He Knows

He Knows

March 27, 2011

"I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first." (Revelation 2:19)

Seven times in the letters to His seven representative churches in Revelation 2 and 3 the Lord Jesus says: "I know thy works" (Revelation 2:2, 9, 13, 19; 3:1, 8, 15). Whatever we are doing--or not doing--He knows!

Sometimes such knowledge can bring--or at least should bring--great consternation. He knows, for example, all our hypocrisies: "I know . . . that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead" (Revelation 3:1). He also knows when our outward display of religious activity masks a real heart-attitude of compromising self-interest. "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot" (Revelation 3:15).

Yet He also knows when our service is genuine and our testimony is God-glorifying and faithful. "I know . . . thy labour, and thy patience. . . . I know . . . thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith" (Revelation 2:2, 13).

Of these seven testimonies of His knowledge, the central one is in our text. He knows when we really love Him, for the "charity" mentioned is nothing less than agape, or unselfish love. He knows all about our sincere "service" and true "faith" in His Word, as well as our "patience" of hope.

Perhaps the most precious of His assurances, however, is that to the suffering church at Smyrna. "I know thy . . . tribulation, and poverty" (Revelation 2:9). When He says that He knows, the sense is that He understands, because He has been through it all Himself. Therefore, "we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:15-16). HMM

True JOY from the ICR

The Joy of Jesus

March 10, 2011

"Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." (1 Peter 1:7-8)

Because of Christ, we "rejoice with joy unspeakable," and the deeper we know Him, the more our joy. The fourth verse of our study hymn, "Deeper and Deeper," speaks of this joy.

Into the joy of Jesus, deeper and deeper I go,
Rising with soul enraptured far from the world below;
Joy in the place of sorrow, peace in the midst of pain,
Jesus will give, Jesus will give,
He will uphold and sustain.

Joy is, of course, part of "the fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5:22) of Christ, who had prayed to His Father, "now I come to thee . . . that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves" (John 17:13). Most specifically, "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ . . . and rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:1-2). In joy we rise over the lure of sin and the world. "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered" (Romans 4:7).

The joy of the Lord is not predicated on external circumstances. "As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all things" (2 Corinthians 6:10). And "I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation" (2 Corinthians 7:4).

The last line is well supported in the writings of David, where the Lord provides this joy. "Though |a good man| fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand" (Psalm 37:24). "Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved" (Psalm 55:22). May God grant us an even deeper joy in Jesus. JDM