Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: December 27th

Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace. - Psalms 37:37.

THE death of a Christian is peculiarly worthy attention. In how many instances has it proved the means of awaking the careless, and quickening those who have believed through grace! How often has the death of a minister exemplified and confirmed and enforced his public exhortations and warnings, so that he has in the chamber of affliction accomplished what he failed of doing in the sanctuary! A parent on his death-bed, surrounded by his weeping family, has been heard to purpose, when, like Mr. Bolton, he has thus solemnly addressed them:-“See that none of you meet me in an unconverted state at the day of judgment.” And who can forget the tender and affectionate solicitude of a dying mother, as, with heaven in her tearful eye, she gazes for the last time, and, with her last trembling embrace, she bids her beloved children farewell? And there are instances in which the husband, who refused to hear the word, though urged by the tenderest affection and tearful solicitude, when the desire of his eyes has been removed, is now won by her pious conversation, made sacred by death, and resolves, while he builds a monument to her memory, to retrace his steps,-alas! now to be taken alone.

And the death of the Christian is not only an object of interest to friends and relations, but to all who may witness it. All they do and say is regarded now with peculiar attention; all is stamped with sincerity and importance; all that is heard and seen is final. The world, with all its interesting associations, connections, and anxieties, is passing away. But the Christian has in his heart and eye enduring substance. The outward man perishes, but the inward man is renewed; heart and flesh are failing him, but God is the strength of his heart and his portion forever. Mrs. Savage says, “The people of the world never speak well of it at parting. But the Christian can bear his testimony to the excellency and pleasantness of wisdom’s ways;” and he recommends them to others from experience, and says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

“The chamber where the good man meets his fate

Is privileged beyond the common walks of life.”

Here a glory has been shed, an influence felt, that has impressed the careless, confirmed the undecided, emboldened the timid, and induced even the skeptic to say, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end he like his.”

He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. - Malachi 3:3.

HERE we have a figurative description of the operations of the Saviour’s grace. It refers to fuller’s soap and to the refiner’s fire. The former is used to take stains out of cloth without destroying its texture, as well as giving to it a clearness and freshness of appearance; and the refiner’s fire severs the dross from the ore, and instead of injuring it prepares it for circulation or use. Thus the Lord does with all the subjects of Divine grace, for with all their infirmities there are excellencies, and Divine excellencies, in them, and he will purify and sanctify them.

Observe the persons, “the sons of Levi,” we may consider them literally, for they had sadly degenerated; they had “departed out of the way,” and had “caused many to stumble,” and they had “corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.” Such were they generally when our Saviour made his appearance. Yet we find one of these sons of Levi purified, we find Zacariah righteous before God, “walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless;” and there were others who were soon called by Divine grace, and sanctified by the Spirit of our God; for we read in the Acts of the Apostles, that “the word of God increased and the numbers of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.”

And so those who were called and employed under the evangelical dispensation are held forth by the same terms, “I will take them,” says God, “for priests and for Levites.” Such we may consider then the twelve Apostles, the seventy disciples, Paul, Barnabas, and others, who were deemed faithful and were put into the ministry: and it is of great importance that those who are thus engaged should, like Isaiah, experience this moral purification.

But we are to take it Spiritually also, as intending all the people of God. They are called a “royal priesthood,” they are all said to be not only priests, but “kings unto God.” And here we see their work. They were “to offer an offering in righteousness,” To offer themselves, their prayers, their alms; all these were to be holy offerings, not in pretense but in sincerity; not carnal but Spiritual offerings-“offerings in righteousness” presented by persons in a righteous state, and who were governed and influenced by righteous motives.

So we see that the incarnation of our Saviour regards two classes of men. To the one it is consuming and to the other it is purifying. As to the one it is asked, “Who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth?” as to the other he will purify them by his grace, and they. shall be dedicated to his service and to his glory.