7月10日 神预先拣选
7月10日 神预先拣选
如果人持守了神起初在他里面所创造的义，基督便无需受苦，因为祂降世正是为了恢复人所失去的圣洁。
神为什么拣选一些人，却任凭另一些人沉沦在痛苦与悲惨之中？使徒告诉我们：“就如神从创立世界以前，在基督里拣选了我们，使我们在祂面前成为圣洁，无有瑕疵”（弗1:4）。这并不是因为神预见我们靠自己终有一天会变得圣洁，而是因为祂早已定意，要亲自使我们成为圣洁。这正像一位手艺极其精湛的木匠，看见自己地上长着一片树林，那些树木原本一样，没有哪一棵比另一棵更好；可他偏偏标出其中一定数量的树，在心里把它们分别出来，立意要用它们做成几件精美绝伦的器物。
照样，神从全人类中拣选了一些人，将他们分别出来，为要在他们身上雕刻出祂自己公义与圣洁的形像。这是一件极为卓越的杰作，当祂完成这工，并将其展示给世人和天使观看时，它必将使整个宇宙都黯然失色。
神差遣祂的儿子进入世界，为要使我们成为圣洁。那些荣耀的天使常常瞻仰神的面，无论祂差他们往哪里去，都随时预备立刻飞奔前往。但神有一项如此重大的工作要成就，以致祂没有把这工作交托给祂的仆役（天使），而是交托给了祂的独生子来成就。请留意祂在这伟大作为背后的动机，也就是祂心底的旨意：祂“为我们舍了自己，要赎我们脱离一切罪恶，又洁净我们，特作自己的子民，热心为善”（多2:14）。
如果人持守了神起初在他里面所创造的义，基督便无需受苦，因为祂降世正是为了恢复人所失去的圣洁。除非这圣洁被恢复，否则神的荣耀与人的福气都无法达成。正如神在祂自身本性与作为的圣洁中显为荣耀，照样，祂也因祂百姓心中的圣洁而得荣耀。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：书12-13章，诗145章，
个人灵修：耶6章，太20章
JULY 10, FRIDAY
CHOSEN BEFOREHAND BY GOD
If men had kept the righteousness which God originally created in him, Christ’s pain would have been spared, for it was man’s lost holiness He came to recover.
Why did God choose some men and leave others to sink in torment and misery? The apostle tells us “He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy” (Ephesians 1:4). Not because God foresaw that we of ourselves would ever be holy, but because He resolved He would make us holy. It was as if a highly skilled carpenter saw a forest of trees growing on his own ground—all alike, not one better than another—and he marked a certain number and set them apart in his mind, determining to make of them some wonderfully crafted objects.
Thus God chose some out of all mankind and set them apart to carve His own image of righteousness and holiness upon them. This is workmanship of such high quality that when He has finished it, and will show it to men and angels, it will outshine the universe itself.
In sending His Son into the world He made us holy. Glorious angels who behold the face of God continually are ready to fly immediately wherever He assigns them. But God has such an important work to be done that He would not trust His servants, but rather His only Son, to accomplish it. And note the motive, the bottom of His heart in this great undertaking: He “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14).
If men had kept the righteousness which God originally created in him, Christ’s pain would have been spared, for it was man’s lost holiness He came to recover. Neither God’s glory nor man’s happiness could be attained until this holiness was restored. As God is glorious in the holiness of His own nature and works, so He is glorified by the holiness of His people’s hearts.