"Salvation is of the LORD." -Jonah 2:9

"And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel." -Isaiah 4:2 [KJV] By "the fruit of the earth" we may understand that gracious and holy fruit which grew upon the Branch: and it seems to be called "the fruit of the earth," because it appeared on earth when our Lord was there. Thus not only all His words, works, and ways, all the parables, doctrines, precepts, and promises uttered by the mouth of the Son of God in the days of His flesh, but all the benefits and blessings that spring in the way of redemption out of His complex Person, and grow as it were a holy fruit out of Him as the Branch, such as His atoning blood, His glorious righteousness, His dying love, His resurrection and ascension, and His power to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him , may all be considered as "the fruit of the earth," because wrought by Him in and upon the earth, and done in the days of His ...

" With His stripes we are healed." -Isaiah 53:5 [KJV] A great professor once said to me, “I can never conceive how one man can be made righteous, by the righteousness of another.” Thus his carnal reason led him to object against Christ’s righteousness being imputed to us . I replied, Why then do you profess to believe, that your sins can be washed away by the blood of another? He was silent.  “Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.” Too great a mystery for human reason to comprehend: but not too great for divine faith to receive, to the joy of godliness. Sin is a malignant and mortal disease. The soul must die eternally of it, unless healed. This healing the soul, is the pardoning of sin. This is obtained by the stripes of Christ.  You feel the evil of sin; you mourn over the guilt of sin; you groan under the burden of indwelling sin, from day to day. The Spirit of truth, the Comforter, here holds forth a blessed remedy for you to look to, f...

"Sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind." -Luke 8:35 [KJV] Look at this man, my soul, and see whether thou canst find any resemblance to thyself. Before that he heard the voice of Jesus, he was under the possession of the evil spirit. It is said of him, that he wore no clothes. He dwelt in no house, but abode among the tombs. He was cutting himself with stones. No man could tame him, neither fetters nor chains bind him.  Poor miserable creature! And yet, my soul, was not this a true emblem of thy state; and indeed, of every man's state by nature? Had not Satan full possession of thine heart and affections, my soul, before that thou becamest savingly acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ? Did he not lead thee in the pursuit and gratification of thy lusts and pleasure at his will? Thou mightest truly be said to wear no clothes; for so far from having on the garment of Jesus' righteousness, in those days of thine unregeneracy, thou wer...

"In that day shall the Branch of the L O RD be beautiful and glorious." -Isaiah 4:2 [KJV] Where in heaven or on earth can there be found such a lovely Object as the Son of God? "What is thy beloved more than another beloved?" ask the companions of the Bride. But she answers, "My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand." If, then, you have never seen any beauty in Jesus, you have never seen Jesus; He has never revealed Himself to you; you never had a glimpse of His lovely face, nor a sense of His presence, nor a word from His lips, nor a touch from His hand.  But if you have seen Him by the eye of faith, and He has revealed Himself to you even in a small measure, you have seen a beauty in Him beyond all other beauties, for it is a holy beauty, a divine beauty, the beauty of His heavenly grace, the beauty of His uncreated and eternal glory, such as no earthly countenance can wear, nor man or woman, no, not Adam, in all his u...