September 9 - Morning"I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not." — Jeremiah 33:3
There are different translations of these words. One version renders it, "I
will shew thee great and fortified things." Another, "Great and reserved
things." Now, there are reserved and special things in Christian experience:
all the developments of spiritual life are not alike easy of attainment. There
are the common frames and feelings of repentance, and faith, and joy, and
hope, which are enjoyed by the entire family; but there is an upper realm
of rapture, of communion, and conscious union with Christ, which is far
from being the common dwelling-place of believers. We have not all the
high privilege of John, to lean upon Jesus' bosom; nor of Paul, to be caught
up into the third heaven.
There are heights in experimental knowledge of
the things of God which the eagle's eye of acumen and philosophic
thought hath never seen: God alone can bear us there; but the chariot in
which He takes us up, and the fiery steeds with which that chariot is
dragged, are prevailing prayers. Prevailing prayer is victorious over the
God of mercy, "By his strength he had power with God: yea, he had
power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto
Him: he found Him in Beth-el, and there He spake with us."
Prevailing
prayer takes the Christian to Carmel, and enables him to cover heaven with
clouds of blessing, and earth with floods of mercy. Prevailing prayer bears
the Christian aloft to Pisgah, and shows him the inheritance reserved; it
elevates us to Tabor and transfigures us, till in the likeness of his Lord, as
He is, so are we also in this world. If you would reach to something higher
than ordinary grovelling experience, look to the Rock that is higher than
you, and gaze with the eye of faith through the window of importunate
prayer. When you open the window on your side, it will not be bolted on
the other. September 9 - Evening"And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment." — Revelation 4:4
These representatives of the saints in heaven are said to be around the
throne. In the passage in Canticles, where Solomon sings of the King
sitting at his table, some render it "a round table." From this, some
expositors, I think, without straining the text, have said, "There is an
equality among the saints." That idea is conveyed by the equal nearness of
the four and twenty elders.
The condition of glorified spirits in heaven is
that of nearness to Christ, clear vision of His glory, constant access to His
court, and familiar fellowship with His person: nor is there any difference
in this respect between one saint and another, but all the people of God,
apostles, martyrs, ministers, or private and obscure Christians, shall all be
seated near the throne, where they shall for ever gaze upon their exalted
Lord, and be satisfied with His love. They shall all be near to Christ, all
ravished with His love, all eating and drinking at the same table with Him,
all equally beloved as His favourites and friends even if not all equally
rewarded as servants.
Let believers on earth imitate the saints in heaven in their nearness to
Christ. Let us on earth be as the elders are in heaven, sitting around the
throne. May Christ be the object of our thoughts, the centre of our lives.
How can we endure to live at such a distance from our Beloved? Lord Jesu,
draw us nearer to Thyself. Say unto us, "Abide in Me, and I in you"; and
permit us to sing, "His left hand is under my head, and His right hand doth
embrace me." September 9 |