the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions
December 17—Morning—Revelation 1:17-18
"Fear not: I have the keys of hell and of death."—Revelation 1:17-18.
Is it Jesus, all precious, all lovely, all powerful Jesus, that saith this? He who hath redeemed my soul from hell, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling? And hath Jesus, my Husband, my Brother, my Redeemer, the keys both of hell and of death? Why then it is impossible for any to open death’s door one moment before that he gives the appointment. And doth he command me to fear not? Oh then, my soul, dismiss all anxiety about thy departure. Thy time is in Jesus’s hands; the keys are hanging at thy Redeemer’s girdle. Never fear, neither to die as thou hast lived, and art living, in a believing frame in Jesus. This is as much suited to a dying time, as it is to a living time; for with this thou mayest go out of the world, as safe as living in it. "To live is Christ, and to die is gain." God’s covenant love, and God’s covenant promises in Jesus, are the same. They are, both in death and life, fixed and sure. When Jesus therefore comes, when the Master calls for thee, wilt thou feel reluctant? What, reluctant to go to Jesus? Is this thy love, thy kindness to thy friend? Forbid it, dearest Lord! No, my precious, blessed Jesus, open the gate of death to me when thou pleasest, where thou pleasest, and how thou pleasest. Sure I am thou wilt be present, and that is enough for me; and when the ground of all sensible comforts is sinking under me, Oh for a vigorous effort of faith communicated by thee, that I may drop the body, and leap at once into thy arms, with the last cry of faith, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, for thou hast redeemed me, Oh Lord, thou God of truth."
December 17—Evening—Psalms 87:7
"All my springs are in thee."—Psalms 87:7.
Sweet thought! And this, as Solomon saith upon another occasion, forms the conclusion of the whole matter. Jesus is the source, the fountain, the author, the finisher of all our mercies; for every thing of life and salvation, of grace and glory, flow from him, centre in him; and therefore in him and from him, as the source of blessedness, all our springs must flow. In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. All glories are in him: the glory of the church above; the glory of the church below; yea, the glory of angels and of God himself; for the Father hath given all his glory into his almighty hands. Hence, my soul, from whom should thy springs flow, but from Jesus? If all divine attributes, all divine perfections are in him; if grace be no where but in Jesus; no blessing, no redemption but in his blood; if all gifts, and graces flow from him, and can no where else be found, to whom shall the gathering of the people be, or from whom shall all blessings come? And what a refreshing consideration is this, under all the barren, dry, and withering frames of the believer’s heart. See to it, my soul, that thou art coming- to Jesus, day by day, for suitable supplies; and let not thine emptiness discourage thee, or keep thee away, but rather let a sense of thy poverty endear to thee Jesus’s riches. Thou art as exactly suited for him, as he is suited to thee; and as much as thou needest his fulness, Jesus no less needs vessels to fill into, and to pour out upon, of his blessings. Precious Lord Jesus! behold then I am come to thee; I find, in every thing beside thee, sin, death, and misery. Oh, the rapturous thought! "All my springs are in thee!"
