Nick Roark's Blog, page 9

“The God of angels” by Charles Spurgeon

“Let us remember that this God of Bethel is the God of angels. We do not often say much about those mysterious beings, for it is but little that we know of them.

This, however, we know—that angels are set by God to be the watchers over his people. Jacob was asleep, but the angels were wide awake. They were going up and down that ladder while Jacob was lying there, steeped in slumber.

So when you and I are sleeping, when the blessed God has put his finger on our eyelids, and said, “Lie still, my child, and be refreshed,” there may be no policeman at the door, no body-guard to prevent intrusion, but there are angels ever watching over us. We shall not come to harm if we put our trust in God. “I will lay me down to sleep, for thou makest me to dwell in safety.”

These angels were also messengers. “Are they not all ministering spirits?” and are they not sent with messages from God? To Jacob they had their errand. On more than one occasion angels bore him messages from the Most High. How far or how oft they bring us messages now I cannot tell. Sometimes thoughts drop into the soul that do not reach us in the regular connection of our thoughts. We scarcely know how to account for them. It may be they are due to the immediate action of the blessed Spirit, but they may, for aught we know, be brought by some other spirit, pure and heavenly, sent to suggest those thoughts to our soul. We cannot tell.

The angels are watchers certainly, and they are messengers without a doubt. Moreover, they are our protectors. God employs them to bear us up in their hands, lest at any time we dash our foot against a stone. We do not see them, but unseen agencies are probably the strongest agencies in the world. We know it is so in physics. Such agencies as electricity, which we cannot perceive, are, nevertheless, unquestionably powerful, and, when put forth in their strength, quite beyond the control of man. No doubt myriads of spiritual creatures walk this earth, both when we sleep and when we wake. How much of good they do us it is impossible for us to tell.

But this we do know—they are “sent forth to minister to them that are heirs of salvation,” and they are in God’s hands the means, oftentimes, of warding off from us a thousand ills which we know not of, and about which, therefore, we cannot thank God that we are kept from them, except we do so by thanking him, as I think we ought to do more often, for those unknown mercies which are none the less precious because we have not the sense to be able to perceive them.

Perhaps in mid-air at this moment there may be battles between the bright spirits of God and the spirits of evil. Perhaps full often when Satan might tempt, there come against him a mighty squadron of cherubim and seraphim to drive him back, and those strange battles of which Milton sings in his wondrous epic may not be all a dream. We cannot tell. We know they do dispute; the good angels do dispute with the wicked, and contend. We know that they are mighty in battle, and strong on behalf of God’s people.

Anyhow, this is true: Omnipotence has many servants, and some of those least seen are the strongest it employs. If there be an angel anywhere, my friend, he is thy friend if thou be God’s friend. If there be in heaven or earth any bright intelligence flying swiftly at this moment, he flies upon no errand of harm to thee. Be thou full sure of that.

Who can hurt the man whom God protects? Unseen powers and terrible they may be, but they cannot injure us, for there are other unseen powers more terrible still, the hosts of that Lord who is mighty in battle, and all these are sworn to protect the children of God. “Thou hast given commandment to save me,” says David; and if God has charged his angels to protect and save his people from all harm, depend upon it they are secure.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “The God of Bethel,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 21 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1875), 21: 678–679.

“A refreshing light” by Stephen Charnock

“The evangelical discovery of God by Christ is clearer. The brightness of the day dispelled the shadows of the night, and dispersed the clouds wherewith the sun was masked.

As the fulness of the Godhead dwelt personally in Christ, so the fulness of the divine perfections sparkled in the actions and sufferings of Christ. The Deity shines out in a clear luster, which was seen before only in the dusty clouds of creatures and ceremonies.

In nature, we see God as it were like the sun in a picture; in the law, as the sun in a cloud; in Christ, we see Him in His beams, He being ‘the brightness of his glory, and the exact image of his person,’ Heb. 1:3: as the rays of the sun, being the production of the sun, cause us by their lustre to see and understand more of the beauty and brightness of the sun; and the stamp upon the wax informs us what is upon the seal.

We see what an infinite fountain of good God is, and what a dreadful thing sin is, which is a separation from him; as by the beams of the sun we understand the beauty of light, and the horror of darkness. Though it be not discerned in its glory through a mist of vapours, yet it may be known to be risen, and some effects of it are sensible to us.

So it was in the creation and the law; but in Christ those vapours are dissolved, the clouds dispersed, and God appears in the sweetness and beauty of His nature, as a refreshing light.

The creatures tell us that there is a God, and Christ tells who and what that God is.”

–Stephen Charnock, “A Discourse on the Knowledge of God in Christ,” The Works of Stephen Charnock, Volume 4 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1865/2010), 4: 125.

“Let the holiness of God in Christ be the awe of your souls” by Stephen Charnock

“Endeavour after suitable affections to whatsoever you know of God in Christ. Let the holiness of God in Christ be the awe of your souls.

Let us not dandle any sin which God so hates, that He would not remit it without the price of the blood of His Son. Tremble at that justice which drank such draughts of precious blood in the punishment of sin, and consider every sin in its utmost demerit.

Admire and bless that wisdom, which made itself so eminent in the untying so many knots, passing over such mountains of difficulties that He might show himself a hater of sin and a lover of His creatures, that He might intwine His mercy and justice in perpetual embraces.

Let us have as strong affections of love and joy, as the devils, by their knowledge of God as discovered in Christ, have of horror and hatred.

We see in that, not only the manifestation, but the satisfaction of His justice; they see the manifestation of it, and the dissatisfaction of it forever with them. They have such a knowledge of God in Christ, as to awaken their consciences; we may have such a knowledge of God in Christ, as to calm our consciences.

Their terrors are as much increased by that discovery, as a believer’s comfort. They behold God in Christ, their implacable and inexorable judge; we may behold God in Christ, a tender and condescending Father.

They know a God in our nature, imparting His own nature to us; and refusing their nature, to leave them to lie in their fallen state forever. The terrible attributes become sweet in Christ to man, and more dreadful to them.

Let the motions of your will, and the affections of your soul, rise according to the elevation of your knowledge of God in Christ, more or less.

To conclude; let us behold His justice, to humble ourselves under it.

Let us behold His pardoning grace, to have recourse to it under pressures of guilt.

Let us sweeten our affections by the sight of His compassions, and have confidence to call upon Him as a Father in our necessities.

Any discovery of God in Christ is an encouragement to a forlorn creature. His perfections smile upon man. Nothing of God looks terrible in Christ to a believer.

The sun is risen, shadows are vanished, God walks upon the battlements of love, justice hath left its sting in a Saviour’s side, the law is disarmed, weapons out of His hand, His bosom open, His bowels yearn, His heart pants, sweetness and love is in all His carriage.

And this is life eternal, to know God believingly in the glories of His mercy and justice in Jesus Christ.”

–Stephen Charnock, “A Discourse on the Knowledge of God in Christ,” The Works of Stephen Charnock, Volume 4 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1865/2010), 4: 163.

“The key to the whole New Testament” by A.T. Pierson

“The Word of God is a picture gallery, and it is adorned with tributes to the blessed Christ of God the Savior of mankind. Here a prophetic portrait of the coming One, and there an historic portrayal of Him who has come, here a typical sacrifice, and there the bleeding Lamb to whom all sacrifice looked forward; here a person or an event that foreshadowed the greatest of persons and the events that are the turning points of history; now a parable, a poem, an object lesson, and then a simple narration or exposition or explanation, that fills with divine meaning the mysteries that have hid their meaning for ages, waiting for the key that should unlock them.

But, in whatever form or fashion, whatever guise of fact or fancy, prophecy or history, parable or miracle, type or antitype, allegory or narrative, a discerning eye may everywhere find Him — God’s appointed Messiah, God’s anointed Christ.

Not a human grace that has not been a faint forecast or reflection of His beauty, in whom all grace was enshrined and enthroned — not a virtue that is not a new exhibition of His attractiveness. All that is glorious is but a phase of His infinite excellence, and so all truth and holiness, found in the Holy Scripture, are only a new tribute to Him who is the Truth, the Holy One of God.

This language is no exaggeration; on such a theme not only is exaggeration impossible, but the utmost superlative of human language falls infinitely short of His divine worth, before whose indescribable glory cherubim and seraphim can only bow, veiling their faces and covering their feet.

The nearer we come to the very throne where such majesty sits, the more are we awed into silence. The more we know of Him, the less we seem to know, for the more boundless and limitless appears what remains to be known.

Nothing is so conspicuous a seal of God upon the written Word, as the fact that everywhere, from Genesis to Revelation, we may find the Christ; and nothing more sets the seal of God upon the living Word than the fact that He alone explains and reveals the Scriptures.

Our present undertaking is a very simple one. We seek to show, by a few examples, the boundless range and scope of one brief phrase of two or three short words: in Christ, or, in Christ Jesus. A very small key may open a very complex lock and a very large door, and that door may itself lead into a vast building with priceless stores of wealth and beauty.

This brief phrase — a preposition followed by a proper name — is the key to the whole New Testament. Those three short words, in Christ Jesus, are, without doubt, the most important ever written, even by an inspired pen, to express the mutual relation of the believer and Christ.”

–Arthur T. Pierson, In Christ Jesus, or, The Sphere of the Believer’s Life (London: Funk & Wagnalls, 1898), vi-ix.

“He is at the right hand of power” by Charles Spurgeon

“Christ sits in the place of honour: ‘on the right hand of the Majesty on high.’ (Hebrews 1:4)

Jesus sits on the right hand of His Father, He dwells in the highest conceivable honour and dignity.

All the angels worship Him, and all the blood-washed host adore Him day without night. The Father delights to honour Him.

‘The highest place that heaven affords
Is His, is His by right,
The King of kings, and Lord of lords,
And heaven’s eternal light.’

Not only does Jesus sit in the place of honour, but He occupies the place of safety. None can hurt Him now; none can stay His purposes, or defeat His will.

He is at the powerful right hand of God.

In heaven above, and on the earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth, and on every star, He is supreme Lord and Master; and they that will not yield to Him shall be broken with a rod of iron, He shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

So His cause is safe; His kingdom is secure, for He is at the right hand of power.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “Depths and Heights,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 45 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1899), 45: 392-393.

“Hold out Him” by Michael Reeves

“Preaching should be expository, but this is not the same as completing an English comprehension exercise.

Preachers expose the grammar and logic of their text as a means to the greater goal of exposing the truth and reality that the text conveys.

Ultimately, they must speak as God speaks: to hold out Him.”

–Michael Reeves, Preaching: A God-Centered Vision (Bridgend, UK: Union, 2024), 31-32.

“The Savior we needed” by Bobby Jamieson

“To become the source of salvation He had to become incarnate and obedient.

He had to become qualified for priestly office through suffering, death, and resurrection.

And He had to offer a sacrifice sufficient to save His people before sitting down at God’s right hand.

The whole aim of Hebrews’ Christology is to explain how the Son became what He needed to be in order to become the Savior we needed.”

-R.B. Jamieson, The Paradox of Sonship: Christology in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2021), 137-138.

“As heir He bestows blessings” by John Webster

“1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.” (Hebrews 1:1-4)

“Even as the One who brings many sons to glory, as the pioneer, as the sanctifier of His brothers, as the One who is in the midst of the congregation, sharing in flesh and blood and partaking of the same nature— even as all this, the Son is different to the utmost.

And yet, even in this utter difference, He is indeed the One who glorifies and sanctifies others, partaking of their nature that He might share His inheritance with them. As heir (1:2) He bestows blessings.”

–John Webster, “One Who Is Son,” in God without Measure: Working Papers in Christian Theology, God and the Works of God, vol. I (London; Oxford; New York; New Delhi; Sydney: Bloomsbury T&T Clark: An Imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2016), 70–71. Webster is commenting on Hebrews 1:1-4.

“He restores to us what we lost in Adam” by John Calvin

“1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.” (Hebrews 1:1-4)

“The word ‘heir‘ (1:2) is ascribed to Christ as manifested in the flesh; for being made man, He put on our nature, and as such received this heirship, and that for this purpose, that He might restore to us what we had lost in Adam.

For God had at the beginning constituted man, as His son, the heir of all good things; but through sin the first man became alienated from God, and deprived himself and his posterity of all good things, as well as of the favour of God.

We hence only then begin to enjoy by right the good things of God, when Christ, the universal heir, admits us into an union with Himself. For He is an heir that He may endow us with His riches. But the Apostle now adorns Him with this title, that we may know that without Him we are destitute of all good things.”

–John Calvin, Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 34. Calvin is commenting on Hebrews 1:1-4.

“Drifting is the easiest thing in the world” by Sinclair Ferguson

“Hebrews is all about persevering in sanctification. Without holiness, writes the author, ‘no one will see the Lord.’ We must therefore ‘strive’ for it (Hebrews 12:14).

He uses vigorous language. His verb (διώκω, strive) appears regularly in the New Testament with the sense of ‘persecute.’

Such strong language was needed here because these Christians were facing hardship and opposition. They therefore needed to pay careful attention to the gospel, to digest what they had heard, so that they would not drift away.

What do you need to do to slow down and go backwards in the Christian life? Hebrews’ answer is: ‘Nothing.” Drifting is the easiest thing in the world.

It is swimming against the tide that requires effort. And the Christian life is against the tide all the way. Spiritual weariness, being ‘sluggish,’ is one of our great enemies. The author is all-too-familiar with its tell-tale signs.

Christians then, as now, were confronted by many pressures. Some of them had suffered deeply for their testimony to Jesus Christ. We might think that anyone who has withstood trials would be in no danger of failing to persevere.

But the battle to be holy is fierce, the opposition is strong, and the obstacles are many. Even those who have won great victories in the past can become weary. Spiritual lethargy can set in, and we begin to drift.

We constantly need to be encouraged to keep going (Hebrews 3:12-13).”

–Sinclair Ferguson, Devoted To God: Blueprints For Sanctification (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2016), 191.