Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
October 10
Morning
"Faultless
before the presence of His glory."—Jude 24.
Revolve in your mind that
wondrous word, faultless!" We are far off from it now; but as our
Lord never stops short of perfection in His work of love, we shall reach it one
day. The Saviour who will keep His people to the end,
will also present them at last to Himself, as "a glorious church, not
having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and without blemish."
All the jewels in the Saviour's crown are of the
first water and without a single flaw. All the maids of honour
who attend the Lamb's wife are pure virgins without spot or stain. But how will
Jesus make us faultless? He will wash us from our sins in His own blood until
we are white and fair as God's purest angel; and we shall be clothed in His
righteousness, that righteousness which makes the saint who wears it positively
faultless; yea, perfect in the sight of God. We shall be unblameable
and unreproveable even in His eyes. His law will not
only have no charge against us, but it will be magnified in us. Moreover, the
work of the Holy Spirit within us will be altogether complete. He will make us
so perfectly holy, that we shall have no lingering tendency to sin. Judgment, memory, will—every power and passion shall
be emancipated from the thraldom of evil. We shall be
holy even as God is holy, and in His presence we shall dwell for
ever. Saints will not be out of place in heaven, their beauty will be as
great as that of the place prepared for them. Oh the rapture of that hour when
the everlasting doors shall be lifted up, and we, being made meet for the
inheritance, shall dwell with the saints in light. Sin gone, Satan shut out,
temptation past for ever, and ourselves
"faultless" before God, this will be heaven indeed! Let us be joyful
now as we rehearse the song of eternal praise so soon to roll forth in full
chorus from all the blood-washed host; let us copy David's exultings
before the ark as a prelude to our ecstasies before the throne.
Evening
"And I
will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of
the hand of the terrible."—Jeremiah 15:21.
Note the glorious
personality of the promise. I will, I will. The Lord Jehovah
Himself interposes to deliver and redeem His people. He pledges Himself
personally to rescue them. His own arm shall do it, that He may have the glory.
Here is not a word said of any effort of our own which may be needed to assist
the Lord. Neither our strength nor our weakness is taken into the account, but
the lone I, like the sun in the heavens, shines out resplendent in all-sufficience. Why then do we calculate our forces, and
consult with flesh and blood to our grievous wounding? Jehovah has power enough
without borrowing from our puny arm. Peace, ye unbelieving thoughts, be still,
and know that the Lord reigneth. Nor is there a hint
concerning secondary means and causes. The Lord says nothing of friends and
helpers: He undertakes the work alone, and feels no need of human arms to aid
Him. Vain are all our lookings around to companions
and relatives; they are broken reeds if we lean upon them—often unwilling
when able, and unable when they are willing. Since the promise comes alone from
God, it would be well to wait only upon Him; and when we do so, our expectation
never fails us. Who are the wicked that we should fear them? The Lord will
utterly consume them; they are to be pitied rather than feared. As for terrible
ones, they are only terrors to those who have no God to fly to, for when the
Lord is on our side, whom shall we fear? If we run into sin to please the
wicked, we have cause to be alarmed, but if we hold fast our integrity, the
rage of tyrants shall be overruled for our good. When the fish swallowed Jonah,
he found him a morsel which he could not digest; and
when the world devours the church, it is glad to be rid of it again. In all
times of fiery trial, in patience let us possess our souls.