-------------------------<BrethrenVoice>------------------------- [which seeks to be guided solely by the NT Biblical pattern, facilitates free flow of Christian info. To God be the glory!] [eMail Moderator: brethrenvoice-owner@...] [<GLEANINGS-FOR-THE-DAY> archives/read online: http://associate.com/groups/brethrenvoice/ezmlm.cgi] <GLEANINGS-FOR-THE-DAY> <14 December 2002> Contents: ---------- 1) <Devotional> "Handel’s Messiah, our Deliverer" - Ravi Zacharias 2) <Bible-Study> "Ghehazi's greed...." (Pt-33)-C.E Wigg 3) <Prophecy> "The Redeemer's Return" (Pt-104)- A.W.Pink 1) <DEVOTIONAL> <SLICE-OF-INFINITY> "HANDEL'S MESSIAH, OUR DELIVERER" Ravi Zacharias One of the greatest masterpieces of musical composition, if not the greatest, is the work of George Frederic Handel simply called Messiah. Prior to its composition Handel had not been successful as a musician and had retired from much professional activity by the age of fifty-six. Then, in a remarkable series of events, a friend presented him with a libretto based upon the life of Christ, the entire script of which was Scripture. Handel shut himself in his room on Brook Street in London. In twenty-four days, breathtakingly absorbed in his composition and hardly eating or drinking, Handel completed the work all the way to its orchestration. He was a man in the grip of profound inspiration. Later, as he groped for words to describe what he had experienced, he quoted Saint Paul, saying, "Whether I was in the body or out of my body when I wrote it I know not." Handel's servant testified that on one occasion when he walked into the room to plead with him to eat, he saw Handel with tears streaming down his face saying, "I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself." When Messiah was staged in London, as the notes of the Hallelujah Chorus rang out - "King of Kings and Lord of Lords...And He shall reign forever and ever" - the king of England, drawn irresistibly, stood to his feet, and the audience followed as one. Listen to how one writer sums up the impact of Messiah: Handel personally conducted more than thirty performances of Messiah; many of these concerts were for the benefit of the hurting and the needy. "Messiah has fed the hungry, clothed the naked, fostered the orphan...." Another wrote, "Perhaps the works of no other composer have so largely contributed to the relief of human suffering." (Footnote 1: Patrick Kavanaugh, The Spiritual Lives of Great Composers (Nashville: Sparrow Press, 1992), 6.) Even if overstated, the point is well taken. The work was based entirely on Scripture. The focus was on the person of Christ. The spirit of a man was enraptured by the holiness of God. A king rose spontaneously to his feet. The people followed his example. The first performance was a charitable benefit to raise money to free 142 people from prison who could not pay their debts. In the prison of suffering and evil within which the whole world now lives, the same Messiah offers us deliverance. Come to this Messiah today, dear friend, and you will know the joy of rescue from sin and newfound freedom to live a triumphant life for God. That will be truly inspiring. ---- Copyright (p)(c) 2001 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. A Slice of Infinity is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries _______________________________________________________________________ 2) <BIBLE-STUDY> "THE BORROWED AXE" (PART-33) Charles E. Wigg .... Chapter six of 2 Kings begins with the story of the borrowed axe. We are introduced to the sons of the prophets once again, and as we noticed previously, they continue to be people of a carnal nature. Here they are discontented with the place where they were dwelling, and they complained that it was too small for them. The flesh hates smallness or narrowness, and always clamours for largeness, or looseness. It objects to the narrowness of the path that is laid out for the believer in the word of God. The path which the Lord Jesus has called us to walk is a narrow path, Matt. 7:14, a path that involves trouble and discomfort, as the Greek word implies. The flesh prefers the broad road, to go with the crowds etc, but it leads down to destruction. We have this problem today, with our modern day ‘sons of the prophets’ seeking for what they call Mega Churches, and are no longer content with the two or three, that gather to the Lord’s name, as the Lord Jesus said. They call us to join hands with this and that, with anything that is called ‘Christian’, regardless of whether such movements have any love for Christ, or obedience to His word. They then approached the prophet with their plan to build a larger place for themselves, and he permitted them to go about their project, but they asked him to go with them, and thereby give support by his presence to their endeavour, and he consented to go. We may wonder at the wisdom of this, and some would even criticise or condemn the prophet for giving credence or support to such a project by being present with them. However the prophet knew that their plans would come to nothing, and sometimes the best way to teach people is to let the make their mistakes, so that they might learn by them. Once they reached the place, or the forest where they were to obtain the timber for their project they set about hacking down the trees that had grown tall and straight in that place. As one was felling a tree that was to be used for a beam, the head of the axe that he was using flew off the handle and fell into the water of the Jordan River. He immediately cried out to the prophet, saying “Alas master! For it was borrowed”. Here then, we have one who was inexperienced, using something that was not his own, something that he had borrowed from another, and the result was disaster. We may presume that it was borrowed from someone at the place that was too small for them. It is the practice of those who are trained in the seminaries of our lands, to do much reading, and to borrow from others, things that they fit into their sermons, when asked to preach. Things that they have never proved, or made their own, things that others have used, things that have cost them nothing. The result sometimes is that the preaching of such sermons brings death, disaster and loss. . [To be concluded] --- [Reproduced by permission] _____________________________________________________________________ 3) <PROPHECY> "THE CONSUMMATION OF THE REDEEMER'S RETURN OR THE MILLENNIAL REIGN" (PART-104) THE MILLENNIUM IN RELATION TO SATAN Arthur W. Pink .... It should now be evident to every unprejudiced reader that there are two distinct stages in the Second Coming of Christ:--His coming to the air, and His coming to the earth; His coming for the saints, and His coming with the saints. The first great purpose before Him in connection with His return is to receive His people unto Himself. Just as of old God translated Enoch to Heaven before He sent the Deluge upon the ungodly, so will the Church be removed from this earth before the vials of His wrath are poured out upon it. The second great purpose before the Lord Jesus will be to return to the earth itself, there to set up His Kingdom and reign in righteousness, and it is the nature, the scope, the blessedness, and the duration of this Kingdom-reign which is now to engage our attention. In popular parlance the era of the Messiah's reign is referred to as the "Millennium" which is a compound word signifying a thousand years. From the remotest antiquity men have longed for and talked of a Golden Age, of an age in which righteousness and peace should prevail, and oppression and war should cease. Poets have sung of it, politicians have dreamed about it, and inspired prophets have described it. This era of blessedness is variously denominated in the Scriptures. It is termed "the Regeneration" (Matt. 19:28); the "Last Day" (John 6:40); the "Times of Refreshing" (Acts 3:19); the "Times of Restitution" (Acts 3:21); the "Kingdom" (1 Cor. 15:24); the "day of Christ" (Phil. 1:6); the "Dispensation of the Fullness of Times" (Eph. 1:10). There are more Scriptures, which treat of the Millennium or Kingdom-age than perhaps any other one subject in the Bible. The difficulty is to classify them all. For purpose of simplification we shall now consider the Millennium under seven heads, namely, the Millennium in relation to Satan, to Christ, to the Church, to Israel, to the World, to Creation, and to Sin. [To be concluded] ---------------------------<BrethrenVoice>--------------------------- Subscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-subscribe@...> Unsubscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-unsubscribe@...> FAQs/Faith Statement, eMail: <brethrenvoice-faq@...> <BrethrenVoice> Home: www.brethrenvoice.com <eFellowship> Home: http://groups.msn.com/BrethrenChristiansForum/ "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith." 2 Cor 13:5 "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Jn 8:32 _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail