Amen, Ohhh Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!!
What a Word... No Age can Change its Glorious Hue!
Its Glory is forever NEW>
Fully by Thee, Absolved I am...
From sin, guilt, fear & shame!
Thank you dear precious Lord, for such a marvellous salvation.
Count Nicolaus Ludwig Von Zinzendorf was the founder of the Moravian Missions. He came from a long line of nobility. He was born May 26, 1700 at Dresden, Germany. His father was known for his piety and was a Prime Minister at the Saxon court but died soon after Nicolaus was born. Like Timothy he had a godly mother and grandmother; so from his youth he was in close contact with the word of God. As a child he had the ability to gather children together to pray!
In 1740 in reflecting on his early years he said, "It is more than 30 years since I received an impression of divine grace through the preaching of the cross. The desire to bring souls to Christ took possession of me and my heart became fixed on the Lamb."
He started writing hymns at a very young age. In all he wrote about 2,000! The painting of the crucifixion by the artist Stenberg which was hung in the galleries at Düsseldorf with the words on the frame “All this I did for thee, what hast thou done for Me?" Zinzendorf saw this painting in 1719 in a tour to Düsseldorf, he came upon it at a gallery. He was deeply touched by the question in the painting and resolved to live for the Lord.
He married on September 7, 1723 to the Countess Ermuth Dorothea, sister to his friend Count Reuss and it was a happy marriage for both. Not long after he came in contact with persecuted followers of John Huss ( burned at the stake in 1415) who were scattered around by the enemy. He bought an estate named Berthelsdorf in Saxony at the foot of a hill called Hutberg ( meaning Shelter Mountain) which he changed to “Herrnhut” which means “The Lord’s Shelter. ” Here he allowed them to live and eventually became their leader. From there the Word of the Lord sounded out to the regions beyond—- Greenland, Labrador, Patagonia, West Indies, America and Europe. He spent much time in London and it was there that he helped bring John and Charles Wesley to Christ.
His wife was taken from him June 19, 1756, and a year later he remarried Anne Nitschmann who was not a nobility but was one with the sisters in Herrnhut. Here he spent his last years in peace and quiet. Then on May 5, 1790 he caught a fever of which he did not recover. His strength dwindled and on June 9, close to age 60, he went to be with the Lord whom he had so faithfully served. Just before his departure he said to his son-in-law, ” I am going to the Savior. I am ready; I am quite resigned to the will of my Lord. If he is no longer willing to make use of me here, I am quite ready to go with Him. ”
His coffin was carried by 32 preachers, who happened to be at Herrnhut at the time. They had been trained by him for the work of the Lord which took them to distant parts all over the world. Over two thousand attended the funeral to the burying place. One asked, ” What monarch was ever honored by a funeral like this? ”
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was born on June 27, 1703 at Epsworth Rectory. He was the eldest of the Wesley Brothers. When he was six years old (1709), he was rescued from the Rectory house which was burned down. He always remembered this: God had a work for him to do and was preserved him for it.
In 1729 while attending Oxford he found a group called the Methodists and immediately became their leader. It was a movement within the Church of England. Their main purpose was to conduct their lives and study by “rule and method”. His brother Charles and George Whitfield also joined. Even though they were Anglican, they were prohibited from preaching from the pulpit of the Church of England. Instead, they preached out in the open fields, barns, houses and anywhere they were permitted to. Their one weakness was that man once saved could lose his salvation.
When he was ordained a minister, he had not yet met the Savior. He went to America on a ship to preach the gospel to the Indians but not in the way of salvation but of religion. When he returned to London, he met the Moravians and was especially helped by Peter Boehler. Wesley says of him, “I was clearly convinced of unbelief and of the want of faith whereby alone we are saved. ”
In 1738, while John was listening to the preface to the book of Romans, as written by Martin Luther, he was brought face to face with God’s word and remarked, “While he was describing the change which God works in the heart, through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed; I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an
assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine! ”
John did not write as many hymns as Charles but he is said to have preached forty thousand times and traveled 250, 000 miles. Many souls were brought to Christ through his earnest and zealous preaching.
In 1791 after preaching in the parlor of the magistrate at Leatherhead near London, he returned home fatigued and ill. His text had been, “Seek the Lord while He may be found. ” The Lord took him home on March 2, 1791, after a life full of service for God, at the age of 88.
The stanza in this hymn befits his experience in salvation and in his living:
“ The Lord of life in death hath lain
To clear me from all charge of sin;
And, Lord, from guilt is crimson stain
Thy precious blood hath made me clean. ”
“Clad in this robe, how bright I shine!
Angels possess not such a dress;
Angels have not a robe like mine, —
Jesus the Lord’s my righteousness. ”
Although this hymn is not found in hymnal. net, hymn, 295, which was written by Count Zinzendorf was translated by John Wesley.
Oh this hymn is so deep! Even the title touches my being. “GOD CHRIST WHO IS MY RIGHTEOUSNESS”. Satan needs to hear these over and over again. The overcomers are those who enjoy and value the blood. Oh open our eyes Lord to see what You’ve done and not what we are.
Thank You Lord for shedding blood for such a sinner in order to cleanse and justify. How I cannot say You are my Lord, love and righteousness. I regret and repent my life. Show me how to live rest of my life. I cannot believe in myself. Live out through me. I want to express You.
Hallelujah we are of God in Christ Jesus! This One is our righteousness. Thank the Lord He satisfied God’s righteous requirements so He could pay a ransom for us. We have full redemption! Praise Him!
Lord, I believe that when You ascended to the throne, You brought Your own blood. That blood allows me to stand before God with boldness because the entire situation has been appeased.
Last night I was impressed with the first stanza afresh.
O, Lord, amen, hallelujah!
"Midst flaming worlds, in this arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head."!!!!!
And I also enjoy the verse the way it's been translated into my language (Russian):
By being set forth and infused into us as faith, God embodied in Christ has become our righteousness (4:3, 5, 11, 13). Christ set forth by God and infused into us as faith produces righteousness that is accounted to us. Thus, we have God embodied in Christ as our righteousness. Hymns, #295 says, "Our beauty this, our glorious dress, / Jesus the Lord, our Righteousness." Our beauty and glorious dress are Christ, in whom we are acceptable to God.
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
Fully, by Thee, absolved I am
From sin and fear, from guilt and shame.
This spotless robe the same appears,
When ruined nature sinks in years;
No age can change its glorious hue,
Its glory is forever new.
Thou God of power, Thou God of love,
Let all Thy saints Thy mercy prove;
Our beauty this, our glorious dress,
Jesus the Lord, our Righteousness.
[Hymn #295]
Christ is given to us by God to be our righteousness. Hence, in Christ we have righteousness and thus are justified. Some hymns confuse Christ's righteous act with Christ the person who is our righteousness. For instance, a popular hymn written by Nicolaus L. Zinzendorf and translated by John Wesley begins, "Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness / My beauty are, my glorious dress." Therefore, when we added it to our hymnal, we corrected this line so that it says, "God's Christ, who is my righteousness, / My beauty is, my glorious dress" (Hymns, #295). It is not Christ's act of righteousness that is our righteousness but Christ Himself who is our righteousness.
When the Apostle Paul was in the Jewish religion, he surpassed many of his equals (Gal. 1:14). However, he did not at that time obtain God's righteousness. In Philippians 3:9 he spoke a deep and excellent word: "And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God based on faith." Paul did not want to be found in himself, having his own righteousness; he wanted to be found in Christ, having the righteousness which is of God. We, like Paul, need to be found in Christ. That He is our righteousness is expressed by the words of a well-known hymn: "God's Christ, who is my righteousness, My beauty is, my glorious dress." Christ, as God's righteousness, is our covering under whom we stand. God has put us into Christ and made Him our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). We stand under His covering. We are one with Him. He, Himself, His very person, not one of His attributes, is our righteousness.
There are two aspects of Christ being righteousness from God to the believers. The first aspect is that He is the believers' righteousness for them to be justified before God objectively at the time of their repenting unto God and believing into Christ (Rom. 3:24-26; Acts 13:39; Gal. 3:24b, 27). The first stanza of Hymns, #295 says, "God's Christ, who is my righteousness,/My beauty is, my glorious dress." Christ is our beauty given by God to us to be put on us as our clothing, our glorious dress. This is outward, objective.
The second aspect is that Christ is the believers' righteousness lived out of them as the manifestation of God, who is the righteousness in Christ given to the believers for them to be justified by God subjectively (Rom. 4:25; 1 Pet. 2:24a; James 2:24; Matt. 5:20; Rev. 19:8). We were sinners who repented to God and believed into the Lord Jesus. Right away God gave Christ to us as a glorious dress to cover us, so we are acceptable to God righteously, outwardly. This is objective righteousness. Also, when Christ was given to us to be put on us, He entered into us to be our life and life supply to live Himself out of us. This living out is the manifestation of God in Christ. This is pleasant in the eyes of God. Surely, God would justify us subjectively, not just objectively. Now we can see the two aspects—outward and inward. Christ is put on us, and Christ enters into us to live God out of us to be our subjective righteousness.