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

"With the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God." -I Thessalonians 4:16 [KJV]     Before I drop into the arms of sleep, I would call upon my soul to ponder these words. I know not, each night, when retiring to rest, whether my next awakening may not be "with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God." As what may be my state in this particular, and hath been the state of many (for the hour of a man's death is to all intents and purposes the day of judgment) becomes an infinitely momentous concern; how can I better close the day and the month together, than by a few moments consideration of the solemn event? What is meant by "the voice of the archangel?"     I do not recollect the name of the archangel being mentioned any where beside in scripture, except Jude 9 and here, as well as there, the person spoken of is but one. We have no authority to say, archangels; yea, it should seem, from what the apostle Jude hath said concerni...

"The Spirit of the L ORD spake by me, and His word was in my tongue."   -II Samuel 23:2 [KJV] We read that "no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation;" that is to say, it is the public property of the whole family of Jehovah; and "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost;" the Holy Ghost so influencing and working upon their minds as to make them bring forth out of their hearts that which should be suitable to the whole family of God. For instance, we read in Psalm 51, David's confession of sin; but David's confession of sin applies to every soul that is condemned on account of sin. When Job, too, poured out his piteous complaints, he was speaking; though he might know it not, for the children of God to the remotest time.  So when the Lord said to Joshua, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee," it was a promise specially given to Joshua; it seemed to be confined to that individual; it appeare...

"Let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." -I Corinthians 5:8 [KJV] My soul, hast thou duly considered the unsuitableness of all leaven to mix up with the unleavened bread of the gospel of Jesus? Whatever sours, and gives a principle of taint to the mind, is indeed a leaven, carefully to be avoided. And "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump!" So that it was expressly enjoined, in the divine precept of the law, on the passover, that "there should be no leaven found in their houses; the soul that did eat of it was to be cut off from the congregation." Exodus 12:19 . Sweet instruction, couched under the prohibition! With Jesus there is to be no mixture; nothing of creature leaven, of self-will, or self-righteousness to mingle.   My soul, thou hast been at the gospel feast, and sat with Jesus at His table. Surely thou hast kept the feast then, as h...

  "O L ORD , correct me, but with judgment; not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing."  - Jeremiah 10:24 [KJV] "Fury is not in Me," saith the Lord. No; there is no wrath in the bosom of God against the persons of His people. They are for ever "accepted in the Beloved," and stand in Him before the throne of God without spot or wrinkle; but there is displeasure against their sins; and this displeasure their kind and gracious Father makes them feel when He withdraws from them the light of His countenance, and sends His keen reproofs and sharp rebukes into their conscience. But these very "judgments" help them (Psalm 119:175) , for they lead to deep searchings of heart; and as the same blessed Spirit who sets home the reproof communicates therewith repentance, they sorrow after a godly manner, and this godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of (II Corinthians 7:10) .   If, then, our afflictions, crosses, losses, ...

  Jesus our Satisfaction. by   D.G. Miles McKee If we were smart, we would line up with the Father’s thinking about the Lord Jesus. In that way, we would be satisfied with Christ and thus place ourselves in the very centre of the will of God. (John 20:31).   The Scriptures declare that those who rest on Christ are doing God’s work (John 6:29). The first thing, therefore, that the Father asks of us is to come into agreement with Him concerning His Son. Nothing more is required, but nothing less will do! The Father will not receive us on any other basis than that of the sufficiency of His Son. Are you satisfied with the Lord Jesus? “But”, says someone,” I must be a righteous person within myself before God will accept me!” Well actually … NO!   Our acceptance is not grounded on our worthiness, but on Christ‘s.  The gospel concerns, "His Son" (Romans 1:1-3). The gospel is, therefore, not about us and about how internally holy we can become.  Indeed, satisfacti...

"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth, say, Come. And let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." -Revelation 22:17 [KJV] My soul, doth not the evening bell, which calleth to the ordinance, in all its melodious sounds, seem to express these gracious invitations? Wilt thou not attend? Private meditation is indeed sweet; but public ordinances are of more avail. "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob!" What a blessed sight is it to see the house of God well filled! What a refreshment to my poor weary sin-sick soul, to hear Jesus in His word saying, "Come unto Me, all ye that are weary, and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." And every part and portion of the service proclaims the gospel cry:— "Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money, and...

"God is the L ORD , which hath shewed us light."   - Psalm 118:27 [KJV] If God the Lord hath shewed us light, He hath shewed us light both with respect to Himself and with respect to ourselves. He hath shewed us with respect to Himself who He is; He hath stamped something of Himself upon our consciences; He hath discovered something of His glorious character to our souls; and brought us, under the operation of the Holy Spirit, into His presence, there to receive communications of life out of Christ's inexhaustible fulness. Thus in this light we see and feel that we have to do with a heart-searching God; in this light we see and feel that we have to do with a sin-hating God; with a God who will not be mocked nor trifled with.  In this light we see and feel that every secret of our heart, every working of our mind is open before Him; and in this light, so far as He is pleased to manifest it, we see what we are in His holy and pure eyes—a mass of sin, filth, and corruption, ...

"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." -Philippians 3:12 [KJV]   My soul! Take the apostle for an example in thine evening's meditation. Here he freely and fully confesseth himself, after all his attainments in the life of grace, to be far short of what he longed to attain. And observe the aim of the apostle: all his pursuit, and all his desire was, like an arrow shot at a mark, to apprehend Christ, as Christ had first apprehended him: to grasp Jesus, as the Lord Jesus had held, and did hold Him.    Happy desire! Happy pursuit! And blessed mark of grace! For let the Lord have given out to the soul ever so largely, there is more to give out, more to be received, more to be enjoyed. And the Holy Ghost, who is leading a child of God out of himself, more and more, to lead him more and more to the enjoyment of Jesus, is sweetly training that precious...

"And they that use this world, as not abusing it; for the fashion of this world passeth away."   -I Corinthians 7:31 [KJV] Nothing is real but that which has an abiding substance. Health decays, strength diminishes, beauty flees the cheek, sight and hearing grow dim, the mind itself gets feeble, riches make to themselves wings and flee away, children die, friends depart, old age creeps on, and life itself comes to a close. These fugitive, transitory things are then mere shadows; there is no substance, enduring substance in them. Like our daily food and raiment, house and home, they support and solace us in our journey through life. But there they stop; when life ends, they end with it.   But real religion—and by this I understand the work of God upon the soul—abides in death and after death, goes with us through the dark valley, and lands us safe in a blessed eternity. It is, therefore, the only thing in this world of which we can say that it is real. Is not this John's t...

"The Urim and the Thummim." -Exodus 28:30 [KJV] There is somewhat very interesting in this account of "the Urim and the Thummim;" though in the present distance of time, we can at the best form nothing more than conjectures as to what it was. But through grace, and the teaching of the Holy Ghost, we can have clear views of what it meant. The general acceptations of the Hebrew words, are, lights and perfections . And as Aaron, as high priest, became a lively type of Christ, so, by bearing on his breast-plate "the Urim and the Thummim," there can be no difficulty in beholding Jesus represented as the light and perfection of His people. And as Aaron bare all the names of the people upon his breast, where "the Urim and Thummim" were worn; how delightful is it to see Jesus thus represented, as bearing all the persons of His redeemed, in His own light and perfection, when He goes in before the presence of God for us!   Sweet and precious thought to...

"The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."   -I Corinthians 2:10 [KJV] The Spirit of God which dwelleth in a man, making his body His temple, searcheth the deep things of God; for there is in these deep things a most heavenly treasure, which is to be searched into that it may be found. What depths do we sometimes see in a single text of Scripture as opened to the understanding, or applied to the heart; what a depth in the blood of Christ: how it "cleanseth from all sin," and if from all sin it must cleanse away millions of millions of the foulest sins of the foulest sinners. What a depth in His bleeding, dying love that could stoop so low to lift us so high! What a depth in His pity and compassion to extend itself to such guilty, vile transgressors as we are! What depth in the eternal counsels and unspeakable wisdom of God to contrive such a plan as was accomplished and brought to light in the incarnation and death of His dear Son, that thus me...

"Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips ." -Isaiah 6:5 [KJV]  My soul! Thy last evening was deeply exercised on that glorious subject, the holiness of Jehovah. Let this evening's meditation call thee to what ought immediately to follow; thy unholiness and corruption. What a transition! And yet what more suited for meditation? The prophet Isaiah, who had been admitted to the view of a vision, like that which John the apostle saw in the after ages, beheld the glory of Christ, and heard those who cried, "Holy, holy, holy, is the L ORD of Hosts!” and the effect was as is here related. His consternation was so great, concluding that he should be struck dead (agreeably to what holy men of old had conceived, that the sight of God would produce death), that he cried out, "Woe is me, I am undone."   Pause, my soul! thou art also "a man of unclean lips!" How dost ...

"At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel."   - Isaiah 17:7 [KJV] In the very name "the Holy One of Israel," there is something the sweetness of which melts the heart of a poor sensible sinner. For what is he in himself as a fallen child of Adam? A filthy, defiled, polluted wretch, unfit for the presence of God. And what can fit such an unclean, unworthy, deformed sinner for the eternal presence and enjoyment of the Triune Jehovah, but such a Saviour as the Holy One of Israel, whose blood, as a holy fountain, cleanseth from all sin? The soul that stands in Him, stands complete, without spot or blemish. And must not his heart leap and dance when with a measure of faith he is able to lay hold of this Holy One of Israel?   But this living faith in and spiritual reception of the only Mediator between God and man cannot exist until a man is brought into circumstances in which he needs the Holy One of Israel. U...

  Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (24-26JUN22) Heads-Up --- Please find enclosed encouragement in SO GREAT SALVATION by the perfect and finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ in saving poor, needy and wretched sinners by His sovereign free grace - Almighty God's unmerited favor - from our sins and from Hell: “ The sovereignty of God is the stumbling block on which thousands fall and  perish; and if we go contending with God about His sovereignty it will be  our eternal ruin. It is absolutely necessary that we should submit to God  as an absolute sovereign, and the sovereign of our souls; as One who may  have mercy on whom He will have mercy and harden whom He will.” -Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758 A.D.) "Storm Warning: Prove All Things" is a fifteen-minute Gospel broadcast each Saturday via WWCR on World Band/Short-Wave radio at 9 . 350 MHz ( 9350 KHz) at 18:00 Hours ( 6 PM) U.S. Central Time . The goal is to exalt Christ JESUS; to encour...

"All that the Father giveth Me, shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." -John 6:37-40 [KJV] My soul, commit this blessed portion to thy memory; yea, beg of God the Holy Ghost to commit, and write all the gracious things contained in it, on the inner tablets of thine heart! It is in itself a gospel, yea, a full gospel. Methinks, I would have it proclaimed on the house-tops, and published, day by day, in every place of public concourse throughout the earth, until the saving truths were every one of them known, and felt, and enjoyed, by ...

"The just shall live by faith."   - Romans 1:17 [KJV]  A life of faith in Christ is as necessary to our present and experimental salvation as His death upon the cross was to our past and actual salvation. If you are alive to what you are as a poor fallen sinner, you see yourself surrounded by enemies, temptations, sins, and snares; and you feel yourself utterly defenceless, as weak as water, without any strength to stand against them. Pressed down by the weight of unbelief, you see a mountain of difficulty before your eyes, sometimes in providence and sometimes in grace. You find, too, that your heart is a cage of unclean birds, and that in you, that is, in your flesh, there dwelleth no good thing; neither will nor power have you in yourself to fight or flee.   How then shall this mountain become a plain? How shall you escape the snares and temptations spread in your path? How shall you get the better of all your enemies, external, internal, infernal, and reach heaven's g...

"Look when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: is not the sound of his master's feet behind him?" -II Kings 6:32 [KJV] It is blessed to watch every dispensation of the Lord's providence, as well as His grace; for Jesus is in all. So that when messengers of heaviness come, and with sad tidings, as in this instance of the prophet, if we shut to the door as they enter, and suffer them to open their commission, we shall hear the sound of their master's feet behind them, confirming every one. There are no events which can happen to a child of God, but they ought to be thus dealt with. They are like letters personally directed, and speak, in their whole contents, the causes for which the king's post hath brought them; and they cannot be mistaken, if they are well read, and pondered over; for they point to the individual, as the prophet's servant to Jehu. "To which of all us, (said Jehu) is this errand?" The answer was,...