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- Aug 9, 2012
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The most helpful truth I’ve learned about myself is that which concerns my “old man” and how busy it seems to maintain itself in everything. During the times I identify the old man’s activity it’s then I can determine how far back and how long it has been affecting me in my present situation, and this is all that is needed—to notice that it has been working on me. The results always end with the same problem and is when I finally put my finger on everything at the time; it always leaves one being over-concerned about self!
NC
Spiritual growth is a step by step, ascending scale of glory. It is impossible to gaze upon the glory that is in the face of the glorified Lord Jesus if we are entangled with what we are in the flesh, and do not know that we are clear of it by the Cross and our death unto sin in the risen Lord. Until then, the veil is on our heart, and there is that which hinders the perception of the glory.
How could you bring what you are into that realm of glory? Man is referred to as a worm, literally a “maggot,” in Job 25:6. If all that I am in the flesh (not the body but the nature—NC) is not gone on the Cross, if every rag and stitch of the “the old man” was not cleared away from God’s sight at Calvary, I would be lost and shut out for all eternity. But now there is no need to hide anything; the more we come out into the full light of the glory of God, the better off we shall be. The Spirit has been given to bring us in heart and mind into the glory realm now. Paul says, “We use much boldness”; we do not have to cover anything up.
Our Father always had our end in view (Jer 29:11 – expect goodness—NC)—the Lord Jesus and the Spirit. Scripture opens with that, the tree and the river on the front page (Gen 2:9, 10—NC). All the Old Testament, even the Law, is full of the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit in figure, but it was not known (God’s sovereign control over all things are manifested by Him eventually revealing what He has prefigured from even millennia earlier—NC). “Unto tis day the same veil remains in reading the old covenant, unremoved” (2Co 3:15). They did not see the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the OT, and many believers now fail to see Him and the Spirit in the Scriptures because they read the Word in relation to themselves.
They go to the Bible to find a comforting verse for themselves and they find it, of course; but they do not get the real good of Scripture. If I read the Word with regard to myself the veil is on my heart, but if I read it with regard to the Lord Jesus as my life, I gain very much. All too often in reading the Word it is the old man that is before us, but the right way is to behold the Lord Jesus. He is the great theme—the purpose of the Scriptures. If we look upon Him we receive the greatest comfort—we are lifted up, but in another Man. The Father is not seeking to build me up as an individual apart from His Beloved Son. We are naturally self-centered; the Father is causing us to be Christ-centered. The true center of the Word is The Word!
We are too much like the old astronomers; they believed the earth was the center of the whole universe, and that the sun revolved around it, so all was in a muddle to them. If we read the Scriptures with ourselves as the center we miss the whole point; but if we see that the Lord Jesus is the center we get things rightly divided and in the Father’s perspective. To come into the blessing and reality of all these things we are to turn to the Lord Jesus: when the heart of Israel “shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (2Co 3:16). That sets forth a turning away from the old man; that is what turning to the Lord Jesus means, and then the veil is taken away.
“But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord” (2Co 3:18).
- C A Coates
MJS devotional excerpt for 12/6:
“It is a wonderful thing to be so satisfied with the Lord Jesus’ company, that we can be tranquil about everything. I remember when I used to think that I should be happy beyond conception if I were able to say, ‘I will fear no evil; my heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.’ In order to reach this, you must find Him enough, without anything else. You can never prove the worth of anyone, until you are absolutely dependent upon him.” -J.B.S
m/hungry-heart/
NC
The Word in the Word
Spiritual growth is a step by step, ascending scale of glory. It is impossible to gaze upon the glory that is in the face of the glorified Lord Jesus if we are entangled with what we are in the flesh, and do not know that we are clear of it by the Cross and our death unto sin in the risen Lord. Until then, the veil is on our heart, and there is that which hinders the perception of the glory.
How could you bring what you are into that realm of glory? Man is referred to as a worm, literally a “maggot,” in Job 25:6. If all that I am in the flesh (not the body but the nature—NC) is not gone on the Cross, if every rag and stitch of the “the old man” was not cleared away from God’s sight at Calvary, I would be lost and shut out for all eternity. But now there is no need to hide anything; the more we come out into the full light of the glory of God, the better off we shall be. The Spirit has been given to bring us in heart and mind into the glory realm now. Paul says, “We use much boldness”; we do not have to cover anything up.
Our Father always had our end in view (Jer 29:11 – expect goodness—NC)—the Lord Jesus and the Spirit. Scripture opens with that, the tree and the river on the front page (Gen 2:9, 10—NC). All the Old Testament, even the Law, is full of the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit in figure, but it was not known (God’s sovereign control over all things are manifested by Him eventually revealing what He has prefigured from even millennia earlier—NC). “Unto tis day the same veil remains in reading the old covenant, unremoved” (2Co 3:15). They did not see the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the OT, and many believers now fail to see Him and the Spirit in the Scriptures because they read the Word in relation to themselves.
They go to the Bible to find a comforting verse for themselves and they find it, of course; but they do not get the real good of Scripture. If I read the Word with regard to myself the veil is on my heart, but if I read it with regard to the Lord Jesus as my life, I gain very much. All too often in reading the Word it is the old man that is before us, but the right way is to behold the Lord Jesus. He is the great theme—the purpose of the Scriptures. If we look upon Him we receive the greatest comfort—we are lifted up, but in another Man. The Father is not seeking to build me up as an individual apart from His Beloved Son. We are naturally self-centered; the Father is causing us to be Christ-centered. The true center of the Word is The Word!
We are too much like the old astronomers; they believed the earth was the center of the whole universe, and that the sun revolved around it, so all was in a muddle to them. If we read the Scriptures with ourselves as the center we miss the whole point; but if we see that the Lord Jesus is the center we get things rightly divided and in the Father’s perspective. To come into the blessing and reality of all these things we are to turn to the Lord Jesus: when the heart of Israel “shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (2Co 3:16). That sets forth a turning away from the old man; that is what turning to the Lord Jesus means, and then the veil is taken away.
“But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord” (2Co 3:18).
- C A Coates
MJS devotional excerpt for 12/6:
“It is a wonderful thing to be so satisfied with the Lord Jesus’ company, that we can be tranquil about everything. I remember when I used to think that I should be happy beyond conception if I were able to say, ‘I will fear no evil; my heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.’ In order to reach this, you must find Him enough, without anything else. You can never prove the worth of anyone, until you are absolutely dependent upon him.” -J.B.S
m/hungry-heart/
