the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions
October 12—Morning—Micah 5:5
"And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land."—Micah 5:5.
What man is this but the Glory-man, the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus? And what peace, when all enemies oppose the soul, but peace in the blood of his cross? Yes, my soul, Jesus is the wonderful man, who alone could make thy peace. "For as it was by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners; so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." And none but one in our own nature could redeem that nature; for the right of redemption belonged only to him. Leviticus 25:25. And none but one in our nature could atone, could bleed, could die, and rise again, that he might be the Judge, both of the dead and living. Oh precious Jesus, how suited wert thou by the union of thy two natures, as God and man, and God-man, both in one, to be our glorious Mediator, and to be the Lord our Righteousness! Yes, precious Lord, God hath said it, and my soul evermore rejoiceth in the blessed truth: this man, Christ Jesus, shall be my peace, my glory, my salvation, my refuge, when the Assyrian shall come into our land.
October 12—Evening—2 Peter 1:19
"The day-dawn, and the day-star."—2 Peter 1:19.
And what is "the day-dawn, and day-star," arising in the hearts of God’s people, but Jesus, "the dayspring from on high, visiting us?" Is not Jesus "the bright and morning star, the light and the life of men?" Yea, is he not "the Sun of righteousness arising with healing in his wings?" And when he ariseth on our benighted minds, may he not be called, "the day-dawn, and the day-star?" Pause, my soul, over the sweet thought. It was all darkness in the creation of God, until Jesus arose. And his coming was as the breaking forth of the morning, the sure harbinger of day. Indeed, Jesus was "the day-dawn, and the day-star," in the light of redemption, before the world was formed: for in the council of peace, as man’s light and salvation, he carne up, at the call of God, from all eternity. And in time, during all his eventful ministry upon earth, was not Jesus "a light to lighten the gentiles, and to be the glory of his people Israel?" And what is Jesus now, but "the day-dawn, and day-star" of all the promises? Until we see Christ in them, they are nothing. It is he that makes them all "yea and amen;" and is "the daydawn, and day-star" of all dispensations. His word, his providences, his grace, his ordinances; all are dark, until Jesus ariseth, as "the day-dawn, and day-star," to enlighten them. When he shines in upon them, then are they blessed and clear. When he withdraws his light, not one of them can be read. And what is "the day-dawn, and day-star," in the hearts of his people, converting them from darkness to light, and from the power of sin and Satan to the living God, but Jesus, shining by his Holy Spirit within, and bringing them to the knowledge, love, and enjoyment of himself? Say, my soul, what was the day, the ever blessed, ever-to-be remembered day, when God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shined in upon thine heart; and Jesus, "the day-dawn, and the day-star," arose, to give thee "the light of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, in the face of Jesus Christ?" Hail, thou glorious light and life of my soul! Oh! continue thy sweet influences, morning by morning, and in the daydawn, and evening-star of thy grace; until, after many dark dispensations, and wintry days of my blindness, ignorance, and senseless state, in which thou wilt renew me, in the precious discoveries of thy love, I am carried through all the twilight of this poor dying state of things below: for then shall I awake up to the full enjoyment of thyself in glory, to see thee in one full open day, and to be made like unto thee in thy kingdom of light, and life, and happiness, for ever and ever.
