O God! we see Thee in the Lamb

SEEING CHRIST AND LIVING BY HIM

We all have a concept of the physical things in creation. Even such a concept may frustrate us from enjoying Christ and growing in Him. It is crucial for us to realize that we can see Christ in all the items of creation. We need to drop our concept of the heavens, the earth, and the physical things; we need to see that Christ is the firstborn of the old creation and the firstborn of the new creation. Hence, Christ is everything; He is all-inclusive. Seeing that Christ is everything, we need to have the realization that this Christ is in us to be our hope of glory. What we need today is to grow in Him unto maturity.

Life-study of Colossians

message 34 (LSM)

SWALLOWED UP BY CHRIST AS GLORY

Contrary to the religious concept, our glorification will not be a sudden event. Rather, it will take place gradually as Christ expands within us and saturates us with Himself. Christ glorifies us as He “eats us up” little by little. We all need to be eaten, devoured, swallowed up, by Christ as the glory within us. Within us we have Christ not only as our life and our person, but also as the very glory of God.

We may use the metamorphosis of an ugly caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly as an illustration of glorification. A caterpillar is not instantaneously transformed into a butterfly by a beauty that suddenly descends upon it and envelops it. No, the beauty of the butterfly is contained within the life of the caterpillar. As the law of this life functions within the caterpillar, the caterpillar is gradually transformed into a butterfly. As this process takes place, the beauty of the butterfly swallows up the ugliness of the caterpillar.

In the same principle, Christ is in us to be our hope of glory. As the indwelling glory, He takes every opportunity to expand within us. The inner glory saturates us and even swallows us up. One day our entire being will be saturated with the divine glory. On that day we shall be brought into glory in a full way.

Life-study of Ephesians

Message 57 (LSM)

Dr. Isaac Watts was the grandson of a British naval commander, Thomas Watts, who was blown up with his ship in a war with the Dutch. His father Isaac Watts Sr. showed his courage in a different field. He was the deacon in the Congregationalist church and suffered persecution for not conforming to the Church of England. Just about this time, on July 17th, 1674, young Isaac Watts was born. His father was in prison for having kept his stance against the ritual practices of the Anglican Church and his mother would bring young Isaac to sit on a stone near the gate just to get a glimpse of her husband and give him a glimpse of his son. In 1688 William, Prince of Orange, came from Holland to sit on the British throne, and from then on persecution and executions ceased. This brought a brighter time for believers who did not conform to the Church of England.

Dr. Watts is considered the “father of hymnody” and the originator of good Christian hymns. Before his time the only singing in the English and Scottish churches took the form of crude versions of the Psalms. Once he expressed his dislike of the crude singing and was challenged—-“ Give is something better, young man! ” That very day he wrote the hymn:

“ Behold the glories of the Lamb
Amidst His Father’s throne;
Prepare new honors for His Name
And songs before unknown. ”

We do not know how his heart was opened to receive Christ, but we see in hymn 101 how precious Christ was to him:

When We survey the wondrous cross
On which the Lord of glory died,
Our richest gain we count but loss,
And pour contempt on all our pride.

Originally this was written in the personal pronoun “I” instead of “we”, but collective singing in the assembly of Mr. Darby revised it to the plural.

Dr. Watts was only 5 feet in height and slight of build and was sickly most of his life. When he was young he proposed marriage to Miss Elizabeth Singer, but she rejected him with this remark, “While I love the jewel— his excellent mind and character—I do not admire the casket that contains it. ” Isaac Watts never married.

Worn out by weakness and labor, he simply ceased to live on November 25, 1748.

Hymnal. net contains numerous hymns written by Dr. Watts.

These old songs bring sweetness to my ears and soul, because the word says in the last days man's heart will turn wax cold.