Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: June 27th

Good hope. - 2 Thessalonians 2:16.

THE object of our present inquiry regards the excellency of the Christian’s hope. It is “a good hope through grace.” Now, there are three ways in which a hope may be said to be good. First, Because of its object. Secondly, Because of its warrant. Thirdly, Because of its influence. It is the first of these to which we shall at present confine our remarks. What the object of the Christian’s hope is, we may gather from the apostle’s prayer in behalf of the Ephesians:-“That the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of your calling,”-the hope which they had, for which they are called by the gospel; therefore he adds, “and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.”

The object of this hope, therefore, embraces all that is contained in the Scriptures of truth, all that is contained in the new and “everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure.” It takes in the idea of suitableness; it is infinitely adapted to all our woes, to all our wants, and to all our weaknesses. If I am guilty, it brings me pardon; if I am enslaved, it brings me deliverance; if I am sick, it brings me health and cure; if I am poor, it brings me riches, unsearchable riches, the riches of grace. And there is an all-sufficiency in it. Its privileges extend as far as the curse is found; for, says the apostle, “Where sin hath abounded, grace doth much more abound.”

It is a very pleasing consideration that it is all-sufficient for others as well as for ourselves; for our dear children, for our dear friends, for our neighbours, for our nation, and for the world at large. It is not a morsel, therefore, to be eaten alone. It is, as Isaiah calls it, a feast of fat things made upon a mountain and for all nations. And it has duration. It is “permanency that adds bliss to bliss,” says Dr. Young; we are assured that mortality is the disguise of every thing human.

“All, all on earth is shadow.”

What can we place our affections upon that is abiding? The hosannas of today are the “Crucify him” of to-morrow, so vain is the present evil world. What is wealth? “Riches make to themselves wings, and fly away.” What is health? what is our strength? “Our strength is not the strength of stones, nor our bones brass, nor our dear connections abiding.” Who has not sighed, “Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness”? But there all is lasting; there are pleasures for evermore. There is not only a crown, but “a crown of glory that fadeth not away;” not only salvation, but “everlasting salvation;” not only life, but “life eternal.”

For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found. - Psalms 32:6.

HERE is an encouragement to hope. It assails despair by an assurance that “the Lord may be found.” “We are saved by hope.” We fell originally by the loss of confidence in God, and we can only rise by the renewal of that confidence in him. The very first step in the return of a sinner to God, conscious of his guilt and desert, must be a persuasion that “with the Lord there is mercy;” that “with him there is plenteous redemption.”

And what a foundation is laid for this hope in the “word of the truth of the gospel,” the word of salvation, the design of which is, that, “through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, we might have hope.” What a foundation is laid in the character given of God himself-“A God hearing prayer;” “The Father of mercies and the God of all grace;” “The God of all comfort;” “The God of peace.” What a foundation is laid in the provision which he has made. He has “devised means that his banished ones may not be expelled from him,” and harmonized the exercise of mercy with the claims of justice. He has delivered his own Son “for our offences, and raised him again for our justification.” “He has raised him from the dead, and given him glory, that our faith and hope might be in God.” Thus every hindrance to our return is removed. Thus the law is fulfilled and made honourable. Thus the truth of God remains inviolate; thus he is the “just God and a Saviour;” thus he is just in “justifying the ungodly;” thus “he is faithful and just in forgiving our sins, and in cleansing us from all unrighteousness.”

And what can the blessed God consistently withhold now, after what he has conferred upon us. “He that spared not his own Son, but freely gave him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things.” What a foundation is laid in his invitations-“Look unto me and be ye saved;” “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters;” “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;” “and him that cometh I will in nowise cast out.” What a foundation is laid in the promises-“Ask, and it shall be given; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you;” “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” What a foundation is laid in his performances-“ He has not said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain;” and he has never repulsed any returning sinner, however vile and wretched, because of the number and heinousness of his offences. “Look,” says he, “at Manasseh, an idolator, a necromancer, and a murderer, who made the streets of Jerusalem to run down with blood,” he sought the Lord, and he was heard, and knew the Lord; and Saul of Tarsus, whose blasphemy and ferocity against the church of God was such, that he seemed beyond the possibility of being reclaimed. Yet, says he, “I obtained mercy,” “that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering, for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.” As much as to say, “Let any one despair now, if he can.” How encouraging is all this.

Impossibility will sometimes move people, and if probability will commonly move them, how much more will actual certainty influence them, when the prize is nothing less than the possession of God-the God of all grace and glory. It is thus we are encouraged to “seek the Lord while he may he found, and to call upon him while he is near.”