In the “The Salvation Soldier's Armoury” morning reading for October 12th I came across the following verse in 2 Chronicles 30:14 –“They removed the altars in Jerusalem and cleared away the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley.”
This verse is part of the account given concerning the purification, by Hezekiah, of Judaic worship from the influences of Assyrian cults.
I couldn’t help being pulled up by those words ‘Kidron Valley’.
The Kidron Valley runs along the eastern wall of the Old City of Jerusalem, separating the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives. It then continues east through the Judean Desert, towards the Dead Sea.
Once a river ran through this valley, but the water was diverted through Hezekiah’s tunnel to supply Jerusalem with water. In the time of Christ a seasonal stream or brook ran through the valley. It is that brook that Albert Orsborn refers to in his song from which this blog drives its name:
“My all is in the Master's hands
For him to bless and break;
Beyond the brook his winepress stands
And thence my way I take,
Resolved the whole of love's demands
To give, for his dear sake.”
In order to get from Gethsemane to the ‘winepress’ of Calvary Jesus had to cross the ‘brook’ of Kidron.
In other words he had to cross the valley into which his forbears had tossed their foreign Gods and broken idols.
This link really spoke to me, how often we, on our pathway towards holiness, hesitate over the worldly debris we have sacrificed. If we want to experience holiness then sacrifice is only part of the journey. Sacrifice must be followed by obedience. For Christ the sacrifice was made when he prayed ‘thy will not mine be done’, but it was obedience, evidenced by the crossing of the brook, that led to our salvation.
Then in my devotions I read the following verses from 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7
Love and prayers A
For him to bless and break;
Beyond the brook his winepress stands
And thence my way I take,
Resolved the whole of love's demands
To give, for his dear sake.”
In order to get from Gethsemane to the ‘winepress’ of Calvary Jesus had to cross the ‘brook’ of Kidron.
In other words he had to cross the valley into which his forbears had tossed their foreign Gods and broken idols.
This link really spoke to me, how often we, on our pathway towards holiness, hesitate over the worldly debris we have sacrificed. If we want to experience holiness then sacrifice is only part of the journey. Sacrifice must be followed by obedience. For Christ the sacrifice was made when he prayed ‘thy will not mine be done’, but it was obedience, evidenced by the crossing of the brook, that led to our salvation.
Then in my devotions I read the following verses from 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7
“3It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexualLet us make sure that our own sanctification is not corrupted or maybe even invalidated by a longing for the things we have surrendered – let’s make sure that we go ‘beyond the brook… resolved the whole of love’s demands to give, for his dear sake.’ Let there be no lingering, no hesitating, no looking longingly into the waters below, but instead a determined stride towards Calvary and the glory that awaits us there!
immorality; 4that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that
is holy and honourable, 5not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not
know God; 6and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take
advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already
told you and warned you. 7For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a
holy life.”
Love and prayers A
1 comment:
Thanks for this message today. I too am on my journey of holy living and you have given a great reminder of what it takes to live the holy life. May God help us to pray the words of Albert Orsborn's song with true conviction and no hesitation. This particular song is one of my favourites alongside another of his Songs, "When shall I come unto the healing waters". He had such a wonderful way of getting across those things that are often in our hearts but have difficulty in expressing in words.Once again thanks for helping us along our journey with your thought provoking words.
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