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10,054 illustrations — Lessons from history, biography, and world events
Proverbs 4:25 commands us to keep our eyes "right on" and our eyelids "straight before thee." The wise man, whom commentators identify as Solomon, exhorts careful stewardship of every faculty—each member of our nature requires vigilant guardianship lest any become...
The prophet employs visceral imagery: nations flung into the press like ripe grapes, their life-blood spattering upon His garments as He stands knee-deep in the vat, fiercely trampling them to ruin.
Neither Ezra nor Nehemiah originated this gathering—they obeyed "a popular impulse which they had not created." This is extraordinary because Ezra, who had labored thirteen years in Jerusalem fighting corruptions among the returned captives, had never before promulgated the law...
Matthew Henry observed her strategy: she calls them "simple" and "wanting understanding," inviting them to her school under pretense of refinement.
This verse captures the great change and its obligations.
Upon this eternal, self-existent fidelity we can repose with safety.
Paul describes the Christian not merely in metaphor but in literal reality as a soldier surrounded by enemies.
Yet understand: there is no opposition between Christ and His people requiring conquest.
First, you must contend against yourself—the main battle rages within your own heart, where affections struggle for dominion.
The linen material—simple, natural—typifies the human nature Christ wears in His glorified state, in which He executes all services of His exalted Priesthood as our Representative.
His words carry three essential truths for the believer.
Yet YHWH's charge to him rings throughout Scripture: 'Be strong and courageous.' Maclaren observes that Christianity has elevated gentler virtues to unprecedented prominence, yet it has not erased the necessity of heroic strength.
Yet the psalmist's reply contains crushing power: "Our God is in heaven; all that he pleased he has done." Consider the contrast Martin Geier illuminated with surgical precision.
He uses a striking geographical image: 'The springs lie close together up in the hills, the rivers may be parted by half a continent.' What begins as unity at the source becomes division at the mouth.
To the officers sent by the Pharisees—men animated by hatred, restrained only by inexplicable awe—His declaration 'Whither I go, ye cannot come' becomes a triumphant assertion of invulnerability.
Three characteristics defined him: cruelty, determination, and worldliness.
When our Lord declares, 'They know not Him that sent Me,' He establishes an axiom that reverberates through all ages: to turn away from Christ is necessarily to turn away from the Father.
Not the hermit's withdrawal, nor pride's cold refusal, nor sentiment's complaint of misunderstanding.
Maclaren observes that this righteous man embodies the very purpose God pursued through millenniums of providential dealing and inspiration.
Exell observed in *The Biblical Illustrator* (1887), "All help is dangerous for any of us when there is absence of mutuality." Consider a household where one daughter bears all the work while others remain idle; such arrangement breeds neither health...
Two essential requirements emerge for realizing this ideal.
The Biblical Illustrator identifies four root causes of such backsliding: opposition and fear from religion's enemies; worldly conformity that erodes conviction; self-confidence in spiritual attainments; and neglect of private devotional duties.
The juxtaposition reveals the animating principle of New Testament morality itself: devotion to God is the indispensable basis of all practical helpfulness to man, and conversely, practical helpfulness to man is the expression and manifestation of devotion to God.
In Adam's family stood Cain; in Christ's family, Judas; in the earliest Church, deceivers.
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