Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
April 21
Morning
"I know that my Redeemer liveth."—Job 19:25.
The marrow of Job's comfort
lies in that little word "My"—"My Redeemer," and in
the fact that the Redeemer lives. Oh! to get hold of a
living Christ. We must get a property in Him before we can enjoy Him. What is
gold in the mine to me? Men are beggars in Peru, and beg their bread in
California. It is gold in my purse which will satisfy
my necessities, by purchasing the bread I need. So a Redeemer who does not
redeem me, an avenger who will never stand up for my blood, of what
avail were such? Rest not content until by faith you
can say "Yes, I cast myself upon my living Lord; and He is mine." It
may be you hold Him with a feeble hand; you half think it presumption to say,
"He lives as my Redeemer;" yet, remember if you have but faith
as a grain of mustard seed, that little faith entitles you to say it.
But there is also another word here, expressive of Job's strong confidence, "I
know." To say, "I hope so, I trust so" is comfortable; and
there are thousands in the fold of Jesus who hardly ever get much further. But
to reach the essence of consolation you must say, "I know." Ifs,
buts, and perhapses, are sure murderers of peace and
comfort. Doubts are dreary things in times of sorrow. Like wasps they sting the
soul! If I have any suspicion that Christ is not mine, then there is vinegar
mingled with the gall of death; but if I know that Jesus lives for me, then
darkness is not dark: even the night is light about me. Surely if Job, in those
ages before the coming and advent of Christ, could say, "I know," we
should not speak less positively. God forbid that our positiveness
should be presumption. Let us see that our evidences are right, lest we build
upon an ungrounded hope; and then let us not be satisfied with the mere
foundation, for it is from the upper rooms that we get the widest prospect. A
living Redeemer, truly mine, is joy unspeakable.
Evening
"Who is even at the right hand of God."—Romans 8:34.
He
who was once despised and rejected of men, now occupies the honourable
position of a beloved and honoured Son. The right
hand of God is the place of majesty and favour.
Our Lord Jesus is His people's representative. When He died for them they had
rest; He rose again for them, they had liberty; when He sat down at His Father's
right hand, they had favour, and honour,
and dignity. The raising and elevation of Christ is the elevation, the
acceptance, and enshrinement, the glorifying of all His people, for He is their
head and representative. This sitting at the right hand of God, then, is to be
viewed as the acceptance of the person of the Surety, the reception of the
Representative, and therefore, the acceptance of our souls. O saint, see
in this thy sure freedom from condemnation. "Who is he that condemneth?" Who shall condemn the men who are in
Jesus at the right hand of God?
The right hand
is the place of power. Christ at the right hand of God hath all power in
heaven and in earth. Who shall fight against the people who have such power
vested in their Captain? O my soul, what can destroy thee if Omnipotence be thy helper? If the aegis of the
Almighty cover thee, what sword can smite thee? Rest thou secure. If
Jesus is thine all-prevailing King, and hath trodden thine enemies beneath His feet; if sin, death, and hell are
all vanquished by Him, and thou art represented in Him, by no possibility canst
thou be destroyed.
"Jesu's tremendous name
Puts all our
foes to flight:
Jesus, the
meek, the angry Lamb,
A Lion is in
fight.
"By all hell's host
withstood;
We all hell's
host o'erthrow;
And conquering
them, through Jesu's blood
We still to conquer
go."