F. W. Grant
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Submitted by F W Grant on Thu, 12/22/2005 - 06:00
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We have as yet, however, not, entered upon the field of science
proper. We are about to do so, and to inquire what help may be gained
from Scripture for the detailed study of nature. In this numerical
system, of which both Scripture and nature are immensely fuller than
has been thought, we ought to find a wonderful help, if it be (as we
have essayed to show) the same system that pervades both. Of this too,
all future applications will be a continual test. Thus every real
discovery will b...
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Submitted by F W Grant on Tue, 12/20/2005 - 06:00
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(Chap. iv. 4.)
This rainbow-girdled throne is a throne of judgment: "Out of the throne proceeded lightnings and voices and thunders." Mercy may and does restrain judgment within fixed limits, or use it sovereignly to fulfill purposes of widest, deepest blessing. None the less is it plain that the "throne of grace," to which it is the part of faith now to "come boldly, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need," is not here before us. Even the bow of promise itself...
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Submitted by F W Grant on Tue, 12/20/2005 - 06:00
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(Rev. iv 1-3.)
We come, then, to our theme, the book of Revelation.
Our glance at prophecy has been for the purpose of putting this last
and fullest of all in connection with the earlier ones, that we might
not make it of "private interpretation." And when we come so to connect
it, we find unmistakable evidence that a large part of the book is
occupied with that predicted last week of Daniel, the events of which
we have been considering. That the last "beast" of Daniel appears ag...
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Submitted by F W Grant on Tue, 12/20/2005 - 06:00
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Book 2: Things That shall BeAN EXPOSITION OF REVELATION IV. - XXII.
(Chapters 12-26)PART I: INTRODUCTORY
(Chapters 12-16)
(1) Prophecies Leading Up to TheseOur
title to the following pages indicates our adherence in some sense to
the interpretation of the book of Revelation which makes the body of it
- the nineteen chapters upon which we are entering - apply to what is
still for us future. Those who so apply it, what ever differences in
detail there may be among them, are ...
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Submitted by F W Grant on Tue, 12/20/2005 - 06:00
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(Rev. iii. 14-22.)
We come now to the solemn close of these addresses, the Lord’s last word to the churches; and it is very striking that we come to that close here, just after that epistle to Philadelphia, in which we have seen recognized a certain real return of heart to Christ, and a true revival by His Word and Spirit. Now, there are, on the contrary, prostration and collapse: and the most serious thing is that these are the infallible signs of the failure on the part of Philadelp...
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Submitted by F W Grant on Tue, 12/20/2005 - 06:00
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(Rev. iii. 7 - 13.)
We come now to a phase of the Church’s history of the deepest interest and of the greatest possible importance to us. How great it must be to realize a condition which the Lord can commend and only commend! For in this address to Philadelphia there is no word of reproof throughout. Warning there is, and of this we shall have to take special note; but reproof there is none! How blessed a condition to be in, when the "Holy" and the "True" can smile upon us thus ...
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Submitted by F W Grant on Tue, 12/20/2005 - 06:00
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(Rev. iii. i - 7.)
In the address to the Church at Thyatira, we have
found the Lord announcing His coming, and bidding His saints wait to
share with Him then the authority which the false church was assuming
to have already. Thyatira presents us thus with a phase of things which
goes on at least till the Lord comes for His saints; not, indeed, till
the rising of the Sun of Righteousness upon the world, but until He
comes as the Morning-Star, the herald of the day before the day a...
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Submitted by F W Grant on Tue, 12/20/2005 - 06:00
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(Rev. ii. 18 - 29.)
Our course has been hitherto continually downward. The church to
which we have now come forms no exception to this rule, and in a
certain sense it is the end of the course that we reach in it. In
Thyatira, our eyes are no more toward the past, but toward the future -
the coming of the Lord: there is no more the call to repentance and
doing the first works; the word is now, "I gave her space to repent,
and she did not repent." The opportunity of repentance is ...
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Submitted by F W Grant on Tue, 12/20/2005 - 06:00
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(Rev. ii. 17.)
The promise to the overcomer in Pergamos claims our
deepest attention. As always in these epistles, it emphasizes the
condition of those to whom it is addressed; and we have seen that this
is not merely a past condition, but a stage in the development of what
is all around us today; so that the exhortations and warnings suited to
it have for us no less force than ever. In fact they should have more,
as we stand face to face with that development, - as the fruit, ri...
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Submitted by F W Grant on Tue, 12/20/2005 - 06:00
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We have seen, then, two main steps in the Church’s outward
decline, after the loss of first love had made any departure possible.
First of all, the divine idea of the Church was lost. Instead of its
being a body of people having, in the full and proper sense, eternal
life and salvation, children of God, members of Christ, and called out
of the world as not belonging to it, it became a mere "gathering
together" of those for whom, indeed, the old names might in part
remain, but who were,...
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