Milo

8 JUNE

Comfort in Zion

‘Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.’ Isaiah 40:1–2
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Jeremiah 31:10–14

If, as some eminent commentators suppose, the prophet in this passage had any reference to the restoration of Babylon, it is certain his principal object was much more important. Indeed the history of their return from captivity and their state afterwards seems not to correspond with the magnificent images here used. Though they rebuilt their city and temple, they met with many insults, and much opposition, and continued a tributary and dependent people. I shall therefore waive the consideration of this sense. The prophet’s thoughts seem fixed upon one august personage who was approaching to enlighten and bless a miserable world, and before he describes the circumstances of his appearances, he is directed to comfort the mourners in Zion with an assurance that this great event was sufficient to compensate them for all their sorrows. The state of Jerusalem, the representative name of the people or church of God, was very low in Isaiah’s time. How different from the time of Solomon! Iniquity abounded, security prevailed, and judgements were impending. The words of many were stout against the Lord, but there were a few who feared him, whose eyes affected their hearts, and who mourned the evils they could not prevent. These and these only were strictly the Lord’s people, and to these the message of comfort was addressed: Speak to Jerusalem comfortably, speak to her heart, to her case—there is an answer to all her desires, a balm for all her griefs, in this one consideration: the Messiah is at hand.

FOR MEDITATION: It is needful that we sometimes meet with sharp and painful changes to teach us, by our own experience, what we cannot so sensibly learn from books or sermons, that this is not our rest—that we are and must be dependent upon him, to whom we belong.… But the light of his countenance, which is better than life itself, and which may more especially be hoped for when the streams of creature comfort run low or fail, is a sovereign balm to every wound, a cordial for every care.

SERMON SERIES: MESSIAH, NO. 1 [1/4], ISAIAH 40:1–2

June 7th

Don’t slack off

Whatever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do. John 14:13.

Am I fulfilling this ministry of the interior? There is no snare, or any danger of infatuation or pride in intercession, it is a hidden ministry that brings forth fruit whereby the Father is glorified. Am I allowing my spiritual life to be frittered away, or am I bringing it all to one centre—the Atonement of my Lord? Is Jesus Christ more and more dominating every interest in my life? If the one central point, the great exerting influence in my life, is the Atonement of the Lord, then every phase of My life will bear fruit for Him.
I must take time to realize what is the central point of power. Do I give one minute out of sixty to concentrate upon it? “If ye abide in Me”—continue to act and think and work from that centre—“ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” Am I abiding? Am I taking time to abide? What is the greatest factor of power in my life? Is it work, service, sacrifice for others, or trying to work for God? The thing that ought to exert the greatest power in my life is the Atonement of the Lord. It is not the thing we spend the most time on that moulds us most; the greatest element is the thing that exerts most power. We must determine to be limited and concentrate our affinities.
“Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do.” The disciple who abides in Jesus is the will of God, and his apparently free choices are God’s fore-ordained decrees. Mysterious? Logically contradictory and absurd? Yes, but a glorious truth to a saint.

June 7

“Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night.” (Job 35:10)

DO you have sleepless nights, tossing on the hot pillow, and watching for the first glint of dawn? Ask the Divine Spirit to enable you to fix your thoughts on God your Maker, and believe that He can fill those lonely, dreary hours with song.
Is yours the night of bereavement? Is it not often at such a time that God draws near, and assures the mourner that the Lord has need of the departed loved one, and called “the eager, earnest spirit to stand in the bright throng of the invisible, liberated, radiant, active, intent on some high mission”; and as the thought enters, is there not the beginning of a song?
Is yours the night of discouragement and fancied or actual failure? No one understands you, your friends reproach; but your Maker draws nigh, and gives you a song—a song of hope, the song which is harmonious with the strong, deep music of His providence. Be ready to sing the songs that your Maker gives.—Selected.

“What then? Shall we sit idly down and say
The night hath come; it is no longer day?
Yet as the evening twilight fades away,
The sky is filled with stars, invisible to day.”

The strength of the vessel can be demonstrated only by the hurricane, and the power of the Gospel can be fully shown only when the Christian is subjected to some fiery trial. If God would make manifest the fact that “He giveth songs in the night,” He must first make it night.—William Taylor.

7 JUNE

God’s promise for believers

‘… For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.’ Genesis 13:15–17
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Colossians 1:9–14

The promise: to thee and to thy seed. This was Israel’s security. How often did they forfeit it by disobedience, but it was promised before to Abraham. Herein we have a type of a better covenant with Jesus, which is sure to all his seed. What Lot had was by choice, but Abraham’s by promise—therefore his right was preferred when the other’s was lost. There is no security like the promise of God.
The command: arise and walk. The promise was not completely fulfilled to Abraham, for it terminated in his seed. In the meantime he was to take a survey, and by faith call it all his own. Thus believers should contemplate the full meaning of gospel promises respecting time and eternity and say, The lines are fallen to me in a pleasant place [Psalm 16:6]. Whatever the Lord has said shall be fulfilled. What an inheritance then is the believer’s? The Lord is his Sun and Shield [Psalm 84:11]. Thy Maker is thy Husband [Isaiah 54:5]. The Lord is thy portion [Lamentations 3:24] and heaven is thy home.
FOR MEDITATION:
‘Thou hast my promise, hold it fast,
‘A pillar there, no more to move,
The trying hour will soon be past;
Inscribed with all my names of love;
Rejoice, for lo! I quickly come,
A monument of mighty grace,
To take thee to my heavenly home.
Thou shalt for ever have a place.’

         Such is the conqueror’s reward,
         Prepared and promised by the LORD!
         Let him that has the ear of faith,
         Attend to what the Spirit saith.

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 26 [2/2], GENESIS 13:14–18

June 6th

Work out what God works in

Work out your own salvation. Phil. 2:12–13 .

Your will agrees with God, but in your flesh there is a disposition which renders you powerless to do what you know you ought to do. When the Lord is presented to the conscience, the first thing conscience does is to rouse the will, and the will always agrees with God. You say—‘But I do not know whether my will is in agreement with God.’ Look to Jesus and you will find that your will and your conscience are in agreement with Him every time. The thing in you which makes you say ‘I shan’t’ is something less profound than your will; it is perversity, or obstinacy, and they are never in agreement with God. The profound thing in man is his will, not sin. Will is the essential element in God’s creation of man: sin is a perverse disposition which entered into man. In a regenerated man the source of will is almighty, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” You have to work out with concentration and care what God works in; not work your own salvation, but work it out, while you base resolutely in unshaken faith on the complete and perfect Redemption of the Lord. As you do this, you do not bring an opposed will to God’s will, God’s will is your will, and your natural choices are along the line of God’s will, and the life is as natural as breathing. God is the source of your will, therefore you are able to work out His will. Obstinacy is an unintelligent ‘wadge’ that refuses to be enlightened; the only thing is for it to be blown up with dynamite, and the dynamite is obedience to the Holy Spirit.
Do I believe that Almighty God is the source of my will? God not only expects me to do His will, but He is in me to do it.