the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions
April 16—Morning—John 19:42
"There laid they Jesus."—John 19:42.
My soul, it is usual for the relations and friends of those that are deceased to attend the funeral. Art thou a friend, a relation, of Jesus? Oh yes; I trust thou art. He was, and is, the dearest of all friends, the nearest of all relations. He is at once all and every one—the Father, the Husband, the Brother. The invitation is therefore sent to thee, personally to thee. Every voice of affection calls thee to the tomb of Jesus, saying, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay." And if, like Mary Magdalene, from more abundant love, thou art asking, "Where have they laid him?"—the answer immediately is returned, "Come and see." Yes, thou dear Redeemer! by that faith thou hast graciously given me, I will come and see. Let my faith take wing, and light down in Joseph of Arimethea’s garden, and behold the place where the Lord lay. Was this the memorable spot? Did Jesus lay here? Did he here make (according to the ancient prophecy foretold of him)"his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth? "Here let me look; here let my soul wander in contemplation. Oh what a marvellous sight to behold Jesus thus lain in the grave. Surely we may cry out, as the church did in the view," My beloved is white and ruddy. "Never did death triumph so before. Never did the grave receive and hold’ such a prisoner. But, my soul, behold also, in the view, how Jesus triumphed even in death. It was "through death he destroyed him that had the power of death-that is, the devil, that he might deliver them who, through fear of death, are all their life-time subject to bondage. "And what saith Jesus to my soul from the grave? Fear not," I have the keys of death and the grave: fear not to go down to the Egypt of the grave, I will go with thee, and will surely bring thee up again from thence. "And observe, my soul, as the grave could not detain thy Lord, thine Head, a prisoner; so neither can the grave, beyond the appointed time, detain any of his members. And as the union between the Godhead and the manhood in Jesus was not broken off by death, so neither can the union between Jesus and his people be interrupted by death. The covenant of redemption, the union of Jesus with his people, the love of God in Christ to the souls and bodies of his redeemed, all these rot not in the grave; nay, where sin is taken out, the very enmity of the grave is slain; and though it acts as a devourer of our corrupt bodies, yet it acts as a preserver also of the refined part, that the dust and ashes of his saints Jesus may visit, and manifest his care over, from day to day. Precious Lord, here then, as in every thing, thou hast the pre-eminence. Thou hast gone before: thou hast sweetly perfumed the grave by having lain there. And where should the dying members be but where their living Head hath been before? Hence then, my soul, take comfort and fear not, when thy partner, the body, is called upon to go down to the grave. When the soul flies to Jesus in heaven, the body will sweetly rest in Jesus till summoned from the grave. Thy God, thy Jesus, hath the appointment for thy departure; both the place where, the time when, and the manner how, are all with him. He hath the keys both to open the door of death, and to open the kingdom of heaven. Leave all then with him. Frequently; by faith, visit his sepulchre, and behold where they laid him, And in the triumphs of thy Jesus, as thine head, already take part, as a member of his body, crying out with the apostle, "Oh death where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory? God be praised who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ."
April 16—Evening—Acts 2:24
"Having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that he should be holden of it."—Acts 2:24.
My soul! thou hast been in contemplation to the tomb of Jesus this morning, and seen the place where the Lord lay; now sit down, and ponder over what this blessed scripture saith, that "the pains of death were loosened, because it was not possible for Jesus to be detained a prisoner by it. "And if there were no other scripture, but this one, in proof of Christ’s godhead, this in itself would be unanswerable; for it could be nothing but the godhead of his person which made it impossible. It was this which, from the union of the manhood with the godhead, preserved his soul from sin, and his body from corruption; for though the human nature that Christ took was subject to all the sinless infirmities of nature, and to feel hunger, weariness, and the like, to the full, being part of the curse on the fall, which he came to bear and do away; yet was he not left to the infirmities of what we, in our fallen state, are exposed to, and often sink under. Sweet thought, to look. to the tomb of Jesus with! Here, as oft as we contemplate the spot, we may say: here Christ hath lain down, to teach his followers to lie down. But here Christ could not be detained; his holy body was not subject to corruption. "Thou wilt not leave his soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." But may it not be added also, on another account, that the pains of death could not hold Christ; forasmuch as God’s justice being fully satisfied by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all, there could be no detention of the prisoner when the debt was paid? The Lord Jesus did not, for he needed not, go down to hell for the purpose of receiving there the punishment our sins deserve, and which, by suffering in our stead and room, he did away: his sufferings were fully commensurate upon earth: and it is not the place, but the degree and nature of punishment, that makes an equivalent on the score of paying. His capability of suffering, and the extremity of what he endured during his agony in the garden, and on the cross, (not to mention a whole life of sorrows, in being all along acquainted with grief) these were the full Cup of trembling which Jesus drank, and completely adequate it was, or he would not have said upon the cross, "it is finished!" Neither was it necessary that the Redeemer should long endure the sufferings due to sin, as the sinner’s surety. Here also his capability of sustaining much, in a little space, plainly proves, that when all the vials of divine wrath were poured out upon his sacred head; being once completely emptied, they could not again be filled. Though had not Jesus died," the just for the unjust, to bring us to God," the second death (which, out of Christ, is the sinner’s due) must be an eternal death, because the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, are only fitted’ for, and capable of receiving misery by portions, which never being fully poured out, are consequently never finished. But not so with Him who stood the sinner’s surety. He could, and did receive at once, in life and death, the whole of the punishment due to sin: and therefore he it is of whom the Holy Ghost speaks, "All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me," Psalms 42:7. Precious Lord! while I think of these things, and my whole soul is going forth in sorrow at the contemplation of those sufferings of thine for’ my salvation, grant me to feel at the same time the blessedness of thy redemption, and my interest in it, since "by thy stripes I am healed."
