Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: August 24th

Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. - 2 Corinthians 5:4.

WE here see what Christians do desire, and what they do not desire. What we really desire, and what we must desire, if we are Christians, is here called life. Life is one of the common representations given of the heavenly state in the Scriptures. Skin for skin-“yea, all that a man hath-will he give for his life.” Now, because men are so attached to life, and because life is the foundation of every enjoyment, therefore it comes to be used by the sacred writers for happiness itself; and hence our Saviour says, “A man’s life [that is, his happiness] consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” Such blessedness is reserved for the Christian, therefore: “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” Dr. Watts expresses himself very boldly when he says,-

“Could I command the spacious land,

And the more houndless sea,

For one blest hour at thy right hand

I’d give them both away.”

What, then, will be an eternity of such bliss,-an eternity of health, an eternity of wealth, an eternity of honour, an eternity of friendship! And life, too, is often called “eternal,” and “eternal in the heavens.” He will have “a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” Eternity will only be the commencement of his blessedness.

But observe, Secondly, What they do not desire. We groan, being burdened, “not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” The apostle expresses the same thing with a little variation in the preceding verse:-“In this we groan, earnestly desiring,” (what?)-earnestly desiring “to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, if so be that, being clothed, we shall not be found naked.” They wish to be adorned, but not previously stripped; they wish to be clothed, but not to be found naked; they wish this corruptible to put on incorruption, and this mortal to put on immortality. They do not desire, death except for the results of it. They wish to resemble those who will he alive at the last day, who will not fall asleep,-that is, die,-but be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. They wish to be favoured in their admission into heaven, as Enoch and Elias were, who were glorified without dying.

They wish that mortality might be swallowed up of life, not as the sea swallows up the rivers that fall into it, and turns them into brine, but as the finished picture swallows up the outline, and as the day swallows up the dawn, and as manhood swallows up infancy that is, by perfecting it. That is, in other words, they wish to enter their completeness easily, gradually, insensibly, without being taken all to pieces in such a way as death implies.

Who went about doing good. - Acts 10:38.

THIS is the eulogium which Peter pronounced upon our Saviour. The eulogium is indeed short; but oh, how beautiful and glorious. It reminds us of David’s acknowledgment with regard to the Supreme Being: “Thou art good and doest good;” and the Saviour was the image of the invisible God.

Let us hearken to his own language, and observe what his humility must have been if he was conscious that he was only a man or a mere mortal. “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father;” “my Father worketh hitherto and I work;” “believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very work sake;” “I and my Father are one.” But here we can contemplate God in the face of Jesus, and are fully persuaded that the power and the patience, and the tenderness and the readiness to relieve and pardon by which he was distinguished in the days of his flesh, are the attributes of the Deity. In him we may place all our confidence; in him our peace is secured; and in him our joy is fulfilled. We here find what only can meet our souls’ necessities: “God manifest in the flesh.” And here we hold communion with the Father of our spirits-

“While Jews on their own works rely,

And Greeks of wisdom boast,

I love the incarnate mystery,

And there I fix my trust.”

Oh, how delightful it must have been to have followed him, while he was upon earth, from place to place, as in these journeys of mercy he went about doing good; and to have stood by him while he fed the hungry multitude upon the grass; while he opened the eyes of the poor beggar by the wayside; while he raised the widow’s son to life and delivered him to his mother; while he was preaching the gospel of the kingdom to the poor; while the common people heard him gladly; and while he healed all manner of diseases among them.

This pleasure we may in a degree enjoy even now, as we peruse by faith the evangelical history, where the sacred writers have recorded the works of their honoured Lord with unexampled simplicity and faithfulness.