Lectionary Calendar
Friday, March 29th, 2024
Good Friday
There are 2 days til Easter!
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Daily Devotionals
Mornings and Evenings with Jesus
Devotional: November 24th

Resource Toolbox
Morning Devotional

The blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. - Hebrews 12:24.

THE blood of Abel here referred to is typical. The language is used comparatively. Abel’s blood was shed by wicked and cruel hands; so was the blood of Christ. Abel’s blood was shed by his own brother according to the flesh. Abel’s blood spake; so did the blood of Christ. But here comparison becomes contrast. In common language we say of the murdered, His blood cries aloud for vengeance. So it is said of the sins of Sodom, that the cry of them came up before God. The dreadful crime committed by Cain is referred to in a bold but very elegant figure:-“The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to me from the ground.” The action was horrid: it was the murder of a brother because his works were righteous. No wonder that such guilt should have provoked the wrath of God.

But the blood of Christ was not only shed by men, but for them; and “his blood speaketh better things than that of Abel,” for Abel’s blood speaks and calls to God for punishment, but the blood of Christ speaks and calls for pardon. The one calls for the death of the murderer, the other calls for-oh, marvellous mercy and grace!-his life. The blood of Abel only called for the destruction of one murderer; the blood of Christ calls for the life of the world, and for salvation for the vilest upon earth, even for those who shed his blood. Therefore he said to his disciples, “When ye preach the gospel, begin at Jerusalem: let those who smote the rock drink of it first.”

Yes, he died to give himself a ransom for sinners, and by his death has shown God’s displeasure and abhorrence of sin, and “he was raised up from the dead that our faith and hope might be in him.” His death was “a sacrifice, and an offering to God of a sweet-smelling savour,” and here “mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace embrace each other.” Yea, it is more glorious to God that Christ thus died, than if an apostate world had all perished. He now appears for us above as our High-Priest, “who ever liveth to make intercession for us.”

This blood speaks also to us as well as to God. Abel’s blood spoke not only to God but to Cain; that is, it spoke in his conscience, filling him with horror, and following him wherever he went. He may have become a builder, but he could get no rest; so he became a fugitive and a vagabond upon earth. Christ’s blood speaks peace to all Christians; it tranquillizes the soul; it encourages the penitent; it shows that God is gracious, yea, that “God is love,” for “herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and gave his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” It shows us the possibility of salvation for the very chief of sinners; it tells us how Jesus hath “made peace by the blood of his cross,”-that, therefore, we may venture into the holiest of all by his precious blood.

Evening Devotional

Their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. - Deuteronomy 32:31.

OTHERS besides the Lord’s people have their rock; they make many things their rock; but, as Moses here says, “Their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.” Do they ever recommend their rock in trouble? However fond people may be of the world they never speak well of the world.

Not one of them in death recommends the world to those that visit them. Not one of them speaks well, of their own experience of what they have realized from their connection with it. But the wicked have been obliged to bear their testimony to “our Rock.” Balaam exclaimed, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.” If this be the testimony of the wicked, of those who are enemies to God and to his people, what must be the testimony of those who are the friends of God? They can speak from experience, and this carries force with it.

There is nothing like this to give effect to our addresses to others. When we speak from experience, we speak clearly and with confidence. We can say, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you.” Such are likely to speak with earnestness. It will come from the heart. They are the persons who know what a miserable condition it is to be absent from God; and they who have made trial of a reconciliation with God are the men to speak of his faithfulness. Yes, they who have tasted that God is gracious can say to others: “O taste, and see how good the Lord is.”

We should, therefore, think well and speak well of his name, and recommend him to all around, taking care of this one thing, that while we recommend religion to others, we are examples of it ourselves. Some often speak in favour of it who would be doing much more service to it by being silent. Much more harm than good is done when the mouth says one thing, and the temper and conduct say another. What would be thought of an individual who would recommend a medicine to others, while yet they could see disease staring in his own face? Would not they say to such a person, “We don’t believe one word of what you are saying. You have no confidence in the prescription yourself; try it upon yourself, and then you will be better able, from its influence, to recommend it to us?”

Let us see to it, then, that our conduct is such as becomes the Gospel of Christ. Then we cannot say too much in praise of our Rock. And thus “a word spoken in season, how good is it!”

Subscribe …
Get the latest devotional delivered straight to your inbox every week by signing up for the "Mornings and Evenings with Jesus" subscription list. Simply provide your email address below, click on "Subscribe!", and you'll receive a confirmation email from us. Follow the instructions in the email to confirm your subscription to this list.
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile