the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions
April 21—Morning—John 17:22
"The glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. "—John 17:22.
Those are sweet views of Jesus which point to our oneness and union with him, by which alone we derive an interest in him, and are made partakers both in his grace and glory. By virtue of this it is, that the glory the Father gave Jesus, as Mediator, all his people are interested in, and truly enjoy. For though like the heir of a kingdom, when an infant, the babe is unconscious of his dignity, yet is not the less entitled to his high birth and rank: so the seed of Jesus, while in this childhood of existence, though they do not live up to their high privileges through the weakness of their faith, yet their claim in Jesus is not the less. Jesus hath given them the glory of being brought within the covenant, the glory of redemption, the glory of the Holy Ghost’s gifts and influences; and, in short, all the glory which a state of grace implies, and which is the earnest of the future fulness of glory. And, my soul, dost thou ever pause over this account of present glory as if thou didst not truly know thine interest and the enjoyment of it? Look at it only under these two considerations, and then bow down under a sense of it in the dust before God. In the first, put forth thy utmost faculties to calculate that glory which, if thou art one of Jesus’s redeemed people, thou now truly hast in having union with Christ! Who shall undertake to describe that glory imparted to a poor worm of the earth, who is brought into union with God’s dear Son? Paul speaks of it as an high privilege, when he said, , Ye are come to an innumerable company of angels. "But what is the society of angels, compared to an union with Jesus? Moreover, angels have no such privilege: for while Jesus is to them their Lord and Sovereign, and governs them by his supreme command, yet is he not to them as he is to his church, the glorious head of that church, which is his body, and by which he perpetually communicates to all his members a source of gracious and glorious influences, according to what he hath said," Because I live, ye shall live also. "Hence, what the Redeemer said to the Father is explained on this sure testimony—"The glory thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one. "Look at the subject under another consideration. Hath not Jesus given present glory to all his redeemed in that communication which is perpetually passing and repassing between him and them by virtue of this oneness, and unity, and interest, into which they are actually brought? My soul, what sayeth thy experience to this precious truth? Dost thou really and truly partake of what is Jesus’s; and doth he not really and truly partake of what is thine? Is there not an exchange, a barter, a fellowship, carried on between thy glorious head and thyself? Surely thou hast communion in whatever belongs to Christ as Mediator; in his righteousness, in his grace, his redemption, his glory. And doth not Jesus manifest continual tokens that he takes part in all that concerns thee; thy sorrows, thy wants, thine afflictions? Was it not said of him, ages before his incarnation, when speaking of his people," in all their affliction he was afflicted? "And is it not said now, that "whosoever toucheth his people toucheth the apple of his eye? "Oh unparalleled grace! 0 matchless love, that the Son of God should thus manifest his affection! What will you call this, my soul, but what thy God and Saviour hath called it—the glory which the Father gave him, he hath given to his people. And all this on purpose to prove that they are one with him. Hallelujah!
April 21—Evening—John 12:24
"Verily, verily I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground, and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."—John 12:24.
How sweet and lovely is this similitude of the Lord’s, in allusion to himself! See to it, my soul, this evening, that thou art able to receive it. Thou hast been attending thy Lord to the tomb: here behold the blessed fruits of his precious death. When Jesus became incarnate, like a pure corn of the finest wheat, he fell to the ground; and when at his death," he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death," he fell into the ground: and now what an abundant harvest of glory to God, and salvation to souls, hath that death, and grave of Jesus produced! Had Jesus never died, how would he have seen his seed, and the pleasure of the Lord prosper in his hand? Had Jesus not descended to the grave, how would he have been the life-giving, the soul-quickening root of all his church and people? But now, by this one precious corn of wheat falling into the ground, and dying, how hath the garner of God been filled, and is now continually filling, with his seed! Precious Jesus! give me to see that I am thy seed, in the ever green and flourishing verdure of my soul from thy quickening influence! And let that promise of my covenant Father and God in Christ be my daily portion: "As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord: my spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put into thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever."
