Daily Bible Notes: December, 23rd
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
Friend, go up higher.
Luke 14:10
When first the life of grace begins in the soul, we do indeed draw near to God, but it is with great fear and trembling. The soul conscious of guilt, and humbled thereby, is overawed with the solemnity of its position; it is cast to the earth by a sense of the grandeur of Jehovah, in whose presence it stands. With unfeigned bashfulness it takes the lowest room.
But, in after life, as the Christian grows in grace, although he will never forget the solemnity of his position, and will never lose that holy awe which must encompass a gracious man when he is in the presence of the God who can create or can destroy; yet his fear has all its terror taken out of it; it becomes a holy reverence, and no more an overshadowing dread.
He is called up higher, to greater access to God in Christ Jesus. Then the man of God, walking amid the splendours of Deity, and veiling his face like the glorious cherubim, with those twin wings, the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, will, reverent and bowed in spirit, approach the throne; and seeing there a God of love, of goodness, and of mercy, he will realize rather the covenant character of God than His absolute Deity. He will see in God rather His goodness than His greatness, and more of His love than of His majesty. Then will the soul, bowing still as humbly as aforetime, enjoy a more sacred liberty of intercession; for while prostrate before the glory of the Infinite God, it will be sustained by the refreshing consciousness of being in the presence of boundless mercy and infinite love, and by the realization of acceptance "in the Beloved." Thus the believer is bidden to come up higher, and is enabled to exercise the privilege of rejoicing in God, and drawing near to Him in holy confidence, saying, "Abba, Father." "So may we go from strength to strength, And daily grow in grace, Till in Thine image raised at length, We see Thee face to face."
Evening
The night also is Thine.
Psalm 74:16
Yes, Lord, Thou dost not abdicate Thy throne when the sun goeth down, nor dost Thou leave the world all through these long wintry nights to be the prey of evil; Thine eyes watch us as the stars, and Thine arms surround us as the zodiac belts the sky. The dews of kindly sleep and all the influences of the moon are in Thy hand, and the alarms and solemnities of night are equally with Thee. This is very sweet to me when watching through the midnight hours, or tossing to and fro in anguish. There are precious fruits put forth by the moon as well as by the sun: may my Lord make me to be a favoured partaker in them.
The night of affliction is as much under the arrangement and control of the Lord of Love as the bright summer days when all is bliss. Jesus is in the tempest. His love wraps the night about itself as a mantle, but to the eye of faith the sable robe is scarce a disguise. From the first watch of the night even unto the break of day the eternal Watcher observes His saints, and overrules the shades and dews of midnight for His people’s highest good.
We believe in no rival deities of good and evil contending for the mastery, but we hear the voice of Jehovah saying, "I create light and I create darkness; I, the Lord, do all these things."
Gloomy seasons of religious indifference and social sin are not exempted from the divine purpose. When the altars of truth are defiled, and the ways of God forsaken, the Lord’s servants weep with bitter sorrow, but they may not despair, for the darkest eras are governed by the Lord, and shall come to their end at His bidding. What may seem defeat to us may be victory to Him. "Though enwrapt in gloomy night, We perceive no ray of light; Since the Lord Himself is here, ‘Tis not meet that we should fear."
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Matthew 2:1-12
1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,
2 "Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him."
3 When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ would be born.
5 They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is written through the prophet,
6 'You Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no way least amongst the princes of Judah: for out of you shall come a governor, who shall shepherd my people, Israel.' "
7 Then Herod secretly called the wise men, and learnt from them exactly what time the star appeared.
8 He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, "Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him."
9 They, having heard the king, went their way; and behold, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, until it came and stood over where the young child was.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.
11 They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 Being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.
THE LORD OF THE STUDENTS
And so the good news came to "wise men," shall we say to students, busying themselves with the vast and intricate problems of the mind. And the evangel offered the students mental satisfaction, bringing the interpreting clue, beaming upon them with the guiding ray which would lead them into perfect noon.
Yes, our wise men must find the key of wisdom in the Lord. In a wider sense than the meaning of the original word it is true that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." To seek mental satisfactions and leave out Jesus is like trying to make a garden and leave out the sun. "Without Me ye can do nothing," not even in the unravelling of the problems which beset and besiege the mind.
If my mental pilgrimage is to be as "a shining light shining more and more even unto perfect day," I must begin with Jesus, and pay homage to His Kingly and incomparable glory. I must lay my treasures at His feet, "gold, and frankincense, and myrrh." Then will He lead me "into all truth," and "the truth shall make me free."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
December 23rd.
My Father in Heaven, may the glory of Thy world proclaim to me the possibility of being equally glorious!
May I remember that what Thou canst do for flowers Thou canst do for me! May I not see Thy miracles in the world of
Nature and deny Thy power in the world of spirit!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and
for the deep that coucheth beneath.
Deuteronomy 33:13
We may be rich in such things as Joseph obtained, and we may have them in a higher sense. Oh for "the precious things of heaven"! Power with God, and the manifestation of power from God, are most precious. We would enjoy the peace of God, the joy of the Lord, the glory of our God. The benediction of the three divine Persons in love, and grace, and fellowship we prize beyond the most fine gold. The things of earth are as nothing in preciousness compared with the things of heaven.
"The dew." How precious is this! How we pray and praise, when we have the dew! What refreshing, what growth, what perfume, what life there is in us when the dew is about! Above all things else, as plants of the Lord's own right hand planting, we need the dew of his Holy Spirit.
"The deep that coucheth beneath." Surely this refers to that unseen ocean underground which supplies all the fresh springs which make glad the earth. Oh to tap the eternal fountains! This is an unspeakable boon; let no believer rest till he possesses it. The all-sufficiency of Jehovah is ours for ever. Let us resort to it now.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance?...They that tempt God are even delivered.
Malachi 3:14,15
When man begins to excuse sin, and to say that it does not matter so much, that God delights in them that do evil, that there is no judgment; then he is committing high treason.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Revelation 20:4
That is the brief but perfect account of the thousand years which we have come to describe as the "millennium." It is an arresting fact that in this wonderful book so little is said about that period. At the most only three verses deal with it. At the seventh verse we are at once beyond it. The glorious pictures of the last chapters are not those of the millennium, but of events following it, and a still more glorious age which is to succeed it. This is not to undervalue that period of a thousand years, but it is to draw attention to the fact that it is neither final nor complete. John was only given one version of it. He saw it as a period in which Satan would be bound, and Christ would reign in association with those who had suffered for His name, and had refused the mark of the beast. For any further interpretation of that period, we have to consult the writings of the old Hebrew prophets. The brief description, however, is sufficient to enable us to realize how wonderful a time it will be. Evil will not be absent from the earth, but it will no longer be in the ascendant, even to outward appearance. Its fountain head and centre, described here fully by John as "the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan," will be bound, denied access to men. Men will be left to make their choice between good and evil apart from the seductions of evil spirits. What an age it will be for the preaching of the Gospel, and surely the preachers will be God's ancient people Israel! It will be the final period of preparation for the ultimate and perfected Kingdom.
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.