March 23- Family Altar (F.W. Herzberger - 1922)

“And there followed Him a great company of people, and of

women, which also bewailed and lamented Him. But Jesus turn-

ing unto them, said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me,

but weep for yourselves and for your children. . . . For if they

do these thing's in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?”

Luke 23:27-28, 31.

 

The pitying tears these sympathizing women weep at the sight

of the stricken and condemned Jesus do them all honor, but are

wept in vain. Our Savior in His great suffering is a green tree,

that is, He is innocent of any crime; He has done nothing to

merit death, but suffers for the guilt of others. However, if God's

avenging wrath provoked by sin can kindle so fiercely against His

holy and innocent Son, how much more will the fires of His wrath

burn against, and consume, the dry trees, that is, the impenitent

sinners, who tread under foot all the offerings of His saving grace,

and bring forth no fruit meet for repentance! Such a dry tree

was impenitent and stiff-necked Jerusalem. The fires of divine

wrath were kindling against it and would soon utterly destroy it.

Forgetting His own excruciating suffering, our loving Savior warns

the weeping women against the fearful fate awaiting them and

their children; they should not weep for Him, but rather weep

tears of repentance for themselves and their children, and thus

escape the wrath to come. Weeping a few sentimental tears, feel-

ing for the time sympathetic and sorrowful emotions while hearing

or reading the story of our Savior's Passion, will bring us no true

and lasting blessing. Jesus died for our sins. All His fearful

sufferings were necessary to pay for our personal guilt before the

just and holy God. Therefore we are to regard our sins as great

indeed and to repent of them with contrite hearts, and make the

Savior's atoning blood our only plea for mercy at the bar of divine

justice. If we do that, we shall with the help of God's Holy Spirit

also bring forth fruits meet for repentance, and escape the wrath

to come. Now is the accepted time ! Now is the day of salvation !

Savior, when in dust to Thee By Thine hour of dire despair,

Low we bow the adoring knee, By Thine agony of prayer,

When, repentant, to the skies By the cross, the nail, the thorn,

Scarce we lift our weeping eyes; Piercing spear, and torturing scorn;

0 by all Thy pains and woe By the gloom that veiled the skies

Suffered once for man below, O'er the dreadful sacrifice:

Bending from Thy throne on high, Listen to our humble cry,

Hear our solemn litany! Hear our solemn litany!

 

 Jesus Christ Is Also True Man - F.E. Pasche

"The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." John 1:14.

Whenever we direct our attention to Jesus, we behold a true, natural man. Prophets and apostles describe Him as a man. The Scriptures expressly call Him man. Eighty-four times He is called “the Son of Man” in the New Testament. The Son of God did not assume merely a human form, but a human nature. He does not only seem to be a man, He really is a man, like all other men. “He was in the likeness of men,” He was like unto us all; He was made our Brother. There was only one thing in which He was not like unto us all: He was without sin.

What humiliation of the eternal Son of God thus to descend to us sinners! What a humiliation of the great God in heaven to abstain from the use of His almighty power, to become man, and even to be a servant of sinful mankind! It was a most wonderful condescension on the part of the eternal Son of God that He should act the part of a man on this earth, that He who is the omnipotent Creator should become a creature and live as a creature!

But it was not for pastime that God sent His only-begotten Son into the world in the form of a servant and had Him be­ come man and humble Himself. There was a purpose to it, and that purpose was that He should show obedience to His heavenly Father, do His heavenly Father’s will with regard to everything for which He had sent Him into this world, and that He should lead a life of suffering, which was to terminate in the death on the cross, — and all this for our sakes. He kept for us the Law • of God, which we have not kept, and by His suffering and death on the cross He bore the punishment which we have deserved for our sins. He humbled Himself to redeem us sinful creatures and to rescue us from eternal’ perdition. “Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him!”

Prayer.

O Lord God, heavenly Father, we give Thee thanks that of Thy great goodness and mercy Thou didst suffer Thine only- begotten Son to become incarnate and to redeem us from sin and everlasting death, and we beseech Thee, enlighten our hearts by Thy Holy Spirit that we may evermore with a true heart thank Thee for this Thy grace and comfort ourselves with it in the hours of tribulation and temptation; through the same Thy dear Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Thou, the Spring of all my comfort, 

More than life to me,

Whom have I on earth beside Thee, 

Whom in heaven but Thee? 

Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry, 

While on others Thou art calling, 

Do not pass me by.

 DAILY READINGS IN LIFE OF CHRIST - J.R. Miller (1890)

March 23. Now is the Accepted Time

"And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him.And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.." Luke 4:18-19

Then there must a be a year or a time which is not the "acceptable year." We know that this "acceptable year" closed for the Jewish nation when they nailed their Messiah on the cross. They were doomed from that hour.

For a number of years, things went on as before. There was a measure of prosperity. Their city stood in its splendor, and the people dwelt in their homes in some degree of peace. But the day of their merciful visitation ended forever, when they finally rejected Christ. When Jesus stood on Olivet and looked down upon the city and wept over it, and said, "If you had known, even you, at least in this your day, the things which belong unto your peace; but now they are hid from your eyes" — when He spoke these words amid the rush of tears — the "acceptable year" closed. After that, the doom hung over the beautiful city, which in a few years burst upon it in all its woe and terribleness!

This is history — but there is another way to look at this matter. There is an "acceptable year" for each soul. It begins when Christ first comes to us and offers salvation. It continues while He still stands at our door and knocks. It closes when we drive Him away from our door by utter and final rejection — or when death comes and hurries us away forever from the world of mercy.

This "acceptable year" to each one, is now.

Has the reader of these words closed with the mercy and love of Christ? If he has, he knows the preciousness of the "acceptable year of the Lord." If he has not, let him remember that the "accepted time" will soon close. 

In another place it is called a day, "the day of salvation." A day is short, and when the time of its setting draws on — no power in the universe can prolong it one moment. It would be a fearful thing were the accepted time to end and leave us unsaved.

 Symphony No. 9(Ludwig van Beethoven) 

Story by Bp. Jerry Ogles, Logos of St Andrews (2001)

 

¹² So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. ¹³ He had also seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴ And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch. ¹⁵ And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. ¹⁶ After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations. ¹⁷ So Job died, being old and full of days. Book of Job, Chapter 42.

The great composer, Ludwig v. Beethoven, is possibly the greatest musical composer of all time. Yet, he met with many hardships and misfortunes in his lifetime that would have devastated one of lesser metal. The period between 1814 and 1824 were years of professional famine for Beethoven. Having lost the one gift that makes the joy of music so ebullient - his hearing - the man of joyful music also lost many of his friends as his financial fortunes took a serious plunge.

Ten years past between his last symphony, the Eighth, and his memorable Ninth Symphony in D minor. Imagine the despair of Beethoven as he attempted to write this masterpiece from 'imagined sound' since he was deaf.         

The Ninth Symphony finally was completed and premiered in 1824, not long before its creator's death. On the night of the premier, Beethoven stood apprehensively as he conducted the last movement. At the concluding notes of the final movement – the 4th, 'Ode to Joy,’ the composer stood in forsaken silence certain that his masterpiece had failed. He could not hear the thunderous standing ovation of the audience behind him. Suddenly, the presiding conductor, recognizing Beethoven's bewilderment, gently turned the musical genius around so he could witness the joyful response of the crowd. What overpowering joy must have entered his heart as he saw the awe-inspiring response. God had saved the best wine in Beethoven's life for last - and he gleefully took his bow.  

Just as Christ provided the best wine for the last at the marriage at Cana of Gallilee, so God frequently saves the best wine for last in the lives of those whom He loves. Maybe He is saving YOUR best wine for last! 

In the Ninth symphony, the deep emotion and great passion of this great composer is fully brought to light. It seems that he poured his heart and soul in among the notes of this great work.

The Ninth Symphony is the last one written by Beethoven, but it stands out as the shining Sun among all other such works and has endured the centuries, and will doubtless remain forever, as long as the Sun rises and sets, as the crowning achievement in musical beauty, harmony and simple grandeur. 

The beauty of sound, technical merit, and popular appeal of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony remains today as one of the world’s greatest masterpieces and sets a high standard for any aspiring composer whose hopes and ambition are to achieve the heights.

 REMEMBER THY CREATOR - a poem by Maurice Dyson

"Remember now thy Creator 

in the days of thy youth."

Ecclesiastes 12:1

 

Remember thy Creator,

Before the evil days;

While life is still a challenge,

And passions are ablaze;

Before the light gets misty,

And sight is getting dim;

And all desire for living

Is spiritless and slim.

 

Remember thy Creator,

Before the cord is loosed;

The thread of life is broken;

The staff no longer used;

When sound of grinding ceases;

With industry complete;

And caskets bearing loved ones 

Are carried down the street.

 

Remember thy Creator,

While memories remain;

Before the shadows deepen,

And life becomes a bane;

Before the soul is yielded,

And flesh returns to dust;

Remember thy Creator,

And make the Lord thy trust.

ã 2001 by Maurice Dyson