Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
June 18
Morning
"Thy Redeemer."—Isaiah 54:5.
Jesus, the Redeemer, is
altogether ours and ours for ever. All the offices
of Christ are held on our behalf. He is king for us, priest for us, and prophet
for us. Whenever we read a new title of the Redeemer,
let us appropriate Him as ours under that name as much as under any other. The
shepherd's staff, the father's rod, the captain's sword, the
priest's mitre, the prince's sceptre,
the prophet's mantle, all are ours. Jesus hath no dignity
which He will not employ for our exaltation, and no prerogative which He
will not exercise for our defence. His fulness of Godhead is our unfailing, inexhaustible
treasure-house.
His manhood also,
which he took upon him for us, is ours in all its perfection. To us our
gracious Lord communicates the spotless virtue of a stainless character; to us
he gives the meritorious efficacy of a devoted life; on us he bestows the
reward procured by obedient submission and incessant service. He makes the
unsullied garment of his life our covering beauty; the glittering virtues of
his character our ornaments and jewels; and the superhuman meekness of his
death our boast and glory. He bequeaths us his manger, from which to learn how
God came down to man; and his Cross to teach us how man may go up to God. All
His thoughts, emotions, actions, utterances, miracles, and intercessions, were
for us. He trod the road of sorrow on our behalf, and hath made over to us as
his heavenly legacy the full results of all the labours
of his life. He is now as much ours as heretofore; and he blushes not to
acknowledge himself "our Lord Jesus Christ," though he is the
blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. Christ
everywhere and every way is our Christ, for ever and
ever most richly to enjoy. O my soul, by the power of the Holy Spirit! call him this morning, "thy Redeemer."
Evening
"I am come into my garden, my sister, my
spouse."—Song of Solomon 5:1.
The heart of the believer
is Christ's garden. He bought it with His precious blood, and He enters it and
claims it as His own. A garden implies separation. It is not the open
common; it is not a wilderness; it is walled around, or hedged in. Would that
we could see the wall of separation between the church and the world made
broader and stronger. It makes one sad to hear Christians saying, "Well,
there is no harm in this; there is no harm in that," thus getting as near
to the world as possible. Grace is at a low ebb in
that soul which can even raise the question of how far it may go in worldly
conformity. A garden is a place of beauty, it
far surpasses the wild uncultivated lands. The genuine Christian must seek to
be more excellent in his life than the best moralist, because Christ's garden
ought to produce the best flowers in all the world.
Even the best is poor compared with Christ's deservings;
let us not put Him off with withering and dwarf plants. The rarest,
richest, choicest lilies and roses ought to bloom in the place which Jesus
calls His own. The garden is a place of growth. The saints are not to
remain undeveloped, always mere buds and blossoms. We should grow in grace, and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. Growth should be rapid where Jesus is the Husbandman, and the Holy
Spirit the dew from above. A garden is a place of
retirement. So the Lord Jesus Christ would have us reserve our souls as a
place in which He can manifest Himself, as He doth not unto the world. O that
Christians were more retired, that they kept their hearts more closely shut up
for Christ! We often worry and trouble ourselves, like Martha, with much
serving, so that we have not the room for Christ that Mary had, and do not sit
at His feet as we should. The Lord grant the sweet
showers of His grace to water His garden this day.