Daily Devotionals

The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions

Devotional: May 31st

May 31—Morning—Matthew 28:18

"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."—Matthew 28:18.

Hail, then, thou Sovereign Lord of all! I have lately been following thee in sweet and solemn meditation through the seasons of thy humiliation; now let me behold thee on thy throne. And here! am called upon to contemplate my Lord and my God as possessing universal dominion. Ponder, my soul, the vast extent. Thy Jesus, as God, as one with the Father, possesseth in common with him all power from everlasting. This is his, as God, essentially so; not given to him, for by nature it is his, being "one with the Father, over all, God blessed for ever. Amen," said Paul; so let it be; so shall it be. And so say I, and so saith all the church; amen, amen. But what thy Jesus saith here, in these blessed words, is of a power given to him; and that is a power as the head of his church and people. And although had he not been God, one with the Father, he never could have been suited for the exercise of this power; for unless he had been the mighty God, how should he have been the mighty Redeemer! Yet being God, and both God and man, it is precious to consider the power that is given to the Lord Jesus, as Jesus, "the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." Here then, my soul, let thy thoughts take wing this morning. Behold thy Jesus, the head over all principality and power. See him, by virtue of his Almighty Godhead, exercising and giving energy to the fulness of his power as Mediator; and in this view conceive, if it be possible, to what an extent thy Jesus is unceasingly exercising his power for the everlasting benefit of his church and people. All power in heaven, not only among the highest order of created beings, angels and archangels, but a power with God the Father to prevail for the eternal salvation of all his redeemed. He left it as a record how he exerciseth this power, when he said before his departure," Father,! will that they whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, to behold my glory." And he hath power to send the Hosea 1 y Ghost to all his people. He said himself, before he went away, "If I go not away, the Comforter will not come; but if I depart I will send him unto you." Here then, my soul, here let thy thoughts be directed, to meditate upon the fulness and extensiveness of that power which thy Jesus possesseth in heaven. Well may it be said that he hath the keys of heaven, when he hath all power with the Father and with the Spirit. And well may it he said that he hath the keys of hell also, when all things in heaven and earth, and under the earth, are subject to his command. And hath he not power then, my soul, suited to answer every want of thine, and of all his church and people? Hath he not power over all flesh, to give eternal life to as many as the Father hath given him? Wilt thou complain, shall the church complain, of any want, while Jesus is upon the throne? Art thou poor, is the church poor, weak, helpless, needy, guilty, polluted, oppressed, exercised? What of all these, and ten thousand other situations, while Jesus lives, and hath all power? Nay, is it not so much the better that the people of Jesus are what they are, that they may be the better suited for his glory, and that their wants may give occasion for the supplies of his grace? Hail, thou Almighty Sovereign! Now methinks I would be always poor, always needy, always feeling my nothingness, that all these may constrain me to come to thee: so that every day’s necessities may afford a fresh occasion to crown thee Lord of all in a day of grace, until I come to crown thee, with the whole church, the everlasting Lord of all in heaven, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

May 31—Evening—Deuteronomy 34:5

"So Moses the servant of the Lord died."—Deuteronomy 34:5.

My soul! close the month, in contemplating the death of this highly-favoured servant of the Lord: and mark in him the sure event of all flesh: "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." What a blessed account hath the Holy Ghost give of this man. "There arose not a prophet (we are told) like unto Moses, whom Jehovah knew face to face." But, as if to draw an everlasting line of distinction between him and his Master; between the highest prophet, and the Lord God of the prophets; the Holy Ghost was pleased, by the ministry of his servant the apostle, to state the vast distinction: "Moses verily was faithful (saith he) in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after: but Christ as a Son over his own house, whose house are we;" Hebrews 3:5-6. Indeed all the great and distinguishing events in the life of Moses became more or less brilliant, as they set forth, in their typical representations, the person, work, or offices of the Lord Jesus Christ. Was Moses the Lord’s minister to bring the people out of Egypt? and what was this but a representation of the Lord Jesus, bringing his people out of the Egypt of sin, death, and hell? If Moses led the people through the Red Sea, and opened a path through the mighty waters; what was this, but a type of the ever blessed Jesus, bringing his redeemed through the red sea of his blood, and opening a new and living way into the presence of God? If Moses kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood through faith, what was the great object of his faith looked at, but Christ, our passover, and the blood of his sacrifice? Did he bring the people through the wilderness; and is not Jesus bringing all his people through? Did he feed them with manna, and give them water from the rock; and what did the manna prefigure, but Jesus, the bread of life; and what was the rock, but Christ, the water of life, in all ages of the church, to his people? In short, every thing momentous in the church’s history, wherein Moses ministered to the people, pointed, both in law and sacrifice, to Jesus, the Lamb of God, and his one all-sufficient sacrifice for the salvation of his redeemed. And even the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, over and above the event of death, common to all, had this peculiar signification annexed to it, that, as the great lawgiver to the people, it set forth the inefficacy of the law to bring into Canaan: this could only be accomplished by Christ, who "is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile." Farewell, Moses! thou servant of the Lord! Thou, when thou had served thy generation, wast gathered to thy fathers, and, like all the patriarchs, didst see corruption: but Jesus saw no corruption; he ever liveth, and is the same "yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Hail, thou glorious Mediator of "a better covenant, established upon better promises!" Be thou the Alpha and Omega of thy word, thine ordinances, thy sanctuary, thy servants! To thee all ministered; from thee all come; in thee all centered; and to thine everlasting praise all terminate, in bringing glory to Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit, through Jesus Christ. Amen.