Is it reasonable to be upset when someone requests a return of his own property which has long been in our possession? Since ALL THAT WE HAVE belongs to God, does He not have a right to expect a return?
    Discontentment, in such a case, not only manifests INGRATITUDE, but INJUSTICE! The begrudging individual manifests a lack of thankfulness for the time he has been permitted to use that which was not his own; in refusing to restore it, he shows DISHONESTY! Complaint against God, in such an instance, but proves the need of such chastisement as one has already received. It is more evidence that more chastisement is needed than that what God has already bestowed has been TOO HEAVY!
    Afflictions are designed to teach us SUBMISSION to God. Until this lesson is learned it would be more reasonable to pray for more than to complain of God's unfairness in his dealings with us. When divine chastisement is met by rebellion and resentment, it indicates the need of a heavier affliction. God knows that without such loving discipline WE WILL PER-

    Some people find great difficulty in reconciling those passages which speak of Moses and the elders of Israel SEEING God (Ex. 33:11; 24:10) with John's statement that "No man hath seen God at any time", (Jn. 1:18).
    To "see God" is an expression that may be viewed in a number of ways. There is a sense in which the "pure in heart" see God, and a sense in which "no man can see God". The pure in heart may understand God's character and works. They may trace His perfections in creation and providence. They may understand what is revealed of Him in His word. Yet, they CANNOT see His SHAPE - for He has none; HE IS INVISIBLE!
    When we read in the Old Testament of men seeing God, we understand that they saw Him in some sign or symbol of His power. Moses saw God in the bush: that is, he saw a symbol of God in the burning thorn bush that was not consumed. Jacob saw God in the singular demonstration of His nearness, and in the consciousness that his minutest affairs were ordered by Him. Moses saw God in the Mount: he had the fullest demonstration of God's presence in the verbal intercourse

that he held with Him there. And the elders saw God: they had the most satisfactory proof that He was indeed providentially interfering with the course of the nation, and that the words spoken by Moses were divinely-sanctioned truth.
    Yet, if anyone should declare that he has seen God in the same manner as we see men, then we should reply: "No man hath seen God at any time!" Men cannot see God in that way; God is INVISIBLE! But, if another should say: "I see God in everything; I see Him in the clouds and in the stars; I see Him in the hills and streams - in the trees and flowers; I see Him EVERYWHERE". Then we should agree: "Yes, the invisible things of God are clearly manifested in the creation, and are clearly discerned by the attentive mind - even His eternal power and Godhead!"
    Or, if another should say: "I have been reading the Gospels, and I never saw so much of God before;

it seemed as if God were fully set forth before my eyes"; then we should reply: "That is true; Christ is the image of the invisible God; He is God manifest in the flesh. He is "the brightness of His Father's glory, and the express image of His person". Therefore, whoever has seen the Son has seen the Father. The Father is IN Him, and He is in the Father. What the Father does, so does the Son; He and the Father are ONE!
    To the extent that God can make Himself visible, He has so done IN HIS SON - in whom dwelt the fulness of godhood in bodily form.

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    WE WELCOME the return of Brother Perry Goebel to our membership from the Garden Island MBC of Kilauea, Hawaii. And we pray that the Lord will bless him and make him a blessing to many!


    At the age of 75, and childless, Abraham came into Canaan believing that God would there make of him a great nation. But HOW? Such a thing appeared impossible! Years later, while Abraham was still childless, the word of the Lord came to Him in a vision saying: "Behold the stars! count them! so shall thy seed be!" Believing the seemingly impossible, Abraham was "counted righteous" - the same thing that God does for every believing sinner today, (Gen. 15:1-6).
    If one carefully observed the works of Abraham he would surely consider him a failure. Visiting

Egypt he was rebuked by Pharaoh for his failure to be utterly truthful. He brought Lot into Canaan instead of utterly leaving behind his kindred and homeland as the Lord had commanded. Then, becoming impatient, he took Hagar for a wife in an effort to make God's promise come true!
    For some of Abraham's mistakes the mid-east still suffers. But his faith was no mistake; nor is Crust in the Lord EVER a mistake!
    Abraham was 99 when the Lord promised: "I will multiply thee exceedingly; the father of MANY NATIONS have I made thee", (Gen. 17:2-5). Here Gentile nations enter the biblical picture. Those who BELIEVE GOD (yielding their lives to His lordship) out of ALL NATIONS are to be. "children of Abraham" as truly as any Jew, (Gal. 3:6-7).
    It was not solely for Abraham's sake that the record shows that "righteousness" was IMPUTED to him, but FOR US ALSO to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus from the dead, who was delivered up for our offences" and raised from the dead to declare that the guilt of sinners from ALL NATIONS has been borne by Him.
   Like Abraham, we believe and receive the promise of LIFE through His Son. And in the day when we meet our Lord face to face it will be EMPTY-HANDED so far as any works of merit are concerned. With mullions from all ages, we have believed that God fully provided for our salvation, that He has prepared for us a city and that He will raise us from the dead to enjoy

it! All of us will have confessed ourselves strangers and pilgrims on the earth; NOT GREAT MEN who have built monuments unto ourselves but simple folks, lonely folks like Zacharias, Elizabeth and Simeon; humble folks, like the shepherds who welcomed a new-born babe as Saviour, Christ and LORD!
    To God be the GLORY! Great things HE HAS DONE!!!


ISH! And, unworthy as we are, He loves us so much as to desire the perfecting of our salvation.
    Should God leave us to our own rebellious ways, we would be utterly lost! If afflictions will not bring us to recognize our need of divine help, nothing will.
    Do you not, as a Christian, pray Chat God will MAKE you what He wants you to be? and that He would use you for His own divine pleasure? Then, why murmur if He chooses to REFINE you as silver - using you as an example of one who suffers affliction with patience?
    If God were not perfect in His wisdom; if His love were not boundless; most of us would have perished long ago! But, if He is, indeed, as wise and kind as the Scriptures declare Him to be, then HOW CAN WE CONTINUE TO REBEL AGAINST HIS HOLY WILL AND PURPOSE? No one ever gained anything by complaint, but many have lost everything. No one ever lost by SUBMISSION to God, but many have reaped eternal dividends!
    If you are an obedient child of God, WHAT CAN YOU FEAR? Your

heavenly Father designs the very best that is possible for you! Can you not, joyfully and confidently, entrust your all into His faithful hands?
    He who waits on the Lord will have no cause for disappointment!


"One night, 'twas a Saturday
   evening,
I sat alone in my room,
Watching the fading daylight,
And the steadily gathering gloom.
And I longed and watched for an
   opening,
A word for my Master to say,
Ere the twilight gave place to
   darkness,
And the week had died away.
I knew that there had been moments

Afforded me through the week,
When I might have witnessed for
   Jesus,
But I hadn't the heart to speak.
And now, when I would have spoken,
The privilege was denied.
So I went in my sorrow to Jesus,
'And why is this?' I cried.

Ah! The Master knew all about it,
So He said, and I knew it was right
'The tool is too blunt for service,
I cannot use it tonight'.
Oh, Christian, learn well this
   lesson,
We can only be used by God, When communion with Him has fash-    ioned
Our mouths like a sharpened sword.
The shaft to be used must be pol-
   ished,
Must be hid in the Master's hand
The arrow while hid in the quiver, Must be sharp to perform His com-    mand.
Then polish and sharpen me, Master, Though painful the process may be,
And make me an instrument fitted To be used any moment by Thee."
    Jesus said: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Fathers, and of the holy angels."