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Christ’s Object Lessons
The life in which the fear of the Lord is cherished will not be a
life of sadness and gloom. It is the absence of Christ that makes the
countenance sad, and the life a pilgrimage of sighs. Those who are
filled with self-esteem and self-love do not feel the need of a living,
personal union with Christ. The heart that has not fallen on the Rock is
proud of its wholeness. Men want a dignified religion. They desire to
walk in a path wide enough to take in their own attributes. Their self-
love, their love of popularity and love of praise, exclude the Saviour
from their hearts, and without Him there is gloom and sadness. But
Christ dwelling in the soul is a wellspring of joy. For all who receive
Him, the very keynote of the word of God is rejoicing.
“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity,
whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him
also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the
humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”
Isaiah 57:15
.
It was when Moses was hidden in the cleft of the rock that he
beheld the glory of God. It is when we hide in the riven Rock that
Christ will cover us with His own pierced hand, and we shall hear what
the Lord saith unto His servants. To us as to Moses, God will reveal
Himself as “merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin.”
Exodus 34:6, 7
.
The work of redemption involves consequences of which it is
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difficult for man to have any conception. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which
God hath prepared for them that love Him.”
1 Corinthians 2:9
. As the
sinner, drawn by the power of Christ, approaches the uplifted cross,
and prostrates himself before it, there is a new creation. A new heart is
given him. He becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. Holiness finds
that it has nothing more to require. God Himself is “the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus.”
Romans 3:26
. And “whom He justified,
them He also glorified.”
Romans 8:30
. Great as is the shame and
degradation through sin, even greater will be the honor and exaltation
through redeeming love. To human beings striving for conformity to
the divine image there is imparted an outlay of heaven’s treasure, an
excellency of power, that will place them higher than even the angels
who have never fallen.