Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
February 5
Morning
"The
Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the
world."—1 John 4:14.
It is a sweet thought that
Jesus Christ did not come forth without His Father's permission, authority,
consent, and assistance. He was sent of the Father, that He might be the Saviour of men. We are too apt to forget that, while there
are distinctions as to the persons in the Trinity, there are no
distinctions of honour. We too
frequently ascribe the honour of our salvation, or at
least the depths of its benevolence, more to Jesus Christ than we do the
Father. This is a very great mistake. What if Jesus came? Did not His Father
send Him? If He spake wondrously, did not His Father
pour grace into His lips, that He might be an able minister of the new
covenant? He who knoweth the
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost as he should know them, never setteth one before another in his love; he sees them at
Bethlehem, at Gethsemane, and on Calvary, all equally engaged in the work of
salvation. O Christian, hast thou put thy confidence in the Man Christ Jesus?
Hast thou placed thy reliance solely on Him? And art thou united with Him? Then
believe that thou art united unto the God of heaven. Since to the Man Christ
Jesus thou art brother, and holdest closest
fellowship, thou art linked thereby with God the Eternal, and "the Ancient
of days" is thy Father and thy friend. Didst thou ever consider the depth
of love in the heart of Jehovah, when God the Father equipped His Son for the
great enterprise of mercy? If not, be this thy day's meditation. The Father
sent Him! Contemplate that subject. Think how Jesus works what the Father
wills. In the wounds of the dying Saviour see the
love of the great I AM. Let every thought of Jesus be also connected with the
Eternal, ever-blessed God, for "It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath
put Him to grief."
Evening
"At that
time Jesus answered."—Matthew 11:25.
This is a singular way in
which to commence a verse—"At that time Jesus answered." If you
will look at the context you will not perceive that any person had asked Him a
question, or that He was in conversation with any human being. Yet it is
written, "Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father." When a
man answers, he answers a person who has been speaking to him. Who, then, had
spoken to Christ? His Father. Yet there is no record of it; and this should
teach us that Jesus had constant fellowship with His Father, and that God spake into His heart so often, so continually, that it was
not a circumstance singular enough to be recorded. It was the habit and life of
Jesus to talk with God. Even as Jesus was, is this world, so are we; let us
therefore learn the lesson which this simple statement concerning Him teaches
us. May we likewise have silent fellowship with the Father, so that often we
may answer Him, and though the world wotteth not to
whom we speak, may we be responding to that secret voice unheard of any other
ear, which our own ear, opened by the Spirit of God, recognizes with joy. God
has spoken to us, let us speak to God—either to set our seal that God is
true and faithful to His promise, or to confess the sin of which the Spirit of
God has convinced us, or to acknowledge the mercy which God's providence has
given, or to express assent to the great truths which God the Holy Ghost has
opened to our understanding. What a privilege is intimate communion with the
Father of our spirits! It is a secret hidden from the world, a joy with which
even the nearest friend intermeddleth not. If we
would hear the whispers of God's love, our ear must be purged and fitted to listen
to His voice. This very evening may our hearts be in such a state, that when
God speaks to us, we, like Jesus, may be prepared at once to answer Him.