Daily Bible Notes: December, 4th
The following daily bible notes for every day of the year, are taken from six public domain sources:
- "Morning and Evening" by Charles H.Spurgeon
- "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by John H.Jowett
- "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
- "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by Charles H.Spurgeon
- "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan
- An Evening Meditation from "Searchlights from the Word" by G. Campbell Morgan
1. "Morning and Evening" by C.H.Spurgeon
Morning
I have much people in this city.
Acts 18:10
This should be a great encouragement to try to do good, since God has among the vilest of the vile, the most reprobate, the most debauched and drunken, an elect people who must be saved. When you take the Word to them, you do so because God has ordained you to be the messenger of life to their souls, and they must receive it, for so the decree of predestination runs. They are as much redeemed by blood as the saints before the eternal throne. They are Christ’s property, and yet perhaps they are lovers of the ale-house, and haters of holiness; but if Jesus Christ purchased them He will have them. God is not unfaithful to forget the price which His Son has paid. He will not suffer His substitution to be in any case an ineffectual, dead thing. Tens of thousands of redeemed ones are not regenerated yet, but regenerated they must be; and this is our comfort when we go forth to them with the quickening Word of God.
Nay, more, these ungodly ones are prayed for by Christ before the throne. "Neither pray I for these alone," saith the great Intercessor, "but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word." Poor, ignorant souls, they know nothing about prayer for themselves, but Jesus prays for them.
Their names are on His breastplate, and ere long they must bow their stubborn knee, breathing the penitential sigh before the throne of grace. "The time of figs is not yet." The predestinated moment has not struck; but, when it comes, they shall obey , for God will have His own; they must , for the Spirit is not to be withstood when He cometh forth with fulness of power - they must become the willing servants of the living God. "My people shall be willing in the day of my power." "He shall justify many." "He shall see of the travail of His soul." "I will divide him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong."
Evening
Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Romans 8:23
This groaning is universal among the saints: to a greater or less extent we all feel it. It is not the groan of murmuring or complaint: it is rather the note of desire than of distress. Having received an earnest, we desire the whole of our portion; we are sighing that our entire manhood, in its trinity of spirit, soul, and body, may be set free from the last vestige of the fall; we long to put off corruption, weakness, and dishonour, and to wrap ourselves in incorruption, in immortality, in glory, in the spiritual body which the Lord Jesus will bestow upon His people. We long for the manifestation of our adoption as the children of God. "We groan," but it is "within ourselves ." It is not the hypocrite’s groan, by which he would make men believe that he is a saint because he is wretched. Our sighs are sacred things, too hallowed for us to tell abroad. We keep our longings to our Lord alone. Then the apostle says we are "waiting ," by which we learn that we are not to be petulant, like Jonah or Elijah, when they said, "Let me die"; nor are we to whimper and sigh for the end of life because we are tired of work, nor wish to escape from our present sufferings till the will of the Lord is done. We are to groan for glorification, but we are to wait patiently for it, knowing that what the Lord appoints is best. Waiting implies being ready. We are to stand at the door expecting the Beloved to open it and take us away to Himself. This "groaning" is a test. You may judge of a man by what he groans after. Some men groan after wealth - they worship Mammon; some groan continually under the troubles of life - they are merely impatient; but the man who sighs after God, who is uneasy till he is made like Christ, that is the blessed man. May God help us to groan for the coming of the Lord, and the resurrection which He will bring to us.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
1 Thessalonians 5:5-11
5 You are all children of light and children of the day. We don't belong to the night, nor to darkness,
6 so then let's not sleep, as the rest do, but let's watch and be sober.
7 For those who sleep, sleep in the night; and those who are drunk are drunk in the night.
8 But since we belong to the day, let's be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.
9 For God didn't appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
10 who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
11 Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do.
CHILDREN OF LIGHT
Can we think of a more beautiful figure than this - "children of light"? As I write these words I look out upon a building every window of which is ablaze with light, every room the home of attractive brightness. And my life is to be like that! And I look again and I see a lighthouse sending out its strong, pure, friendly beams to guide the mariner as he seeks his "desired haven." And my life is to be like that! And I look once more, and I see a common road lamp, sending its useful light upon the busy street, helping the wayfarer as he goes from place to place. And my life is to be like that!
And if my soul is all lit up in friendly radiance for others, the light will be my own defence. Light always scares away the vermin. Lift up a stone in the meadow, let in the light, and see how a hundred secret things will scurry away. And light in the soul scares away "the unfruitful works of darkness"; they cannot dwell with the light. Light repels the evil one; it acts upon him like burning flame. Yes, we are well protected when we are clothed in "the armour of light."
But how can we become "children of light," holy homes of protective and saving radiance? Happily, it is not our lot to provide the light, it is ours to provide the lamp. If we offer the lamp the Lord will give the flame.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
December 4th.
O God my Father, quicken my hunger for Thee. If I pray reluctantly, intensify my thirst. May my life be filled with
eager aspiration! May I always be longing for the things of God! Give me Thy peace. Give me Thy joy. May I share in Thy strength!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Psalms 91:4
A condescending simile indeed! Just as a hen protects her brood and allows them to nestle under her wings, so will the Lord defend his people, and permit them to hide away in him. Have we not seen the little chicks peeping out from under the mother's feathers? Have we not heard their little cry of contented joy? In this way let us shelter ourselves in our God, and feel over-flowing peace in knowing that he is guarding us.
While the Lord covers us we trust. It would be strange if we did not. How can we distrust when Jehovah himself becomes house and home, refuge and rest to us?
This done, we go out to war in his name and enjoy the same guardian care. We need shield and buckler, and when we implicitly trust God, even as the chick trusts the hen, we find his truth arming us from head to foot. The Lord cannot lie; he must be faithful to his people; his promise must stand. This sure truth is all the shield we need. Behind it we defy the fiery darts of the enemy.
Come, my soul, hide under those great wings, lose thyself among those soft feathers! How happy thou art!
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Damsel, I say unto thee, Arise.
Mark 5:41
There was no thunder about His voice, no magnificence of majesty, suggesting the assertion of authority, but the sweet whisper of an infinite Love, in response to which the spirit of the little one came back from the Spirit land to its clay tabernacle. He stood in the home evidently Master of death, with a strength and dignity that needed no outward pageantry.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 1:1
This is the very key-note of this book. The phrase refers, not only to the opening section, but to the entire treatise. The wonder of the book is proved by the variety of interpretations which it has received. No wise expositor will be over-confident that his is the one and only correct interpretation. The possibility is that there are elements of truth in all. Whereas there may be, and almost certainly will be, difficulties in every reading of it, we shall be greatly helped and guided if we remember that its real value is that it is "the Revelation of Jesus Christ." Quite evidently the arresting word here is the word Revelation, which is a translation of the Greek word Apokalupsis, which literally means to take off the covering, that is, to uncover, to unveil, to disclose. It is a word with which we have become very familiar. It is found only eighteen times in the New Testament. Thirteen of these occur in the writings of Paul; three in Peter's first letter; one in the Gospel of Luke; and one in the writings of John. This is the only place in his writings where it is found. Thus it stands in all its suggestiveness at the opening of this book, giving us at once the supreme value of the whole. As we read, we see: The Church and the world; the hosts of witnesses to the living God, and the massed and mighty forces in opposition to His government, and these in conflict; but the supreme matter is that of the disclosure to us of Jesus Christ - first in His own glory, then in the grace of His dealing with the Church, and then in the wisdom and might of His government, whereby He establishes the Kingdom of God on earth.
Note: To the best of our knowledge we are of the understanding that the above material, all published before 1926 and freely available elsewhere on the internet in various formats, is in the public domain.