salvation. Jesus Is our gem — our dia mond of power, binding us to God so that nothing can separate Him from you and me. In the Book of Romans 8:35-39, is a magnificent set of Biblical truths: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakednes, or peril, or sword? . . . Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any-other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” For still another truth we understand that while the diamond is difficult to break, it can be cleft in two. Cleaving, they say,' is one of the great arts in the diamond industry and in Amster dam, Holland — a great center of the diamond industry — they tell us that by means of cleaving, spots can be re moved from what, otherwise, might have been a perfect stone. Jesus, the Rock of Ages, was cleft that you and I might know what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote that Jesus came into the world to save sinners “of whom I am chief.” Legendarily, the diamond was re puted to have power to effect reconcili ation between two people who, as lov ers, had grown apart, therefore, it was called the gem of reconciliation. Of course, it had no such power. But we do find in Jesus “ the true gem of recon ciliation” says Dr. Barr. In II Corin thians 5:18-20, we have this word “And all things are of God, who hath recon ciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of rec onciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto him self, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye rec onciled to God.” Now this, my friend, is the deepest need of the human heart — to be reconciled to God!
cess will be missing unless the hand of the Lord is upon you and me in bless ing. Jeptha and Elijah, both of the tribe of Gad, were two fine examples of war riors under the blessing of God — in their case, God’s blessing through Mo ses upon them. As to the matter of Gad having pro vided the first part for himself — we have already seen in our study how that Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh asked for their possessions right away — they told Joshua that they preferred to remain on the east ern side of the River Jordan. Joshua asured them that they could have this portion provided they went forward over the Jordan with their brethren and fought with them until the whole land was subjected. So Reuben and Gad gave their immediate consent — thus having provided the first part for him self Gad went forward to help his other brother. There is no blessing or pos session which you and I might person ally enjoy that someone else has not helped us to attain. Therefore, we must not idle in ease and security while those around us need help. And here we are thinking about missions! As we have looked at the true and hardened warrior, Gad, it is easy to identify him with the diamond — the gem which represents his tribe on the breastplate. The word “ diamond” comes from two Greek words which mean “that which cannot be broken.” We understand that folk in ancient times believed that this precious stone could not be broken. Be cause of this attributed quality it was recognized as the symbol of invincible power and fearlessness. The writer of the Psalms cried out, “Twice have I heard this that power belongeth unto God.” “All power is given unto me,” said the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:18, “in heaven and in earth.” “He spoke,” states Matthew 7:29, “ as one who possessed great authority.” “Ye shall receive power . . .” said Jesus in Acts 1:8. In I Peter 1:5, the Apostle writes about those believers who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
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