Excerpt from The Shadow of the Cross Along the Exodus Trail . . .

1. This outline is offered as a simple guide to a devotional study of an incomparable story: the Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt.



2. The full story is recorded in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua.



3. A few words about the map:
   
   
   • The Rand McNally Company makes great maps. (They had nothing to do with this one. I made it, myself.)
   • The map is geographically and proportionately incorrect. (I am trying to teach the bible, not geography.)
   • The art work leaves a great deal to be desired. (I am trying to teach the bible, not art.)
   • The map is far from authentic. (It is impossible to locate the exact site of the bondage or the exact route of the wilderness wanderings.)
   • As the years have gone by, I have added extra signs and symbols. (This is because as I learn more and more, I seem to remember less and less.)



4. The main purposes of this study:
   
   
   • To magnify the bible as one connected and continual story.
   • To personalize the bible. (It is not only their story, it is also ours.)
   • To try to parallel the journey of the children of Israel with the spiritual journey of modern Christians.
   • To try to show that every temptation we face, every burden under which we groan, every despair which grips our minds, every sorrow which rends our hearts, every tear which scalds our eyes, every suffering which crushes our souls and every hope which springs eternally in our breasts are beautifully foreshadowed and spoken to in the wanderings of the children of Israel.
   • To try to show that the God of the ancient Hebrews and the God of modern Christians is one and the same.
   • To purge us of murmuring and rebelling.
   • To magnify the shadow of the cross along the Exodus trail.

Excerpt from A Survey of the Old Rugged Cross. . .

A friend told me of an experience he had a few years ago. He was shopping for a gift for a friend and had leisurely looked at several different items in the store. The saleslady, having become a little impatient, pointed to a display of crosses and said: "Why don't you buy a cross? The cross is coming back in style, you know."

Can the cross be out of style? Can the cross be in style? When is the cross out of style? When is the cross in style? What makes the cross out of style? What makes the cross in style? No person can answer these questions for another. Each must answer them for himself.

If for any reason you may have drifted away from the cross, may you find something in this simple little book that will help bring the cross back in style in your life.

Excerpt from An Interpretation of "The Pilgrim's Progress" . . .

1. By 1660, the golden times of Cromwellian Puritanism had come to an end; and, soon after, the vindictive Charles II returned to occupy the English throne.



2. The old "Act of Uniformity," which had compelled all people to attend the Church of England, was revived.



3. Bunyan refused to attend the State church, or to stop preaching, and was arrested and imprisoned.



4. Thus began Bunyan's long years of imprisonment and unspeakable sorrow and suffering in the Bedford jail.



5. His anguish in parting from his children:
   
   
   • "The parting from my dear children was as the pulling of the flesh from my bones."
   • "Especially my poor little blind one, who lay nearer my heart than all I had beside."
   • "I thought of those two milk kine that were to carry the ark of God into a far country and to leave their calves behind." (I. Sam. 6:10)
   • In agony, he cried: "But I must do it! I must do it! I must venture my children with God!"
   • Thus, by faith, Bunyan parted with his children for those terrible years of imprisonment.
   • During those prison years:
     
     
     • Bunyan suffered unutterably.
     • His second wife labored unceasingly for his release, but all of her labors were in vain.
     • His little blind daughter, Mary, sickened, suffered and died.
     • Bunyan wrote: "I never before in all my life had so sweet an insight into the word of God, or such a sense of the presence of God."
     • During the prison years, Bunyan had only two books: The Bible and "Fox's Book of Martyrs."
     • Bunyan began to write. (In the end, he would have more than 60 published works.)
     • Bunyan wrote "The Pilgrim's Progress," which today still stands second only to the Bible.
   
   
   
   • Regarding those prison years, I suggest:
     
     
     • "They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good."
     • Little knew they, as they slammed the doors of the Bedford jail behind him, that they shook his name forever among the stars.
     • In Bedford jail, as Jacob at Bethel, he saw the angels of God ascending and descending.
     • Palace Beautiful often arose before him, and its "holy family" gladly welcomed him into their sweet fellowship.
     • He drank deeply from the river of Life and walked through the Delectable Mountains.
     • He rested in the Land of Beulah and walked and talked with the Shining Ones.
     • He looked across the river of death, beheld the shining City of Zion, saw the gates swing wide and talked with the King face to face

Excerpt from Studies in Hosea . . .

1. His name:
   
   
   • Almost identical to "Joshua."
   • Joshua, "Oshea" : Now, "Hosea."
   • The meaning of both: "Salvation."
   • Another shade of meaning was: "Help."
   • It could also mean: "O God, help!"



2. His preaching:
   
   
   • With his heart.
   • "The sobs of a broken heart."
   • For at least 59 years; and maybe, just maybe, for 70 years!



3. His book:
   
   
   • What is the proper interpretation?
   • Some say: "Mystical."
   • Some say: "Allegorical."
   • Some say: "Symbolical."
   • Some say: "Literal."
   • Without hesitation, I say: "Literal."



4. To me, there is an interesting comparison between Hosea and Jeremiah.
   
   
   • Jeremiah was a man of deep sorrow.
   • He magnified his sorrow.
   • He nursed his sorrow.
   • He brooded over his sorrow.
   • Over and over, he told us: "I am weeping."



5. Hosea:
   
   
   • Hosea was also a man of deep sorrow.
   • But Hosea never mentioned his sorrow.
   • We hear it only in his broken words.



6. The final product of his sorrow: "Love that will not let go."



7. When we have finished Hosea's book, we will far-better understand God's sorrow and love.

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