We all know well John three and sixteen, the verse that Martin Luther called the miniature Bible; but we cannot be too familiar with it, the great verse that has so used of God in the salvation of precious souls for whom the Lord Jesus suffered, bled and died.
It begins with the GREAT GOD; there is no other God. Though there are "gods many and lords many," they are all without a capital letter for those that know the true and living God.
Next, His GREAT LOVE; was ever love like His? Nay, who would ever give his only and well beloved son to die for his enemies? No one.
Then His GREAT OBJECT, the WORLD. Yes, our God is no tribal God; nay, He is no respecter of persons. His love is for all the world.
And then we have the GREATEST GIFT! The Apostle Paul calls it, "His unspeakable gift." Paul had no trouble to find words to express anything else, but when he thought of God giving His Son as a gift to this world, words fail him, and so he says it is unspeakable.
Then the GREAT INVITATION! It is to who-so-ever, and none can say they are excluded.
"Yes, He included me,
Yes, He included me;
When my Lord said "who-so-ever,"
He included ME."
But then there is the Great Peril for those who refuse:the gracious offer. Perish they must. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?"
And last but not least we have the Greatest Blessing bestowed on all that believe; they have EVERLASTING LIFE. Surely it is a great verse.
Seven Great Things.
GREAT -God.
" -Love
" -Object.
" -Gift.
" -Invitation.
"-Peril.
" -Blessing.
There is another three and sixteen I would call attention to. It is found in 2 Tim. 3:16:"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable." How important it is to know this verse and believe it implicitly. I remember hearing a preacher speaking about the Word of God who said, "When I read the Bible I treat it the way I eat a fish. I eat the flesh and throw away the bones." But there are no bones in the Word of God ! It is all meat, or sincere milk, and all of it is profitable, none of it to be thrown away. Then I have heard others say, "Oh, David said that;" or, "It was Paul who wrote that, and while it suited his day it will not do to-day." We need ever to remember that "all Scripture is God-breathed"-as that passage is rightly translated-and "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
So when we come to the Word of God let it be God speaking to us, no matter where we read, whether Genesis, Chronicles, or Revelation.
There are things in the Scriptures hard to be understood, but why not expect that? "The Word WAS GOD," and to know all the Word "would be a calamity," as some one has said. But there is milk for those unskilled in the Word, the babes, and meat for those of full age, and, thank God, water of Life for those who are athirst.
Another important three sixteen is in 2 Timothy:"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:
God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. "God manifest!" No longer the unknown God, but well known ; "I know whom I have believed," are the words of the inspired apostle. And He was manifest "in flesh," or, as John says, "became flesh." The Holy Spirit justified Him in that lowly form, when on the banks of the Jordan He came in the form of a dove and abode upon Him. The Spirit is not given to Him by measure; "In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily!"
"Seen of angels." How many thoughts come rushing to the mind as we think of these three words so full of significance to every devout child of God! What a bulwark of safety to fly to, as we are assailed by Modernists, who would rob Him of His Godhead glory because He passed by the angels and took hold of the seed of Abraham. Yes, those holy sinless beings chanted His praises when He came as it had been written in the volume of the book concerning Him:"I delight to do Thy will, O My God:yea, Thy law is within My heart" (Ps. 40:8).
But angels could not be cheated if men could; they knew Him and they sang His praises, as they did long ago when all things were brought into being by the Word of His power. They saw Him bring the worlds into being, they saw Him set the sun in the heavens, they saw the birth of creation, and shouted for joy. Now they see Him wrapped in swaddling-clothes and lying in a manger. Will they deny Him now? NEVER! "Unto you is born this day.. .a Saviour which is CHRIST THE LORD":
"See within the manger,
As a babe, in swaddling-clothes, the world's Creator lies;
Holy, Holy, Holy,
Come to earth so lowly,
Angels haste to feast on Him their holy eyes."
They see Him in the wilderness fasting alone in the desert, then attacked by Satan, who would have Him leave the true path of man. He said, "Command that these stones be made bread." But our LORD did not come to command, He came to obey, and was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross! Blessed Lord!
Again the holy angels see Him in Gethsemane. They hear His strong crying, they see His tears, as "He sweats, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground," and angels come and strengthen Him.
See them once more in the tomb where the Saviour lay; hear them saying, "He is not here, He is risen. Come, see the place where the Lord lay," and again, "Remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee," and they quote His exact words. Then those disciples "remembered His words." Ah, yes, angels do not forget what He said, and they know He is able to perform. Modernist, angels are against you!
"Preached unto the Gentiles," and at the beginning they were delighted to hear the message of grace (Acts 13:46, 38). But their prophesied end is sad, as we read (what we now see), "And they shall turn their ears away from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Tim. 4:1-3).
"Believed on in the world." Yes, thank God!
"Millions have reached that blest abode,
And millions more are on the road,
Will you go? Will you go?"
And now He is "received up into the glory." There He is with "the name which is above every name," not only in this world but in the world to come. "At His Name all the angels bow."
Have you bowed yet, Eventually, you must. Why not now, and be blessed? A. H. Stewart