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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING http://www.heartlight.org/
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Tuesday, March 24, 2009
MORNING:
"He was heard in that he feared."
-- Hebrews 5:7
Did this fear arise from the infernal suggestion that he was utterly
forsaken. There may be sterner trials than this, but surely it is one
of the worst to be utterly forsaken? "See," said Satan, "thou hast a
friend nowhere! Thy Father hath shut up the bowels of his compassion
against thee. Not an angel in his courts will stretch out his hand to
help thee. All heaven is alienated from thee; thou art left alone. See
the companions with whom thou hast taken sweet counsel, what are they
worth? Son of Mary, see there thy brother James, see there thy loved
disciple John, and thy bold apostle Peter, how the cowards sleep when
thou art in thy sufferings! Lo! Thou hast no friend left in heaven or
earth. All hell is against thee. I have stirred up mine infernal den. I
have sent my missives throughout all regions summoning every prince of
darkness to set upon thee this night, and we will spare no arrows, we
will use all our infernal might to overwhelm thee: and what wilt thou
do, thou solitary one?" It may be, this was the temptation; we think it
was, because the appearance of an angel unto him strengthening him
removed that fear. He was heard in that he feared; he was no more
alone, but heaven was with him. It may be that this is the reason of
his coming three times to his disciples-as Hart puts it-
"Backwards and forwards thrice he ran,
As if he sought some help from man."
He would see for himself whether it were really true that all men had
forsaken him; he found them all asleep; but perhaps he gained some
faint comfort from the thought that they were sleeping, not from
treachery, but from sorrow, the spirit indeed was willing, but the
flesh was weak. At any rate, he was heard in that he feared. Jesus was
heard in his deepest woe; my soul, thou shalt be heard also.
EVENING:
"In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit."
-- Luke 10:21
The Saviour was "a man of sorrows," but every thoughtful mind has
discovered the fact that down deep in his innermost soul he carried an
inexhaustible treasury of refined and heavenly joy. Of all the human
race, there was never a man who had a deeper, purer, or more abiding
peace than our Lord Jesus Christ. "He was anointed with the oil of
gladness above his fellows." His vast benevolence must, from the very
nature of things, have afforded him the deepest possible delight, for
benevolence is joy. There were a few remarkable seasons when this joy
manifested itself. "At that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I
thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth." Christ had his songs,
though it was night with him; though his face was marred, and his
countenance had lost the lustre of earthly happiness, yet sometimes it
was lit up with a matchless splendour of unparalleled satisfaction, as
he thought upon the recompense of the reward, and in the midst of the
congregation sang his praise unto God. In this, the Lord Jesus is a
blessed picture of his church on earth. At this hour the church expects
to walk in sympathy with her Lord along a thorny road; through much
tribulation she is forcing her way to the crown. To bear the cross is
her office, and to be scorned and counted an alien by her mother's
children is her lot; and yet the church has a deep well of joy, of
which none can drink but her own children. There are stores of wine,
and oil, and corn, hidden in the midst of our Jerusalem, upon which the
saints of God are evermore sustained and nurtured; and sometimes, as in
our Saviour's case, we have our seasons of intense delight, for "There
is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of our God."
Exiles though we be, we rejoice in our King; yea, in him we exceedingly
rejoice, while in his name we set up our banners.
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