Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: June 26th

The hope laid up for you in heaven. - Colossians 1:5.

NOW, from this definition of hope we are able to ascertain the place of its existence and residence. This is earth; hope is confined to earth. There is no hope in hell, for there neither good nor relief can ever enter:-“They shall seek death, but death shall fly from them.” In vain did the rich man implore a drop of water to cool his parched tongue. Father Abraham told him that between him and happiness there was a great gulf fixed, which he could not pass over. Where is the wretch on earth that hope never reaches? But, says Milton, there

“Hope never comes, that comes to all.”

There is no hope in heaven. There consummation prevents it; there every desire is fulfilled. “They hunger no more, nor thirst any more.” “Then,” says David, “I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness;” “Then that which is perfect shall be come, and that which is in part shall be done away.”

Earth, therefore, is the only abode of hope; earth is suspended between the other two worlds. It is a mixed state of good and evil: the evil is not enough to exclude hope, and the good is not enough to dispense with it. “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble;” “Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward;” and whatever direction life takes in his experience, it is through a vale of tears. By the fall, man was deprived of the tree of life, of the image and presence of God, and even hope itself was lost; but by the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us by Christ Jesus, it was recovered; and not only recovered, but improved. Our renewed state is far superior to our original state. By the Incarnation, the Lord of angels is our Brother. In his righteousness we are not only justified, but exalted. He came, not only that we might have life, but that we might have it more abundantly.

The object of the Christian’s hope is principally and peculiarly in heaven. As the apostle here says, “The hope that is laid up for you in heaven;” and with regard to this, all language fails, and all conception fails too. We are expressly informed that “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” “It doth not yet appear what we shall be.” What do we know now of the meaning of seeing God? What do we know now of a spiritual body? What do we know now of the various powers that may be enjoyed when mortality drops off from us? No; it is impossible to do any thing like justice to the subject. We have no images that can fully express it; we have no medium through which we can adequately view it. No; we have not eyes for the brilliancy, nor ears for the harmony, nor powers to bear up under that “far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;” and “flesh and blood can no more understand than they can inherit the kingdom of God.”

But though the object of the Christian’s hope is peculiarly and principally above,-and there the Christian has a better and an enduring substance,-yet even here he has pledges of it, he has the earnest of it, he has the first-fruits, he has the foretastes. Even here

“The men of grace have found

Glory begun below.”

And Watts says,-

“When Christ, with all his beauties crown’d,

Sheds his bright beams abroad,

’Tis a young heaven on earthly ground,

And glory in the bud.”

The word of the LORD was precious in those days. - 1 Samuel 3:1.

WE may consider Samuel as one of the finest characters recorded, in all history. Here we have his birth, his dedication to God, his employment in the temple, and his call to the prophetic office. Here we notice the character of the period in which the vision came. The days were evil-profligacy had invaded the sanctuary of God -the priestly office was prostituted to the vilest of purposes, so that men “despised the offering of the Lord;” “and the word of the Lord was precious in those days.” Here we have the veracity and the excellency of divine revelation. “The word of God” was “precious,” and also the season of its preciousness “in those days.” The word of God would be “precious” in itself, if no one ever regarded it; just as the jewel is equally valuable, though the swine trample it under its hoofs.

It is with the word as it is with the Author of it, “to them that believe, he is precious,” and to them that believe it, it also is precious. Good men have always so regarded it. Job said, “I esteem the words of thy mouth more than my necessary food;” and David says, “More to be desired are they than gold; yea, than much fine gold.” But there are seasons in which the word of the Lord is particularly precious. “The word of the Lord was precious in those days.” What days?

First, The days of destitution. Such were the days of Samuel. This was the case in after times with the church. We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet.” This was implied in the prophecy, “Thy teachers shall not be removed into a corner any more.” It is expressed in the threatening, “Behold the days shall come when they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it.” How precious was the word of the Lord in the days of King Josiah, who had but once seen a copy of the law in his life; and when a copy was found in the temple, he ordered it to be read, and wept again and again. How precious were the Scriptures before their translation. How many were they to whom they were inaccessible. It was like a spring shut up-a fountain sealed. And after its translation, how precious was it, owing to the trouble and expense of transcription, before the art of printing. In. the days of Henry the Eighth, and of his bigoted and persecuting daughter, Queen Mary, when by the former its use was partially, and by the other totally, prohibited; and in the days of Elizabeth, so precious and scarce was the word of God, that a large Bible was ordered to be chained to a ledge in the aisle of every parish church; and in later days, when, unless by stealth and in concealment, and at night, the people could only hear from their persecuted teachers the joyful sound. And it was no uncommon thing at the time of the formation of the Bible Society, for several families to possess one Bible as their common joint property, each family having the use of it for a week or a month successively.

There may be something like those days of destitution in some individuals now. They may be produced by accidents, by disease, by deafness. “O,” said one who was seen committing the Scriptures to memory, “I am making provision for a dark day, that when I can no longer read, in the multitude of my thoughts I shall have comfort left to my soul.” We all know the value of a thing by the want of it. “The word of the Lord was precious in those days.” What days? The days of conviction. When, by some influence, or some sermon, or by some providence, the carnal heart was broken up. When some have said-

“’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace that fear relieved;

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed.”

How precious was the word of the Lord then. “The word of the Lord was precious in those days.” What days? Days of affliction. This is my comfort; in my affliction, thy word hath quickened me. “The word of the Lord was precious in those days.” What days? Dying days. These we have not yet experienced, but we must experience them. What was it comforted the saints while passing through the valley of the shadow of death? The blessed gospel of salvation; that taught them that “to die is gain,” and enabled them to say, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”