Praise the Lord for all the days with which He
blesses us, that we might to live to know Him and enjoy Him for ever and
ever. Yesterday He blessed us with a spectacular day. I spent some
time in the Triple Cities. It was sunny and and warm. I was at The
Sam's club for awhile doing some purchases. I ran into one of the store
associates, whom I have known for several years. Almost every time I
see him I ask about his work and his personal well being, and we
usually share some humor. I know most of his colleagues, including the
department manager. Out of blue the man came out to talk to me and said,
"I want to be baptized". I listened to his story. He
disclosed that a few months ago he was into watching horror
movies and then he watched some movies on hell. The "Hound of
Heaven, Jesus our Lord, has been pursuing him. The man shared that the
Holy Spirit has been convicting him of his sinfulness and wretchedness and also
about the Amazing grace of Jesus and about His mercy. He gave his life over
to Jesus. Something beautiful and wonderful was transacted the moment he
believed in Jesus. He further shared that the Lord has transformed his
life. The Lord has transformed his foul mouth and given him a mouth
to praise the Lord and share about Jesus with others. He shared how
the Lord has given him a deep and abiding peace. I agreed to baptize
him. We prayed together on the floor of the store, praising the Jesus for
His wonderworking power.
I
drove by the downtown section of the City of Binghamton. The whole
city was flooded with University Students who were celebrating their
graduation. Finals are over and graduation is this weekend. All the
roads were blocked. All the restaurants and pubs were wide open to cater
to the graduates and their friends who were in the mode of celebration and
partying.
Once again the world was
awakened yesterday with the news of the Egyptian Air
disaster. We read and hear about the insane brutalities in the
Middle East and around the world. Many Christians are brutalized,
persecuted, and killed around the world. Many of us remember
the 21 Coptic Christians who were beheaded by ISIS on the shores of the
Mediterranean Sea in Libya. They were marched out in orange jump suits,
each one standing in front of a man dressed in black. One by one their
throats were slit, all of it captured on video and shared with the world by the
terrorists. Many of the men died with the name of Jesus on their
lips. No one recanted. A few months ago Tom Doyle, author of Killing Christians: Living the Faith
Where It’s Not Safe to Believe, visited the
Christian villages south of Cairo where most of the men came from. It was
not easy to get there and not entirely safe to go there. He met with the
families of the men who had been beheaded. That very day he
was interviewed on the radio and asked what the families had said, he
replied they spoke of their deep pride in their men. They repeated the
Scripture promises of heaven. Then they said of the martyred men, “They
were like lions. Did you see how brave they were? They walked
without fear.”
They were like lions! They were like lions who follow the Lamb who is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. The Christian life can be hard. Sometimes it is very hard indeed. Let us pray for ourselves and for our brothers and sisters around the world, especially Christians in the Middle East, that we might have strength to endure whatever comes our way.
All
of us have heard of the Puritans. Let me mention a name you may not have
heard - Christopher Love - who lived in the 1600's. He was a
Welsh Protestant preacher who converted to the Presbyterian faith.
Accused of treason, he was sentenced to die by beheading in 1651. While
he was awaiting execution, his wife Mary wrote to encourage him to stay strong
in his faith. Christopher and Mary had four children. Two had died;
two were living. She was pregnant with their fifth child. Here is
part of her letter:
When the messenger of death comes to you, let him not seem dreadful to you, but look on him as a messenger that brings you tidings of eternal life. When you go up the scaffold, think (as you said to me) that it is but your fiery chariot to carry you up to your Father's house. And when you lay down your precious head to receive your Father's stroke, remember that you said to me: Though your head was severed from the body, yet in a moment your soul should be united to your Head, the Lord Jesus, in heaven. And though it may seem something bitter, that by the hands of men we are parted a little sooner than otherwise we might have been, yet let us consider that it is the decree and will of our Father, and it will not be long ere we shall enjoy one another in heaven again.
Let us comfort one another with these sayings. Be comforted, my dear heart. It is but a little stroke and you shall be there where the weary shall be at rest and where the wicked shall cease from troubling. Remember that you may eat your dinner with bitter herbs, yet you shall have a sweet supper with Christ that night. My dear, by what I write unto you, I do not hereby undertake to teach you; for these comforts I have received from the Lord by you. I will write no more, nor trouble you any further, but commit you into the arms of God with whom ere long you and I shall be.
Farewell, my dear. I shall never see your face more till we both behold the face of the Lord Jesus at that great day.
On the day of his death, Christopher Love wrote his final letter
to his wife. I here reproduce the beginning and the end:
My most gracious Beloved,
I am now going from a prison to a palace: I have finished my work, and am now going to receive my wages. I am going to heaven, where are two of my children, and leaving you on earth, where there are three of my babes. These two above need not my care; but the three below need thine. It comforts me to think, two of my children are in the bosom of Abraham, and three of them will be in the arms and care of such a tender and godly mother. I know you are a woman of sorrowful spirit, yet be comforted, though your sorrows be great for your husband going out of the world, yet your pains shall be the less in bringing your child into the world; you shall be a joyful mother, though you be a sad widow; God hath many mercies in store for you; the prayer of a dying husband for you will not be lost.
"I go from a prison to a palace" . . .
Farewell dear love, and again I say farewell. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit, the Maker of heaven and earth be a husband to you; and the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ be a father to your children – so prays your dying, your most affectionate friend till death,
Christopher Love
The day of my
glorification
From the Tower of
London, August 22, 1651
His
first sentence says it all: “I go now from a prison to a palace.” This is
the true Christian position. This is what it means to die in the
Lord. That sort of faith will never die because it rests on the
eternal promises of God.
In Jesus our Peace.
Brown
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