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

"His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see corruption."   -Acts 2:31 [KJV]  Two sweet, but distinct thoughts, arise out of this scripture: one, concerns the soul of Christ; the other, respects His body; and both are most blessed to the believer in the review. My soul! Thou hast attended to the parched state of thy Redeemer, as represented on the cross, and made it the subject of thy morning meditation; do thou now behold what this scripture states, under all His humiliating circumstances, that neither hell nor the grave can have dominion over Him. His soul shall not be long in a way of separation from the body, in the invisible state; for very shortly it shall arise from hades, the hell here mentioned. And His body is too holy, harmless, and undefiled, to admit of putrefaction; yea, it must be presented before the Lord for a sweet-smelling savour.   Precious thought to the believer! Jesus needed not to lie long under the dominion of death: He had fully paid...

"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."   -I Corinthians 15:20-22 [KJV] Christ risen is the firstfruits of that mighty crop of buried dead whose remains still sleep in the silent dust, and who will be joined by successive ranks of those who die in Him, till all are together wakened up in the resurrection morn. The figure is that of the sheaf of the firstfruits which was waved before the Lord before the harvest was allowed to be reaped (Leviticus 23:10, 11) . This offering of the wave sheaf was the consecration and dedication of the whole crop in the field to the Lord, as well as the manifest pledge that the harvest was fully ripe for the reaper's sickle.   The firstfruits represented the whole of the crop, as Christ is the representative of His saints; the offering of them sanctified ...

Jesus: The Wonderful One by D.G Miles McKee His name shall be called ‘Wonderful’ (Isaiah 9:6). “Wonderful” comes from the root word “wonder.” It can also be translated as ‘amazing,’ ‘surprising,’ ‘astonishing’ or ‘awe-inspiring.’  Jesus is all these things!  Does Jesus bring wonder to our lives?  I hope so!  May we always find wonderfully surprising and astonishing things in Him.   Being that His name is Wonderful it is not strange to see there are so many wonderful things associated with Him.  Salvation, for example, belongs to Him and He gives it to lost people (Luke 19:10). He doesn’t charge them, He freely gives. That’s wonderful.  Not only so, but look at those to whom He gives this Salvation … He gives it to the ungodly (Romans 4:5). That again is wonderful!   There has never been anyone as wonderful as Jesus. But, think about it, He was either wonderful or arrogant.   He came and pointed out our sins but acknowledged no sin of His ow...

" And one of the malefactors, which were hanged, railed on Him, saying, If Thou be Christ, save Thyself and us. But the other answering, rebuked him." -Luke 23:39-40 [KJV] My soul! thy morning meditation was directed to that soul-reviving, penitent, encouraging prospect, which the cross of Christ affords, in the recovery of the thief upon the cross, as furnishing the most illustrious example of the sovereignty of grace! Oh! what a trophy was there of the Redeemer's conquest! Now take thy stand again at the foot of the cross, and look on the other side, and behold the dreadful reverse, in the obduracy of the human heart. Here view the sinner dying in all the possibilities of a hardened conscience, railing and blaspheming; while the other departs in the most finished act of faith and repentance, glorifying the Lord.   Pause over the contemplation, and then ask, What was it made the mighty difference? Who made thee, my soul, to differ from another? And what hast thou, which...

"Hold fast that which is good."   -I Thessalonians 5:21b [KJV] There are two things especially which every saint of God is called upon to hold fast: these are, first,  the beginning of God's work  upon his soul; and, secondly, his  deliverance . Any manifestation too that you have had of the Lord Jesus Christ; any application of His atoning blood; any discovery of His glorious Person or shedding abroad of His love; hold that fast, for it is good. And so I may say, hold fast any promise you have ever had applied; any answer to prayer you have ever received; any felt blessing that may have been wrought in your heart by a divine power. All this is good. It comes from a good God; it works in a good way; it leads to a good end; it will make a good deathbed, and will land you in a most blessed eternity.  Therefore "hold fast that which is good." Everything which is commended to your conscience as really good; every good man; every good minister; every child of God wi...

"I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” - Habakkuk 3:18 [KJV] If ever, as we pass through this wilderness, we feel one drop of solid joy, of true happiness, it must flow, it can flow only from one source— the manifestation of Christ to our souls. This joy may be very transient: we may have to look upon it through a vista of many years; and doubts and fears may becloud the mind whether we ever rejoiced truly in Christ, or whether our joy might not have been "the joy of the hypocrite" that perisheth. And yet we are brought to this point—we can find joy and peace in Him alone. Sin, the world, the things of time and sense, business, amusement, pleasure so called, afford now no joy; there is an aching void, a feeling of dreariness and misery connected with everything short of communications of mercy, favour, and love.  So that though we may not be enabled to say, 'we greatly rejoice at all times, in all places, at all seasons, in the Lord;...

"He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied." -Isaiah 53:11 [KJV] Is not this covenant promise of thy faithful God and Father peculiarly suited, my soul, for thine evening meditation, after the subject of the morning, in contemplating the first cry of Jesus upon the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do?" And was not the cry answered in the case of the Jerusalem sinners at the day of Pentecost, soon after, when, under the apostle Peter's sermon, they were pricked to the heart, and cried out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Acts 2:37.   Ponder over the solemn expression, the travail of the Redeemer's soul. Did Jesus really sustain in soul somewhat like those throes of nature with which a woman is exercised in her hour of extremity? Did He travail in birth for His redeemed?—Pause, my soul, and very solemnly consider the subject. If the eighteenth Psalm be supposed to contain prophetical allusions to...