The Lord our Helper and Keeper

The Lord our Helper and Keeper

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night. The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.  Psalm 121

The 121^st Psalm is the Psalm of the pilgrim traveler. We do not know who the original traveler was or where he was going. Perhaps he was an exile from his home land, living in Babylon. The time has now come for him to make the perilous journey home to Jerusalem. As he starts out on the journey he utters these matchless words for his comfort and encouragement. Or perhaps he is a pilgrim on his way to the Temple at Jerusalem. The journey is almost over, he has just caught a glimpse for the first time of the holy hill of Jerusalem. As he beholds his goal in sight he burst out in a word of testimony to the wonderful way in which the Lord has preserved him throughout the entire journey. But it matters not what the circumstances of the singer were. Regardless of whether the traveler is an exile just beginning the homeward journey, or a pilgrim just completing the journey, the hymn of quiet trust loses none of its beauty and power. This Psalm teaches the general truth that throughout our journey to the Heavenly Jerusalem the Lord is our helper and keeper.

As we begin our meditation upon this Psalm of the traveler let us be mindful that the Psalmist is a child of God, who trusts in the Heavenly Father and who is endeavoring to walk in the way of righteousness. This hymn of trust is his confidence and assurance and is the trust and confidence of every one who is a son of God through faith in Jesus the Christ.

Notice that as the traveler began his journey, he looked up: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills.” As we begin the journey of life we must look up. The upward look is necessary for a great and noble life. As we lift up our eyes and behold the big things, we are inspired to do the little things. Looking into an ideal enables us to do the little things that will lead to the accomplishment of the ideal. The medical student endures the long hours of study and spends many hours in the class room because he beholds the ideal of becoming a doctor.

We must look up in order to break the dull monotony of life. We avoid the dull monotony of traveling the plains only as we look up into the hills. In my college days there were two trips that we took frequently. One was from my home to Gettysburg, the other from my home to the seashore. The trip to Gettysburg was a 120 mile trip through rolling hilly country. The trip to the seashore was only half as far but over flat, unbroken country. We much preferred the longer trip because the dull monotony of riding was broken by “looking up into the hills.” In life if there are no hills to look unto life becomes tiresome. The Scripture constantly teaches and exhorts us to look upward and onward. Jesus we are told “set His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem.” He set His face on the high goal of His life, Calvary. We are exhorted to “Look unto Jesus,” to “press onward to the mark for the prize of the high calling.” The Psalmist said, “I will life up mine eyes unto the hills.”

As the Psalmist looked unto the hills which symbolize the great tasks to be accomplished, the ideals to be realized, he asks the question, “From whence cometh my help?” notice that this is a question. Although the Jews living in Jerusalem received great help from the hills, this is not a statement that the Psalmist help came from the hills. Mountains were round about Jerusalem and they proved to be of great help in time of war. The most formidable weapon in those days was the chariot. But the chariot was of little value in mountainous territory. Valuable as the mountains were, the Psalmist does look unto them for help but to the Creator of the mountains. “From whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth.”

As we travel we must remember that our help does come from the Lord. The mountains seldom if ever saved the inhabitants of Jerusalem but the Lord did on many occasions. The armies of King Sennacherib laid siege to the city of Jerusalem, a siege tighter than the siege of Stalingrad. It looked hopeless to the city. But the people under their good King Hezekiah trusted in the God who made the heavens and the earth. God caused a pestilence to descend into the camp of the enemy and to slay many of the officers, the nobles and princes. The siege was lifted, the enemy returned to their own land. This is not an isolated case of the way the Lord helps His people. Read the Bible, read the pages of history and see the marvelous ways the Lord who made the heaven and the earth brings aid and deliverance to His people.

Recall David’s first battle. It was with Goliath, the Philistine Giant. The giant was well armed with every personal weapon of war known to man at that time. He was so well armed that he defied the armies of the children of Israel and what was worse he defied their God. From a human point of view David was poorly armed, no breastplate, no helmet, no shield, no sword, only a slingshot and five stones. But listen to the rest of his armor, “Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with sword and spear and with a shield, but I come unto thee in the name of the Lord of Host, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defiled.” You know the rest, how David was victorious over his enemy. When we trust on the God who made the heaven and earth we will likewise be victorious.

William Shisrer in the “Berlin Dairy” entered a very significant statement on June 1, 1940 concerning the British evacuation of Dunkirk. Writing while still in Berlin he said, “I learn to day from the German High Command office that God has given the British a break. They have had two days of fog and mist around Dunkirk and as a result the Luftwaffe has been unable to do much bombing on the transports busily engaged in taking off the British troops.” This was more than a”break” from God; it was the miraculous intervention of God bringing help to His people.

“From whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” Notice how personal this is. God is the helper not only of the nations, of the crowd but also the individual. This Psalm is intensely personal. “the Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy shade; the Lord shall preserve thy soul; the Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” The Lord is the helper of the individual. Men lose sight of the individual in the multitude. Man begins with the crowd and works towards the individual. We pass laws for the masses of people, not for the individuals. This is our chief complaint of the gasoline rationing. The regulations are passed for the masses as a whole and not for the individual as a unit. Organizations are established for the many not the one or two. But such is not true with God. He takes account of the individual. He begins with the individual and works towards the crowd. Jesus is the Savior of the world, because He is the Savior of the individual. God loves all because He loves each. The many are helped because He is the helper of each. Therefore my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

The Lord who has power and ability to make the universe has power and ability to help. He who made the lily with all its radiant beauty is able to help me to make my life radiant. Think of a lily of the field and then think of a Hitler. Think of the graceful beauty of the one and the ugly selfishness of the other. What a contrast. The one is the handiwork of God; the other is the handiwork of self. God has everything to do with the one; He has nothing to do with the other. The one grows graceful in strength and beauty; the other grows ugly in selfishness and lust. The life whose help cometh from the Lord is the life that grows in grace and beauty.

“From whence cometh my help, my help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” Having made this wonderful declaration of trust the Psalmist now proceeds to expound the nature of the help received from the Lord. It is help which is steadfast; “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.” We who journey to the heavenly Jerusalem are to walk in the straight and narrow path that leads to everlasting. The Lord who made heaven and earth will not suffer the foot of those who trust in Him to be moved from that path.

The help received is continuous help; “He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” When we journey our helper is awake and when we lay our heads down to rest still our helper is awake. He never sleeps; He never so much as doses; His eyes are never heavy with sleep; He is always awake and alert watching out for the welfare of those who place their trust in Him.

This help is a keeping help; “The Lord is my keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, not the moon by night.” The Lord not only helps, He also keeps. He helps with the problems and difficulties that confront the traveler; He keeps the traveler from physical harm and danger. He is our shade, “The shadow of the great rock in a weary land.” He is at our right hand, our working hand, our hand of power, thus, He keeps us in that He gives us power t o keep ourselves. He keeps us by day and by night from perils attributed to physical causes. “The sun shall not smite thee by day nor the moon by night.” The Lord is thy keeper. If through affliction, trouble or sorrow we become the prisoners of the Lord, He is still our keeper. He keeps us in times of sorrow as well as in hours of rejoicing, in moments of difficulty as well as in days of ease, in health and in sickness.

His help is a preserving help. “The Lord shall preserve me from all evil; He shall preserve my soul.” He keeps our bodies from the physical danger; He preserves our souls from spiritual harm. He preserves us from the fiery darts of the wicked one. We do not sour when we commit ourselves to Him for He seals us with His love and none is able to pluck it from His grasp.

“The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even for ever more.” No matter what your experience may be, no matter what varieties of circumstances overtake, you have naught to fear for the Lord will preserve you from now and for evermore. As you go out in the morning, as you return in the evening; as you go in life, as you return in death: as you begin your affairs, as you conclude them; the Lord will preserve you in all your ways throughout all eternity.

As I journey through life and behold the great things to be accomplished and the ideals to be attained “from whence cometh my help?”  “My help shall come form the Lord.” We journey through an evil land, a dry and dusty land; we know not what the morrow will bring forth. If you will commit your way unto Him who does all things well, you have the assurance that your help, your keep and preservation throughout the journey will come from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

Dr. Robert W Kirkpatrick

Friendly Methodist, Bluefield, W Va. February 13, 1944

Behold the Man!

Behold the Man!

Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, "Behold, the Man!"  John 19:5

It is impossible to enter into the Lenten Season and journey through it and arrive at Easter with its message of Resurrection without coming face to face with the Man Christ Jesus. As we think of that Old Rugged Cross which has a wondrous attraction for me, the Christ of the Cross must become the theme of our song. As we meditate upon the meaning of the empty tomb which has removed the sting of death and robbed the grave of its victory, we cannot divorce from our thinking from Him who said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” As we take our stand in the courtyard of the Roman Procurator’s Palace, we must “Behold the Man!”

Here is the man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village. He worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty, and for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place where He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself.

While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth and that was His coat. When He was dead He was taken down from the cross and laid in a barrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone and today He is the center piece of the human race and the leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned – put together – have not effected the life of man upon this earth as has that one Solitary Life.

Behold this man as He stands in Pilate’s Judgment Hall. Pilate the Roman Procurator is there. This was Pilate’s moment of opportunity, the greatest opportunity that ever came to a human being. He knew that for envy this man had been delivered unto him. He was pledged to uphold the Roman law which was predicated upon this ideal: “To crush the world and give justice to the weak.” The Man Christ Jesus stands before him, “despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Pilate judged Him and proclaimed to the mob, “I find no fault in this man.” Then one comes to him and says, “Pilate of you let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend.” Because the Roman would be the friend of Caesar rather than the friend of Christ, he had this man scourged – scourged with whips intertwined with jagged pieces of metal – and then handed over to be crucified. Pilate had not the courage of his convictions.

How many are there today who “Behold the Man,” they examine Him, they try Him and find no fault in Him. They know that His teachings are true and that His ways are right. But friendship with Him may mean, as it would have meant for Pilate, loss of employment, loss of riches, and loss of place in society. How we need in America today men of high places and low, men in business and government who have the courage of their convictions. Men who will say, “This is the way and I’ll walk in it; this is the truth and I’ll live by it; this is the life and I’ll live for it.”

Standing by Him in the Judgment, not because they wanted to be there but because it was their duty, were the Roman soldiers who “had platted the crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe, and said, “Hail, King of the Jews.” The mantle of royalty was thrown upon Him in derision, and the crown of thorns was jammed upon His head in contempt, and the title was hurled at Him in mockery.

Sad to say the soldiers are not without their counterpart in contemporary history. There have always been those who have made fun of the Christ and His followers. They jeer and sneer, laugh and mock at a belief in the supernatural. They claim religion to be the opiate of the people. They maintain that the Church has done more harm than good. They feast upon the bounties of God; morning by morning they receive anew His mercies and yet live their life as if there was no God in the heavens. If they would honestly consider the claims of this man who stands in Pilate’s judgment hall they would by the force of reason and logic admit with the centurion, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”

Two infidels once sat in a railway car discussing Christ’s wonderful life. One of them said, “I think an interesting romance could be written about Him.” The other replied, “And you are just the man to write it. Set forth the correct view of His life and character. Tear down the prevailing sentiment as to his divineness and paint Him as He was – a man among men.” The suggestion was acted on and the romance was written. The man who made the suggestion was Colonel Robert Ingersol; the author was General Lew Wallace; and the book was “Ben Hur.” In the process of constructing it he found himself facing the unaccountable man. The more he studied His life and character the more profoundly he was convinced that He was more than a man among men; until at length, like the centurion beneath the cross, he was constrained to cry, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”

Crowding the Judgment Hall is the populace – men and women from all sections of Palestine gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Passover. Standing in judgment before them is Christ, their eternal Passover the people are aware of His claims. They know that He claimed to be their Messiah, promised by God through the prophets, a yearning for whose coming beat in their breast. They had witnessed marvelous works preformed in support of those claims. Perhaps in that angry, howling mob were men from Galilee whose hungry bodies had been fed one eventide by this same Jesus. Mothers were there whose children had sat upon His lap and who had been blessed by Him. Perchance there were nine men there, who had been lepers and had been cleansed by Him but had never turned to thank Him. They knew Him to be Jesus of Nazareth who went about doing good; “Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs.” Unto these people Pilate said, “Behold the Man!” and the reply, “Crucify Him.” They denied the Holy one and the Just, and they desired the murderer instead.

This was a fateful moment. A nation’s fate was hanging in the balance. These people, this nation would not have this Man to rule over them. In forty short years this Judgment Hall, the Temple, the homes of the people, the walls that surrounded the city were in ruins. The cities inhabitants became homeless and kingless and for nineteen centuries have been vagabonds upon the face of this earth – all because they knew not the time of their visitation.

In our day we have seen nations of the earth laid in ruins because they have said, “Crucify Him … we will not have this Man to rule over us.” We picked up our newspaper the other morning and read that the security council of the United Nations on a flimsy technicality refused to investigate the case of Czechoslovakia. This organization of the nations which was to have led us into an era of peace has been powerless and has apparently accomplished little in significance. Why? Because on the day of its inception it lifted its voice and said, “We will not have this man to rule over us.”

This is the hour of America’s visitation. What will America do? God grant that America will turn and say, “Away with Barabbas, Release the Christ.”

“Jesus is standing in Pilate’s hall,

Friendless, forsaken, despised by all.

Hearken, what meaneth this sudden call,

What will you do with Jesus?”

Jesus stands this morning in the Judgment Hall of your experience. Behold Him standing there. He is alone because:

There was no other good enough

To pay the price of sin;

He could only unlock the gate

Of Heaven and let us in.

He stands there beaten and bruised and bleeding for “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.”

What will you do with Jesus?

Dr. Robert W Kirkpatrick

The Divine Community

The Divine Community

that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. (John 17:21)

In the beginning, as far as we know, there was nothing but God. There was as much eternity before the beginning as there will be after this world passes away. I suspect there were the angelic beings and perhaps the Kingdom of God but even before those there was nothing but God. In the first verse of the Bible, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," the Hebrew meaning for the term God is a Super Deity. There are many gods that man has created but before the beginning there was only one Super Deity that we call God. At some point in His determination He decided to create the Heavens and the earth. I wonder why and have suspected that He created the Heavens and the Earth as a home for the crown of His creation, which is man. The question just jumps to our mind as to why God would do this? The best answer that I have is that He created man to have an intimate fellowship with Him. But He did this not because He was lonely. In Genesis 1:26 we read, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness." Us tells me that God certainly was not lonely. Us refers to the Godhead, known to us as the trinity. We serve a triune Super Deity. They have been identified to us as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in Scripture.

They, together, enjoy a perfect fellowship in love, joy, and peace. We, humankind, were created in their likeness and we were created to also have a perfect fellowship in love, joy, and peace.

The Godhead is united in motive and action. They together have one plan, one purpose, and one goal to accomplish their shared will. They are equal in power and ability yet they are submissive to each other. People have taken the word submissive and made a detestable definition of its meaning. To be submissive is to be obedient to the established order for the achievement of the common goal. It is to serve in your place to fulfill your capacity in completing the overall mission. Submission also requires humility. Humility is another word that the world has a twisted view of. Humility is a disposition to be humble; a lack of false pride, a disposition to be patient and long suffering. What destroys relationships is when one member feels superior towards the other members. It destroys the ability to act together in a cooperative state. Through perfect submission the Godhead is able to work together as one in harmonious unity. We read in John 14:9-10 "Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works."

Mankind at the onset was created with these attributes until the fall and introduction of self-will and self-pride from the temptation of the one who wanted to be as the Most High.

The members of the Godhead are also distinct. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are separate yet they are one. This is a hard concept to understand and has been the cause of much debate. One example to help understand this is the sun. We can see the sun and we can see the light that the sun produces. If we are unable to see the sun still we can feel the heat of the sun. The light and heat of the sun are two distinct aspects of the sun but they come from the one sun. There is one Godhead but three distinct aspects that operate individually to accomplish their unified goal.

To better understand the relationship of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit read John Chapter 14. The Father sent His Son to redeem the lost and restore the fellowship between man and God. Jesus introduces the Holy Spirit to convict the consciousness of man that man would be drawn and call upon the name of Jesus. Jesus then leads man back to the Father.

We see in the way the three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, work individually together to accomplish the unified goal of the Godhead. To restore mans fellowship broken by the fall in the Garden of Eden back into unity with God. This is the model for a perfect social structure which was designed by the perfect relationship of the triune Godhead. In the perfect world this is the example of how Churches, Families, and Communities should be and will be once our Lord and Savior establishes His Kingdom here on earth.

This farewell payer of our Lord is farther reaching for us today than at some point in time when He comes to establish His Kingdom here on earth. We are His ambassadors now, we are His representatives now, and we can abide in Him and He is in us now. "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love." (John 15:10) We can have all the power of His Word, all the power of His promises, and we can continue to change the world in the power and promise of this passage. “That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

Thomas N Kirkpatrick

First Baptist Church of Durant, 01/29/14