Daily Bible Notes: March, 26th
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
Jesus said unto them, If ye seek Me, let these go their way.
John 18:8
Mark, my soul, the care which Jesus manifested even in His hour of trial, towards the sheep of His hand! The ruling passion is strong in death. He resigns Himself to the enemy, but He interposes a word of power to set His disciples free. As to Himself, like a sheep before her shearers He is dumb and opened not His mouth, but for His disciples’ sake He speaks with Almighty energy. Herein is love, constant, self-forgetting, faithful love. But is there not far more here than is to be found upon the surface?
Have we not the very soul and spirit of the atonement in these words? The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep, and pleads that they must therefore go free. The Surety is bound, and justice demands that those for whom He stands a substitute should go their way. In the midst of Egypt’s bondage, that voice rings as a word of power, "Let these go their way ." Out of slavery of sin and Satan the redeemed must come. In every cell of the dungeons of Despair, the sound is echoed, "Let these go their way ," and forth come Despondency and Much-afraid. Satan hears the well-known voice, and lifts his foot from the neck of the fallen; and Death hears it, and the grave opens her gates to let the dead arise. Their way is one of progress, holiness, triumph, glory, and none shall dare to stay them in it. No lion shall be on their way, neither shall any ravenous beast go up thereon. "The hind of the morning" has drawn the cruel hunters upon himself, and now the most timid roes and hinds of the field may graze at perfect peace among the lilies of his loves. The thunder-cloud has burst over the Cross of Calvary, and the pilgrims of Zion shall never be smitten by the bolts of vengeance. Come, my heart, rejoice in the immunity which thy Redeemer has secured thee, and bless His name all the day, and every day.
Evening
When He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.
Mark 8:38
If we have been partakers with Jesus in His shame, we shall be sharers with Him in the lustre which shall surround Him when He appears again in glory. Art thou, beloved one, with Christ Jesus? Does a vital union knit thee to Him? Then thou art to-day with Him in His shame; thou hast taken up His cross, and gone with Him without the camp bearing His reproach; thou shalt doubtless be with Him when the cross is exchanged for the crown. But judge thyself this evening; for if thou art not with Him in the regeneration, neither shalt thou be with Him when He shall come in His glory. If thou start back from the black side of communion, thou shalt not understand its bright, its happy period, when the King shall come, and all His holy angels with Him . What! are angels with Him ? And yet He took not up angels - He took up the seed of Abraham. Are the holy angels with Him ? Come, my soul, if thou art indeed His own beloved, thou canst not be far from Him. If His friends and His neighbours are called together to see His glory, what thinkest thou if thou art married to Him? Shalt thou be distant? Though it be a day of judgment, yet thou canst not be far from that heart which, having admitted angels into intimacy, has admitted thee into union. Has He not said to thee, O my soul, "I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness"? Have not His own lips said it, "I am married unto thee, and My delight is in thee"?
If the angels, who are but friends and neighbours, shall be with Him, it is abundantly certain that His own beloved Hephzibah, in whom is all His delight, shall be near to Him, and sit at His right hand. Here is a morning star of hope for thee, of such exceeding brilliance, that it may well light up the darkest and most desolate experience.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
John 18:28-38
28 They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. It was early, and they themselves didn't enter into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.
29 Pilate therefore went out to them, and said, "What accusation do you bring against this man?"
30 They answered him, "If this man weren't an evildoer, we wouldn't have delivered him up to you."
31 Pilate therefore said to them, "Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law." Therefore the Jews said to him, "It is illegal for us to put anyone to death,"
32 that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what kind of death he should die.
33 Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, called Jesus, and said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?"
34 Jesus answered him, "Do you say this by yourself, or did others tell you about me?"
35 Pilate answered, "I'm not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?"
36 Jesus answered, "My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn't be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here."
37 Pilate therefore said to him, "Are you a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice."
38 Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" When he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no basis for a charge against him.
THE KING OF Kings
What a strange King our Lord appears, claiming mystic sovereignty, and yet betrayed by a false friend!
And yet, even in His apparent subjection His majestic kingliness stands revealed. When I watch the demeanours of Pilate and Jesus, I can see very clearly who it is who is on the throne; Pilate wears the outer trappings of royalty, but my Lord's is "the power and the glory." Pilate fusses about in a little "brief authority," but my Lord stands possessed of a serene dominion. Even at Pilate's judgment bar Jesus is the King.
But His kingdom is "not of this world." And therefore this King is unlike every other King. He seeks His possessions not by fighting, but by "lighting"; not by coercion, but by constraint. His servants do not go forth with swords, but with lamps; not to drive the peoples, but to lead them. His visible throne is a cross, and His conquests are made in the power of sacrifice.
And so His armaments are the Truth, and the Truth alone. "For this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the Truth." When the Truth wins and wooes, the triumph is lasting. Garlands won by the sword perish before the evening. To be one of the King's subjects is to share His nature. "Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
March 26th.
O God, may all my moments and all my days be lived to Thy glory! May this be the brightest of the days - the one most
abounding in spiritual fruit! Let the fruit of the light be in all goodness.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing.
Psalms 41:3
Remember that this is a promise to the man who considers the poor. Are you one of these? Then take home the text, but not else.
See how in the hour of sickness the God of the poor will bless the man who cares for the poor! The everlasting arms shall stay up his soul as friendly hands and downy pillows stay up the body of the sick. How tender and sympathizing is this image; how near it brings our God to our infirmities and sicknesses! Whoever heard this of the old heathen Jove, or of the gods of India, or China? This is language peculiar to the God of Israel; he it is who deigns to become nurse and attendant upon good men. If he smites with one hand, he sustains with the other. Oh, it is blessed fainting when one falls upon the Lord's own bosom, and is borne thereon! Grace is the best of restoratives; divine love is the safest stimulant for a languishing patient; it makes the soul strong as a giant, even when the bones are breaking through the skin. No physician like the Lord, no tonic like his promise, no wine like his love.
If the reader has failed in his duty to the poor, let him see what he is losing, and at once become their friend and helper.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Ye must be born anew.
John 3:7
Times have not altered human nature, nor have they changed the essential character of Christianity.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Him Who worketh all things after the counsel of His will.
Ephesians 1:11
It will readily be conceded that in this letter Paul reached the highest level of his teaching concerning the Church, as he reached that concerning the Christ in the Colossian letter. These particular words occur in the opening movement of the letter, in which he was showing how the Church was the outcome of a purpose and plan of God from before the foundation of the world. God had chosen its members to "be holy and without blemish before Him in love"; and in order that this purpose should be realized, He foreordained them to "adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself." The whole conception is stupendous, and as we read it in the light of what we know of our own weakness and waywardness of will, we wonder more and more. It is when that wonder threatens us with hopelessness that these words come to reassure us. Our God is a God Who not only wills, He works; and He works according to His will. Notice how the thought moves backward, until it reaches the will of God. That is the ultimate reach. Next in order is His counsel, and that is more than the will of God as desire. The word counsel stands for deliberate planning and arranging, in which the ways and means of carrying out the will are considered and provided for. Finally, when the counsel is complete, God works. He does in His own might, all that He has planned to do in order that His purpose may be realized. That is the place of our assurance and confidence:-
- He wills that I should holy be;
What can Withstand His will?
The counsel of His grace in me
He surely will fulfil.
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.