the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions
May 15—Morning—Isaiah 62:3
" Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God."—Isaiah 62:3.
It is very easy to conceive how the Lord of Hosts in the day of salvation becomes for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty unto his people, as a prophet hath said, Isaiah 28:5. But that the church, and every individual redeemed of the church, shall be the Lord’s crown and diadem. Oh, the wonders of grace! Pause, my soul, over the sweet scripture, and take to thyself the blessedness of it. What a variety of images and similitudes thy God hath made use of to manifest how highly he prizeth his redeemed. "Yea, he loveth the people," said one of old; "all his saints are in thy hand." He calleth them jewels, precious stones, his treasure, his chosen, his inheritance, his portion, his crown, his diadem. And what a thought is it for thee, my soul, to meditate upon, that though in thyself thou art nothing, yet considered in Jesus, thou art all this, and more; polished, made comely and glorious, from the comeliness put upon thee and the glory of Jesus. See then, my soul, the vast mercy in Jesus. A worthless worm made dear to God! How infinitely precious and dear should God in Christ be to thee. Let this encourage thee, then, at all times to come to him. Thou art giving glory to thy God, when thou. comest to him, to give out of his fulness to thee. Jesus wanteth needy creatures to be glorified upon, by giving out of his abundance to their necessities; and the more he gives, the more is he glorified. Mark that also, for thy greater encouragement to come to him. The more thou art blessed in his fulness, the more blessed he is in imparting it; so that while thou art his crown of glory, he is glorified in thy redemption. And while thou crownest Jesus’s head, in ascribing all the glory of thy salvation unto him, he condescends to make thee a crown of glory in his hand, as a token that thou art his, both by purchase of his blood, the gift of his Father, and the conquest of his grace. Hallelujah.
May 15—Evening—John 1:47
" An Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile."—John 1:47.
And what are we to understand by our Lord’s account, in this short but sweet history of Nathaniel, of an "Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile?" If, my soul, thou wilt do as thou art directed, (1 Corinthians 2:13.) attend "to the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual," thou wilt soon arrive at a proper apprehension of the Lord’s account, of "an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." It is our mercy that, on a point of so much consequence, we are not left to mere conjecture; for the Holy Ghost hath himself pointed out what it is to be without guile, in one of the Psalms of David. (See Psalms 32 :) And in his comment upon it by the apostle, (Romans 4:12.) he hath followed up the same doctrine more fully; "Blessed (saith he) is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." Now here observe, that the blessedness here spoken of, is not said to be a man that hath no sin, neither had sin, but to whom the Lord imputeth it not. And wherefore is this blessedness? It is explained: because "his transgression is forgiven, and his sin covered." And the Holy Ghost is pleased, by his servant the apostle, to give a farther explanation, by tracing it to its source, in the forgiveness of sins "by Jesus Christ." And in the case of Abraham, the great father of the faithful, he most clearly and fully proves the truth of this momentous doctrine: "Cometh this blessedness then (saith he) upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham. How was it then reckoned? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision; but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised." Now hence, my soul, thou mayest learn what it is to have "no guile," and, by consequence thereof, to be an "Israelite indeed." If thou wilt consult Abraham’s history, thou wilt discover that he was justified by faith: "he believed in the Lord, and it was counted to him for righteousness;" and this was many a year before he was circumcised; see Genesis 15:6. Some have reckoned it full twenty years; very certain it is, that it could not be less than ten years; see Genesis 7 : And from the moment of his justification by faith, Abraham might truly be said to be one "in whom was no guile." Apply what is here said by the Holy Ghost of Abraham, to the instance of Nathaniel, and of all the spiritual seed of Christ, and the conclusion will be the same: this it is to be "an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" My soul! what sayest thou of thyself? Art thou "an Israelite indeed?" Is thy guilt taken away by the blood of Christ? Pause; and recollect what the scripture saith: "For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God," Romans 2:28-29. "And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." Galatians 3:29.
