Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
August 26
Morning
"He hath
commanded His covenant for ever."—Psalms 111:9.
The Lord's people delight
in the covenant itself. It is an unfailing source of consolation to them so
often as the Holy Spirit leads them into its banqueting house and waves its
banner of love. They delight to contemplate the antiquity of that
covenant, remembering that before the day-star knew
its place, or planets ran their round, the interests of the saints were made
secure in Christ Jesus. It is peculiarly pleasing to them to remember the
sureness of the covenant, while meditating upon "the sure mercies of
David." They delight to celebrate it as "signed, and sealed, and
ratified, in all things ordered well." It often makes their hearts dilate
with joy to think of its immutability, as a covenant which neither time
nor eternity, life nor death, shall ever be able to violate—a covenant as
old as eternity and as everlasting as the Rock of ages. They rejoice also to
feast upon the fulness of this covenant, for
they see in it all things provided for them. God is their portion, Christ their
companion, the Spirit their Comforter, earth their lodge, and heaven their
home. They see in it an inheritance reserved and entailed to every soul
possessing an interest in its ancient and eternal deed of gift. Their eyes
sparkled when they saw it as a treasure-trove in the Bible;
but oh! how their souls were gladdened when they saw
in the last will and testament of their divine kinsman, that it was bequeathed
to them! More especially it is the pleasure of God's people to contemplate the
graciousness of this covenant. They see that the law was made void because
it was a covenant of works and depended upon merit, but this they perceive to
be enduring because grace is the basis, grace the condition, grace the strain,
grace the bulwark, grace the foundation, grace the topstone.
The covenant is a treasury of wealth, a granary of food, a fountain of life, a store-house of salvation, a charter of peace, and a haven of
joy.
Evening
"The
people, when they beheld Him, were greatly amazed, and running to Him saluted
Him."—Mark 9:15.
How great the difference
between Moses and Jesus! When the prophet of Horeb
had been forty days upon the mountain, he underwent a kind of transfiguration,
so that his countenance shone with exceeding brightness, and he put a veil over
his face, for the people could not endure to look upon his glory. Not so our Saviour. He had been transfigured with a greater glory than
that of Moses, and yet, it is not written that the people were blinded by the
blaze of His countenance, but rather they were amazed, and running to Him they
saluted Him. The glory of the law repels, but the greater glory of Jesus
attracts. Though Jesus is holy and just, yet blended with His purity there is
so much of truth and grace, that sinners run to Him amazed at His goodness,
fascinated by His love; they salute Him, become His disciples, and take Him to
be their Lord and Master. Reader, it may be that just now you are blinded by
the dazzling brightness of the law of God. You feel its claims on your
conscience, but you cannot keep it in your life. Not that you find fault with
the law, on the contrary, it commands your profoundest esteem, still you are in
nowise drawn by it to God; you are rather hardened in heart, and are verging
towards desperation. Ah, poor heart! turn thine eye from Moses, with all his repelling splendour, and look to Jesus, resplendent with milder
glories. Behold His flowing wounds and thorn-crowned head! He is the Son of
God, and therein He is greater than Moses, but He is the Lord of love, and
therein more tender than the lawgiver. He bore the wrath of God, and in His
death revealed more of God's justice than Sinai on a blaze, but that justice is
now vindicated, and henceforth it is the guardian of believers in Jesus. Look,
sinner, to the bleeding Saviour, and as thou feelest the attraction of His love, fly to His arms, and
thou shalt be saved.