the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Mornings and Evenings with Jesus
And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret. And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased. - Matthew 14:34-35.
HERE we have the arrival of the company on the land. They had all this while sailed only four miles. But John, in another account of the event, says, “And immediately they were at the place whither they went.” This seems to be miraculous; but the wind now ceased, and they could now use the oar to advantage, and enjoy the pleasure of his company. Time is always the same,-an hour always consists of sixty minutes; yet pain will lengthen the period, and expectation will make it longer, and “hope deferred maketh the heart sick.” On the other hand, when with agreeable company, how time passes insensibly away!-how soon an hour is gone when we enjoy the instructions and company of an esteemed friend!
The Christian’s voyage cannot be long; and, since Christ is with them, it will pass off speedily, and “in a little while he that will come shall come, and will not tarry,” and we shall reach the haven of rest. But now let us see how they were treated when they came on shore. Our Lord met with a different reception in the same place before this. You remember though he healed their sick and recovered their neighbours from a dreadful malady, instead of thanking him for his kindness and power, because they lost their swine they came in a body and besought him to depart out of their coasts, and he took his departure from them. But here they received him with joy, surprise, and gratitude, and were anxious to improve the privilege. At first they were not aware of the treasure the vessel had brought to them. But “when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased.” Two important remarks arise from hence.
The first is, the necessity of knowledge in order to our making use of Christ, so to speak:-“As soon as they had knowledge of him,” they repaired to him. Hence we should be concerned to increase our acquaintance with him. The way to grow in grace is to grow in the knowledge of Christ. Hence we should be concerned for the spread of that knowledge, and continually praying, “Send out thy light and truth, that thy way may be known upon earth, and thy saving health among all nations.” “It is by his knowledge,” says God, “that my righteous servant shall justify many.” We read in the Scriptures that we are justified by faith; but, as the apostle says, “How can they believe on him of whom they have not heard?”
The second remark is, when we know Christ we should he anxious to bring others to him. “When the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased.” This was wise and well; this was loving others as themselves. There are many ways of showing this, and of bringing others to him, by teaching the ignorant, by giving them books, by inviting them to hear the word, alluring them by our own tempers and lives. To do this is unquestionably our duty. We admire those who relieve the body,-who feed the hungry and clothe the naked; but true Christian charity chiefly regards the soul. We cannot cure the diseases of the mind. This is not required of us: but we can tell them of one who can do it; we can bring them to him. Let us remember the case of the lepers, who, when they had found great spoil, and had enjoyed themselves for a little while, said, “We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace; if we tarry till the morning light, some evil will befall us; now, therefore, come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.”
And Christians should go and do likewise; they should follow the example of the first Christians, and say, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death. - Psalms 68:20.
IT is thus the church makes her boast in the Lord, and calls him the God of salvation; and so he is in every sense of the word; for every kind of deliverance is from him. If we have been raised from a bed of sickness and suffering, if we have been delivered from wicked and unreasonable men, if we have escaped fires and floods, it is to be ascribed alone to him to whom belong the issues from death. He is the “preserver of men,” and “in him we live, move, and have our being.” And none of these deliverances should be overlooked by us.
There is a deliverance emphatically in the Scriptures called “salvation,” “a great salvation;” “so great a salvation;” “an everlasting salvation;” a “deliverance from the wrath to come,” from the power of darkness, from the tyranny of the world, from the slavery of sin, from all its remains and consequences; “salvation with eternal glory.” And of this salvation the purpose, the plan, the execution, the application, and the consummation are of God and of grace, according to the language of the Apostle, “for by grace are ye saved through faith.”
The church also exults in God’s relation to them. “He that is our God.” This every Christian can join in expressing. A child of God may be poor, but, “having nothing,” may yet possess all things; he may have no portion in this world, but he has a portion in God. Yea, and God is his portion. He can therefore say, with Jeremiah, “The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him.” And every Christian has a much greater proprietary in God than he has in anything else. Indeed, there is nothing else that is his own; neither his substance, nor his time, nor his children, nor his body, nor his soul is his own, but God is his own. And he may say, “God, even our own God, shall bless us. “As he is his really, so is he eternally and unchangeably his, and surviving all other dissolutions. “This God,” says the church, “is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death.”
The relation between God and his people is such as to authorize us to call him ours, and results from two things: donation on his side, by which in the covenant of grace he makes himself known to his people, saying, “I am thine, and all that I have is thine; and by dedication on our side, giving ourselves and submitting ourselves unto God, saying, “Lord, I am thine, save me; and fully surrendering ourselves up unto him to be at his disposal, inquiring, “What wilt thou have me to do?” Thus, in the prophecy of Zechariah, God says, “I will bring the third parts through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name and I will hear them. I will say, It is my people, and they shall say, The Lord is my God.”
God chooses them and they choose him. God loves them and they love him. God takes pleasure in them, and they rejoice and glory in him. The latter indeed is the effect of the former, and therefore it becomes the evidence, and we are to judge of the one by the other.
