Francis Thompson's "The Hound of Heaven" The work of the Church will be completed, and the reckoning of results will take place. By his very wanderings he was assured that grace was seeking him all the while. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, (Hebrews 2:11), It is for discipline that you have to endure. Moody and Lovett point out that Thompson's use of free and varied line lengths and irregular rhythms reflect the panicked retreat of the soul, while the structured, often recurring refrain suggests the inexorable pursuit as it comes ever closer.[3]. (John 16:13-15), ***The work of learning from God the Spirit ultimately brings Him glory, and is His plan for us, And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, [10] so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, [11] filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. All He did was serve He came to serve Mark 10:45)! 3:5), but trust in the Lord even when you cant see for the night that is closing in around you. Men who feign love for truth but are, in fact, miniature anti-Christs, pawns of their father the Devil who is using them until such a time when this course of action has run its course, and he moves on and leaves them to die still enslaved to him. The sadness we endure now is like that of Mary and Martha. But why? You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth. Father! [16] The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, [17] and if children, then heirsheirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. 15. His mission was to seek and save the lost and that ought to be ours as well.[4]. I want us to focus on 3 Key Points we must take away from this passage, which we will see rise up again and again in our reading today: What the author of Hebrews says here, is not an isolated teaching, but reflects what we see throughout the Scriptures from the immutable plans of God for his image bearers, namely that God desires for us to know Him more intimately and to repent of the sin that hinders us from doing so: And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, [46] he said to them, Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. Sproul, Everyones a Theologian, Pg. And indeed Peter understood this. For that is the way of Satan. When you take the entire corpus of his work, his writing, youll see a man so transfixed on Jesus that in order to summarize his entire mission to the Corinthians he says that he resolved to know nothing else but Christ and Him crucified. Meanwhile we long to be with him, and daily sing-, My heart is with him on his throne, And admonishing two of His disciples after the fact, Jesus even said: And he said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! He had a word for everyone because He was rescuing men and women from every tribe, tongue and nation. And ill can brook delay; So the word world is here used to refer to those achieving salvation the elect. Heres the link: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/why-we-read-the-bible. (Revelation 20:3 ESV). (g) Finally, I think that our Lords sudden appearing on shore, when the morning broke, may possibly represent our Lords second advent. I say all that because, while I do not consider myself Postmillennial, I really respect those who take that view, and their arguments are generally very scriptural. [26] The last enemy to be destroyed is death. In that day men will either voluntarily bow in humble joy, or they will hit the dirt simply out of necessity. 11:3So the sisters sent to him, saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill., Boice makes a good point that the sisters dont directly make an appeal to the Lord here for help, though that is almost certainly what their goal was. Remember what side of the cross Peter is on. Heres what he says: I am ascending is part of the message Mary is to convey, not part of the reason Mary should not cling to Jesus. Peter responds in the affirmative, and with each affirmative reply, Jesus charges Peter to Feed the lambs, tend my sheep, and feed my sheep.. [3] And this we will do if God permits. John Owen rightly explains that this charge against them isnt aimed at their being slow mentally, or having a learning disability. She unashamedly states that, in her opinion, if Christ had been with Lazarus, he never would have died. The millennium is not a literal period of only one thousand years that will occur much later; rather it is that period of victorious outreach of the Gospel to the nations: a time that last from Jesus first coming to his last.[iv]. The immature are unskilled in the word of righteousness. John Frame quotes Geerhardus Vos for us on this matter: To him (Jesus) the kingdom exists there, where not merely God is supreme, for that is true at all times and under all circumstances, but where God supernaturally carries through his supremacy against all opposing powers and brings men to the willing recognition of the same. Paul explains: For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba! But the free gift is not like the trespass. Spurgeon says: o If you had a New Testament in Greek it would be very Greek to some of you, but it would do you as much good to look atthatas it does to look at the English New Testament unless you read with understanding heart.[xiv], And so now you see the thrust of what were getting at here. [xi] We must inculcate His truths into our minds and lives. We can see how possibly the Father could be glorified at the end game, but to actually be pleased to crush Himthat takes on a whole new difficulty for us. We need to look at the context of the book and how the author has used words in the past. The Hound of Heaven by Francis Thompson 1890 - Hound of Heaven Christ Jesus is the one who diedmore than that, who was raisedwho is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Her breathless voice bursts out the news and immediately Peter and John take off for the tomb. It was first printed in 1890 in the periodical Merry England, later to appear in Thompson's first volume of poems in 1893. Jesus has now achieved a great victory over Satan, sin, and deathThe Amil says that Satan no longer deceives the nations (20:3) as he did before the coming of Christ. Everyman's Library Edition. If you have found yourself covered in shame, if you have wronged your Lord, take comfort we all have wronged our Lord. God loves the world despite the fact that the world is evil. Both Annas and Caiaphas were well in with one another. Charles Spurgeon. God grant we may be! [3] He restores my soul. [15] All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. Here we see that once again Christ is moved again, and its no wonder given the nature of the response from those in the mourning party (he is filled with a righteous indignation as the Greek clearly impliesagain, the English translations are all incorrect). There is no work to be done thats already been done by Jesus. (2 Corinthians 4:4, ESV). Was it because they had never heard of the resurrection? Therefore the principle problem here is not primarily an intellectual one, nor is it a communication problem on the part of the Apostle, rather it is primarily a problem within the hearts of these Hebrews, and within our own hearts as well. Let us with humility interpret the Word of God. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Thus to be DULL OF HEARING is to have hearts loaded down with other matters worldly matters, and minds that are clouded with other priorities. It doesnt say God sent Jesus to die for the entire world. Realize that God is calling you not to a life of intellectual boredom, but to a renewed mind and transformed heart a mind which sees terrors as joys and trials as blessings. But he will be frustrated and defeated by the return of Christ and the judgment that will result in his final destruction. All Christian leadership entails a certain tension between authority and meek, exemplary service, patterned finally on Jesus himself. (Romans 1:24-25, ESV). Oh, to be found in him! I cannot get Pauls words out of my mind, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for usfor me. YOU WILL NEVER DIE. [13] First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. [36] As it is written. John doesnt give all the details that the other gospel writers do here, and I think James Boice is right that he doesnt do this because his goal is not to focus (as with Luke) on the humanity of Christ (sweating blood for instance), but rather on the power of the Son of God. Jesus, the son of Man, and greater son of David, has taken up staff and rescued the sheep of His Fathers flock, delivering them from exile to a new exodus a spiritual exodus an exodus from sin and death. God planned it all from before the world began. They were vexed to see even more unanswerable proofs that Jesus was the Christ, and irritated to feel that their own unbelief was more than ever inexcusable.. She supposed Him to be the gardener. By continual hearing of the Word and submitting your lives joyfully to its teaching. He is the source of truth and understanding of that truth is also a supernatural gift from God. The reaction to the miracles of Christ is always of interest to me. [15] We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. He enters into our sorrows with us. When someones heart is touched by the words of Christ they want to immediately go and tell others of the experience and bring them near to Christ. The Hound of Heaven | St. Luke's Episcopal Church The old Martha might have said I need to stay here and be with my sister. This Martha realizes the centrality of Christ. Before you are saved you are not good at all you are a child of the Devil (John 8) and you are an enemy of God (as Paul argues in Romans). 262-263. 1110. Listen to Spurgeon and let your hearts agree with his: One more duty I would mention, though others suggest themselves. Stott writes: Roger Steer, Basic Christian: The Inside Story of John Stott (IVP Books, 2009), pp. He weaves the denials of Peter in with the first part of the Jewish trial of Jesus. Our doing is our beholding. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10). It is but human nature, fallen human nature, that man should love this present life better than the life to come. What strikes me about this is the excitement, the party atmosphere, the joy, the dancing, the music loud music! [x] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, Pg. I suppose it is also necessary to address the fact that some say that by the way Mary and Martha address Lazarus as the one loved by Christ, that Lazarus is perhaps the author of this gospel and not John there are other times, of course, when the author refers to himself as the beloved of the Lord. The second thing that struck me like a lightening bolt was John notation of what time it was. The hallmark of this text is a warning to believers not to live their lives as introverted and covetous people. In any case, the way that John has laid out the text here is to show that Jesus is in control of all of these events. I do not address a people this morning who feel no care as to whether they serve God or not. Heaven - Charles Spurgeon Sermon - YouTube Sproul was speaking of earlier when he said that Christs kingdom was inaugurated but not yet consummated. There are some promises, and some realities that are presently being realized in the church age, yet will not come to their full glory until Christ returns. (Carson). You see, God never gives commands (imperatives) without first laying the foundation for the ability to obey those commands. However, God commands us to have agape love toward everyone. (1 Corinthians 15:14-19). His power is so exacting, so overwhelming that at the mere mention of His name soldiers, criminals, and traitors eat the dirt their bones were fashioned from. Underlying all of this the manifold character of God is seen. IT is a gentle reproof: by this time Mary should not have been crying. [32] He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? [14] But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. It means the great drama of the history of salvation has been inaugurated, and that the new age has been ushered in. Plenty of people have heard the gospel, but not everyone sees it as glorious. But at the same time, we cannot miss feeling that when they phrased the report as the did Lord, the one you love is sick they indicated by the form of it that they were seeking his will rather than theirs in the matter. He wields His power and knowledge with wisdom and His plans are never foiled. That is to say that we are called out of the world, we are to not to our minds on the things of the world, and even that the world will hate us.. [3] So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. How should we think of, and describe his reign? [4] Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. For as Paul says elsewhere: o Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, [13] for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Proper 19C'19. Finally, the Apostle does not stop with this exhortation, but goes on to deliver a comforting reminder (read verse 3). Sproul says, The Greek word translated dull reappears in 6:12 (translated as sluggish), suggesting that the danger of spiritual laziness is in view throughout this section. Here is another one of the great I AM saying of Christ (the 5th one, if youre keeping track). This saying of Jesus to Mary not to cling to me is one of the most difficult verses in Scripture to understand, according to D.A. The Hound of Heaven and a Young Russian Agnostic Andrea Wolfe, on staff with the CoMission office in Raleigh, North Carolina tells the following story: In the 1930's Stalin ordered a purge of all Bibles and all believers. First, Jesus initiates a love for us and then expects us to follow His example: We love because he first loved us. In fact, if we think carefully about what John has been saying in verses 19-21 we will see that our natural disposition is to love the darkness.
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