And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven:
and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. Gen 28:12
The Vision at Bethel

"The vision at Bethel was the first step in Jacob’s Divine education—the assurance which raised him to the feelings and dignity of a man. He knew that though he was to be chief of no hunting tribe, there might yet come forth from him a blessing to the whole earth.
Jacob’s vision came to him in a dream. But that which had been revealed was a permanent reality, a fact to accompany him through all his after-existence. Now the great question we have to ask ourselves is, “Was this a fact for Jacob the Mesopotamian shepherd, and is it a phantasm for all ages to come? Or was it a truth which Jacob was to learn just as he was to learn the truth of birth, the truth of marriage, the truth of death, that it might be declared to his seed after him; and that they might be acquainted with it as he was, only in a fuller and deeper sense?” If we take the Bible for our guide we must accept the latter conclusion, and not the former. The Son of Man is the ladder between earth and heaven, between the Father above and His children on earth." (F. D. Maurice, M. A.)

"​Behold a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached heaven, the angels ascending and descending on it, and the Lord stood above it - This might represent The providence of God, by which there is a constant correspondence kept up between heaven and earth. The counsels of heaven are executed on earth, and the affairs of this earth are all known in heaven. Providence doth his work gradually and by steps; angels are employed as ministering spirits to serve all the designs of providence, and the wisdom of God is at the upper end of the ladder, directing all the motions of second causes to his glory. The angels are active spirits, continually ascending and descending; they rest not day nor night. ​They ascend to give account of what they have done, and to receive orders; and descend to execute the orders they have received.

​BETHEL WAS a bleak moorland in the heart of Canaan. The hill-sides and level downs were strewn with huge boulders. As he fled north wards, Jacob suddenly found himself overtaken by the swift eastern night while he was traversing this desolate moor. There was nothing for it but to lie down on the hard ground, taking one of the big stones as a pillow for his head. As he slept, he dreamed; and in his dream his mind wove together his last waking thoughts in fantastic medley. It seemed as if the big slabs of limestone came together, and built themselves into a gigantic staircase, reaching from where he lay to the starry heights above him; and on that staircase angels came and went, peopling by their multitudes that most desolate region, and evidently interested in the sleeper who lay beneath.
Let us think of that mystic ladder which is Jesus Christ our Lord, by which He descended to our humanity and ascended to the Throne of God. He is "the Way" by which "the sons of ignorance and night" can pass upward to the eternal Light and Love. Where are you? It may be on a moorland waste, in a ship's cabin, a settler's hut, in a humble cottage, in the crowded city, lying on a bed of pain in the hospital ward! Wherever you are, Jesus finds you out and comes just where you are. The one pole of the ladder is the gold of His Deity, the other the silver of His Manhood, which is placed against your life. Transmit to Him your burdens of sin and care and fear. "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not." "We have a Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus." None of us is outside God's loving thought and care. There is always a linking ladder between ourselves and Heaven, and God's angels still pass to and fro, sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation. Let us see to it that we wait at the foot of the ladder to claim our share in the blessings which they bring to earth. (Our Daily Walk)

Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree,
believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. 
And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open,
and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. Joh 1:50-51
​
​Ancient Visions Realized

"Jesus said to Nathanael, “Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree,” etc. Jacob’s dream of the heavenly ladder has become a reality. The Son of man unites and reconciles heaven and earth; His angels carry the needs and prayers of believers up, and bring answers and aid down, this ladder. How the water becomes wine? No, thou wilt see greater things than these! Thou wilt see how Jesus comes with “water and blood”; how He who dies on the cross rises from the grave and ascends into heaven! And greater still than this, thou wilt at last be like Him, changed into His image from one degree of glory to another. With such sacred prospects Nathanael begins his public career. And Nathanael’s outward activity as an apostle would have been neither so hidden nor so fruitful, had not his life as a disciple been so retiring and receptive." (Idem)

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“Thou shalt see greater things than these”—“And He said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open”. The reference here seems to be to the vision of Jacob, and that vision helps us to understand Christ’s meaning. Christ declares the ancient dream to be fulfilled by faith in Him. The patriarch at Bethel found God near to him as his friend and guide, found the earth where he lay “a dreadful place,” and found the spiritual world close to him.

These three things are actually realised by Christian faith—these are the “greater things” that follow its dawning:--
1. The felt presence of God.—As to Jacob heaven was opened and the Eternal near, so to the Christian heaven is unveiled and God revealed. To the eye of faith the Son of man becomes the ladder between earth and heaven on which the angels of God ascend and descend. This is the consummation of faith. It does not come suddenly, but as the soul advances in the divine life, sin’s harsh discords die, the clouds which once veiled the heaven roll away, disclosing the smile of love and pity in the eternal countenance, and the believer walks with God as with a friend.
2. The sacredness of life.—“And Jacob was afraid and said”. The dream vision made him feel the sacredness of life. Again, this suggests a result of faith. Man naturally feels his nature defiled; faith in Christ, who wore it, transforms it into a sacred thing. In the light of that faith all life becomes glorified.
3. Union with the angelic world.—“The angels of God ascending”. To the unbeliever that world is a myth—he sees nothing beyond the material sphere; but were he convinced of its existence the belief would be terrible. We feel instinctively that sin has excluded us from that “glorious brotherhood.” But Christ brings us into it once more. Faith sees in Him the Son of man as our brother and representative there, uniting us with “the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.”
We have greater things yet to see. Another world is dawning, its sights and sounds are near. Nothing but the veil of the body hides us from its scenes. We long sometimes for the land of constant spring, of mountain grandeur, and southern beauty. My friends, great lands are coming. We long for the glorious companionships of the past, of the great dead, of our own friends; we shall know them if we are “counted worthy to obtain that world.” Therefore fight on. There are many weary conflicts before you yet, but “add to your faith patience,” and you shall see the “greater things” when the lamps of faith and hope expire in the eternal light of heaven."  (Idem)

​Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth
my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. 
And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh,
and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? 
And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee,
that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt,
ye shall serve God upon this mountain. Exo 3:10-12

In these verses we see the amazement and obvious truth that came to Moses as he is told by God what he was calling him to do, his response is what all who are called into ministry feel- “Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh?”
​
Moses was well educated—still his mental discipline would hardly appear to him as equal to the present crisis and undertaking. He would have to fall back upon his knowledge of the Egyptian court, and upon other matters, of important bearing on his mission. So, may ministers of today feel their inability to combat the error—skepticism—and sin of the age—through their lack of brain power. They have not had the advantages in their early days that even Moses had. Of what little information they possess, they make the best possible use. It requires a well disciplined mind to go to the Pharaohs of the world, and to demand efficiently the moral freedom of their slaves.

When young and living in the palaces of Pharaoh, Moses had striven to interrupt a quarrel between two Hebrews by referring them to the fact of their common brotherhood and suffering—he had been repulsed, because he had killed the Egyptian. Now, a murderer and an outcast, he is cast out of the Pharaoh's court, and banished into the wilderness.

Exo 2:13  And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? 
Exo 2:14  And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. 
Exo 2:15  Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well. 
​
No doubt the remembrance of this fact now lingered within his mind—as there are certain experiences that never leave us—they become the constant, and great educational influences of our souls. This reminiscence would give Moses to feel the difficulty of the task now God calls upon him. 

This also happens to servants and ministers of the Gospel—the sins of the past, though now forgiven and covered by the blood of Christ, can be a source of difficulty and regret mixed with grief, and find it difficult to overcome when Satan may come and condemn and accuse us of our past. He did this to Paul, and he endured this throughout his ministry. We know that in ourselves, we are not worthy of being called into any service, and may almost shrink from it. It's an ongoing process of renewing our minds with the word of God, trusting in the shed blood of Christ, that covers our sin, from the day of our salvation, and walking out our faith, and not giving place to the sins of the flesh. If we fall and do sin, immediately confess it, and repent and turn from it again, and remain under the covering of the blood of Christ. This is how God's people walk in righteousness. We know we will never attain perfection here, but, we are to strive for holiness, and God knows, and sees our hearts. His mercy and grace covers us, as we run this race, to the best of our ability.

This may cause us to lose friends and suffer alienation of family members, again, Jesus tells us we will. Moses once had friends in the court of Pharaoh—he was the adopted son of the King’s daughter—had he retained her friendship—it might have been of use to him now; but he had lost it by flight. It's always easy to serve God when you have a crowd of followers, but, when they turn and leave you, and your left alone, then the test of faith becomes real. Paul said more than once "all forsook me."

Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 
Mat 10:36  And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. 

2Ti 1:15  This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. 
2Ti 4:16  At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. 
​
This when the disciples and apostles in the bible learned to depend on the presence of God, in the trials of their faith, and isolation. You learn who God is, in a greater degree, and you learn who you are, and learn to become real with yourself, and with God. Your relationship to Him becomes the center of your life. You love people, but are not dependent on them to be a source of your life or ministry. You've learned that God is the source of all life, light, and guidance. You learn to hear His voice and obey it, whether anyone understands you or not. Your willing to live, or die for the commission given to you by God, whether anyone believes you, or not. 

If you do an in-depth study of how many times Moses went to God and complained of the rebellion and mistreatment he received by the grumbling murmuring people, and the times God himself told Moses that he wanted to kill them all and wipe them out and start over- you will see a companionship and dialogue between the Creator God-and his servant, and that they were confiding in each other, and talking each other out of doing something they'd regret! This is true fellowship and friendship-that you will see in many places in the bible, between God and his servants in their inter-actions with sinful man. King David, and Jeremiah also have inter-actions and dialogue that will open your eyes, to how we can come boldly to His Throne of Grace, and bring our troubles, our needs, and intercede for the very things He calls us to believe Him for-and expect an answer. God wants this kind of boldness, and faith. But, I'll emphasize, this kind of faith never involves filling your pockets with gold, or jet-planes or billions of dollars in the bank, for your own profit. Read Jesus' teachings on this in the gospels, and let it reach your heart. I don't waste God's time asking for riches-He's promised to supply all my NEEDS, NOT MY GREED. The prosperity preacher's who are bragging of their wealth now, I do not envy at all. Read the parable of the dishonest manager-what did he do with what he was entrusted with? How did they use it, and what did it profit them? When they die, they are going to leave it all here-there's no U-hauls of this worlds gold or goods that will enter heaven.

Luk 16:11  If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 
Luk 16:12  And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? 
Luk 16:13  No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 
​
This is the reason I keep seeking God every day-God tells me, if I seek Him-I'll find Him. In my years so far-I've had enough experiences and He's proven His love and ability to care for my needs, and I've seen enough answers to prayer, that nothing else will satisfy me. I want God, and whatever is His will for me. If your in His perfect will and you know it, there's no safer place to be.
Lorna Couillard

This narrative is a chain of glorious wonders. We see here--
An old man called to go out on the great errand of his life. The education of Moses for the great mission of his life lasted eighty years. God never sends forth fruit until the season is fitted for the fruit, and the fruit for the season; when the hour was ready for the man, and the man for the hour, then God sent forth Moses.
The burning bush from which that call was sounded. (1) This was a sign to indicate the peculiar presence of God. (2) It was also a symbol of His people, eminently adapted to encourage the prophet in undertaking their cause.
The angel who uttered this call. We see at the first glance that He is Divine; we next learn that He is an angel; we further find, from a chain of Scripture proofs, that He is Christ.
The covenant under which the Angel gave him his commission. It was the same covenant that had been given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The Angel’s name. That name asserts (1) His real existence, (2) His underived existence, (3) His independent existence, (4) His eternity.
The effect to be wrought by the remembrance of His name. (1) It was intended to inspire profoundest reverence for the Being to whom it belongs. (2) It reveals the infinite sufficiency of a Christian’s portion. (3) It gives encouragement to Evangelical enterprise.
(C. Stanford, Symbols of Christ, p. 61)
​See: Exo 3:2-4

The learning of Egypt was not sufficient to equip Moses for his life-work. He is taken to the solitudes of the wilderness. That is God’s college. All who have done the greatest work in the world have graduated there-Elijah at Horeb, Ezekiel at Chebar, Paul in Arabia, and John in Patmos. God’s workers may take their arts course in the universities, but must take their Divinity course alone with Him. Often in the middle of daily duty we come on the outshining of his Presence. Let us be on the outlook for it, and take off our shoes.
This burning bush has generally been taken as the emblem of the Church amid the fires of tribulation; but there is a deeper meaning. The fire was the token of God’s presence. The bush was unconsumed, because God’s love is its own fuel. Notice the successive steps: “I have seen;” “heard;” “know;” “am come down;” “will send.” The “cry” of the previous chapter is answered by the “coming down” of this. See Luk_18:7-8.   (F.B. Meyer)
​Luk 18:7  And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 
Luk 18:8  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? 

NOTHING IS more needed to-day than God's Partnership as a realized fact in Christian experience. Many of us may assent to what is written in these lines, and then put it aside, as a dream which is too ethereal to be of practical service. But when the Apostle said that "our fellowship, our partnership, is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ" it is surely meant that we should enter upon our inheritance. "I AM... " says our great Partner; "fill in your need, and I will meet your demand, according to the riches of My glory in Christ Jesus." Let us tear out the order-forms from God's service-register, fill them up, and present them for delivery. Not one of them would be dishonored. And if it happened that we had wrongly diagnosed our need, He would erase the demand based on our imperfect knowledge, and substitute what we would ask if we knew. There is nothing more certain than that the more we ask of God, the more pleased He is to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think.

Our Lord made use of this incident when He was challenged by the Sadducees to adduce proof of the future life from the Books of Moses. He answered by quoting this paragraph of the burning bush, calling special attention to the fact that Moses referred to God as the "God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob." He said that the use of the present tense—I AM—proved that God is not the God of the dead but of the living, and that all live unto Him.

What a comfort there is in this thought, that our beloved who have passed from us are in-breathing the same atmosphere as we are. We all eat the same spiritual meat and all drink the same spiritual drink. We see in a mirror darkly, but they face to face; but this identity of fellowship, of partnership with the "I AM," the ever-present God who fills heaven and earth, is a proof and a pledge that they have not altered essentially. They are drinking of the same stream higher up and nearer its source: "One family we dwell in him."  (Our Daily Walk)

What is the guarantee of success?
1. Not human cleverness; ministers may be clever, so may churches, etc.; we may have learned sermons, able sermons, ingenious sermons,.
2. Not skillful organization. Cards, bazaars, registers, circulars, etc., all useless as ends.
3. The word of the Lord is the guarantee of success. “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” “My word shall not return unto Me void.”

“Certainly I will be with thee.”—then the servant is to be received for the master’s sake. “He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me.” The true minister carries a blessing with him. The Romans were to receive Phoebe in the Lord. What a lesson to ministers—they are representatives of God!

“Certainly I will be with thee.”—then there need be no lack of grace or power. “If any man lack wisdom,” etc. “Lo, I am with you alway,” etc. “Ye have not because ye ask not, or because ye ask amiss.” The servants may take counsel of one another, but not to the interruption of continuous and trustful prayer to the Master.
1. God is with His servants for their comfort.
2. For their guidance.
3. For their safety.

Application: Notice--
1. The individuality of the promise, “I will be with thee”—with the one man.
2. The emphasis of the premise—“Certainly.” Who is with us in our life-ministry? (J. Parker, D. D.)
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1Co 2:1  And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 
1Co 2:2  For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 

Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king.
To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness
​unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Joh 18:37

THIS WAS our Lord's answer to Pilate's inquiry, and to a certain extent each of us may appropriate His words. Wordsworth's immortal lines suggest that we stood before God to receive our commission, ere we became clothed with this body of humiliation. Whether or not the poet is right in his surmise, that "not in utter nakedness or forgetfulness do we come from God, who is our Home," we need not argue. It is enough that God, who hates nothing that He has made, sent us forth to realize an ideal, to fulfil a purpose, to bear witness to some phase of Truth. Shall we not ask ourselves, as in His Presence, whether we are fulfilling the Divine purpose of what the Apostle calls "our high calling"?

God created each soul with a purpose. The potter takes in hand a lump of clay with a distinct design. He means, when he places it on the horizontal wheel, to make of it a vessel to adorn a temple or palace, or he has in mind to serve some household use. The revolving wheel on the one hand, and his skillful manipulation on the other, will evolve and complete his purpose. "Cannot I do with you, as this potter? saith the Lord."
"Thou hast made me and fashioned me. Thou didst choose the time and circumstances of my birth, my parentage and heredity, my mental equipment and my physical frame. From the first Thou didst know the constitution of my body, which Thou didst fashion in secret, and curiously work in the lowest places of the earth."
To our humble challenge: "Why hast Thou made me thus?" God does not always give an audible reply. His answer is often voiceless, it steals in upon the soul insensibly, and we know that we are fulfilling His purpose. If you are engaged in some unwelcome task, which evidently is your duty; if you are shut up as companion with some uncongenial charge; if you are called to minister to people who seem unresponsive or unsympathizing, ask that the Savior and you may be yoked together, that His Will may be done through you, that His love and kindness may bear and forbear in you, and that you may witness to the truth, as it is in Jesus.  (Our Daily Walk)

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. James 1:2-3
God’s School of Trial

​This Epistle is marked by the austere features of the Jerusalem church, which refused to be affected by that wider contact with the Gentile world, by which the life and teachings of St. Paul were so powerfully influenced. “Brother to Jesus” was the designation that James might have used, but he preferred the more modest title of bond-servant. The slaves of such a king are nobles! The times were full of severe testing. Each believer had to face ignominy, loss and death for his testimony to Jesus and His saving power. But James encourages these harried souls by the immense revenues that would accrue, more especially in the acquisition of patience. While patience is drawn out almost to the breaking-point, God is developing our characters with perfect beauty, so that no side is incomplete.
There are three urgent requirements for us all: (1) Wisdom to act and speak wisely in the hour of trial; (2) faith that refuses to respond to the surging billows of doubt; (3) humility and contentment with God’s dealings.   (F.B. Meyer)

Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are
​in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? 
Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay:
for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the
​thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? Isa 29:15-16
God's Word to the Stiff-Necked

They that think to hide their counsels from God--
1. In effect deny Him to be their Creator.
2. Or, which comes to the same thing, deny Him to be a wise Creator.

​THEIR POLITICS DESCRIBED (Isa_29:15). The consultations they had about their own safety they kept to themselves, and never asked God’s advice concerning them. See what foolish, fruitless pains sinners take in their sinful ways; they seek deep, they sink deep, to hide their counsel from the Lord, who sits in heaven and laughs at them. A practical disbelief of God’s omniscience is at the bottom both of the carnal worship and carnal confidences of the hypocrites (Psa_94:7; Eze_8:12; Eze_9:9).
Isa 29:15  Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? 
​Psa 94:7  Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. 
Eze 8:12  Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth. 
Eze 9:9  Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not. 

THE ABSURDITY OF THEIR POLITICS DEMONSTRATED (Isa_29:16). Your inverting the order of things, and thinking to make God’s providence give attendance on your projects, and that God must know no more than you think fit, which is perfectly “turning things upside down,” and beginning at the wrong end,—“it shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay”; i.e., God will turn and manage you, and all your counsels, with as much ease, and as absolute a power, as the potter forms and fashions his clay.
​
Isa 29:16  Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?   (M. Henry)

Note: These commentaries, describe the behavior and corruption of our government's actions very well, and are a perfect "up to date" correction from God-to whoever may come here-and read them. This is God's mind on the lying, deceptions, and conniving's going on behind the doors and walls of the institutions in Washington D.C., and have been for a long time. 
What you do in the dark, believing your not seen or heard, is as being done at noonday to God-He's sees it, and records it. One day we all will have an audience with Jesus Christ, and He will give everyone the just rewards for their deeds. What you stood for, and the deeds regarding the people under your care-will all come to bear, and the lives that were destroyed by your policies, if you prove to be a tyrant, working with treachery.
Only those who have gone to Him in honest repentance, and turned from their sins, will be able to have the assurance of their sins "paid in full", by the blood of Christ. I pray, that the reader, will find it so for them, and hear Jesus say "Come, enter the joy of thy Lord".

All Have Sinned and Come Short of the Glory of God
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all
do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. 
And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. 
​But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter;
and we all are the work of thy hand. Isa 64:6-8
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​​And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:  Php 3:9

The ancient Christians followed this example: they shared each other’s sufferings; they suffered one for another, the rich the poverty of the poor; they saw Christ in the poor, the prisoners, the captives, the sick, as He bade them and as He had told them, and underwent sufferings for them; they laid down their lives for the brethren. So then they well understood the two parts of the doctrine of the Cross, the cross which was borne for us by Christ and the cross which was to be borne by us, in Christ’s strength and for Christ’s sake, and this not for a brighter crown merely, but that they might finally be saved.
Every shade of self-denial, from the pettiest denial of our appetites to the martyr’s mangled and scored human form, is all included in bearing the cross, the least because He has commanded it, and He, for His own love’s sake, accepts it. All crosses are preparations for heaven; for though we know not its unspeakable joys or wherein they consist, this we know: that we must learn to do His will on earth as it is done in heaven, to be like the blessed spirits who do His pleasure, swift and instant as the lightning, to count nothing labor, toil, or cross, which is to do His will. This portion of the cross has a blessed privilege, in that it is taken willingly in obedience, not simply borne willingly, as the chastisement of disobedience; it is taken in order, in what little way regenerate man is capable of, to be like his Maker; it is taken out of love to Him and to do His commandments.
(Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times" vol. iii., p. 1)

Precept must be on precept, line on line. The false teachers who dogged Paul’s steps insisted on rigid conformity to Judaism, with its rabbinical accretions, as the condition of being saved by Christ. Paul’s answer was that he had gone through all the requirements of Judaism, but had found it absolutely unsatisfactory and inefficient to subdue the sin of his soul. But in Christ he had found everything he needed. What had been gain to him now seemed but dross. He had found the pearl of great price, and was only too glad to sacrifice all else to purchase and keep it, as the talisman of complete victory.
​
The essence of Judaism was not external but within. True circumcision was deliverance from the self-life, and that could only be gained by the Cross of Christ. The “Israelite indeed,” like Nathanael, had three traits of character-his worship was spiritual, he gloried in the Crucified, and he was delivered from reliance upon the self-life. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to teach us to know Jesus in the intimacy of personal fellowship, to feel the pulse of His resurrection life, to experience the power of His death, and to realize the whole of His divine program. For this we might be more than content to trample on our boasted pride.   (F.B. Meyer)