DECEMBER 1
"He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness."—Mal 3:3
"Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer."—Prov 25:4
Mark the great and glorious end of this fiery process: a righteous offering to the Lord, and a vessel formed, prepared, and beautified for the Refiner; a "vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use" (2 Tim 2:21). Blessed result! Oh, the wonders wrought by the fire of God's furnace! Not only is God glorified in the fire, but the believer is sanctified. Have you ever observed the process of the artificer in the preparation of his beautiful ornament? After removing it from its mold, skillfully and properly formed, he then traces upon it the design he intended it should bear, dipping his pencil in varied hues of the brightest coloring. But the work is not yet finished. The shape of that ornament is yet to be fixed, the figures set, the colors perpetuated, and the whole work consolidated. By what process? By passing through the fire. The fire alone completes the work.
Thus is it with the chastened soul, that beautifully constructed vessel which is to adorn the palace of our King through eternity, the gaze, the wonder, the delight of every holy intelligence. God has cast it into the divine mold and has drawn upon it the image of His Son with a pencil dipped in heaven's own colors; but it must pass through the furnace of affliction to stamp completeness and eternity upon the whole. Calmly, then, repose in the hands of thy divine Artificer, asking not for the extinguishment of a spark until the holy work is completed. God may temper and soften, for He never withdraws His eye from the work for one moment, but great will be your loss if you lose the affliction unsanctified! Could we with a clearer vision of faith but see the reason and the design of God in sending the chastisement, all marvel would cease, all murmur would be hushed, and not a painful dispensation of our Father would afford us needless trouble.
David's pen never wrote more sweetly than when dipped in the ink of affliction. And never did his harp send forth deeper, richer melody than when the breath of sadness swept its strings. This has been the uniform testimony of the saints of God in every age. "It is good for me that I have been afflicted. [Ps 119:71] ... Before I was afflicted I went
astray, but now have I kept thy law" (Ps 119:67). Learn to see a Father's hand, yea, a Father's heart, in every affliction. It is not a vindictive enemy who has chastened you, but a loving Friend; not an unfeeling stranger, but a tender Father, who, though He may cast you down in the dust, will never cast you off from His love. The Captain of your salvation, Himself made perfect through suffering, only designs your higher spiritual promotion in His army by each sanctified affliction sent. You are on your way to the mansion prepared for you by the Savior, to the kingdom bestowed upon you by God. The journey is short, and time is fleeting; though the cross is heavy and the path is rough, you have not far nor long to carry it. Let the deep sigh be checked by the throb of gladness which this prospect should create. "He will not always chide: neither will he retain his anger for ever" (Ps 103:9). The wind will not always moan, nor the waters be always tempestuous; the dull vapor will not float along the sky forever, nor the sunbeams be wreathed in darkness forever. Thy Father's love will not always speak in muffled tones, nor thy Savior hide Himself forever behind the wall or within the lattice. That wind will yet breathe music, those waters will yet be still; that vapor will yet evaporate; that sun will yet break forth;
thy Father's love will speak again in unmuffled strains, and thy Savior will manifest Himself without a veil. Pensive child of sorrow! Weary pilgrim of grief! Timid, yet prayerful; doubting, yet hoping; guilty, yet penitent; laying thy hand on the head of the great appointed Sacrifice, thou lookest up with tears, confessing thy sin, and pleading in faith the blood of sprinkling. Oh, rejoice that this painful travail of soul is but the Spirit's preparation for the seat awaiting you in the upper temple, where the days of your mourning will be ended. You may carry the cross to the last step of the journey, weeping even up to heaven's gate, but there thou shalt lay that cross down, and the last bitter tear shall there be wiped away forever! Truly we may exclaim, "Blessed is the man whom thou chasteneth, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law" (Ps 94:12).
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DECEMBER 2
"The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness."—Ps 41:3
What a view this touching expression gives of the consideration of our heavenly Father—stooping down to the couch of His sick child, softening the sickness by a thousand nameless kindnesses, alleviating suffering, and mitigating pain. Would
you learn the Lord's touching tenderness towards His people? Go to the sick chamber of one whom He loves! Ten thousand books will not teach you what that visit will. Listen to the testimony of the emaciated sufferer: "His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me" (Song 2:6). What more can we desire? What stronger witness do we ask? Is Jesus there? Is His loving bosom the pillow, and is His encircling arm the support of the drooping patient? Is Christ both the physician and the nurse? Is His finger upon the fluttering pulse, does His hand administer the drink, does He adjust the pillow and make the bed in sickness? Even so. Oh, what glory beams around the sick one whom Jesus loves!
Trace it, too, in the grace which He measures out to the languid sufferer. The season of sickness is a season of special and great grace in the Christian's life. Many a child of God only knew his adoption faintly, and his interest in Christ imperfectly, until then. His Christianity was always uncertain, his evidences vague, and his soul unhealthy. Living, perhaps, in the turmoil of the secular world, or amid the excitement of the religious world, he knew little of communion with his own heart, or of converse with the heart of God. No time was extracted from other and all-absorbing engagements, and consecrated
to the high and hallowed purposes of self-examination, meditation, reading, and prayer, elements entering essentially and deeply into the advancement of the life of God in the soul of man. But sickness has come, and with it some of the costliest and holiest blessings of his life. A degree of grace is imparted, answerable to all the holy and blessed ends for which it was sent.
And now, how resplendent with the glory of divine grace has that chamber of sickness become! We trace it in the spirit and conduct of that pale, languid sufferer. See the patience with which he possesses his soul; the fervor with which he kisses the rod; the meekness with which he bows to the stroke; the subduing, softening, humbling of his spirit, once, perhaps, so lofty, fretful, and sensitive to suffering. These days of weariness and pain, these nights of sleeplessness and exhaustion, how slowly, how tediously they dray along! Yet not an impatient sigh, nor a murmuring breath, nor an unsubmissive expression breaks from the quivering lip. This is not natural; this is above nature. What but divine and special grace could effect it? Oh, how is the Son of God, in His fullness of grace and truth, glorified thereby!
DECEMBER 3
"Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful."—Rom 7:13
No child of God, if he is advancing in the divine life, must not mourn over his defective views of sin. The holier he grows, the more sensible he is of this; in fact, may we not add, the deeper the view of his own vileness, the stronger the evidence of his growth in sanctification. One of the surest symptoms of the onward progress of the soul in its spiritual course is a growing hatred of sin, of little sins, of great sins, of all sin—sin detected in the indwelling principle, as well as sin observable in the outward practice. The believer himself may not be sensible of it, but others see it; to him it may be like a retrograde, to an observer it is an evidence of advance. The child of God is not the best judge of his own spiritual growth. He may be rapidly advancing when not sensible of it. The tree may be growing downwards, it roots may be expanding and grasping more firmly the soil in which they are concealed, and yet the appearance of growth be not very apparent. There is an inward, concealed, yet effectual growth of grace in the soul; the believer
may not be sensible of it, and even others may overlook it, but God sees it. It is His own work, and He does not think lightly of it. God, in His gracious dealings with the believer, often works by contraries. He opens the eye of His child to the deep depravity of the heart, discloses to him the chamber of imagery, reveals to him the sin unsuspected, unrepented, unconfessed, that lies deeply embedded there. And why? Only to make His child more holy; to compel him to repair to the mercy seat, there to cry, to plead, to wrestle for its subjection, mortification, and crucifixion. And through this circuitous process, as it were, the believer presses on to high and higher degrees of holiness. In this way, too, the believer earnestly seeks for humility by a deep discovery which the Lord gives him of the pride of his heart, for meekness by a discovery of petulance, for resignation to God's will by a sense of restlessness and impatience, and so on, through all the graces of the blessed Spirit. Thus there is a great growth in grace when a believer's views of sin's exceeding sinfulness and the inward plague are deepening.
But how are these views of sin to be deepened? By constant, close views of the blood of Christ and realizing apprehensions of the atonement. This is the only glass through which sin is seen in its greater magnitude. Let the Christian
reader, then, deal much and often with the blood of Christ. Oh, that we should need to be urged to this! That once having bathed in the open fountain, we should ever look to any other mode of healing and of sanctification! For let it never be forgotten that a child of God is as much called to live on Christ for sanctification as for pardon. "Sanctify them through thy truth" (John 17:17). And who is the truth? Jesus Himself answers, "I am...the truth" (John 14:6). We are to live on Jesus for sanctification; happy and holy is he who thus lives on Jesus. The fullness of grace that is treasured up in Christ, why is it there? For the sanctification of His people, for the subduing of all their sins. Oh, forget not, then, that He is the Refiner as well as the Savior, the Sanctifier as well as the Redeemer. Take your indwelling corruptions to Him; take the easy besetting sin, the weakness, the infirmity of whatever nature it is, to Jesus at once. His grace can make you all that He would have you to be.
Remember, too, that one of the great privileges of the life of faith is living on Christ for the daily subduing of all sin. This is the faith that purifies the heart, and it purifies by leading the believer to live out of himself on Christ. Our Lord Jesus referred to this blessed and holy life when speaking of its necessity in order to the spiritual
fruitfulness of the believer: "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:4-5).
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DECEMBER 4
"The Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified."—John 7:39
Our Lord's triumphant entrance into glory was the signal of the Holy Spirit's descent. Scarcely had He crossed the threshold of the heavenly temple and the august ceremonies of His enthronement amid the songs of adoring millions had just ceased when the promise of the Father was fulfilled, and the orphan church of Jerusalem was baptized with the Spirit from on high. How soon was that promise fulfilled! How soon did Jesus make good the pledges of His love! The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost transpired fifty days after Christ's resurrection. For forty days, He was seen of the disciples, "to whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs" (Acts 1:3). Consequently, only ten days elapsed from the period of His return to His kingdom before
the Spirit came down in all the plenitude of His glorifying, witnessing, awakening, and sanctifying power! And why were even ten days allowed to intervene between the glorification of Jesus and the descent of the Spirit? Doubtless to prepare the church to receive so vast, so holy, and so rich a blessing. The Lord would have them found in a posture suited to the mercy. It was that of prayer, the most blessed and holy of all postures this side of glory. Thus the Spirit found them on the Day of Pentecost. Returning from the mount of Olivet, where they had caught the last glimpse of the receding form of their ascending Lord, they came to Jerusalem and went up into the upper room, where the rest of the disciples abode. "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication" (Acts 1:14). And while "they were all with one accord in one place," breathing forth their souls in fervent petition, "suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:1-4).
Now how manifestly and how illustriously was Jesus glorified! With what overpowering effulgence did His Godhead shine forth, and how
gloriously did He appear in the eyes of the awed multitude, wearing the crown and invested with the robe, not of painful thorns and mock-majesty, but of His real Divinity! With what majestic manner and stately step would He now walk amid the assembled throng as God confessed! And all this divine glory would be seen arrayed on the side of Redemption; its conquests would be those of Grace; its manifestations, those of Love; its signals, those of Mercy. Was it not so? See how they crowd the temple! Some with hands scarcely cleansed from the blood they had been shedding on Calvary; others with the dark scowl of malignity yet lingering on their brows. Mark how intently they gaze! How breathlessly they listen! How fearfully they tremble! With what anguish they smite upon their breasts and cry, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37). The Spirit did not rest its triumph here; it did not pause until it led three thousand heartbroken sinners to the Fountain which some of them had been instrumental in opening for "sin and uncleanness," from thence to emerge washed, sanctified, and saved, the heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ Jesus. Now was Jesus glorified, now was a crown of pure gold placed upon His head, and now was fulfilled His own prophetic words,
"At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you" (John 14:20).
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DECEMBER 5
"As ye therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving."—Col 2:6-7
By simple, close, and crucifying views of the cross of Christ, the Spirit most effectually sanctifies the believer. This is the true and great method of gospel sanctification. Here lies the secret of all real holiness, and, may I not add, of all real happiness. For if we separate happiness from holiness, we separate that which, in the covenant of grace, God has wisely and indissolubly united. The experience of the true believer must testify to this. We are only happy as we are holy and as the body of sin is daily crucified, the power of the indwelling principle weakened, and the outward deportment more beautifully and closely corresponding to the example of Jesus. Let us not, then, look for a happy walk apart from a holy one. Trials we may have; yea, if we are the Lord's covenant ones, we shall have them, for He Himself hath said, "in the world ye shall have tribulation" (John 16:33). We may meet with
disappointments—broken cisterns, thorny roads, wintry skies. But if we are walking in fellowship with God, dwelling in the light, growing up into Christ in all things, the Spirit of adoption witnessing within us, and leading to a filial and unreserved surrender, then there is happiness unspeakable even in the very depth of outward trial. A holy walk is a happy walk; this is God's order, it is His appointment, and therefore must be wise and good.
Seek high attainments in holiness. Be not satisfied with a low measure of grace, with a dwarfish religion, with just enough Christianity to admit you into heaven. Oh, how many are thus content, satisfied to leave the great question of their acceptance to be decided in another world and not in this, resting upon some slight evidence, in itself faint and equivocal—perhaps a former experience, some impressions, or sensations, or transient joys, long since passed away. Thus they are content to live, and thus content to die. Dear reader, do not be satisfied with anything short of a present Christ, received, enjoyed, and lived upon. Forget the things that are behind; reach forth unto higher attainments in sanctification; seek to have the daily witness, daily communion with God; and for your own sake, for the sake of
others, and for Christ's sake, "give diligence to make your calling and election sure" (2 Pet 1:10).
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DECEMBER 6
"God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord."—1 Cor 1:9
Faith has something still more substantial and firm to rest upon than even the divine assertions of the truth, something superior to the affirmation of the promise: the faithfulness of the divine Promiser Himself. Faith has its stronghold not in the word of God merely, but the God of the Word. God must be faithful because He is essentially true and immutable. He cannot deny Himself; it is impossible for God to lie. What asseverations of any truth can be stronger? Now, believer, have faith in God as true to His Word and faithful to His promise. Has the Spirit, the Comforter, caused your soul to rely upon His promises and to hope in His Word? Have you nothing but His declaration to bear you up? Stand fast to this Word, for God, who cannot lie, stands by to make it good. Have faith in His faithfulness. You cannot dishonor him more than in doubting Him. If to discredit the word of man were an impeachment of his veracity, and that impeachment were the darkest blot that you could let fall upon his
character, what must be the dishonor done to God by a poor sinful mortal distrusting His faithfulness and questioning His truth! But God is faithful. Have faith in Him as such. He is engaged to perfect that which concerns you, to supply all your need, to guide your soul through the wilderness, to cover your head in the day of battle, and to conduct you to ultimate victory and rest. Oh, trust Him. It is all that He asks of you.
Are you in a day of trouble? A season of pressure? Is your position perilous? Are your present circumstances embarrassed? Now is the time to trust in the Lord. "Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me" (Ps 50:15). Oh, if God were to speak audibly to you at this moment, I think these would be the words that He would utter: "Have faith in my faithfulness. Have I ever been untrue to my engagements, false to my word, forgetful of my covenant, neglectful of my people? Have I been a wilderness to thee? What evil hast thou found in me, what untruth, what wavering, what instability, what change, that thou dost not now trust me in this the time of thy need?" Oh, let thy soul be humbled that you should ever have doubted the veracity, have distrusted the faithfulness of thy God. But "if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself" (2 Tim 2:13).
"A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he" (Deut 32:4).
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DECEMBER 7
"For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"—Rom 7:22-24
Regeneration does not transform flesh into spirit. It does not propose to eradicate and expel the deep-seated root of our degenerate nature, but it imparts an additional nature—it implants a new and an antagonistic principle. This new nature is divine, this new principle is holy, and thus the believer becomes the subject of two natures, and his soul a battlefield upon which a perpetual conflict is going on between the law of the members and the law of the mind, often resulting in his temporary captivity to the law of sin which is in his members. Thus, every spiritual mind is painfully conscious of the earthly tendency of his evil nature, and that he can derive no sympathy or help from the flesh, but rather everything that discourages, encumbers, and retards his spirit in its breathings and strugglings after holiness. A
mournful sense of the seductive power of earthly things deeply enters into this state of mind. As we bear about with us, in every step, an earthly nature, it is not surprising that its affinities and sympathies should be earthly and that earthly objects should possess a magnetic influence, perpetually attracting to themselves whatever is congenial with their own nature in the soul of the renewed man. Our homeward path lies through a captivating and ensnaring world. The world, chameleon-like, can assume any color and shape suitable to its purpose and answerable to its end. There is not a mind, a conscience, or a taste to which it cannot accommodate itself. For the crass, it has sensual pleasures; for the refined, it has polished enjoyments; for the thoughtful, it has intellectual delights; for the enterprising, it has bold, magnificent schemes.
The child of God feels this engrossing power; he is conscious of this seductive influence. Who is entirely free from the power of worldly applause? Who can resist human adulation's incense? Who is free from creature's captivating power? Love of worldly ease and respectability, influence, and position; a liking to glide smoothly along the sunny tide of the world's good opinion; who is clad in a coat of mail so impervious as to resist these attacks? Have not the mightiest fallen before
them? These are some only of the many ensnaring influences which weave themselves around the path of the celestial traveler, often extorting from him the humiliating acknowledgment, "My soul cleaveth unto the dust" (Ps 119:25). In this category we may include things that, though they are in themselves of a lawful nature, yet tend to deteriorate the life of God in the soul. What heavenly mind is not sadly sensible of this? Our sleepless, subtle foe stands by and says, "This is lawful, and you may freely and unrestrictedly indulge in it." But another and a solemn voice is heard issuing from the sacred oracle of truth, "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient" (1 Cor 6:12). And yet how often are we forced to learn the lesson that lawful things may, in their wrong indulgence and influence, become unlawful through the spiritual leanness which they engender in the soul!
Oh, a narrow path conducts us back to Paradise. But our Lord and Master made it so; He Himself has trodden it, "leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps" (1 Pet 2:21); and He, too, is sufficient for its straitness. Yes; such is the gravitating tendency to earth of the carnal nature within us that we are ever prone and ever ready to retire into the circle of self-complaisance and self-indulgence at each bland
smile of the world, and verdant, sunny spot of the wilderness, and to take up our rest where real rest can never be found. Thus may even lawful affections and enjoyments, lawful pursuits and pleasures, wring the confession from the lips of a heavenly-minded man, "My soul cleaveth unto the dust" (Ps 119:25).
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DECEMBER 8
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."—Rev 21:4
In heaven we shall be freed from indwelling evil and delivered from the tyranny of corruption. Sin, now our thrall, our torment, and our burden, will then enslave, distress, and oppress us no more. The chain which now binds us to the dead, loathsome body of our humiliation will be broken, and we shall be forever free! To you who cry, "O wretched man that I am," who know the inward plague and feel that there is not one moment of the day in which you do not come short of the divine glory, whose heaviest burden, bitterest sorrow, and deepest humiliation springs from the consciousness of sin—what a glorious prospect is this! "It doth not yet appear what we shall be:
but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). The absence of all evil and the presence of all good constitute elements of the heavenly state, the blessedness of which is beyond the conception of the human mind. Assure me that in glory all the effects and consequences of the curse are done away; that the heart bleeds no more; that the spirit grieves no more; that temptation assails no more; that sickness, bereavement, separation, and disappointment are forms of suffering forever unknown; and let the Spirit bear His witness with my spirit, that I am a child of God; and a door is open to me in heaven through which a tide of "joy unspeakable and full of glory" rushes in upon my soul. This is heaven!
But heaven is not merely a place of negative blessedness. There is the positive presence of all good. "In thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Ps 16:11). The soul is with Christ in the presence of God and in the complete enjoyment of all that He has prepared for them that love Him. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard" the inconceivable blessedness in the full ocean of which all soul, all intellect, all purity, all love now rejoices. Its society is genial, its employments are delightful, its joys are ever new. How deeply does it now
drink of God's everlasting love; with what wondering delight it now surveys the glory of Immanuel. How clearly it reads the mysterious volume of all the divine conduct below, and how loud its deep songs of praise as each new page unfolds the "breadth, and length, and depth, and height...of the love of Christ" (Eph 3:18) which even then passes knowledge! Truly we may call upon the saints to be joyful in glory (Ps 149:5). Sing aloud, for you are now with Christ, you see God, and you are beyond the region of sin, of pain, of tears, of death, forever with the Lord.
But we cannot conceive, still less describe, the glorious prospects of believers; for "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Cor 2:9). We shall soon go home and experience it all. Then the eye will have seen, the ear will have heard, and the heart will have realized the things which God has laid up in Jesus from eternity and prepared in the everlasting covenant for the poorest, lowest, feeblest child, whose heart faintly, yet sincerely, thrilled in response of holy love to His.
DECEMBER 9
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."—Rom 5:1-2
What a ground of rejoicing have the saints of God! You may see within and around you, in your soul, in your family, and your circumstances, much that saddens, wounds, and discourages you; but behold the truth which more than counterbalances it all—your freedom from condemnation. What if you are poor? You are not condemned. What if you are afflicted? You are not condemned! What if you are tempted? You are not condemned! What if you are assailed and judged by others? You yet are not forsaken and condemned by God; ought you not then to rejoice? Go to the condemned cell, and assure the criminal awaiting his execution that you bear a pardon from his ruler, and though he emerge from his imprisonment and his manacles to battle with poverty, sorrow, and contempt, will he murmur and repine, that in the redemption of his forfeited life there is no clause that exempts him from the ills to which that life is linked? No! Life is so sweet and precious a thing to him that though you return it trammeled with want, and beclouded with shame, you have yet
conferred upon him a gift which creates sunshine all within and around him. And why should not we "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Pet 1:8), for whom, "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," there is now no condemnation? Christ has "redeemed our life from destruction" (Ps 103:4); and although it is through much tribulation we are to enter the kingdom, yet shall we not quicken our pace to that kingdom, rejoicing as we go, that "there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:1)? "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full" (John 15:11).
Be earnest and diligent in making sure to yourself your discharge from the sentence and penalty of the law. Test the great fact in the Lord's own court by fervent prayer and simple faith. Your Surety has cancelled your debt and purchased your exemption from death. Avail yourself of the comfort and the stimulus of the blessing. You may be certain, quite certain, of its truth. No process is more easy. Only look away from yourself to Christ, and believe with all your heart that He came into the world to save sinners, and assurance is yours. The order is this: "We believe, and are sure" (John 6:69). Oh, do not leave this matter to chance. Make sure of your
union with Christ, and you may be sure of no condemnation from Christ.
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DECEMBER 10
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me."—John 14:6
One of the most costly blessings flowing from the vital power of the atoning blood is the life and potency imparted to true prayer. The believer's path to communion with God is called the "new and living way" because it is the way of the living blood of the risen and living Savior. There could be no spiritual life in prayer but for the vitality in the atoning blood, which secures its acceptance. Not even the Holy Spirit could inspire the soul with one breath of true prayer, were not the atonement of the Son of God provided. Oh, how faintly do we know the wonders that are in, and the blessings that spring from, the life-procuring blood of our incarnate God!
In regard to prayer, I approach to God, oppressed with sins, heart crushed with sorrow, spirit trembling, shame and confusion covering my face, mouth dumb before Him. At that moment, the blood of Jesus is presented, faith beholds it, faith receives it, faith pleads it! There is life and power in that blood, and in an instant
my trembling soul is enabled to take hold of God's strength and be at peace with Him, and it is at peace. Of all the Christian privileges upon earth, none can surpass or even compare with the privilege of fellowship with God.
Yet, how restricted is this privilege in the experience of multitudes! And why? Simply because of their vague, imperfect, and contracted views of the connection of true prayer with the living blood of Jesus. And yet, what communion with the Father may the humblest, feeblest, and most unworthy child have at all times and in all circumstances, simply and believingly having made use of the blood of Christ! You approach without an argument or a plea. You have many sins to confess and sorrows to unveil, many requests to urge, many blessings to crave; and yet the deep consciousness of your utter vileness, the remembrance of mercies abused, of base, ungrateful requitals made, seals your lips, and you are speechless before God. Your overwhelmed spirit exclaims, "Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments" (Job 23:3-4). And now the Holy Spirit brings atoning blood to your help. You see this to be the one argument, the only plea that can prevail with God. You use it, you urge it, you
wrestle with it; God admits it, is moved by it, and you are blessed!
Let, then, the power of the blood encourage you to more diligently cultivate habitual communion with God. With sinking spirits, with even discouragement and difficulty, you may approach His divine Majesty and converse with Him as with a Father, resting your believing eye where He rests His complacent eye—upon the blood of Jesus. Oh, the blessedness, the power, the magic influence of prayer! Believer, you grasp the key that opens every chamber of God's heart when your tremulous faith takes hold of the blood of the covenant and pleads it in prayer with God. It is impossible that God can refuse you. The voice of the living blood pleads louder for you than all other voices can plead against you. Give yourself, then, to prayer, this sacred charm of sorrow, this divine amulet of hope.
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DECEMBER 11
"And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."—Luke 24:27
The perfect harmony of the Old and the New Testament confirms our faith in the divine authenticity of the Scriptures of truth. Upon what other ground can we account for this singular
agreement of the Word with itself, and for this exact and literal fulfillment of its predictions, but on that of its divinity? "Thy word is truth" (John 17:17) is the glorious and triumphant inference fairly deducible from a fact so striking and self-evident at this. In what, particularly, is this beautiful harmony especially seen? In exalting the Lamb of God. The Old and the New Testament Scriptures of truth do for Christ what Pilate and Herod did against Him—they align together. They unite in a holy alliance and a sublime unity of purpose to show forth the glory of the incarnate God. Divine book and precious volume!
Behold an illustration of what the church of the living God should be—a transparent body, illumined with the glory of Immanuel, and scattering its beams of light and beauty over the surface of a lost and benighted world. How much does a perfect representation of the glory of the Redeemer by the church depend upon her visible union! A mirror broken into a thousand fragments cannot reflect the glory of the sun with the same brilliancy, power, and effect as if a perfect whole. Neither can the church of God, dismembered, divided, and broken, present to the world the same harmonious, convincing, and effective testimony to the glory of Jesus, as when, in her unimpaired oneness, she "looketh forth as the
morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners" (Song 6:10).
Oh then, by all that is precious in the name of Jesus, sanctifying in His glory, and attractive in His cross, sweet and persuasive in Christian love, solemn in the near approach of death and eternity, blissful in the hope of eternal life, and springing from the one atonement, seek, reader, to promote the visible unity of Christ's church. Resolve beneath the cross and by the grace of God that you will not be a hindrance to the accomplishment of so blessed and so holy an end. Hold the faith with a firm hand, but hold it in righteousness. Speak the truth with all boldness, but speak it in love. Concede to others what you claim for yourself—the right of private judgment and the free exercise of an enlightened conscience. And where you see the image of Jesus reflected, the love of Jesus influencing, and the glory of Jesus simply and solely sought, there extend your hand, proffer your heart, and breathe your blessing and your prayer. This is to be like Christ; and to be like Christ is grace below and glory above!
DECEMBER 12
"But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."—Isa 53:5
A spiritual and continued contemplation of the Redeemer's humiliation supplies a powerful check to sin. What is every sin committed, but opening anew the wounds and humiliation of Jesus? In our serious moments, how hateful must that sin appear, which shut out the sun of God's countenance from the soul of Christ and sank Him to such inconceivable depths of humiliation! We need every view of divine truth calculated to sanctify. At present, the deepest sanctification of the believer is imperfect; his loftiest soaring toward holiness never reach the goal. And yet to be ever thirsting, panting, wrestling, and aiming after it should be classed among our highest mercies. Too often we forget that the thirsting for holiness is as much the Holy Spirit's creation as it is His work to quench that thirst. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness" (Matt 5:6); or, blessed are they who have the desire for divine conformity, who long to know Christ and to resemble Him more perfectly. They may never reach the mark, yet are ever pressing towards it;
they may never attain to their standard, yet ever aim for it, and they are truly blessed.
Here, then, is one powerful means of attaining holiness: the spiritual eye in close and frequent contact with the lowly life of God's dear Son. Except for our sins, His mind had never been shaded with clouds, His heart had never been wrung with sorrow, His eyes had never been filled with tears, and He had never suffered and died, knowing the wrath of an offended God. How soothing and consoling is this subject to the bereaved and tried believer! It tells you, weeping mourner, that, having drained His wrath and poured it on the head of your Surety, nothing is reserved for you in the heart of God but the deep fountain of tender mercy and lovingkindness. Then whence springs your present trial but from the loving heart of your Father? In the life of Jesus, all was humiliation; in the life of the believer, all is glory; and all this glory springs from the headship of Christ. In every step that He trod, he is one with Him; the only difference is that Jesus changes positions with the believer, and thus what was bitter to Him becomes sweet to us, what was dark to Him appears light to us, and what was His ignominy and shame becomes our highest honor and glory.
Humbling as may be the way God is now leading you, do not forget that the great goal is to
bring you into a fellowship with Christ's humiliation, into a more realizing oneness with your tried head. How contracted would be the believer's view of, and limited his sympathy with, the abasement of God's dear Son without the humiliation of His life! To be brought into sympathy with you in all the gloomy stages of your journey, "He humbled Himself "; and that this feeling might be reciprocal, bringing you into a sympathy with the dark stages of His life, He humbles you. Deep as your present humiliation may be, you cannot sink lower than He, and He is therefore able to sustain and bear you up. "I was brought low, and he helped me" (Ps 116:6). Christians can never sink beneath the everlasting arms; they will always be underneath them. You may be sorely tried, painfully bereaved, fearfully tempted, deeply wounded; saints and sinners, the church and the world, may each contribute some bitter ingredient to your cup. Nevertheless, the heart of Jesus is a pavilion within whose sacred enclosure you may rest until these calamities are past. Your greatest extremity can never exceed His power or sympathy, because He has gone before His people and endured what they never shall endure. Behold what glory thus springs from the humiliation and sufferings of our adorable Redeemer!
DECEMBER 13
"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."—2 Tim 1:9
There is an external and an internal call of the Spirit. The external call is thus alluded to: "I have called, and ye refused;" "Many are called, but few are chosen" (Prov 1:24; Matt 22:14). This outward call of the Spirit is made in various ways. In the Word, in the glorious proclamation of the gospel, through God's providences of mercy and of judgment, the warnings of ministers, the admonitions of friends, and, not less powerful, the awakening of the natural conscience. The Holy Spirit calls sinners to repentance by these means. In this sense, every man who hears the gospel, is encircled with the means of grace, and bears about with him a secret but faithful monitor, is called by the Spirit. The existence of this call places the sinner in an attitude of fearful responsibility, and the rejection of this call exposes him to a still more fearful doom. God has never poured out His wrath upon man without first extending the olive branch of peace. Mercy invariably precedes judgment. "I have called, and ye have refused; I have stretched out my hand" (Prov 1:24).
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock" (Rev 3:20). He reasons, He argues with the sinner. "Come now, and let us reason together," is His invitation (Isa 1:18). He instructs, warns, and invites. He places before the mind the most solemn considerations, urged by duty and interest. He presses His own claims, and appeals to the individual interests of the soul; but all seems ineffectual. Oh, what a view does this give us of the longsuffering patience of God toward the rebellious! That He should stretch out his hand to a sinner; that instead of wrath, there should be mercy, and blessing instead of cursing; that, instead of instant punishment, there should be the patience and forbearance that invites, and allures, and reasons! Oh, who is a God like unto our God? "I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded" (Prov 1:24).
But there is the special, direct, and effectual call of the Spirit in the elect of God, without which all other calling is in vain. God says, "I will put my Spirit within you" (Ezek 36:27). Christ says, "The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25). And reference is made to the effectual operation of God the Spirit: "Whereof I was made a minister,
according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power" (Eph 3:7). "The word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe" (1 Thess 2:13). Thus, through the instrumentality of the truth, the Spirit is represented as effectually working in the soul. When He called before, there was no inward, supernatural, secret power accompanying the call to the conscience. Now there is an energy put forth with the call that awakens the conscience, breaks the heart, convinces the judgment, opens the eye of the soul, and pours a new and an alarming sound in the previously deaf ear. Mark the blessed effects! The scales fall from the eyes, the veil is torn from the mind, the deep fountains of evil in the heart are broken up, the sinner sees himself lost and undone, without pardon, without a righteousness, without acceptance, without a God, without a Savior, without a hope! Awful condition! "What shall I do to be saved?" is his cry; "I am a wretch undone! I look within me, all is dark and vile; I look around me, everything seems but the image of my woe; I look above me, I see only an angry God. Whichever way I look is hell! And if God now sent me there, He would be just and right."
But, blessed be God, no poor soul that ever uttered such language and was prompted by such
feelings ever died in despair. The faithful Spirit who begins the good work effectually carries it on, and completes it. Presently He leads him to the cross of Jesus; unveils to his eye of glimmering faith a suffering, wounded, bleeding, dying Savior—and yet a Savior with outstretched arms! That Savior speaks, and oh, did ever music sound so melodious? "All this I do for thee—this cross for thee, these sufferings for thee this blood for thee, these arms are stretched out for thee. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Look unto me, and be ye saved! Only believe. Art thou lost? I can save thee. Art thou guilty? I can cleanse thee. Art thou poor? I can enrich thee. Art thou sunk low? I can raise thee. Art thou naked? I can clothe thee. Hast thou nothing to bring with thee? No price, no money, no goodness, no merit? I can and will take thee just as thou art, poor, naked, penniless, worthless; for such I came to seek, such I came to call, for such I came to die." "Lord, I believe," exclaims the poor convinced soul; "Help Thou mine unbelief. Thou art just the Savior that I want. I wanted one that could and would save me with all my vileness, with all my rags, with all my poverty. I wanted one that would save me fully and freely, as an act of mere
unmerited, undeserved grace; and I have found Him whom my soul loveth, and will be His through time, and His through eternity." Thus the blessed Spirit effectually calls a sinner out of darkness into marvelous light by His special, direct, and supernatural power. "I will work," says God, "and who shall turn it back?" (Isa 14:27).
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DECEMBER 14
"For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might though the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed from day to day."—2 Cor 4:15-16
Christian sufferer, you marvel why the Lord keeps you upon the couch of solitariness and upon the bed of languishing for so long, why the "earthly house of this tabernacle" should be taken down by continued and pining sickness, the corroding of disease, and the gradual decay of strength. Hush every anxious, doubtful thought. Your heavenly Father has so ordained it. He who built the house, and whose the house is, has a right to remove it by what process He sees fit. The mystery of His present conduct will be explained before long. Faith and love can even explain it now—"Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight!"
(Matt 11:26). Yours is an honorable and a responsible post; God still has work for you to do. You have been waiting in the quietness of holy submission year by year for the summons to depart; but God has lengthened out your period of weariness and of suffering, for the work is not done in you and by you, for which this sickness was sent.
Oh, what a witness for God may you now be! What a testimony for Christ may you now bear! What sermons, converting the careless, confirming the wavering, restoring the wandering, comforting the timid, may your conversation and your example now preach from that sick bed! For what higher degrees of glory may God, through this protracted illness, be preparing you! That there are degrees of glory in heaven, as there are degrees of suffering in hell and degrees of grace on earth, admits of not a doubt. "As one star differeth from another star in glory," so does one glorified saint differ from another (1 Cor 15:41). Will the wondrous variety of proportion which throws such a charm and beauty around the beings and the scenery of earth be absent in heaven? Doubtless not. Superior grace below is preparing for superior glory above, and the higher our attainments in holiness here, the loftier our summit of blessedness hereafter. Your present lengthened
sickness may, by God's grace, be preparing you for these high degrees of heavenly happiness. Sanctified by the Spirit of holiness, the slow fire is but the more perfectly refining; and the more complete the refinement on earth, the more perfectly will the sanctified soul mirror forth the divine Sun in heaven. Let, then, your beautiful patience of spirit, meek and patient sufferer, be increasingly that of the Psalmist, "I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child" (Ps 131:2).
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DECEMBER 15
"But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me."—John 15:26
With regard to the spiritual sorrows of a child of God (those peculiar only to a believer in Jesus), we believe that a revelation of Jesus is the great source of comfort to which the Spirit leads the soul. Here is the true source of comfort; what higher comfort do we need? What more can we have? That a believing soul has Jesus is enough to heal every wound, dry every tear, assuage every grief, lighten every cross, fringe with brightness every dark cloud, and make the roughest place
smooth. Having Jesus, what has a believer? He has the entire blotting out of all his sins. Is not this a comfort? Tell us, what can give comfort to a child of God apart from this? If this were to fail, where can he look? Will you tell him of the world, of its many schemes of enjoyment, of its plans for the accumulation of wealth, of its domestic happiness? Wretched sources of comfort to an awakened soul! Poor empty channels to a man acquainted with the inward plague! He wants to know the sure payment of the ten thousand talents, the entire canceling of the bond held against him by stern justice, the complete blotting out, as a thick cloud, of all his iniquity. Until this great fact is made sure and certain to his conscience, all other comfort is but as a dream of boyhood, a shadow that vanishes, a vapor that melts away. But the Holy Ghost comforts the believer by leading him to this blessed truth: the full pardon of sin.
This is the great controversy that Satan has with the believer. His constant effort is to bring him to doubt the pardon of sin and to unhinge the mind from this great fact. When unbelief is powerful, inbred sin is strong, and outward trials are many and sore, and, in the midst of it all, the single eye is removed from Christ, then is the hour of Satan to charge home upon the conscience of
the believer all the iniquity he ever committed. Yet how does the blessed Spirit comfort at that moment? By unfolding the greatness, perfection, and efficacy of the one offering by which Jesus hath blotted out the sins of His people forever, and perfected them that are sanctified. Oh, what comfort does this truth speak to a fearful, troubled, anxious believer, when the Spirit is working faith in his heart and he can look up to see all his sins laid upon Jesus in the solemn hour of atonement, and no condemnation remaining! Dear child of God, poor, worthless as you feel yourself to be, this truth is for you. Oh, rise to it, welcome it, embrace it, think it not too costly for one so unworthy. It comes from the heart of Jesus, and cannot be more free. "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered" (Ps 32:1).
Having Jesus, what more does the believer have? He possesses a righteousness in which God views him complete and accepted, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. Is this not a comfort? What a comfort to stand complete in Him in the midst of many and conscious imperfections, infirmities, flaws, and proneness to wander; for the sorrowing and trembling heart to turn and take up its rest in this truth, that he that believeth is justified from all things, and stands accepted in the Beloved, to the praise of
the glory of divine grace! God beholds him in Jesus without a spot because He beholds His Son, in whom He is well pleased, and, viewing the believing soul in Him, He can say, "Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee" (Song 4:7). The blessed Comforter conveys this truth to the troubled soul and brings it to take up its rest in it; and, as the believer realizes his full acceptance in the righteousness of Christ and rejoices in the truth, he weeps as he never wept, and mourns as he never mourned, over the perpetual bias of his heart to wander from a God that has so loved him. The very comfort poured into his soul from this truth lays him in the dust, and draws out the heart in ardent breathings for holiness.
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DECEMBER 16
"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."—Gal 2:16
The term "justify" is forensic, employed in judicial affairs and transacted in a court of judicature. We find an illustration of this in God's word. "If there be a controversy between men, and they come into judgment, that the judge may judge
them, then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked" (Deut 25:1). It is clear from this passage that the word stands opposed to a state of condemnation, and in this sense it is employed in the text under consideration. To justify, in its proper and fullest sense, is to release from all condemnation. Now, it is important that we do not mix up this doctrine with other and similar doctrines. We must clearly distinguish it from that of sanctification. Closely connected as they are, they are yet entirely different. The one is a change of state, the other a change of condition. By the one we pass from guilt to righteousness; by the other we pass from sin to holiness. In justification we are brought near to God; in sanctification we are made like God. The one places us before Him in a condition of non-condemnation; the other transforms us into His image. Yet the Roman Catholic Church blends the two states together, and in her formularies teaches an imputed sanctification, just as the Bible teaches an imputed justification.
It is to be distinguished, too, from pardon. Justification is a higher act. By the act of pardon we are saved from hell; but by the decree of justification we are brought to heaven. The one discharges the soul from punishment; the other places in its hand a deed to glory.
The Lord Jesus Christ is emphatically the justification of all the predestined and called people of God. "By him all that believe are justified from all things" (Acts 13:39). The antecedent step was to place Himself in the exact position of His Church. In order to do this, it was necessary that He should be made under the law; for, as the Son of God, He was above the law and could not therefore be amenable to its precept. But when He became the Son of man, it was as though the sovereign of a vast empire had relinquished his regal character for the condition of the subject. He who was superior to all law by His mysterious incarnation placed Himself under the law. He who was the King of Glory became by His advent the meanest of subjects. What a stoop was this! What a dissension of the Son of God from the height of His glory! The King of kings, the Lord of lords, consenting to be brought under His own law, a subject to Himself; the Lawgiver became the law-fulfiller. Having thus humbled Himself, He was prepared, as the sacrificial Lamb, to take up and bear away the sins of His people. The prophecy that predicted that He should bear their iniquities and justify many received in Him its literal and fullest accomplishment.
Thus upon Jesus were laid all the iniquities—and with the iniquities the entire curse, and added
to the curse, the full penalty—belonging to the church of God. This personal and close contact with sin did not affect His moral nature, for that was essentially sinless and could receive no possible taint from His bearing our iniquity. He was accounted accursed, as was Israel's goat when Aaron laid the sins of the people upon its head; but as that imputation of sin could not render the animal to whom it was transferred morally guilty, though by the law treated as such, so the bearing of sin by Christ could not for a single instant compromise His personal sanctity. With what distinctness has the Spirit revealed, and with what strictness has He guarded, the perfect sinlessness of the atoning Savior! "He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor 5:21). Oh, blessed declaration to those who not only see the sin that dwells in them, but who trace the defilement of sin in their holiest things, and who lean alone for pardon upon the sacrifice of the spotless Lamb of God! To them, how encouraging and consolatory the assurance that there is a sinless One who, coming between a holy God and their souls, is accepted in their place, and in whom they are looked upon as righteous! This is God's method of justification.
DECEMBER 17
"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood."—Rom 3:24-25
By a change of place with the church, Christ becomes the Lord our Righteousness, and we are "made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor 5:21). There is the transfer of sin to the innocent, and, in return, there is the transfer of righteousness to the guilty. In this method of justification, no violence whatsoever is done to the moral government of God. So far from a shade obscuring its glory, that glory beams forth with an effulgence which must have remained forever veiled, but for the redemption of man by Christ. God never appears so like Himself as when He judges a sinner, and determines his standing before Him upon the ground of that satisfaction to His law rendered by the Son of God in place of the guilty. Then He appears infinitely holy, yet infinitely gracious; infinitely just, yet infinitely merciful. Love, as if it had long been panting for an outlet, now leaps forth and embraces the sinner, while justice, holiness, and truth gaze upon the wondrous spectacle with infinite complacence and delight.
Shall we not pause and bestow a thought of admiration and gratitude upon Him who was
constrained to stand in our place of degradation and woe that we might stand in His place of righteousness and glory? What wondrous love! What stupendous grace, that He should have been willing to take upon Him our sin, curse, and woe! The exchange to Him was so humiliating! He could only raise us by stooping Himself. He could free us only by wearing our chains. He could deliver us from death only by dying Himself. He could invest us with the spotless robe of His pure righteousness only by wrapping around Himself the leprous mantle of our sin and curse. Oh, how precious He ought to be to every believing heart! What affection, what service, what sacrifice, and what devotion He deserves at our hands! Lord, incline my heart to yield itself supremely to Thee!
But in what way does this great blessing of justification become ours? In other words, what is the instrument by which the sinner is justified? The answer is at hand, in the text: "through faith in His blood." Faith, and faith alone, makes this righteousness of God ours. "By him all that believe are justified" (Acts 13:39). Why is it solely and exclusively by faith? The answer is at hand, "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace" (Rom 4:16). Were justification through any other medium than by believing, then the perfect freeness of the blessing would not be secured.
"Justified freely by his grace;" that is, gratuitously and for absolutely nothing. Not only was God in no sense whatever bound to justify the sinner, but the sovereignty of His law and sovereignty of His love alike demanded that, in extending to the sinner the greatest favor of His government, He should do so only on the principle of a perfect act of grace on the part of the Giver, and as a perfect gratuity on the part of the recipient, having nothing to pay. Therefore, whatever is associated with faith in the matter of the sinner's justification, whether it be baptism, another rite, or any work or condition performed by the creature, renders the act entirely void and of no effect. The justification of the believing sinner is as free as the God of love and grace can make it.
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DECEMBER 18
"Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."—John 3:5
The utter impossibility of the sinner's admission into heaven with the carnal mind unchanged is most clear. Suppose an opposite case. Imagine an unrenewed soul suddenly transported to heaven. In a moment it finds itself in the light and holiness and presence of God. What a scene of wonder,
purity, and glory has burst upon its gaze! But, awful fact, horror of horrors, it is confronted face to face with its great enemy, the God it hated, loathed, and denied! Is it composed? Is it at home? Is it happy? Impossible! It enters the immediate presence of the divine Being, its heart rankling with the virus of deadly hate, and its hand clutching the uplifted weapon. It carries its sworn malignity and its drawn sword to the very foot of the throne of the Eternal. "Take me hence," it exclaims, "this is not my heaven!" And then it departs to its own place.
But we are supposing an impossible case. For it is written of the heavenly city, "There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life" (Rev 21:27). Listen to the declaration of the great Teacher sent from God: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Ask you what this new birth means? We reply that you must become a new creature in Christ Jesus. You must ground your arms before the Eternal God of heaven and earth. You must give up the quarrel and relinquish the controversy. You must cease to fight against God; you must submit to the law and government of Jehovah. Your will must bow to God's will, your heart must beat in
unison with God's heart, and your mind must harmonize with God's mind. Implacable hatred must give place to adoring love, deep ungodliness to a nature breathing after holiness, stern opposition to willing obedience, the creature to the Creator, yourself to God. Oh blissful moment, when the controversy ceases and God and your soul are at agreement through Christ Jesus; when, dropping the raised weapon, you grasp His outstretched hand, rush into His extended arms, fall a lowly, believing penitent upon His loving bosom, take hold of His strength, and are at peace with Him. Oh, happy moment! No more hatred, no more enmity, no more opposition now. It is as though all heaven had come down and entered your soul. You experience such joy, such peace, such love, such assurance, such hope! What music now floats from these words, "No condemnation in Christ Jesus." How blessed now to lean upon the breast which once you hated, and find it a pillow of love; to meet the glance which once you shunned, and find it the expression of forgiveness; to feel at home in the presence of Him to whom once you said, "Depart from me, for I desire not the knowledge of thy ways."
What an evidence of the reign of grace in the soul when the mind fully acquiesces in the moral government of God! "The Lord God omnipotent
reigneth" is the adoring anthem of every heart brought into subjection to the law of God. To the Christian how calming is the thought that the government is upon Christ's shoulders, and that He sits upon the throne judging rightly. From hostility to the law of God, his heart is now brought to a joyful acquiescence in its precepts, and to a deep delight in its nature. "I delight in the law of God after the inward man" (Rom 7:22). "O Lord," he exclaims, "my holiness is in submission to Thy authority. My happiness flows from doing and suffering Thy will. I rejoice that the scepter is in Thy hands, and I desire the thoughts of my mind and the affections of my heart to be brought into perfect obedience to Thee. Be my soul Thy kingdom, by my heart Thy throne, and let grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life."
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DECEMBER 19
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."—1 John 1:7
Not only is Jesus the actual, but He is also the relative life of the believer, the life of his pardon and acceptance. See it in reference to the blood of Immanuel; it is the blood of Him who was
essential life. And, although springing from His pure humanity, essential life gave it all its virtue and its power. The resurrection of Jesus confirmed forever the infinite value and sovereign efficacy of His atoning blood. Oh what virtue hath it now, flowing from the life of Jesus! It has removed transgression to the distance of infinity, and forever from the church. Washed whiter than snow, forgiven of all iniquity, with all sin blotted out, the believer stands before God a pardoned soul. And, oh, what life does he find in the constant application to his conscience of the atoning blood! What peace does one drop give! What confidence does it inspire, what vigor does it impart to faith, and power to prayer, and cheerfulness to obedience! It is living blood. He who spilt it lives to plead it, lives to apply it, and lives to sustain its virtue until there shall be no more sins to cancel and no more sinners to save. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin and "speaketh better things than the blood of Abel" (Heb 12:24) because it possesses undying life.
Behold then, beloved, how manifestly is Jesus the life of thy pardon. That blood is as fresh, as efficacious, and as precious at this moment as when it gushed from the pierced side of the glorious Redeemer. It is life-giving and life-sustaining blood. Here we see the antitype of the
living bird dipped in the blood of the slain bird (Lev 14:51), and then suffered to go free, suspended mid-heaven upon the wing of an unrestricted and joyous life. As the living bird bore upon its feather the crimson symbol of atonement, death and life thus strangely blended, what was the glorious gospel truth it foreshadowed but the close and indissoluble union of the pardoning blood with the resurrection life of our incarnate God? O believer, lose not sight of the deep significance of the running water over which the bird was slain. That flowing stream was the image of the perpetual life of the blood of Jesus. It bids thee, in language too expressive to misunderstand and too persuasive to resist, to draw nigh and wash. What glorious truth it teaches and precious privilege that it enforces! The perpetual going to Immanuel's atoning, life-giving, life-sustaining blood thus keeps the conscience clean and at peace with God.
My beloved reader, this work enforces no practical truth of greater moment, more precious nature, or more closely interwoven with your happy, holy walk. Your peace of mind, your confidence in God, your thirsting for holiness, your filial access, and your support in the deepest trial spring from your soul's constant repose beneath the cross. What is thy present case? What is the
sin that wounds thy spirit? What guilt burdens thy conscience? What grief bows thy heart? What fearfulness and trembling agitate and rock thy mind? What gives thee anxious days and sleepless nights? See yonder stream! It is crimson, flowing, vivifying with the lifeblood of Jesus. Rush to it by faith. Go now; go at this moment. Have you gone before? Go yet again. Have you bathed in it once? Bathe in it yet again. It is a running stream. Cast thy sin, thy guilt, thy burden, thy sorrow upon its bosom; it shall bear it away, never, never more to be found. Oh, deal closely with the atoning, life-giving blood! When you rise in the morning and when you lie down at night, wash in the blood. When you go to duties and when you come from duties, wash in the blood. When thy deepest sigh has been heaved, when thy holiest tear has been shed, when thy most humbling confession has been made, when thy sincerest resolution has been formed, when thy solemn covenant has been renewed, when body, soul, and spirit have again been fully, freely, unreservedly dedicated—wash in the blood. When you draw near to the Holy Lord God and spread out your case before Him, plead the blood. When Satan accuses and conscience condemns, when death terrifies and judgment alarms, flee to the blood. Nothing, save the atoning blood of the
spotless Lamb, gives thee acceptance at any moment with God. And this, at any moment, will conduct you into the secret chamber of His presence, and bow His ear and heart to your faintest whisper and to your deepest want.
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DECEMBER 20
"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."—Rom 10:4
Behold, what an open door this subject sets before the humble, convinced sinner. It encircles the whole future of his being with the covenant bow of hope; beneath its gorgeous and expanding arch, he is safe. The law is honored now as it never was before and invested with a luster that pales its former glory and causes angels to veil their faces, bringing the utmost glory to the divine government. Do you think, penitent reader, that the Lord will reject the application of a single sinner who humbly asks to be saved? After the Son of God had stooped so low to save the lowest, had suffered so much to save the vilest, will the Father refuse to enfold to His reconciled heart the penitent who flees to its blessed asylum? Never! Approach, then, bowed and broken, weary and burdened spirit. There is hope, forgiveness, acceptance, and rest for you in Jesus; there is a heaven of bliss and glory awaiting you in Jesus,
the law's great fulfiller. Oh, how welcome will the heart of Christ make you! How full and free will be the pardon of God extended to you! How deep and rich the peace, joy, and hope, which, like a river, will roll its gladdening waves into your soul the moment that you receive Christ into your heart! "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31). He that "believeth...shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24).
Saints of God, keep the eye of your faith intently and immovably fixed on Christ, your sole pattern. Our Lord did not keep that law that His people might be lawless. He did not honor that law that they might dishonor its precepts. His obedience provided no license for our disobedience. His fulfillment does not release from the obligation—the sweet and pleasant, yet solemn obligation—to holiness of life. Our faith does not void the law, but rather establishes it. The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us when we walk after the Spirit in lowly conformity to Christ's example. Was He meek and lowly in heart? Did He bless when cursed? Did He, when reviled, revile not again? Did He walk in secret with God? Did He always seek to do those things which pleased His Father? Did He live a life of faith, prayer, and toil? Then let us imitate Him, that of
us it may be said, "These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth" (Rev 14:4).
What richer comfort can flow into the hearts of the godly than that which springs from this truth? The righteousness of the law fulfilled is in us (Rom 8:4). What wondrous, blessed words! You are often in fear that the righteousness of the law will rise against you; when you consider your many failures and shortcomings, you justly tremble. But fear not, for in Christ the law is perfectly fulfilled and fulfilled in your stead, as much as if you had obeyed in your own person. Is not this a sure ground of comfort? You see the imperfection of your own obedience, and you are alarmed; but have you not an eye also for the perfection of Christ's obedience, which He has made yours by imputation? "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" because He has fulfilled the law's righteousness in their behalf (Rom 8:1). You are cast down because of the law of sin, but the Spirit of life has freed you from the law. You are troubled because of the law of God, but that law, by Christ's perfect obedience, is fulfilled in you. You desire a righteousness that will present you without spot before God; you have it in Him who is the Lord our Righteousness. Christian, Christ's whole obedience is yours. What can sin, Satan,
conscience, or the law itself allege against you now? Be humble, and mourn over the many flaws and failures in your obedience; yet withal rejoice, glory, and make your boast in the fullness, perfection, and unchangeableness of that righteousness on the Incarnate God which will place you without fault before the throne.
Sinner, if the righteousness of the law is not fulfilled in you now, that righteousness will be exhibited in your just condemnation to all eternity! Flee to Christ Jesus, "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."
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DECEMBER 21
"For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps."—1 Pet 2:21
Beloved reader, are you aware of the high privilege to which you are admitted and of the great glory conferred upon you, in being identified with Jesus in His life of humiliation? This is one of the numerous evidences by which your adoption into the family of God is authenticated and by which your union with Christ is confirmed. It may be that you are the subject of deep poverty; your circumstances are straitened, your resources are limited, your necessities are many and pressing. Perhaps you are the man that has known affliction;
sorrow has been your constant and intimate companion; you have become "acquainted with grief." The Lord has been leading you along a path of painful humiliation. You have been emptied; He has brought you down and laid you low, step by step, and yet, oh, how wisely and how gently, He has been leading you deeper and yet deeper into the valley!
But what is all this leading about? Why this emptying? Why this descending? To bring you into a union and communion with Jesus in His life of humiliation. Is there a step in your abasement that Jesus has not trodden with you, and trodden before you? Is there a sin that He has not carried, a cross that He has not borne, a sorrow that has not affected Him, and infirmity that has not touched Him? Thus He will cause you to reciprocate this sympathy and have fellowship with Him in His sufferings. As the Head sympathized with the body, so must the body sympathize with the Head. The Son of God previously endured the very same humiliation which you are now enduring. That you might learn something what that love and grace and power were which enabled Him to pass through it all, He pours a little drop in thy cup, places a small part of the cross upon thy shoulder, and throws a slight shadow on thy soul! Yes, the very sufferings you are now enduring
are, in a faint and limited degree, the sufferings of Christ. "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you," says the apostle, "and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is the church" (Col 1:24).
There is a double sense in which Jesus may be viewed as a sufferer. He suffered in His own person as the Mediator of His church; those sufferings were vicarious and complete, and in that sense He can suffer no more, "for by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Heb 10:14). The other now presents Him as suffering in His members. In this sense, Christ is still a sufferer, and although not suffering to the same degree, or for the same end, as He once did, nevertheless He who said, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" (Acts 9:4) is identified with the church in all its sufferings. In all her afflictions, He is being afflicted. The apostle therefore terms the believer's present sufferings the "afflictions of Christ."
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DECEMBER 22
"It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with him."—2 Tim 2:11-12
Behold, then, your exalted privilege, suffering sons of God! See how the glory beams around you,
humble and afflicted ones! You are one with the Prince of sufferers, and the Prince of sufferers is one with you! Oh, to be one with Christ—what tongue can speak, what pen can describe the sweetness of the blessing, and the greatness of the grace? To sink with Him in His humiliation here is to rise with Him in His exaltation hereafter. To share with Him in His abasement on earth is to blend with Him in His glory in heaven. To suffer shame, persecution, distress, poverty, and loss for Him now is to wear the crown, wave the palm, swell the triumph, and shout the song of when He shall descend the second time in glory and majesty to raise His Bride from the scene of her humiliation, robe her for the marriage, and make her manifestly and eternally His own.
Laud His great name for all the present conduct of His providence and grace. Praise Him for all the wise though affecting discoveries He gives you of yourself, of the creature, of the world. Blessed, truly blessed and holy, is the discipline that prostrates your spirit in the dust. There it is that He reveals the secret of His own love, and draws apart the veil of His own loveliness. There it is that He brings the soul deeper into the experience of His sanctifying truth, and, with new forms of beauty and expressions of endearment,
allures the heart and takes a fresh possession of it for Himself.
And there, too, the love, tenderness, and grace of the Holy Spirit are better known. As a Comforter, as a Revealer of Jesus, we are perhaps more fully led into an acquaintance with the work of the Spirit in seasons of soul abasement than at any other time. The mode and time of His divine manifestation are thus beautifully predicted: "He shall come down like rain on the mown grass: as showers that water the earth" (Ps 72:6). Observe the gentleness, the silence, and the sovereignty of His operation—"He shall come down like rain." How characteristic of the blessed Spirit's grace! Mark the occasion on which He descends; it is at the time of the soul's deep prostration. The waving grass is mowed; the lovely flower is laid low; the fruitful stem is broken; that which was beautiful, fragrant, and precious is cut down. Then, when the mercy is gone, the spirit is bowed, the heart is broken, the mind is dejected, and the world seems clad in wintry desolation and gloom, the Holy Spirit, in all the softening, reviving, comforting, and refreshing influence of His grace, descends, speaks of the beauty of Jesus, leads to the grace of Jesus, lifts the bowed soul, and rests it on the bosom of Jesus.
Precious and priceless, then, beloved, are the
seasons of a believer's humiliation. They tell of the soul's emptiness and of Christ's fullness; of the creature's insufficiency and Christ's all-sufficiency; of the world's poverty and Christ's wealth. They create a necessity which Jesus supplies, a void which Jesus fills, a sorrow which Jesus soothes, a desire which Jesus satisfies. They endear the cross of the incarnate God, they reveal the hidden glory of Christ's humiliation, they sweeten prayer, and they lift the soul to God. Then, "truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3). Art thou as a bruised flower? Art thou as a broken stem? Does some heavy trial now bow thee in the dust? Oh never, perhaps, were you so truly beautiful, never did thy grace send forth such fragrance, or thy prayers ascend with so sweet an odor, never did faith and hope and love develop their hidden glories so richly, so fully, as now! In the eye of a wounded, a bruised, and a humbled Christ, you were never more lovely, and to His heart never more precious, than now, pierced by His hand, smitten by His rod, humbled by His chastisement, laid low at His feet condemning yourself, justifying Him, taking all the shame, and ascribing all the glory to Him.
DECEMBER 23
"Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts."—2 Cor 1:21-22
The solemn conviction of the writer has long been that much of the spiritual darkness, little comfort and consolation, dwarfish piety, harassing doubts and fears, imperfect apprehensions of Jesus, the feeble faith, drooping state of the soul, and uncertainty of their full acceptance in Christ that mark so many of the professing people of God today may be traced to the absence of a deep sealing of the Spirit. Resting satisfied with the faint impression in conversion, with the dim views they had of Christ, and the feeble apprehension of their acceptance and adoption, is it any marvel that all their lifetime they should be in bondage through slavish doubts and fears, and that they should never attain to the stature of perfect men in Christ Jesus, rising to the humble boldness, unwavering confidence, blest assurance, and holy dignity of the sons of God? Oh no! They rest short of this blessing. They hang upon the door of the ark; they remain upon the border of the goodly land, and not entering fully in, the effects are as we have described.
But, beloved reader, the richest ore is buried deepest; the sweetest fruit is on the higher branches; the strongest light is near the sun. In other words, if we desire more knowledge of Christ, of our full pardon, and our complete acceptance, if we desire the earnest of our inheritance, we must be "reaching forth unto those things that are before," and "press toward the mark," resting not until we find a clear, unclouded, immoveable, and holy assurance of our being in Christ (Phil 3:13-14). And this is only experienced in the sealing of the Spirit. Again we say, with all the earnestness which a growing sense of the vastness of the blessing inspires, seek to be sealed of the Spirit; seek the "earnest of the Spirit"; seek to be "filled with the Spirit"; seek the "anointing of the Spirit"; seek the "Spirit of adoption". Do not say that it is too immense a blessing, too high an attainment for one so small, feeble, and obscure as you. Impeach not thus the grace of God. All His blessings are the bestowments of grace; grace means free favor to the most unworthy. There is not one lowly, weeping eye that falls on this page that may not, under the blessed sealing of the Spirit, look up through Jesus to God as a Father. Low views of self, deep consciousnesses of vileness, poverty of state or of spirit, are no objections with God, but rather strong arguments
that prevail with Him why you should have the blessing. Only ask, only believe, only persevere, and you shall attain it. It is in the heart of the Spirit to seal all that believe in Jesus "unto the day of redemption" (Eph 4:30). May it be in the heart of the reader to desire the blessing, seeing it is so freely and richly offered!
Reader, whose superscription do you bear? Maybe your reply is, "I want Christ; I secretly long for Him; I desire Him above all beside." Is it so? Then take courage, and go to Jesus. Go to Him simply, go to Him unhesitatingly, go to Him immediately. That desire is from Him; let it lead you to Him. That secret longing is the work of the Spirit; having begotten it there, do you think that He will not honor it and welcome you when you come? Try Him. Bring Him to the touchstone of His own truth. "Prove me now herewith," is His gracious invitation in Mal 3:10. Take His promise, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37), plead it in wrestling at the mercy seat, and see if He will not "open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Mal 3:10). Go to Him just as you are; if you cannot take to Him a pure heart, take an impure one; if you cannot take to Him a broken heart, take a whole one; if you cannot take to
Him a soft heart, take a hard one. Only go to Him. The very act of going will be blessed to you. Such is the strength of His love, such His yearning compassion and melting tenderness of heart for poor sinners, and such His ability and willingness to save that He will no more cast you out than deny His own existence. Precious Jesus! Set us as a seal upon Thine heart, and by Thy Spirit seal Thyself upon our hearts; give us, unworthy though we are, a place among "them which are sealed."
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DECEMBER 24
"This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye new see and hear."—Acts 2:32-33
The day of Pentecost, with its hallowed scenes, cannot be brought before the mind too frequently. Were there a more simple looking to Christ on the throne, and a stronger faith in the promise of the outpouring of the Spirit and in the faithfulness of the Promiser to make it good, that blessed day would find its prototype in many a similar season enjoyed by the church of God to the end of time. The effects of the descent of the Spirit upon the apostles themselves on Pentecost are
worthy of our special notice. What a change passed over those holy men of God, thus baptized with the promised Spirit! A new flood of divine light broke in upon their minds; all that Jesus had taught them while yet on earth recurred to their memory with all the freshness and glory of a new revelation. The doctrines which He had propounded concerning Himself, His work, and His kingdom floated before their mental eye like a newly discovered world, full of light and beauty. A freshness invested the most familiar truths. They saw with new eyes; they heard with new ears; they understood with recreated minds; the men who failed to fully comprehend even the elementary doctrines and the most obvious truths of the gospel while He was with them, teaching them in the most simple and illustrative manner, now saw as with the strength of a prophet's vision, and now glowed as with the ardor of a seraph's love.
How marvelous, too, were the effects on the assembled multitudes who thronged the temple! In one moment, three thousand were convinced of sin and led to plunge in the "fountain opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness" (Zech 13:1). And how does the apostle explain the glorious wonder? "This Jesus," says he, "hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being
by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear" (Acts 2:32-33).
This, and this only, is the blessing which the church of God now so greatly needs: the baptism of the Holy Ghost. She needs to be confirmed in the fact that Jesus is alive and upon the throne, invested with all power and filled with all blessing. The simple belief of this would engage her heart to desire the bestowment of the Spirit; the Spirit largely poured down would more clearly demonstrate to her the transcendent truth that the Head of the church is triumphant, in which all her prospects of glory and happiness are involved. Oh, let her but place her hand of faith simply, solely, and firmly on the glorious announcement that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father with all grace and love in His heart, all authority in His hand, all power at His disposal, all blessing in His gift, waiting to open the windows of heaven and pour down upon her such a blessing as there shall not be room enough to receive it. He is prepared so deeply to baptize her with the Holy Ghost as shall cause her converts to greatly increase, and her enterprises of Christian benevolence to mightily prosper, as shall heal her divisions, build up her broken walls, and conduct
her to certain and triumphant victory over all her enemies. Let her but plant her faith upon the covenant and essential union of these two grand truths—an exalted Redeemer and a descending Spirit—and a day on which, not three thousand only, but a nation shall turn to the Lord, and all flesh shall see His glory!
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DECEMBER 25
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"—Rom 8:35
Of whose love does the apostle speak? The believer's love to Christ? On the contrary, it is Christ's love to the believer, and this view of the subject makes all the difference in its influence upon our minds. What true satisfaction and real consolation, and how small its measure, can the believer derive from a contemplation of his love to Christ? It is true, when sensible of its glow and conscious of its power, he cannot but rejoice in any evidence, however small, of the work of the Holy Ghost in his soul. Yet, this is neither the legitimate ground of his confidence nor the proper source of his comfort. It is Christ's love to him! This is just the truth the Christian mind needs for its repose. To whom did Paul originally address this letter? To the saints of the early and suffering age of the Christian Church. This truth of Christ's
love to His people would be just the truth calculated to comfort, strengthen, and animate them. To have declared that nothing should prevail to induce them to forsake Christ would have been poor consolation to individuals who had witnessed many a fearful apostasy from Christ in others, and who had often detected the working of the same principle in themselves. Calling to mind the strong asseveration of Peter, "Although all shall be offended, yet will not I" (Mark 14:29), and remembering how their Master was denied by one, betrayed by another, and forsaken by all His disciples, their hearts would fail them. But let the apostle allure their minds away from a contemplation of their love to Christ to a contemplation of Christ's love to them, assuring them upon the strongest grounds that whatever sufferings they should endure or by whatever temptations they should be assailed, nothing should prevail to sever them from their interest in the reality, sympathy, and constancy of that love, and he has at once brought them into the most perfect peace. The affection, then, of which the apostle speaks, is the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
The love of Christ! Such is our precious theme. Can we ever weary of it? Can we fully know its greatness? Can we fully contain its plentitude? Never. Its depths cannot be fathomed; its
dimensions cannot be measured. It passes knowledge. All that Jesus did for His Church was but the unfolding and expression of His love. Traveling to Bethlehem, I see love incarnate. Tracking His steps as He went about doing good, I see love laboring. Visiting the house of Bethany, I see love sympathizing. Standing by the grave of Lazarus, I see love weeping. Entering the gloomy precincts of Gethsemane, I see love sorrowing. Passing on to Calvary, I see love suffering, bleeding, and expiring. The whole scene of His life is but an unfolding of the deep, awful, and precious mystery of redeeming love.
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DECEMBER 26
"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."—Rom 8:38-39
The love of the Father is seen in giving us Christ, in choosing us in Christ, and in blessing us in Him with all spiritual blessings. Indeed, the love of the Father is the fountain of all the mercies of the covenant and redemption to the Church. It is that river the streams whereof make glad the city of God. How anxious was Jesus to vindicate
the love of the Father from all the suspicions and fears of His disciples! "I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father himself loveth you" (John 16:26). "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son" (John 3:16). We must trace all the blessings which flow to us through the channel of the cross to this love. It is the love of God, exhibited, manifested, and seen in Christ's being not the originator but the gift of His love—not the cause, but the exponent of it. Oh, to see a perfect equality in the Father's love with the Son's love! Then shall we be led to trace all His present mercies and all His providential dealings, however trying, painful, and mysterious, to the heart of God, thus resolving all into that everlasting and unchangeable love from whence all alike flow.
From this love, there is no separation. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" The apostle had challenged accusations from every foe and condemnation from every quarter; but no accuser rose and no condemnation was pronounced. Standing on the broad basis of Christ's finished work and of God's full justification, his head was now lifted up in triumph above all his enemies round about him. But it is possible that, though in the believer's heart there is no fear of impeachment, there yet may exist the latent one
of separation. The aggregate dealings of God with His church and His individual dealings with His saints may at times present the appearance of an alienated affection of a lessened sympathy. The age in which this epistle was penned was fruitful with the sufferings of the church of God. If any period or any circumstances boded a severance of the bond which bound her to Christ, that was the period, and those were the circumstances. But with a confidence based upon the glorious truth on which he had been descanting—the security of the church of God in Christ—and with a persuasion inspired by the closer realization of the glory about to burst upon her view, he exclaims with dauntless courage, "I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
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DECEMBER 27
"Our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."—2 Tim 1:10
There is a separating power in death; it is a truth too evident and too affecting to deny. It separates the soul from the body and man from all the
pursuits and attractions of earth. "His breath goeth forth...in that very day his thoughts perish" (Ps 146:4). All his thoughts of ambition, advancement, or a vain and Pharisaical religion perish on that day. What a mournful, vivid description of the separating power of death over the creature! What a separating power, too, it has in the chasms it creates in human relationships! Who has not lost a friend, a second self, by the ruthless hand of death? What bright home has not been darkened, what loving heart has not been saddened, by death's visitations? It separates us from the husband of our youth, from the child of our affections, or from the friend and companion of our earlier and riper years. It comes and breaks the link that bound us so fondly and so closely to the being whose affection, sympathy, and communion seemed essential to our being, and whose life we regarded as a part of our very existence.
But there is one thing from which death cannot separate us: the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, and all the blessings which that love bestows. Death separate us? No, death unites us the more closely to those blessings by bringing us into their more full and permanent possession. Death imparts a realization and permanence to all the splendid and holy anticipations of the Christian. The happiest moment of his life is his
last. All the glory and blessing of his existence cluster and brighten around that solemn crisis of his being. Then he feels how precious the privilege and how great the distinction of being a believer in Jesus, and the day that darkens his eye to all earthly scenes opens it to the untold, unimaginable, and ever-increasing glories of eternity. It is the birthday of his immortality. Then, Christian, fear not death! It cannot separate you from the Father's love, nor can it, while it tears you from an earthly bosom, wrench you from Christ's. You shall have in death; it may be a brighter, sweeter manifestation of His love than you ever experienced in life. Jesus, the Conqueror of death, will approach and place His almighty arms beneath you, and your head upon His loving bosom. Thus encircled and pillowed, you shall not see death, but, passing through its gloomy portal, shall only realize that you had actually died from the consciousness of the joy and glory into which death had ushered you.
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DECEMBER 28
"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ."—1 Cor 15:57
Does the ear of some dear departing saint of God lend itself to the recital of these closing words?
Beloved of the Lord, beloved in the Lord, what a blessed opportunity you have now of leaning the entire weight of your soul, with all its sins and sorrows, upon the finished work of Jesus, your Almighty Savior, your God, your Redeemer! The great debt is cancelled. Justice does not exact a second payment from you after the first from your Surety. No, justice itself is on your side; every perfection of God is a wall of fire around you. You stand complete in the righteousness of the incarnate God; the blood of Jesus Christ, the Father's own Son, cleanses you from all sin. Many and aggravated you now see to have been your flaws, backslidings, and stumblings; sin appears now as it never did before; the sense of your utter unworthiness presses you to the earth. Well, who is on the eager watch for the first kindling of godly sorrow in the heart of the prodigal? Who welcomes his return with joy, music, and honors? Whose heart ceased not to love, whose eye did not cease to follow amid all the waywardness and wandering of that child? Oh, it is the Father! "When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him" (Luke 15:20). Behold thy God, thy covenant God and Father in Christ Jesus! This reconciled Father is yours . Throw yourself in His arms, and He will fall on thy neck,
and will seal upon thy heart afresh the sense of His free forgiveness and His pardoning love. Heaven is before you. Soon you will be freed, entirely and forever, from all the remains of sin. Soon the last sigh will heave thy breast, the last tear will fall from thine eye, and the last pang will convulse thy body. Soon, oh, how soon, will you see the King in His beauty, the Jesus who loved you, died for you, ransomed you, and loves you still! Soon you will fall at His feet, be raised in His arms, and be hushed to rest in His bosom. Soon you will mingle, a pure and happy spirit, with patriarchs and prophets, apostles and martyrs, and with all who sleep in Jesus who have gone but a little before you. See how they line the shores on the other side, and wait to welcome you over! See how they beckon you away! Above all, sweetest and most glorious of all, behold Jesus standing at the right hand of God, prepared to receive you to Himself! Jesus has gone before, to make ready for the glorification of His church. "I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2). Oh sweet words! A place prepared, a mansion set apart for each individual believer! "In my Father's house are many mansions." A mansion in His heart, a mansion in His kingdom, a mansion in His house, for the weakest babe in Christ. The Forerunner is entered for us, even Jesus! How sure
is heaven; How certain the eternal happiness of every pardoned and justified soul!
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DECEMBER 29
"For thou art my lamp, O Lord; and the Lord will lighten my darkness."—2 Sam 22:29
Blessed Lord, Thou art my light. Accepted in Thy righteousness, I am clothed with the sun. Dark in myself, I am light in Thee. Often hast Thou turned my gloomy night into sunny day. Yea, Lord, and with a love not less tender, Thou hast sometimes turned my morning of joy into a night of weeping; yet Thou hast made my very grief to sing. Thou hast fringed many a dark cloud of my pilgrimage with Thy golden beams. In Thy light, I have seen light upon many a gloomy and mysterious dispensation of my covenant God. By Thy light, I have walked through darkness in many a long and lonely stage of my journey. Oh, how hast Thou gone before me each step Thou dost bid me to travel! Thou, too, didst pass through Thy night of solitude, suffering, and woe. But Thou wast deprived of the alleviations which Thou dost so graciously and tenderly give to me. Not a beam illumined, nor a note cheered, the midnight of Thy soul. The light of the manifested Fatherhood was hidden from Thy view, and in bitter agony didst Thou exclaim, "My God,
my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" All this didst Thou willingly endure that I might have a song in the night of my grief. Thus Thy darkness becomes my light; Thy suffering, my joy; Thy humiliation, my glory; Thy death, my life; Thy curse, my crown.
O Lord, it is a blessed night of weeping in which I can sing of Thy sustaining grace, Thy enlivening presence, Thy unfaltering faithfulness, and Thy tender love. How well hast Thou instructed me in Thy school! How patiently and skillfully hast Thou taught me! I could not have done without Thy teaching and Thy discipline. With not one night of suffering, with not one chastising stroke, with not one ingredient in my cup of sorrow could I have safely dispensed; all was needful. And now I can see with faith, the reflex action that surveys all the past, the infinite wisdom and skill, integrity and gentleness, with which Thou appointed all and overruled all the incidents and windings of my history. I cover my face with more shame and self-abhorrence and lay my mouth in the dust before Thee, because Thou has brought light out of my darkness, educed good from my evil, and overruled all my mistakes and departures for my greater advance and Thy richer glory. Thou art now pacified towards me for all that I have done (Ezek 16:63).
I have stumbled, and Thou hast upheld me; I have fallen, and Thou hast raised me up. I have wandered, and Thou hast restored; I have wounded myself, and Thou hast healed me. Oh, what a God hast Thou been to me! What a Father, what a Friend! Shall I ever distrust Thee, ever disbelieve Thee, ever wound Thee, ever leave Thee more? A thousand times over, Lord; even, this very moment, but for Thy restraining grace. "Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe."
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DECEMBER 30
"Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory."—Ps 73:24
Lord, give me more clearly to see Thy love in all Thy dealings. Anoint my eye of faith afresh, that, piercing the dark cloud, it may discern Thy heart beneath it, beating with an infinite and a deathless affection towards me. The cup which my Father hath prepared and given me, shall I not drink in deep submission to His holy will? O Lord, I dare not ask that it may pass my lips untasted; I may find a token of Thy love concealed beneath the bitter draught. Thy will be done; nearer would I be to Thee. And since Thou, my blessed Lord, wast a sufferer—Thy sufferings now are all passed—I would have fellowship with Thee in Thy sufferings and thus be made conformable to
Thy death. Grant me grace, that patience may have her perfect work, wanting nothing. Calm this perturbed mind. Tranquillize this ruffled spirit. Bind up this bruised and broken heart. Say to these troubled waters in which I wade, "Peace, be still." Jesus, I throw myself upon Thy gentle bosom. To whom can I or would I tell my grief and to whom shall I unveil my sorrow, but to Thee? Lord, it is too tender for any eye, too deep for any hand, but Thine. I bless Thee that I am shut up to Thee, my God. "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee" (Ps 73:25).
Thou didst hear my prayer, and hast answered me, though as by fire. I asked for health of soul, and Thou gavest sickness of body. I asked Thee to possess my entire heart, and Thou didst touch my idol. I asked that I might more deeply drink of the fountain of Thy love, and Thou didst break my cistern. I asked to sit beneath Thy shadow with greater delight, and Thou didst smite my gourd. I asked for deeper holiness in my heart, and Thou didst open to me more widely the chambers of imagery. But it is well; it is all well. Though Thou dost slay me, yet will I trust in Thee.
Divine and holy Comforter, lead me to Jesus, my comfort. Witness to my spirit that I am a child of God, though an erring and a chastened
one. Lord, I come to Thee! My soul would fain expand her wings, and fly to its home. Let me go, for the day breaketh. Come to me, or let me come to Thee. Ever with Thee, Lord, will be heaven indeed. Why do Thy chariot wheels tarry so long? Hasten, blessed Savior, and dissolve my chain. Let me spring into glory, see Thy unclouded face, drink of the river of Thy love, and drink forever.
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DECEMBER 31
"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."—John 14:1-2
Going home! What a soothing reflection! What an ecstatic prospect! The heart throbs quicker, the eye beams brighter, the spirit grows elastic, the whole soul uplifts its soaring pinion, eager for its flight, at the very thought of heaven. "I go to prepare a place for you," was one of the last and sweetest assurances that breathed from the lips of the departing Savior; though uttered hundreds of years ago, those words come stealing upon the memory like the echoes of bygone music, thrilling the heart with holy and indescribable transport. He has passed within the veil as our Forerunner; He has prepared heaven for us, and by His gentle, wise, and loving discipline He
is preparing us for heaven. Amid the perpetually changing scenes of earth, it is refreshing to think of heaven as our certain home, "in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began" (Titus 1:2). This is no quicksand basis for faith, no mirage of hope.
Heaven is a promised rest—exquisitely expressive image! And that promise is the word of Him who cannot lie. Nothing can surpass, nothing can compare with this! Human confidences, the strong and beautiful, have bent and broken beneath us. Hopes, bright and winning, that we fed too fondly, have, faded away like evening clouds of summer that drape the landscape they had painted with a thousand variegated hues in the somber pall of night. But heaven is true! God has promised it, Christ has secured it, the Holy Ghost is its earnest, and the joys we now feel are its pledges and first fruits.
The home to which we aspire and for which we pant is not only a promised, it is also a perfect and permanent home. The mixed character of those seasons we now call repose, and the shifting places and changing dwellings we call home, should perpetually remind us that we are not, as yet, come to the perfect rest and the permanent home of heaven. God is the believer's present home, and Jesus his present rest. Beneath the
shadow of the cross, by the side of the mercy seat, within the pavilion of a Father's love, there is true mental repose, real heart's ease, and a peace that passeth all understanding, to be found even here where all things else are fleeting as a cloud and unsubstantial as a dream. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt 11:28). But it is to heaven we look for the soul's perfect and changeless happiness. With what imagery shall I portray it? How shall I describe it? Think of all the ills of your present condition; not one exists in heaven! Bereaved one, death enters not, slays not, and separates not there. Sick one, disease pales not, enfeebles not, and wastes not there. Afflicted one, sorrow chafes not, saddens not, and shades not there. Oppressed one, cruelty injures not, wounds not, and crushes not there. Forsaken one, inconstancy disappoints not, chills not, and mocks not there. Weeping one, tears spring not and dim not there. "The former things are passed away" (Rev 21:4). A furrow, line, or shade of former sadness, languor, and suffering does not rest on a smooth brow there; there lingers not a trace of wishes unfulfilled or of fond hopes blighted upon those serene features. The desert is passed, the ocean is crossed, the home is reached, and the soul finds itself in heaven, where all is the perfection of
purity and the plenitude of bliss. Ages move on in endless succession, and still all is bright, new, and eternal. Oh, who would not live to win and enjoy a heaven so fair, so holy, and so changeless as this? He who has Christ in his heart enshrines there the inextinguishable, deathless hope of glory.
It is enough that God is my Father, my Sun, and Shield; that He will give grace and glory, and will withhold no good and needed thing. It is enough that Christ is my Portion, my Advocate, my Friend, and that, whatever else may pass away, His sympathy will not cease, His sufficiency will not fail, nor His love die. It is enough that the everlasting covenant is mine, and that that covenant, made with me, is ordered in all things and sure. It is enough that I am journeying toward the heaven that is my rest, and that I am one year nearer its blessed and endless enjoyment.