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

"But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared." -Psalm 130:4 [KJV] My soul, this is a golden psalm, and every portion of it more ponderous in value than the choicest gold of Ophir; and this verse is as the tried gold, to ascertain the purity and value of all the rest. The cries of a truly broken heart, from the depth of sin to the depth of divine mercy, with which the psalm opens, prove the work of the Holy Ghost, imparting the words with which the humbled soul comes before the Lord. And the blessed consolations which this verse contains, in the view of the mercy-seat, and the mercy there (which is all-precious Jesus, the first-born in the womb of mercy; yea, mercy itself) as plainly prove the leadings of the Holy Ghost to Gim, who alone can say, "Oh Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in Me is thy help!" Ponder, my soul, these precious words: "But there is forgiveness with Thee." Is it not as if thou wert to say to thy God and Fat...

"And they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee." - Psalm 9:10 [KJV] There is a knowing of God's name. By the "name of God" are to be understood the revealed perfections of the Almighty—all that He has revealed concerning Himself in the Scriptures of truth. Every attribute, every perfection, everything that God has said of Himself, is summed up in the "name of God."   But especially does the "name of God" signify the Son of His love, Who is "the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His Person;" as He said to Moses, "Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey His voice, provoke Him not; for He will not pardon your transgressions: for  My name is in Him;"   that is, all My revealed perfections, all My glorious character, all My divine attributes are in Him; for "in Him dwelleth all the fulness of ...

"A ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes." -Acts 24:5 [KJV] My soul! hast thou arrived at that station of dignity, to be reproached for Christ's sake? If so, thou wilt enter into a proper sense and enjoyment of the title Paul was branded with; a ringleader, or a standardbearer of the cross. One who, not content with receiving Christ into his own heart, determines, let the cost be what it may, the loss of reputation or of life, to proclaim Jesus upon the house-top. This is to be a ring-leader! An honourable station! and one that Jesus loves! Jesus Himself was Jehovah's ringleader, for He saith, "In that day, there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the gentiles seek, and His rest shall be glorious," Isaiah 11:10 . And elsewhere, Jehovah saith, "Behold, I have given Him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people," Isaiah 55:4 .   My soul, hast thou taken part in the repro...

  Jesus is Jehovah Jireh .   by D.G. Miles McKee   I often hear preachers proclaim that Jesus, Jehovah Jireh, will provide all our material needs. I have no problem with this statement for I can personally testify of being in full-time ministry since the early 1980s, without a salary.  Jehovah Jireh has provided every need and will, by grace, continue to provide.   But, when this name, Jehovah Jireh, was first brought to our attention, it didn’t have to do with finances, but, rather, with substitutionary sacrifice.  The designation of Jehovah the provider is first found in Genesis 22, and it concerns the faithful provision of a substitute for Isaac.  Do you remember the story?  The Lord had told His friend Abraham to take his beloved son Isaac and sacrifice him on an altar.  Old Abraham, I’m sure was confused by this command and, if so, he had every right to be for, after all, the Lord had given him Isaac as a child of promise.    N...

"And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it." -Genesis 28:12 [KJV]   Visions of the night, such as the patriarchs were blessed with, serve to teach us how the Lord, in those early ages, watched over His people. And, my soul, I would have thee always take the sweet conclusion from the review of them, that if Jesus was thus mindful of His chosen then, depend upon it He is not less attentive now. There can be no difficulty, it should seem, interpreting this vision of the patriarch Jacob's ladder, after what Jesus told Nathaniel of the ascent and descent of the angels upon the Son of man, John 1:51 . Under such an authority, we need not hesitate to consider Christ as the only communication, the only medium of intercourse between heaven and earth; John 14:6 .   And if the patriarch saw, in a vision, a ladder, with its foot on the earth, and its top reaching to heave...

"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life."   -I Timothy 6:12 [KJV] It is through faith that the power whereby God keeps His people acts and is made known, and it is very instructive and encouraging to be able to trace in our own hearts the connection between the power of God and the actings of faith. We are not carried to heaven as passengers are carried by the express train to Holy land, so that if once in the carriage they may go to sleep, look out of the window, or read the newspaper without fear of losing their way, or not reaching their destination. Though kept by the power of God, we have to fight every step of the way .   It is this living, fighting, struggling, and yet eventually conquering faith, which sets the tried and exercised child of God at such a distance from the loose and careless doctrinal professor, who is hardened and emboldened to presume, and even walk in ways of sin and death by holding the doctrine of being kept by the power of God, wi...

"An anchor of the soul." -Hebrews 6:19 [KJV]  In the opening of a new month, look, my soul, at thine anchor! Surely it is good and profitable for thee to see thy safety, that thou mayest ride out all the storms which arise, and never make "shipwreck of faith and a good conscience." And what is thine anchor? Nay, who, or what can it be, but Jesus, and His finished righteousness? He hath accomplished redemption by His blood, and hath entered within the veil to prove its all-sufficiency. On Him, then, thou hast cast anchor; indeed, He is Himself the anchor of all thine hopes, and the rock of ages, on which thou restest thine eternal security, "both sure and stedfast."   True, it is unseen; and, like the sailor's anchor, thrown out into the deep. But, though unseen, it is not unenjoyed: for concerning Him,  W ho is the anchor of the soul, it is the blessed privilege of faith to say, "Whom having not seen, we love: and in Whom, though now we see Hi...