daily-devotionals

Reading: “Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem.”—Song of Solomon 6:4

And what was Tirzah? One of the cities in the lot of Manasseh, (Joshua 12: 6, 24) and no doubt, as Judea was the glory of all lands, Tirzah was lovely. And the comeliness of that highly-favoured spot, Jerusalem, is celebrated in the sacred Song: “In the mountain of his holiness” the Psalmist says, “beautiful for situation, and the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion” (Psalm 48:1–2).

Is Christ’s church, in her Lord’s eye, not beautiful also? Yes! He Himself said she is and, by consequence, every individual member of her is so, which constitutes her one body. Pause, Christian, over this account; you are mourning continually over your infirmities; you feel what Paul felt, and groan under the same burden as he groaned under, and, indeed, the consciousness of the remains of indwelling sin is enough to make the souls of the redeemed go softly all their days. But while thus conscious that in yourself you have nothing that is lovely, do not overlook the loveliness which the righteousness of Christ imparts to all His people.

Zion is said to be the perfection of beauty, and so she is in the eyes of God our Father, being the body of Christ, and made so in His beauty. What Jesus is in God’s sight, such also are His people. For Christ, as head of His church, is the fullness that fills all in all.

If, Christian, you were looking for any thing in yourself that was amiable or beautiful to recommend you to Jesus, or to justify you before God, then, indeed, you may exclaim with the prophet, “Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips,” (Isaiah 6:5). But if Jesus has touched your lips, and taken away your iniquity, and your sin is purged, then you are all fair in him, and accepted by God the Father in Him, the beloved. Jesus said to you, and of you, “Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem.” See to it then, that you never lose sight of your oneness with Christ, your acceptance in Christ, and the loveliness that you have deriving from Christ.

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 ©2013.