Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: August 11th

And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. - Luke 19:6.

OUR Saviour was now passing from Galilee to Jerusalem, where he was to give his life a ransom for many:-“And he entered and passed through Jericho.” This city is often mentioned in the Scriptures. It lay under the malediction of heaven. But no place can hinder the admission and the operation of divine grace. Here Joshua had saved a Rahab, and here the Saviour a Zaccheus,-the one a harlot, the other a publican. His conversion is rendered the more remarkable by his condition. There were two obstacles which stood in the way of his salvation.

Let us notice these; and, First, His office. He was a publican. We do not consider this as an impediment to his salvation as far as it furnished employment. But it was the nature of his employment. Publicans were of two sorts among the Jews,-the collectors, and what we should call the farmers general. Zaccheus, therefore, was one of the latter: he was chief among the publicans. The publicans were the appointed collectors or receivers of the imposts or taxes which the Roman governors laid upon the Jews; and they were peculiarly obnoxious to them, because they extorted the last mite from the poor oppressed people, and reminded them continually of their being vassals of a foreign power. We find publicans mentioned in three unfavourable associations in the Scriptures. Along with the heathens:-“Let him be as a heathen man, and a publican.” Along with the harlots:-“Publicans and harlots shall enter the kingdom of heaven before you.” And along with sinners:-“ Your master eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners.” This was his first obstacle.

The second arose from his wealth; for he was rich. Probably he was rich before he undertook that office, for the Roman governors demanded large securities from those who farmed their revenues, and he added to it by his publicanism, perhaps by his injustice. And it must be acknowledged that riches (and men are naturally depraved) manure depravity, and make it grow. They enable a man to “make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof,” and to feed the evils which ought to be banished. They are unfriendly to a life of friendship with God and communion with him; and, though they cannot afford satisfaction to the soul, they can engross it, and turn away the attention from the things that belong to our everlasting peace; and “the prosperity of fools destroys them.” But “with God all things are possible.”

Observe the disposition of Zaccheus. He wished to see Jesus; and who would not have wished to see such an extraordinary personage? Abraham had rejoiced to see his day. Simeon had taken him up in his arms, and, having seen him, wished to see nothing else. What was the happiness of his disciples in the days of his flesh? “We beheld,” say they, “his glory.”

What is the Saviour’s promise to his people? What is his prayer for them? “Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.” And this is the hope and expectation of all Christians: -“It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” However this may be, what was his motive? Perhaps it was only curiosity: he had heard of his fame, of his speaking as never man spake, of his miracles, and wonders, and signs. Perhaps, too, there was something more than mere curiosity; perhaps there was a secret desire produced by the Saviour to become acquainted with him. But two things opposed his inclination when he wished to see Jesus. First, The press or crowd of people.

Secondly, His stature. But he resolves he will not return home till he has obtained the sight he so longed to enjoy. Thus we see that zeal is always increased by difficulties; and exertions and sacrifices are always the tests of the sincerity and fervency of our religious desires. If we are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, we shall use the means of grace, repair to the house of God, read the Scriptures, “abhor that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good.”

Curiosity has sometimes been overruled for good. So it was here. Behold Zaccheus in the tree. He waits with eager anxiety, looks impatiently through the boughs. The procession appears at a distance; it draws nearer and nearer. He is now all breathless expectation. Oh, he sees him, but there is “no form or comeliness” of a worldly kind in him. Jesus, instead of passing by, makes a pause, and looks upwards; he sees him, and says, “Zaccheus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thine house. And he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully.”

Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled. - Psalms 104:29.

HERE is a reference to the saints of God who are bewailing the suspension of Divine manifestations. “Thou hidest thy face.” The sun is always in the sky, but it is not always visible. So God hides himself from the house of Jacob; and if we belong to the house of Jacob, we shall be affected by it as the Psalmist was when he addressed to God this complaint. Here it may be necessary to remark, that we must not consider this suspension of Divine manifestation as a mere effect of Divine sovereignty; for God doth not “afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men,” much less his own children, who are infinitely dear to him. He himself, by the prophet Isaiah, has explained the case both negatively and positively: “The Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you.”

It is therefore either as a prevention of sin, or a correction for it. “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offences and seek my face; in their affliction they will seek me early.” Or is it to rebuke for some duty omitted, or some object idolized. We shall do well, therefore, to think, if this be our experience now, of the address of Eliphaz to Job: “Are the consolations of God small with thee? Is there any secret thing with thee?” Is there no worm at the root of our gourd? “O,” says Joab, at Beth-Maachah, “I do not wish to injure the place, but I am pursuing a traitor, and I will have his head; throw this over the wall, and I will blow the trumpet, and withdraw all the besieging forces.” And so it was. Thus we should apply this-thus should we say-

“The dearest idol I have known,

Whate’er that idol be,

Help me to tear it from thy throne,

And worship only thee.

“So shall my walk be close with God,

Calm and serene my frame,

So purer light shall mark the road

That leads me to the Lamb.”

There is a depth of distress experienced. “They are troubled.” But who can find language to describe the wretchedness produced in the minds of the godly by the hiding of God’s face from them? How in such a case does the soul in its darkness mingle its drink with weeping!

The heart’s bitterness is known only to itself. Distress of circumstances-worldly disappointments-bodily pains -the desertion of friends-family bereavements-all these could be borne, and borne well, if God is near; if God be with us, if God be in us-but, O the thought, I am forsaken, I am forgotten of God! This misery may be accounted for by three things. The first is, that the Christian loves God. He does not love him perfectly, but he loves him supremely; and we all know that love can never be reconciled to the absence of its object; distance is painful, but the thought of separation is intolerable.

Secondly, He entirely relies upon him. He knows and feels that he is to him all and in all-that his God is more necessary to him than the sun is to the earth, or the soul is to the body, and that without him all must be darkness, drear iness, desolation, and death. And thirdly, Because he has enjoyed him already. He has had an experience of communion with God, and this stimulates his desire, and makes him long for more. Thus it was with David: “My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.”

“My God, repeat that heavenly hour,

That vision so divine.”