Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
September 9
Morning
"I will
answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things
which thou knowest not."—Jeremiah 33:3.
There are different
translations of these words. One version renders it, "I will shew thee great and fortified things." Another,
"Great and reserved things." Now, there are reserved and special
things in Christian experience: all the developments of spiritual life are not
alike easy of attainment. There are the common frames and feelings of
repentance, and faith, and joy, and hope, which are enjoyed by the entire
family; but there is an upper realm of rapture, of communion, and conscious
union with Christ, which is far from being the common dwelling-place of
believers. We have not all the high privilege of John, to lean upon Jesus'
bosom; nor of Paul, to be caught up into the third
heaven. There are heights in experimental knowledge of the things of God which
the eagle's eye of acumen and philosophic thought hath never seen: God alone
can bear us there; but the chariot in which He takes us up, and the fiery
steeds with which that chariot is dragged, are prevailing prayers. Prevailing
prayer is victorious over the God of mercy, "By his strength he had power
with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made
supplication unto Him: he found Him in Beth-el, and there He spake with us." Prevailing prayer takes the Christian
to Carmel, and enables him to cover heaven with clouds of blessing, and earth
with floods of mercy. Prevailing prayer bears the Christian aloft to Pisgah,
and shows him the inheritance reserved; it elevates us to Tabor and
transfigures us, till in the likeness of his Lord, as He is, so are we also in
this world. If you would reach to something higher than ordinary grovelling experience, look to the Rock that is higher than
you, and gaze with the eye of faith through the window of importunate prayer.
When you open the window on your side, it will not be bolted on the other.
Evening
"And
round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw
four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment."—Revelation
4:4.
These representatives of
the saints in heaven are said to be around the throne. In the passage in
Canticles, where Solomon sings of the King sitting at his table, some render it
"a round table." From this, some expositors, I think, without
straining the text, have said, "There is an equality among the
saints." That idea is conveyed by the equal nearness of the four and
twenty elders. The condition of glorified spirits in heaven is that of nearness
to Christ, clear vision of His glory, constant access to His court, and familiar
fellowship with His person: nor is there any difference in this respect between
one saint and another, but all the people of God, apostles, martyrs, ministers,
or private and obscure Christians, shall all be seated near the throne,
where they shall for ever gaze upon their exalted Lord, and be satisfied with
His love. They shall all be near to Christ, all ravished with His love, all
eating and drinking at the same table with Him, all equally beloved as His favourites and friends even if not all equally rewarded as
servants.
Let believers on earth
imitate the saints in heaven in their nearness to Christ. Let us on earth be as
the elders are in heaven, sitting around the throne. May Christ be the object
of our thoughts, the centre of our lives.
How can we endure to live at such a distance from our Beloved? Lord Jesu, draw us nearer to Thyself.
Say unto us, "Abide in Me, and I in you"; and permit us to sing,
"His left hand is under my head, and His right hand doth embrace
me."
O lift me higher, nearer
Thee, And as I rise more pure and meet, O let my soul's humility Make me lie
lower at Thy feet; Less trusting self, the more I prove The blessed comfort of
Thy love.