REFLECTIONS

“February 24.

“They shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.” Zech. 9:16.

Here we see the dignity of the Lord’s people. They are ‘stones,’ precious stones, set in the ‘crown’ of the King of kings. For such is the infinite goodness of God, that he not only spares, but pardons and justifies them. In his righteousness they are exalted. They are not only saved but ennobled. With kings are they upon the throne. They are naturally in a low estate, and are viler than the earth; but he raiseth the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the little dunghill. And though the world knoweth them not, and they are little and low in their own eyes, and it doth not yet appear what they shall be, yet now are they the sons of God; and since they have been precious in his sight, they have been honourable; and he calls them his jewels, and a peculiar treasure unto him. And all those who in his light see light, view them in the same way. They remember the time that they began to honour them that fear the Lord; when they took hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew; when they prayed to see the good of his chosen. Then they seemed to regard them as more than human beings; and while, above all things, they desired communion with them, they felt unworthy of their presence and notice. And though, since then, they have found that they are not already perfect, yet they know that they are the excellent of the earth, and that they are more excellent than their neighbors. There is often more real virtue in their failings than in the very devotion of others: ‘The gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim are better than the vintage of Abi-ezer.’

Here is also their exhibition; these stones of a crown are ‘lifted up.’ They are not to be concealed. Our Saviour compares them to a city set, not in a valley, but on a hill which cannot be hid; and to a candle placed, not under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that it may give light to all that are in the house. And when he calls them by his grace, he says to the ‘prisoners,’ ‘Go forth; and to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves: they shall feed in the ways, and their pasture shall be on all high places.’ Christians need not be concealed; every thing in their religion will bear examination, and challenges the eye of all, whether infidels, philosophers, politicians, or moralists. They ought not to be concealed; every thing in their religion is adapted to do good, but for this purpose it must be known. They cannot be concealed; their principles must operate; the sun cannot shine without showing itself. Here is also their utility; these stones of a crown are to be lifted up ‘as an ensign upon his land.’ An oriflamme suspended over the royal tent; and designed to attract and aggregate followers to the cause in which he is engaged. Thus the Saviour himself is spoken of: ‘In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest shall be glorious.’ But what Christ is, Christians are, subordinately indeed, yet really. Hence their calling, to hold forth the word of life. They are placed and displayed to reprove and convince, and excite and encourage others to seek and serve God. They are witnesses for him. They are trophies of the power and greatness and riches of his grace. They proclaim what he is able and willing to do. And saved by him, they are employed for him; and ‘whether they eat or drink, or whatever they do, they do all to the glory of God.’”

-From Morning Exercises; for Every Day in the Year, by Reverend William Jay  1769-1853  (Sprinkle Publications; Harrisonburg, Virginia), 1998—

REFLECTIONS

“Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to Himself a peculiar people, zealous for good works.” Titus 2:14

“What does the apostle mean by ALL INIQUITY? When he says ALL, he excludes nothing: he comprehends sin, original and actual, and announces that we are redeemed from the penalty and guilt of all sin, considered as transgression of the divine law. The meaning is, that Christ redeemed us from sin, considered as guilt and entailing the curse of the law. Our great God and Savior transferred the curse to Himself. Free from personal guilt, He entered into the place of the guilty, and transferred their guilt to Himself, that we, in virtue of His sufferings, might be pronounced free of further obligation. His sufferings, might be pronounced free of further obligation. His sufferings had the quality of a compensation, price, or ransom paid for a captive; and this bloody ransom dissolved all connection between sin and our obligation to punishment, giving a right to liberty.

B. The second thing contemplated by the Lord in His death, was to PURIFY TO HIMSELF A PECULIAR PEOPLE. The two clauses, introduced by the same final participle, contain two different thoughts. The benefits expressed are equally connected with the cross. The idea conveyed by the term PURIFY is sacrificial. There are no fewer than six cognate terms—viz. PURIFY, SANCTIFY, SPRINKLE, SANCTIFY, WASH, CLEANSE—used by the apostles to point out the effect produced by sacrifice on those who were defiled by sin. The general sense attaching to them is this, that sinners, excluded by sin from a holy God, are freed from impurity and readmitted to fellowship with God by blood. That is the meaning of the term PURIFY in the passage now under consideration.

The counterpart of these things—redemption and purification—we find in Israel’s typical history. Redemption form Egypt was followed by the Sinaitic covenant, where the same people were taken into a new standing, as a kingdom of priests, to be a peculiar people to Himself (Deut. vii. 6). There is little doubt that Paul had his eye on that fact, and on the passages descriptive of it (Ex. xix. 5, 6). Christ’s people, redeemed by the true counterpart of the figurative covenant people. The apostle finely alludes to the redemption from Egypt, and then to entering into covenant with God at Sinai as a people sprinkled with blood, and henceforth near to Israel’s holy God (Ex. xxiv. 8). The design of that redemption was the consecration or setting apart of the nation to be a people near to Him; and the immediate effect of Christ’s redemption is to separate a people from the world, for holy service, or priestly worship. And the designations here applied to them are striking. They are called a PECULIAR PEOPLE, which means His OWN people, with the accessory idea of being a peculiar treasure, precious, and kept with care (Deut. xiv. 2, xxvi. 18). They are His treasure, held to be most precious.

Next, the additional designation, ZEALOUS FOR GOOD WORKS, assumes that they are partakers of the spirit of holiness (Rom. i. 4), and of the sanctification of the Spirit (1 Pet. i. 2). This comprehends the sober, righteous, and godly life already mentioned (ver. 12), as becomes men inhabited by the Spirit of God. They bear fruit, and zealously labor to bear it, as the end of their redemption, and as is worthy of a dedicated people.”

-From The Apostle’s Doctrine of the Atonement, by George Smeaton (first published 1879; by The Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle, PA, 1991) Pages 330-331.

REFLECTIONS

"December 31.

“He thanked God and took courage.”  Acts 28:15

Gratitude and confidence are individually excellent, but their union is admirable. They adorn and recommend and aid each other. There is no one they become so well as the Christian. And when is he without cause for both? When has he not, if truth examines his condition, a thousand excitements to praise, and encouragements to hope?

           

It can never be more proper to exercise these than at the interesting period of the last day of the year, when we are so naturally and unavoidably led to think of the past and the future. Let us therefore follow the example of Paul when he met the brethren at Appii Forum—let us thank God, and take courage.

What can be more reasonable than to thank God when we review the past? While many have been cut off, and not a few in their sins, we have been carried through another year in safety. We have been exposed to accidents and diseases as well as they who are now in the dust, and our frame has been as delicate and frail as their frames. But we are the living, the living to praise him, as it is this day, and all our bones can say, Who is a God like unto thee? While he has holden our souls in life, he has also continued our mercies. These mercies have been new every morning. Of the least of all these we have been unworthy. And had we been dealt with according to our desert, we should have been the most wretched beings on earth. But we have been fed at his table, we have been clothed from his wardrobe. We have had not only the necessaries, but the comforts and indulgences of life. He has given us richly all things to enjoy. He has made the outgoings of our mornings and evenings to rejoice. He has given us the succession of the seasons. He has blessed the springing of the earth. He has charmed us in the field and in the garden with melody and fragrance, and colors and tastes. What relative attachments; what endearments of friendship; what pleasing interchanges of solitude and society, of labor and of rest, have we enjoyed!

           

We have not only to acknowledge private, but public mercies. How has he preserved and blessed our country, notwithstanding all our national provocations. He has not only blessed us personally, but relatively. He has been the benefactor of our families and our friends. Yea, he has blessed us not only in the kindness of his providence, but in the means of grace. We have had our Sabbaths. Our eyes have seen our teachers. We have been made joyful in his house of prayer. He has fed us with the finest of the wheat, and with oil out of the rock has he satisfied us. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”

           

We have had trials; but even these, instead of checking gratitude, if properly reviewed, will increase it. They have been few, compared with our comforts. They have been light, compared with the sufferings of others. They have been variously alleviated: in measure, when they shot forth, he debated with them; he stayed his rough wind in the day of the east wind. They have all been founded in a regard to our welfare. They have imbittered sin, and endeared the Scriptures, and the throne of grace, and the sympathy of Him who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. They have weaned us from the world. They have told us that this is not our rest. They have also assured us that he knows how to support and deliver. Aaron’s rod blossomed; so shall ours, and yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness. There was honey at the end of Jonathan’s rod, and there is sweetness at the end of ours. Yea, already we can say, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” Surely a gratitude is required on this occasion that will not expire in mere acknowledgements, but induce me to dedicate myself to his service, and walk before him in newness of life.

           

And what can be more reasonable than to take courage when we look forward? We enter, indeed, on the year commencing, not knowing what a day may bring forth; and darkness is apt to gender dread. Duties will arise, and we must meet their claims. Afflictions may arise; indeed, they are almost unavoidable. Does not every path of life lead through a vale of tears? Is not every thing here uncertain? My health may be assailed. My friends may be removed. This year I may die.

But I will pore on this no longer. I will not sour my present mercies by suspicion, or fear, or anxiety. It is my duty, it is my privilege to be careful for nothing, but to cast all my care on Him who careth for me. I take courage from his former dispensations. Has he ever forsaken or forgotten me? “Because he has been my help, therefore under the shadow of his wings will I rejoice.” I take courage from his providence. I am not in “a fatherless world.” Nothing is left to chance. My ways are continually before him, and the very hairs of my head are all numbered. I take courage from his power. Nothing is too hard for him. He can make even mine enemies to be at peace with me. He can render every loss a gain. He can make all things work together for my good. I take courage from his promises. They are all faithfulness and truth. And what case do they leave unnoticed, unprovided for, from which despondency can spring? I will therefore trust, and not be afraid, but go forward cheerfully with Him who said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

“Beneath his smiles my heart has lived,

And part of heaven possessed:

I praise his name for grace received,

And trust him for the rest.”"

-From Morning Exercises for Every Day in the Year, by Reverend William Jay (1769-1852); (Harrisonburg, Virginia; SPRINKLE PUBLICATIONS; 1998)

REFLECTIONS

"The Expulsive Power of a New Affection

Misplaced affections need to be replaced by the far greater power of the affection of the gospel. It is not enough to understand the worthlessness of the world; one must value the worth of the things of God. The love of God and the love of the world are two affections, not merely in a state of rivalship but in a state of enmity-and that so irreconcilable, that they cannot dwell together in the same bosom. The only way to dispossess (the heart) of an old affection, is by the expulsive power of a new one. Nothing can exceed the magnitude of the required change in a man’s character, when bidden as he is in the New Testament, to love not the world.

But the same revelation which dictates so mighty an obedience, places within our heart an affection which once seated upon its throne, will either subordinate every previous inmate or bid it away. Beside the world, it places before the eye of the mind Him who made the world and with this peculiarity, which is all its own-that in the Gospel do we so behold God, as that we may love God.  It is when He stands dismantled of the terrors which belong to Him as an offended lawgiver and when we are enabled by faith, which is His own gift, to see His glory in the face of Jesus Christ, and to hear His beseeching voice, as it protests good will to men, and entreats the return of all who will to a full pardon and a gracious acceptance-it is then, that  a love paramount to the love of the world, and at length expulsive of it, first arises in the regenerated bosom. It is when released from the spirit of bondage with which love cannot dwell, and when admitted into the number of Gods children through the faith that is in Jesus Christ, the spirit of adoption is poured upon us- it is then that the heart brought under the mastery of one great and predominant affection, is delivered from the tyranny of its former desires, in the only way in which the deliverance is possible.  The best way of casting out an impure affection is to admit a pure on; and by the love of what is good, to expel the love of what is evil. And never does the sinner find within himself so mighty a moral transformation, as when under the belief that he is saved by grace he feels constrained thereby to offer his heart a devoted thing and to deny ungodliness. We know of no other way by which to keep the love of the world out of our heart, than to keep in our hearts the love of God."   

-Thomas Chalmers  Scottish Minister 1780-1847

 

REFLECTIONS

I Asked The Lord

I asked the Lord that I might grow

In faith, and love, and every grace,

Might more of His salvation know,

And seek more earnestly His face.

‘Twas He who taught me thus to pray,

And He, I trust, has answered prayer;

But it has been in such a way

As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favoured hour

At once He’d answer my request;

And by His love’s constraining power,

Subdue my sins and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel

The hidden evils of my heart,

And let the angry powers of hell

Assault my soul in every part.

Yea, more, with His own hand He seemed

Intent to aggravate my woe,

Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,

Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

“Lord, why is this?” I trembling cried,

“Wilt thou pursue Thy worm to death?”

“Tis in this way,” the Lord replied,

I answer prayer for grace and faith.”

“These inward trials I employ,

From self and pride to set thee free,

And break thy schemes of earthly joy,

That thou mayest seek thy all in Me.”

-John Newton, 1725-1807