Scripture: "As many of us as have been baptized with Christ, have put on Christ."—GAL. iii. 27.
        The word that is here translated "put on," is the same that is used in regard to putting on clothes. We have put on "the new man," and we have the new nature as a garment that is worn, by means of which all can see who we are. Paul says of the Christian when he has confessed Christ at baptism, that he has put on Christ. As a man may be recognized by the garment he wears, so the Christian is known as one who has put on Christ, and exhibits Him in his whole life and character.
        And again he says: "Put on the Lord Jesus." Not alone at conversion, but from day to day. As I put on my clothes each day and am seen in them, so the Christian must daily put on the Lord Jesus, so that he no longer lives after the flesh to fulfil its lusts, but shows forth the image of his Lord, and the new man formed in His likeness.
        Put on Christ! This work must be done each day in the inner chamber. I must put on the Lord, the heavenly Jesus. But I need time to put on Christ. As my garments cover me and protect me from wind and sun, even so Christ Jesus will be my beauty, my defence, and my joy. As I commune with Him in prayer, He imparts Himself to me, and strengthens me to walk as one who is in Him, and bound to Him for ever.
        O soul, take time to meditate on this wonderful truth. Just as your clothing is a necessity as you go out into the world, let it be equally indispensable for you to put on Jesus Christ to abide in Him and walk with Him all the day.
        You feel that this cannot be done hastily and superficially. It takes time, quiet time in living fellowship with Jesus, to realize that you have put Him on. Take the time and the trouble. Your reward will be great.

Scripture: "Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel"(Numbers 23:23).
        How this should cut up root and branch all silly, superstitious fears! Even if there were any truth in witchcraft and omens, they could not affect the people of the LORD. Those whom God blessed, devils cannot curse.
        Ungodly men, like Balaam, may cunningly plot the overthrow of the LORDs Israel; but with all their secrecy and policy they are doomed to fail. Their powder is damp; the edge of their sword is blunted. They gather together; but as the LORD is not with them, they gather together in vain. We may sit still and let them weave their nets, for we shall not be taken in them. Though they call in the aid of Beelzebub and employ all his serpentine craft, it will avail them nothing: the spells will not work, the divination will deceive them.
        What a blessing this is! How it quiets the heart! Gods Jacobs wrestle with God, but none shall wrestle with them and prevail. Gods Israels have to prevail against them. We need not fear the fiend himself, nor any of those secret enemies whose words are full of deceit and whose plans are deep and unfathomable. They cannot hurt those who trust in the living God. We defy the devil and all his legions.

Scripture: “Your heavenly Father.”(Matthew 6:26)
        Gods people are doubly his children, they are his offspring by creation, and they are his sons by adoption in Christ. Hence they are privileged to call him, “Our Father which art in heaven.” Father! Oh, what precious word is that. Here is authority: “If I be a Father, where is mine honour?” If ye be sons, where is your obedience? Here is affection mingled with authority; an authority which does not provoke rebellion; an obedience demanded which is most cheerfully rendered—which would not be withheld even if it might. The obedience which Gods children yield to him must be loving obedience. Do not go about the service of God as slaves to their taskmasters toil, but run in the way of his commands because it is your Fathers way. Yield your bodies as instruments of righteousness, because righteousness is your Fathers will, and his will should be the will of his child. Father!—Here is a kingly attribute so sweetly veiled in love, that the Kings crown is forgotten in the Kings face, and his sceptre becomes, not a rod of iron, but a silver sceptre of mercy—the sceptre indeed seems to be forgotten in the tender hand of him who wields it. Father!—Here is honour and love.         How great is a Fathers love to his children! That which friendship cannot do, and mere benevolence will not attempt, a fathers heart and hand must do for his sons. They are his offspring, he must bless them; they are his children, he must show himself strong in their defence. If an earthly father watches over his children with unceasing love and care, how much more does our heavenly Father? Abba, Father! He who can say this, hath uttered better music than cherubim or seraphim can reach. There is heaven in the depth of that word—Father! There is all I can ask; all my necessities can demand; all my wishes can desire. I have all in all to all eternity when I can say, “Father.”

Scripture: “All they that heard it wondered at those things.”(Luke 2:18)
        We must not cease to wonder at the great marvels of our God. It would be very difficult to draw a line between holy wonder and real worship; for when the soul is overwhelmed with the majesty of Gods glory, though it may not express itself in song, or even utter its voice with bowed head in humble prayer, yet it silently adores. Our incarnate God is to be worshipped as “the Wonderful.” That God should consider his fallen creature, man, and instead of sweeping him away with the besom of destruction, should himself undertake to be mans Redeemer, and to pay his ransom price, is, indeed marvellous! But to each believer redemption is most marvellous as he views it in relation to himself. It is a miracle of grace indeed, that Jesus should forsake the thrones and royalties above, to suffer ignominiously below for you. Let your soul lose itself in wonder, for wonder is in this way a very practical emotion. Holy wonder will lead you to grateful worship and heartfelt thanksgiving. It will cause within you godly watchfulness; you will be afraid to sin against such a love as this. Feeling the presence of the mighty God in the gift of his dear Son, you will put off your shoes from off your feet, because the place whereon you stand is holy ground. You will be moved at the same time to glorious hope. If Jesus has done such marvellous things on your behalf, you will feel that heaven itself is not too great for your expectation. Who can be astonished at anything, when he has once been astonished at the manger and the cross? What is there wonderful left after one has seen the Saviour? Dear reader, it may be that from the quietness and solitariness of your life, you are scarcely able to imitate the shepherds of Bethlehem, who told what they had seen and heard, but you can, at least, fill up the circle of the worshippers before the throne, by wondering at what God has done.

Scripture: "I have begun to give;…begin to possess" (Deut. 2:31).
        A great deal is said in the Bible about waiting for God. The lesson cannot be too strongly enforced. We easily grow impatient of Gods delays. Much of our trouble in life comes out of our restless, sometimes reckless, haste. We cannot wait for the fruit to ripen, but insist on plucking it while it is green. We cannot wait for the answers to our prayers, although the things we ask for may require long years in their preparation for us. We are exhorted to walk with God; but ofttimes God walks very slowly. But there is another phase of the lesson. God often waits for us.
        We fail many times to receive the blessing He has ready for us, because we do not go forward with Him. While we miss much good through not waiting for God, we also miss much through over-waiting. There are times when our strength is to sit still, but there are also times when we are to go forward with a firm step.
        There are many Divine promises which are conditioned upon the beginning of some action on our part. When we begin to obey, God will begin to bless us. Great things were promised to Abraham, but not one of them could have been obtained by waiting in Chaldea. He must leave home, friends, and country, and go out into unknown paths and press on in unfaltering obedience in order to receive the promises. The ten lepers were told to show themselves to the priest, and "as they went they were cleansed." If they had waited to see the cleansing come in their flesh before they would start, they would never have seen it. God was waiting to cleanse them; and the moment their faith began to work, the blessing came.
        When the Israelites were shut in by a pursuing army at the Red Sea, they were commanded to "Go forward." Their duty was no longer one of waiting, but of rising up from bended knees and going forward in the way of heroic faith. They were commanded to show their faith at another time by beginning their march over the Jordan while the river ran to its widest banks. The key to unlock the gate into the Land of Promise they held in their own hands, and the gate would not turn on its hinges until they had approached it and unlocked it. That key was faith. We are set to fight certain battles. We say we can never be victorious; that we never can conquer these enemies; but, as we enter the conflict, One comes and fights by our side, and through Him we are more than conquerors. If we had waited, trembling and fearing, for our Helper to come before we would join the battle, we should have waited in vain. This would have been the over-waiting of unbelief. God is waiting to pour richest blessings upon you. Press forward with bold confidence and take what is yours. "I have begun to give, begin to possess." --J. R. Miller

References: Gen 11:4-9 Acts 2:44 Eph 3:15 1 Cor 14:10-11 Further Study: Isa 33:19 Acts 2:37-47
A foreign language is simply a language we do not understand. Until the time of Babel, mankind spoke in a common tongue. However, to guard this unity, they said to one another, ‘Let us make a name for ourselves; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth’. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul spoke of bowing his knee to the Father ‘from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name’. The motivation of the people building the tower of Babel, stood in direct opposition to this mode of bowing and submitting to the Father’s will. Instead of bowing, they sought to ascend. And instead of searching for their name hidden in the Father, they sought to make a name for themselves. As a result, the Lord scattered them ‘abroad over the whole earth’. This scattering was caused by God confusing their languages, so they couldn’t ‘understand one another’s speech’. In an instant, the people became foreigners to one another. This is the meaning of being sent away. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul developed this theme. ‘If then I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be to the one who speaks, a foreigner, and the one who speaks will be a foreigner to me.’ When Christ preached peace from the cross, He reversed the judgement of Babel and the penalty of foreign tongues. However, only in the body of Christ is this phenomenon reversed, where we can live together in fellowship with ‘all things in common’.

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References Further Study 1 John 1:3 John 6:54 John 6:41-68 Psa 27:2 Phil 3:21
Jesus said, ‘He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life’. He is transferring the zoe life He has received from the Father to us. We feed on Him in the adoptive context of the body of Christ by receiving His word. It is His word that calls us forward into fellowship and, therefore, into a genuine participation in His zoe life. The apostle John proclaimed the Word of Life, ‘so that you may have fellowship with us’. His flesh and blood are zoe life which become our life by receiving His word in the fellowship of the body of Christ. Participation and fellowship are part of our worship in Spirit. It is not transubstantiation. Transubstantiation would only pull the flesh of Christ down to sustain us in our mortality. Like the Israelites eating the manna in the wilderness, it would give us nothing in relation to a resurrection to eternal life. To physically eat Christ’s flesh and blood would fulfil the Messianic words of David in Psalm 27. ‘When the wicked came against me, to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell.’ They stumbled over Christ the stumbling stone because they refused to be built on Him. They refused to come into fellowship with Him through the adoption by receiving His word. Accordingly, they could not be born from above and receive zoe life. The terror of a resurrection body without the substance of Christ’s zoe life is frightening in the extreme. This is nothing more than a resurrection to eternal corruption and death. We must feed on His word to receive the substance of zoe life. Let us say again, the physical body of Jesus is the substance of every believer’s resurrection body, fashioned like His glorious body.

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References Further Study Gal 6:1 1Pe 4:8 Gal 6 1Jn 1:9 Rev 3:12 1Jn 2:20 Lev 7:21 Jas 5:19-20
According to Moses, if anyone partook of the peace offering while they were unclean, they were to be cut off from the nation. They were in need of a trespass or a guilt offering. Paul was referring to this when he said, ‘If anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness’. James spoke similarly, ‘My brethren if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins’. The trespass offering is perhaps the most vivid expression of the love of God in Christ. We must participate in this offering by recovering and restoring those who have strayed from the truth. The apostle Peter said, ‘Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins’. John was sure when he proclaimed, ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness’. Having laid hold of a trespass offering and restored, we are in need of oil. If we are to be pillars in the temple of God and ‘not go out from it anymore’ then we will need to raise heave offerings. It was for this reason that Jacob anointed the pillar at Bethel with oil. John has encouraged us that we have an anointing from the Holy One. This is the oil of the peace offering. And this is likewise the oil that was poured over the head of Aaron. He was presented before the Lord as a wave offering and dedicated to his service.

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References Further Study Zec 4:2 Jer 1 Jer 1:11 Zec 6:13
From a number of directions, the symbol of the almond becomes clear. Zechariah was asked the same question as Jeremiah, ‘What do you see?’ And immediately, he was shown a lampstand – the branching of the almond. In Aaron’s case, God intended to perform His word and raise up an entire serving administration, growing out of Aaron’s tribe, Levi. In this symbolic event, the focus on the rod of God shifted from the kingship of Moses to the priesthood of Aaron. Thus, the priority of priesthood was established, as explained in the prophecy concerning Christ; ‘He shall be a priest on His throne’. By the rod of Aaron, the ‘rod of an almond’, God signified that a serving, offering priesthood was to proceed from the wilderness phase. An offering economy would be established, albeit not until the nation reached the promised land. The picture becomes clear. The Son branched out of His place and included us in Himself; in the vine. Even more than this, He has accomplished His word and brought forth the fruit of light in the rod of the almond. And more so again, He has supplied the pure oil of pressed olives so that the full testimony of the seven Spirits of God would be seen upon a lampstand. Overall then, the fruit of new creation life is the light of the testimony of Christ. The symbol of the vine explains our relationship in new creation to the one blood of the covenant. The symbol of the almond builds on this by showing the three-fold development of testimony. Then the symbol of the olive adds the aspect that the pure oil of pressed olives feeding the lamps, is the oil of the Spirit of Christ.

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