Three things are clear to us, preliminarily.

1. Jesus Christ is addressing us. From his home and throne on high our Saviour stoops to call us, to instruct us, to bless us. He is saying to us, "Come unto me;" "Abide in me;" "Follow me.

2. We need not hear him if we choose not to do so. As in a room where many groups of people are conversing, we only hear the voice of treat company to which we join ourselves and listen, so in the large room of this world there are many voices speaking and it rests with each of us to determine which we will regard. Shall it be the voice of ambition? or that of appetite? or that of human learning? or that of Christ?

3. Our heavenly Father urges us to give our best attention to Jesus Christ. This is my beloved Son: hear him. We shall see, if we consider, how and why God presses on us this act of hearing.

I. BECAUSE OF OUR URGENT NEED OF A VOICE THAT IS DIVINE. There are two things we urgently require, but which, apart from Jesus Christ, we cannot have.

1. One is a knowledge of what is true. We are strangers on the earth," and know but very little. Like the little bird (of the ancient story) that flew from the darkness into the dimly lighted room and out into the darkness on the other side, so from the darkness of the past we enter and stay for a brief time in the dimly lighted present, and forth we pass into the darkness of the future.

2. The other is the power to do what we know to be right. Truly pathetic is the Roman's confession, "I see the better course, and approve; 1 follow the worse." What men everywhere have wanted is the inspiration and the power to be and to do that which they perceive to be good and right. Whence shall we gain this? Only from a Divine Saviour, from One who has lived and died for us, to whom we offer our hearts and our lives, the love of whom will constrain us toward all that is good and pure, and restrain us from all that is bad and wrong.

II. BECAUSE OF HIS INTIMATE RELATION TO HIS DIVINE FATHER. "This is my beloved Son," therefore should we "hear him." For one of the deepest and most practical questions we can ask is - What is God's thought, feeling, purpose, toward us? If there were any human being who sustained toward us a relation which at all approached in intimacy and importance that which God sustains to us, we should be eager indeed to know what was his feeling and intention concerning us. How eagerly, then, should we inquire of him "in whom we live, and move, and have our being," "with whom we have everything to do," on whose will we are absolutely dependent for our future here and hereafter! What does God think about us? On what conditions will he receive and bless us? Christ, "the beloved Son," who came forth from God, and who knows his mind as none other can (Matthew 11:27), can answer this supreme question for us.

III. BECAUSE OF HIS CLOSE AND INTIMATE RELATION TO OURSELVES. We want some one to speak to us who knows us well, who understands us altogether; one about whom we can feel that this is true. To whom, then, should we listen, if not to the Son of God, our Maker; to the Son of man, our Brother? "He knew what was in man," as the evangelist testified, and again and again he showed that he knew his disciples far better than they knew themselves. Such is his knowledge of us. We may think that we know ourselves and what is best for ourselves. But we may be utterly mistaken. We find that our neighbours display lamentable and ruinous ignorance on these great matters. Who are we that we should be full of wisdom where others err? Let us distrust ourselves: "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Ignorant presumption is a foe that "hath slain its ten thousands." The truly wise will seek the great Teacher's feet, and say, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" - C.

I. THE GLOOM OF THE CLOUD OFTEN SUCCEEDS THE GLADNESS OF THE LIGHT. Delight even in our divines, experiences is not to be all. These disciples had a hard work to do yet. God has reasons for the darkness as well as for the light.

II. THE ENTERING INTO THE CLOUD WAS A MATTER OF FEAR. Fear on entering! It is often the first experience that we dread. The awful solitude of Glencoe strikes you most on entering; by degrees, you see colour among the rocks, beauty in the vale. Overcome first fear, and then, as you merge into some dread experience, the mind will become accustomed to the change. No sorrow is so great as it seems.

III. THERE IS A VOICE IN THE CLOUD, AND IT IS THE VOICE OF GOD. A cloud and a voice! Yes, the conjunction is beautiful even in a human sense. It is under the cloud of misconception that a friend's voice is all-sustaining; it is under the cloud of some dark trial that the tender tones of love make sweetest music. This was the voice of God. That in itself is deepest solace and truest inspiration. Speak, Lord! Enoch heard that voice when he walked with God. It is a Father's voice. In the cloud, if we are the children of the world, there will be heard only our own voice — the voice of repining — the voice of distrust — the voice of mourning — or, worst of all, the voice of despair!

IV. THERE IS A SOLITARY VISION AFTER THE CLOUD. They saw "Jesus only." Beautiful in one sense, though they were disappointed that other visions were gone.

V. THERE IS A TRANSFIGURATION LAND, WHERE THERE ARE NO CLOUDS. Then the voice will come from the throne, not from the cloud. There are no clouds there; faith needs no more trial; character no more test. Christian transfiguration is not completed here; we are renewed, but not glorified yet. But in ourselves we have a prophecy of perfected life, even the earnest of the inheritance.

(W. M. Statham, B. A.)

The first thing that claims attention is —

I. THE OVERSHADOWING CLOUD. It is not necessary for us to go on far in life before we find clouds coming to cast their shadows over us. We know that the elements are there out of which overshadowing clouds are in constant process of formation. And we know too that there are active agents all the time in operation on those elements. There are the rivers and lakes and seas about us, spreading out their broad water surfaces. And there is the sun with his genial beams, turning that water into vapour, and sending it off on its floating voyage through the air, to form into clouds which shall cast their shadows over our pathway. And just so it is in our experience of life in its moral or spiritual aspect. We carry in us, and find around us, the elements and agents that are occupied continually in forming the clouds that come and overshadow us. In the sickness and death of those we love, or in the visitation of personal sickness, in the loss of property, in the disappointment of our reasonable expectations, what clouds arise continually from all these varied sources! How darkly their shadows fall upon us! The apostles were on the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus in all the glory of His coming kingdom stood in the midst of them. They stood at the very vestibule of heaven, with all the radiance of its glory beaming around them; and yet, even on that towering summit — a point of elevation in brightness and bliss, such as dwellers on this globe had never reached before — "there came a cloud and overshadowed them." And so it must be with us. We must expect the clouds to come and cast their shadows over us. This side of heaven we cannot get beyond their reach. "There came a cloud and overshadowed them," has been descriptive of the experience of God's people from the beginning. If we look at the lives of Abraham, Job, Jacob, David, or any of God's servants, as written in the Bible, we see how broad and deep these shadows have lain upon their pathway.

II. THE FEELING WITH WHICH THIS EXPERIENCE. IS GENERALLY MET. "And they feared as they entered into the cloud." Nothing is more natural to fallen men than fear in reference to God and eternity. And it is not difficult to point out the causes of it.

1. One of these is our consciousness of sin. Fear cannot find room where sin has not gone before it.

2. There may be a failure to understand the views which the Scriptures give us of God's providence; or an unwillingness to believe those views. Either of these things will give rise to the fear of which we are speaking. This is the Bible view of God's providences towards His people. Could anything be brighter, or more cheerful? Then why should Christians fear when the cloud comes? There would be no room for fear if we only had simple faith in these Bible views of providence. Fear springs from the want of faith. In the darkest hour of Luther's trying life the Elector of Saxony was the only earthly defender who stood by him. For a time it was doubtful whether the Emperor Charles V. might not send an army against the elector and crush him. "Where will you be," said some one to Luther, "if the emperor should send his forces against the elector?" It was under the sustaining influence of the principle we are now considering that that heroic man sublimely said, "I shall be either in heaven or under heaven." He could enter the darkest cloud without fear.

III. THE VOICE FROM THE CLOUD. "There came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son; hear Him." And this is the design of all God's afflictive dealings with His people. The cloud comes upon us, with its overshadowing gloom, to check us in the too eager pursuit of other things, and to enable us to see Jesus, and understand His character and work. A soldier had lost his right arm from the shoulder during the last war. To an agent of the Christian Commission, who visited him, he said, "It seems to me I cannot be grateful enough for losing my arm. It was dreadful to me at first." Thus he "feared as he entered into the cloud." "But," he continued, it has ended in bringing me to Jesus. And now, I can say with truth, "It is better to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into outer darkness." Thus God lets the clouds of trial come and overshadow us, that we may be prepared to see the light, and glory, and infinite sufficiency, and preciousness, that are to be found in Christ.

"Sorrow touch'd by love grows bright,

With more than rapture's ray;

And darkness shows us worlds of light

We never saw by day."

And then this voice from the cloud quickens to duty, as well as points to Jesus. "This is My beloved Son; hear Him." Such was David's experience when he said, "Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept Thy word." The voice from the overshadowing cloud had quickened him in duty. There are two trees. One is growing on a fertile plain, the other is perched high up on the mountain-side. The lowland tree will lean to this side or that, though it be but a summer breeze that bends it, or a bank of cowslips from which its trunk leans aslope. But let the storm and the avalanche do their worst to the hardy pine-tree of the Alps, it will cling to its little ledge on the side of the precipice and grow straight. Its roots point down to the centre of the earth; and the more the storms rock it, the hardier, and the stronger, and the straighter it will grow. And the same law holds in spiritual growth as in that which is natural. The voice from the overshadowing cloud quickens to duty and strengthens for service. And there is no nobler sight to contemplate than that of a child of God, whose confidence in Him cannot be shaken — not fearing when the clouds gather, nor faltering when the tempests burst. And thus we have attempted to speak of the overshadowing cloud; of the fear with which it is entered; and of the voice that comes from it. The cloud, the fear, the voice. There is just one lesson we may carry away with us from the consideration of this subject. It is this: If we are true Christians we never need fear the developments of God's providences. However darkly the clouds may gather, or however fiercely the storms may burst, they cannot harm us. We need not fear.

(R. Newton.)

With a natural cloud the facts we associate are obscurity, dimness, a degree of mystery, a hiding of the light — some-times very mercifully softening and tempering what would be more dazzling than the delicate organ of sight could bear — yet a body so attenuated, transparent, and movable, that we feel the darkness is transient. It may pass away from the face of the sun; it may be touched by his beams, transfigured to the eye, and made almost like another sun in splendour. Such, under the laws of light and air and water and attraction, are the properties of the cloud in nature. Now, in that succession of special disclosures of the Divine Presence and care for man, of which the Bible is the completest record and Christ the perfect incarnation, it is striking to see how each principal act of revelation is covered with a cloud — a palpable veil of mystery. From the beginning to the end you see the persistent and remarkable reappearance of this symbol. Considering how these different books of the Bible were produced, and what a variety of authors, periods, countries, stages of literary culture, they proceed from, this is more than a coincidence — it is design. It discloses a general truth. As men are brought near to the very sight and feeling of their Lord, an obscurity overshadows them; there is a shrinking; reverence hides the face; the angels even, admitted to the brightest day, veil their eyes with their wings; no sight is clear enough, no faith is bold enough, not to need the screen. "They feared as they entered into the cloud."

1. Most of our deepest acquaintance with religious truth comes by a discipline of some severity. To pass out of a life of indifference and self-indulgence into one of purity and prayer requires a painful effort. If you can look back to any time when your life took a new starting-point, or rose to a higher aim, you will remember there was some hard conflict connected with it. Suffering is not only the consequence of sin, but the instrument of recovery. It is a means of penitence, and so a minister to the only real peace.

2. The second point on this practical side of the doctrine is that it is when we are entering into this cloud — having only the dark side of it before us, and its damp and chilly folds closing around us — that we are afraid. The purpose of the cloud is to shut out all that we are not meant to see. It is also a kind of background for the heavenly vision. This is only one way of expressing the exact and eternal contradiction of right and wrong. The true life is born by a painful travail.

3. For, thirdly, there comes, as the Evangelist writes, "a voice out of the cloud," which is sufficient, if we will hearken to it, to guide us through the dark, into the light, where the sun is never dim.

4. "Hear Him." Hear Him, and He will scatter the cloud from about you with the breath of His mouth.

(Bishop Huntington.)

I. The Lord did show that He could frame a better piece of architecture of a sudden than Peter could imagine to build: he spake of three tabernacles, which would be long in piecing together; God in a moment creates one cloud to receive them all better than a hundred tabernacles. Such a one as Moses and the Israelites had in the wilderness to shadow them against all offence. Such things the heathen did drive at in their poetical fictions: but I am sure the Lord is able to pitch a cloud between His chosen and their enemies, that the hand of violence shall not touch them, neither shall any evil come nigh their dwelling.

II. A cloud did interpose itself to qualify the object of the Transfiguration, and to make it fit for the disciples to behold it: the cloud indeed was very bright, yet it was dark and opacous in respect of Christ's body, which did exceed the very light of the sun. In this life we must look through a cloud, we must expect to see Him as in a glass darkly, hereafter we shall see Him face to face. Mark the infirmity of man's nature in this sinful corruptible condition, and let us learn humility; it was not enough that Peter, John, and James were not transformed in the Mount, as Christ was — no, nor as Moses and Elias were, our vile flesh is not receptive of such celestial excellency — but to abase them and us further, a shady cloud opposed itself before their eyes, because we are not fit nor worthy to behold such pure happiness in these days of vanity. "Such knowledge is too excellent for me," says David, "I cannot attain unto it."

III. This cloud was set up for a land-mark to limit curiosity, and to drive men off from approaching too near to pry into the Divine secrets. Where God sets up a cloud it is a manifest sign that those are our bounds, and we must not break them.

IV. And I am sure this reason searcheth the true cause of the cloud as near as any. God the Father in the Old Testament was wont to utter His voice out of the thick clouds of the air, and so He continues His holy will in the gospel, and therefore prepared this cloud to preach from thence the words which follow, "This is My beloved Son," &c.

(Bishop Hacker.)

Where God covers anything with a miraculous shadow, it promiseth that the Divine protection is round about it. Leonidas the Grecian was told that his enemies came marching in such full troops against him, that their darts when they threw them up would cover the light of the sun: Leonidas puts it off with this stout Courage, Turn in umbra pugnabimus; "Then we will fight in the shade." A courageous word, and made very fit for a Christian's mouth. Believe in the Lord, and we are all under His custody and defence; beseech Him to stretch His wings upon us, and the Holy Ghost will overshadow us, In umbra pugnabimus, to that shadow we betake ourselves to shun the fire of anger, and the heat of con. cupiscence; under that shadow will we fight against our ghostly enemies. Why did not the disciples know their own strength and assurance when this cloud did overshadow them? Did not the Lord declare that He took them into His protection?

(Bishop Hacker.)

I. MAN IN CONTACT WITH MYSTERY. The disciples now stood face to face with "The Cloud."

1. Every science is an attempt to solve Nature's mysteries, to discover Nature's secrets.

2. Nor in the realm of Religion does man have less frequently to do with mystery. In the fact that man has thus to do with mystery, we have a sign of the finiteness of our nature.

II. MAN ALARMED AT MYSTERY. There are many mysteries, such for instance as some in the physical world, contact with which does not awaken fear. Some in the natural world. As when stupendous nature seems to be the enemy of man, so that it arrays itself in plague, storm, earthquake, against the feeble, the unoffending, the good. Some in intellectual speculation. Those who climb the mountain of inquiry often "fear as they enter the cloud." Some in personal experience. And there will be death. In the fact that man is thus alarmed at mystery, we have one proof of the sinfulness of our nature. To a pure being mystery would have no dread.

III. MAN ENLIGTENED IN MYSTERY. But the cloud became a sanctuary; the mystery a revelation. For out of it there came a voice, saying, "This is My beloved Son: hear Him." So hearing the Divine teaching about the ever-living, ever-present Christ, we connect Him and mystery together thus: Christ is the moral of all mysteries. The cloud settled on the mountain, and enwrapped the three disciples, solely to perfect the revelation of Christ to them. Thus every mystery in human life is meant, and adapted, to train us for Christ. Does mystery discover to us our ignorance, so that we feel as those that grope in darkness, and stretch forth imploring hands, and strain eager eyes for light? That yearning, thus intensified under the pressure of mystery, is a yearning for Christ, "the Light of the World." Does mystery make us realize our feebleness, so that we feel as a leaf driven before the winds of circumstances, a waif tossed on the waves of the unresting ocean of the material universe, and cry for strength? That cry is for Christ, the arm of the Lord revealed." Christ is the interpreter of mystery. There are mysteries that He solves for us now by the record of His wonderful words. Christ is the controller of all mystery. Not alone hath He "the keys of death and hell," though verily these two are among the deepest of all mysteries; but He is the Sovereign of the future, for to Him "is subject the world to come."

(U. R. Thomas)

1. From the occasions upon which this voice came from heaven; at His Baptism, which was Christ's dedication of Himself to the work of a Redeemer and Saviour, and now at His Transfiguration, to distinguish Him from Moses and the other prophets, and publicly to instal Him in the mediatory office.

2. The matter of the words show His fitness for this office, for here you have —

(1)His dignity; not a servant, but a Son (Hebrews 3:5, 6).

(2)The dearness between God and Him.

3. His acceptableness to God, who is well-pleased with the design, the terms, the management of it.

II. This work of Mediator Christ executeth by three offices of King, Priest, Prophet.

III. That though all the three offices be employed, yet the prophetical office is more explicitly mentioned, partly as suiting with the present occasion, which is to demonstrate that Christ hath sufficient authority to repeal the Law of Moses which the prophets were to explain, confirm, and maintain till His coming.

(T. Manton, D. D.)

I. That Christ is the great Prophet and Teacher of the Church appeareth. —

1. By the titles given to Him.(1) He is compared with Moses, the great Lawgiver among the Jews (Deuteronomy 18:15).(2) He is called the Angel or Messenger of the Covenant (Malachi 3:1).

2. By the properties of His office. He has three things to qualify Him for this high office.(1) Absolute supreme authority; and therefore we must hear Him and hearken to Him.(2) All manner of sufficiency and power of God to execute this office (John 3:34).(3) There is in Him a powerful efficacy. As He hath absolute authority to teach in His own name, and fulness of sufficiency to make known the mind of God to us; so He hath power to make His doctrine effectual. And when He dealt with His disciples, after He had opened the Scriptures, He opened their understandings (Luke 24:25). So He opened the heart of Lydia (Acts 16:14). He can teach so as to draw (John 6:44, 45). He can excite the drowsy mind, change and turn the rebellious will, cure the distempered affections, make us to be what He persuadeth us to be. There is no such teacher as Christ, who doth not only give us our lesson, but a heart to learn; therefore to Him must we submit, hear nothing against Him, but all from Him.

II. About hearing Him; that must be explained also. First, What it is to hear. It being our great duty, and the respect bespoken for Him. In the hearing of words there are three things considerable; the sound that cometh to the ear, the understanding of the sense and meaning, and the assent or consent of the mind. Of the first, the beasts are capable, for they have ears to hear the sound of words uttered. The second is common to all men, for they can sense such intelligible words as they hear. The third belongeth to disciples, who are swayed by their Master's authority. Secondly, How can we now hear Christ, since He is removed into the heaven of heavens, and doth not speak to us in person. The revelation is settled, and not delivered by parcels, as it was to the ordinary prophets. Now we hear Christ in the Scriptures (Hebrews 2:3, 4). Thirdly, The properties of this hearing or submission to our Great Prophet.

1. There must be a resolute consent or resignation of ourselves to His teaching and instruction. All particular duties are included in the general.

2. This resignation of our souls to Christ as a Teacher, as it must be resolute, so it must be unbounded and without reserves. We must submit absolutely to all that He propoundeth, though some mysteries be above our reason, some precepts against the interest and inclination of the flesh, some promises seem to be against hope, or contrary to natural probabilities.

3. It must be speedy. No delay (Hebrews 3:7).

4. Your consent to hear Him must be real, practical, obediential, verified in the whole tenor and course of your lives and actions; for Christ will not be flattered with empty titles: "Why call ye Me Lord, and Master, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46). Many study Christianity to form their opinions, rather than reform their hearts and practice. The great use of knowledge and faith is to behold the love of God in the face of Jesus Christ, that our own love may be quickened and increased to Him again. If it serve only to regulate opinions, it is but dead speculation, not a living faith.

III. The reasons why this Prophet must be heard.

1. Because He is the only beloved Son of God.

2. Because the doctrine of the gospel which He speaks is the most sweet, excellent, and comfortable doctrine that can be heard or understood by the heart of man. Uses:

I. Of conviction, to the carnal Christian for not submitting to Christ's authority.

1. Do you seriously come to Him that you may have pardon and life?

2. Do you respect the word of the gospel, entertain it with reverence and delight, as the voice of the great Prophet? Do you meditate on it, digest it as the seed of the new life, as the rule of your actions, as the charter of your hopes?

3. Do you mingle it with faith in the hearing, that it may profit you?

4. Do you receive it as the Word of God?

5. Doth it come to you as the Mediator's word, not in word only, but in power?

6. Do you hear Him universally?

7. Do you hear Him so as to prefer God, and Christ, and the life to come, above all the sensual pleasures and vain delights, and worldly happiness, which you enjoy here?

II. ADVICE TO WEAK CHRISTIANS.

1. TO excite themselves to obedience by this "hear Him" when dead and lifeless.

2. When you do renounce some beloved lust, or pleasing sin, urge your hearts with Christ's authority. Remember who telleth you of cutting off your right hand, and plucking out your right eye. How can I look the Mediator in the face, if I should wilfully break any of His laws, prefer the satisfaction of a base lust, before the mercies and hopes offered me by Jesus Christ.

3. In deep distresses, when you are apt to question the comfort of the promises, it is hard to keep the rejoicing of hope, without regarding whose word and promise is it (Hebrews 3:6).

(T. Manton, D. D. .)

Man is harrassed by groundless fears. Who has ever looked for blessings in a cloud? Were we appointed to collect the riches of the universe, how many would pass by the clouds, as though in their dark and troubled breasts no treasure could be found I How often have we trembled as we have entered into the cloud of bereavement, or sorrowful apprehension; and yet in such a cloud have we heard a voice, as did the trembling disciples l In the cloud which they dreaded they heard the Divine voice; henceforward, then, let us gratefully remember that even a cloud can contain a blessing, and that sometimes fear is but the quaking harbinger of joy.

(J. Parker, D. D.)

It is a privilege to be trusted. Sometimes the trust is a burden. Few can keep secrets. The disciples were able to do so. We are told concerning one thing that they had seen that they kept it close.

I. THE SECRET HELD. A vision of Christ's glory among beings of another world. That vision had been —

1. Instructive.

2. Assuring.

3. Elevating.

II. THE REASONS FOR THE MAINTAINED SECRECY.

1. The spiritual attainments of the disciples were not sufficiently advanced for them to speak freely of what they had seen without some damage to themselves. A sneer of some doubter might have weakened their belief at that time.

2. Christ had enjoined silence. He was in no haste to astonish the world.

3. The outside world was not in a fit state to receive the knowledge of that vision. A time was sure to come when the disciples could speak openly and effectively. Peter doubtless made frequent references to it (2 Peter 1:16). We may remember that —(1) We have no need to refrain from speaking of what Christ has done in giving us peace.(2) Whatever witness we bear should be the outcome of a real experience. Anyhow, we should endeavour to let the praise of Christ be on our lips and reflected in our lives.

(Homiletic Magazine.)

Elias, Elijah, Herod, James, Jesus, John, PeterBethsaida, Galilee, Jerusalem, Road to JerusalemBeloved, Chosen, Cloud, Ear, Listen, Saying, Selection, Voice, Within1. Jesus sends his apostles to work miracles, and to preach.
7. Herod desires to see Jesus.
10. The apostles return.
12. Jesus feeds five thousand;
18. inquires what opinion the world had of him; foretells his passion;
23. proposes to all the pattern of his patience.
28. The transfiguration.
37. He heals the lunatic;
43. again forewarns his disciples of his passion;
46. commends humility;
51. bids them to show mildness toward all, without desire of revenge.
57. Many would follow him, but upon conditions.

Luke 9:35

     1403   God, revelation
     1511   Trinity, relationships in
     2012   Christ, authority
     2048   Christ, love of
     2218   Christ, Son of God
     2422   gospel, confirmation
     2510   Christ, baptism of
     5165   listening
     5624   witnesses, to Christ
     5830   delight
     5878   honour
     6641   election, responsibilities
     8351   teachableness
     8369   worthiness
     8444   honouring God

Luke 9:28-36

     2580   Christ, transfiguration

Luke 9:34-35

     1454   theophany

Luke 9:35-36

     5196   voice

Self-Denial Versus Self-Assertion.
"If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.--LUKE ix. 23. We might naturally have thought that if there was one thing in the life of the LORD JESUS CHRIST which belonged to Him alone, it was His cross-bearing. To guard against so natural a mistake, the HOLY GHOST has taken care in gospel and in epistle to draw our special attention to the oneness of the believer with CHRIST in cross-bearing; and also to prevent misunderstanding as to the character …
J. Hudson Taylor—A Ribband of Blue

January 30 Morning
Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.--HEB. 12:1,2. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.--Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.--Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness. Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

September 1 Evening
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.--LUKE 9:23. By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report.--All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.--The offence of the cross. If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye: but let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

September 15 Evening
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.--JAS. 1:8. No man, having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.--Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.--What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

October 26 Evening
Take heed to your spirit.--MAL. 2:15. Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us. Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he . . . rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun . . . answered and said, My …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

May 11. "Whosoever Will Save his Life Shall Lose It" (Luke ix. 24).
"Whosoever will save his life shall lose it" (Luke ix. 24). First and foremost Christ teaches resurrection and life. The power of Christianity is life. It brings us not merely law, duty, example, with high and holy teaching and admonition. It brings us the power to follow the higher ideal and the life that spontaneously does the things commanded. But it is not only life, but resurrection life. And it begins with a real crisis, a definite transaction, a point of time as clear as the morning dawn. …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

January 20. "Ye Know not what Manner of Spirit Ye are Of" (Luke ix. 55).
"Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of" (Luke ix. 55). Some one has said that the most spiritual people are the easiest to get along with. When one has a little of the Holy Ghost it is like "a little learning, a dangerous thing"; but a full baptism of the Holy Spirit, and a really disciplined, stablished and tested spiritual life, makes one simple, tender, tolerant, considerate of others, and like a little child. James and John, in their early zeal, wanted to call down fire from heaven on the …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Lord that Healeth Thee'
'He healed them that had need of healing.'--Luke ix. 11. Jesus was seeking a little quiet and rest for Himself and His followers. For that purpose He took one of the fishermen's boats to cross to the other side of the sea. But the crowd, inconsiderate and selfish, like all crowds, saw the course of the boat, and hurried, as they could easily do, on foot round the head of the lake, to be ready for Him wherever He might land. So when He touched the shore, there they all were, open-mouthed and mostly …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Prayer and Transfiguration
'And as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered.'--LUKE ix. 29. This Evangelist is especially careful to record the instances of our Lord's prayers. That is in accordance with the emphasis which he places on Christ's manhood. In this narrative of the Transfiguration it is to Luke that we owe our knowledge of the connection between our Lord's prayer and the radiance of His face. It may be a question how far such transfiguration was the constant accompaniment of our Lord's devotion. It …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Christ Hastening to the Cross
'And it came to pass, when the time was come that He should be received up, He stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.'--LUKE ix. 51. There are some difficulties, with which I need not trouble you here, as to bringing the section of this Gospel to which these words are the introduction, into its proper chronological place in relation to the narratives; but, putting these on one side for the present, there seems no doubt that the Evangelist's intention here is to represent the beginning of our …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Bread from Heaven
'And the apostles, when they were returned, told Him all that they had done. And He took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city, called Bethsaida. 11. And the people, when they knew it, followed Him; and He received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing. 12. And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto Him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Christ's Cross and Ours
'And it came to pass, as He was alone praying, His disciples were with Him; and He asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am I 19. They answering, said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. 20. He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering, said, The Christ of God. 21. And He straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing; 22. Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

'In the Holy Mount'
'And, behold, there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias: 31. Who appeared in glory, and spake of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.'--LUKE ix. 30, 31. The mysterious incident which is commonly called the Transfiguration contained three distinct portions, each having its own special significance and lesson. The first was that supernatural change in the face and garments of our Lord from which the whole incident derives its name. The second was the appearance by His …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Following "Whithersoever"
One day as Jesus was passing along the highway, a man said to him, "I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest" (Luke 9: 57). This man no doubt was greatly impressed by the wonderful works and noble character of Christ. He thought that companionship with such a man would be full of blessing and richness. Just to see and hear would be worth any man's time and effort--to hear the gracious words that came from His lips would enrich mind and heart; to see the mighty works done would inspire. To him …
Charles Wesley Naylor—Heart Talks

Gethsemane: the Strange, Lone Struggle. Matthew 26:36-46. Mark 14:32-42. Luke 22:39-46. Hebrews 5:7.
The Pathway in: messengers ahead--Jesus felt the cross drawing near--the look of His face, Luke 9:51-55.--His disciples afraid, Mark 10:32.--indignation against sin, John 11:33, 38. marginal reading American Revision.--the Greeks, John 12:20-28. The Climax of Suffering: the darkest shadow--why the struggle is strange--shock of extremes--His purpose in yielding--separation from the Father--Matthew 27:46. Mark 15:34 margin.--the superlative degree of suffering. Alone: a full evening, Matthew …
S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks about Jesus

On the Words of the Gospel, Luke ix. 57, Etc. , Where the Case of the Three Persons is Treated Of, of whom one Said, "I Will
1. Give ye ear to that which the Lord hath given me to speak on the lesson of the Gospel. For we have read, that the Lord Jesus acted differently, when one man offered himself to follow Him, and was disallowed; another did not dare this, and was aroused; a third put off, and was blamed. For the words, "Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest," [3246] what is so prompt, what so active, what so ready, and what so fitly disposed to so great a good, as this "following the Lord whithersoever …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

Self-Denial
"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Luke 9:23 1. It has been frequently imagined, that the direction here given related chiefly, if not wholly, to the Apostles; at least, to the Christians of the first ages, or those in a state of persecution. But this is a grievous mistake; For although our blessed Lord is here directing his discourse more immediately to his Apostles, and those other disciples who attended him …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

The Comer's Conflict with Satan
There are four points for our consideration this morning. That you may easily remember them I have made them alliterative: the devil's doings, designs, discovery, and defeat. I. First, THE DEVIL'S DOINGS. When this child came to Christ to be healed, the devil threw him down and tare him. Now this is an illustration of what Satan does with most, if not all sinners, when they come to Jesus to seek light and life through him; he throws them down and tears them. Allow me to point out how it is that the …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856

The Broken Column
"Lord, I will follow thee: but--." How remarkably does Scripture prove to us that the mental characteristics of mankind are the same now as in the Saviour's day! We occasionally hear stories of old skeletons being dug up which are greater in stature than men of these times. Some credit the story, some do not, for there be many who maintain that the physical conformation of man is at this day just what it always was. Certainly, however, there can be no dispute whatever among observant men as to the …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 7: 1861

Heb. 4:14 Our Profession
"Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession."--Heb. 4:14. A CAREFUL reader of the Epistle to the Hebrews can hardly fail to observe that the words "let us" are found no less than four times in the fourth chapter. In the first verse you will read, "let us fear,"--in the eleventh verse, "let us labour,"--in the fourteenth verse, "let us hold fast,"--and in the sixteenth verse, "let us come boldly to the throne …
John Charles Ryle—The Upper Room: Being a Few Truths for the Times

Self-Denial.
And he said unto all, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever would save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.'--St. Luke ix. 23, 24. Christ is the way out, and the way in; the way from slavery, conscious or unconscious, into liberty; the way from the unhomeliness of things to the home we desire but do not know; the way from the stormy skirts of the Father's garments …
George MacDonald—Unspoken Sermons

The Transfiguration.
"And it came to pass about eight days after these sayings, He took Peter and John and James and went up into the mountain to pray."--LUKE ix. 28-36. The public life or our Lord falls into two parts; and the incident here recorded is the turning point between them. In order that He might leave behind Him when He died a sure foundation for His Church, it was necessary that His intimate companions should at all events know that He was the Christ, and that the Christ must enter into glory by suffering …
Marcus Dods—How to become like Christ

Alone with God.
This life of ours will never be all that it should be unless we are much alone with God. Only those who are oft alone with him know the benefit that is derived therefrom. You can not be like God unless you are much with him, and you can not live like him unless you are like him. The Scriptures tell us that Jesus departed into the mountain to be alone with the Father and that he was often "alone praying." When Jesus had anything of great importance to say to his disciples, he always took them aside …
C. E. Orr—How to Live a Holy Life

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