Reading: ”Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”—Hebrews 13:8 What a precious truth to open the year with, and to keep constantly in view amidst all the fluctuating and changeable circumstances arising both within and without—and all around! My soul, meditate on it: fold it up in your heart to have [...]
Reading: “Looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:13 A Saviour “to come” has been the hope of the church of God in every age and dispensation. The Old Testament saints looked for His coming to save; the saints of the New Testament look for [...]
Reading: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection.” Philippians 3:10 Is there not some danger of lingering too exclusively at the cross to the exclusion of the grave of Jesus? In other words, do we give the subject of Christ’s resurrection that place in our faith and meditation which we give to [...]
Reading: “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from every sin.” 1 John 1:7 The blood of Jesus is everything. It is the central doctrine of our faith, the present and eternal life of our souls. There is no pardon, no salvation, no heaven but by blood, the blood of the Lord Jesus. Were [...]
Reading: “This man receives sinners!” Luke 15:2 Nothing gave greater offence to the scribes and Pharisees than the divine mission of Jesus to save sinners. No greater accusation could they allege against Him, than that He extended His compassionate regards to the vile and the wretched, admitting the most flagrant offenders to His mercy and inviting [...]
Reading: “Jesus wept.” John 11:35 With what baptism of suffering was not Jesus baptized? What cup of sorrow did not He drink? There are few sorrows more bitter and more keenly felt than the sorrow of bereavement. Jesus knew what this sorrow was; let us consider Him in this light. Are you bereaved? So was Jesus. [...]
Reading: “I pray for them.” John 17:9 There is no part of Christ’s priestly office more soothing to the sick, tried, and suffering believer, than His intercessory supplication on their behalf. To know that we are borne upon the prayerful hearts of our fellow-Christians in times when providences are trying and our hearts are breaking is [...]
Reading: “Father, save Me from this hour.” John 12:27 There were some expressions of feeling in our Lord’s life which can only be accounted for on the ground of His perfect humanity. Such, for example, as His apparent shrinking from suffering and death which in turn, can only be explained by the fact that, He was [...]
Reading: “He Himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses.” Matthew 8:17 How closely and tenderly is Jesus one with His church! There is not a chamber of sickness, nor a bed of suffering, at which His presence may not be experienced in all the divine power and human sympathy of His nature. The careful reader [...]
Reading: “Lest we should offend.” Matthew 17:27 How truly was our Lord Jesus ”harmless” because He was “undefiled.” That His gospel should have been an offence to the scribes and Pharisees and that His cross was an offence to the world is no marvel. But our Lord never, in any one instance, gave needless offence. His [...]