Hallelujah, He is risen

THE BLOOD OF JESUS AND THE

ADVOCATE WITH THE FATHER

John’s writing in this Epistle is tender and delicate. When I first read chapter one years ago, I was very happy. However, I did not understand why John added 2:1-2 . It seemed to me that the problem of sin had been fully solved in chapter one , and I thought that these verses in chapter two were not necessary. Later I came to appreciate the importance of these verses.

According to chapter one of this Epistle, we have received the divine life, and we are enjoying it in the fellowship of life. In this fellowship we receive the divine light, and in this light we practice the truth. But we still need the warning concerning the sin that dwells in our flesh. We need to be careful and on the alert regarding indwelling sin.

Whenever we sin, we need to confess our sin to God. If we confess our sins, God is faithful in His word to forgive us our sins, and He is righteous in His redemption to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is wonderful. Nevertheless, as 2:1-2 indicates, we still need a Person, an Advocate with the Father, to take care of our case. Because we are not capable of handling the case ourselves, we need a heavenly attorney.

In chapter one John speaks of the blood of Jesus, and in chapter two , of our Advocate. Not only has God provided the blood of Jesus Christ, which was shed for us so that we may be forgiven and cleansed; God has also prepared Christ as our Advocate. First, the Lord Jesus shed His blood as the price of our redemption. Then after shedding His blood, He becomes our Advocate, our heavenly attorney, taking care of our case. How marvelous that our Advocate pays our debt and takes care of our case!

The fact that Christ is our Advocate with the Father, and not simply with God, indicates that our case which the Lord undertakes for us is a family affair, a case between us as the Father’s children and the Father. Actually, our Advocate is our elder Brother, the Son of the Father.

The divine family is full of love, but it is also full of righteousness. Hence, there are regulations and also the Father’s discipline. We should never think that in the Father’s house we can be unruly. Our Father is orderly, and His house should be much more orderly than a human court of law. However, as children in the Father’s house, we are often naughty. We make mistakes, break the family regulations, and offend the Father. For this reason, we need the Lord, our elder Brother, to be our Advocate with the Father.

Life-study of First John

Message 14 (LSM)

Receiving More of God

We also need to realize that the issue of our musing and our prayer must be more of God in our inner being. Since the Bible is God’s breath, His breathing out, and His spoken word, which is God Himself, whenever we receive Him, the result should be more of God in us. We should never congratulate ourselves for merely understanding some truths that we formerly did not understand. There is not much value in this. If the result of our coming to the Word is to receive knowledge, teaching, or truth, not the Lord Himself, our reading is a failure. When we read the Word, the ultimate result should not merely be the acquisition of more truth but the gaining of the Lord Himself. We are contacting the Lord, receiving the Lord, and praying to the Lord; therefore, in the end we should gain the Lord.

When we have a problem with our job or when we are looking for solutions to other problems, we should not make these things an issue when we go to God. The Lord should be the subject of our prayer, and He should also be the subject of our reading. When we study the Word, we should say, “Lord, I want to contact You through Your Word. Your Word is Your very self. ” We should exercise our spirit to contact the Lord. Genesis 1 says nothing about jobs or careers. Verse 1 simply says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ” However, if we touch God and contact Him through this word, it will turn us to meditate and pray so that we can absorb God and receive Him and His element within us. We will not need to say anything related to our business. However, after reading in this way, we will sense the Lord’s presence within as we proceed with our business affairs. His presence will cause us to consider whether He has initiated our work and whether He is involved in it. In this light we may realize that we initiated our business, not the Lord. We may realize that we, rather than the Lord, are the founder of our business. He is not involved in it, but we are fully occupied with it. Then the Lord may give us a clear feeling that what has not been initiated by Him is not His will. In this way we will be clear about the Lord’s will. This is not a matter of understanding the truth but of gaining the truth. As we contact the living Lord and as His element within us increases, He, the living God Himself, becomes our living guidance. He teaches us to understand God’s will.

How to Enjoy God and How to
Practice the Enjoyment of God
Chapter 6 CWWL, 1958, vol. 1 (LSM)

'Hallelujah! He Is Risen' was written in the South, in the spring of 1876, and was first sung by Philip Bliss on Easter afternoon, 1876, in the Court House Square of Augusta, Georgia, to an audience of 5,000 people gathered to hear the Gospel. None who were there will ever forget the radiant face, or the triumphant, ringing tones with which he sang. - 'Memoirs of Philip P. Bliss' by Daniel Webster Whittle.

---------

Philip bliss was born in a log cabin in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. The story is told that Philip soon developed an interest in music. At the age of 10 he was thrilled to hear piano music for the first time in his life. Listening for a while, completely entranced, he entered the house from where the music had come and sat enthralled. When the music stopped, the child who hungered for music cried, "Oh lady, play some more." However her response was to have him escorted from the house!

Philip left home at the age of 11 to work in the lumber camps. In the evening, he attended what was known as a "singing school", conducted by hymn writer William Bradbury. In 1850, at the age of 12, Bliss made his first public confession of Christ.

In the early 19th century, music training in America was largely centered on these "singing schools". Classes were often held in schoolhouses, churches or town halls and were organized by a person who traveled from community to community.

The schools were often known for their strong spiritual emphasis. Many of America's early gospel musicians started out as "singing school" teachers. For over 100 years these schools had a profound impact on the quality of congregational and choir singing in churches across America.

In 1858, Philip Bliss was living and working in Rome, Pennsylvania. He boarded with the family of O. F. Young, and while living in their home he met and fell in love with their daughter Lucy. They were married on June 1, 1859. A year later, he began his career as an itinerant music teacher. During the winter months he traveled from place to place with a small folding organ. Then, during the summer of 1860, Philip was himself a student at the Normal Academy of Music in Genesco, New York.

Bliss met evangelist D. L. Moody in 1869, and the 2 worked together over the following years. Bliss was fast becoming a great singer of gospel music.

Bliss had a natural ability for both writing lyrics and composing music. He is credited with writing more than 100 hymns. During his short career, Philip Bliss earned more than $30,000 (a fortune in those days) in royalties alone. But remembering the poverty of his youth, he gave all but a modest livelihood to worthy causes. - Cliff Barrows, Choir Director for Billy Graham Crusades

Great hymn

This is a beautiful song. Yes, He his the Messiah and the coming King that will reign for ever and ever. Thank You Christ for Your death on the cross for mine sin.