"And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them."
The ongoing life of the church--from generation to generation--is to do (in principle) precisely what Isaac did here (above) relative to the old wells his father Abraham had dug: namely, open them up again, derive refreshing benefit from them, and name them their original names (again). There is nothing "new" under the sun worth pursuing. Everything of true value has already been revealed to the church (in Jesus); and our job is to go *back* to the "old" and "good" paths (of Jer. 6:16a).
Therefore, let all faithful churchmen look back, to the cross and re-
surrection of Christ; and may we imitate the father of our faith, Abra-
ham (Isa. 51:1-2a)--who was justified by faith in Christ alone.
[Puritan quote of the day: "Sincerity is gospel perfection. . . . Though a Christian is full of infirmities and, like a child that is put out to nurse, weak and feeble, God still looks on him as if he were com-
pletely righteous." --Thomas Watson, in, "The Godly Man's Picture"]
