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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Friday, December 21, 2007
MORNING:
"Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant."
-- 2 Samuel 23:5
This covenant is divine in its origin. "HE hath made with me an
everlasting covenant." Oh that great word HE! Stop, my soul. God, the
everlasting Father, has positively made a covenant with thee; yes, that
God who spake the world into existence by a word; he, stooping from his
majesty, takes hold of thy hand and makes a covenant with thee. Is it
not a deed, the stupendous condescension of which might ravish our
hearts for ever if we could really understand it? "HE hath made with me
a covenant." A king has not made a covenant with me-that were somewhat;
but the Prince of the kings of the earth, Shaddai, the Lord
All-sufficient, the Jehovah of ages, the everlasting Elohim, "He hath
made with me an everlasting covenant." But notice, it is particular in
its application. "Yet hath he made with ME an everlasting covenant."
Here lies the sweetness of it to each believer. It is nought for me
that he made peace for the world; I want to know whether he made peace
for me! It is little that he hath made a covenant, I want to know
whether he has made a covenant with me. Blessed is the assurance that
he hath made a covenant with me! If God the Holy Ghost gives me
assurance of this, then his salvation is mine, his heart is mine, he
himself is mine-he is my God.
This covenant is everlasting in its duration. An everlasting covenant
means a covenant which had no beginning, and which shall never, never
end. How sweet amidst all the uncertainties of life, to know that "the
foundation of the Lord standeth sure," and to have God's own promise,
"My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of
my lips." Like dying David, I will sing of this, even though my house
be not so with God as my heart desireth.
EVENING:
"I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with
badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I
covered thee with silk."
-- Ezekiel 16:10
See with what matchless generosity the Lord provides for his people's
apparel. They are so arrayed that the divine skill is seen producing an
unrivalled broidered work, in which every attribute takes its part and
every divine beauty is revealed. No art like the art displayed in our
salvation, no cunning workmanship like that beheld in the righteousness
of the saints. Justification has engrossed learned pens in all ages of
the church, and will be the theme of admiration in eternity. God has
indeed "curiously wrought it." With all this elaboration there is
mingled utility and durability, comparable to our being shod with
badgers' skins. The animal here meant is unknown, but its skin covered
the tabernacle, and formed one of the finest and strongest leathers
known. The righteousness which is of God by faith endureth for ever,
and he who is shod with this divine preparation will tread the desert
safely, and may even set his foot upon the lion and the adder. Purity
and dignity of our holy vesture are brought out in the fine linen. When
the Lord sanctifies his people, they are clad as priests in pure white;
not the snow itself excels them; they are in the eyes of men and angels
fair to look upon, and even in the Lord's eyes they are without spot.
Meanwhile the royal apparel is delicate and rich as silk. No expense is
spared, no beauty withheld, no daintiness denied.
What, then? Is there no inference from this? Surely there is gratitude
to be felt and joy to be expressed. Come, my heart, refuse not thy
evening hallelujah! Tune thy pipes! Touch thy chords!
"Strangely, my soul, art thou arrayed
By the Great Sacred Three!
In sweetest harmony of praise
Let all thy powers agree."
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Morning & Evening is the classic devotional by 19th-century writer
and preacher Charles Spurgeon. It's part of HEARTLIGHT Magazine,
the leading Christian living e-zine on the Web. Visit HEARTLIGHT
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