This morning, remember those
who requested prayer. Seek the Lord's help for them.
Fred's going to be operated on Wednesday. Open heart surgery. Call him in at 5.30. That means
they may get you that day. If they call you at 5.30 in the
morning, they may get you that day. So he's going to have that. So remember him in your prayers.
Seek the Lord's help for him. The others who requested prayer
also, Dee Parks is doing fair, you know. So we're thankful for
that with the chemotherapy seems to be, this round is not as harmful
as the last one was. But continue to remember them
in your prayers. Now one other announcement, no Wednesday night
service this week. No Wednesday night service this week. Everybody
hear that? I see that hand, okay. Let's begin our worship service
with hymn number 50, Fairest Lord Jesus. Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of
all nature, O Thou of God and man the Son, Thee will I cherish,
Thee will I honor, Thou my soul's glory, joy, and crown. in the blooming garb of spring. Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
who makes the woeful heart to sing. Fair is the sunshine, fair is
still the moonlight, and all the twinkling stars. Jesus shines brighter, Jesus
shines purer than all the angels, hymns, and bows. Beautiful Savior, Lord of all
nations, Son of God and Son of Man. Glory and honor, praise
and adoration, After scripture reading and prayer,
we'll sing here in verse 326. If you have your Bible, serve
me to the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Chapter 22, we're
going to look at verse 16. Revelation 22, 16, I, Jesus,
have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the
churches. I am the root and the offspring
of David and the bright and morning star. Let us pray. Father in
heaven, we thank you for mercy and grace through Jesus Christ
the Lord. We thank you for the shed blood of Jesus Christ, that
perfect sacrifice offered unto you. which put away the sin of
your people, and you made him to be unto them
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. You bought them and purchased
them and possessed them by his perfect price paid. We thank
you that his sacrifice satisfied justice and the law. so the law
and justice have nothing to do with the children of God, but
they stand before you accepted in the beloved. We thank you,
Father, that we can call you our Father, that we can approach
as children into your presence to speak to you from our hearts.
We ask, Father, for those who are sick, for Dee Parks, as he's
in his chemotherapy, for Kathy Robinson, for those special requests
that we've heard Brother Fred, you prepare those doctors for
him this operation this Wednesday. Be with Arlene and the rest of
the family that minister to him. Help us, Lord, to remember each
other in prayer. Call each other's names out to heaven. Help us
to love one another and love you supremely. Help us this day
to worship you. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. M number 326. More about Jesus. More about Jesus would I know
More of His grace to others show More of His saving fullness see
More of His love who died for me More, more about Jesus More,
more about Jesus More of His saving fullness see More of His
love who died for me More about Jesus, let More of His holy will
discern, Spirit of God, my Teacher be, Showing the things of Christ
to me. More, more about Jesus More,
more about Jesus More of His saving fullness see ? More of
his love who died for me ? More about Jesus in his word ? Holy
communion with my Lord ? Hearing his voice in every line ? Making
each faithful saying mine ? More More about Jesus More, more about
Jesus More of His saving boldness seen More of His love who died
for me More about Jesus on His throne Riches and glory all his
own More of his kingdom sure increase More of his coming Prince
of Peace More, more about Jesus more about Jesus, more of His
saving fullness see, more of His love who died for me. Let us pray. Father again we approach in the
name of Jesus Christ, the unspeakable gift that you've given your children
and with him you've freely given them all things. All things are
theirs in heaven and in earth. You've made them heirs of God
and joined heirs with Jesus Christ. Father, let us return unto thee
that which you've given us freely. Let us do it with joy in our
hearts. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. and and I invite your attention back
to the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. The title of my message
this morning is His Names. His Names. The name of our Lord
Jesus Christ is the key to the knowledge of Scripture
and to the knowledge of all His people. We are just saying more
about Jesus would I know and this is the go the vocation and
the avocation of every child of God to know more about the
Lord Jesus Christ. We pray to God in that name. We bow and worship in that name. We go into the world and preach
the gospel in that name. Our God has declared that there
is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. The Lord goes under many titles,
and the titles that He has earned and has been given are a supreme
source of comfort and consolation to His people. And these are
titles, titles that belong to one who has accomplished that
what is required to merit the title that is given to merit
that station. These are not titles given in
hopes of some accomplishment They are descriptive titles declaring
what He has done and who He is. He is our Savior. He bears that title because He
has saved His people. He is our Lord. He bears that
title because He's earned it by His death and His resurrection. It says in Romans 14, 9, For
to this end Christ both died, rose, and revived, that He might
be the Lord of the living and of the dead. He is our Redeemer. That means He paid the price
for our salvation and for our redemption. Wearing the title
of Redeemer, He does so because He has redeemed His people by
His blood which this very book says in chapter 5 verse 9 and
10. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
that has redeemed us by His blood out of every kindred nation,
tongue, and people and has made us kings and priests unto our
God. He is our King. He wears that title because He
reigns as absolute sovereign in this universe. And every title
and every name is designed to bring the child to his knees
in thanksgiving and praise. For unto us a child is born,
and unto us a son is given, and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor. The government shall be upon
his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor
of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. That's his names, there's several
of his names. In this last book of the Bible,
the final glorious revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, called
the Apocalypse of our Lord, He is seen as the Great Conqueror,
our Magnificent Hero, the Captain of our Salvation, and He speaks
and describes Himself by four names in this text. These words are written to the
churches It means it is written to this church, but specifically
to the seven churches of Asia Minor that are addressed in the
first three chapters of this book. He said his angel has testified
of these things to the churches. The angel is the messenger or
the minister. If you look back at chapter 1
and verse 20 when it describes what John saw in the vision of
the church, he said those candlesticks are the angels of the Lord or
the messengers. of the Gospel. The gravity of these words that
have been thus far testified are backed up by the authority
of this blessed description that He gives of Himself. Our Lord
is described as the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the
Last, the Beginning and the End, the First Begotten from the Dead,
the Lamb of God, the Almighty, the King of Kings. He is called
the Word of God and many other titles in this book. He is now
at the end of this story and declares His names. As the rest
of this book is designed to do, these names are a solace for
His elect. He first reveals Himself by His
name of Humiliation, the name that He got when He left glory
and laid aside His glory and came down here in the Incarnation
and was born of a woman born under the law to redeem them
that are under the law. He is exalted above measure.
We know that. and he speaks as a King all-glorious,
he says, I Jesus. I Jesus. That name is particularly
wonderful when it's applied to the Son of God. I knew many Hispanic brethren during my time
in service who were named Jesus. They were named Jesus too. But
this is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. He says, I Jesus. He could have said, I the King
of Kings, but he said, I Jesus. And what this means to believers,
full of glory, for that name is specific and there is a specific
reason why he was named that name. The Lord gave him that
name. The angel told Mary to name that child Jesus, which
is a derivative of Joshua. In fact, if you read the book
of Hebrews, you find Joshua is actually interchanged with Jesus.
What does Joshua mean? It means Savior. Savior. when the people of Israel left
the wilderness, or left Egypt to go into the wilderness to
be delivered to the land of Canaan, they went in the desert. It's
an 11-day journey. It took them 40 years to make.
If they had just walked straight, they would have been there, but
they were full of sin. They were hateful murmurers. And so they stayed in the wilderness
40 years. But the Lord put them there for
40 years because he's going to wipe out about 75% of the population
there in the desert. They refused to go into the Canaan
land. They were afraid to go into the
Canaan land because giants were there. And so our Lord sent back
into the desert everybody of that nation, more than a million
people at the time, everybody who was above 20 years old when
they came out of Egypt, was sent back into that desert to die and rot as the carcasses
in the dry winds. Only two of the original above 20 years
old went into the promised land. Moses didn't go. Moses was killed
by God and buried in the desert somewhere where nobody knows
where he is. Moses is the law, and he cannot
take you into the promised land. The law cannot take you into
glory. The law cannot save you. So Moses got a view of the land,
but then the Lord put him away. Put him away. Now if you want
to go to the law, you're going to have to leave the promised
land to go back to the desert wilderness to get to the law.
And there ain't nothing but death back yonder. Two people went
in, Joshua the Savior and Caleb, which means his faithful dog.
Joshua and Caleb were the only two of the original above 20
years old when they came out of Egypt that went into the Promised
Land. Joshua, the Greek for Joshua
is Jesus, and the angel said to Mary, named this child Jesus,
Matthew 121, because He shall save His people from their sins,
and that was a PROMISE! That's why we're going to call
Him what we call Him, and so He identifies Himself, I, Jesus,
the Savior, the One who saved His people from their sin. This
verse teaches us three things. When our Savior was named, He
already had a people because He was going to save His people
from their sins. They are they who were given
to Him in electing grace before the world began, according to
John 17. I came to die for those whom Thou hast given Me. Thou
hast given Me authority over all flesh to give eternal life
to as many as Thou hast given Me, the Lord said in His high
priestly prayer. Jesus Christ came into this world
and entered into humanity for His beloved elected people. He
came to save His people, born of a woman, born under the law
to redeem them that are under the law, and this is the second
thing taught. He came to save His people and
no one else. He did not come to make salvation
possible for everyone in the world. He came to save His people
from their sins. He did not come to provide or
make salvation possible for ANYONE. He SAVED HIS PEOPLE! That's His
name, that's what it means. He came to save His people. When those who would not believe
Him turned from Him, He said to them in John chapter 6, I
know you don't believe Me. You never will believe Me. I
know that. But all that the Father giveth Me, they shall come to
Me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out, for I came down from heaven not to do mine
own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the
will of the Father which hath sent me, that of all that he
hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again in the
last day." Lost nothing. The third thing taught is that
He saved His people. He saved them all. No one for whom Christ died will
ever face the judgment because they have already been judged
in Jesus Christ. JUSTICE CANNOT TWICE DEMAND PAYMENT
AT MY BLEEDING SURETY'S HAND AND THEN AGAIN AT MINE. THEY
ARE SAVED THROUGH THE UTTERMOST, THEM THAT COME TO JESUS CHRIST.
The second name by which he describes himself is THE ROOT OF DAVID. THE ROOT OF DAVID. I, JESUS,
HAVE SENT MY ANGEL TO TESTIFY UNTO YOU THESE THINGS. I AM THE
ROOT OF DAVID. This declares His preexistence.
He is not the stem of David nor the flower of David. He is the
ROOT of David. His preeminence and His eternal
deity is declared. He is not the PRODUCT of David.
He is the CAUSE of David's life, existence, and exaltation. David
is in glory because the Lord saved him and fit him for heaven.
The King of Kings is the Kingmaker. And though David carries the
title of the greatest of earthly kings, his regal estate is exactly
the same as every sinner saved by grace. David was a sinner
saved by grace. He said that to the prophet,
I have sinned. I have sinned when he stole another
man's wife named Bathsheba and got her pregnant and then had
tried to get her husband to take blame for the kid and her husband
was too honorable So he sent her husband into the battle and
said, when he gets to the front line, draw back on him, let him
get him. And they killed him. And then they sent word to David
that Uriah was killed. He says, well, that happens in
war. He was a sinner, a sinful man.
But God loved him. And he was the apple of God's
eye, a man after God's own heart. and when confronted with the
fact that he had sinned, he said it. I have sinned. I have sinned. David was a sinner. David was
a sinner, saved by grace. Christ is the root of David.
Our Lord is the first cause of all that is. Everything came
from Him. All things are by Him, through
Him, and to Him are all things, it says in Romans 11, 35. In
Colossians chapter 1 and verse 16, speaks of Christ as the Creator,
and why He created, what He did. It says, For by Him are all things
created, chapter 1 in Colossians, verse 16, that are in heaven,
and that are in the earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created
by Him. And what are those next three
words? And for Him. There He is! He created them
for Himself! Jesus Christ is the TRUE King!
Now He is the Root of David for a reason, because He would sit
on David's throne, metaphorically, representing the throne of glory.
He is a King because He is God! He is God! This is the primary thing that
settles all things is a matter, in the matter of salvation. Who
saved you? God did. Okay, I'm saved if God saved
me. I ain't gonna be lost if God saved me. He's God. That's
how He's described in John chapter 1 and verse 1. In the beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God. Later on He describes
as He who created all things and He who is the light of the
world, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the King of glory. He is
the King of Glory. In Him dwells the fullness of
the Godhead bodily, over in Psalm 24. This is how He is described. It says, The earth is the Lord's,
and the fullness thereof, the world, and all that dwell therein.
Now that means you and me and everything there is belongs to
God. It is His. He hath founded it
upon the seas and established it upon the floods. And then
He asked this question, Who shall ascend? That's an interesting
little word. It's only used a few times in
Scripture. Ascension. Who shall ascend? We won't ascend. There is one who ascended to
heaven. It's the same one that came down
from heaven because he had the right of ascending because he
accomplished his work. Who shall ascend to the hill
of the Lord? Who shall stand in His holy place? Well, this
is how you have to qualify to be there, and I don't qualify.
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, he who has not lifted his soul
up to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. I won't ask for a raise of hands,
how you fit in that category, because I know nobody does. That's
speaking of Jesus Christ. That one shall receive the blessing
of the Lord and the righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the generation that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. And when he says, O Jacob, he's
talking about sinners. Selah. Rest and think about that for
a moment. Lift up your hands, O ye gates.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and lift up your everlasting
doors. The King of glory is going to come in. It's as if those
gates to heaven, those gates to glory have been closed. That
no human being has a right to enter in there. And yet here's
one who has the right. And all of a sudden the gates,
it's almost like they've been asleep. They open their eyes. And He said, lift up your heads,
O ye gates, the King of glory is coming in. Well, who is the
King of glory? The Lord. Notice, capital L-O-R-D,
capitalized all the way across, that means Jehovah God, Jesus
the Savior. The Lord strong and mighty, the
Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The
Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. He's the Lord Jesus Christ, and
He is God. If you want to be able to spot
any cult or any false religion in the world, you find one who
denies the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every cult that
started in America around between 1830 and 1860, that seemed to
be the time that really all of them started. Some of them, many
of them started. Well, all of them, their representative,
come to my door at one time or another and knocked on my door
and wanted to talk to me about the Bible. And I usually just
ask them one question, because I know this will settle it. Is
Jesus Christ God? And they don't believe He is.
They might believe He's a God, or the Son of God, or equal in
character with God, but is He God who created the world and
all that is therein? That usually ends the conversation
and they go their way and I go mine. This is it. If Jesus Christ is
not God, we need to close this place up. Maybe have it annexed
as part of the casino. Because we're wasting our time
here if Jesus Christ is not God. He's the root of David, the beginning
of all things. The third description he gives
of himself declares his absolute uniqueness in this world. He's
David's Lord and he's David's son. He's son of man and son
of God. Son of man and son of God. A
unique person who is both God and man. How can that be? I don't
have any idea how that can be. That is a great mystery. Isn't
that what Paul said in 1 Timothy 3? is the mystery of godliness,
God manifest in the flesh, God who is spirit, cannot be touched,
cannot be seen, manifest in the flesh, that's who He was, and
the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us and we beheld
His glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. David's son and David's Lord.
It was David who spoke that and our Lord was later questioned
about it in Matthew chapter 22 but Psalm 110 our Lord said that. David said the Lord said to my
Lord sit thou at thy right hand I
shall make thee a priest after the order of Melchizedek sit
thou thou art now today thou art my son. He said David's listening
in to glory where the Lord is talking to the Lord. The Son
is talking to the Father. If you hear the description that
the Lord gives of His Son, that the Lord God gives of His Son,
in Hebrews chapter 1, the language is WORSHIPFUL. In Hebrews chapter 1, It says,
God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times
past by the fathers unto the prophets, hath in these days
spoken to us by his son. And you see the word his is in
italics. That means it was added by the
translators, supposedly to help with the understanding, but I
think it actually diminishes the understanding. Has spoken
to us by son. That's by son. You want to hear
from God? That is how you are going to
hear from God, by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all
things, by whom He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His
glory, the express image of His person, and upholding all things
by the word of His power, when He had purged Himself, by Himself
purged our sins, it does not say He made that possible, it
says He did something, He purged our sins, He sat down on the
right hand of the Majesty on high, being made so much better
than the angels, He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they. For unto which of the angels
said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be
to me a son. He didn't say that to any of these angels. And again,
when he bringeth in the first begotten of the world, he says,
And let all the angels of God worship him. Let all the angels
of God worship him. And the angel saith, Who maketh
the angel's spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire? But
listen to this verse 8, But unto the Son, this is the God the
Father speaking to His Son, unto the Son, He saith, Thy throne,
King, Thy throne, O God, Deity, is forever, and a scepter of
righteousness. What does that mean? The only
way a person is accepted into the presence of a king in the
times that this was written? was the king would hold out his
scepter, and the person would reach out, and if the king allowed
him to touch his scepter, he was welcomed into the king's
presence. A scepter of the kingdom of God is righteousness. That's
how you don't get glory if you're not righteous, and you of yourself
are not. Christ must be made righteousness
unto you. The scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of thy kingdom. This is God worshiping God. It's that simple. It's that simple. David's son and David's Lord.
That's a great mystery, we know that. But this description signifies
Christ as the legal heir to the throne of David, declaring Him
to be the Messiah. That's how Paul described the
gospel in Romans chapter 1, when he said this, Paul, the servant
of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the
gospel of God. That's what we're separated unto.
which he hath promised by the prophets and the scriptures."
That's parenthetical, that can be lifted. So it says, "...separated
unto the gospel of God concerning his Son, Jesus Christ, which
was made the seed of David according to the flesh, declared to be
the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by
the resurrection of the dead, by whom we have received grace
and apostleship for obedience to the faith among the nations
for his name, among whom also ye are called of Jesus Christ."
He was described as the one who's heir to David's throne. The gospel declares that Christ
fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah,
and in fact, we know that all the Old Testament from Genesis
to Malachi actually has a singular theme, and that is Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. The joy of studying the Old Testament,
and I love the Old Testament, you know I do. The joy of studying
the Old Testament is to see Christ there. Because I know that the
apostles and the disciples up until 50 A.D. didn't have anything
but the Old Testament. And they went about preaching
Christ and Him crucified all the time. When Paul wrote to
the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 2. He said, I determine to know
nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Well,
where did he get that information? from Genesis to Malachi is where
he got the information because he was writing that first book
there when he wrote 1 Corinthians. The gospel, our Lord said to
those who studied the Word of God, who lived in it, who spent
their time describing it, writing it down, who spent their time
on Solomon's porch discussing it and debating it and carrying
on conversations about what this meant and what that meant. He
says, You do search the Scriptures, for in them you think In searching
the Scriptures, you have eternal life. But they are they which
testify of me. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. Now what Scriptures were available when
He said those words? The Old Testament. That's all
that was available. The Scriptures testify of me.
He is the Word. The Living Word and the Written
Word. Christ is described as fulfilling
all the Old Testament prophecies. God and man are fulfilled, or
excuse me, uniquely and eternally united in the person of Jesus
Christ. And herein lies our hope. Why? Because we need a daisman,
as Job said. Oh, there might be a daisman,
a referee, an umpire, someone, a lawyer, somebody who could
stand between me and God. Because I can't approach God. Not unless I am, I can't. And
He can't approach me. And He dwells into a light where
no man can approach. How can He have anything to do
with me? He can't. But, Jesus Christ is both God
and man. As a man, He can reach down to
me. And touch me. Because He's a
man. And as God, He can reach up and touch God. He's my mediator,
the one mediator between men and God, the man, Jesus Christ,
1 Timothy 2, 5. The man, Christ Jesus. Isn't that a wondrous thing?
That's such comfort to me. I go to my Savior. I pray to
my Savior. He's my advocate with the Father.
He's my advocate with the Father. This is our hope. We sin so man
must die, for the soul that sinneth it shall die. And only God can
satisfy His own justice and accomplish salvation. And only one person
meets that human divine criteria, the root of David, the offspring
of David, Christ alone. Only He is touched with the feeling
of our infirmities and can touch the face of God as our advocate.
This is the man, Jesus Christ. There's a man in glory sitting
at the right hand of the Father on high, having earned the right
to be Lord over all. Though as God, He already was.
But as a man, He sits there as our Advocate. The final description
of Himself, the final name is the Bright and Morning Star.
The Bright and Morning Star. In John 1, He's called the Light
of the World. The Light of the World. In Revelation
21 and verse 23, it describes a place It says, And the city
had no need of the sun, neither the moon to shine in it. For
the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb was the light
thereof. The Lamb, Jesus Christ, was the
light thereof. That's like the sixth day of
creation, or the seventh day when the Lord had created heaven
and earth. The only time it doesn't say that the morning and the
evening first, second, third, fourth,
fifth, six days. It doesn't say that on the day of rest. Why?
Because Christ is the light. Christ is the light of the world.
The bright and morning star. What is that? That's the sun.
That's the bright and morning star. It ushers in the day. Prophecy declared him to be the
star out of Jacob in Numbers 24. This description declares
his incarnation. Our Lord, as it were, burst into
the sky at the dawn of the age of grace. The angels that declared
his birth said were surrounded by a glorious light. And when
he came into this world, it lay in darkness and the bondage of
religious night. He dispelled that darkness. His
appearance was the bright and morning star. The bright and
morning star. The description also declares
the experience of every believer. We used to sing that old song,
praise the Lord, I saw the light. Wasn't that Bucko, not Bucko,
it was Hank William. Praise the Lord, I saw the light.
Well, that's how salvation is described in scripture. Paul
the apostle, on his way to Damascus to kill church goers, was stopped
in his tracks by a bright and shining light. A bright and shining
light. Paul describes this blessed word
as a more sure word of prosperity that arises in our hearts like
the day star, like the day star. Until he came, the world groped
in darkness, but he as light disclosed what we were and who
he is and brought life and light to immortality. The scripture
also speaks of his glorious return in Revelation 2. speaks of Him
coming with a brightness. We just read in Hebrews 1, He
is the brightness of God's glory. Scripture says, Out of Zion our
God has shined. He will give His elect the morning
star in Revelation 22-28. In that glorious day He will
be the light of that place. The sun will be no more. The bright and morning star.
John Chandliss who wrote a book on first, second, and third John
described light and I've wrote this down and used it so many
times but I love it. It's a wonderful description
of what light is. You can't touch light, you can't
feel it, but it does something. It's doing something right now. If you are stricken with a disease,
do you know the light in this room is now surrounding you.
So I said, if you're the worst sinner in the world, this light
is surrounding you. It's disclosing you. It's what
it does. Now, if I cut off all the lights,
we couldn't see each other. But once the light comes on,
the darkness is dispelled, and this is the way Chandler wrote.
In the first place, light is clear, transparent, translucent,
patent, and open. always and everywhere, as far
as its free influence extends. The entrance of light, which
itself is real, spreads reality all around. Clouds and shadows
are unreal. They breed and foster unrealities. Light is the naked truth. Its
very invisibility is, in this view, its power. It is not seen
because it is so pure. Secondly, a certain character
of inviolability belongs to it, in respect of which, while it
comes in contact with all things, it itself is affected by nothing.
It kisses carrion. It embraces foul pollution. It enters into the innermost
recesses of the rottenness in which worms uncleanly revel. And yet it is the same clear
element of light still, taking no soil, contracting no stain,
its brightness not dim, nor its beauteous beauty marred, it endureth
forever." Clean and clear. In reference
to Christ and His glorious work of substitution, Chandler also
wrote this, the darkness is laid hold of by the light. He who
is the light enters into the darkness surrounded in us most
deaf, searching its inmost recesses while the guilty fear crouches,
while foul corruption festers. He penetrates. He even makes
the darkness his own. He takes it upon himself. It's
power, the power of darkness is upon him. He said that. It's
the power to wrap the sin-laden spirit in a horror of the thickest
night, in gloom of hell. Yes, for our sakes, in our stead,
in our nature, he who is in light, he who is light, identified with
darkness, and yet in him there is no darkness at all. Jesus
Christ. I, Jesus. have sent mine angel
to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root
and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star. This is our Savior. Father, bless us to understand
and we'll pray in Christ's name. Amen.