‘So [you] will produce even more.’

(Jn 15:2) 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ESV

     Jesus said the vine dresser ‘cuts off every branch…that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes [cuts back] the branches that do bear fruit so they…produce even more.’ Notice two things: 1) God cuts some things off. ‘What kind of things?’ Things you’re comfortable with but that stand in the way of your progress. Things He hasn’t chosen for you. Things that will bring you trouble. Things that refuse to change. Things that have served their purpose. 2) God cuts some things back. A fruit tree that’s just been pruned certainly doesn’t look its best. And when God starts cutting back certain things in your life in order to redirect your energies, for a while you may not look so good either. Sometimes this means letting go of things you thought would always be there, or reprioritising your life, or making do with less for a while, or not being able to explain to your loved ones why you’re going through the pruning process. But life-giving sap flowing into a barren branch with no potential for fruitfulness is a waste! And so is time, attention, and energy taken from first things and given to second and third things. Understand this: God knows what needs to be cut off in your life, and He knows what needs to be cut back. And although you may not understand what He’s doing, pray: ‘Send whoever You will and take away whoever You will. I’ll praise You when they come and I’ll praise You when they go, because Your approval is my reward and Your purpose is my reason to live.’

Luke 18:18-43
Ps 100-102

UCB The Word For Today

     “In the language of the Holy Writ, there is a time for all things. There is a time to preach and a time to fight.” Thus ended the sermon of Lutheran pastor John Peter Muhlenburg, as he removed his clerical robes to reveal the uniform in the Continental Army. After church service, 300 men of his congregation rode off with him to join General Washington’s troops. Born this day, October 1, 1746, and he died this same day in 1807. John Peter Muhlenburg was promoted to Major-General, and later Congressman and Senator. A statue of him now stands in the U.S. Capitol.

     God has blessed pain even in causing us to pray for relief from it, or profit. Whatever drives us to Him, and even nearer Him, has a blessing in it. And, if we are to go higher still, it is to turn pain to praise, to thank Him in the fires, to review life and use some of the energy we spend in worrying upon recalling and tracing His goodness, patience, and mercy. If much open up to us in such a review we may be sure there is much more we do not know, and perhaps never may. God is the greatest of all who do good by stealth and do not crave for every benefit to be acknowledged. Or we may see how our pain becomes a blessing to others. And we turn the spirit of heaviness to the garment of praise. We may stop grousing and get our soul into its Sunday clothes. The sacrament of pain becomes then a true Eucharist and giving of thanks.

     And if there were a higher stage than all it would be Adoration—when we do not think of favours or mercies to us or ours at all, but of the perfection and glory of the Lord. We feel to His Holy Name what the true artist feels towards an unspeakable beauty. As Wordsworth says:

     I gazed and gazed,
     And did not wish her mine.

     There was a girl of 15, tall, sweet, distinguished beyond her years. And this is how Heine ran into English at the sight of her:

     No flower is half so lovely,
     So dear, and fair, and kind.
     A boundless tide of tenderness
     Flows over my heart and mind.
     And I pray. (There is no answer
     To beauty unearthly but prayer.)
     God answered my prayer, and keep you
     So dear, and fine, and fair.

     Tomorrow begins Chapter 3, The Moral Reactions of Prayer.

--- Forsyth, P. T. (1848-1921).

Nothing does reason more right,
than the coolness of those that offer it:
For Truth often suffers more
by the heat of its defenders,
than from the arguments of its opposers.
--- William Penn

Happiness can only be achieved by looking inward and learning to enjoy whatever life has and this requires transforming greed into gratitude.
--- John Chrysostom

And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors.” (In a letter to John Adams, 4/11/1823)
--- Thomas Jefferson

There are those who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge; that is Curiosity. There are those who seek knowledge to be known by others; that is Vanity. There are those who seek knowledge in order to serve; that is Love.

--- Bernard of Clairvaux

     CHAPTER 8.

     How The Romans Took The Second Wall Twice, And Got All Ready For Taking The Third Wall.

     1. Now Caesar took this wall there on the fifth day after he had taken the first; and when the Jews had fled from him, he entered into it with a thousand armed men, and those of his choice troops, and this at a place where were the merchants of wool, the braziers, and the market for cloth, and where the narrow streets led obliquely to the wall. Wherefore, if Titus had either demolished a larger part of the wall immediately, or had come in, and, according to the law of war, had laid waste what was left, his victory would not, I suppose, have been mixed with any loss to himself. But now, out of the hope he had that he should make the Jews ashamed of their obstinacy, by not being willing, when he was able, to afflict them more than he needed to do, he did not widen the breach of the wall, in order to make a safer retreat upon occasion; for he did not think they would lay snares for him that did them such a kindness. When therefore he came in, he did not permit his soldiers to kill any of those they caught, nor to set fire to their houses neither; nay, he gave leave to the seditious, if they had a mind, to fight without any harm to the people, and promised to restore the people's effects to them; for he was very desirous to preserve the city for his own sake, and the temple for the sake of the city. As to the people, he had them of a long time ready to comply with his proposals; but as to the fighting men, this humanity of his seemed a mark of his weakness, and they imagined that he made these proposals because he was not able to take the rest of the city. They also threatened death to the people, if they should any one of them say a word about a surrender. They moreover cut the throats of such as talked of a peace, and then attacked those Romans that were come within the wall. Some of them they met in the narrow streets, and some they fought against from their houses, while they made a sudden sally out at the upper gates, and assaulted such Romans as were beyond the wall, till those that guarded the wall were so affrighted, that they leaped down from their towers, and retired to their several camps: upon which a great noise was made by the Romans that were within, because they were encompassed round on every side by their enemies; as also by them that were without, because they were in fear for those that were left in the city. Thus did the Jews grow more numerous perpetually, and had great advantages over the Romans, by their full knowledge of those narrow lanes; and they wounded a great many of them, and fell upon them, and drove them out of the city. Now these Romans were at present forced to make the best resistance they could; for they were not able, in great numbers, to get out at the breach in the wall, it was so narrow. It is also probable that all those that were gotten within had been cut to pieces, if Titus had not sent them succors; for he ordered the archers to stand at the upper ends of these narrow lanes, and he stood himself where was the greatest multitude of his enemies, and with his darts he put a stop to them; as with him did Domitius Sabinus also, a valiant man, and one that in this battle appeared so to be. Thus did Caesar continue to shoot darts at the Jews continually, and to hinder them from coming upon his men, and this until all his soldiers had retreated out of the city.

     2. And thus were the Romans driven out, after they had possessed themselves of the second wall. Whereupon the fighting men that were in the city were lifted up in their minds, and were elevated upon this their good success, and began to think that the Romans would never venture to come into the city any more; and that if they kept within it themselves, they should not be any more conquered. For God had blinded their minds for the transgressions they had been guilty of, nor could they see how much greater forces the Romans had than those that were now expelled, no more than they could discern how a famine was creeping upon them; for hitherto they had fed themselves out of the public miseries, and drank the blood of the city. But now poverty had for a long time seized upon the better part, and a great many had died already for want of necessaries; although the seditious indeed supposed the destruction of the people to be an easement to themselves; for they desired that none others might be preserved but such as were against a peace with the Romans, and were resolved to live in opposition to them, and they were pleased when the multitude of those of a contrary opinion were consumed, as being then freed from a heavy burden. And this was their disposition of mind with regard to those that were within the city, while they covered themselves with their armor, and prevented the Romans, when they were trying to get into the city again, and made a wall of their own bodies over against that part of the wall that was cast down. Thus did they valiantly defend themselves for three days; but on the fourth day they could not support themselves against the vehement assaults of Titus but were compelled by force to fly whither they had fled before; so he quietly possessed himself again of that wall, and demolished it entirely. And when he had put a garrison into the towers that were on the south parts of the city, he contrived how he might assault the third wall.

          The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem, by Flavius Josephus Translator: William Whiston

                The sphere of exaltation

     Jesus leadeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves. --- Mark 9:2.

     We have all had times on the mount, when we have seen things from God’s standpoint and have wanted to stay there; but God will never allow us to stay there. The test of our spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong. It is a great thing to be on the mount with God, but a man only gets there in order that afterwards he may get down among the devil-possessed and lift them up. We are not built for the mountains and the dawns and aesthetic affinities, those are for moments of inspiration, that is all. We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle. Spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mount. We feel we could talk like angels and live like angels, if only we could stay on the mount. The times of exaltation are exceptional, they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware lest our spiritual selfishness wants to make them the only time.

     We are apt to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching, it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz., into character. The mount is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a great snare in asking—‘What is the use of it?’ In spiritual matters we can never calculate on that line. The moments on the mountain top are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God’s purpose.

                Coto Donana

I don't know; ask the place.
  It was there when we found it:
  Sand mostly, and bushes, too;
  Some of them with dry flowers.
  The map indicates a lake;
  We thought we saw it from the top
  Of a sand-dune, but walking brought it
  No nearer.
          There are great birds
  There that stain the sand
  With their shadows, and snakes coil
  Their necklaces about the bones
  Of the carrion. At night the wild
  Boars plough by their tusks'
  Moonlight, and fierce insects
  Sing, drilling for the blood
  Of the humans, whom time's sea
  Has left there to ride and dream.

     If “like people, like priest” (Hosea 4:9) applied to the spiritual leaders of the nation, then “like father, like son” (or “like mother, like daughter”) applied to everybody else. From the days of the patriarchs until Malachi’s time, the nation frequently disobeyed God’s Word, and God had to send prophets to call them to repent and return.

     When the people heard Malachi call them to return to the Lord, instead of obeying that call, they began to argue with God’s servant. They remind me of those people who evade the issue by saying, “Define your terms! What do you mean by ‘return’?” But Malachi didn’t hesitate to tell them how to start returning to God: “Bring God the tithes and offerings that are rightfully His!” Theirs was the sin of robbery in at least three different areas.

     They were robbing God (Mal. 3:7–8). The needs of the priests and Levites were met from the sacrifices and also from the tithes and offerings brought to the temple by the people. The word “tithe” comes from a Hebrew word that means “ten.” A tithe is 10 percent of one’s grain, fruit, animals, or money (Lev. 27:30–34; Neh. 13:5). There were special storage rooms in the temple for keeping the grain, produce, and money that the people brought to the Lord in obedience to His Law. If people didn’t want to carry heavy produce all the way to the temple, they could convert it into cash, but they had to add 20 percent to it just to make sure they weren’t making a profit and robbing God (Lev. 27:31).

     The annual tithe was given to the Levites (Num. 18:21–24), who in turn gave a tithe of that income to the priests (vv. 25–32). When a worshiper brought his tithe to the temple, he could use part of it to enjoy a special meal with his family and the Levites (Deut. 12:6–7, 17–19). Every third year a tithe was to be brought to the leaders locally to be used for the poor (14:28–29).

     Tithing as an act of worship is as old as Abraham, who gave tithes to Melchizedek, acknowledging that Melchizedek was the representative of the Most High God (Gen. 14:20; Heb. 7). Jacob vowed to God that he would tithe
(Gen. 28:22), so tithing antedates the Law of Moses. However, tithing was officially incorporated into the Law of Moses as a part of Israel’s worship. In bringing the tithes and offerings, the people were not only supporting the ministry of the temple, but they were also giving thanks to God for His bountiful provision for their own needs.

     Over the centuries, many of the Jews committed two errors with regard to the tithe: (1) the legalists obeyed the Law so scrupulously that, like the Pharisees, they even tithed the minute garden herbs (Matt. 23:23–24), all the while thinking that their obedience would earn them righteousness before God; (2) the irreligious neglected the tithe and by disobeying God deprived the temple ministry of what it needed to keep going. When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem, the temple storerooms were empty of produce and many of the priests and Levites had abandoned their service to go back home and work their fields in order to care for their families (Neh. 13:10). The people had vowed to bring their tithes (10:34–39), but they hadn’t kept their vow.

     Since God made and owns everything, He doesn’t need anything that we can bring Him (Acts 17:25). But when we obey His Word and bring our gifts as an act of worship with grateful hearts, it pleases him. While 1 Corinthians 16:1–2 suggests proportionate giving (“as God has prospered him”), (The offering mentioned in 1 Corinthians 16:1–3 was not a regular weekly offering received at a meeting of God’s people. It was a special “relief offering” Paul was receiving from the Gentile believers to give aid to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. ) there is no express command to tithe given to the church in the New Testament. Paul teaches “grace giving” in 2 Corinthians 8–9, which is certainly beyond 10 percent. Many Christians feel that if believers under the Old Covenant brought their tithes, how could Christians under the New Covenant begin with anything less?

     They were robbing themselves (Mal. 3:9–11). In robbing God, the people were not fulfilling the covenant they had made with the Lord; therefore, God couldn’t fulfill His promise and bless them (Lev. 26:3ff). “The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land” (Deut. 28:8). Insects had invaded the land (“the devourer,” Mal. 3:11) and the grain and fruit were not maturing.

     Whenever we rob God, we always rob ourselves. To begin with, we rob ourselves of the spiritual blessings that always accompany obedience and faithful giving
(2 Cor. 9:6–15). But even more, the money that rightfully belongs to God that we keep for ourselves never stays with us. It ends up going to the doctor, the auto body shop, or the tax collector. “You have sown much, and bring in little … and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes” (Hag. 1:6, NKJV). If we don’t trust God to care for us, whatever we do trust will prove futile. People who lovingly give tithes and offerings to God find that whatever is left over goes much farther and brings much greater blessing.

     Yes, giving is an act of faith, but God rewards that faith in every way. That isn’t the reason we give, because that kind of motivation would be selfish. “If you give because it pays, it won’t pay!” said industrialist R.G. LeTourneau, and he was right. We give because we love God and want to obey Him, and because He’s very generous to us. When we lay up treasures in heaven, they pay rich dividends for all eternity.

     The promise in Malachi 3:10 was linked to the covenant the Israelites had made with the Lord (Deut. 28:1–14), so if they faithfully obeyed Him, He would faithfully keep His promises. But the spiritual principle behind this promise is echoed in Luke 6:38 and 2 Corinthians 9:6–8, so believers today can lay hold of it. For some Christians in America, a tithe would be much too small an amount, but each believer must be fully persuaded in his or her heart what the Lord wants him or her to do. (Multitudes of people have testified to the blessing of regular systematic proportionate giving. However, we must remember that even after we’ve given generously to the Lord, what remains is still His, for we are stewards of everything He gives us. Giving a tithe doesn’t mean we have the right to use the remaining 90 percent for ourselves.)

     They were robbing others (Mal. 3:12). The remnant that returned to Judah after the exile had a great opportunity to trust God and bear witness to the other nations that their God was the true and living God. Had the Jews trusted the Lord, He would have done great things for them and they would have been a testimony to others. As it was, they floundered in their faith and nobody could look at them and call them blessed.

     God’s promise was, “The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. Then all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you” (Deut. 28:9–10). The Gentiles would have come to Jerusalem to learn about this great and wonderful God who could take a group of refugees and turn them into a blessed nation.

Be Amazed (Minor Prophets): Restoring an Attitude of Wonder and Worship (The BE Series Commentary)

     The Lord here assures his people that he has not forgotten his promise to send the Messiah. The one whom they were seeking would be preceded by a special messenger from God (John the Baptist). John Benton writes: ‘John the Baptist was like a herald going before the royal procession to indicate the route that the king would take and to make preparations for his coming.’

     Furthermore, the Messiah would ‘suddenly come to his temple.’ The Lord probably chose to emphasize this because of the attitude that the people had towards the temple that had been rebuilt after the captivity. Because it could not compare with their first temple, built by Solomon, many were disappointed. Here the Lord tells them that their temple would have a glory all its own, a glory which could not be matched even by Solomon’s. Their temple would be visited by the Messiah himself!

     We should note that the Messiah is identified as ‘the Messenger of the covenant’. He would come proclaiming a new covenant (Jer. 31:31; Ezek. 37:26).

     We must not think that the Lord Jesus came to offer a new or different plan of salvation from that which had been previously known. This is, in fact, the view some hold. They see God trying one plan of salvation and then another, only finally to ‘hit on’ the idea of sending his Son.

     The truth is that God has only had one plan of salvation in all of human history, and that plan is the Lord Jesus. The people of the Old Testament era were saved by looking forward in faith to his coming, and those since are saved by looking backward in faith to the Christ who has come. But all are saved by faith in Christ.

     The newness of the covenant Jesus proclaimed is not due to it bringing in blessings that people had never experienced before. It is rather to be found in the degree to which these blessings were understood and enjoyed and the way in which those blessings were to be administered. With regard to the administration, the plan of salvation is the same under the old covenant and the new, that is, faith in the perfect sacrifice of Christ. But under the old, that salvation had to be continually anticipated through the sacrifice of animals. It is enjoyed under the new as a permanently purchased possession.

     Verse 1, then, brings together three messengers. Malachi was proclaiming God’s message of a messenger (John the Baptist), who would precede the greatest of all messengers (the Lord Jesus).

Opening up Malachi (Opening up the Bible)

     This is the sixth and last of Malachi’s accusations: “’You have said harsh things against Me,’ says the Lord” (3:13, NIV). As he closes his book, he points out four different groups of people and what they said and did.

     The complainers (Mal. 3:13–15). These people were guilty of saying “harsh things” against the Lord. For one thing, they felt that serving the Lord was drudgery; it was “futile” to be His servants. The priests may have been the leaders in this complaining, but the common people were just as guilty. “We’re not getting anything out of it!” was their grievance. “Things just keep getting worse.”

     I hear this complaint from some believers about their churches. “We’re not getting anything out of it!” But a church is like a bank or a home: you don’t get anything out of it unless you put something into it. We serve God because it’s the right thing to do, not because we’re rewarded for our service. (We shall be rewarded, but that’s not our main motive.)

     But they had a second complaint: the pagan peoples around them who didn’t know the Lord were in better shape than the people of Judah! The wicked were prospering while the godly were suffering. Of course, it would have been difficult for the Jews to prove that they were “godly,” because they were guilty of disobeying the Lord. God would have blessed them if they had yielded themselves to Him, but they preferred to have their own way and then complain about what didn’t happen.

     It’s a serious thing to serve the Lord, and we’re commanded to “serve the Lord with gladness” (Ps. 100:2). It’s a sad thing when a servant of God is a drudge, merely doing a job because that’s what he or she has to do or for what they get out of it. Philippians 2:1–12 is God’s portrait of Christ, God’s ideal Servant, and His example is the one that we should follow.

               Imitating Christ’s Humility

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that wasa in Christ Jesus,

6     who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
7     but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8     he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.

9     Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
10     so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11     and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Shining as Lights in the World

12 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

NRSV Standard Bible (black) (Php 2:1–13).

     The believers (Mal. 3:16–18). There was a group of true believers in this remnant, and they remained faithful to the Lord. They feared the Lord, which means they held Him in awe and worshiped Him as the Lord Almighty. They met together, not to complain but to encourage and edify each other. They spoke about the Lord and they weren’t afraid for Him to hear what they were saying!

     Their assembly probably wasn’t a large one, and they may have thought that very little was happening because they met and worshiped, but God was paying attention and keeping a record of their words. Their neighbors may have laughed at them, but God was pleased with them. They weren’t wasting their time because they were investing in eternity.

     God claimed them as His own, and God promised to spare them in the future judgment when everybody would see that there is a difference between the righteous and the wicked and that this difference is important.

     One of the sins of the priests was that they failed to make the distinction between the way of holiness and the way of sin. To them, one sacrifice was just as good as another, yet they were supposed to teach the people “the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean” (Ezek. 44:23).

     Many of God’s faithful servants become discouraged because the times are difficult, the crowds are small, and their work seems to be unappreciated. People who aren’t really walking with the Lord seem to be getting more attention than are the faithful servants. But the day will come when God will reveal “His jewels” (“treasured possession,” NIV; see Ex. 19:5; Deut. 7:6), and then the faithful will receive their reward. Every discouraged servant of God needs to read and ponder. 1 Corinthians 4:1–5.

4 Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. 4 I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God.

NRSV Standard Bible (black) (1 Co 4:1–5).

     The evildoers (Mal. 4:1–3). Once again, Malachi returns to the theme of the coming Day of the Lord when God will punish all evildoers. Sinners will be burned up the way fire eats up the stubble; they will become like ashes under the feet of the saints! But the true believers will see the dawning of a new day as the “Sun of righteousness” rises (Luke 1:78–79). Then Jesus will reign as King of Kings and His people will frolic like calves let out of their stalls!

     The preachers (Mal. 4:4–6). Malachi has been faithful as God’s messenger, and he closes his book by reminding the people of two other faithful prophets, Moses and Elijah. The Law of Moses was still God’s rule of life for the Jews, and if they obeyed, God would bless them. Of course, believers today aren’t under the Law (Rom. 6:15; Gal. 5:1–4), but they still practice the righteousness of the Law through the power of the indwelling Spirit of God (Rom. 8:1–4).

     The promise in Malachi 4:5 was often discussed and debated by the Jewish rabbis who asked, “Who is the Elijah whom the Lord will send?” The Jewish leaders interrogated John the Baptist about it (John 1:19–21) and Peter, James, and John asked Jesus about it (Matt. 17:10).

     The prophet Elijah is mentioned at least thirty times in the New Testament, and ten of those references relate him to John the Baptist. But John the Baptist said plainly that he was no Elijah (John 1:21, 25). He did come in the “spirit and power” of Elijah and turn the hearts of fathers and children (Luke 1:16–17). Like Elijah, John was a courageous man, a man of prayer empowered by the Spirit, a man who lived alone in the wilderness, and a servant who turned many people back to the Lord, but he was not Elijah returned to earth.

     However, for those who believed on Christ during His earthly ministry, John the Baptist performed the work of Elijah in their lives: he prepared them to meet the Lord. “And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come” (Matt. 11:14, NIV). “Elijah is come already,” said Jesus, “and they know him not.” The disciples understood Jesus to mean John the Baptist who came in the spirit and power of Elijah (17:10–13).

     But Malachi 4:5 promises that Elijah himself will come, and that his coming is related to the “Day of the Lord” that will burn the wicked like stubble (v. 1). That’s why Jesus said, “Elijah truly shall first come, and restore all things” (Matt. 17:11). Many students believe that Elijah is one of the two witnesses whose ministries are described in Revelation 11:3–12. (They believe the other is Moses.) It’s worth noting that both Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:3), which explains why the three apostles asked about Elijah.

     Inasmuch as “the great and terrible Day of the Lord” did not occur in New Testament times, we have to believe that John the Baptist was not the promised Elijah, even though he ministered like Elijah. Therefore, this prophecy is yet to be fulfilled. It may well be that Elijah will return to earth as one of the two witnesses (Rev. 11:3–12), for the signs that these two men will perform remind us of the miracles of Elijah. After the ministry of the witnesses, the Lord will pour out His wrath upon the earth (v. 18; 16:1ff) and the Day of the Lord will burst upon the world in its fury.

     It seems odd that the Old Testament Scriptures should end with the word “curse.” When we get near the end of the New Testament, we read, “And there shall be no more curse” (Rev. 22:3). All of creation is eagerly awaiting the return of the Savior, expecting Him to deliver creation from the bondage of sin (Rom. 8:18–23). We too should be expecting Him and, while we’re waiting, witness of Him to others. For when the Sun of righteousness arises, it will mean either burning or blessing (Mal. 4:1–2): blessing to those who have trusted Him, burning to those who have rejected Him.

     Nobody can afford to argue with God the way the Israelites did when they heard Malachi, because God will always have the last word.

     For you, will that last word be salvation or judgment?

Be Amazed (Minor Prophets): Restoring an Attitude of Wonder and Worship (The BE Series Commentary)

     The Dead Sea Scrolls have made their way online some 2,000 years after they were written through a partnership between Google and Israel’s national museum.

     The important documents are available in searchable, high-resolution images, accompanied by informative videos, background information, and historical data. So far five of the scrolls have been digitized, including the biblical Book of Isaiah, the Temple Scroll, and three others.

     Managing Director of Google’s R&D Center in Israel, Professor Yossi Matias said they plan to add additional Dead Sea Scroll documents to the site in the future. The AP says nearly all the scrolls will be online by 2016. (PC Magazine)

     In ancient times, the sanctity of Torah created not only a series of rules on how to live life, but also a series of rules on how to decipher Torah. One of those sets of rules is found in the opening chapter of the Sifra, where Rabbi Yishmael taught that “the Torah is interpreted by thirteen principles.” Those rules gave Rabbi Yishmael and his colleagues direction and limitation in their quest for knowledge from Torah. That same list is found in the traditional siddur, where it is read each Morning during the Shaḥarit service. Though rather technical and complex, Rabbi Yishmael’s principles enabled Jews to study a selection of Rabbinic literature each day.

     As this book draws to an end, we offer a series of contemporary rules for understanding Torah in our day, “The Thirteen Guidelines of Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Gershon.”

     Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Gershon said: The Torah can be interpreted through thirteen guidelines.

1.     First, we learn.

     Midrash comes out of an interpretation of the sacred text. We begin not with a message we want to preach, but with a willingness to study, to question, and to search the Torah for what it has to say to us.

2.     Learning requires tools.

     Midrash implies a connection to the Jewish past. We cannot rely on ourselves alone; we need to turn to other commentaries and interpretations—traditional and scholarly, conceptual or technical—to ground us. Jews don’t just read the Bible; they study it.

3.     Ask questions.

     We can’t discover a good answer until we’ve asked the right question. Every verse we read should provoke a series of questions. “Who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” and “why” are as good a place as any to start.

4.     Know the context.

      It is critical to know what came before the section we’re studying and what comes after it. How a particular story fits in to what surrounds it is of great importance in Midrash (even though the Midrash itself often takes a verse out of context!).

5.     Pay attention to details.

      The Bible often tells us a lot less than we’d like to know. When it does pay attention to detail, we should too, because this is usually a hint that we are being told something significant.

6.     Don’t get lost in the details.

     Don’t miss the forest for the trees. Always ask: What is the main point or the ultimate value that is being conveyed?

7.     Fill in the blanks.

     Ask what is missing, and then go out and find it. Draw on earlier or later stories about the same characters, or use personal experiences, or turn to the imagination to flesh out the story.

8.     Language is important.

     So much of the Midrash is based on the particular phrases, words, or letters that are being used to tell the story. Why did the author choose this way and not some other? This means that while we may work with translations, the Hebrew text contains many secrets.

9.     Bring in and acknowledge other sources.

     We are links in a chain of tradition. Bringing in other interpretations shows that we do not depend on ourselves alone. Quoting those sources shows our respect for the ideas of others.

10.     There is more than one right answer.

      Two people may see the same verse in very different ways. And we may find that over time, we ourselves have changed our opinions of what the text means. “Both are the words of the living God,” as the Rabbis often said.

11.     Be respectfully radical.

     From time to time, the Rabbis said things that border on the blasphemous. The key is not what we say, but how we say it. Anger, challenge, questioning are tolerated in Midrash, if they come from within the tradition, and if they come with love.

12.     Let the Torah challenge us.

     We don’t use the Torah merely to buttress a position we already believe in. Just as we have to question the Torah, we have to let the Torah question and challenge us.

13.     Connect the Torah to today.

     After we immerse ourselves in the Torah, we turn outward and try to make it speak to something in our lives and to something in the world around us. Or else, what is the point?

     Creating Midrash is difficult, but it is among the most rewarding things that we can do. There is always a need for … another D’rash.

     I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
--- Romans 12:1. KJV

     Observe the exactness with which [Paul] uses each word. For he does not say, offer your bodies as a sacrifice, but “present” them, as if he had said, Never again have any interest in them. (A SELECT LIBRARY OF THE NICENE AND POST-NICENE FATHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH Volume XI: Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans.) You have given them up to another. For even they that furnish (same word) the warhorses have no further interest in them. And you too have presented your members for the war against the Devil and for that dread battle array. Do not let them down to selfish use.

     And he shows another thing also from this, that you must make them approved. For it is not to any mortal being that we present them, but to God, the King of the universe. Since then it is both to be presented (that is, as for a king’s use) and is a sacrifice, rid it of every spot, since if it has a spot, it will no longer be a sacrifice. For neither can the eye that looks lecherously be sacrificed nor the hand be presented that is greedy nor the feet that go to playhouses nor the belly that is self-indulgent nor the heart that has rage in it nor the tongue that utters filthy things.

     Thus we must spy out the spots on our bodies. For if those who offered the sacrifices of old were commanded to look on every side and were not permitted to offer “the blind, the injured or the maimed, or anything with warts or festering or running sores” (Lev. 22:22), much more must we, who offer ourselves, be pure in all respects. For if when Elijah offered the visible sacrifice, a flame that came down from above consumed the whole—water, wood, and stones—much more will this be done upon you.

     And if you have anything in you relaxed and secular, and yet offer the sacrifice with a good intention, the fire of the Spirit will wear away that worldliness and perfect (or “carry up”) the whole sacrifice.

     But what is “reasonable service”? It means spiritual ministry, a way of life according to Christ. And this will be so if every day you bring [to] him yourself as a sacrifice and become the priest of your own body and of the virtue of your soul, offering soberness, relief for the poor, and goodness and moral strength. For in doing this you offer “a reasonable service” (or worship).
--- John Chrysostom

Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers

     Unity is essential among Christians, but unity does not mean uniformity; and one of the most remarkable patterns in church history is that God uses his church and blesses his children even when they disagree. History’s first missionary team, Paul and Barnabas, argued over John Mark. Wesley and Whitefield were at odds over various points of theology. And the Reformers themselves, strong-willed men, crossed swords over, among other things, the nature of the Lord’s Supper.

     The Swiss Reformers, led by Ulrich Zwingli, insisted that the Lord’s Supper was a memorial service, while the German Reformers, led by Martin Luther, insisted that Christ is actually present in the consecrated bread and wine.

     The conflict was so sharp that a local political leader invited the men to his castle in Marburg on October 1, 1529. In the banquet hall a long table, covered with a velvet runner, sat in the middle of the room. Before the proceedings began, Luther reportedly took a piece of chalk and, on the cloth in front of him, wrote the words, “This is my body.”

     The debate raged for three days. Zwingli insisted that the verb “is” in the phrase “This is my body” should be interpreted as “represents.” Luther said, “Where in the Bible does the verb ‘is’ ever mean ‘represent’?” Zwingli showed him several places. But Luther wouldn’t budge. At the end of the three-day conference, the delegates had agreed on 14 of 15 areas of former confusion. But on the fifteenth—the Lord’s Supper—they failed to reach agreement, and the Reformers were unable to join the German and Swiss factions. As a result, Zwingli lost the support of the German princes. The five Catholic Cantons of Switzerland sent an army against him, and he died in the Battle of Kappel.

     But nothing could stop the Reformers’ fire, and despite the failure of the Marburg meetings, the doctrine of justification by grace through faith spread across the continent.

     During the meal Jesus took some bread in his hands. He blessed the bread and broke it. Then he gave it to his disciples and said, “Take this. It is my body.” Jesus picked up the cup of wine and gave thanks to God. He gave it to his disciples, and they all drank some. Then he said, “This is my blood, which is poured out for many people. … ”
--- Mark 14:22-24.

          Morning - October 1

     “Pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.” --- Song of Solomon 7:13.

     The spouse desires to give to Jesus all that she produces. Our heart has “all manner of pleasant fruits,” both “old and new,” and they are laid up for our Beloved. At this rich autumnal season of fruit, let us survey our stores. We have new fruits. We desire to feel new life, new joy, new gratitude; we wish to make new resolves and carry them out by new labours; our heart blossoms with new prayers, and our soul is pledging herself to new efforts. But we have some old fruits too. There is our first love: a choice fruit that! and Jesus delights in it. There is our first faith: that simple faith by which, having nothing, we became possessors of all things. There is our joy when first we knew the Lord: let us revive it. We have our old remembrances of the promises. How faithful has God been! In sickness, how softly did he make our bed! In deep waters, how placidly did he buoy us up! In the flaming furnace, how graciously did he deliver us. Old fruits, indeed! We have many of them, for his mercies have been more than the hairs of our head. Old sins we must regret, but then we have had repentances which he has given us, by which we have wept our way to the cross, and learned the merit of his blood. We have fruits, this Morning, both new and old; but here is the point—they are all laid up for Jesus. Truly, those are the best and most acceptable services in which Jesus is the solitary aim of the soul, and his glory, without any admixture whatever, the end of all our efforts. Let our many fruits be laid up only for our Beloved; let us display them when he is with us, and not hold them up before the gaze of men. Jesus, we will turn the key in our garden door, and none shall enter to rob thee of one good fruit from the soil which thou hast watered with thy bloody sweat. Our all shall be thine, thine only, O Jesus, our Beloved!


          Evening - October 1

     “He will give grace and glory.” --- Psalm 84:11.

     Bounteous is Jehovah in his nature; to give is his delight. His gifts are beyond measure precious, and are as freely given as the light of the sun. He gives grace to his elect because he wills it, to his redeemed because of his covenant, to the called because of his promise, to believers because they seek it, to sinners because they need it. He gives grace abundantly, seasonably, constantly, readily, sovereignly; doubly enhancing the value of the boon by the manner of its bestowal. Grace in all its forms he freely renders to his people: comforting, preserving, sanctifying, directing, instructing, assisting grace, he generously pours into their souls without ceasing, and he always will do so, whatever may occur. Sickness may befall, but the Lord will give grace; poverty may happen to us, but grace will surely be afforded; death must come but grace will light a candle at the darkest hour. Reader, how blessed it is as years roll round, and the leaves begin again to fall, to enjoy such an unfading promise as this, “The Lord will give grace.”

     The little conjunction “and” in this verse is a diamond rivet binding the present with the future: grace and glory always go together. God has married them, and none can divorce them. The Lord will never deny a soul glory to whom he has freely given to live upon his grace; indeed, glory is nothing more than grace in its Sabbath dress, grace in full bloom, grace like autumn fruit, mellow and perfected. How soon we may have glory none can tell! It may be before this month of October has run out we shall see the Holy City; but be the interval longer or shorter, we shall be glorified ere long. Glory, the glory of heaven, the glory of eternity, the glory of Jesus, the glory of the Father, the Lord will surely give to his chosen. Oh, rare promise of a faithful God!

     Two golden links of one celestial chain:
     Who owneth grace shall surely glory gain.

          LORD, SPEAK TO ME

     Frances R. Havergal, 1836–1879

     We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20)

     As Christ’s personal ambassadors, we should be people of double resolve: To hear what God has to say to us and then to share that message with others.

     Use me, God, in Thy great harvest field,
     Which stretcheth far and wide like a wide sea;
     The gatherers are so few; I fear the precious yield
     Will suffer loss. Oh, find a place for me!
     --- Christina G. Rossetti

     Effective service must always begin with prayer—asking God to use us to accomplish His eternal purposes in the lives of others. But we must not dictate to our Lord as to how and when we should be used. We are simply to be available whenever He directs in a particular situation. Then our representation for Him is simply to speak His truth boldly but always in love. Imploring lost people to be reconciled to God is far different from merely engaging them in theological arguments. We must always remember that the real need of people is to hear about the historical Christ as a personal Savior and Lord and to be guided to a living and vital relationship with Him.

     Frances Ridley Havergal, the author of this text, has often been called the “consecration poet” because of her deep commitment to Christ. This text first appeared in 1872 in leaflet form with the title “A Worker’s Prayer,” accompanied by the scripture verse: “For none of us lives to himself and none dies to himself” (Romans 14:17). These words have since been widely used in leading others to a deeper consecration of their lives to God:

     Lord, speak to me that I may speak in living echoes of Thy tone; as Thou hast sought, so let me seek Thy erring children lost and lone.
     O lead me, Lord, that I may lead the wand’ring and the wav’ring feet; O feed me, Lord, that I may feed the hung’ ring ones with manna sweet.
     O teach me, Lord, that I may teach the precious things Thou dost impart; and wing my words that they may reach the hidden depths of many a heart.
     O fill me with Thy fullness, Lord, until my very heart o’er-flow in kindling tho’t and glowing word, Thy love to tell, Thy praise to show.
     O use me, Lord, use even me, just as Thou wilt, and when, and where, until Thy blessed face I see —Thy rest, Thy joy, Thy glory share.

     For Today: Psalm 119:9–16; Luke 17:21; John 13:15; Acts 1:8; John 2:17

     Ask God to engineer the circumstances that will allow you to represent Him effectively to some needy person. Use this musical prayer ---

Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions

          DISCOURSE VII - ON GOD’S OMNIPRESENCE

     II. . Reasons to prove God’s essential presence. Reason I. Because he is infinite. As he is infinite, he is everywhere; as he is simple, his whole essence is everywhere: for, in regard of his infiniteness, he hath no bounds; in regard of his simplicity, he hath no parts and, therefore, those that deny God’s omnipresence, though they pretend to own him infinite, must really conceive him finite.

     1. God is infinite in his perfections. None can set bounds to terminate the greatness and excellency of God (Psalm 145:3): “His greatness is unsearchable,” Sept. οὐχ ἔστι πέρας, there is no end, no limitation. What hath no end is infinite; his power is infinite (Job 5:9): “which doth great things and unsearchable;” — no end of those things he is able to do. His wisdom infinite (Psalm 147:5); he understands all things past, present, and to come; what is already made, what is possible to be made. His duration infinite (Job 36:26): “The number of his years cannot be searched out” ἀπέραντος. To make a finite thing of nothing is an argument of an infinite virtue. Infinite power can only extract something out of the barren womb of nothing; but all things were drawn forth by the word of God, the heavens, and all the host of them; the sun, moon, stars, the rich embellishments of the world, appeared in being “at the breath of his mouth” (Psalm 33:6). The author, therefore, must be infinite; and since nothing is the cause of God, or of any perfection in him, — since he derives not his being, or the least spark of his glorious nature, from anything without him, — he cannot be limited in any part of his nature by anything without him; and, indeed, the infiniteness of his power and his other perfections is asserted by the prophet, when he tells us that “the nations are as a drop of a bucket, or the dust of the balance, and less than nothing and vanity” (Isa. 40:15, 17), they are all so in regard of his power, wisdom, &c. Conceive what a little thing a grain of dust or sand is to all the dust that may be made by the rubbish of a house: what a little thing the heap of the rubbish of a house is to the vast heap of the rubbish of a whole city, such an one as London; how little that, also, would be to the dust of a whole empire; how inconsiderable that, also, to the dust of one quarter of the world, Europe or Asia; how much less that, still, to the dust of the whole world! The whole world is composed of an unconceivable number of atoms, and the sea of an unconceivablo number of drops; now what a little grain of dust is in comparison to the dust of the whole world — a drop of water from the sea, to all the drops remaining in the sea — that is the whole world to God. Conceive it still less, a mere nothing, yet is it all less than this in comparison of God; there can be nothing more magnificently expressive of the infiniteness of God to a human conception, than this expression of God himself in the prophet. In the perfection of a creature, something still may be thought greater to be added to it; but God containing all perfections in himself formally, if they be mere perfections, and eminently, if they be but perfections in the creature, mixed with imperfection, nothing can be thought greater, and therefore every one of them is infinite.

     2. If his perfections be infinite, his essence must be so. How God can have infinite perfections, and a finite essence, is unconceivable by a human or angelical understanding; an infinite power, an infinite wisdom, an infinite duration, must needs speak an infinite essence; since the infiniteness of his attributes is grounded upon the infiniteness of his essence: to own infinite perfections in a finite subject is contradictory. The manner of acting by his power, and knowing his wisdom, cannot exceed the manner of being by his essence. His perfections flow from his essence, and the principle must be one the same rank with what flows from it; and, if we conceive his essence to be the cause of his perfections, it is utterly impossible that an infinite effect should arise from a finite cause: but, indeed, his perfections are his essence; for though we conceive the essence of God as the subject, and the attributes of God as faculties and qualities in that subject, according to our weak model, who cannot conceive of an infinite God without some manner of likeness to ourselves — who find understanding, and will, and power in us distinct from our substance; yet truly and really there is no distinction between his essence and attributes; one is inseparable from the other. His power and wisdom are his essence; and therefore to maintain God infinite in the one, and finite in the other, is to make a monstrous god, and have an unreasonable notion of the Deity; for there would be the greatest disproportion in his nature, since there is no greater disproportion can possibly be between one thing and another than there is between finite and infinite. God must not only then be compounded, but have parts of the greatest distance from one another in nature; but God, being the most simple being without the least composition, both must be equally infinite: if, then, his essence be not infinite, his power and wisdom cannot be infinite, which is both against scripture and reason. Again, how should his essence be finite, and his perfections be infinite, since nothing out of himself gave them either the one or the other? Again, either the essence can be infinite, or it cannot; if it cannot, there must be some cause of that impossibility; that can be nothing without him, because nothing without him can be as powerful as himself, much less too powerful for him; nothing within him can be an enemy to his highest perfection; since he is necessarily what he is, he must be necessarily the most perfect being, and therefore necessarily infinite, since to be something infinitely is a greater perfection than to be something finitely: if he can be infinite he is infinite, otherwise he could be greater than he is, and so more blessed and more perfect than he is, which is impossible: for being the most perfect Being, to whom nothing can be added, he must needs be infinite.

     3. If, therefore, God have an infinite essence, he hath an infinite presence. An infinite essence cannot be contained in a finite place, as those things which are finite have a bounded space wherein they are; so that which is infinite hath an unbounded space; for, as fimteness   (must be a miss print)  speaks limitedness, so infiniteness speaks unboundedness; and if we grant to God an infinite duration, there is no difficulty in acknowledging an infinite presence: indeed, the infiniteness of God is a property belonging to him in regard of time and place; he is bounded by no place, and limited to no time. Again, infinite essence may as well be everywhere, as infinite power reaches everything; it may as well be present with every being, as infinite power in its working may be present with nothing to bring it into being. Where God works by his power, he is present in his essence; because his power and his essence cannot be separated; and therefore his power, wisdom, goodness, cannot be anywhere where his essence is not: his essence cannot be severed from his power, nor his power from his essence; for the power of God is nothing but God acting, and the wisdom of God nothing but God knowing. As the power of God is always, so is his essence — as the power of God is everywhere, so is his essence: whatsoever God is, he is alway, and everywhere. To confine him to a place, is to measure his essence; as to confine his actions, is to limit his power; his essence being no less infinite than his power and his wisdom, can be no more bounded than his power and wisdom; but they are not separable from his essence, yea, they are his essence. If God did not fill the whole world, he would be determined to some place, and excluded from others; and so his substance would have bounds and limits, and then something might be conceived greater than God; for we may conceive that a creature may be made by God of so vast a greatness as to fill the whole world, for the power of God is able to make a body that should take up the whole space between heaven and earth, and reach to every corner of it. But nothing can be conceived by any creature greater than God; he exceeds all things, and is exceeded by none. God, therefore, cannot be included in heaven, nor included in the earth; cannot be contained in either of them; for, if we should imagine them vaster than they are, yet still they would be finite; and if his essence were contained in them, it could be no more infinite than the world which contains it, as water is not of a larger compass than the vessel which contains it. If the essence of God were limited, either in the heavens or earth, it must needs be finite, as the heaven and earth are; but there is no proportion between finite and infinite; God, therefore, cannot be contained in them. If there were an infinite body, that must be everywhere; certainly, then, an infinite Spirit must be everywhere; unless we will account him finite, we can render no reason why he should not be in one creature as well as in another. If he be in heaven, which is his creature, why can he not be in the earth, which is as well his creature as the heavens?

     Reason II. Because of the continual operation of God in the world. This was one reason which made the heathen believe that there was an infinite Spirit in the vast body of the world, acting in every thing, and producing those admirable motions which we see everywhere in nature: that cause which acts in the most perfect manner, is also in the most perfect manner present with its effects. God preserves all, and therefore is in all; the apostle thought it a good induction (Acts 17:27), “He is not far from us, for in him we live.” For being as much as because, shows, that from his operation he concluded his real presence with all: it is not, His virtue is not far from every one of us, but He, his substance, himself; for, none that acknowledge a God will deny the absence of the virtue of God from any part of the world. He works in everything, everything lives and works in him; therefore he is present with all: or rather, if things live, they are in God, who gives them life. If things live, God is in them, and gives them life; if things move, God is in them, and gives them motion; if things have any being, God is in them, and gives them being; if God withdraws himself; they presently lose their being, and therefore some have compared the creature to the impression of a seal upon the water, that cannot be preserved but by the presence of the seal. As his presence was actual with what he created, so his presence is actual with what he preserves, since creation and preservation do so little differ; if God creates things by his essential presence, by the same he supports them; if his substance cannot be disjoined from his preserving power, his power and wisdom cannot be separated from his essence; where there are the marks of the one, there is the presence of the other; for it is by his essence that he is powerful and wise; no man can distinguish the one from the other in a simple being; God doth not preserve and act things by a virtue diffused from him.

     It may be demanded whether that virtue be distinct from God; if it be not, it is then the essence of God; if it be distinct it is a creature, and then it may be asked, how that virtue which preserves other things, is preserved itself; it must be ultimately resolved into the essence of God, or else there must be a running in infinitum: or else, is that virtue of God a substance, or not? Is it endued with understanding, or not? If it hath understanding, how doth it differ from God? If it wants understanding, can any imagine that the support of the world, the guidance of all creatures, the wonders of nature, can be wrought, preserved, managed by a virtue that hath nothing of understanding in it? If it be not a substance, it can much less be able to produce such excellent operations as the preserving all the kinds of things in the world, and ordering them to perform such excellent ends; this virtue is, therefore, God himself — the infinite power and wisdom of God; and therefore, wheresoever the effects of these are seen in the world, God is essentially present: some creatures, indeed, act at a distance by a virtue diffused. But such a manner of acting comes from a limitedness of nature, that such a nature cannot be everywhere present and extend its substance to all parts. To act by a virtue, speaks the subject finite, and it is a part of indigence: kings act in their kindoms by ministers and messengers, because they cannot act otherwise; but God being infinitely perfect, works all things in all immediately (1 Cor. 12:6). Illumination, sanctification, grace, &c., are the immediate works of God in the heart, and irnmediatc   (??)  agents are present with what they do: it is an argument of the greater perfection of a being, to know things immediately, which are done in several places, than to know them at the second hand by instruments; it is no less a perfection to be everywhere, rather than to be tied to one place of action, and to act in other places lay instruments, for want of a power to act immediately itself. God, indeed, acts by means and second causes in his providential dispensations in the world, but this is not out of any defect of power to work all immediately himself;  but he thereby accommodates his way of acting to the nature of the creature,  and the order of things which he hath settled in the world. And when he works by means, he acts with those means, in those means, sustains their faculties and virtues in them, concurs with them by his power; so that God’s acting by means doth rather strengthen his essential presence than weaken it, since there is a necessary dependence of the creatures upon the Creator in their being and acting; and what they are, they are by the power of God; what they act, they act in the power of God, concurring with them; they have their motion in him as well as their being; and where the power of God is, his essence is, because they are inseparable; and so this omnipresence ariseth from the simplicit of the nature of God; the more vast anything is, the less confined. All that will acknowledge God so great, as to be able to work all things by his will, without an essential presence, cannot imagine him upon the same reason, so little as to be contained in, and bounded by any place.

     Reason III. Because of his supreme perfection. No perfection is wanting to God; but an unbounded essence is a perfection; a limited one is an imperfection. Though it be a perfection in a man to be wise, yet it is an imperfection that his wisdom cannot rule all the things that concern him; though it be a perfection to be present in a place where his affairs lie, yet is it an imperfection that he cannot be present everywhere in the midst of all his concerns; if any man could be so, it would be universally owned as a prime perfection in him above others: is that which would be a perfection in man to be denied to God? as that which hath life is more perfect than that which hath not life; and that which hath sense is more perfect than that which hath only life as the plants have; and what hath reason, is more perfect than that which hath only life and sense, as the beasts have; so what is everywhere, is more perfect than that which is bounded in some narrow confines: if a power of motion be more excellent than to be bed-rid, and swiftness in a creature be a more excellent endowment than to be slow and snail-like, then to be everywhere without motion, is inconceivably a greater excellency than to be everywhere successively by motion. God sets forth his readiness to help his people and punish his enemies, or his omnipresence, by swiftness, or “flying upon the wings of the wind” (Psalm 18:10): the wind is in every part of the air, where it blows; it cannot be said that it is in this or that point of the air where you feel it, so as to exclude it from another part of the air where you are not; it seems to possess all at once. If the Divine essence had any bounds of place, it would be imperfect, as well as if it had bounds of time; where anything hath limitation, it hath some defect in being; and therefore if God were confined or concluded, he would be as good as nothing in regard of infiniteness. Whence should this restraint arise? there is no power above him to restrain him to a certain space; if so, then he would not be God, but that power which restrained him would be God: not from his own nature, for the being everywhere implies no contradiction to his nature; if his own nature determined him to a certain place, then if he removed from that place, he would act against his nature; to conceive any such thing of God is highly absurd. It cannot be thought God should voluntarily impose any such restraint or confinement upon himself; this would be to deny himself a perfection he might have; if God have not this perfection, it is either because it is inconsistent with his nature; or, because he cannot have it; or, because he will not. The former cannot be; for if he hath impressed upon air and light a resemblance of his excellency, to diffuse themselves and fill so vast a space, is such an excellency inconsistent with the Creator more than the creature? whatsoever perfection the creature hath, is eminently in God. “Understand, O ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will you be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?” (Psalm 94:8, 9.) By the same reason he that hath given such a power to those creatures, air and light, shall not he be much more filling all spaces of the world? It is so clear a rule, that the Psalmist fixes a folly and brutishness upon those that deny it; it is not therefore inconsistent with his nature, it were not then a perfection but an imperfection; but whatsoever is an excellency in creatures, cannot in a way of eminency be an imperfection in God; if it be then a perfection, and God want it, it is because he cannot have it; where, then, is his power? How can he be then the fountain of his own Being? If he will not, where is his love to his own nature and glory? since no creature would deny that to itself which it can have, and is an excellency to it; God, therefore, hath not only a power or fitness to be everywhere, but he is actually everywhere.

     Reason IV. Because of his immutability. If God did not fill all the spaces of heaven and earth, but only possess one, yet it must be acknowledged that God hath a power to move himself to another. It were absurd to fix God in a part of the heavens, like a star in an orb, without a power of motion to another place. If he be therefore essentially in heaven, may he not be upon the earth if he please, and transfer his substance from one place to another? to say he cannot, is to deny him a perfection which he hath bestowed upon his creatures; the angels, his messengers, are sometimes in heaven, sometimes on the earth; the eagles, meaner creatures, are sometimes in the air out of sight, sometimes upon the earth. If he doth move, therefore, and recede from one place and settle in another, doth he not declare himself mutable by changing places? — by being where he was not before, and in not being where he was before? He would not fill heaven and earth at once, but successively; no man can be said to fill a room, that moves from one part of a room to another; if therefore any in their imaginations stake God to the heavens, they render him less than his creatures; if they allow him a power of motion from one place to another, they conceive him changeable; and in either of them they own him no greater than a finite and limited Being; limited to heaven, if they fix him there; limited to that space to which they imagine him to move.

     Reason V. Because of his omnipotency. The Almightiness of God is a notion settled in the minds of all, — that God can do whatsoever he pleases, everything that is not against the purity of his nature, and doth not imply a contradiction in itself; he can therefore create millions of worlds greater than this; and millions of heavens greater than this heaven he hath already created; if so, he is then in inconceivable spaces beyond this world, for his essence is not less narrower than his power; and his power is not to be thought of a further extent than his essence; he cannot be excluded therefore from those vast spaces where his power may fix those worlds if he please; if so, it is no wonder that he should fill this world: and there is no reason to exclude God from the narrow space of this world, that is not contained in infinite spaces beyond the world. God is wheresoever he hath a power to act; but he hath a power to act everywhere in the world, everywhere out of the world; he is therefore everywhere in the world, everywhere out of the world. Before this world was made, he had a power to make it in the space where now it stands; was he not then unlimitedly where the world now is, before the world received a being by his powerful word?

     Why should he not then be in every part of the world now? Can it be thought that God who was immense before, should, after he had created the world, contract himself to the limits of one of his creatures, and tie himself to a particular place of his own creation, and be less after his creation than he was before? This might also be prosecuted by an argument from his eternity. What is eternal in duration, is immense in essence; the same reason which renders him eternal, renders him immense; that which proves him to be always, will prove him to be everywhere.

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