Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
March 24
MORNING
ÒHe was heard in that he feared.Ó — Hebrews 5:7
Did this fear arise from the infernal suggestion that
He was utterly forsaken? There may be sterner trials than this, but surely it
is one of the worst to be utterly forsaken? ÒSee,Ó said Satan, Òthou hast a
friend nowhere! Thy Father hath shut up the bowels of His compassion against
thee. Not an angel in His courts will stretch out his hand to help thee. All
heaven is alienated from Thee; Thou art left alone. See the companions with
whom Thou hast taken sweet counsel, what are they worth? Son of Mary, see there
Thy brother James, see there Thy loved disciple John, and Thy bold apostle
Peter, how the cowards sleep when Thou art in Thy sufferings! Lo! Thou hast no
friend left in heaven or earth. All hell is against Thee. I have stirred up
mine infernal den. I have sent my missives throughout all regions summoning
every prince of darkness to set upon Thee this night, and we will spare no
arrows, we will use all our infernal might to overwhelm Thee: and what wilt
Thou do, Thou solitary one?Ó It may be, this was the
temptation; we think it was, because the appearance of an angel unto Him
strengthening Him removed that fear. He was heard in that He feared; He was no
more alone, but heaven was with Him. It may be that this is the reason of His
coming three times to His disciples — as Hart puts it —
ÒBackwards and
forwards thrice He ran,
As if He
sought some help from man.Ó
He would see for Himself whether it were really true
that all men had forsaken Him; He found them all asleep; but perhaps He gained
some faint comfort from the thought that they were sleeping, not from
treachery, but from sorrow, the spirit indeed was willing, but the flesh was
weak. At any rate, He was heard in that He feared. Jesus was heard in His
deepest woe; my soul, thou shalt be heard also.
EVENING
ÒIn that hour
Jesus rejoiced in spirit.Ó — Luke 10:21
The Saviour was Òa man of
sorrows,Ó but every thoughtful mind has discovered the fact that down deep in
His innermost soul He carried an inexhaustible treasury of refined and heavenly
joy. Of all the human race, there was never a man who
had a deeper, purer, or more abiding peace than our Lord Jesus Christ. ÒHe was
anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows.Ó His vast benevolence
must, from the very nature of things, have afforded Him the deepest possible
delight, for benevolence is joy. There were a few remarkable seasons when this
joy manifested itself. ÒAt that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I
thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth.Ó Christ had His songs, though
it was night with Him; though His face was marred, and His countenance had lost
the lustre of earthly happiness, yet sometimes it was
lit up with a matchless splendour of unparalleled
satisfaction, as He thought upon the recompense of the reward, and in the midst
of the congregation sang His praise unto God. In this, the Lord Jesus is a
blessed picture of His church on earth. At this hour the church expects to walk
in sympathy with her Lord along a thorny road; through much tribulation she is
forcing her way to the crown. To bear the cross is her office, and to be
scorned and counted an alien by her motherÕs children is her lot; and yet the
church has a deep well of joy, of which none can drink but her own children.
There are stores of wine, and oil, and corn, hidden in the midst of our
Jerusalem, upon which the saints of God are evermore sustained and nurtured;
and sometimes, as in our SaviourÕs case, we have our
seasons of intense delight, for ÒThere is a river, the streams whereof shall
make glad the city of our God.Ó Exiles though we be, we rejoice in our King;
yea, in Him we exceedingly rejoice, while in His name we set up our
banners.