Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but
believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed.
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:27-29
Doubt not, Thomas.
Behold love’s scars
in hands,
in feet,
in side.
He lives who once had died.
By identifying Himself with this remarkable name, the Lord was revealing Himself as the very special personal divine being who always was and always will be.
The Son of God who appeared to Moses on this occasion (Exodus 3:2-4) is the great “I AM” God together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. In John’s Gospel record, we find Jesus referring to Himself in various ways as the “I AM” God. To this unique name Jesus added special descriptive identifiers such as “I am the bread of life” (6:35), “I am the light of the world” (8:12), “I am the good shepherd” (10:11), “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25), and “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (14:6).
In each of these cases, Jesus makes known wonderful truths about Himself which serve for our blessing and are a source of great comfort. For example, when Jesus tells us He is the bread of life, He helps us to understand that He is spiritual nourishment for our souls, who gives us spiritual and eternal life so that we will never die.Read More »Jesus — the Good Shepherd and the Lamb of God
“…that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ.” (Ephesians 4:14-15)
“For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:13-14)Read More »A Rite of Passage into Spiritual Maturity
Composed by CLC pastor Frank Gannt, this hymn fits the meter and tune of Duke Street. Better known as TLH #200 I Know that My… Read More »“Blessed is He who comes to save!”
“Now Christ has risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).
Together they make up the season of liberation and salvation, showing how carefully God had planned and prepared every detail of our salvation. He pictured it for us 1500 years beforehand so that nothing would be left to chance.
The Passover
The first and most recognizable festival was the Passover itself. Just as the blood of the Passover lamb saved Israel from the plague of death which brought about their freedom from slavery in Egypt, so the blood of Christ, our Passover Lamb, saves us from death and frees us from slavery to sin and Satan.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread
The very next day the Feast of Unleavened Bread began. Israelites were required to remove all leaven from their homes for eight days. This feast was symbolic of how Christ has cleansed us from the leaven of sin.Read More »Christ, the Firstfruits, Is Risen!
MEDITATIONS ON JESUS’ SERMON ON THE MOUNT: MATTHEW CHAPTERS FIVE THROUGH SEVEN “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but… Read More »Our Good Shepherd Warns Against False Prophets
Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together. Read More »Where Is the Lamb?
(Fifth in a Series) This edifying series of chapel talks comes from the archives of our Spokesman Assistant Editor, Prof. Em. Paul R. Koch •… Read More »GOD’S OBSCURE SAINTS
Paragraph 1 of the Brief Statement:
Which treats the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures—the article upon which all the other paragraphs stand or fall.
Of the Holy Scriptures
We teach that the Holy Scriptures differ from all other books in the world in that they are the Word of God.They are the Word of God because the holy men of God who wrote the Scriptures wrote only that which the Holy Ghost communicated to them by inspiration, Read More »About the Brief Statement—
When people are looking for a good book or e-book to buy and read, they may look over the New York Times Best Seller list.
While there are critics who claim this particular Book should be listed in the fiction genre, there should be no question that it is non-fiction.
Simply because a book is on the Best Seller list doesn’t mean it is worth purchasing and reading. For example, one review of the best selling book Killing Jesus by Bill O’Reilly reports that the author makes the bogus claim that the reason Jesus was killed by the Romans is that He was interfering with the cash flow of tax money (Read what Jesus says in the Gospel record about paying taxes to the Roman government, Matthew 22:21).
