OPEN COMMUNION OR CLOSED COMMUNION?

A Christian in Africa has observed, "In my country, if you call a man ’brother’, you invite him to eat with you. If you cannot share a meal with him, it means he is your enemy."

No theological rationalism can explain that away.

-Adapted by THE CHRISTIAN BEACON-

Dr. Carl McIntyre, Editor

THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD

-Continued-

Text: Great is Thy Faithfulness."--Lamentations 3:23

Isaiah the prophet declared, "Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth,"—Isaiah 25:1; and again, "The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from Thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on Thee."--Isaiah 54:10.

Did not the Lord keep His word when He promised that "After seventy years be accomplished at Babylon" He would visit His people and perform His good Word toward them causing them to return to the land of promise?"--Jeremiah 29:10.

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.... Thus saith the Lord: ’If ye can break my covenant of the day, and My covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season, then may also my covenant he broken with David My servant."--Jeremiah 33:14,20,21.

Micah declares, "Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham which Thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old."--Micah 7:20.

In her magnificent hymn, Mary rejoices, "He hath holpen His servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy: as He spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.... Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David; as He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began: ...To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant; the oath which He sware to our father Abraham."--Luke 1:54,55,68-70,72,73.

John, the Beloved disciple, records Christ’s testimony, "He that sent Me is true."--John 8:26.

Paul preached, "We declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children in that He hath raised up Jesus again."--Acts 13:32,33.

And "What if some (do) not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?"--Romans 3:3. "If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful."--II Timothy 2:13. And to Titus, Paul identified the Lord as the "God that cannot lie."--Titus 1:2.

"God is faithful," Paul cries. In I Corinthians 1:9, he declares, "God is faithful by Whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord." In I Corinthians 10:13, he pronounces, "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it."

Taking the faithfulness of God as his premise, the writer of Hebrews promises, "God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which ye have showed toward His name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.... For when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself, saying, ’Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.’ And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise."--Hebrews 6:10, 13-15.

Again, he writes, "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith... Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering: (for He is faithful that promised). --Hebrews 10:22,23.

John brings a word of encouragement when He reminds us, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."-- I John 1:9.

Then Peter confides, "Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a FAITHFUL CREATOR."--I Peter 4:19.

Great is Thy faithfulness, 0 God my Father

There is no shadow of turning with Thee,

Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not,

As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be,

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide.

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Blessings all mine with 10,000 beside.

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Chorus:

Great is Thy faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided,

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.

-T. O. Chisholm-"