the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions
April 19—Morning—Romans 4:25
"Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification."—Romans 4:25.
My soul, thou must not yet dismiss—no, nor ever dismiss, the sweet and precious subject of thy Lord’s resurrection. One part of it thou hast not yet scarce glanced at; and yet it is such a one as thine everlasting safety, and thy justification before God depends upon. "For," as the Holy Ghost hath said, by the mouth of his servant the apostle," if Christ be not risen, then are believers yet in their sins. "1 Corinthians 15:17. See to it then, my soul, that what this sweet scripture of the morning saith be true, that Jesus was delivered for thine offences, and was raised again for thy justification. While Jesus was on the cross, and when Jesus was taken down and laid in the grave, the payment and the ransom for sin was then discharging. Jesus was then truly delivered for our offences. And when he arose from the dead, then the poor sinner, for whom he was delivered, and for whom he died, was truly justified before God; for thereby proof was made that the debt was paid, the receipt given, and God, in confirmation of it, styled himself by a new name, even the God of Peace, in bringing again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, as the great Shepherd of his sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Hence the resurrection of Jesus was like going into the presence of God to cancel the bond, the hand-writing of ordinances, that was against us. It was as if Jesus gave this testimony in his glorious resurrection, that both sin and death had now lost their retaining power; the dominion of both were for ever done away, and all true believers in Christ might join the apostle’s song—"Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. "My soul, be sure to keep this in constant view, when, at any time, thou art meditating on the death and resurrection of Jesus: and let both be thy daily meditation. Think how truly blessed, how truly happy, how present and everlastingly secure, must those souls be who are interested in the death and in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. By the one he hath purchased their pardon, and by the other he hath justified their persons; so that, when law and justice present their charge against them, this is the unanswerable plea—Jesus "was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification. "Oh dearest Lord, grant me daily and hourly to be bringing into all my spiritual enjoyments the sweet sense and consciousness of being thus interested, justified, and se, cared. Give me a present right and title, that I may live upon it; and by and by, when thou shalt call me home,, then, Oh Lord, present me finally and fully, once for all, as made comely in thy comeliness, clothed in thy righteousness, and fully prepared, both in soul and body, for everlasting happiness and glory among them that are sanctified.
April 19—Evening—Isaiah 26:19
"Thy dead men shall live; together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead."—Isaiah 26:19.
Thy morning meditation was a blessed portion, to shew thee, my soul, how the justification of the believer is effected by the person of his glorious Head. When Jesus died on the cross, not as a private person, but as the public head of his church, then he paid the full debt of sin: and when he arose from the dead, the full release was given to our whole nature in him. Jesus received the discharge; the bond he had entered into for his people was cancelled, and his resurrection became the proof of their’s also. But as the justification of all the persons of his redeemed is in Him, and by Him, so another sweet confidence is in Him also: Jesus is not only the cause of their being justified, but of their being glorified also. In these precious words we have, first, God the Father’s promise to his dear Son: "Thy dead men shall live:" first in grace, and then in glory. How shall this be effected? Christ then takes up the subject in answer; "Together with my dead body (saith he) shall they arise: "or it is possible the words may be still the words of the Father; for the body of Christ is said to be given of the Father: "A body hast thou prepared me," Hebrews 10:15. But in either sense, the doctrine is the same; the resurrection of the believer is assured from its union with Christ. Jesus is the head of his body, the church. "Your life (saith the apostle) is hid with Christ in God Colossians 3:3. And so again: "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you; he that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you;" Romans 8:11. Lastly, to crown all, as Jesus is the whole cause, both in justifying, and in glorifying, so is he the pattern, in his resurrection, how they shall arise. As the dew of herbs casteth out the same from the earth every year, so shall the earth cast out her dead. Christ’s body was in substance the same, and so must be his. people. "This corruptible (saith the apostle) this very identical body, must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." Not "another body;" for then it would be "another person; "and this, instead of a resurrection, would be a creation. But the identical person that was buried, shall arise with the same identity. Well might the prophet, when giving this blessed promise, at the command of Jehovah, close it with that delightful injunction: "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust. "And what a song to God and the Lamb will burst forth at once from millions of the redeemed, when rising to all the wonders of futurity, in, and through, and from a personal union with the Lord Jesus Christ!
