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Christ's witnesses shall receive power for that work for which he calls them; those whom he employs in his service he will qualify for it, and will bear them out in it.

— Matthew Henry

Only at the cross can Jesus be rightly known, not simply as a great moral teacher or as the most noble person who ever lived; nor only as a miracle worker or as an answer to this or that pressing question of the world. At the cross Jesus is revealed as the suffering Son of God, whose rejection, suffering and death reveal the triumph of God. Only at Golgotha can Jesus be rightly known as God incognito who reveals himself to those who are willing to deny themselves and follow him in costly discipleship.

—James Edwards

So the mark of true love is not unbridled desire or passion; it is a giving of oneself. He himself underscored this when he told his disciples, “greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” If love is a giving of oneself, then the greatest love is done by laying down one's very life. And of course, such love was perfectly modeled by Christ.

— John MacArthur

And every time I embrace the means of grace, every time I read the Word of God and it convicts me of my sin, and every time I respond to God's wisdom in repentance and confession of sin . . . , I am risen from the tomb and resurrected into the light by the power of Jesus Christ himself, who declares to me that there is no condemnation for me any longer, because I am clothed in his righteousness by the power of his resurrection.

— Rosaria Butterfield

Peace is Christ’s distinctive gift – not money, not worldly ease, not temporal prosperity. These are at best very questionable possessions. They often do more harm than good to the soul. They act as clogs and weights to our spiritual life. Inward peace of conscience, arising from a sense of pardoned sin and reconciliation with God, is a far greater blessing. This peace is the property of all believers, whether high or low, rich or poor.

— J. C. Ryle

Follow thou me. I am the way and the truth and the life. Without the way there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no living. I am the way which thou must follow; the truth which thou must believe; the life for which thou must hope. I am the inviolable way; the infallible truth, the never-ending life. I am the straightest way; the sovereign truth; life true, life blessed, life uncreated.

— Thomas à Kempis

Follow thou me. I am the way and the truth and the life. Without the way there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no living. I am the way which thou must follow; the truth which thou must believe; the life for which thou must hope. I am the inviolable way; the infallible truth, the never-ending life. I am the straightest way; the sovereign truth; life true, life blessed, life uncreated.

— Thomas à Kempis

The Christian really has a double task. He has to practice both God’s holiness and God’s love. The Christian is to exhibit that God exists as the infinite personal God; and then he is to exhibit simultaneously God’s character of holiness and love. Not his holiness without his love: that is only harshness. Not his love without his holiness: that is only compromise.

— Francis A. Schaeffer

If Jesus in his purpose used the dark forces of chaos convulsing within the cauldron, which was Jerusalem that Passover feast-time, he can still master and harness the darkness which daily threatens our personal lives.

— Bruce Milne

That which keeps men off is, that they know not Christ’s mind and heart. The truth is, he is more glad of us than we can be of him. Therefore come to him. If you knew his heart, you would.

—Thomas Goodwin

Following Jesus is costly. Those who expect the Lord to own their names on the judgment day, he expects to own his name now before a watching world (Mk. 8:38). There is no such thing as a totally secret disciple.

— Bruce Milne

Sin is no respecter of cultures. All peoples have sinned. Every race and culture needs to be reconciled to God. As the disease of sin is global, so the remedy is global. Jesus saw the agony of the cross coming and spoke boldly about the scope of his purpose: “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32). As he planned his death, he embraced the world.

— John Piper

Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells' dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mâché,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.

— John Updike

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

— Revelation 7:9, 10

Like the book of Revelation that closes the New Testament, [Psalm 145] says to God’s people, “Don’t worry—this is the way the story will end. We shall all be praising the Lord!”

— Warren Wiersbe

Through the corridors of sleep
Past the shadows dark and deep
My mind dances and leaps in confusion.
I don't know what is real,
I can't touch what I feel
And I hide behind the shield of my illusion.

So I'll continue to continue to pretend
My life will never end.

— Simon and Garfunkel

In our songs we affirm how true God’s truth is; in our prayers we bring our bewilderment into his presence. . . . We know from Scripture that what seems like delay is full of mercy (2 Peter 3:1–9). . . . Our prayers may not prompt the Second Coming before a noon deadline, but they will bring the Lord Jesus into our lives, needs, and circumstances.

— Alec Motyer

“Lord, I live in a culture that demands I cede authority over myself to no one. But it would violate your glory and my nature to not give you the Lordship over my life. Henceforth I will willingly obey whatever you say and accept whatever you send, whether I understand it or not. Amen.”

— A prayer on Psalm 72 by Tim Keller