March 31, 2013

• Jesus said to her, "... Whom are you seeking?" - John 20:15

  John 20:15
  Jesus said to her, “... Whom are you seeking?”

  

  Jesus is asking you...

  "Whom [or what] are you seeking?"

  From Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on John 20...

  ... we may observe, The constancy and fervency of Mary Magdalene's affection to the Lord Jesus... Where there is a true love to Christ there will be a constant adherence to him, and a resolution with purpose of heart to cleave to him...

  Those that will be content with nothing short of a sight of Christ shall be put off with nothing less. He never said to the soul that sought him, Seek in vain. “Is it Christ that thou wouldest have? Christ thou shalt have.” ...

  See how her heart was set upon finding Christ. She puts the question to every one she meets, like the careful spouse, Saw you him whom my soul loveth?
  

  Song of Solomon 3
  1  On my bed by night
  I sought him whom my soul loves;
  I sought him, but found him not.
  2  I will rise now and go about the city,
  in the streets and in the squares;
  I will seek him whom my soul loves.
  I sought him, but found him not.
  3  The watchmen found me
  as they went about in the city.
  “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
  4  Scarcely had I passed them
  when I found him whom my soul loves.
  I held him, and would not let him go...

  Is your love for Christ true ––
  or is it like the dew?
  
  Hosea 6
  4  What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
  What shall I do with you, O Judah?
  Your love is like a morning cloud,
  like the dew that goes early away.

  Exodus 34:12  Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. 13  You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim 14  (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15  lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, 16  and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.

  
  From Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Psalm 24...

  We ourselves are not our own; our bodies, our souls, are not. Even those of the children of men are God's, who know him not, nor own their relation to him. A soul that knows and considers its own nature, and that it must live for ever, when it has viewed the earth and the fulness thereof, will sit down unsatisfied. It will think of ascending toward God, and will ask, What shall I do, that I may abide in that happy, holy place, where he makes his people holy and happy? We make nothing of religion, if we do not make heart-work of it. We can only be cleansed from our sins, and renewed unto holiness, by the blood of Christ and the washing of the Holy Ghost. Thus we become his people; thus we receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of our salvation. God's peculiar people shall be made truly and for ever happy. Where God gives righteousness, he designs salvation. Those that are made meet for heaven, shall be brought safe to heaven, and will find what they have been seeking.
  

  Psalm 24
  1  The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof,
  the world and those who dwell therein,
  2  for he has founded it upon the seas
  and established it upon the rivers.
  3  Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
  And who shall stand in his holy place?
  4  He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
  who does not lift up his soul to what is false
  and does not swear deceitfully.
  5  He will receive blessing from the LORD
  and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
  6  Such is the generation of those who seek him,
  who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah
  7  Lift up your heads, O gates!
  And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
  that the King of glory may come in.
  8  Who is this King of glory?
  The LORD, strong and mighty,
  the LORD, mighty in battle!
  9  Lift up your heads, O gates!
  And lift them up, O ancient doors,
  that the King of glory may come in.
  10  Who is this King of glory?
  The LORD of hosts,
  he is the King of glory! Selah

  Are you of the generation of those who seek Him,
  that seek the face of the God of Jacob?
  

  In "An Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God's People, in Extraordinary Prayer, for the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ's Kingdom on Earth," Jonathan Edwards wrote of the good (the blessing) we find as we seek God Himself...

  Zechariah 8:20-21 (KJV) Thus saith the Lord of hosts, It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before, the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.

  The good, that shall be sought by prayer; which is God himself. It is said once and again, “They shall go to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts.” This is the good they ask for, and seek by prayer, The Lord of hosts himself. To seek God, as the expression may perhaps be sometimes used in Scripture, may signify no more than seeking the favour or mercy of God. And if it be taken so here, praying before the Lord, and seeking the Lord of hosts, must be synonymous expressions. And it must be confessed to be a common thing in Scripture, to signify the same thing repeatedly, by various expressions of the same import, for the greater emphasis. But certainly that expression of seeking the Lord, is very commonly used to signify something more; it implies that God himself is the great good desired and sought after; that the blessings pursued are God’s gracious presence, the blessed manifestations of him, union and intercourse with him; or, in short, God’s manifestations and communications of himself by his Holy Spirit. Thus the psalmist desired God, thirsted after him, and sought him. (Psal. xiii. 1, 2, 8.) “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee. My flesh longeth for thee, in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. My soul followeth hard after thee. ” (Psal. lxxiii. 25.) “Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.” The psalmist earnestly pursued after GOD, his soul thirsted after him, he stretched forth his hands unto him, &c. (Psal. cxliii. 6.) And therefore it is in Scripture the peculiar character of the saints, that they are those who seek God. (Psal. xxiv. 6.) “This is the generation of them that seek him.” (Psal. lxix. 32.) “Your heart shall live that seek God.”

  Jeremiah 2
  31  And you, O generation, behold the word of the LORD.
  Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
  or a land of thick darkness?
  Why then do my people say, ‘We are free,
  we will come no more to you’?
  32  Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
  or a bride her attire?
  Yet my people have forgotten me
  days without number.
  33  “How well you direct your course
  to seek love!
  So that even to wicked women
  you have taught your ways.
  34  Also on your skirts is found
  the lifeblood of the guiltless poor;
  you did not find them breaking in.
  Yet in spite of all these things
  35  you say, ‘I am innocent;
  surely his anger has turned from me.’
  Behold, I will bring you to judgment
  for saying, ‘I have not sinned.’
  36  How much you go about,
  changing your way!
  You shall be put to shame by Egypt
  as you were put to shame by Assyria.
  37  From it too you will come away
  with your hands on your head,
  for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust,
  and you will not prosper by them.

  ---

  Related posts... Please see my posts on Christian hedonism here, and seeking here.

  Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. / Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

  Work found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MaryEmptyTomb.jpg by Cadetgray / CC BY-SA 3.0

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