"I am Gabriel" Luke 1 :19

How tender, yet how solemn, is the angel's answer to the unbelief expressed in Zacharias' question! The gracious message sent him from heaven not only answered his great and now well-nigh hopeless desire for a son, but it added to it that son would have the extraordinary honor of being "the prophet of the Highest."

Upon this Zacharias asks what proof will be given him that all this will be fulfilled. Gabriel, the angel who stands in the presence of God, and therefore knows well the solemnity and certainty of every word which proceeds out of His mouth, seems amazed that a priest who is there burning incense before that God should lack confidence in a message which came from Him. In answer he can only say who he is, and who sends him, though he adds to it the penalty of unbelief:"Thou shalt be dumb." Faith is never dumb. It has enough to say concerning Him whom it believes:"We believe, therefore we speak." It is not they who in heart are near to God, as Gabriel in person, who doubt one sentence of all His word, from Genesis to Revelation. And they who doubt it not have enough to occupy both mind and tongue.

New Wine and New Bottles. Luke 5:36-38

Great attempts are being made to rule the world on the principle of grace and love, by which the family of God is ruled. Peace conventions, peace treaties, peace education, and peace literature, all
crying down the sword and weakening government everywhere, are being put forth in the hope that men can be so trained as to finally become a loving brotherhood, and so reach a state of universal peace.

The passage above referred to explains why all such efforts are doomed to disappointment. "No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles and be spilled."

The "new garment" is Christianity and the grace which forms it. The "old" is Law and the justice which it demands. Mix the two, and both are spoiled. The least measure of grace brought into law, and the least measure of law brought into grace, defeats the ends of both; for the use of the one is to convict and condemn the guilty, and that of the other is to deliver the guilty without violating or defeating the justice of the law. With man this is impossible. God has brought in grace through Jesus Christ, who at the cross bore the judgment of sin, that all who repent and believe on Him may be saved from wrath in a righteous way. But a man becomes a "new bottle" when he believes on Christ. He is born anew, and is thereby capable of taking in the "new wine" of grace. He is made submissive by it too, and so can be governed by it.

Not so with men who are not born of God. A judge cannot rule in his court as he does in his house. He has to do with rebels to law in his court, but with submissive children in his house. He is the same man in both, but rules each by very different principles. Thus government has been ordained of God to rule men with justice, and use the -sword against its violators; for this is the only way natural men can be ruled and peace maintained. The family which God's grace has formed is a very different thing, and His ways there are very different too. If Christian men, well-meaning as they may be, attempt to introduce for the government of the nation the way in which God rules in His family, they will find in due time the garment is made worse, the bottles have burst, and the wine is spilled:they have spent their lives for what will burn up at the end, instead of having laid up for themselves treasure in heaven.

The Cost of Discipleship Luke 14:33

To be a child of God is one thing; to be a disciple of Christ is another. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 John 5:i). This constitutes the child of God. A very different thing, though dependent upon this, constitutes the disciple of Christ:"So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple." This is the condition for being a disciple.

A man may be an apparent disciple without being a child of God, but he will not last. One must be first a child of God to be a true disciple-one who will continue to the end as such. But one may be a child of God and fail to be a true disciple. Our Lord, to fulfil the great work laid upon Him, had to give up all-the home above, the honors and glories attaching to His person, His rights, His very life.

If we are going to be His disciples, or followers, we must be of the same mind with Him. The least reserve in us; the choice of friends or associates; any self-interest or motive; no matter what in any measure blinds us to the path with Christ, mars our discipleship. Oh for a single eye among God's beloved people!