December 16 - Morning"Come unto me." — Matthew 11:28
The cry of the Christian religion is the gentle word, "Come." The Jewish
law harshly said, "Go, take heed unto thy steps as to the path in which
thou shalt walk. Break the commandments, and thou shalt perish; keep
them, and thou shalt live." The law was a dispensation of terror, which
drove men before it as with a scourge; the gospel draws with bands of love.
Jesus is the good Shepherd going before His sheep, bidding them follow
Him, and ever leading them onwards with the sweet word, "Come." The
law repels, the gospel attracts. The law shows the distance which there is
between God and man; the gospel bridges that awful chasm, and brings the
sinner across it.
From the first moment of your spiritual life until you are ushered into
glory, the language of Christ to you will be, "Come, come unto me." As a
mother puts out her finger to her little child and woos it to walk by saying,
"Come," even so does Jesus. He will always be ahead of you, bidding you
follow Him as the soldier follows his captain. He will always go before
you to pave your way, and clear your path, and you shall hear His
animating voice calling you after Him all through life; while in the solemn
hour of death, His sweet words with which He shall usher you into the
heavenly world shall be — "Come, ye blessed of my Father."
Nay, further, this is not only Christ's cry to you, but, if you be a believer,
this is your cry to Christ — "Come! come!" You will be longing for His
second advent; you will be saying, "Come quickly, even so come Lord
Jesus." You will be panting for nearer and closer communion with Him. As
His voice to you is "Come," your response to Him will be, "Come, Lord,
and abide with me. Come, and occupy alone the throne of my heart; reign
there without a rival, and consecrate me entirely to Thy service." December 16 - Evening"Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened." — Isaiah 48:8
It is painful to remember that, in a certain degree, this accusation may be
laid at the door of believers, who too often are in a measure spiritually
insensible. We may well bewail ourselves that we do not hear the voice of
God as we ought, "Yea, thou heardest not." There are gentle motions of
the Holy Spirit in the soul which are unheeded by us: there are
whisperings of divine command and of heavenly love which are alike
unobserved by our leaden intellects. Alas! we have been carelessly
ignorant — "Yea, thou knewest not." There are matters within which we
ought to have seen, corruptions which have made headway unnoticed;
sweet affections which are being blighted like flowers in the frost,
untended by us; glimpses of the divine face which might be perceived if we
did not wall up the windows of our soul.
But we "have not known." As
we think of it we are humbled in the deepest self-abasement. How must
we adore the grace of God as we learn from the context that all this folly
and ignorance, on our part, was foreknown by God, and, notwithstanding
that foreknowledge, He yet has been pleased to deal with us in a way of
mercy!
Admire the marvellous sovereign grace which could have chosen us
in the sight of all this! Wonder at the price that was paid for us when
Christ knew what we should be! He who hung upon the cross foresaw us
as unbelieving, backsliding, cold of heart, indifferent, careless, lax in prayer,
and yet He said, "I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy
Saviour... Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been
honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and
people for thy life"! O redemption, how wondrously resplendent dost
thou shine when we think how black we are! O Holy Spirit, give us
henceforth the hearing ear, the understanding heart! December 16 |