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The Gospel

The hymn writer Anne Cousin wrote, “Jehovah lifted up His rod; O Christ, it fell on Thee! Thou wast sore stricken of Thy God; There’s not one stroke for me. Thy tears, Thy blood, beneath it flowed; Thy bruising healeth me.” 

Why did Jehovah lift his rod and strike Christ? It was because Christ was our substitute on the cross. This is the heart of the cross. 1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous”. Christ suffered for the unrighteous. This means that the punishment he received was the penalty they deserved. Paul, in 2 Cor. 5:21, tells us that Christ was made sin for us so we could be made the righteousness of God in him. Christ was made sin. 

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God, Our Great Adventure

The Chronicles of Narnia have been a long time favorite for people of all ages. In this story, the Pevensie children are evacuated from London to the English countryside because of World War II. There they stay with Professor Digory Kirke, and in his house, they find a magical wardrobe. It is a door into another world, the wonderful world of Narnia. Full of dwarves, talking animals, and magic. Now, picture with me in your mind a huge mansion with thousands and thousands of rooms, each of them containing a magical wardrobe. Each of these wardrobes gives entrance into fantastic magical worlds full of sights and smells you never dreamed of. Then, let your imagination run a little further and imagine that each of these worlds contains mansions with magical wardrobes that give entrance into more magical lands, and on and on it would go. This is only a very unsatisfactory illustration of the vastness of God’s character and glory. 

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Go to Sleep, God Has the Wheel

I remember driving with my Dad at night when it would rain hard, and as a kid, I was afraid. I thought to myself, “How could he see? What about all of the cars around him?” However, time and time again, I would drift off to sleep in the back of the car. You see, no matter how dark and stormy the road, my Dad had the wheel, and I trusted him.

I'm reminded of a story about the English Reformer martyr, Nicholas Ridley. Nicholas Ridley was a Bishop of London who lived during the times of the Marian persecution of Protestants. The night before Ridley was to be executed, we find recorded that when asked by some friends if he would like them to stay up with him that night, he said, “No, no, that you shall not. For I mind (God willing) to go to bed, and to sleep as quietly tonight, as ever I did in my life.” 

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The Happy God

1 Tim. 1:11 says, “in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.” The phrase “the Blessed God” could be translated as “the happy God.” In John 15:11, Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you.” Have you ever considered the fact that God is happy?

God is not gloomy or sad but is infinitely happy. He has been happy for eternity. The cup of his joy cannot be more full. Above all the uncertainties and anxieties of life, the calm smile of the happy God immutably shines. In what does God’s happiness consist? He is happy with the works of his hands. Psalm 104:31 says, “may the Lord rejoice in his works.” He is happy knowing that everything he has purposed will come to pass. He is happy in his people as Psalm 149:4 says, “For the Lord takes delight in his people.”

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Holy, Holy, Holy

Thousands of years ago, there was a man named Isaiah. During the days of Isaiah, a King named Uzziah reigned and brought Judah to great power and prominence. However, Uzziah became proud, and God struck this proud King with leprosy. On the day the King died, Isaiah 6 records that Isaiah had a vision of God.

In this vision, the Lord is revealed to be a great king, sitting on a throne. The text says that “Above him stood the seraphim.” “Seraphim” are angelic beings whose unique task is to worship and praise God. Their name “seraphim” comes from the word “seraph,” which means “to burn.” The seraphim lived in the center of the fire of God’s glory, and they burned and shone with white-hot heated praise!

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