognize and receive God who comes to us in the person of Jesus. Jesus will come to us at the end of time to usher in the fullness of God’s kingdom, and it reminds us to recall that Jesus comes to us every day as well.4

“[T]he kingship of Christ overturns the systems of power, wealth, and force which rule over the world.”5 “[He] will return to take back the earth from the usurper and establish His kingdom.”6

“[W]hen the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,” (2 Thes 1:7-9 ESV).

“Christ, as Savior, is also the universal Judge, who will one day pass judgment on all people according to their deeds.”7 “God’s righteous judgment will be fully manifest when Jesus returns. At that time unbelievers will be condemned and believers will be saved.”8

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor 5:10 ESV).

“Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near,” (Joel 2:1 ESV).“[T]he ‘day’ refers to a final judgment upon the nations.”9 “God judges and ends this world system in its present form.”10

“CHRIST the King Day” is also called, “The Judgment Day” is some churches.  It is a perfect occasion to seriously evaluate where we will be in the next life.

The only thing that will deliver you from the eternal wrath of God is the eternal Gospel of God. God’s eternal and undiluted wrath was poured out on Christ at the cross. He drank the whole cup of the full fury of God’s justice against sin. If you trust in Jesus, he drank that cup for you. You will either trust in Christ or you will drink that cup for yourself.11

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ENDNOTES

(53) CHRIST the King

            1. D. D. Emmons, “The Solemnity of Christ the King,” Simply Catholic, 12 August 2021 https://simplycatholic.com/the-solemnity-of-christ-the-king/.

            2. ChurchPOP editor, “8 things You Didn’t Know About the Feast of Christ the King,” 23 November 2014, ChurchPOP, 12 August 2021 https://www.churchpop.com/2014/11/23/8-things-didnt-know-feast-christ-king/.

            3. ChurchPOP.

            4. “Feast of Christ the King,” FaithND, 12 August 2021 http://faith.nd.edu/s/1210/faith/interior.aspx?sid=1210&gid=609&pgid=38228.

            5. “Feast of Christ the King.”

            6. John MacArthur, One Perfect Life (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012) 506.

            7. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2221.

            8. ESV Study Bible, 2315.

            9. ESV Study Bible, 1643.

            10. John MacArthur, One Perfect Life (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012) 506.

            11. James Hamilton, Revelation, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012) 288.

            12. Charles Spurgeon, The Fullness of Joy (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 1997) 78.

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WEEK 52

JOYFUL SINGING

“His joy is my joy. My experience of joy must be emanating from His experience of joy.”1

Before the foundation of the world, our names were engraved on the Savior’s hands. In Christ, we have always been redeemed by His precious blood, always been preserved by the power of God, always been secure of the heritage given; therefore, let us always be grateful. If we are not always singing with our lips, let us always be singing with our hearts.2

Singing will often make the heart rise. The song, though at first it may appear to drag, will soon be fitted with wings that lift the spirit. Sing more and you will sing more still, for the more you sing, the more you will be able to sing the praises of God.3

The good tidings of great joy have reached us; as we, by His grace, have believed them, He has saved us from sin and death and hell. He has not simply promised to do it someday, but He has already done it. Sing to Him with a grateful heart, saying, ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord.’4

‘Delight thyself also in the LORD’ (Psalm 37:4). This is His command, and is it not a lovely one? So greatly does God desire us to rejoice in Him that to the command is added a promise: ‘and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.’ [D]elight becomes a duty, to be happy is to be obedient to a command!5

“The engagement of the heart in worship is the coming alive of the feelings and emotions and affections of the heart.”6 John Piper

“[Y]ou always sing best when you are most spiritually focused. If you cannot sing artistically, never mind, you will be right enough if you sing from the heart and pay attention to it.”7

“It glorifies God when we delight in him, expressing the joy of knowing him and being known by him. [E]xpressions of delight point to God’s worth.”8 “The joy is ours. The glory is his.”9

“Only Jesus himself can bring us into God’s presence, and he has done it through a single sacrifice that will never be repeated—only joyfully recounted and trusted in.”10

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ENDNOTES

(52) Joyful Singing

            1. Doug Newton, Fresh Eyes on Famous Bible Sayings (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2018) 94-95.

            2. Charles Spurgeon, The Power of Praising God (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 1998) 12.

            3. Spurgeon, 24.

            4. Charles Spurgeon, The Fullness of Joy (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 1997) 136-137.

            5. Spurgeon, 136.

            6. Bob Kauflin, Worship Matters (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008) 65.

            7. Charles Spurgeon, The Fullness of Joy (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 1997) 52.

            8. Bob Kauflin, Worship Matters (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008) 66.

            9. Kauflin, 150.

            10. Kauflin, 74.

            11. Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ (Springdale, PA: Whitaker House, 1979) 159.

            12. Bob Kauflin, Worship Matters (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008) 161.

            13. Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ (Springdale, PA: Whitaker House, 1979) 161.

            14. “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall” (Malachi 4:2 ESV).

            15. Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ (Springdale, PA: Whitaker House, 1979) 160.

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WEEK 40

THE WORD INFALLIBLE

“Holy Scripture should be thought of as God preaching.”1 “He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words”(Heb 1:1-3 MSG)!

The sufficiency of Scripture means that Scripture contains all the words of God which he intends his people to have at each stage of redemptive history, and that it contains everything we need God to tell us for salvation, for trusting him perfectly, and obeying him perfectly.2

“At each stage in redemptive history, the things that God had revealed were for his people for that time, and they were to study, believe, and obey those things.”3

[A]t the time of the death of Moses, the first five books of our Old Testament were sufficient for God’s people at that time. But God directed later authors to add more, so that Scripture would be sufficient for believers in those subsequent times. For Christians today, the words from God which we have in the Old and New Testaments together are sufficient for us during the church age.4

Scripture leads to a Person, not just truths. All Scripture points to Jesus’ death and resurrection, to forgiveness, and to personal knowledge of God through him. [We] should come to Scripture humbly, expecting to learn and be corrected, willing to observe Scripture closely and accept whatever [we] find.5

“We find Christ in all the Scriptures. In the Old Testament He is predicted, in the Gospels He is revealed, in Acts He is preached, in the epistles He is explained, and in Revelation He is expected.”6

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them”(Matt 5:17 ESV). Here Christ was emphasizing both the inspiration and the enduring authority of all Scripture. He was specifically affirming the utter inerrancy and absolute authority of the OT as the Word of God. [N]othing has passed from the law, but rather every aspect of the law has been fulfilled in him.7

“[T]rue knowledge of God includes understanding everything from his perspective. It is to learn what God loves and hates, and to see, hear, think, and act the way he does.”8

“To understand God’s Word, we must totally disregard our own wisdom and rest in utter dependence on the Spirit of God to interpret it for us.”9

“[Through the mire and through the slough, through the flood and through the flame, follow Jesus and the Word infallible.”10

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ENDNOTES

(40) We’ll Stand on GOD’s Word

            1. J. I. Packer, God Has Spoken (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1979) 97.

            2. Wayne Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1988, 2000) 250.

            3. Grudem, 261.

            4. Grudem.

            5. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2561.

            6. Alistair Begg

            7. John MacArthur, One Perfect Life (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012) 139.

            8. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2505.

            9. R. A. Torrey, God’s Power in Your Life (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 1982) 72-73.

            10. Charles Spurgeon, Spiritual warfare in a Believer’s Life (Lynnwood, WA: Emerald Books, 1993) 80.

            11. R. Kelso Carter, “Standing on the Promises,” 1886, Hymnary, 2 August 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/standing_on_the_promises_of_christ_my_ki.

            12. Charles Spurgeon, Spiritual warfare in a Believer’s Life (Lynnwood, WA: Emerald Books, 1993) 80.

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WEEK 34

THE MEDIATOR

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Tim 2:5 ESV).

The Father gave a people to the Son, and the Son voluntarily made Himself responsible to God for them. God the Father said He would grant forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration, new life, and a new nature to all who belonged to His Son. The condition was that the Son should come into the world and take human nature and the sin of mankind upon Himself to bear its punishment, stand for them, represent them, and suffer for them.1

Because we were alienated from God by sin, we needed someone to come between God and ourselves and bring us back to him. We needed a mediator who could represent us to God and who could represent God to us. There is only one person who has ever fulfilled that requirement: ‘There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus’ (1 Tim 2:5). In order to fulfill this role of mediator, Jesus had to be fully man as well as fully God.2

“The grand end of Christ’s mediation is the appeasing of God’s anger and the securing of His favor. He is the Advocate with the Father on behalf of His sinning people, pleading His righteousness and blood for them.”3

“The Lord Jesus is the anointed Mediator.”4 “Christ presents His people before God as those who are inestimably dear unto Him. He not only died for them, but lives for them (Rom 5:10). He died to render satisfaction to God on their behalf; He lives to keep them secure.”5

Christ sits at God’s right hand as no silent and inactive Spectator, but as an industrious and mighty Intercessor: to prevent the sins of His people making any breach, to preserve a perpetual amity between God and them. Thus we have ‘a Friend at court’ who spreads before the Father the odours of His merits as the all-sufficient answer to every indictment which Satan prefers against us. He requests not the Father to show mercy at the expense of justice.  There is no compromise of holiness in God’s pardoning His children, for Christ made full atonement for all their sins.6

[Christ’s] mediation on the throne is as real and indispensable as on the cross. [I]t engages all His time and powers [and] is His unceasing occupation at the right hand of the Father. And we participate not only in the benefits of this His work, but in the work itself.7

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ENDNOTES

(34) I See a Man at GOD’s Right Hand

            1. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “God’s Great Plan of Redemption,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 3.

            2. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994) 541.

            3. A.W. Pink, 1 John, Part One 1:1-2:11 (Pensacola, FL: Chapel Library, 2005) 123.

            4. Charles Spurgeon, “God’s Purpose Consummated,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 27.

            5. A.W. Pink, 1 John, Part One 1:1-2:11 (Pensacola, FL: Chapel Library, 2005) 120.

            6. Pink, 120-122.

            7. Andrew Murray, “With Christ in the School of Prayer,” PC Study Bible by Biblesoft, Inc, 2003, twenty-sixth lesson.

            8. Horatius Bonar, “I See A Man at God’s Right Hand,” 1872 Hymnary, 20 February 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/i_see_a_man_at_gods_right_hand.

            9. “Oh the Valley,” music and melody, author unknown.

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WEEK 30

GOD BEFORE THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE WORLD

[L]ong ere the day-star knew its place, before God had spoken existence out of nothing, before angel’s wing had stirred the unnavigated ether, before a solitary song had disturbed the solemnity of the silence in which God reigned supreme, He had entered into solemn council with Himself, His Son, and His Spirit and had in that council decreed, determined, proposed, and predestinated the salvation of His people.1

“God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun” (Rom 8:29-30 MSG).

“God chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world according to the purpose of his will” (Eph 1:3-5 ESV).

“God’s great love has been manifested in what He has done for us in and through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”2 “God created the world so we could share in the joy of knowing him.”3

“It is a superlative honor that Christ is the channel through which all the grace and glory we have, or shall have, flows to us, and was set up as such from the beginning.”4

“[T]he mystery hidden for ages and generations [is] now revealed to his saints. [T]his mystery is Christ in you”(Col 1:26-27 ESV).

To make sure that the FATHER had a people to shower His love on, He selected His elect before He created them, cementing all His purposes in stone before He set up the world—making sure the ones He purchased would not (could not) fall away from Him.  Through His Son’s work and drawing His people to accept His plan in faith, He will always have a people to love. 

God is able to work out his sovereign will within the distinctive characteristics of what he has created. He moves a rock as a rock, and moves a human heart as a human heart. He does not turn a person into a thing when he brings about his sovereign intentions in a person’s life. Paul describes sanctification as the result of both human effort and ultimate divine enabling. He sees no conflict between divine and human activity. Rather, God is uniquely able to bring about his purposes within human beings so that they are fully engaged as persons and responsible for their own decisions, attitudes, and actions.5

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ENDNOTES

(30) To GOD Be Glory Forevermore

            1. Charles Spurgeon, “God’s Covenant in Eternity,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 5.

            2. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ, Studies in 1 John (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002) 517.

            3. Bob Kauflin, Worship Matters (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008) 176.

            4. A.W. Pink, “The Mediator Chosen,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 27.

            5. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2529.

            6. Charles Spurgeon, “God’s Covenant in Eternity,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 5.

            7. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2529.

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WEEK 28

TRINITY SUNDAY

“Trinity Sunday is a day when Christians think of the nature of God rather than, as with other festivals, commemorating historical events of special significance.”1

“[T]he three blessed Persons in the Trinity divided up the work: The Father planned, the Son put it into operation, and the Holy Spirit applies it.”2

God was so sure of the depth and expansiveness of your sin, of your inability to grasp how desperate your condition is (and, even if you were able, your complete inability to free yourself from it), that he was willing to harness the forces of nature and to carefully control the events of human history so that at a certain point Jesus would come to live the life you could not live, die the death that you should have died, and rise again, conquering death. Why did God go to this elaborate and sacrificial extent? There is only one answer to the question. God the Father planned it, God the Son was willing to do it, and God the Holy Spirit applied this work to your heart and mine because there just was no other way.3

“When God brought His work of revelation to its climax by sending into the World His Son and His Spirit, He thereby showed Himself to be tri-personal—three Persons in one God.”4

“God exists eternally as one God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each person within the Trinity possesses the same essence and attributes of deity and is co-equal in power and glory.”5

“While each ‘personage’ is distinct in function, each shares together in the same deity and each reflects the divine attributes of the one living God.”6

[T]he Father plans, directs, and sends; the Son is sent by the Father and is subject to the Father’s authority and obedient to the Father’s will; and both Father and Son direct and send the Spirit, who carries out the will of both. Yet this is somehow consistent with equality in being and in attributes.7

“All that can be felt of God is in the Holy Spirit; all that can be known of God is in the Son; and all that is of God is in the Father.”8

 “It requires a whole Trinity to keep a saint of God.”9

To him that sits upon the throne,

The great eternal Three-in-One;

To him let saints and angels raise

An everlasting song of praise.10

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ENDNOTES

(28) SPIRIT, FATHER, Son

            1. “A Guide to Christian Festivals and Dates,” Church of Scotland, 4 July 2021 https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/worship/festivals-and-dates.

2. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Gods Great Plan of Redemption,” Free Grace Broadcaster  236 (summer 2016) : 1.

            3. Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014) February 29th.

            4. J.I. Packer, God Has Spoken (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,1979) 47.

            5. New Hope Church Statement of Fatih, “2. God,” Spring 2021 https://www.newhopechurchofoxford.org/statement-of-faith.

            6. “Holy Spirit,” 2002-2020, All About God, 17 February 2021 https://www.allaboutgod.com/holy-spirit.htm.

            7. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2514.

            8. Horatius Bonar, Words Old and New (Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 1866, 1994) 340.

            9. Bonar, 332.

            10. J. Swain, “To Him That Loved Us, Ere We Lay,” 1838 Gadsby’s Hymn Book, 17 February 2021 https://bethlehemswell.com/hymns/721/.

11. Charles Spurgeon, “God’s Covenant in Eternity,” Free Grace Broadcaster 236 (summer 2016) : 6-7.

            12. Spurgeon.

            13. Spurgeon.

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WEEK 26

THE ASCENSION

“Ascension Day commemorates the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on a Thursday, the fortieth day of Easter although some denominations move it to the following Sunday.1

“The ascension has been included in every important creed of the church because it teaches the enduring complete humanity of Jesus as the only mediator between God and man.”2 “[E]verything that stands between us and God has been dealt with and has been removed.”3

“The ascension is Christ’s return to heaven from earth. Jesus lives, now and forever, as true man and true God to mediate between God and man. He will come again as he left, fully God and fully man.”4

“[T]he God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, according to the working of his great might, raised [Jesus] from the dead and seated him at his right hand” (Eph 1:17,19-20 ESV).

“Jesus ‘sits’ to portray the sufficiency of his saving work on earth; he continues a vital, active ministry as he reigns over all creation.”5

Christ’s new status as the God-Man meant God gave Him privileges He did not have prior to the incarnation. If He had not lived among men, He could not have identified with them as the interceding High Priest. Had He not died on the cross, He could not have been elevated from that lowest degree back to heaven as the substitute for sin.6

Though the full penalty for our sins was paid at the cross, Christ’s priestly work didn’t end there. It continues to this day in heaven, where Christ ‘appears in the presence of God on our behalf’ (Heb 9:24). Our eternal redemption was secured—not simply by Jesus dying on the cross—but through Jesus entering heaven by means of his own blood. In short: no ascension, no salvation.7

“[T]he ascension wasn’t simply Jesus going home; it was Jesus being enthroned.”8

Christ is a teacher that He may be a king; Christ is an example that He may be a king; Christ is a Savior that He may be a king; this is the great end and object that He has in His life, His death, His resurrection, and His second coming—that He may set up a kingdom among the sons of men to the glory of God.9

“Jesus Christ, [is] the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth” (Rev 1:5 ESV). “O King, live forever, and we shall find our life in Your life, and glory in promoting Your glory.”10

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ENDNOTES

(26) The Savior Lives No More to Die

1. Joe Carter, “9 Things You Should Know About the Christian Calendar,” 1 December 2019, The Gospel Coalition, 3 July 2021 https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-know-christian-calendar/.

            2. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2517.

            3. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Great Doctrines of the Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003) I:348.

            4. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2526.

            5. ESV Study Bible.

            6. John MacArthur, One Perfect Life (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012) 501.

            7. Justin Dillehay, “What Jesus’s Ascension Does for Us,” May 30, 2019, The Gospel Coalition 15 February 2021 https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/4-reasons-ascension-matters/.

            8. Dillehay.

            9. Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Sermons on New Testament Men (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications 1994) 115.

            10. Spurgeon.

            11. Isaac Watts, “Christ’s Victory, Death, and Dominion,” 1838 Gadsby’s Hymn Book, 15 February 2021 https://bethlehemswell.com/hymns/168/.

            12. Watts.

            13. Matthew Bridges and Godfrey Thring, “Crown Him with Many Crowns,” 1851, Hymnary, 15 February 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/crown_him_with_many_crowns.

            14. Isaac Watts, “Christ’s Victory, Death, and Dominion,” 1838 Gadsby’s Hymn Book, 15 February 2021 https://bethlehemswell.com/hymns/168/.

            15. Watts.

            16. Samuel Medley, “Because I Live, Ye Shall Live Also,” 1838 Gadsby’s Hymn Book, 15 February 2021 https://bethlehemswell.com/hymns/751/.

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WEEK 22

DOUBTING THOMAS

According to Strong’s Greek lexicon doubt means, ‘to waver, hesitate, be uncertain.’ Doubt is not rejection of belief, but holding a belief with hesitation and uncertainty. Thomas was not a doubter. He didn’t doubt the resurrection of Jesus—he fully rejected it until he could have physical proof.1

Thomas was the kind of guy who wanted to know for himself. He would not let others do his thinking for him. What did Jesus do with such a man? He made a special resurrection appearance for him. He condescended to Thomas and his desire to know for himself. Jesus came to Thomas on his level. He didn’t rebuke him. He didn’t humiliate him. He could see that deep down in Thomas’s heart, he really wanted to know God.2

“Scripture describes at least ten distinct appearances of Christ between the resurrection and ascension. He appeared: . . . (5) to ten of the eleven disciples, Thomas being absent; (6) to the eleven disciples (with Thomas present).”3

Eight days elapsed between the two appearances with Thomas absent and Thomas present; and during that period he found his way back to the group. He had once affirmed that he would die with the Lord (John 11:16); but, like the others, he had failed. However, he came back, and that is what counts.4

“Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (John 20:26-28 ESV).

“With these words, Thomas declared his firm belief in the resurrection and, therefore the deity of Jesus the Messiah and Son of God. This is the greatest confession a person can make.”5

“He came back, and Jesus came back to meet him. [A]nd therein is a promise of hope for all who will return to the Master.”6

“His invitation to all doubters is the same as to Thomas; investigate for yourself! Test the evidence, and like Thomas, be not faithless but believing.”7

“Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God” (Isa 50:10 ESV).

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ENDNOTES

(22) Thomas Was Gone

            1. Sean McDowell, “The Apostle Thomas Was Not a Doubter,” 28 July 2016, Sean McDowell, 12 February 2021 https://seanmcdowell.org/blog/the-apostle-thomas-was-not-a-doubter.

            2. Greg Laurie, “New Knowledge of the Skeptic,” 2 April 2007, Harvest, 12 February 2021 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/new-knowledge-for-the-skeptic/.

            3. John MacArthur, One Perfect Life (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012) 480.

            4. James Burton Coffman, “Commentary of John 20:25,” 1999, Coffman Commentaries on the Bible, 12 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/john/20-25.html#verse-bcc.

            5. John MacArthur, One Perfect Life (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012) 482.

            6. James Burton Coffman, “Commentary of John 20:25,” 1999, Coffman Commentaries on the Bible, 12 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/john/20-25.html#verse-bcc.

            7. “Jesus and Thomas,” Trusting in Jesus, 12 February 2021 https://www.trusting-in-jesus.com/jesusandthomas.html.

            8. “So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe” (John 20:25 ESV).

            9. “Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them . . .” (John 20:26 ESV).

            10. “Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”  (John 20:28 ESV).

            11. Charles Spurgeon, Commentary on John 20:28,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 12 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/john/20-28.html#verse-tbi.

            12. Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown, “Commentary on John 20:28,” 1871-8, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 12 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/john/20-28.html#verse-jfb.

            13. “Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”  (John 20:28 ESV).

            14. Sean McDowell, “The Apostle Thomas Was Not a Doubter,” 28 July 2016, Sean McDowell, 12 February 2021 https://seanmcdowell.org/blog/the-apostle-thomas-was-not-a-doubter.

            15. J. Hart, “A Form of Words, Though E’re so Sound,” Gadsby’s Hymnal #31, 12 February 2021 https://gracegems.org/C/gadsby1.htm.

            16. “Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”  (John 20:28 ESV).

            17.  . . .that disciple, leaning back against Jesus . . .” (John 13:25 ESV).

            18. “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead . . .” (Revelation 1:17 ESV).

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WEEK 21

THE EMPTY TOMB

“Christ’s resurrection is one of the central truths of the Christian faith and the only plausible explanation for the empty tomb. Many theories have been sinfully invented over the centuries to explain away the empty tomb, all of them equally futile.”1

“Though Jesus had predicted His resurrection numerous times, it was more than [His followers] could believe at that point. It would take His showing Himself alive to them by many ‘infallible proofs’ for them to believe.”2 (Acts 1:3)

“That the women came to anoint Jesus’ body on the third day after His burial showed that they, like the disciples, were not expecting Him to rise from the dead.”3 But GOD . . .

Jesus rose. His body had not decayed, for it was not possible for that holy thing to see corruption; but still it had been dead.  And by the power of God—by His own power, by the Father’s power, by the power of the Spirit, for it is attributed to each of these in turn—before the sun had risen, His dead body was quickened. This is the doctrine that is the keystone of the arch of Christianity.4

The guards at the tomb experienced paralyzing fear: “[A]n angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became as dead men”(Matt 28:2-4 ESV).

The angel proclaims the great truth that concerns everyone and will change the universe forever. It is with flight, trembling, astonishment, silence and fear that the women initially receive the angel’s message about God’s action in raising Jesus from the dead.5

But instead of paralyzing fear the women’s fear energized them: “So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy”(Matt 28:8 ESV). “[T]rembling and astonishment had seized them”(Mark 16:8 ESV).

“These graphic words indicate dramatically the soul-shocking nature of the truth those women had just learned.”6

Fear and great joy is: “A natural state of mingled feeling, in view of what they had seen and heard. Fear at what they had seen, joy at what they had heard, and both mingled because the latter seemed too good to be true.”7

“Energizing fear pulled them out of the paralyzed fear of obsession with themselves and into a world of GOD’s surprises.”8 “Suddenly they understood they were not the center of their own existence nor wanted to be!”9 That energizing fear became an excitement in waiting for what GOD would do next!

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ENDNOTES

(21) Energizing Fear

            1. John MacArthur, One Perfect Life (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012) 472.

            2. John MacArthur, 471.

            3. John MacArthur, 470.

            4. Charles Spurgeon, “Resurrection,” Free Grace Broadcaster 235 (Spring 2016) : 3.

            5. Gerald O’Collins, “The Empty Tomb—What Does it Mean?” 21 April 2003, America, The Jesuit Review, 12 February 2021 https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2003/04/21/what-does-empty-tomb-jesus-mean-us-today.

            6. James Burton Coffman, “Commentary on Mark 16:8,” 1999, Coffman Commentaries on the Bible, 12 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/mark/16-8.html#verse-bcc.

            7. Philip Schaff, “Commentary on Matthew 28:8,” 1879-90, Schaff’s Popular Commentary on the New Testament, 12 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/matthew/28-8.html#verse-scn.

            8. Eugene Peterson, Living the Resurrection (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress 2006) 17.

            9. Peterson, 28.

            10. Peterson, 30.

            11. Peterson.

            12. “ . . . the LORD of hosts . . . Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread” (Isaiah 8:13 ESV).

            13. Eugene Peterson, Living the Resurrection (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress 2006) 17.

            14. Peterson, 28.

            15. Peterson, 38.

            16. “And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD” (Isaiah 11:3 ESV).

            17. R. Macculloch, “Commentary on Isaiah 11:3,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 12 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/isaiah/11-3.html#verse-tbi.

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WEEK 19

THE CRUCIFIXION

“And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts” (Luke 23:48 ESV).

“The people who had acted under the influence of the priests now yielded to superior influences and began to experience change of sentiment.”1 “Both Jew and Gentile left Calvary that evening heavy-hearted, self-condemned, and ill at ease.”2

The people who came to behold this melancholy spectacle, were wonderfully affected when Jesus gave up the ghost. They had been insistent, with loud voices, to have him crucified; but now that they saw the face of the creation darkened with a sullen gloom during his crucifixion, and found his death accompanied with an earthquake, as if nature had been in an agony when he died, they rightly interpreted these prodigies to be so many testimonies from God of his innocence. 3

God Himself had foreordained the very minutest details of how Jesus would die. Dying was Christ’s consummate act of submission to the Father’s will. Jesus Himself was in absolute control. Yet it was not Jesus alone, but everyone around Him—His enemies included—who fulfilled precisely the details of the OT prophecies. These events display [God’s] divine soverteignty.4

“[T]he cross ‘disarmed’ the demonic ‘powers’ and forged the final triumph over Satan.”5

[I]f we lived more in the atmosphere of the cross sin would lose its power, and every grace would flourish. When we draw very near to Him and have fellowship with Him in His sufferings we raise a hue and cry against the sin which slew Him, and resolve to be revenged upon it by departing from it ourselves.6

“The cross is that holy implement with which we make war with sin till it be utterly destroyed.”7 And this is how we “make war with sin:” “A disciple must deny himself (die to self-will), take up his cross (embrace God’s will, no matter the cost), and follow Christ.”8

“[P]ut off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:22, ESV).

The believer relives the death and resurrection by putting to death the old self and putting on the new. In one sense this is a past act, experienced at conversion. Yet this is also a present act, experienced in the corporate life of the church. In other words, both at conversion and in spiritual growth, the believer must relive the cross before experiencing the resurrection life. The Christian paradox is that death is the path to life!9

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ENDNOTES

(19) CHRIST Surren’dring All

            1. J.W. McGarvey and Philip Y. Pendleton, “Commentary on Luke 23:48,” 1914, The Fourfold Gospel, 11 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/luke/23-48.html#verse-tfg.

            2. J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 2007) II:481.

            3. Thomas Coke, “Commentary on Luke 23:48,” 1801-1803, Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible, 11 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/luke/23-48.html#verse-tcc.

            4. John MacArthur, One Perfect Life (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012) 436.

            5. Grant Osborne, “Cross, Crucifixion,” 1991, Holman Bible Dictionary, 18 June 2021 https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hbd/c/cross-crucifixion.html.

            6. Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Sermons on New Testament Men (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1994) 106-107.

            7. Spurgeon, 107.

            8. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 1841.

            9. Grant Osborne, “Cross, Crucifixion,” 1991, Holman Bible Dictionary, 18 June 2021 https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hbd/c/cross-crucifixion.html.

            10. J. Lathrop, “Commentary on Luke 23:48,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://pro.studylight.org/commentary/luke/23-48.html#verse-tbi.

            11. W. Landels, “Commentary on Luke 23:48,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://pro.studylight.org/commentary/luke/23-48.html#verse-tbi.

            12. Charles Spurgeon, “Commentary on Luke 23:48,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://pro.studylight.org/commentary/luke/23-48.html#verse-tbi.

            13. James Nisbet, “Commentary on Luke 23:48,” 1876, Church Pulpit Commentary, 11 February 2021 https://pro.studylight.org/commentary/luke/23-48.html#verse-cpc.

            14. J. Lathrop, “Commentary on Luke 23:48,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://pro.studylight.org/commentary/luke/23-48.html#verse-tbi.

            15. W. Landels, “Commentary on Luke 23:48,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://pro.studylight.org/commentary/luke/23-48.html#verse-tbi.