daily-devotionalsReading: “If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.” —Leviticus 25:25

How poor was I and wretched before I knew Jesus! I had not only sold, as far as I had power to sell, some of my possessions, but all of them. Now, dear Lord, I have found you and I cannot sell You, nor dissolve my union with You, for that is not saleable, since Christ had from everlasting betrothed me to Himself for ever.

But in the old Adam nature in which I was born, I was utterly insolvent, helpless, and ruined. But one like the Son of man redeemed me. What a double blessedness was it to my soul, when I discovered that this Redeemer was so very near of kin to me, that He was my brother.

I can say, “Hail, precious, precious Jesus! You are indeed my ‘brother born for adversity.’ Yes, blessed Jesus! You are the one, typified in Joseph (Genesis 37:7–9) whom your brethren shall praise; and all the Father’s children shall bow down to.” Christian, see to it that you make the most of this relationship.

I know also, never will Christ my brother suffer His poor, indigent relation to want any more after that He has thus redeemed both me and my possessions. Now do I see why it was that the church so passionately longed for Jesus under this tender character when she said that “thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother; when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised” (Song of Solomon 8:1).

“The summary of the gospel is that our Lord Jesus Christ, the true Son of God, has revealed the will of His heavenly Father to us, and with His innocence has redeemed us from death, and has reconciled us with God. Therefore, Christ is the only way to salvation for all those who have been, are, and will be.”—Ulrich Zwingli

Taken from The Poor Man’s Evening and Morning Portions by Rev. Robert Hawker, Works, Vol. 8; 1830. Edited by Aaron Dunlop for thinkgospel.com ©2014.