the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
John Gossner's Treasury
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Psalms 126:5-6. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Revelation 7:13-14.
Without a sowing in tears, no harvest of joy. Without great tribulations, no great gladness. Without the cross, no crown. Without the battle, no victory. Without labor, no birth. Not as though we were to merit salvation by suffering, cross and battle. By no means. Ask the apostle Paul, who can tell you a great deal about this, and you shall hear that, even though we are justified and saved by grace without the merit of works, we nevertheless can not enter into the kingdom of heaven without tribulation, persecutions and great afflictions. Read through all the Scriptures and you shall find both. Do not put asunder that which is inseparable. Your faith in the righteousness of Christ is of no account unless it has been tried seven times in the crucible of tribulation, as the gold is tried in the fire. Who knows that you love the Savior as long as you do not suffer for Him and only desire to walk to heaven upon roses? Ask all true Christians through the centuries if they have not suffered much and sowed "in tears" before they could ’’reap in joy. " St. John the seer, who saw much farther than you and I can see, relates that beyond, where the Lamb and His company walk in white robes with palms and crowns, they have nothing else to say but that all who there are robed in white, here were badly burned by the heat of tribulation that all who there have entered into glory, here did not walk on roses, but had to enter the joy of the Lord through thorns and upon stony paths, through fire and sword, ridicule and dishonor. If you walk in these ways, you shall be saved by grace and in heaven cast down your crown before the Lamb.
In that peace we reap in gladness
What was sown in tearful showers;
There the fruit of all our sadness
Ripens, there the palm is ours;
There our God upon His throne
Is our full reward alone.
They who lived, who died unto Him,
Sheaves of gladness bring there through Him.
