TO OBTAIN AN
INHERITANCE: eis klêronomian:
Spurgeon...
Joy, my brethren, in the glorious
inheritance which is prepared for you, unstained, uncorrupted,
perfectly pure, and therefore to last for ever, because the elements
which produce decay are not in it. It is without sin, and therefore it
shall be without end. What a mercy it is to be “kept by the power of
God”! See, heaven is kept for us, and we are kept for heaven; heaven
is prepared for us, and we are prepared for heaven. There is a double
action of God’s grace thus working in us, sad working for us, unto
bliss eternal. (1
Peter 1- Commentary )
Inheritance
(2817)
(kleronomia
from kleros = lot + némo =
give or distribute) is
literally that which is distributed by lot and so refers to a portion which one receives by lot in a
general distribution
and then, in a more general sense means to possess oneself of, to
receive as one's own, to obtain. In other words it can refer to a
property already received as well as one that is expected. Although kleronomia
is an inheritance which one receives by lot, in the NT the idea of chance
associated with the lot is not found.
Kleronomia is used 14 times
Matthew 21:38 "But when the
vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the
heir; come, let us kill him, and seize his inheritance.'
Mark 12:7 "But those
vine-growers said to one another, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill
him, and the inheritance will be ours!'
Luke 12:13 And someone in
the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family
inheritance with me."
Luke 20:14 "But when the
vine-growers saw him, they reasoned with one another, saying, 'This is
the heir; let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours.'
Acts 7:5 "And He gave him no
inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground; and yet, even
when he had no child, He promised that He would give it to him as a
possession, and to his offspring after him.
Acts 20:32 "And now I
commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to
build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those
who are sanctified. (What does the Word of God do?)
Galatians 3:18 For if the
inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise;
but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.
Ephesians 1:14 (note)
(Holy Spirit) Who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with
a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His
glory.
Ephesians 1:18
I pray that the eyes of your
heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His
calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in
the saints, (What is God's desire for His children in regard to their
inheritance?)
Ephesians 5:5 (note)
For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or
covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the
kingdom of Christ and God. (Note: No inheritance ~ no
salvation.)
Colossians 3:24 (note)
knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the
inheritance. It is the Lord Christ Whom you serve. (What is
associated with the inheritance?)
Hebrews 9:15 (note)
And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order
that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the
transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who
have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
Hebrews 11:8 (note)
By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place
which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out,
not knowing where he was going.
1 Peter 1:4 (note)
to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled
and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, (compare "eternal
inheritance" in Hebrews 9:15!)
See Spurgeon's sermon
related to inheritance -
Psalm 47:4 A Wise Desire
Kleronomia becomes the portion or heritage which one receives by
virtue of birth or by special gift. It can mean a property
already received as well as one that is expected. But here the
inheritance is kept for the believer, not on earth but in heaven, and
is another name for that salvation which is ready to be revealed.
The idea of an inheritance
was much more important to a New Testament Jew than it is to us today.
Our living HOPE
includes this inheritance as begotten (birthed) children who are now
heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ (Ro8:17)
We are included in Christ’s last will and testament, and we share the
glory with Him (Jn
17:22–24).
In 1 Pe 1:5,9, (see note
1 Peter 5:9) this inheritance is called “salvation.” The believer is already
saved by grace through faith in Christ (Ep 2:8, 9, 10 (notes
Ep 2:8;
2:9;
10),
but the consummation of that salvation awaits the return of the
Savior. Then we shall have new bodies and enter into a new
environment, the heavenly Jerusalem.
There are 150 uses of kleronomia in the
Septuagint (LXX) (Gen. 31:14;
Exod. 15:17; Num. 18:20, 23; 24:18; 26:54, 56; 27:7ff; 32:18; 34:2;
35:8; 36:2ff, 7ff, 12; Deut. 2:12; 3:20; 12:9; 19:14; 32:9; 33:4; Jos.
1:15; 11:23; 12:6; 13:1, 7, 14, 23, 28; 15:20; 16:5, 8f; 17:4; 18:7,
20, 28; 19:1, 8ff, 16, 23, 31, 39, 47; Jdg. 2:6, 9; 18:1; 20:6; 21:17,
23f; Ruth 4:5f, 10; 1 Sam. 10:1; 26:19; 2 Sam. 14:16; 20:1, 19; 21:3;
1 Ki. 8:12, 36, 51; 12:16, 24; 21:3, 6; 2 Ki. 21:14; 1 Chr. 16:18;
21:12; 2 Chr. 6:27; 10:16; 20:11; 31:1; Est. 4:17; 10:3; Job 31:2;
42:15; Ps. 2:8; 16:5f; 28:9; 33:12; 37:18; 47:4; 61:5; 68:9; 74:2;
78:62, 71; 79:1; 94:5, 14; 105:11; 106:5, 40; 111:6; 127:3; 135:12;
136:21f; Isa. 17:14; 19:25; 47:6; 49:8; 54:17; 58:14; 63:17; Jer. 2:7;
3:19; 10:16; 12:7ff, 14f; 16:18; 50:11; 51:19; Lam. 5:2; Ezek. 11:15;
25:4, 10; 44:28; 45:1; 46:16ff; 47:14, 22f; 48:28; Joel 2:17; 3:2;
Mic. 1:14f; 2:2; 7:14, 18; Zech. 4:7; Mal. 1:3)
The
Septuagint (LXX) uses often refers to
Israel’s promised possession of the land (cf. Nu 26:54, 56; 34:2;
Joshua 11:23) which was her possession,
granted as a gift from God. As the children of the King, we share His
inheritance in glory (Ro 8:17-note;
Ep 1:14-note;
Ephesians 1:18).
We are included in Christ’s last will and testament, and we share the
glory with Him (Jn 17:22,24).
F B Meyer writes...
Yes, it is an inheritance. It is a
free gift, and yet we have a right to it. We do not ask for it — we
were born into its blessed privilege. The child that lies in yonder
cradle, over which the coronet is emblazoned, may claim his broad
ancestral estates simply by right of birth: and it is on that tenure
that the saints hold heaven. By God’s great mercy we have been
begotten again.
Oh, blessed heritage! Incorruptible! The gnawing tooth of decay cannot
injure it. Moth and rust cannot consume, nor thieves break through to
steal. No spendthrift hand can scatter or over-spend its treasures.
Undefiled! Not a stain on its pure robes; not a freckle on its leaves;
not a taint of miasma on its atmosphere. Into the city entereth
nothing that defileth, or worketh abomination, or maketh a lie. That
fadeth not away! To use the Greek word, it is amaranthine. Some of the
fairest hopes that ever blessed human vision; the most delightful
friendships; the most perfect dreams of delight, have faded and
withered before our eyes. That never can.
It is kept for us, and we are kept for it. It is reserved in heaven
for you.
“I have a heritage of joy, That yet I must not see; The hand that bled
to make it mine, Is keeping it for me.”
Who by the power of God are guarded through faith. — The idea is that
we are being brought through an enemy’s country under a strong
escortas the women and children from Lucknow, between the double line
of English soldiers, till they were safe from the onset of the Sepoys.
We are not in heaven yet; but we are as safe as if we were. (Our
Daily Homily)
WHICH IS
IMPERISHABLE
(incorruptible, will never
perish):
aphtharton:
"an inheritance which is
beyond the reach of change and decay"
Imperishable
(862)
(aphthartos from a
= negates what follows + phtheiro = to corrupt)
means nothing can
corrupt or ruin, not liable to pass away, not subject to corruption,
decay or dissolution and so imperishable. Absolutely nothing can ruin
your eternal inheritance beloved.
In
secular Greek aphthartos described something that had
not been ravaged by an invading army.
Aphthartos is used
7 times in the NT (1x Ro;2x
1Co;1x
1Ti;3x
1
Pe)
and is translated in the as immortal, 1; imperishable, 4;
imperishable quality, 1; incorruptible, 1.
Paul calls God aphthartos writing
in Romans that men
"exchanged the glory of the incorruptible (aphthartos) God for an image in the form of corruptible
man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures."
(see note
Romans 1:23)
This inheritance is
totally unlike any earthly inheritance. A Christian’s inheritance
cannot be ravaged by hostile forces! Sometimes wills are successfully
contested by parties not mentioned in them. Sometimes people are
deprived of an inheritance because of legal technicalities. So many
inheritances vanish away before they are obtained or are quickly
squandered after they are obtained...but not this one.
As John reminds
us
the world is passing away,
and also its lusts but the one who does the will of God abides forever. (1Jn 2:17)
Every stone of earth will crumble,
every column will fall, every arch will collapse. Diamonds chip, gold
wears away, but this inheritance of ours is a truly “imperishable”
commodity and will endure forever.
The psalmist speaks of the
transient nature of earthly riches writing
Surely every man walks about as a
phantom. Surely they make an uproar for nothing. He amasses riches,
and does not know who will gather them. (Ps
39:6)
In this same chapter Peter explains
they had
been born again not of seed which is perishable but
imperishable (aphthartos), that is, through
the living and abiding word of God. (see note
1 Peter 1:23)
Human life is brought into being by
means of seed that must obey physical laws of decay and death, but not
so with the spiritual life implanted by the Holy Spirit Who uses the
Word of God to produce this new life.
Paul uses aphthartos
in the letter to the "sports crazed" Corinthians writing that
everyone who
competes in the games
exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a
perishable wreath (one that will wither), but we an
imperishable (aphthartos - one that cannot wither)." (1Cor 9:25)
(see
notes)
The blessings of heaven that shall
be bestowed on the righteous are often represented under the image of
a crown, here one that is unfading.
Paul uses to aphthartos
describe the believer's transformed, glorified, resurrection body
writing
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but
we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be
raised imperishable (aphthartos - free and immune
from decay), and we shall be changed." (1
Cor 15:51)
Albert Barnes adds that this
inheritance
"It will not fade away and vanish,
as that which we inherit in this world does. The meaning here is, that
the inheritance will be imperishable, or will endure forever. Here, to
whatever we may be heirs, we must soon part with the inheritance;
there it will be eternal." (Barnes' Notes on NT)
J Vernon McGee told the following
story...
I heard of a man who was willed a
beautiful Southern home in Louisiana, but the very night the original
owner died, the house caught on fire and burned down—and there was no
insurance. The wonderful home that he was to inherit went up in smoke.
(McGee,
J V: Thru the Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson
or
Logos)
Compare the following passages that
speak of our inheritance in heaven (Mt 5:12-note;
Mt 6:19, 20, 21-notes,
Lk 12:33) If you want to be further
encouraged study the passages compiled by
Torrey relating to the topic the
Reward
of Saints.
UNDEFILED:
kai amianton:
Undefiled (283)
(amiantos from a
= negates what follows + miaino = to defile by staining, as
with color) means
without contamination, unpolluted, untainted, unstained (stainless),
unsoiled, without uncleanness or impurity. The idea is free from that
by which the nature of a thing is deformed or debased, or its force or
vigor is impaired. In secular Greek writings amiantos
was used to describe things such as unstained hands, heart, flesh or
body. Aeschylus calls the sea simply "the undefiled".
Amiantos is used four
times in the NT (4x:
2x He;1x
Js;1x
1 Pe)
Our inheritance is in perfect condition, free
from any spot of dirt or pollution on it. It has nothing in it that
defiles. Our inheritance is pure as
the driven snow and free from
any effect or influence that would deform and debase it or cause it to
lose its vigor or value. It cannot be cheapened in any way. It cannot
disappoint us in any way.
Matthew Henry adds that
Sin and misery, the two grand
defilements that spoil this world, and mar its beauty, have no place
there.
The undefiled inheritance of the Christian is
in marked contrast to an earthly inheritance, all of which is
corrupted and defiled (2Pe1:4
"the
corruption that is in the
world by
lust.") Corruption cannot
touch our inheritance or ever wear out its freshness, brightness, and
beauty.
The writer of Hebrews uses amiantos
to describe Jesus, writing that
it was fitting that we should have
such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled (amiantos - free
from any moral or spiritual blemish - not even a taint of sin - Not
merely ritual purity [Lv 21:10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15] but real ethical
cleanness), separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens. (He
7:26-note)
Sin always defiles the soul, but from every such
pollution the Lord Jesus was free. And so our inheritance is
undefiled even as is our great High Priest Who is now in
possession of it!
James says real religion is
pure
and undefiled (amiantos)...in the sight of our
God and Father" and is shown to be genuine when we "visit
orphans and widows in their distress, and... keep oneself unstained by
the world. (Jas 1:27-note)
The writer of Hebrews exhorts us to
let the marriage bed be undefiled (amiantos);
for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. (He 13:4-note)
Trench aptly remarks that
“it is a remarkable testimony to
the reign of sin, and therefore of imperfection, of decay, of death
throughout this whole fallen world, that as often as we desire to set
forth the glory, purity, and perfection of that other, higher world
toward which we strive, we are almost inevitably compelled to do this
by the aid of negatives; by the denying to that higher order of things
the leading features and characteristics of this.” (Re 21:1-note Re
22:3-note)
Barnes adds that as amiantos
is
applied to an inheritance,
it means that it will be pure. It will not have been obtained by
dishonesty, nor will it be held by fraud; it will not be such as will
corrupt the soul, or tempt to extravagance, sensuality, and lust, as a
rich inheritance often does here; it will be such that its eternal
enjoyment will never tend in any manner to defile the heart. “How many
estates,” says Benson, “have been got by fraudulent and unjust
methods; by poisoning, or in some other way murdering the right heir;
by cheating of helpless orphans; by ruining the fatherless and widows;
by oppressing their neighbors, or grinding the faces of the poor, and
taking their garments or vineyards from them! But this future
inheritance of the saints is stained by none of these vices; it is
neither got nor detained by any of these methods; nor shall persons
polluted with vice have any share in it.” Here no one can be heir to
an inheritance of gold or houses without danger of soon sinking into
indolence, effeminacy, or vice; there the inheritance may be enjoyed
forever, and the soul continually advance in knowledge, holiness, and
the active service of God." (Barnes' Notes on the Bible)
AND WILL NOT
FADE AWAY: kai amaranton:
Will
not fade away
(263) (amarantos
from a =
negates what follows + maraíno = to fade, dry up,
wither) and thus literally "unfading". It was a word found on several
tombstone inscriptions, which will fade away, but not our inheritance
in Christ.
Our inheritance will not lose its
pristine quality or character.
Fading was often used of flowers that wither and decay
(cf 1Pe 1:24, 25-note) and
the "amaranth" was the name of an unfading flower,
a symbol of perpetuity.
Our inheritance is like that flower and cannot wither, is always in
bloom and never loses its hue or fragrance!
Amarantos describes
"the
loveliness of the heavenly inheritance... as exempt from the blight
which attaches to earthly bloom." (Vincent)
Vincent goes on to add
regarding the difference between
aphthartos, incorruptible, and
amarantos, unwithering, the former emphasizes the indestructibility of
substance, and the latter of grace, and beauty. The latter adjective
appears in the familiar botanical name amaranth. It will be observed
that all of these three epithets are compounded with the negative
particle alpha ("a" which means" not. Archbishop Trench aptly remarks
that “it is a remarkable testimony to the reign of sin, and therefore
of imperfection, of decay, of death throughout this whole fallen
world, that as often as we desire to set forth the glory, purity, and
perfection of that other, higher world toward which we strive, we are
almost inevitably compelled to do this by the aid of negatives; by the
denying to that higher order of things the leading features and
characteristics of this.” (Re 21:1, 4, 22, 23, 27, 22:3, 22:5-See notes on
Re 21:1;
4;
22;
23;
27;
22:3;
5" (Vincent)
Our inheritance can never suffer
variation in value, glory or beauty. It is "time proof". Or as your
investment advisor might say this inheritance is the perfect "diversified
portfolio". You don't have
to fear... the market will never "crash" regarding this inheritance.
Though earthly inheritances eventually fade away & the stock market
make take a major nosedive destroying billions of dollars of wealth in
seconds, the eternal
inheritance of a Christian has no decaying elements. It will never
grow old because it is eternal. It cannot wear out nor can it
disappoint us in any way.
Matthew Henry writes that our
inheritance
fadeth not away, but always retains its vigour
and beauty, and remains immarcescible (unfading, lasting), ever
entertaining and pleasing the saints who possess it, without the least
weariness or distaste.
Barnes adds that amarantos
is properly applied to that which
does not fade or wither, in contradistinction from a flower that
fades. It may then denote anything that is enduring, and is applied to
the future inheritance of the saints to describe its perpetuity in all
its brilliance and splendor, in contrast with the fading nature of all
that is earthly. The idea here, therefore, is not precisely the same
as is expressed by the word “incorruptible.” Both words indeed denote
perpetuity, but that refers to perpetuity in contrast with decay; this
denotes perpetuity in the sense that everything there will be kept in
its original brightness and beauty. The crown of glory, though worn
for millions of ages, will not be dimmed; the golden streets will lose
none of their luster; the flowers that bloom on the banks of the river
of life will always be as rich in color, and as fragrant, as when we
first beheld them. (Barnes' Notes on the Bible)
All of this glorious truth begs the question: Am I really living
as if I truly believe this "precious & magnificent promise"? What do I
need to do to order or re-order my priorities so that they are set on ever lasting rather than ever passing? (cf
Mt 6:21-note)
Amarantos has been found in several inscriptions on
ancient tombs. These inscriptions will fade away, but not this
inheritance in Christ. It will not be like a faded rose, but like the
"Rose of Sharon" (Song 2:1)
Rienecker & Rogers add
that Amárantos
was used of flowers and suggests a
supernatural beauty that time does not impair. The 3 verbal adjectives
(modifying "inheritance") indicate that the inheritance is untouched
by death, unstained by evil, unimpaired by time. It is composed of
immortality, purity and beauty.
RESERVED FOR YOU IN HEAVEN: teteremenen (RPPFSA) en ouranois eis humas:
(Ps 31:19; Col 1:5; Col 3:3;
2Ti 4:8)
Reserved
(5083) (tereo
from teros - a guard or warden) (4 more times
in
2 Peter)
means to keep an eye on, keep something in view, to attend carefully,
or to watch over it. Tereo speaks of guarding something
which is in one’s possession. It means to watch as one would some precious
thing. The idea is to observe attentively, to keep watch over and to
retain in custody.
Tereo -71 times in 64v in
the NAS - Matt. 19:17; 23:3; 27:36, 54; 28:4, 20; Jn. 2:10; 8:51f, 55;
9:16; 12:7; 14:15, 21, 23f; 15:10, 20; 17:6, 11f, 15; Acts 12:5f;
15:5; 16:23; 24:23; 25:4, 21; 1 Co. 7:37; 2 Co. 11:9; Eph. 4:3; 1
Thess. 5:23; 1 Tim. 5:22; 6:14; 2 Tim. 4:7; Jas. 1:27; 2:10; 1 Pet.
1:4; 2 Pet. 2:4, 9, 17; 3:7; 1 Jn. 2:3ff; 3:22, 24; 5:3, 18; Jude 1:1,
6, 13, 21; Rev. 1:3; 2:26; 3:3, 8, 10; 12:17; 14:12; 16:15; 22:7, 9
and is translated in as: continue, 1; guard, 1; guards, 1; heed,
2; heeds, 1; held in custody, 1; keep, 27; keep watch over, 1;
keeping, 1; keeping guard over, 1; keeps, 9; kept, 12; kept in
custody, 3; observe, 3; preserve, 1; preserved, 1; reserved, 4;
watching over, 1.
The literal sense of tereo
is seen in the action of...
the
centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard (tereo) over Jesus" (Mt
27:54)
After the Philippian chief magistrates had Paul and
Silas beaten with rods
and...inflicted many blows upon them, they
threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard (tereo)
them securely (Acts
16:23).
Herod after putting James to death with the sword,
seized Peter and he
was kept (tereo) in the
prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to
God." (Acts 12:5)
(Comment: As an aside, remember that prisons are no match for prayers, however, as both
friend and foe soon learned - read
Acts 12).
As used here in first Peter, the
idea of tereo is that our inheritance is being kept, held, preserved for a
definite purpose and a suitable time. Furthermore Peter uses the
perfect tense
which pictures the reservation made
in past (it already exists) and being held for each believer, awaiting
our arrival at the "box office" so to speak to pick up our tickets! It
won't be like human hotel/motel reservations or airplane reservations
where sometimes we discover to our dismay that the reservations have
not been held for us but have been given to someone else! This won't
happen with the believer's inheritance!
Jesus prayed to His Father
on behalf of His disciples (which includes us) declaring...
I am no more in the world; and yet they themselves are in
the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father (Holy speaks of
One who is infinitely high. Father speaks of One Who is intimately
nigh!),
keep
(tereo -
aorist imperative) them in Thy name, the name
which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are. (John
17:11)
So here we see Jesus pray for the eternal security
of those who had placed their faith in Him. In fact Jesus used the
verb tereo 3 times
in His high priestly prayer --
While I was with them, I was
keeping (tereo) them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded
them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, that the
Scripture might be fulfilled. (John 17:12)
I do not ask Thee to take them out of the
world, but to keep (tereo) them from the evil one (John
17:15)
In a parallel
thought Jude speaks of believers as
those who are the called,
beloved in God the Father, and kept (tereo - preserved, held
firmly,
perfect tense = the permanence of the keeping) for Jesus
Christ." (Jude
1)
In other words, the saints have been kept guarded by God
the Father with the present result that they continue to be the
objects of His permanent, watchful care! Are you wrestling with your
eternal security? Then go back over Jesus' prayer in
John 17 and if you're still not
convinced meditate on the promise in Jude. Better yet commit these
verses to memory so you can recall them to mind when those doubting
thoughts begin to assail you.
In somewhat of an opposite
thought, Peter declares that "the present heavens and earth by His
word are (continuously) being reserved for fire, kept (tereo) for the day of judgment and destruction of
ungodly men" (2Pe 3;7-note) on the day of judgment of ungodly men, the Great
White Throne judgment which will occur at the close of the Millennium,
at which time the wicked dead, fallen angels, and demons will be
judged, to be sent to an eternity of suffering, banished from the
presence of a holy God (Re 20:11, 12, 13, 14, 15-see notes
Revelation 20:11ff)
Paul knowing that his time to leave
had come reminded Timothy "I have fought the good fight, I have
finished the course, I have kept (watched over, heeded,
preserved) the faith." (2Ti 4;7-note) Paul "kept the faith" not only by continuing to
believe in and obey the gospel, but as a good steward by guarding the
standard and the treasure of the gospel which had been entrusted to
him and he had passed on in its original purity to faithful men who
would be able to teach others also.
John writes that
By this we
know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe
His commandments." (1Jn 5:2).
Wuest comments that tereo
in (1Jn 5:2) speaks of a watchful, solicitous guarding and
care of God’s commandments lest we disobey them, with the thought that
we are concerned with His honor and glory and our Christian testimony
to the same. It is a jealous safe-keeping of His commandments lest
they be violated. The words “love” (second occurrence) and “keep” are
in the present subjunctive, speaking of continuous action."
(Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English
reader. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans)
In a similar thought Jude exhorts the
saints to
keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting
anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life."
(Jude
1:21)
Do you have your will and other of
your most valuable possessions in a safe deposit box? Peter is saying
here that Heaven is the safe-deposit box where God is guarding our
inheritance for us under constant surveillance. Furthermore, by using
the
perfect tense Peter speaks of the permanence of this
keeping, for the perfect tense defines a past completed action having
present results. It indicates that the inheritance became ours at a
moment in time (when we believed) and that it is being kept reserved
for those who themselves are now being guarded (next verse). This
phrase could be translated, “has been laid up and is now kept
guarded in safe deposit.” No burglars or bandits can break
through where this inheritance is kept. It will not be given to
someone else by mistake. It cannot be devalued by taxes. And title
insurance is provided.
In our travels we have all arrived
our motel, only to discover that the reservations have been confused
or cancelled. This will not happen to us when we arrive in heaven, for
our future home and inheritance have a guaranteed reservation. The
recipients of the letter were undergoing persecution for Christ's sake
and Peter was informing them of their "reserved" eternal inheritance
so that they might look past their troubles. We all need this ''future
tense'' vision don't we?!
"There are plenty of ways to
lose money, but not many ways to replace it. However, the government
will replace currency that has been waterlogged, burned, torn, or
otherwise marred, provided certain criteria are met. The Treasury will
replace damaged bills if more than half of the bill is identifiable.
If less than half remains, Treasury officials will replace the money
if they are satisfied it was destroyed. Bills that are so damaged that
their value is unrecognizable must be redeemed by the Bureau of
Engraving. We can thank the Lord that no such restoration or
reclamation project will be necessary for our ""heavenly currency,""
the inheritance God has reserved for us in heaven." (Today
In The Word)
1 Peter 1:4 says the inheritance is reserved for us, whereas 1 Peter 1:5
assures us that we are reserved for the inheritance! In this life an heir
may die before an inheritance is divided. But the same grace that
preserves the heavenly inheritance preserves us as heirs to enjoy it.
God’s election of His people can never be frustrated. Those who were
chosen in eternity past are saved in time now and kept for eternity to
come. The believer in Christ is eternally secure (cf Col 3:3-note).
The Land of Cabul - "An
incorruptible inheritance." 1 Peter 1:4
All earthly inheritances are liable to corruption; they are true
gardens of Adonis—where we can gather nothing but trivial flowers,
surrounded with many briars, thorns and thistles.
Oh, the hands, the hearts, the thoughts, the lives—which have been
corrupted by earthly inheritances! Oh, the impure love, the carnal
confidence, the vain boastings, the sensual joys—which have been the
products of earthly inheritances!
If a man's estate lies in money—that may rust, or thieves may break in
and steal it. If a man's estate lies in cattle—they may die, or fall
into the hands of the Sabeans and Chaldeans. If a man's estate lies in
houses—they may be burnt. Witness the recent dreadful fire that turned
London into a ruinous heap! If a man's estate lies in lands—a foreign
enemy may invade them and conquer them.
All earthly inheritances are no better than the cities which Solomon
gave to Hiram, which he called Cabul, that is, 'worthless,
good-for-nothing, displeasing, dirty.'
"But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given
him, he was not pleased with them. 'What kind of towns are these you
have given me, my brother?' he asked. And he called them the Land of
Cabul, a name they have to this day." 1Ki 9:12, 13
Earthly inheritances do but dirt, daub, and dust people. It is only
the heavenly inheritance which is incorruptible.
><>><>><>
J C Philpot...
Whatever you may have in this
world, be it much or little, you must leave. And if you have no other
inheritance than earth gives, where will be your portion in death and
to all eternity? But if you are begotten again unto a lively hope,
even if you do not enjoy the full assurance of faith, you have before
you an inheritance which fades not away. We imagine sometimes how
happy we would be if we had this man's fine estate, or that man's
large property; how much better we would spend it than he does, and
what good we would do with it. And do you think that these men are
happy with all their possessions, and that you would be happier or
better if you had them? It is not in nature to be happy. These rich
men have a canker which eats up all their happiness. And even if free
from the heavier troubles of life, all satisfaction of the flesh fades
away, for possession of itself rubs off all the bloom, and with
possession come all the anxieties and cares connected with it. But
this eternal inheritance "fades not away." The sweetest flowers fade
and are thrown away as they become nauseous to sight and smell. But
there is an abiding freshness, a constant verdure, a perpetual bloom,
an unceasing fragrance, a permanent sweetness in this eternal
inheritance, so that it is never flat or stale, but remains ever the
same, or rather is ever increasing in beauty and blessedness, as more
known, believed in, hoped unto, and loved. (March
1)
><> ><> ><>
Our Daily Bread - Amazing Good
Fortune - Columnist L. M. Boyd recently
described the amazing good fortune of a man named Jack Wurm. In
1949, Mr. Wurm was broke and out of a job. One day he was
walking along a San Francisco beach when he came across a bottle
with a piece of paper in it. As he read the note, he discovered
that it was the last will and testament of Daisy Singer
Alexander, heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune. The note
read,
To avoid confusion, I leave
my entire estate to the lucky person who finds this bottle and
to my attorney, Barry Cohen, share and share alike.
According to Boyd, the
courts accepted the theory that the heiress had written the note
12 years earlier, and had thrown the bottle into the Thames
River in London, from where it had drifted across the oceans to
the feet of a penniless and jobless Jack Wurm. His chance
discovery netted him over 6 million dollars in cash and Singer
stock. How would you like to have been making Mr. Wurm’s
footprints on that San Francisco beach? What a find! Now
let’s compare Jack Wurm’s inheritance with yours if you
are trusting Christ as your Savior. You have become an heir with
Christ. Your eternal future is secure! Think about what you
have. Think about what it will mean to you 100 years from now.
Try to imagine the eternal life, the eternal happiness, the
eternal gratitude, the eternal peace, the eternal profit. The
psalmist said that this “inheritance shall be forever.” Six million dollars doesn’t
even begin to compare with our spiritual inheritance! - M. R. De
Haan
II (Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI.
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
><> ><> ><>
J R Miller Devotional -
The children of God are heirs to a glorious inheritance. It
is not an earthly inheritance, but a heavenly. It is not given
to them in full possession in this world, but is reserved for
them in heaven. They could not receive it here - they have a
pilgrimage to make to get to it.
But while the inheritance is securely kept for them in heaven,
they have the promise of guardianship on the way. They are kept
by the power of God through faith.
All our life in this world is intended to prepare us for
receiving our inheritance. If we have troubles, we need not be
afraid - we may rejoice in them all. If we have dangers, we need
not be dismayed - we have the promise of protection.
Some day we shall see Christ, whom now we love but cannot see.
Heaven is sure for all who are faithful in this world. If we do
God’s will and do not lose faith, we shall be kept in safety
through this world and brought at last home to our inheritance.
><> ><> ><>
OUR INHERITANCE
Untouched by death
Unstained by evil
Unimpaired by time
It will always be new; it will never decay.
No night ever comes; it will always be day.
How it gladdens my heart with joy that’s untold
To think of that land where nothing grows old.
><> ><> ><>
Here is a well done sermon by
Ray Pritchard...
God Guarantees Our
Salvation - 1 Peter 1:3-5
I have two aims for this
sermon: 1) That you should praise God that you have been born
again by God’s mercy, and 2) that you will understand why this
matters so much at this particular moment in history. It’s easy
to see the first aim in the words of verse 3 where Peter
explicitly praises God “who has caused us to be born again.” We
can set this off in two statements:
God has done
something—“caused us to be born again.”
We should do something—declare “Blessed be God” or “Praise the
Lord!”
As John Piper points out in
his sermon on this text (“God’s Great Mercy and Our New Birth,”
October 10, 1993), Peter could have written in the fashion of a
bored and boring college professor: “Today I would like to
lecture on five topics—God’s mercy, our new birth, the
resurrection of Jesus, our inheritance in heaven, and our
security in Christ. Please take out your notebook and your
syllabus, and let’s begin with Point #1.” But he didn’t do that.
Peter begins his letter with an explosive statement of praise:
“Blessed be God” or “Praise the Lord” or, as one translation
puts it, “What a God we have!”
From the Heart to the Heart
The way he begins his letter says something crucial about how we
should present spiritual truth. Biblical preaching always
touches the head and the heart. It is never enough for a
preacher to say, “Well, at least I covered those four verses
today.” We must also convey the truth from the heart to the
heart. This applies both to the way I preach and to the way you
listen. I must not be content with merely imparting facts, and
you must not be content simply to gain biblical knowledge. The
real goal of our time together is life transformation through
God’s Word in the power of the Holy Spirit. We should not be
satisfied with anything less. My favorite definition of
preaching comes from Phillips Brooks who called preaching the
impartation of truth through human personality. That’s excellent
because it means that before I share the truth with others, it
must first impact my own life. Truth that comes through human
personality has the ring of authenticity about it. It’s not that
human personality changes the truth, but truth that transforms
human personality. So here are three questions for you to ask of
the person who preaches to you:
1) Are you telling me the truth?
2) Does it matter to you?
3) Why should it matter to me?
The first is vital because
preaching based on anything other than the truth of Scripture is
dangerous and misleading. The second question reminds us that
truth ought to matter deeply to those who claim to know it and
share it. Third, the preacher ought to make clear why his
hearers should care about the truth he proclaims. In verse 3
Peter is declaring, “This matters!” This text is far more than a
dry recital of biblical doctrine. It’s a call to praise God
because of what he has done for us.
Two More Questions
And this touches how we should listen to a sermon. Here are two
questions to ask yourself every time you hear a sermon:
1) Do I want to know what God says?
2) Am I willing to be changed by the truth I hear?
Peter begins by saying
“Blessed be God” because the truth has profoundly changed his
life. So here’s the bottom line: If at the end of this message,
you are not praising God, then we have both failed somewhere
along the line. Either I have failed to tell you the truth in
the right manner, or you have failed to hear what God is saying.
A few weeks ago I watched a video of Edith Schaeffer who is now
90 years old. In a slow, clear voice, she said, “Truth matters.”
She’s right, of course, and if you’ve read anything by Francis
or Edith Schaeffer, you know that truth matters because it is
the foundation of all of life. God’s truth is always much more
than storing up intellectual information. While speaking at
Mount Hermon Conference Center this week, I met a lady who
showed me a notebook filled with 34 years of sermon notes from
various speakers she had heard. “Here are the notes from 1983,
and these are from 1987,” she said as she flipped through the
pages of her handwritten notebook. There were sermons by
world-famous preachers, and sermons by preachers whose names I
did not recognize. In a way, it was a remarkable achievement,
and I congratulated her on her diligence. It is a personal
treasure worth passing along to her children someday. But I
wanted to ask her this question, “How is your life different for
hearing all that great preaching?” Taking notes is wonderful and
ought to be encouraged, but the end result of all Bible teaching
is the transformation of the mind Paul talks about in Romans
12:2. Sometimes people will say to me, “Pastor Ray, I have all
your books.” I smile when I hear that because almost no one has
all my books. I don’t even have copies of all my books. But it
doesn’t matter anyway. You could have the collected works of
Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Spurgeon, and a dozen other giants of
the faith, and if you want to put my books down in the corner of
the basement, that’s fine with me. But the real question is not,
“Do you own those books?” but rather “Have you read them and
have they changed you at all?” It’s not mere knowledge that
we’re after—it’s a life so transformed that it cannot help but
declare “Blessed be God” and “Praise the Lord!” and “What a God
we have!”
Worship and Preaching
So we must always say that preaching and worship go together. I
met a man at Mount Hermon, an older gentlemen, who said the way
to end the debate over worship is to restructure our worship
services this way (and here I am quoting him exactly): Have 15
minutes of “preliminaries” and then preach for 45-50 minutes. I
chuckled when I heard that because that wouldn’t work in most
churches. And I don’t agree with it anyway. For one thing, when
the body comes together to worship, we need to sing, we need to
pray, we need to share, and we need to read Holy Scripture
together. Second, it’s wrong to call everything that happens
before I preach the “preliminaries,” as if the music and prayer
is the under card and my sermon is the main event. That’s not
biblical. When we come together, it is not that we worship and
then I preach, as if preaching were merely an intellectual
exercise whereby I impart assorted nuggets from the biblical
text. Everything we do from beginning to end is part of the
worship service. We worship through singing the truth, and we
worship through hearing the truth.
It is certainly possible to sing without worshipping, just as
you can preach or listen to preaching without worshipping God.
But that approach produces formalism or ritualism. It’s good to
say, “I went to church.” That’s fine, but did you worship today?
That’s the true question. It is dangerous to go to a worship
service and not worship God when you are there. That produces
cold, dead, dry, proud Pharisees who go through the motions and
whose hearts are never touched and changed by the living God.
May God deliver us from handling great truth in a casual manner.
William Temple, who was the Archbishop of Canterbury, gave us
this stirring definition of worship: “Worship is the submission
of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience
by His holiness, nourishment of mind by His truth, purifying of
imagination by His beauty, opening of the heart to His love, and
submission of will to His purpose.” Worship is the total
response of who we are to all that God is. Seen in that light,
worship is not really a “service” we attend, it’s the ongoing
response of the heart to the revelation of God to us.
Why This Matters
At this point, I want to stop and ask myself a question. Perhaps
someone is reading this and saying, “Are you making too much of
just one phrase?” After all, everything to this point is really
dealing with the first phrase of verse 3: “Blessed be God.” My
answer is no, I’m not making too much of it because this is the
way Peter begins his message so it must be extremely important.
The note of praise is key to the whole book. We know that I
Peter was written to persecuted believers scattered far and wide
across Asia Minor. They were far from each other and far from
Peter himself. They faced numerous “fiery trials” that were
about to grow worse. I find it highly significant that Peter
doesn’t begin by talking about their problems. He begins by
talking about who God is and what he has done for them. God
comes first! And when God comes first, his people instinctively
praise his name. What a crucial insight this is. When we start
with God, we see our problems in proper perspective, but when we
start with our problems, it’s often hard to find God at all.
On Sunday morning, just as the first service was beginning, I
was standing near the east entrance to the sanctuary when a
woman came in. When I asked how she was doing, she told me about
various difficulties in her life, her marriage, and with her
children. But then she smiled and said, “I’m seeing God
everywhere. Almost every day I’m having a God sighting.” To use
a biblical phrase, her countenance was peaceful. She has
discovered the secret that when God is in his proper place, you
see the problems of life in their proper perspective. That’s why
Peter begins with a burst of praise—not a statement of their
problems.
God Did It!
And that brings us back again to Peter’s main point: Praise God
who caused us to be born again! Everything else in verses 3-5
relates to that main idea. Let’s break down the text into five
major statements:
1) We have experienced God’s mercy—v. 3a
2) We have been born again—v. 3b
3) We have a living hope—v. 3c
4) We have a guaranteed inheritance in heaven—v. 4
5) We are kept by God’s power—v. 5
Here’s another way to look at
it:
Theme—Blessed be God who has
done great things for us!
Source—God’s Mercy
Means—New Birth
Evidence—Living Hope
Guarantee—Resurrection of Christ
Goal—Inheritance in Heaven
Assurance—Kept by God’s Power
Result—Salvation Ready to be Revealed
What is the main point in all
that Peter mentions? Verse 3 is very clear: God “who has caused
us to be born again.” In our text Peter explains the great
blessings that are ours through Jesus Christ. And he wraps it
around one particular phrase—“new birth.” God has given us new
birth and now we are new people. That’s what everyone wants—a
new start, a fresh beginning. New birth. What a wonderful idea.
And God has given it to us. Sometimes we talk about a
“born-again” Christian but the adjective is unnecessary. There
is no other kind of Christian. If you aren’t born again, you
aren’t a Christian at all. To be “born again” means you receive
the very life of God in your soul, and as a result, you become a
brand-new person. The key word is “new.” Once you come to
Christ, you are a “new creation” with a new hope, a new life,
new confidence, new joy, and a new destiny.
God “Fathered” Us
Notice how Peter puts it: God “caused us” to be born again.
That’s a very strong statement about God’s sovereign activity on
our behalf. We did not cause ourselves to be born again. You
didn’t “cause” your spiritual birth any more than you caused
your physical birth. Peter looks at our new birth and he
declares, “God did it!” If we do not exult in this truth it is
because either we don’t understand it or we don’t believe it.
Sometimes people want to take credit for their salvation by
saying things like, “I had faith so God saved me.” But that’s
not the way the Bible puts it. Ephesians 2:8-9 reminds us that
“it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not
from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no
one can boast.” Even the faith to believe is a gift from God.
God gave birth to us. He “fathered” us by an act of his own will
(John 1:13). He acted unilaterally on our behalf to rescue us
while we were yet sinners and his enemies, estranged from him,
going our own way, and rebelling against his holy decrees. He
did not save us because he had to, but because he wanted to.
Therefore, he alone gets the glory for our salvation.
How Do You Know You Were Born?
Let me ask a question that may help us grasp this truth. How do
you know you were born? Ponder that for a moment. It’s not as
easy to answer as you might think. You’re here so you must have
been born, right? How else could you be here if you had not been
born? But we can think of other answers:
“I have a birth certificate
that proves I was born.” Those can be faked.
“I have pictures of me as a
baby.” How do we know the pictures are really of you?
“I have a paper with my baby
footprint on it.” Very cute, but your foot is a lot bigger now.
How can we be sure it’s your footprint?
“I have an affidavit signed
by seven people who witnessed my birth.” That’s impressive, but
perhaps they’re all lying.
And so it goes. Once you
discount the outward evidence, how do you prove you were really
born? There’s really only one answer: “I’m alive, and my life
proves I must have been born.” That’s really an unanswerable
argument.
So let me ask a second question: How do you know you’ve been
born again? The same principles apply. You can bring forth
various proofs, such as baptism, walking the aisle, raising your
hand, praying a prayer, joining the church, and so on. Those
outward signs are not useless, but you could do all those things
and still be unsaved. The only real answer is the same one I
just mentioned: “I know I’m born again because I have the life
of God in my soul.” Last Thursday at Mount Hermon, I was asked
to give my testimony at a pancake breakfast at the top of the
mountain. I enjoyed sharing my story because it’s been quite a
while since I’ve talked about how I came to Christ. I told how I
was raised in a Baptist church in Alabama, how I was baptized
when I was nine years old and joined the church. But no one ever
asked if I was truly saved. When I was 16, I encountered some
college students at a youth retreat who truly knew the Lord. I
immediately recognized that they had something I didn’t have. I
had religion but they knew the Lord. I knew all the words and
the verses, but they had the life of God and it showed. So I
told the group last Thursday that after the retreat, I went home
and got alone to think about all that had happened that weekend.
And at 5:15 p.m., Sunday, June 21, 1969, while sitting on the
steps outside my house, I prayed a very simple prayer, “Lord
Jesus, if you are real, come into my heart.” And “something”
happened. Though I didn’t hear angels sing and no outward
miracles occurred, I was aware that “something” had happened to
me. I had been born again by the Spirit of God. That one event
radically changed the course of my life. Now for those who read
these words, I should add that it doesn’t matter whether or not
you can remember the time or the place or if you even can
remember an event like that or not. But what matters is that you
know that you have the life of God in your soul.
Thank You, Lord
We ought to say it this way:
Once I was blind, but now I
can see.
Once I was lost, but now I am found.
Once I had no hope, but now I have a living hope.
Once I was guilty, but now I am forgiven.
Once I was an enemy, but God made me his friend.
Once I was a rebel, but now I am a servant of the living God.
Once I was dead, but now I am alive.
And God did it!
After I preached this on
Sunday morning, a dear lady who has been a Christian for many
years thanked me and said that she has often struggled with
doubts about her salvation. It helped her to know that you don’t
need a time and a place. It is enough to say, “Jesus Christ has
truly changed my life.” That’s what the new birth is all about.
Why does this matter so much? It directly impacts how you tell
the story and who gets the glory. Many years ago we used to sing
a chorus that goes like this:
Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul.
Thank you, Lord, for making me whole.
Thank you, Lord, for giving to me,
Thy great salvation so rich and free.
That’s good theology. Peter would sing it and then he would say
“Amen!”
If you think you accomplished your own salvation, you will no
doubt feel good about yourself. But if you think God caused you
to be born again, your heart will be like Peter’s—bursting with
praise. It’s the difference between a self-made faith and a
God-created faith.
Love Lifted Me
When I got to this point in my sermon preparation, I began to
hum an old gospel song. We sang it often when I was growing up,
but it’s not even in our hymnals any more. Probably the young
folks won’t know it, and the older folks will. It goes like
this:
I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more,
But the Master of the sea, heard my despairing cry,
From the waters lifted me, now safe am I.
Love lifted me! Love lifted me!
When nothing else could help
Love lifted me!
There is wonderful truth in
those words. After the service on Sunday, a man thanked me for
the sermon, and then he said, “I had forgotten what my life was
like until this morning. I had forgotten how angry I was and
what alcohol had done to my life. Thanks for the reminder of
what God has done for me.” We all need that reminder from time
to time, don’t we?
Everything else Peter says in these verses flows from this
truth: God caused us to be born again. Therefore …
We have a living hope – v. 3.
We have a guaranteed inheritance – v. 4.
We are kept by God’s power – v. 5.
Let us then never boast in
ourselves. If we do anything good, it is God who enabled us to
do it. If we accomplish anything great, it is only by God’s help
and God’s grace. Let our boasting be only in the Lord. “I will
extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my
lips” (Psalm 34:1).
Why It Matters Now
At the beginning of this sermon, I mentioned that I had two
aims: 1) That you should praise God that you have been born
again by God’s mercy, and 2) that you will understand why this
matters so much at this particular moment in history. The whole
sermon up to this point has dealt with the first aim. But why
does this matter so much at this particular moment? Remember
that I Peter was written to Christians facing open hostility in
the first century. Because they didn’t follow the status quo,
they were mocked, ridiculed, harassed, marginalized, and some
were imprisoned, and some were put to death. Peter’s message to
them can be summarized this way:
My brothers and sisters, hard times are coming and are already
here. Some of you are in the midst of fiery trials. More are on
the way. Remember what God has done for you. He caused you to be
born again. Your future is eternally secure because it rests on
God himself. No one can take from you what God has given to you.
If you know what God has done for you, everything else is just
details.
Those words could have been written for the summer of 2004.
Around the world there is a great and growing divide between men
and women of faith and the secular powers-that-be. We are called
to be salt and light in a world that does not understand us,
often opposes us, and in some cases actively hates us. Hard
times may be on the way for Christians in the West who have had
an easy road compared to our brothers and sisters around the
world. Here in Oak Park we plan to engage our community starting
five weeks from today over the issue of marriage, the family,
moral purity, same-sex marriage, the hope for change through the
gospel, and love in the place of hatred. We have no illusions
that this will win us the “Most Popular Church” award. But God
has called us, and we move forward by faith, firmly committed to
speaking his truth because it is the only hope for new life.
And for all who read these words, wherever you may be, now is
the time to get your faith firmly planted in the right place.
Now is the time to stand on the rock called God. Now is the time
to put your faith into action. Don’t be surprised when hard
times come. That’s what you signed up for when you became a
Christian.
And cheer yourself with these words:
We have experienced God’s mercy.
We have been born again.
We have a living hope.
We have an inheritance in heaven.
We are kept by God’s power.
That ought to put some steel
in your soul in the days ahead.
In the meantime, let all who read these words bless the Lord and
praise his name. It may be that God is drawing you to himself.
Do not resist, but run to the cross and be saved. Trust in Jesus
as your Lord and Savior and all will be well. May God grant you
faith to believe the gospel. And for all of us, no matter what
may come, stand up and bless the Lord. Amen. (Ray
Pritchard - God Guarantees Our Salvation)
><>><>><>
J H Jowett
Devotional
April The Eighth
MY INHERITANCE IN THE RISEN LORD
1Peter 1:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
IN my risen Lord I am born into “a living hope,” a hope
not only vital, but vitalizing, sending its mystic,
vivifying influences through every highway and by-way of
my soul.
In my risen Lord mine is “an inheritance incorruptible.”
It is not exposed to the gnawing tooth of time. Moth and
rust can not impair the treasure. It will not grow less as
I grow old. Its glories are as invulnerable as my Lord.
In my risen Lord mine is “an inheritance ... undefiled.”
There is no alloy in the fine gold. The King will give me
of His best. “Bring forth the best robe, and put it on
him.” The holiest ideal proclaims my possibility, and
foretells my ultimate attainment. Heaven’s wine is not to
be mixed with water. I am to awake “in His likeness.”
And mine is “an inheritance ... that fadeth not away.” It
shall not be as the garlands offered by men—green to-day
and to-morrow sere and yellow. “Its leaf also shall not
wither.” It shall always retain its freshness, and shall
offer me a continually fresh delight. And these are all
mine in Him!
“Thou, O Christ, art all I want.”
