December 21 - 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. December 21 - 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 December 21 |