Calendar:Dec. 16th to Jan. 15th.

DAILY BIBLE READING:…………Dec. 16th, Rev. 5; Dec. 31st, Rev. 22; Jan. 15th, Gen. 15th.
MEMORY WORK………………………..John 17.
GOOD READING:"God's Salvation," by John Fort. A simple yet thorough exposition of the Epistle to the Romans (chs. 1-11). Paper 20 cents.; cloth, 50 cents.
MONTHLY QUESTION:What different aspects of glory are mentioned in John 17?

Our Daily Bible Reading

We complete another reading of the entire Scriptures on the last day of this year. To do this we must read a little more than one chapter a day, otherwise we would only reach the end of Rev. 20. Doing this will enable us to commence with Gen. 1 on the first day of the New Year.

Let us expect blessing as we begin to re-read God's holy Book. Have you gathered encouragement from it during the past year? Let us start afresh with purpose of heart, and seek with prayer for a greater yield from its daily perusal? Let us not read in a mechanical way, or with undue haste, or with an indifferent spirit. Let us take it up daily with desire and expectation to receive, with purpose of heart to find, with prayer that God will give a portion of spiritual food to our souls as we read our chapter. Ask yourself, during the course of the day, what persons, events, or places were in the chapter; and what statement or verse seemed most precious or important. Think about these things during spare moments. The Spirit of God is ever ready to apply the Word with blessing to our souls.

The Revelation is a book of great importance. In it we find all the strands of prophecy gathered up and woven together, so that it presents to us the finished fabric, the completion of God's ways in government, judgment, and the fulfilment of His purposes, to His eternal glory.

In chapter one, the principal theme is the character, glory, and place of Christ.

Chapters two and three give the messages to the assemblies which present a prophetic history of the church's course from the beginning to the end. Note especially the way in which Christ is presented in each message; then, the things He judges; the warnings given, and the promises made.

A significant change of scene and action commences with chapter four. The church is no more seen upon earth, but is figuratively represented in the twenty-four elders in heaven; but Israel is the central object upon earth, and events all center around Israel and the nations, and Christ is presented in characters connected with the purposes in view. For example, He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, the Man-child of promise, the Son of Man coming on the cloud of glory, the Warrior and Conqueror, Universal Lord and Judge. This major portion of the book treats of the destruction of those who have destroyed the earth, of the time of gathering out all things that offend, of freeing both heaven and earth of Satanic power and agencies of evil influence.

In the light of this book we may clearly discern the real character of the times in which we live, and of the world-system through which we move; thus getting God's viewpoint we are enabled to estimate it aright, be separate from it in spirit, though of necessity engaged in many affairs which concern it. Christ risen and ascended is our life. "He who possesses this life may pass through this
world and do many things that others do:he eats, works, suffers; but as to his life and its objects, he is not of the world, even as Christ was not of the world. He subdues his flesh, he mortifies it; in point of fact he is down here, but he does not live in it. The camp was always at Gilgal."

Our Memory Portion

This, our Lord's prayer, should be of peculiar precious-ness to us. What a wonderful thing for the disciples to hear Him thus speaking to the Father, especially amid such circumstances, and pressed by such sorrows as characterized the hour to which He had come.

When John wrote, some sixty years after he had heard the Lord utter this prayer, it was the Holy Spirit who brought it to his remembrance, so that we have a divinely given record, perfectly inerrant.

What relates to Christ Himself is given in vers. 1-5; it is the Son's relationship to and with the Father. Then He introduces His disciples into this relationship with the Father in vers. 6-13. This is ours also through their word. Their (and thus our) relationship toward the world is next presented (vers. 7-21). The glorious results follow.

Consider that we are given to Christ "out of the world," and though left in it, we are not of it, and so it can also be said we are sent into it after the pattern of the Son sent by the Father. We share in the world's rejection, but we are kept from the evil. We are placed before the Father in the same position that Christ held, and in this relationship, the joy which Christ possessed is for us also. Of His fulness have we all received, and grace upon grace.

A Question

The remarks in a recent issue, in reference to death and the human spirit, have brought a question from a reader concerning the relation of the soul to the spirit.

The teaching of Scripture as to the soul gives it a distinct character from the spirit, but does not separate them; so that what is true of the spirit in the intermediate or eternal state is true also of the soul. The soul in the animal is not different in itself from that of man, but in man it obtains a distinction by reason of being linked with his spirit, which is not in the animal. The difference between these two immaterial, immortal, and never separated parts of man's tripartite personality, of which the body is the third in order (1 Thess. 5:23), is quite plain in Scripture. Compare 1 Cor. 2:11; Isa. 29:24; Ps. 106:33; Prov. 29:11 and Isa. 11:3 (in the last two passages "mind" and "understanding" are the ordinary word for spirit) with such passages as the following, which relate to the soul, Isa. 29:8; Luke 12:19; Ps. 10:3; Zech. 11:8; Gen. 34:8. The difference is that understanding, intelligence, judgment, are linked with the spirit; affections, emotions, appetites, are linked with the soul. The former works out the man's problems and alone knows his things; the latter feels the conditions and circumstances, whether pleasing or otherwise; it loves, hates, lusts; while the body is the vehicle of expression. In the unity of man's personality, spirit and soul are interdependent, and the body is the instrument serving both. In the Lord's account of the rich man in hades it is evident that both thinking and feeling are unimpaired-spirit and soul are there, though the body is not, so that action is impossible. It is plain too that Scripture speaks of both spirit and soul as being within the man-in the body. In death the immaterial is severed from the material-the body returns to dust.