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Our Link with Heaven, February 2
And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased.
Matthew 3:17
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After Christ was baptized of John in Jordan, He came up out of the
water, and bowing upon the banks of the river He prayed with fervency to
His heavenly Father for strength to endure the conflict with the prince of
darkness in which He was about to engage. The heavens were opened to
His prayer, and the light of God’s glory, brighter than the sun at noonday,
came from the throne of the Eternal, and assuming the form of a dove with
the appearance of burnished gold, encircled the Son of God, while the
clear voice from the excellent glory was heard in terrible majesty, saying,
“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Here was the assurance to the Son of God that His Father accepted
the fallen race through their representative and that He had granted them
a second trial. The communication between heaven and earth, between
God and man, which had been broken by the fall of Adam, was resumed.
He who knew no sin became sin for the race, that His righteousness might
be imputed to man. Through the perfection of Christ’s character, man was
elevated in the scale of moral value with God; and through the merits of
Christ, finite man was linked to the Infinite. Thus the gulf which sin had
made was bridged by the world’s Redeemer.
But few have a true sense of the great privileges which Christ gained
for man by thus opening heaven before him. The Son of God was then
the representative of our race; and the special power and glory which
the Majesty of heaven conferred upon Him, and His words of approval,
are the surest pledge of His love and good will to man. As Christ’s
intercessions in our behalf were heard, the evidence was given to man that
God will accept our prayers in our own behalf through the name of Jesus.
The continued, earnest prayer of faith will bring us light and strength to
withstand the fiercest assaults of Satan.... The life of a living Christian is
a life of living prayer.... Our great Leader points us to the open heavens
as the only source of light and strength.
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