The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Words of Jesus, by John R. Macduff
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Title: The Words of Jesus
Author: John R. Macduff
Release Date: April 9, 2009 [EBook #28547]
Language: English
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Transcriber's Note
Minor punctuation errors and inconsistencies have been silently corrected.
The following minor typographic corrections have also been made:
p8: "al" changed to "all"
p13: "sorrrow" changed to "sorrow"
p81: "trom" changed to "from"
p112: "Mat." changed to "Matt." for consistency
p122: "striken" changed to "stricken"
THE
WORDS OF JESUS.
by the author of
"THE MORNING AND NIGHT WATCHES,"
"THE FAITHFUL PROMISER," ETC.
Taken from the last London Edition.
New York:
STANFORD & DELISSER,
No. 508, BROADWAY.
1858.
The Words of Jesus.
"A word spoken in season," says the wise man, "how good it is!" If this
be true regarding the utterances of uninspired lips, with what devout
and paramount interest must we invest the sayings of Incarnate
Truth--"the WORDS OF JESUS!"
We have, in the motto-verses which head the succeeding pages a few
comforting responses from the Oracle of heavenly Wisdom--a few grapes
plucked from the true Vine--living streams welling fresh from the Living
Fountain. Every portion of Scripture is designed for nutriment to the
soul--"the bread of life;" but surely we may well regard the recorded
"_Words of Jesus_" as "the finest of the wheat." These are the "Honey"
out of the true "Rock," with which He will "satisfy" us. "The WORDS that
I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life."
The following are selected more especially as "_Words for the
Weary_"--healing leaves for the wounded spirit falling from the Tree of
Life. Jesus was divinely qualified for this special office of speaking
"many and _comfortable_ words." "The Lord God hath given me the tongue
of the learned, that I might know how to speak a _Word in Season_ to him
that is _weary_."
Let us, like the disciple of Patmos, turn to hear the voice that speaks
to us, saying, "I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in _His
Word_ do I hope." Eighteen hundred years have elapsed since these
"words" were uttered. With tones of unaltered and unchanged affection,
they are still echoed from the inner sanctuary--they come this day fresh
as they were spoken, from the lips of Him whose memorial to all time is
this: "_that same Jesus_."
Reader, seek to realise, in meditating on them, the simple but solemn
truth--"_Christ speaks to me!_" Surely nothing can be more soothing with
which to close your eyes on your nightly pillow, or to carry with you in
the morning out to the duties (or, it may be, the trials and sorrows) of
the day, than--"A WORD OF JESUS."
1ST DAY OF MONTH.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest."--Matt. xi. 28.
The Gracious Invitation.
Gracious "word" of a gracious Saviour, on which the soul may confidingly
repose, and be at peace for ever? It is a _present_ rest--the rest of
_grace_ as well as the rest of _glory_. Not only are there signals of
peace hung out from the walls of heaven--the lights of Home glimmering
in the distance to cheer our footsteps; but we have the "shadow" of this
"great Rock" in a _present_ "weary land." Before the Throne alone is
there "the sea of glass," without one rippling wave; but there is a
haven even on earth for the tempest-tossed--"We which have believed DO
enter into rest."
Reader, hast thou found this blessed repose in the blood and work of
Immanuel? Long going about "seeking rest and finding none," does this
"word" sound like music in thine ears--"_Come unto Me_?" All other peace
is counterfeit, shadowy, unreal. The eagle spurns the gilded cage as a
poor equivalent for his free-born soarings. The soul's immortal
aspirations can be satisfied with nothing short of the possession of
God's favour and love in Jesus.
How unqualified is the invitation! If there had been one condition in
entering this covenant Ark, we must have been through eternity at the
mercy of the storm. But all are alike warranted and welcome, and none
_more_ warranted than welcome. For the weak, the weary, the sin-burdened
and sorrow-burdened, there is an open door of grace.
Return, then unto thy rest, O my soul! Let the sweet cadence of this
"word of Jesus" steal on thee amid the disquietudes of earth. Sheltered
in Him, thou art safe for time, safe for eternity! There may be, and
_will_ be, temporary tossings, fears, and misgivings,--manifestations of
inward corruption; but these will only be like the surface-heavings of
the ocean, while underneath there is a deep settled calm. "Thou wilt
keep him in perfect peace" (_lit._ peace, peace) "whose mind is stayed
on Thee." In the world it is care on care, trouble on trouble, sin on
sin; but every wave that breaks on the believer's soul seems sweetly to
murmur, "Peace, peace!"
And if the foretaste of this rest be precious, what must be the glorious
consummation? Awaking in the morning of immortality, with the unquiet
dream of earth over--faith lost in sight, and hope in fruition;--no more
any bias to sin--no more latent principles of evil--nothing to disturb
the spirit's deep, everlasting tranquillity--the trembling magnet of
the heart reposing, where alone it can confidingly and permanently rest,
in the enjoyment of the Infinite God.
"THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU, THAT IN ME YE MIGHT HAVE PEACE."
2D DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these
things."--Matt. vi. 22.
The Comforting Assurance.
Though spoken originally by Jesus regarding temporal things, this may be
taken as a motto for the child of God amid all the changing vicissitudes
of his changing history. How it should lull all misgivings; silence all
murmurings; lead to lowly, unquestioning submissiveness--"My Heavenly
Father knoweth that I have need of all these things."
Where can a child be safer or better than in a father's hand? Where can
the believer be better than in the hands of his God? We are poor judges
of what is best. We are under safe guidance with infallible wisdom. If
we are tempted in a moment of rash presumption to say, "All these things
are against me," let this "word" rebuke the hasty and unworthy surmise.
Unerring wisdom and Fatherly love have pronounced _all_ to be "needful."
My soul, is there aught that is disturbing thy peace? Are providences
dark, or crosses heavy? Are spiritual props removed, creature comforts
curtailed, gourds smitten and withered like grass?--write on each,
"_Your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things._" It was He
who increased thy burden. Why? "_It was needed._" It was He who smote
down thy clay idol. Why? "_It was needed._" It was supplanting Himself:
He had to remove it! It was He who crossed thy worldly schemes, marred
thy cherished hopes. Why? "_It was needed._" There was a lurking thorn
in the coveted path. There was some higher spiritual blessing in
reversion. "He '_prevented_' thee with the blessings of His goodness."
Seek to cherish a spirit of more childlike confidence in thy Heavenly
Father's will. Thou art not left unbefriended and alone to buffet the
storms of the wilderness. Thy Marahs as well as thy Elims are appointed
by Him. A gracious pillar-cloud is before thee. Follow it through
sunshine and storm. He may "lead thee about," but He will not lead thee
wrong. Unutterable tenderness is the characteristic of all His dealings.
"Blessed be His name," says a tried believer, "He maketh my feet like
hinds' feet" (_literally_, "equaleth" them), "he _equaleth_ them for
every precipice, every ascent, every leap."
And who is it that speaks this quieting word? It is He who Himself felt
the preciousness of the assurance during His own awful sufferings, that
all were _needed_, and all _appointed_; that from Bethlehem's cradle to
Calvary's Cross there was not the redundant thorn in the chaplet of
sorrow which He, the Man of Sorrows, bore. Every drop in His bitter cup
was mingled by His Father: "This cup which _Thou_ givest me to drink,
shall I not drink it!" Oh, if He could extract comfort in this hour of
inconceivable agony, in the thought that a Father's hand lighted the
fearful furnace-fires, what strong consolation is there in the same
truth to all His suffering people!
What! one superfluous drop! one redundant pang! one unneeded cross! Hush
the secret atheism! He gave His Son for thee! He calls Himself "thy
Father!" Whatever be the trial under which thou art now smarting, let
the word of a gracious Saviour be "like oil thrown on the fretful sea;"
let it dry every rebellious tear-drop. "He, thine unerring Parent,
knoweth that thou hast need of _this_ as well as _all_ these things."
"THY WORD IS VERY SURE, THEREFORE THY SERVANT LOVETH IT."
3D DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son."--John xiv. 13.
The Power of Prayer.
Blessed Jesus! it is Thou who hast unlocked to Thy people the gates of
prayer. Without Thee they must have been shut forever. It was Thy
atoning merit on earth that first opened them; it is Thy intercessory
work in heaven that keeps them open still.
How unlimited the promise--"_Whatsoever ye shall ask!_" It is the pledge
of all that the needy sinner requires--all that an Omnipotent Saviour
can bestow! As the great Steward of the mysteries of grace, He seems to
say to His faithful servants, "Take thy bill, and under this, my
superscription, write what you please." And then, when the blank is
filled up, he further endorses each petition with the words, "_I WILL
do it!_"
He farther encourages us to ask "_in His name_." In the case of an
earthly petitioner there are some pleas more influential in obtaining a
boon than others. Jesus speaks of _this_ as forming the key to the heart
of God. As David loved the helpless cripple of Saul's house "_for
Jonathan's sake_," so will the Father, by virtue of our covenant
relationship to the true JONATHAN (_lit._, "the gift of God"), delight
in giving us even "exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or
think."
Reader, do you know the blessedness of confiding your every want and
every care--your every sorrow and every cross--into the ear of the
Saviour? He is the "Wonderful Counsellor." With an exquisitely tender
sympathy He can enter into the innermost depths of your need. That need
may be great, but the everlasting arms are underneath it all. Think of
Him now, at this moment--the great Angel of the Covenant, with the
censer full of much incense, in which are placed your feeblest
aspirations, your most burdened sighs--the odour-breathing cloud
ascending with acceptance before the Father's throne. The answer may
tarry;--these your supplications may seem to be kept long on the wing,
hovering around the mercy-seat. A gracious God sometimes sees it meet
thus to test the faith and patience of His people. He delights to hear
the music of their importunate pleadings--to see them undeterred by
difficulties--unrepelled by apparent forgetfulness and neglect. But He
_will_ come at last; the pent-up fountain of love and mercy will at
length burst out;--the soothing accents will in His own good time be
heard, "Be it unto thee according to thy word!"
Soldier of Christ! with all thine other panoply, forget not the
"_All-prayer_." It is that which keeps bright and shining "the whole
armour of God." While yet out in the night of a dark world--whilst still
bivouacking in an enemy's country--kindle thy watch-fires at the altar
of incense. Thou must be Moses, pleading on the Mount, if thou wouldst
be Joshua, victorious in the world's daily battle. Confide thy cause to
this waiting Redeemer. Thou canst not weary Him with thine importunity.
He delights in hearing. His Father is glorified in giving. The memorable
Bethany-utterance remains unaltered and unrepealed--"I knew that Thou
hearest me always." He is still the "Prince that has power with God and
prevails"--still He promises and pleads--still He lives and loves!
"I WAIT FOR THE LORD, MY SOUL DOTH WAIT; AND IN HIS WORD DO I HOPE."
4TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know
hereafter."--John xiii. 7.
The Unveiled Dealings.
O blessed day, when the long sealed book of mystery shall be unfolded,
when the "fountains of the great deep shall be broken up," "the channels
of the waters seen," and _all_ discovered to be one vast revelation of
unerring wisdom and ineffable love! Here we are often baffled at the
Lord's dispensations; we cannot fathom His ways:--like the well of
Sychar, they are deep, and we have nothing to draw with. But soon the
"mystery of God will be finished;" the enigmatical "seals," with all
their inner meanings, opened. When that "morning without clouds" shall
break, each soul will be like the angel standing in the sun--there will
be no shadow; all will be perfect day!
Believer, be still! The dealings of thy Heavenly Father may seem dark to
thee; there may seem now to be no golden fringe, no "bright light in the
clouds;" but a day of disclosures is at hand. "Take it on trust a little
while." An earthly child takes _on trust_ what his father tells him:
when he reaches maturity, much that was baffling to his infant
comprehension is explained. Thou art in this world in the nonage of thy
being--Eternity is the soul's immortal manhood. _There_, every dealing
will be vindicated. It will lose all its "darkness" when bathed in the
floods "of the excellent glory!"
Ah! instead of thus being as weaned children, how apt are we to exercise
ourselves in matters too high for us? not content with knowing that our
Father _wills_ it, but presumptuously seeking to know _how_ it is, and
_why_ it is. If it be unfair to pronounce on the unfinished and
incompleted works of man; if the painter, or sculptor, or artificer,
would shrink from having his labours judged of when in a rough,
unpolished, immatured state; how much more so with the works of God? How
we should honour Him by a simple, confiding, unreserved submission to
His will,--contented patiently to wait the fulfilment of this
"_hereafter_" promise, when all the lights and shadows in the now
half-finished picture will be blended and melted into one harmonious
whole,--when all the now disjointed stones in the temple will be seen to
fit into their appointed place, giving unity, and compactness, and
symmetry, to all the building.
And who is it that speaks these living "words," "What _I_ do?" It is He
who died for us? who now lives for us! Blessed Jesus! Thou mayest _do_
much that our blind hearts would like _un_done,--"terrible things in
righteousness which we looked not for." The heaviest (what we may be
tempted to call the severest) cross Thou canst lay upon us we shall
regard as only the _apparent_ severity of unutterable and unalterable
love. Eternity will unfold how _all_, _all_ was needed; that nothing
else, nothing less, could have done! If not now, at least then, the
deliberate verdict on a calm retrospect of life will be this,--
"_THE WORD_ OF THE LORD IS RIGHT, AND ALL HIS WORKS ARE DONE IN
TRUTH."
5TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Herein is my Father glorified, that _ye bear much fruit_."--John
xv. 8.
The Father Glorified.
When surveying the boundless ocean of covenant mercy--every wave
chiming, "God is Love!"--does the thought ever present itself, "What can
I do for this great Being who hath done so much for me?" Recompence I
cannot! No more can my purest services add one iota to His underived
glory, than the tiny taper can add to the blaze of the sun at noonday,
or a drop of water to the boundless ocean. Yet, wondrous thought! from
this worthless soul of mine there may roll in a revenue of glory which
He who loves the broken and contrite spirit will "not despise." "_Herein
is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit._"
Reader! are you a fruit-bearer in your Lord's vineyard? Are you seeking
to make life one grand act of consecration to His glory--one
thank-offering for His unmerited love. You may be unable to exhibit much
fruit in the eye of the world. Your circumstances and position in life
may forbid you to point to any splendid services, or laborious and
imposing efforts in the cause of God. It matters not. It is often those
fruits that are unseen and unknown to man, ripening in seclusion, that
He values most;--the quiet, lowly walk--patience and
submission--gentleness and humility--putting yourself unreservedly in
His hands--willing to be led by Him even in darkness--saying, Not _my_
will, but _Thy_ will:--the unselfish spirit, the meek bearing of an
injury, the unostentatious kindness,--these are some of the "fruits"
which your Heavenly Father loves, and by which He is glorified.
Perchance it may be with you the season of trial, the chamber of
protracted sickness, the time of desolating bereavement, some furnace
seven times heated. Herein, too, you may sweetly glorify your God. Never
is your Heavenly Father _more_ glorified by His children on earth, than
when, in the midst of these furnace-fires, He listens to nothing but the
gentle breathings of confiding faith and love,--"Let Him do what seemeth
good unto Him." Yes, you can there glorify Him in a way which angels
cannot do in a world where no trial is. They can glorify God only with
the _crown_; you can glorify Him with the _cross_ and the prospect of
the _crown_ together! Ah, if He be dealing severely with you--if He, as
the great Husbandman, be pruning His vines, lopping their boughs,
stripping off their luxuriant branches and "beautiful rods!" remember
the end!--"He purgeth it, that it may bring forth _more_ fruit," and
"_Herein_ is my Father glorified!"
Be it yours to lie passive in His hands, saying in unmurmuring
resignation, Father, glorify Thy name! Glorify Thyself, whether by
giving or taking, filling my cup or "emptying me from vessel to vessel!"
Let me know no will but Thine. Angels possess no higher honour and
privilege than glorifying the God before whom they cast their crowns.
How blessed to be able thus to claim brotherhood with the spirits in the
upper sanctuary! nay, more, to be associated with the Saviour Himself in
the theme of His own exalted joy, when he said, "_I_ have _glorified_
Thee on earth!"
"THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU, THAT MY JOY MIGHT REMAIN IN YOU,
AND THAT YOUR JOY MIGHT BE FULL."
6TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"The very hairs of your head are all numbered."--Matt. x. 30.
The Tender Solicitude.
What a "word" is this! All that befals you, to the very numbering of
your hairs, is known to God! Nothing can happen by accident or chance.
Nothing can elude His inspection. The fall of the forest leaf--the
fluttering of the insect--the waving of the angel's wing--the
annihilation of a world,--all are equally noted by Him. Man speaks of
great things and small things--God knows no such distinction.
How especially comforting to think of this tender solicitude with
reference to his own covenant people--that He metes out their joys and
their sorrows! Every sweet, every bitter is ordained by Him. Even
"_wearisome_ nights" are "_appointed_." Not a pang I feel, not a tear I
shed but is known to Him. What are called "dark dealings" are the
ordinations of undeviating faithfulness. Man _may_ err--his ways are
often crooked; "but as for God, _His_ way is perfect!" He puts my tears
into His bottle. Every moment the everlasting arms are underneath and
around me. He keeps me "as the apple of His eye." He "bears" me "as a
man beareth his own son!"
Do I look to the future? Is there much of uncertainty and mystery
hanging over it? It may be, much premonitory of evil. Trust Him. All is
marked out for me. Dangers will be averted; bewildering mazes will show
themselves to be interlaced and interweaved with mercy. "He keepeth the
feet of His saints." A hair of their head will not be touched. He leads
sometimes darkly, sometimes sorrowfully; most frequently by cross and
circuitous ways we ourselves would not have chosen; but _always_
wisely, _always_ tenderly. With all its mazy windings and turnings, its
roughness and ruggedness, the believer's is not only _a_ right way, but
THE right way--the best which covenant love and wisdom could select.
"Nothing," says Jeremy Taylor, "does so establish the mind amidst the
rollings and turbulence of present things, as both a look above them and
a look beyond them; above them, to the steady and good hand by which
they are ruled; and beyond them, to the sweet and beautiful end to
which, by that hand, they will be brought." "The Great Counsellor," says
Thomas Brooks, "puts clouds and darkness round about Him, bidding us
follow at His beck through the cloud, promising an eternal and
uninterrupted sunshine on the other side." On that "other side" we shall
see how every apparent rough blast has been hastening our barks nearer
the desired haven.
Well may I commit the keeping of my soul to Jesus in well-doing, as unto
a faithful Creator. He gave _Himself_ for me. This transcendent pledge
of love is the guarantee for the bestowment of every other needed
blessing. Oh, blessed thought! my sorrows numbered by the Man of
Sorrows; my tears counted by Him who shed first His tears and then His
blood for _me_. He will impose no needless burden, and exact no
unnecessary sacrifice. There was no redundant drop in the cup of His own
sufferings; neither will there be in that of His people. "Though He slay
me, yet will I trust in Him."
"WHEREFORE COMFORT ONE ANOTHER WITH _THESE WORDS_."
7TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of
mine."--John x. 14.
The Good Shepherd.
"The Good Shepherd"--well can the sheep who know His voice attest the
truthfulness and faithfulness of this endearing name and word. Where
would they have been through eternity, had He not left His throne of
light and glory, travelling down to this dark valley of the curse, and
giving His life a ransom for many? Think of His love to each separate
member of the flock--wandering over pathless wilds with unwearied
patience and unquenchable ardour, ceasing not the pursuit _until_ He
finds it. Think of His love _now_--"I AM the Good Shepherd." Still that
tender eye of watchfulness following the guilty wanderers--the glories
of heaven and the songs of angels unable to dim or alter His
affection;--the music of the words, at this moment coming as sweetly
from His lips as when first He uttered them--"I know my sheep." Every
individual believer--the weakest, the weariest, the faintest--claims His
attention. His loving eye follows me day by day out to the
wilderness--marks out my pasture, studies my wants, and trials, and
sorrows, and perplexities--every steep ascent, every brook, every
winding path, every thorny thicket. "He goeth before them." It is not
rough driving, but gentle guiding. He does not take them over an unknown
road; He himself has trodden it before. He hath drunk of every "brook by
the way;" He himself hath "suffered being tempted;" He is "able to
succour them that are tempted." He seems to say, "Fear not; I cannot
lead you wrong; follow me in the bleak waste, the blackened wilderness,
as well as by the green pastures and the still waters. Do you ask why I
have left the sunny side of the valley--carpeted with flowers, and
bathed in sunshine--leading you to some high mountain apart, some
cheerless spot of sorrow? Trust me, I will lead you by paths you have
not known, but they are all known _to_ me, and selected _by_ me--'Follow
thou me.'"
"And am known of mine!" Reader! canst thou subscribe to these closing
words of this gracious utterance? Dost thou "know" _Him_ in all the
glories of His person, in all the completeness of His finished work, in
all the tenderness and unutterable love of His every dealing towards
thee?
It has been remarked by Palestine travellers, that not only do the sheep
there follow the guiding shepherd, but even while cropping the herbage
as they go along, they look wistfully up to see that they are near him.
Is this thine attitude--"_looking unto Jesus_?" "In all thy ways
acknowledge Him, and he will direct thy paths." Leave the future to His
providing. "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want." _I shall not
want!_--it has been beautifully called "the bleating of Messiah's
sheep." Take it as thy watchword during thy wilderness wanderings, till
grace be perfected in glory. Let this be the record of thy simple faith
and unwavering trust, "These are they who _follow_, whithersoever He
sees meet to guide them."
"THE SHEEP FOLLOW HIM, FOR THEY KNOW HIS VOICE."
8TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever."--John xiv. 16.
The Abiding Comforter.
When one beloved earthly friend is taken away, how the heart is drawn
out towards those that remain! Jesus was now about to leave His
sorrowing disciples. He directs them to one whose presence would fill up
the vast blank His own absence was to make. His name was, _The
Comforter_; His mission was, "to abide with them for ever." Accordingly,
no sooner had the gates of heaven closed on their ascended Lord, than,
in fulfilment of His own gracious promise, the bereaved and orphaned
Church was baptized with Pentecostal fire. "When I depart, I will send
Him unto you."
Reader, do you realize your privilege--living under the dispensation of
the Spirit? Is it your daily prayer that He may come down in all the
plenitude of His heavenly graces on your soul, even "as rain upon the
mown grass, and showers that water the earth?" You cannot live without
Him; there can be not one heavenly aspiration, not one breathing of
love, not one upward glance of faith, without His gracious influences.
Apart from him, there is no preciousness in the word, no blessing in
ordinances, no permanent sanctifying results in affliction. As the angel
directed Hagar to the hidden spring, this blessed agent, true to His
name and office, directs His people to the waters of comfort, giving new
glory to the promises, investing the Saviour's character and work with
new loveliness and beauty.
How precious is the title which this "Word of Jesus" gives Him--THE
COMFORTER! What a word for a sorrowing world! The Church militant has
its tent pitched in a "valley of _tears_." The name of the divine
visitant who comes to her and ministers to her wants, is _Comforter_.
Wide is the family of the afflicted, but He has a healing balm for
all--the weak, the tempted, the sick, the sorrowing, the bereaved, the
dying! How different from other "sons of consolation?" _Human
friends_--a look may alienate; adversity may estrange; death must
separate! The "Word of Jesus" speaks of One whose attribute and
prerogative is to "abide with us for ever;" superior to all
vicissitudes--surviving death itself!
And surely if anything else can endear His mission of love to His
Church, it is that He comes direct from God, as the fruit and gift of
_Jesus' intercession_--"_I_ will pray the Father." This holy dove of
peace and comfort is let out by the hand of Jesus from the ark of
covenant mercy within the veil! Nor is the gift more glorious than it is
free. Does the word, the look, of a suffering child get the eye and the
heart of an _earthly_ father? "If ye then, being evil, know how to give
good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father in heaven
give the Holy Spirit unto them that ask Him?" It is He who makes these
"words of Jesus" "winged words."
"HE SHALL BRING ALL THINGS TO YOUR REMEMBRANCE, WHATSOEVER I HAVE
SAID UNTO YOU."
9TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more."--John viii. 11.
The Gracious Verdict.
How much more tender is Jesus than the tenderest of earthly friends? The
Apostles, in a moment of irritation would have called down fire from
heaven on obstinate sinners. Their Master rebuked the unkind suggestion.
Peter, the trusted but treacherous disciple, expected nothing but harsh
and merited reproof for faithlessness. He who knew well how that heart
would be bowed with penitential sorrow, sends first the kindest of
messages, and then the gentlest of rebukes, "Lovest thou me?" The
watchmen in the Canticles smote the bride, tore off her veil, and loaded
her with reproaches. When she found her lost Lord, there was not one
word of upbraiding! "So slow is He to anger," says an illustrious
believer, "so ready to forgive, that when His prophets lost all patience
with the people so as to make intercession _against_ them, yet even then
could He not be got to cast off this people whom He foreknew, for his
great name's sake."
The guilty sinner to whom He speaks this comforting "word," was frowned
upon by her accusers. But, if others spurned her from their presence,
"_Neither do I condemn thee._" Well it is to fall into the hands of this
blessed Saviour-God, for great are His mercies.
Are we to infer from this, that He winks at sin? Far from it. His blood,
His work--Bethlehem, and Calvary, refute the thought! Ere the guilt even
of one solitary soul could be washed out, He had to descend from His
everlasting throne to agonise on the accursed tree. But this "word of
Jesus" is a word of tender encouragement to every sincere,
broken-hearted penitent, that crimson sins, and scarlet sins, are no
barriers to a free, full, everlasting forgiveness. The Israelite of old,
gasping in his agony in the sands of the wilderness, had but to "_look_
and _live_;" and still does He say, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all
the ends of the earth." Up-reared by the side of his own cross there was
a monumental column for all Time, only second to itself in wonder. Over
the head of the dying felon is the superscription written for despairing
guilt and trembling penitence, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of
all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners."
"He never yet," says Charnock, "put out a dim candle that was lighted at
the Sun of Righteousness." "Whatever our guiltiness be," says
Rutherford, "yet when it falleth into the sea of God's mercy, it is but
like a drop of blood fallen into the great ocean."
Reader, you may be the chief of sinners, or it may be the chief of
backsliders; your soul may have started aside like a broken bow. As the
bankrupt is afraid to look into his books, you may be afraid to look
into your own heart. You are hovering on the verge of despair.
Conscience, and the memory of unnumbered sins, is uttering the
desponding verdict, "I condemn thee." Jesus has a kinder word--a more
cheering declaration--"_I_ condemn thee _not_: go, and sin no more!"
"AND ALL WONDERED AT THE GRACIOUS _WORDS_ THAT PROCEEDED OUT OF
HIS MOUTH."
10TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the
same is my brother, and my sister, and mother."--Matt. xii. 50.
The Wondrous Relationship.
As if no solitary earthly type were enough to image forth the love of
Jesus, He assembles into one verse a group of the tenderest earthly
relationships. Human affection has to focus its loveliest hues, but all
is too little to afford an exponent of the depth and intensity of _His_.
"As one whom his _mother_ comforteth;" "my _sister_, my _spouse_." He is
"_Son_," "_Brother_" "_Friend_"--all in one; "cleaving closer than any
brother."
And can we wonder at such language? Is it merely figurative, expressive
of more than the reality?--He gave _Himself_ for us; after that pledge
of His affection we must cease to marvel at any expression of the
interest He feels in us. Anything He can _say_ or _do_ is infinitely
less than what He _has done_.
Believer! art thou solitary and desolate? Has bereavement severed
earthly ties? Has the grave made forced estrangements,--sundered the
closest links of earthly affection? In Jesus thou hast filial and
fraternal love combined; He is the Friend of friends, whose presence and
fellowship compensates for all losses, and supplies all blanks; "He
setteth the solitary in families." If thou art orphaned, friendless,
comfortless here, remember there is in the Elder Brother on the Throne a
love deep as the unfathomed ocean, boundless as Eternity?
And who are those who can claim the blessedness spoken of under this
wondrous imagery? On whom does He lavish this unutterable affection? No
outward profession will purchase it. No church, no priest, no
ordinances, no denominational distinctions. It is on those who are
possessed of _holy characters_. "He that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven!" He who reflects the mind of Jesus; imbibes His
Spirit; takes His Word as the regulator of his daily walk, and makes His
glory the great end of his being; he who lives _to_ God and _with_ God,
and _for_ God; the humble, lowly, Christ-like, Heaven-seeking
Christian;--he it is who can claim as his own this wondrous heritage of
love! If it be a worthy object of ambition to be loved by the good and
the great on earth, what must it be to have an eye of love ever beaming
upon us from the Throne, in comparison of which the attachment here of
brother, sister, kinsman, friend--all combined--pales like the stars
before the rising sun! Though we are often ashamed to call Him
"Brother," "He is not ashamed to call us _brethren_." He looks down on
poor worms, and says, "_The same_ is my mother, and sister, and
brother!" "I will write upon them," He says in another place, "my new
name." Just as we write our name on a book to tell that it belongs to
us; so Jesus would write His own name on _us_, the wondrous volumes of
His grace, that they may be read and pondered by principalities and
powers.
Have we "known and believed this love of God?" Ah, how poor has been the
requital! Who cannot subscribe to the words of one, whose name was in
all the churches,--"Thy love has been as a shower; the return but a
dew-drop, and that dew-drop stained with sin."
"IF A MAN LOVE ME, HE WILL KEEP _MY WORDS_; AND MY FATHER WILL LOVE
HIM, AND WE WILL COME UNTO HIM, AND MAKE OUR ABODE WITH HIM."
11TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."--John xiv.
18.
The Befriended Orphans.
Does the Christian's path lie all the way through Beulah? Nay, he is
forewarned it is to be one of "much tribulation." He has his Marahs as
well as his Elims--his valleys of Baca as well as his grapes of Eschol.
Often is he left unbefriended to bear the brunt of the storm--his gourds
fading when most needed--his sun going down while it is yet day--his
happy home and happy heart darkened in a moment with sorrows with which
a stranger (with which often a _brother_) cannot intermeddle. There is
_One_ Brother "born for adversity," who _can_. How often has that voice
broken with its silvery accents the muffled stillness of the
sick-chamber or death-chamber! "'_I_ will not leave you comfortless:'
the world _may_, friends _may_, the desolations of bereavement and death
_may_; but _I will not_; you will be alone, yet _not_ alone, for I your
Saviour and your God will be with you!"
Jesus seems to have an especial love and affection for His orphaned and
comfortless people. A father loves his sick and sorrowing child most; of
all his household, he occupies most of his thoughts. Christ seems to
delight to lavish His deepest sympathy on "him that hath no helper." It
is in the hour of sorrow His people have found Him most precious; it is
in "the wilderness" He speaks most "comfortably unto them;" He gives
them "their vineyards from thence:" in the places they least expected,
wells of heavenly consolation break forth at their feet. As Jonathan of
old, when faint and weary, had his strength revived by the honey he
found dropping in the tangled thicket: so the faint and woe-worn
children of God find "honey in the wood"--everlasting consolation
dropping from the tree of life, in the midst of the thorniest thickets
of affliction.
Comfortless ones, be comforted! Jesus often makes you _portionless_
here, to drive you to Himself, the _everlasting portion_. He often dries
every rill and fountain of earthly bliss, that He may lead you to say,
"All my springs are in Thee." "He seems intent," says one who could
speak from experience, "to fill up every gap love has been forced to
make; one of his errands from heaven was to bind up the broken-hearted."
How beautifully in one amazing verse does he conjoin the depth and
tenderness of his comfort with the certainty of it--"As one whom his
mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, and ye SHALL be comforted!"
Ah, how many would not have their wilderness-state altered, with all
its trials, and gloom, and sorrow, just that they might enjoy the
unutterable sympathy and love of this Comforter of the comfortless, one
ray of whose approving smile can dispel the deepest earthly gloom? As
the clustering constellations shine with intensest lustre in the
midnight sky, so these "words of Jesus" come out like ministering angels
in the deep dark night of earthly sorrow. We may see no beauty in them
when the world is sunny and bright; but He has laid them up in store for
us for the dark and cloudy day.
"THESE THINGS HAVE I TOLD YOU, THAT WHEN THE TIME COMETH, YE MAY
REMEMBER THAT I TOLD YOU OF THEM."
12TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I
have overcome the world."--John xvi. 33.
The World Conquered.
And shall I be afraid of a world already conquered? The Almighty Victor,
within view of His Crown, turns round to His faint and weary soldiers,
and bids them take courage. They are not fighting their way through
untried enemies. The God-Man Mediator "_knows_ their sorrows." "He was
in _all points_ tempted." "Both He (_i. e._, Christ) who sanctifieth,
and they (His people) who are sanctified, are all of one (nature)." As
the great Precursor, he heads the pilgrim band, saying "I will show you
the path of life." The way to heaven is consecrated by His footprints.
Every thorn that wounds _them_, has wounded _Him_ before. Every cross
they can bear, he has borne before. Every tear they shed, He has shed
before. There is one respect, indeed, in which the identity fails,--He
was "yet without sin;" but this recoil of His Holy nature from moral
evil gives Him a deeper and intenser sensibility towards those who have
still corruption within responding to temptation without.
Reader! are you ready to faint under your tribulations? Is it a seducing
world--a wandering, wayward heart? "Consider _Him_ that endured!" Listen
to your adorable Redeemer, stooping from His Throne, and saying, "_I_
have overcome the world." He came forth unscathed from its snares. With
the same heavenly weapon He bids you wield, three times did he repel the
Tempter, saying, "It is written."--Is it some crushing trial, or
overwhelming grief? He is "_acquainted_ with _grief_." He, the mighty
Vine, knows the minutest fibres of sorrow in the branches; when the
pruning knife touches _them_, it touches _Him_. "He has gone," says a
tried sufferer, "through every class in our wilderness school." He loves
to bring His people into untried and perplexing places, that they may
seek out the guiding pillar, and prize its radiance. He puts them on the
darkening waves, that they may follow the guiding light hung out astern
from the only Bark of pure and unsullied Humanity that was ever proof
against the storm.
Be assured there is disguised love in all He does. He who knows us
infinitely better than we know ourselves, often puts a thorn in our nest
to drive us to the wing, that we may not be grovellers forever. "It is,"
says Evans, "upon the smooth ice we slip, the rough path is safest for
the feet." The tearless and undimmed eye is not to be coveted _here_;
_that_ is reserved for heaven!
Who can tell what muffled and disguised "needs be" there may lurk under
these world-tribulations? His true spiritual seed are often planted deep
in the soil; they have to make their way through a load of sorrow before
they reach the surface; but their roots are thereby the firmer and
deeper struck. Had it not been for these lowly and needed "depths," they
might have rushed up as feeble saplings, and succumbed to the first
blast. He often leads His people still, as he led them of old, to "a
high mountain apart;" but it is to a _high_ mountain--_above the world_;
and, better still, He who Himself hath overcome the world, leadeth them
there, and speaketh comfortably unto them.
"I HOPE IN THY _WORD_."
13TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Fear not, little flock; it is your Father's good pleasure to give
you the kingdom."--Luke xii. 32.
The Little Flock.
The music of the Shepherd's voice again! Another comforting "word," and
how tender! _his_ flock a _little_ flock, a _feeble_ flock, a _fearful_
flock, but a _beloved_ flock, loved of the Father, enjoying His "good
pleasure," and soon to be a _glorified_ flock, safe in the fold, secure
within the kingdom! How does He quiet their fears and misgivings? As
they stand panting on the bleak mountain side, He points His crook
upwards to the bright and shining gates of glory, and says, "It is your
Father's good pleasure to give you these!" What gentle words! What a
blessed consummation! Gracious Saviour, Thy _gentleness_ hath made me
_great_!
That kingdom is the believer's by irreversible and inalienable
charter-right--"I appoint unto you" (by covenant), says Jesus in another
place, "a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me." It is as sure
as everlasting love and almighty power can make it. Satan, the great foe
of the kingdom, may be injecting foul misgivings, and doubts, and fears
as to your security; but he cannot denude you of your purchased
immunities. He must first pluck the crown from the Brow upon the Throne,
before he can weaken or impair this sure word of promise. If "it pleased
the Lord" to _bruise_ the Shepherd, it will surely please Him to make
happy the purchased flock. If He "smote" His "Fellow" when the sheep
were scattered, surely it will rejoice Him, for the Shepherd's sake, "to
turn His hand upon the little ones."
Believers, think of this! "It is your Father's good pleasure." The Good
Shepherd, in leading you across the intervening mountains, shows you
signals and memorials of paternal grace studding all the way. He may
"lead you about" in your way thither. He led the children of Israel of
old out of Egypt to their promised kingdom,--how? By forty years'
wilderness-discipline and privations. But trust Him; dishonour Him not
with guilty doubts and fears. Look not back on your dark, stumbling
paths, nor within on your fitful and vacillating heart; but forwards to
the land that is far off. How earnestly God desires your salvation! What
a heaping together of similar tender "words" with that which is here
addressed to us? The Gospel seems like a palace full of opened windows,
from each of which He issues an invitation, declaring that He has no
pleasure in our death--but rather that we would turn and live!
Let the melody of the Shepherd's reed fall gently on your ear,--"It is
your Father's good pleasure." I have given you, He seems to say, the
best proof that it is _mine_. In order to purchase that kingdom, I died
for you! But it is also _His_: "As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in
the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so," says God,
"will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where
they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." Fear not, then,
little flock! though yours for a while should be the bleak mountain and
sterile waste, seeking your way Zionward, it may be "with torn fleeces
and bleeding feet;" for,
"IT IS NOT THE WILL OF YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN, THAT ONE OF
THESE LITTLE ONES SHOULD PERISH."
14TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink."--John vii. 37.
The Unlimited Offer.
One of the most gracious "words" that ever "proceeded out of the mouth
of God!" The time it was uttered was an impressive one; it was on "the
last, the great day" of the Feast of Tabernacles, when a denser
multitude than on any of the seven preceding ones were assembled
together. The golden bowl, according to custom, had probably just been
filled with the waters of Siloam, and was being carried up to the Temple
amid the acclamations of the crowd, when the Saviour of the world seized
the opportunity of speaking to them some truths of momentous import.
Many, doubtless, were the "words of Jesus" uttered on the previous days,
but the most important is reserved for the last. What, then, is the
great closing theme on which He rivets the attention of this vast
auditory, and which He would have them carry away to their distant
homes? It is, _The freeness of His own great salvation_--"If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink."
Reader, do you discredit the reality of this gracious offer? Are your
legion sins standing as a barrier between you and a Saviour's proffered
mercy? Do you feel as if you cannot come "just as you are;" that some
partial cleansing, some preparatory reformation must take place before
you can venture to the living fountain? Nay, "_if any man_." What is
freer than water?--The poorest beggar may drink "without money" the
wayside pool. _That_ is your Lord's own picture of His own glorious
salvation; you are invited to come, "without one plea," in all your
poverty and want, your weakness and unworthiness. Remember the
Redeemer's saying to the woman of Samaria. She was the chief of
sinners--profligate--hardened--degraded; but He made no condition, no
qualification; _simple believing_ was all that was required,--"If thou
knewest the gift of God," thou wouldst have asked, and He would have
given thee "living water."
But is there not, after all, _one_ condition mentioned in this "word of
Jesus?"--"_If_ any man _thirst_." You may have the depressing
consciousness that you experience no such ardent longings after
holiness,--no feeling of your affecting need of the Saviour. But is not
this very conviction of your want an indication of a feeble longing
after Christ? If you are saying, "I have nothing to draw with, and the
well is deep," He who makes offer of the salvation-stream will Himself
fill your empty vessel,--"He satisfieth the _longing_ soul with
goodness."
"Jesus _stood_ and _cried_." It is the solitary instance recorded of Him
of whom it is said, "He shall _not_ strive nor cry," lifting up "His
voice in the streets." But it was truth of surpassing interest and
magnitude He had to proclaim. It was a declaration, moreover, specially
dear to him. As it formed the theme of this ever-memorable _sermon_
during His public ministry, so when He was sealing up the inspired
record--the last utterances of His voice on earth, till that voice shall
be heard again on the throne, contained the same life-giving
invitation,--"Let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him
take of the water of life freely." Oh! as the echoes of that gracious
saying--this blast of the silver trumpet--are still sounding to the ends
of the world, may this be the recorded result,
"AS HE SPAKE _THESE WORDS_, MANY BELIEVED ON HIM."
15TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."--Matt. xi. 30.
The Joyful Servitude.
Can the same be said of Satan, or sin? With regard to _them_, how
faithfully true rather is the converse--"my yoke is _heavy_, and my
burden is _grievous_!" Christ's service is a happy service, the _only_
happy one; and even when there is a cross to carry, or a yoke to bear,
it is His own appointment. "_My_ yoke." It is sent by no untried friend.
Nay, He who puts it on His people, bore this very yoke Himself. "He
_carried_ our sorrows." How blessed this feeling of holy servitude to so
kind a Master! not like "dumb, driven cattle," goaded on, but _led_, and
led often most tenderly when the yoke and the burden are upon us. The
great apostle rarely speaks of himself under any other title but _one_.
That _one_ he seems to make his boast. He had much whereof he might
glory;--he had been the instrument in saving thousands--he had spoken
before kings--he had been in Cæsar's palace and Cæsar's presence--he had
been caught up into the third heaven,--but in all his letters this is
his joyful prefix and superscription, "The _Servant_ (literally, _the
slave_) of Jesus Christ!"
Reader! dost thou know this blessed servitude? Canst thou say with a
joyful heart, "O Lord, truly I am Thy servant?" He is no hard
taskmaster. Would Satan try to teach thee so? Let this be the
refutation, "He loved me, and gave _Himself_ for _me_." True, the yoke
is the appointed discipline he employs in training his children for
immortality. But be comforted! "It is His tender hand that _puts_ it on,
and _keeps_ it on." He will suit the yoke to the neck, and the neck to
the yoke. He will suit His grace to your trials. Nay, He will bring you
even to be in love with these, when they bring along with them such
gracious unfoldings of His own faithfulness and mercy. How His people
need thus to be in heaviness through manifold temptations, to keep them
meek and submissive! "Jeshurun (like a bullock unaccustomed to the
harness, fed and pampered in the stall) waxed fat, and kicked." Never is
there more gracious love than when God takes His own means to curb and
subjugate, to humble us, and to prove us--bringing us out from
ourselves, our likings, our confidences, our prosperity, and putting us
under the needed YOKE.
And who has ever repented of that joyful servitude? Among all the ten
thousand regrets that mingle with a dying hour, and oft bedew with
bitter tears a dying pillow, who ever told of regrets and repentance
here?
Tried believer, has He ever failed thee? Has His yoke been too grievous?
Have thy tears been unalleviated--thy sorrows unsolaced--thy temptations
above that thou wert able to bear? Ah! rather canst thou not testify,
"The word of the Lord is tried;" I cast my burden upon Him, and He
"sustained me?" How have seeming difficulties melted away! How has the
yoke lost its heaviness, and the cross its bitterness, in the thought of
whom thou wert bearing it for! There is a promised rest in the very
carrying of the yoke; and a better rest remains for the weary and
toil-worn when the appointed work is finished; for thus saith "that same
Jesus,"
"TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU, AND LEARN OF ME, ... AND YE SHALL FIND _REST_
UNTO YOUR SOULS."
16TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you."--John xv. 9.
The Measure of Love.
This is the most wondrous verse in the Bible. Who can sound the
unimagined depths of that love which dwelt in the bosom of the Father
from all eternity towards His Son?--and yet here is the Saviour's own
exponent of His love towards His people!
There is no subject more profoundly mysterious than those mystic
intercommunings between the first and second persons in the adorable
Trinity before the world was. Scripture gives us only some dim and
shadowy revelations regarding them--distant gleams of light, and no
more. Let one suffice. "_Then_ I was by Him, as one brought up with Him,
and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him."
We know that earthly affection is deepened and intensified by increased
familiarity with its object. The friendship of yesterday is not the
sacred, hallowed thing, which years of growing intercourse have matured.
If we may with reverence apply this test to the highest type of holy
affection, what must have been that interchange of love which the
measureless lapse of Eternity had fostered--a love, moreover, not
fitful, transient, vacillating, subject to altered tones and estranged
looks--but pure, constant, untainted, without one shadow of turning! And
yet, listen to the "words of Jesus," As the Father hath loved _me_, _so_
have I loved _you_! It would have been infinitely more than we had
reason to expect, if He had said, "As my Father hath loved ANGELS, so
have I loved you." But the love borne to no finite beings is an
appropriate symbol. Long before the birth of time or of worlds, that
love existed. It was coeval with Eternity itself. Hear how the two
themes of the Saviour's eternal rejoicing--the _love of His Father_, and
His _love for sinners_--are grouped together;--"Rejoicing always before
HIM, _and_ in the habitable part of His _earth_!"
To complete the picture, we must take in a counterpart description of
the _Father's_ love to us;--"_Therefore_ doth my Father love me," says
Jesus in another place, "_because_ I lay down my life!" God had an
all-sufficiency in His love--He needed not the taper-love of creatures
to add to His glory or happiness; but He seems to say, that so intense
is His love for us, that He loves even His beloved Son _more_ (if
infinite love be capable of increase), because He laid down His life for
the guilty! It is regarding the Redeemed it is said, "He shall _rest_ in
His love--He shall rejoice over _them_ with singing."
In the assertion, "God is love," we are left truly with no mere
unproved averment regarding the existence of some abstract quality in
the divine nature. "Herein," says an apostle, "perceive we THE
LOVE,"--(it is added in our authorised version, "of God," but, as it has
been remarked, "Our translators need not have added _whose_ love, for
there is but one such specimen")--"_because_ He laid down His life for
us." No expression of love can be wondered at after _this_. Ah, how
miserable are our best affections compared with His! "_Our_ love is but
the reflection--cold as the moon; _His_ is as the Sun." Shall we refuse
to love Him more in return, who hath _first_ loved, and so _loved us_?
"NEVER MAN SPAKE LIKE THIS MAN."
17TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Only believe."--Mark v. 36.
The Brief Gospel.
The briefest of the "words of Jesus," but one of the most comforting.
They contain the essence and epitome of all saving truth.
Reader, is _Satan_ assailing thee with tormenting fears? Is the thought
of thy sins--the guilty past--coming up in terrible memorial before
thee, almost tempting thee to give way to hopeless despondency? Fear
not! A gentle voice whispers in thine ear,--"_Only believe._" "Thy sins
are great, but my grace and merits are greater. 'Only believe' that I
died for thee--that I am living for thee and pleading for thee, and that
'the faithful saying' is as 'faithful' as ever, and as 'worthy of all
acceptation' as ever."--Art thou a _backslider_? Didst thou once run
well? Has thine own guilty apostacy alienated and estranged thee from
that face which was once all love, and that service which was once all
delight? Art thou breathing in broken-hearted sorrow over the holy
memories of a close walk with God--"Oh that it were with me as in months
past, when the candle of the Lord did shine?" "_Only believe._" Take
this thy mournful soliloquy, and convert it into a prayer. "Only
believe" the word of Him whose ways are not as man's ways--"Return, ye
backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding."--Art thou
beaten down with some heavy _trial_? have thy fondest schemes been blown
upon--thy fairest blossoms been withered in the bud? has wave after wave
been rolling in upon thee? hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious? Hear
the "word of Jesus" resounding amid the thickest midnight of
gloom--penetrating even through the vaults of the dead--"Believe, _only
believe_." There is an infinite _reason_ for the trial--a lurking thorn
that required removal, a gracious lesson that required teaching. The
dreadful severing blow was dealt in love. God will be glorified in it,
and your own soul made the better for it. Patiently wait till the light
of immortality be reflected on a receding world. Here you must take His
dealings on trust. The word of Jesus to you now is, "_Only believe._"
The word of Jesus in eternity (every inner meaning and undeveloped
purpose being unfolded), "Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest
_but_ BELIEVE, thou shouldst SEE the glory of God?"--Are you fearful and
agitated in _the prospect of death_? Through fear of the last enemy,
have you been all your lifetime subject to bondage?--"_Only believe._"
"As thy day is, so shall thy strength be." Dying grace will be given
when a dying hour comes. In the dark river a sustaining arm will be
underneath you, deeper than the deepest and darkest wave. Ere you know
it, the darkness will be past, the true Light shining,--the whisper of
faith in the nether valley, "Believe! believe!" exchanged for
angel-voices exclaiming, as you enter the portals of glory, "No longer
through a glass darkly, but now face to face!"
Yes! "Jesus Himself had no higher remedy for sin, for sorrow, and for
suffering, than those two words convey. At the utmost extremity of His
own distress, and of His disciples' wretchedness, He could only say,
'Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.'
'Believe, only believe.'"
"LORD, I BELIEVE, HELP THOU MINE UNBELIEF."
18TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Be of good cheer: It is I; be not afraid."--Mark vi. 50.
The Great Calm.
"It is I," (or as our old version has it, more in accordance with the
original), "I AM! be not afraid!" Jesus lives! His people may dispel
their misgivings--Omnipotence treads the waves! To sense it may seem at
times to be otherwise; wayward accident and chance may appear to
regulate human allotments; but not so: "The Lord's voice is upon the
waters,"--He sits at the helm guiding the tempest-tossed bark, and
guiding it well.
How often does He come to us as He did to the disciples in that midnight
hour when all seems lost--"in the fourth watch of the night,"--when we
least looked for Him; or when, like the shipwrecked apostle, "for days
together neither sun nor stars appeared, and no small tempest lay on
us; when all hope that we should be saved seemed to be taken away,"--how
often _just at that moment_, is the "word of Jesus" heard floating over
the billows!
Believer, art thou in trouble? listen to the voice in the storm, "Fear
not, _I_ AM." That voice, like Joseph's of old to his brethren, may
_seem_ rough, but there are gracious undertones of love. "It is I," he
seems to say; It _was_ I, that roused the storm; It is I, who when it
has done its work, will calm it, and say, "Peace, be still." Every wave
rolls at My bidding--every trial is My appointment--all have some
gracious end; they are not sent to dash you against the sunken rocks,
but to waft you nearer heaven. Is it _sickness_? I am He who bare your
sickness; the weary wasted frame, and the nights of languishing, were
sent by Me. Is it _bereavement_? I am "the Brother" born for
adversity--the loved and lost were plucked away by Me. Is it _death_? I
AM the "Abolisher of death," seated by your side to calm the waves of
ebbing life; it is _I_, about to fetch My pilgrims _home_--It is My
voice that speaks, "The Master is come, and calleth for thee."
Reader, thou wilt have reason yet to praise thy God for every one such
storm! This is the history of every heavenly voyager: "_So_ He bringeth
them to their desired haven." "_So!_" That word, in all its unknown and
diversified meaning, is in _His_ hand. He suits His dealings to every
case. "_So!_" With some it is through quiet seas unfretted by one
buffeting wave. "_So!_" With others it is "mounting up to heaven, and
going down again to the deep." But whatever be the leading and the
discipline, here is the grand consummation, "_So_ He bringeth them unto
their desired haven." It might have been with thee the moanings of an
eternal night-blast--no lull or pause in the storm; but soon the
darkness will be past, and the hues of morn tipping the shores of glory!
And what, then, should your attitude be? "Looking unto Jesus"
(literally, looking _from unto_); looking away from self, and sin, and
human props and refuges and confidences, and fixing the eye of
unwavering and unflinching faith on a reigning Saviour. Ah, how a real
quickening sight of Christ dispels all guilty fears! The Roman keepers
of old were affrighted, and became as dead men. The lowly Jewish women
feared not; why? "_I know that ye seek Jesus!_" Reader, let thy weary
spirit fold itself to rest under the composing "word" of a gracious
Saviour, saying----
"I WAIT FOR THE LORD, MY SOUL DOTH WAIT, AND IN _HIS WORD_ DO I
HOPE."
19TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world
giveth, give I unto you."--John xiv. 27.
The Dying Legacy.
How we treasure the last sayings of a dying parent! How specially
cherished and memorable are his last looks and last words! Here are the
last words--the parting legacy--of a dying Saviour. It is a legacy of
_peace_.
What peace is this? It is His own purchase--a peace arising out of free
forgiveness through His precious blood. It is sung in concert with
"Glory to God in the highest"--a peace made as sure to us as eternal
power and infinite love _can make it_! It is _peace_ the soul wants.
Existence is one long-drawn sigh after repose. _That_ is nowhere else to
be found, but through the blood of His cross! "Being justified by
faith, we _have_ peace with God." "HE giveth his beloved _rest_!"
How different from the false and counterfeit peace in which so many are
content to live, and content to die! The world's peace is all well, so
long as prosperity lasts--so long as the stream runs smooth, and the sky
is clear; but when the cataract is at hand, or the storm is gathering,
where is it? It is _gone_! There is no calculating on its permanency.
Often when the cup is fullest, there is the trembling apprehension that
in one brief moment it may be dashed to the ground. The soul may be
saying to itself, "Peace, peace;" but, like the writing on the sand, it
may be obliterated by the first wave of adversity. BUT, "Not as the
world giveth!" The peace of the believer is
deep--calm--lasting--_ever_lasting. The world, with all its
blandishments, cannot give it. The world, with all its vicissitudes and
fluctuations, cannot take it away! It is brightest in the hour of
trial; it lights up the final valley-gloom. "Mark the perfect man, and
behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." Yes! how often is
the believer's deathbed like the deep calm repose of a summer-evening's
sky, when all nature is hushed to rest; the departing soul, like the
vanishing sun, peacefully disappearing only to shine in another and
brighter hemisphere! "I seem," said Simeon on his deathbed, "to have
nothing to do but to wait: there is now nothing but _peace_, the
_sweetest peace_."
Believer! do you know this peace which passeth understanding? Is it
"keeping (literally, '_garrisoning_ as in a citadel') your heart?" Have
you learnt the blessedness of waking up, morning after morning, and
feeling, "I am at peace with my God;" of beholding by faith the true
Aaron--the great High Priest--coming forth from "the holiest of all" to
"bless His people with peace?" Waves of trouble may be murmuring around
you, but they cannot touch you; you are in the rock-crevice athwart
which the fiercest tornado sweeps by. Oh! leave not the making up of
your peace with God to a dying hour! It will be a hard thing to smooth
the death-pillow, if peace be left unsought till then. Make sure of it
_now_. He, the true Melchisedec, is willing _now_ to come forth to meet
you with bread and wine--emblems of peaceful gospel blessings. All the
"words of Jesus" are so many rills contributing to make your peace flow
as a river;--"These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might
have peace."
"I WILL HEAR WHAT GOD THE LORD WILL SPEAK, FOR HE WILL SPEAK PEACE
UNTO HIS PEOPLE AND TO HIS SAINTS."
20TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."--Matt. xxviii.
18.
The Supreme Investiture.
What an empire is this! Heaven and earth--the Church militant--the
Church triumphant--angels and archangels--saints and seraphs. At His
mandate the billows were hushed--demons crouched in terror--the grave
yielded its prey! "Upon his head are many crowns." He is made "head over
_all things_ to His Church." Yes! over _all things_, from the minutest
to the mightiest. He holds the stars in His right hand--He walks in the
midst of the seven golden candlesticks, feeding every candlestick with
the oil of His grace, and preserving every star in its spiritual orbit.
The prince of Darkness has "a power," but, God be praised, it is not an
"all power;" _potent_, but not _omnipotent_. Christ holds him in a
chain. He hath set bounds that he may not pass over. "Satan," we read in
the book of Job, "went out (_Chaldee paraphrase_, 'with a licence') from
the presence of the Lord." He was not allowed even to enter the herd of
swine till Christ permitted him. He only "_desired_" to have Peter that
he might "sift him;" there was a mightier countervailing agency at hand:
"_I_ have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not."
Believer, how often is there nothing but this grace of Jesus between
thee and everlasting destruction! Satan's key fitting the lock in thy
wayward heart; but a stronger than the strong man barring him out;--the
power of the adversary fanning the flame; the Omnipotence of Jesus
quenching it. Art thou even now feeling the strength of thy corruptions,
the weakness of thy graces, the presence of some outward or inward
temptation? Look up to Him who has promised to make His grace sufficient
for thee; "all power" is His prerogative; "all-sufficiency in all
things" is His promise. It is power, too, in conjunction with
tenderness. He who sways the sceptre of universal empire "gently leads"
His weak, and weary, and burdened ones:--He who counts the number of the
stars, loves to count the number of their sorrows; nothing too great,
nothing too insignificant for _Him_. He puts every tear into his bottle.
He paves His people's pathway with love!
Blessed Jesus! my everlasting interests cannot be in better or in safer
keeping than in Thine. I can exultingly rely on the "_all-power_" of Thy
Godhead. I can sweetly rejoice in the _all-sympathy_ of Thy Manhood. I
can confidently repose in the sure wisdom of Thy dealings. "Sometimes,"
says one, "we expect the blessing in _our_ way; He chooses to bestow it
in _His_." But His way and His will must be the best. Infinite love,
infinite power, infinite wisdom, are surely infallible guarantees. His
purposes nothing can alter. His promises never fail. His word never
falls to the ground.
"HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY, BUT _MY WORDS_ SHALL NOT PASS AWAY."
21ST DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show
it unto you."--John xvi. 14.
The Divine Glorifier.
The Holy Spirit glorifying Jesus in the unfoldings of His person, and
character, and work, to His people! The great ministering agent between
the Church on earth and its glorified Head in Heaven,--carrying up to
the Intercessor on the throne, the ever-recurring wants and trials, the
perplexities and sins, of believers; and receiving out of His
inexhaustible treasury of love,--comfort for their sorrows--strength for
their weakness--sympathy for their tears--fulness for their
emptiness,--and _this_ the one sublime end and object of His gracious
agency,--"_He shall glorify Me._" "He shall not speak of Himself, but
whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak." My words of
sympathy--My omnipotent pleadings--the tender messages sent from an
unchanged Human Heart,--all these shall He speak. "He shall tell you,"
says an old divine, commenting on this passage, "He shall tell you
nothing but stories of My love" (_Goodwin_). He will have an ineffable
delight in magnifying Me in the affections of My Church and people, and
endearing Me to their hearts; and He is all worthy of credence, for He
is "the Spirit of truth."
How faithful has He been in every age to this His great office as "the
glorifier of Jesus!" See the first manifestation of His power in the
Christian Church at the day of Pentecost. What was the grand truth which
forms the focus-point of interest in that unparalleled scene, and which
brings three thousand stricken penitents to their knees? _It is the
Spirit's unfolding of Jesus_--glorifying _Him_ in eyes that before saw
in Him no beauty? Hear the key-note of that wondrous sermon, preached
"in demonstration of the Spirit, and with power,"--"HIM hath God exalted
to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to His people, and
forgiveness of sins."
Ah? it is still the same peerless truth which the Spirit delights to
unfold to the stricken sinner, and, in unfolding it, to make it mighty
to the pulling down of strongholds. All these glorious inner beauties of
Christ's work and character are undiscerned and undiscernible by the
natural eye. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth." "No man can call Jesus
Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." He is the great Forerunner--a mightier
than the Baptist--proclaiming, "Behold the Lamb of God!"
Reader! any bright and realising view you have had of the Saviour's
glory and excellency, is of the Spirit's imparting. When in some hour of
sorrow you have been led to cleave with pre-eminent consolation to the
thought of the Redeemer's exalted sympathy--His dying, ever-living love;
or in the hour of death, when you feel the sustaining power of His
exceeding great and precious promises;--what is this, but the Holy
Spirit, in fulfilment of His all-gracious office, taking of all things
of Christ, and showing them unto you; thus enabling you to magnify Him
in your body, whether it be by life or death? As your motto should ever
be, "_None BUT Christ_," and your ever-increasing aspiration, "_More
OF Christ_," seek to bear in mind who it is that is alone qualified to
impart the "excellency of this knowledge."
"THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH WHICH PROCEEDETH FROM THE FATHER, _HE_ SHALL
TESTIFY OF ME."
22D DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Your sorrow shall be turned into joy."--John xvi. 20.
The Joyful Transformation.
Christ's people are a sorrowing people! Chastisement is their
badge--"great tribulation" is their appointed discipline. When they
enter the gates of glory, He is represented as wiping away tears from
their eyes. But, weeping ones, be comforted! Your Lord's special mission
to earth--the great errand He came from heaven to fulfil, was "to bind
up the broken-hearted." Your trials are meted out by a tender hand. He
_knows_ you too well--He _loves_ you too well--to make this world
tearless and sorrowless! "There must be rain, and hail, and storm," says
Rutherford, "in the saint's cloud." Were your earthy course strewed
with flowers, and nothing but sunbeams played around your dwelling, it
would lead you to forget your _nomadic_ life,--that you are but a
sojourner here. The tent must at times be struck, pin by pin of the
moveable tabernacle taken down, to enable you to say and to feel in the
spirit of a pilgrim, "I desire a better country." Meantime, while sorrow
is your portion, think of Him who says, "I know your sorrows." Angels
cannot say so--they cannot sympathise with you, for trial is a strange
word to them. But there is a mightier than they who _can_. All He sends
you and appoints you is in love. There is a provision and condition
wrapt up in the bosom of every affliction, "_if need be_;" coming from
His hand, sorrows and riches are to His people convertible terms. If
tempted to murmur at their trials, they are often murmuring at disguised
mercies. "Why do you ask me," said Simeon, on his deathbed, "what I
_like_? I am the Lord's patient--I cannot but like _everything_."
And _then_--"your sorrow shall be turned into joy." "The morning
cometh"--that bright morning when the dew-drops collected during earth's
night of weeping shall sparkle in its beams; when in one blessed
_moment_ a life-long experience of trial will be effaced and forgotten,
or remembered only by contrast, to enhance the fulness of the joys of
immortality. What a revelation of gladness! The map of time disclosed,
and every little rill of sorrow, every river will be seen to have been
flowing heavenwards,--every rough blast to have been sending the bark
nearer the haven! In that joy, God Himself will participate. In the last
"words of Jesus" to His people when they are standing by the triumphal
archway of Glory, ready to enter on their thrones and crowns, He speaks
of their joy as if it were all _His own_. "Enter ye into the joy _of
your Lord_."
Reader, may this joy be yours! Sit loose to the world's joys. Have a
feeling of chastened gratitude and thankfulness when you have them; but
beware of resting in them, or investing them with a permanency they
cannot have. Jesus had his eye on _heaven_ when he added--
"YOUR JOY NO MAN TAKETH FROM YOU."
23D DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me
where I am; that they may behold my glory."--John xvii. 24.
The Omnipotent Prayer.
This is not the petition of a suppliant, but the claim of a conqueror.
There was only _one_ request He ever made, or ever _can_ make, that was
refused; it was the prayer wrung forth by the presence and power of
superhuman anguish: "Father, _if it be possible_, let this cup pass from
me!" Had that prayer been answered, never could one consolatory "word of
Jesus" have been ours. "_If it be possible_;"--_but_ for that gracious
parenthesis, we must have been lost for ever! In unmurmuring submission,
the bitter cup _was_ drained; all the dread penalties of the law were
borne, the atonement completed, an all-perfect righteousness wrought
out; and now, as the stipulated reward of His obedience and sufferings,
the Victor claims His trophies. What are they? Those that were given Him
of the Father--the countless multitudes redeemed by His blood. These He
"_wills_" to be with Him "where He is"--the spectators of His glory, and
partakers of His crown. Wondrous word and will of a dying testator! His
last prayer on earth is an importunate pleading for their glorification;
His parting wish is to meet them in heaven: as if these earthly jewels
were needed to make His crown complete,--their happiness and joy the
needful complement of His own!
Reader! learn from this, the grand element in the bliss of your future
condition--it is _the presence of Christ_; "_with Me_ where I am." It
matters comparatively little as to the locality of heaven. "We shall see
_Him_ as He is," is "the blessed hope" of the Christian. Heaven would
be _no_ heaven without Jesus; the withdrawal of His presence would be
like the blotting out of the sun from the firmament; it would uncrown
every seraph, and unstring every harp. But, blessed thought! it is His
own stipulation in His testamentary prayer, that Eternity is to be spent
in union and communion with _Himself_, gazing on the unfathomed
mysteries of His love, becoming more assimilated to His glorious image,
and drinking deeper from the ocean of His own joy.
If anything can enhance the magnitude of this promised bliss, it is the
concluding words of the verse, in which He grounds His plea for its
bestowment: "_I will_--that they behold my glory;"--why? "For Thou
lovedst (not _them_, but) ME before the foundation of the world!" It is
equivalent to saying, "If Thou wouldst give _Me_ a continued proof of
Thine everlasting love and favour to Myself, it is by loving and
exalting My redeemed people. In loving _them_ and glorifying them, Thou
art loving and glorifying Me: so endearingly are their interests and My
own bound up together!"
Believer, think of that all-prevailing voice, at this moment pleading
for thee within the veil!--that omnipotent "_Father, I will_," securing
every needed boon! There is given, so to speak, a blank _cheque_ by
which He and His people may draw indefinite supplies out of the
exhaustless treasury of the Father's grace and love. God Himself
endorses it with the words, "Son, Thou art ever with me, and all that I
have is Thine." How it would reconcile us to Earth's bitterest sorrows,
and hallow Earth's holiest joys, if we saw them thus hanging on the
"_will_" of an all-wise Intercessor, who ever pleads in love, and never
pleads in vain!
"BE IT UNTO ME ACCORDING TO _THY WORD_."
24TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Because I live, ye shall live also."--John xiv. 19.
The Immutable Pledge.
God sometimes selects the most stable and enduring objects in the
material world to illustrate His unchanging faithfulness and love to His
Church. "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so doth the Lord
compass his people." But here, the Redeemer fetches an argument from
_His own everlasting nature_. He stakes, so to speak, His own existence
on that of His saints. "_Because I live_, ye shall live also."
Believer! read in this "word of Jesus" thy glorious title-deed. _Thy
Saviour lives_--and His life is the guarantee of thine own. Our true
Joseph is alive. "He is our Brother. He talks kindly to us!" That life
of His, is all that is between us and everlasting ruin. But with Christ
for our life, how inviolable our security! The great Fountain of being
must first be dried up, before the streamlet can. The great Sun must
first be quenched, ere one glimmering satellite which He lights up with
His splendour can. Satan must first pluck the crown from that glorified
Head, before he can touch one jewel in the crown of His people. They
cannot shake one pillar without shaking first the throne. "If we
perish," says Luther, "Christ perisheth with us."
Reader! is thy life now "hid with Christ in God?" Dost thou know the
blessedness of a vital and living union with a living, life-giving
Saviour? Canst thou say with humble and joyous confidence, amid the
fitfulness of thine own ever-changing frames and feelings, "Nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me?" "_Jesus liveth!_"--They
are the happiest words a lost soul and a lost world can hear! Job, four
thousand years ago, rejoiced in them. "I know," says he, "that I have _a
living Kinsman_." John, in his Patmos exile, rejoiced in them. "I am He
that liveth" (or _the Living One_), was the simple but sublime utterance
with which he was addressed by that same "Kinsman," when He appeared
arrayed in the lustres of His glorified humanity. "This is _the_ record"
(as if there was a whole gospel comprised in the statement), "that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this _life_ is in His Son." St. Paul,
in the 8th chapter to the Romans--that finest portraiture of Christian
character and privilege ever drawn, begins with "no condemnation," and
ends with "no separation." Why "no separation?" Because the life of the
believer is incorporated with that of his adorable Head and Surety. The
colossal Heart of redeemed humanity beats upon the throne, sending its
mighty pulsations through every member of His body; so that, before the
believer's spiritual life can be destroyed, Omnipotence must become
feebleness, and Immutability become mutable!
But, blessed Jesus, "Thy word is very sure, therefore Thy servant loveth
it."
"I GIVE UNTO THEM ETERNAL LIFE, AND THEY SHALL NEVER PERISH, NEITHER
SHALL ANY MAN PLUCK THEM OUT OF MY HAND."
25TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."--Matt.
xxviii. 20.
The Abiding Presence.
Such were "the words of Jesus" when He was just about to ascend to
Heaven. The mediatorial throne was in view--the harps of glory were
sounding in His ears; but all His thoughts are on the pilgrim Church He
is to leave behind. His last words and benedictions are for _them_. "I
go," He seems to say, "to Heaven, to my purchased crown--to the
fellowship of angels--to the presence of my Father; _but_, nevertheless,
'Lo! I am with _you_ alway, even unto the end of the world.'"
How faithfully did the Apostles, to whom this promise was first
addressed, experience its reality! Hear the testimony of the beloved
disciple who had once leant on his Divine Master's bosom--who "had
heard, and seen, and looked upon Him." That glorified bosom was now hid
from his sight; but does he speak of an absent Lord, and of His
fellowship only as among the holy memories of the past? No! with
rejoicing emphasis he can exclaim--"Truly our fellowship IS with ...
_Jesus Christ_."
Amid so much that is fugitive here, how the heart clings to this
assurance of the abiding presence of the Saviour! Our best earthly
friends--a few weeks may estrange them;--centuries have rolled
on--Christ is still the same. How blessed to think, that if I am indeed
a child of God, there is not the lonely instant I am without His
guardianship! When the beams of the morning visit my chamber, the
brighter beams of a brighter Sun are shining upon me. When the shadows
of evening are gathering around, "it is not night, if He, the unsetting
'Sun of my soul,' is near." His is no fitful companionship--present in
prosperity, gone in adversity. He never changes. He is always the
same,--in sickness and solitude, in joy and in sorrow, in life and in
death. Not more faithfully did the pillar-cloud and column of fire of
old precede Israel, till the last murmuring ripple of Jordan fell on
their ears on the shores of Canaan, than does the presence and love of
Jesus abide with His people. Has His word of promise ever proved false?
Let the great cloud of witnesses now in glory testify. "Not one thing
hath failed of all that the Lord our God hath spoken." _This_ "word of
the Lord is tried"--"having loved His own, which were in the world, He
loved them _unto the end_."
Believer! art thou troubled and tempted? Do dark providences and severe
afflictions seem to belie the truth and reality of this gracious
assurance? Art thou ready, with Gideon, to say, "If the Lord be indeed
with us, why has all this befallen us?" Be assured He has some faithful
end in view. By the removal of prized and cherished earthly props and
refuges, He would unfold more of his own tenderness. Amid the wreck and
ruin of earthly joys, which, it may be, the grave has hidden from your
sight, One nearer, dearer, tenderer still, would have you say of
Himself, "_The Lord liveth_; and blessed be my Rock; and let the God of
my salvation be exalted." "Thanks be to God, who _always_ maketh us to
triumph in Christ." Yes! and never more so than when, stripped of all
competing objects of creature affection, we are left, like the disciples
on the mount, with "_Jesus only_!"
"THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU, THAT IN ME YE MIGHT HAVE PEACE."
26TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet he shall live."--John. xi. 25.
The Resurrection and Life.
What a voice is this breaking over a world which for six thousand years
has been a dormitory of sin and death! For four thousand of these years,
heathendom could descry no light through the bars of the grave; her
oracles were dumb on the great doctrine of a future state, and more
especially regarding the body's resurrection. Even the Jewish Church,
under the Old Testament dispensation, seemed to enjoy little more than
fitful and uncertain glimmerings, like men groping in the dark. It
required death's great Abolisher to show, to a benighted world, the
luminous "path of life." With Him rested the "bringing in of a better
hope"--the unfolding of "the mystery which had been hid from ages and
generations." Marvellous disclosure! that this mortal frame, decomposed
and resolved into its original dust, shall yet start from its ashes,
remodelled and reconstructed--"a glorified body!" Not like "the earthly
tabernacle" (a mere shifting and moveable _tent_, as the word denotes),
but incorruptible--immortal! The beauteous transformation of the insect
from its chrysalis state--the buried seed springing up from its tiny
grave to the full-eared corn or gorgeous flower--these are nature's mute
utterances as to the possibility of this great truth, which required the
unfoldings of "a more sure word of prophecy." But the Gospel has fully
revealed what Reason, in her loftiest imaginings, could not have dreamt
of. Jesus "hath brought life and immortality to light." He, the Bright
and Morning Star, hath "turned the shadow of death into the morning." He
gives, in His own resurrection, the earnest of that of His people;--He
is the first-fruits of the immortal harvest yet to be gathered into the
garner of Heaven.
Precious truth! This "word of Jesus" spans like a celestial rainbow the
entrance to the dark valley. Death is robbed of its sting. In the case
of every child of God, the grave holds in custody precious, because
redeemed, dust. Talk of it not, as being committed to a dishonoured
tomb!--it is locked up, rather, in the casket, of God until the day
"when He maketh up His jewels," when it will be fashioned in deathless
beauty like unto the glorified body of the Redeemer. Angels, meanwhile,
are commissioned to keep watch over it, till the trump of the archangel
shall proclaim the great "Easter of creation." They are the "reapers,"
waiting for the world's great "Harvest Home," when Jesus Himself shall
come again--not as He once did, humiliated and in sorrow, but rejoicing
in the thought of bringing back all His sheaves with him.
Afflicted and bereaved Christian!--thou who mayest be mourning in
bitterness those who are not--rejoice through thy tears in these hopes
"full of immortality." The silver cord is only "loosed," not broken.
Perchance, as thou standest in the chamber of death, or by the brink of
the grave,--in the depths of that awful solitude and silence which
reigns around, this may be thy plaintive and mournful soliloquy--"Shall
the dust praise Thee?" Yes, it _shall_! This very dust that hears now
unheeded thy footsteps, and unmoved thy tears, shall through eternity
praise its redeeming God--it shall proclaim His truth!
"LORD, TO WHOM SHALL WE GO BUT UNTO THEE, THOU HAST THE _WORDS_ OF
_ETERNAL LIFE_."
27TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again, a little while,
and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father."--John xvi. 16.
The Little While.
Long seem the moments when we are separated from the friend we love. An
absent brother--how his return is looked and longed for! The "Elder
Brother"--the "Living Kinsman"--sends a message to His waiting Church
and people--a word of solace, telling that _soon_ ("a little while,")
and He will be back again, never again to leave them.
There are indeed blessed moments of communion which the believer enjoys
with His beloved Lord _now_; but how fitful and transient! To-day, life
is a brief Emmaus journey--the soul happy in the presence and love of an
unseen Saviour. To-morrow, He is _gone_; and the bereft spirit is led
to interrogate itself in plaintive sorrow,--"Where is now thy God?" Even
when there is no such experience of darkness and depression, how much
there is in the world around to fill the believer with sadness! His Lord
rejected and disowned--His love set at nought--His providences
slighted--His name blasphemed--His creation groaning and travailing in
pain--disunion, too, among His people--His loving heart wounded in the
house of His friends!
But "yet a little while," and all this mystery of iniquity will be
finished. The absent Brother's footfall will soon be heard,--no longer
"as a wayfaring man who turneth aside to tarry for a night," but to
receive His people into the permanent "mansions" His love has been
preparing, and from which they shall go no more out. Oh, blessed day!
when creation will put on her Easter robes--when her Lord, so long
dishonoured, will be enthroned amid the hosannahs of a rejoicing
universe--angels lauding Him--saints crowning Him--sin, the dark
plague-spot on His universe, extinguished for ever--death swallowed up
in eternal victory!
And it is but "a little while!" "Yet a little while," we elsewhere read,
"and He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry" (literally, "a
little while as may be.") "He will stay not a moment longer," says
Goodwin, "than He hath despatched all our business in Heaven for us."
With what joy will He send His mission-Angel with the announcement, "the
little while is at an end;" and to issue the invitation to the great
festival of glory, "Come! for all things are ready!"
Child of sorrow! think often of this "_little while_." "The days of thy
mourning will soon be ended." There is a limit set to thy suffering
time,--"After that ye have suffered a WHILE." Every wave is numbered
between you and the haven; and then when that haven is reached, oh, what
an apocalypse of glory!--the "little while" of time merged into the
great and unending "while of eternity!"--to be _for ever with the
Lord_--the same unchanged and unchanging Saviour!
"A little while, and ye _shall_ see me!" Would that the eye of faith
might be kept more intently fixed on "that glorious appearing!" How the
world, with its guilty fascinations, tries to dim and obscure this
blessed hope! How the heart is prone to throw out its fibres here, and
get them rooted in some perishable object! Reader! seek to dwell more
habitually on this the grand consummation of all thy dearest wishes.
"Stand on the edge of your nest, pluming your wings for flight." Like
the mother of Sisera, be looking for the expected chariot.
"HE IS FAITHFUL THAT PROMISED."
28TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."--Matt. v.
8.
The Beatific Vision.
Here Is Heaven! This "word of Jesus" represents the future state of the
glorified to consist not in locality, but in character; the essence of
its bliss is the full vision and fruition of God. Our attention is
called from all vague and indefinite theories about the
_circumstantials_ of future happiness. The one grand object of
contemplation--the "glory which excelleth," is _the sight of God
Himself_! The one grand practical lesson enforced on His people, is the
cultivation of that purity of heart without which none could _see_, or
(even could we suppose it possible to be admitted to _see_ Him) none
could _enjoy_ God! "The kingdom of Heaven cometh not with observation
... the kingdom of God is _within_ you."
Reader, hast thou attained any of this heart-purity and
heart-preparation? It has been beautifully said that "the openings of
the streets of heaven are on earth." Even here we may enjoy, in the
possession of holiness, some foretaste of coming bliss. Who has not felt
that the happiest moments of their lives were those of close walking
with God--nearness to the mercy-seat--when self was surrendered, and the
eye was directed to the glory of Jesus, with most single, unwavering,
undivided aim? What will Heaven be, but the entire surrender of the soul
to Him, without any bias to evil, without the fear of corruption within
echoing to temptation without; every thought brought into captivity to
the obedience of Christ; no contrariety to His mind; all in blessed
unison with His will; the whole _being_ impregnated with holiness--the
intellect purified and ennobled, consecrating all its powers to His
service--memory, a holy repository of pure and hallowed
recollections--the affections, without one competing rival, purged from
all the dross of earthliness--the love of God, the one supreme animating
passion--the glory of God, the motive principle interfused through every
thought, and feeling, and action of the life immortal; in one word, the
heart a pellucid fountain; no sediment to dim its purity, "no angel of
sorrow" to come and trouble the pool! The long night of life over, and
_this_ the glory of the eternal morrow which succeeds it! "I shall be
satisfied when I awake, with _Thy_ likeness."
Yes, this is Heaven, subjectively and objectively--_purity of heart_ and
"_God all in all_!" Much, doubtless, there may and will be of a
subordinate kind, to intensify the bliss of the redeemed; communion with
saints and angels; re-admission into the society of death-divided
friends: but all these will fade before the great central glory, "God
Himself shall be with them, and be their God; they shall _see his
face_!" Believers have been aptly called _heliotropes_--turning their
faces as the sunflower towards the Sun of Righteousness, and hanging
their leaves in sadness and sorrow, when that Sun is away. It will be in
heaven the emblem is complete. _There_, every flower in the heavenly
garden will be turned Godwards, bathing its tints of loveliness in the
glory that excelleth! Reader, may it be yours, when o'er-canopied by
that cloudless sky, to know all the marvels contained in these few
glowing words, "We shall be like Him, for we shall see him as He is."
"AND EVERY MAN THAT HATH THIS HOPE IN HIM PURIFIETH HIMSELF EVEN AS
HE IS PURE."
29TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"In my Father's house are many mansions."--John xiv. 2.
The Many Mansions.
What a home aspect there is in this "word of Jesus!" He comforts His
Church by telling them that soon their wilderness-wanderings will be
finished,--the tented tabernacle suited to their present probation-state
exchanged for the enduring "mansion!" Nor will it be any strange
dwelling: a _Father's_ home--a _Father's_ welcome awaits them. There
will be accommodation for all. Thousands have already entered its
shining gates,--patriarchs, prophets, saints, martyrs, young and old,
and still there is room!
The pilgrim's motto on earth is, "Here we have no continuing city." Even
"Sabbath tents" must be struck. Holy seasons of communion must
terminate. "Arise, let us go hence!" is a summons which disturbs the
sweetest moments of tranquillity in the Church below; but _in Heaven_,
every believer becomes a pillar in the temple of God, and "he shall _go
no more out_." Here it is but the lodging of a wayfarer turning aside to
tarry for the brief night of earth. Here we are but "tenants at will;"
our possessions are but moveables--ours to-day, gone to-morrow. But
these many "mansions" are an inheritance incorruptible and unfading.
Nothing can touch the heavenly patrimony. Once within the Father's
house, and we are in the house for ever!
Think, too, of Jesus, gone to _prepare_ these mansions,--"I go to
prepare a place for you." What a wondrous thought--Jesus now busied in
Heaven in His Church's behalf! He can find no abode in all His wide
dominions, befitting as a permanent dwelling for His ransomed ones. He
says, "I will make new heavens and a new earth. I will found a special
kingdom--I will rear eternal mansions expressly for those I have
redeemed with my blood!"
Reader, let the prospect of a dwelling in this "house of the Lord for
ever," reconcile thee to any of the roughnesses or difficulties in thy
present path--to thy pilgrim provision and pilgrim fare. Let the distant
beacon-light, that so cheeringly speaks of a _Home_ brighter and better
far than the happiest of earthly ones, lead thee to forget the
intervening billows, or to think of them only as wafting thee nearer and
nearer to thy desired haven! "Would," says a saint, who has now entered
on his rest, "that one could read, and write, and pray, and eat and
drink, and compose one's self to sleep, as with the thought,--soon to be
in heaven, and that for ever and ever!"
"My Father's house!" How many a departing spirit has been cheered and
consoled by the sight of these glorious Mansions looming through the
mists of the dark valley,--the tears of weeping friends rebuked by the
gentle chiding--"If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go
unto _my Father_!" Death truly is but the entrance to this our Father's
house. We speak of the "_shadow of death_"--it is only the shadow which
falls on the portico as we stand for a moment knocking at the longed-for
gate--the next! a Father's voice of welcome is heard--
"SON! THOU ART EVER WITH ME, AND ALL THAT I HAVE IS THINE."
30TH DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am,
there ye may be also."--John xiv. 3.
The Promised Return.
Another "word of promise" concerning the Church's "blessed hope."
Orphaned pilgrims, dry your tears! Soon the Morning Hour will strike,
and the sighs of a groaning and burdened creation be heard no more.
Earth's six thousand years of toil and sorrow are waning; the Millennial
Sabbath is at hand. Jesus will soon be heard to repeat concerning all
his sleeping saints, what He said of old regarding one of them: "I go to
awake them out of sleep!" Your beloved Lord's first coming was in
humiliation and woe; His name was--the "Man of Sorrows;" He had to
travel on, amid darkness and desertion, His blood-stained path; a
chaplet of thorns was the only crown He bore. But soon He will come "the
second time without a sin-offering unto salvation," never again to leave
His Church, but to receive those who followed Him in His cross, to be
everlasting partakers with Him in His crown. He may seem to tarry.
External nature, in her unvarying and undeviating sequences, gives no
indication of His approach. Centuries have elapsed since He uttered the
promise, and still He lingers; the everlasting hills wear no streak of
approaching dawn; we seem to listen in vain for the noise of His chariot
wheels. "But the Lord is not slack concerning His promise;" He gives you
"this word" in addition to many others as a _keepsake_--a pledge and
guarantee for the certainty of His return,--"_I will come again._"
Who can conceive all the surpassing blessedness connected with that
advent? The Elder Brother arrived to fetch the younger brethren
home!--the true Joseph revealing Himself in unutterable tenderness to
the brethren who were once estranged from Him--"receiving them unto
himself"--not satisfied with apportioning a kingdom for them, but, as if
all His own joy and bliss were intermingled with theirs, "Where _I am_,"
says He, "there _you_ must be also." "Him that overcometh," says He
again, "will I grant to sit with Me on My Throne."
Believer, can you _now_ say with some of the holy transport of the
apostle, "Whom having not seen, we love?" What must it be when you come
to see Him "face to face," and that for ever and ever! If you can tell
of precious hours of communion in a sin-stricken, woe-worn world, with a
treacherous heart, and an imperfect or divided love, what must it be
when you come, in a sinless, sorrowless state, with purified and renewed
affections, to see the King in His beauty! The letter of an absent
brother, cheering and consolatory as it is, is a poor compensation for
the joys of personal and visible communion. The absent Elder Brother on
the Throne speaks to you _now_ only by His Word and Spirit,--soon you
shall be admitted to His immediate fellowship, seeing him "as He is"--He
Himself unfolding the wondrous chart of His providence and
grace--leading you about from fountain to fountain among the living
waters, and with his own gentle hand wiping the last lingering tear-drop
from your eye. _Heaven an everlasting home with Jesus!_ "Where I am,
there ye may be also."--He has appended a cheering postscript to this
word, on which He has "caused us to hope:"--
"HE WHICH TESTIFIETH THESE THINGS SAITH, SURELY I COME QUICKLY."
31ST DAY.
"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find
watching."--Luke xii. 37.
The Closing Benediction.
Child of God! is this thine attitude, as the expectant of thy Lord's
appearing? Are thy loins girded, and thy lights burning? If the cry were
to break upon thine ears this day, "Behold the Bridegroom cometh,"
couldst thou joyfully respond--"Lo, this is my God, I have waited for
him?" WHEN He may come, we cannot tell;--ages may elapse before _then_.
It may be centuries before our graves are gilded with the beams of a
Millennial sun; but while He _may_ or may _not_ come _soon_, He _must_
come at some time--ay, and the day of our death is virtually to all of
us the day of His coming.
Reader! put not off the solemn preparation. Be not deceived or deluded
with the mocker's presumptuous challenge, "Where is the promise of His
coming?" See to it that the calls of an engrossing world without, do not
foster this procrastinating spirit within. It may be now or never with
thee. Put not off thy sowing time till harvest time. Leave nothing for a
dying hour, _but to die_, and calmly to resign thy spirit into the hands
of Jesus. Of all times, _that_ is the least suitable to have the vessel
plenished--to attend to the great business of life when life is
ebbing--to trim the lamp when the oil is done and it is flickering in
its socket--to begin to watch, when the summons is heard to leave the
watch-tower to meet our God!
Were you never struck how often, amid the many _gentle_ words of Jesus,
the summons "to watch," is over and over repeated, like a succession of
alarum-bells breaking ever and anon, amid chimes of heavenly music, to
rouse a sleeping Church and a slumbering world?
Let this last "word" of thy Lord's send thee to thy knees with the
question,--"Am I indeed a servant of Christ?" Have I fled to Him, and am
I reposing in Him, as my only Saviour?--or am I still lingering, like
Lot, when I should be escaping--sleeping, when I should be
waking--neglecting and trifling, when "a long eternity is lying at my
door?" He is my last and only refuge; neglect Him--_all is lost_!
Believer! thou who art standing on thy watch-tower, be more faithful
than ever at thy post. Remember what is implied in watching. It is no
dreamy state of inactive torpor: it is a holy jealousy over the
heart--wakeful vigilance regarding sin--every avenue and loophole of the
soul carefully guarded. _Holy living_ is the best, the _only_,
preparative for _holy dying_. "Persuade yourself," says Rutherford,
"the King is coming. Read His letter sent before Him, 'Behold I come
quickly;' wait with the wearied night-watch for the breaking of the
Eastern sky."
Let these "_Words of Jesus_" we have now been meditating upon in this
little volume, be as the Golden Bells of old, hung on the vestments of
the officiating High Priest, emitting sweet sounds to His spiritual
Israel--telling that the _true High Priest_ is still living and pleading
in "the Holiest of all;" and that soon He will come forth to pour His
blessing on His waiting Church. We have been pleasingly employed in
gathering up a few "crumbs" falling from "the Master's table." Soon we
shall have, not the "_Words_" but the _presence_ of Jesus--not the
crumbs falling from His table, but everlasting fellowship with the
Master Himself.
"AMEN, EVEN SO, COME LORD JESUS."
"Wherefore
Comfort One Another
with
THESE WORDS."
1 THESS. iv. 18.
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