GRACE GAZETTE
Volume XXIssue21
/Published occasionally for mourners in Zion/
/Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble
knees;And make straight pathsfor your feet, lest that which is lame
be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.Hebrews 12::12-13/
WITHOUT MEASURE//
///For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God
giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. The Father loveth the
Son, and hath given all things into his hand. John 3:34-35/
All which GOD has created is finite (i.e.; having a beginning, and
limitations associated with the purpose for which each part was
created) and has no self-existent or self-sustaining life, since HE
alone has immortality, dwelling in the LIGHT to which no man can
approach. /“In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”
(John 1:4)/HE alone inhabits eternity and can neither be seen nor
known apart from that which HE is pleased to reveal unto HIS
creation.HIS eternality is that (among other things) which sets HIM
apart from HIS creation and is the basis of HIS “holiness”, (i.e.;
that which is set apart,).HE revealed HIMSELF to Moses as “I AM THAT
I AM”.That literally means, I exist who exist. Even as HE said to
Isaiah, “/I am the LORD, and there is none else.” (Isa 45:6/)
No man has a complete knowledge of HIM nor is it possible that any
man can explain in any great measure, HIS ways or thoughts.“/For my
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith
the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my
ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
(Isa 55:8-9/)Vain is the man who would undertake to explain to men
all of the mysteries which are hid in HIM.Job is a good example of
an upright man, who eschewed (i.e.; avoided) evil and sought to
instruct his erstwhile friends of his knowledge of the HOLY ONE,
even as they sought to do the same.What folly existed in their midst
and how humbled in the dust was Job when the LORD finally appeared
to HIM. “/Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird
up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer
thou me.” (Job 38:1-3/)Well did Paul comment on this very subject
when he said,“/And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he
knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.” (1Cor 8:2/)
When the LORD is pleased to reveal HIMSELF, HE will shut up the
mouths of the proud and bring them to the dust of repentance.We see
this in the confession of Job, as the LORD took away any pride he
had in his supposed knowledge./“I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6/)We see it in the
trembling query of the blinded Saul of Tarsus, crying out, “/who art
THOU LORD/?”This same man who thought himself to be something when
he stood before the Sanhedrin, breathing out slaughters against the
Church of JESUS CHRIST, now grovels in the dust before the very ONE
whom he unknowingly persecuted.In the twinkling of an eye, all that
he thought he knew about the LORD of Glory was swept away and he who
was certain of the direction and purpose in which he was traveling
was left in need of instruction and help as a small child in a
strange place. “/O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in
himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”(Jer
10:23) ”And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I
will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make
darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These
things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” (Isa 42:16/)
The LORD JESUS CHRIST came into the world born of a woman and made
in the likeness of sinful flesh, taking upon HIMSELF the weakness of
the same, yet HE was without limitation, never ceasing to be the
ETERNAL GOD who created the world out of nothing. HE is pleased to
give to everyone of HIS elect; HIS SPIRIT according to the “measure”
which pleases HIM. “/For I say, through the grace given unto me, to
every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly
than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath
dealt to every man the _measure of faith_.” (Rom 12:3)/
Yet, though HE bore our weakness, HE was “/given/” the SPIRIT of GOD
by HIS FATHER, /_“without measure_/_”_, since HE is ONE with the
FATHER even as HE explained this to the amazement of Phillip who
asked to see the FATHER.“/Have I been so long time with you, and yet
hast thou not known me, Philip? _he that hath seen me hath seen the
Father_; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest
thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words
that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that
dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the
Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works'
sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the
works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall
he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in
my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the
Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, _I will do it_.” (John
14:9-14/)
HE was /“without measure/” in the love of the FATHER for HIM.HE has
been installed as the KING of HIS Everlasting Kingdom. /“Yet have I
set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree:
the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I
begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for
thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy
possession.” (Psa 2:6-8/)Because of FATHER’s love for HIS Only
Begotten SON, HE has committed into HIS hands that people which HE
loved and gave to HIS SON. “/Therefore doth my Father love me,
because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.” (John
10:17/) The fate of GOD’s elect rested in the hands and redemptive
work of CHRIST.Thus, HE demonstrated the love of HIS FATHER to HIM.
HE was “/without measure/” in _HIS love_ for HIS FATHER. “/For I
came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him
that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that
of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him,
may have everlasting life: and _I will raise him up at the last
day_.” (John 6:38-40)/HE would not fail in HIS determination to
redeem that Bride which the FATHER had entrusted into HIS care. In
this HE demonstrated HIS eternal love for HIS FATHER.
HE was “/without measure/” in HIS love for HIS elect bride for whom
HE came to bleed and die in accomplishing her redemption and
deliverance./“Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew
that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto
the Father, _having loved his own which were in the world, he loved
them unto the end._” (John 13:1/) /“For I am persuaded, that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38-39/) HE has
demonstrated HIS unchanging and everlasting love for that elect
bride as HE bore her griefs and carried her sorrows.HE pursues her
in the wilderness of sin as that one lost sheep and will not let her
go until HE has brought her out of the darkness and into the LIGHT.
/“What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them,
doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after
that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he
layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.” (Luke 15:4-5/)
HE is “/without measure/” in the glory which surrounds HIM as the
KING of kings and LORD of lords.
“/Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name
which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Php 2:9-11/)HE is
worthy of all praise as the REDEEMER of sinners who is seated upon
an everlasting throne upon which HE shall reign for ever.The glory
that belongs to HIM as the REDEEMER of HIS people, transcends even
the glory which is HIS as the CREATOR of all things./“I am he that
liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen;
and have the keys of hell and of death.” (Rev 1:18/)Do you worship
at HIS footstool?mam
