Behold What Manner Of Love!

Charles Spurgeon said:

The Thunderer, the ruler of the stormy sea is my Father . . . notwithstanding the terror of His power I draw near to Him in love. I look forward with joy to the hour when Thou shalt call and I shall answer Thee. Do what Thou wilt with me, Thou art my Father. Smile on me and I will smile back and say "My Father." Chasten me and as I weep I will cry "My Father" . . . If Thou art my Father, all is well to all eternity. Bitterness is sweet and death itself is life since Thou art my Father. Oh trip ye merrily home ye children of the living God saying each one within himself "I have it! I have it! I have a relationship with God of the nearest and dearest kind . . . my spirit for her music hath these words, 'Abba Father! Abba Father!'"

Jesus Christ: The Only Expected Person!

Loraine Boettner wrote:

In all the history of the world Jesus emerges as the only "expected" person. No one was looking for such a person as Julius Caesar, or Napoleon, or Washington, or Lincoln to appear at the time and place that they did appear. No other person has had his course foretold or his work laid out for him centuries before he was born. But the coming of the Messiah had been predicted for centuries. In fact, the first promise of His coming was given to Adam and Eve soon after their fall into sin. As time went on various details concerning His Person and work were revealed through the prophets; and at the time Jesus was born there was a general expectation through the Jewish world that the Messiah was soon to appear, even the manner of His birth and the town in which it would occur having been clearly indicated.

Loraine Boettner, Studies In Theology, 160.

Blow The Trumpet For Jesus Christ!

C. T. Studd said:

Let us not glide through this world and then slip quietly into heaven, without having blown the trumpet loud and long for our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Let us see to it that the devil will hold a thanksgiving service in Hell, when he gets the news of our departure from the field of battle.

Being A Christian Means Christ Is All!

Iain Murray writes:

Christianity means knowing and trusting Christ as a living Person; it is a relationship which so captures both the mind and the heart of the believer that henceforth to know Christ, to esteem Him and His words, becomes the very object of existence: "To you who believe He is precious" (1 Pet. 2:7) - more precious certainly than all earthly goods or even life (Luke 14:26). A Christian is someone who no longer lives for himself but understands, with Paul, why Christ is his righteousness, his life, his all . . . A Christian . . . is one who so knows Christ that all things are secondary to his Saviour . . . A Christian is one whose greatest pleasure is to see God magnified in Christ.

After reading this, I feel like George Whitefield who Murray cites as saying:

I will begin to begin to be a Christian.

Iain Murray, Evangelicalism Divided (Carlisle: Banner Of Truth, 2001), 152, 159, 166, 316.

What Does "Christ Is All!" Mean?

Meditate on how various Bible commentators have understood the glorious phrase in Colossians 3:11 - Christ is all!

Peter T. O'brien:

[Christ is all] states in an emphatic way that Christ is "absolutely everything" . . . or "all that matters . . . ."

Douglas Moo:

To claim that Christ is "all" is briefly to reiterate the high Christology that Paul has set forth in [Colossians] 1:15-20: Christ is the center point of both creation and redemption, the one in whom and through whom all things now hold together.

Richard Melick:

[Christ is all] speaks of Christ being the total concern, preoccupation, and environment of the Christian.

John Calvin:

Christ is all, and in all, that is, Christ alone holds, as they say, the prow and the stern - the beginning and the end.

Matthew Henry:

Christ is a Christian's all, his only Lord and Saviour, and all his hope and happiness. And to those who are sanctified, one as well as another and whatever they are in other respects, he is all in all, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end: he is all in all things to them. 

The IVP New Testament Commentary:

The concluding formula, Christ is all, and is in all, echoes the confession of [Colossians] 1:15-20 and once again lays claim to Christ's lordship over the new order. In Schweizer's words, "Christ is the measure by which everything is to be defined" (1972:200); he is "all that matters" (Harris 1991:154). This is the firm conviction of the new humanity - those who have already "taken off" the fallen order and "put on" the good intentions of the Creator which they have begun to realize in Christ."

John Gill:

Christ is all, and in all; he is "all" efficiently; he is the first cause of all things, the beginning of the creation of God, the author of the old, and of the new creation, of the regeneration of his people, and of their whole salvation: he is all comprehensively; has all the fullness of the Godhead, all the perfections of deity in him; he is possessed of all spiritual blessings for his people; and has all the promises of the covenant of grace in his hands for them; yea, all fullness of grace dwells in him, in order to be communicated to them: and he is all communicatively; he is their light and life, their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, their food and clothing, their strength and riches, their joy, peace, and comfort, who gives them grace here, and glory hereafter . . . and Christ is "in all;" in all places, being infinite, immense, and incomprehensible, as God, and so is everywhere by his power, upholding all things by it; and in all his churches, by his gracious presence, and in the hearts of all his regenerate ones, of whatsoever nation, state, and condition they be: he is revealed in them, formed within them, and dwells in their hearts by faith; and is all in all to them, exceeding precious, altogether lovely, the chiefest among ten thousands, and whom they esteem above all creatures and things. The Arabic version reads, "Christ is above all, and in all."