reformed blogging.

So I decided to get off reading heavy stuff and spend more time studying Greek. Thought that I would accomplish this by reading something smaller thus seemingly “light.” I picked up this book, small, short (100 pages and four dollars!) thinking that that would happen. I was wrong. Despite it’s brevity this devotional book is packed with theology. This is s a prime example of deep theology meeting high doxology. Though theology should never be separated from worship, it is often difficult to find books that bring the two together with such force. In a day when everyone is trying to live their “best life now” it is refreshing to find a book so solidly and passionately based on Truth. As Edwards Donnelly says in the foreword, “No words are wasted. There is nothing of the frothy and unsubstantial. Here is satisfying truth, painstakingly quarried and crafted for the needs of God’s people.”

Here’s a little quote:

Warfield reminds us that our Lord’s life of humiliation ‘was not His misfortune, but His achievement’, and that ‘He was never the victim but always the Master of circumstance’. This must be borne in mind as we reflect on the Savior obediently taking the oath. His response was clear: ‘You have said so’, meaning, ‘Yes indeed; I am the Christ.’ It is interesting to compare Christ’s response to Judas who, having heard the master speak of his betrayer, asked, ‘Is it I?’ Christ replied, ‘You have said so’ (Matt. 26:25). And so in Mark’s account of Christ’s response to Caiaphas’ question, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’ We read, ‘And Jesus said, “I am…” (14:61). Caiaphas wanted a forthright ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; he received a definite ‘Yes’. The Apostle Paul, thinking of Christ’s words to Pilate, spoke of his ‘good’ or ‘beautiful’ confession (I Tim. 6:13). His answer to Caiaphas was worthy of the same description.

All agreed that the prisoner was guilty of blasphemy and that he should die. They refused to acknowledge his claims. ‘His own people did not receive him’ (John 1:11). In the full light of his character , teaching and deeds, they rejected him. The cry of their hearts was, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us’ (Luke 19:14). So answers the heart of fallen man when confronted with Christ and the challenge of his cross and his crown. Never had the members of the Sanhedrin heard a proclamation so majestic as that which fell upon their ears when Christ declared his Messiahship and warned of the second advent. But unbelief and prejudice blinded them to the truth.

There is no more solemn moment when one is confronted by the Christ of God. Is he a fraud and an impostor? or is he the world’s Saviour and the world’s Judge?

‘What think ye of Christ?’ is the test
To try both your state and your scheme;
You cannot be right in the rest
Unless you think rightly of Him.

- Frederick S. Leahy, The Cross He Bore, 45-7.