December 17

Morning

I remember thee. — Jer 2:2

Let us note that Christ delights to think upon His Church, and to look upon her beauty. As the bird returns often to its nest, and as the wayfarer hastens to his home—so does the mind continually pursue the object of its desire. We cannot look too often upon that face which we love. We desire always to have our precious things in our sight.

It is just so with our Lord Jesus. From all eternity “His delights were with the sons of men.” When the world was set upon its pillars, He was there and His thoughts rolled onward to the time when His elect would be born into the world; He viewed them in the mirror of His foreknowledge. Many a time before His incarnation, He descended to this lower earth in the similitude of a man, and visited His people: on the plains of Mamre (Gen. 18), by the brook of Jabbok (Gen. 32:24-30), beneath the walls of Jericho (Josh. 5:13), and in the fiery furnace of Babylon (Dan. 3:19, 25).

Because His soul delighted in them—He could not rest away from them, for His heart longed after them. He had engraved their names upon His hands. Never were they absent from His heart, for as the breastplate containing the names of the tribes of Israel was the most brilliant ornament worn by the high priest—so the names of Christ’s elect were His most precious jewels, and glittered on His heart.

We may often forget to meditate upon the perfections of our Lord but He never ceases to remember us. Let us chide ourselves for past forgetfulness, and pray for grace ever to bear Him in fondest remembrance. Lord, paint upon the eyeballs of my soul—the image of Your lovely Son!

Evening

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. — John 10:9

Jesus, the great I AM, is the entrance into the true church, and the way of access to God Himself. He gives to the man who comes to God by Him, four choice privileges:

1. He shall be saved. The fugitive manslayer passed the gate of the city of refuge, and was safe. Noah entered the door of the ark, and was secure. None can be lost—who take Jesus as the door of faith to their souls. Entrance through Jesus into forgiveness—is the guarantee of entrance by the same door into heaven. Jesus is the only door, an open door, a wide door, a safe door; and blessed is he who rests all his hope of admission to glory, upon the crucified Redeemer!

2. He shall go in. He shall be privileged to go in among the divine family, sharing the children’s bread, and participating in all their honors and enjoyments. He shall go in to the chambers of communion with God, to the banquets of love, to the treasures of the covenant, to the storehouses of the promises. He shall go in unto the King of kings in the power of the Holy Spirit and the secret of the Lord shall be with him.

3. He shall go out. This blessing is much forgotten. We go out into the world to labor and suffer but what a mercy to go in the name and power of Jesus! We are called to bear witness to the truth, to cheer the disconsolate, to warn the careless, to win souls, and to glorify God. And as the angel said to Gideon, “Go in this your might,” even thus the Lord would have us proceed as His messengers, in His name and strength.

4. He shall find pasture. He who knows Jesus shall never lack. Going in and out shall be alike helpful to him. In fellowship with God he shall grow and in watering others he shall be watered. Having made Jesus his all—he shall find all in Jesus. His soul shall be as a watered garden, and as a well whose waters shall never fail.