Note: The idea to the following study came to me while I was reading an article by E. W. Bullinger in an issue of the magazine Things to Come from September 1899. How timeless the truth of the Word of God really is, and how thankful we can be for men and women who have dedicated their lives throughout the centuries to proclaim the gospel of Christ! May this study not only remind us of this God fearing man, but may it also serve to keep the memory of those who have by their work and ministry blessed our lives.
Psalm 34:5:
They looked unto him, and were lightened …
The words in this verse contain the secret to peace and joy in our lives.
The truth conveyed here is the key to a true progress in our Christian life as
well.
Wherever else we look, be it ourselves or be it others around us, it will not
really bring us joy. We are to look unto the Lord, look unto Him and His
revealed Word, we are to seek Him in all things.
There is a danger in reading all kinds of works and books "about the
Bible", sort of like reading "around the Bible" – be it
biographies, commentaries or other literature. This may be indeed edifying and
encouraging reading, but the danger in it is that we may neglect to read the
Word of God itself to the degree it is needed in our lives.
The adversary knows his possibilities, and he also knows that our strength, our
joy, our light, our peace has its foundation in the Word of God and in our
setting our eyes on the work which God accomplished in Christ Jesus for us. We
must keep our eyes focused on Christ and look on that which he has made
available to us and what has been given us in him. Therefore, the devil most
likely will try to distract us from that.
With a sinner he will try to get him to be concerned with his sins as long and as much as possible, to commit more sins and be satisfied with their "joys" and "thrills"
With a penitent sinner he will try to get him so concerned about his repentance and sorrow or mourning his sin that he will become anxious about having repented or mourned his sin enough.
With a believer he will try to get him occupied with his faith and if he believes rightly.
With a minister he will try and get him to be so involved with his ministry that he will soon have no time or opportunity ti think about his lord whom he is trying to serve.
With a saint he will try to get him so fixed on his walk of holiness that he will not recognize his standing in Christ which God already has given him and that he will this lose the power and might which would make available to him a walk by the power of God.
In all these cases the temptation of the adversary is aimed at getting the
Christian alienated from Christ, i.e. to get him to look away from and on
something other than what God in Christ has already given him. If the adversary
is successful in this endeavor, he has kept the Christian from living a truly
blessed life. He uses even things which in and of themselves are not
necessarily evil or bad, some may of itself be actually something true and
good! But he uses these to make us occupy our hearts with a minor matter and to
keep us from looking unto the true God, unto our heavenly Father, and unto His
only begotten Son, our lord and saviour Jesus Christ who really are the sole
source of true peace and true joy.
A very sly and deceiving temptation of the adversary is to get us to strive and
aim for the blessings rather than God who blesses us and has already blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. What a devilish trick this is!
Psalm 34 declares some wonderful truths which also are applicable during the age of the church of grace and which show us how we can live.
Psalm 34:1-3:
A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed. I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
This speaks of an occupation of the heart with Him, with the LORD who is for us a caring Father seeking to bless us. Such an
attitude as we see displayed in these verses surely will do more to the
unfolding of our Christian life than all our own endeavors to improve on our
walk. When we look unto Him, when we are occupied with Him, when our heart
turns to Him, then we are in a position which makes possible for us to have joy
and peace in our everday life. Then we do not step into the trap of the
adversary which he tries to put up with his deceptions and evil wiles. When we
look unto God, we will know Him and pay attention to what He already has done
in Christ for us.
Then we also will not as easily be caught and deceived by the devil when he
constantly tries to influence us to think that we believe, that we are
what we feel. We only think of ourselves as good as we feel; we
think of ourselves as bad as we feel. We see ourselves in the light of
our feelings rather than in light of the Word of God. And yet, it is not our
feelings which are truth, the Word of God is truth! All men should actually
already know better because we are all well aware of the fact that we've been
deceived by our feelings in the past. On the other hand, we can look unto God,
His Son and His Word with absolute confidence for they have never disappointed
anyone nor failed even one single time!
God looks on us as His children, justified in Christ, sanctified in Christ,
redeemed in Christ — as He has made us in Christ. We are His beloved! This
all seems at times perhaps too good to be true. But we should note that these
things are written in the Scirptures, in the Word of God. Whether our momentary
feelings agree with this is completely irrelevant. Truth is what God's Word
reveals to us.
How many Christians feel that they are not worth that God would look on them
even once. They do not recognize and consider that God gave His only begotten
Son to save them. He has bought them with a high price. To think now that God
would not look on them because one is not worth anything in God's sight —
that borders almost blasphemy and indicates a blindness of the mind and heart.
We as Christians have been valued by our heavenly Father to be worth the life
of His only begotten Son!
Now it is our duty, to control our minds, our hearts – yes, even our
feelings! – and to not let them roam around as a wild dog. Our eyes must
be turned to Him! We must pay attention with all our might to look unto the
right thing or person
2 Corinthians 3:18:
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Here again we read what to look unto. We are looking at the glory of the
Lord. This beholding of the glory of the Lord brings about a change in us, even
a transfiguration! We are transformed into his glory and image.
This section has reference to the events of the Old Testament times when Moses
came down from mount Sinai. He had been with God, had been with the LORD,
and the divine glory was mirrored in his face. He had been transformed, his
face was transfigured by the glory of the LORD which was
refelcted on it. Moses then covered his face, he did "not see this glory
unveiled". We however now look with an open face, i.e. unveiled, without
any veil on the glory of the Lord and are changed into the same image more and
more because His glory mirrors itself on our face
This statement is remarkable when we consider that it speaks of an oriental
mirror during Biblical times. Those mirrors were not made of glass, but rather
were made from well polished metal. Those looking into such a mirror did not
see themselves with the clarity as is the case with today's mirrors, instead
the mirror image was often quite unclear. Such a mirror did have another effect
because it reflected the light in a special way onto the face of the beholder.
He saw himself in the mirror, but all others saw the reflection of the mirror
on his face, depending on the metal this reflection was either white or yellow.
The mirror image or the change on the face could not be seen by himself, but
all others could see it.
So it is with us when we, as i n a mirror, look unto the glory of the Lord
— when we look on Christ and what he achieved with the glory of his person
and the completeness of his work. Christ is our mirror into which we look. We
look unto him and unto that which our heavenly Father has accomplished through
him. This looking unto him brings about a change, a transformation into his
image, as long as we look into the mirror of his glory. We ourselves may not be
recognizing and not be aware as much of this change, but others will see it!
Therefore, let us look unto him and radiate for joy!