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“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation,” Hebrews 9:28.

The religion of Christ is a religion of certainties! Daniel, upon revealing God’s future purpose to king Nebuchadnezzar underlined that the matter was settled and could not be altered.

“Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure,” Daniel 2:45.

The words ‘certain’ and ‘sure’ carry the meaning of ‘utterly reliable’!

BUT we live in a world of uncertainties because of our very limited perception of what lies beyond the ‘here and new’!

Thus James counsels us:

“Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that,” James 4:13-15.

The Word of God sets before us that of which we may be absolutely certain. Our text sets forth just such a most happy and thrilling certainty — the glorious return of Christ our Saviour!

Please consider some simple considerations set forth in this lovely verse.

I. HE IS SPECIAL BECAUSE HE IS THE ONE WHO BORE THE SINS OF MANY

“Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.”

1. Let me underline that word ‘offered’. It is absolutely true that Christ offered Himself , as we read in Hebrews 9:14.

“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

But it is also stated in that familiar and much loved verse, John 3:16, that the Father offered His Son at Calvary. (more…)

“Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us,” 2 Kings 22:13.

I read the chapter 22 of 2 Kings this morning. I was made aware of the fact that the news brought to godly Josiah by Huldah the prophetess that fearful and final judgment would break upon Judah very soon, the king was stirred to do what he could  to reform his kingdom, in the time that remained.

The prophetess had declared the Lord’s determined purpose in judgment.

“And she said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read: because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. But to the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard; because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again,” 2 Kings 22:15-20.

Floods in Spain

There is a flood that has broken forth upon our nation like that which recently wrought such devastation, grieve and misery upon Spain, only it is even more destructive and catastrophic for it is the eternal wrath of God that will fall upon men for their defiance of Him.

King Josiah did much good and saw a turning in the nation but it was but temporary for the next generation reverted back to apostasy and rebellion as was seen in the lives of his sons.

I believe we had a ‘Josiah-like’ reformation here in Ulster in the 1960s to the early 1980s, but it is passing away and there is a reverting back to the evils that were rejected back in those glory days!

Despite the repeated warnings of the encroaching inroads of the falsehoods rejected by the Free Presbyterian Church so half a century ago:

‘Few there are who seem to care,
And fewer still to pray!’

I find myself unable to keep up with the torrent of shameful news reports which highlight the descent of the nation into the grossest of iniquity. Doubtless the weariness and the limiting of ability that comes with old age plays its part in that failure but I believe that chiefly it is that the tide of inquiry is mounting ever higher!

Here are some of the recent clear indications of the perversion, duplicity and sin that is endorsed and eulogised in our land!

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster

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CHURCH OF ENGLAND ACCUSED OF COVERING UP CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN!

The ‘National Church’ in England, of whom the king is a titular head, is a cesspool of inquiry as is seen in this report from the ‘Family Education Trust’.

It is the manifestation of that same depraved corruption that Jude said had invaded the ‘church’ in his day.

“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ,” Jude verse 4.

What hope is there for a nation when such behaviour is openly practised but little is really done in response to its exposure! (more…)