Morning By Morning #352

I remember the devotion of your youth.

Jeremiah 2:2

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

It is worth noting that Christ delights to think of His church and to look upon her beauty. Just as a bird returns often to its nest and a traveler hurries back home, the mind continually dwells on the choice object of its affection. We can never look too often on the face of a loved one, for we desire to have our precious things continually in our sight. And so it is with our Lord Jesus, for from eternity He has been “delighting in mankind” (Prov. 8:31). Since before time began His thoughts looked forward to the time when His elect would be born into the world, and He viewed them through the window of His foreknowledge. Through David, God said, “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Ps. 139:16). “For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s; upon them he has set the world” (1 Sam. 2:8), and “he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel” (Deut. 32:8).

Before Jesus’ incarnation He actually descended to earth many times in the likeness of man. Examples of the Son of Man visiting His people are found in the stories of Abraham at Mamre near Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18); Jacob wrestling with God at the Jabbok stream (Gen. 32:22 – 32); Joshua at the walls of Jericho (Josh. 5:13 – 6:5); and the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace of Babylon (Dan. 3). Because the Lord’s soul delighted in them, He could not stay away, for His heart longed for them. They were never absent from His heart and He even “engraved [them] on the palms of [His] hands” (Isa. 49:16). Just as the breastplate bearing the names of the tribes of Israel was the most beautiful ornament worn by the high priest (see Ex. 28:29), so the names of Christ’s elect are His most precious jewels, glittering over His heart.

We may often forget to meditate upon the perfections of our Lord, but He never ceases to remember us. Therefore, let us admonish ourselves for our past forgetfulness and pray for the grace to keep Him in our fondest remembrance forever.

Lord, paint upon the eyes of my soul the image of Your Son.

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

One beautiful aspect of being a Christian is having the New Testament as a lens through which we may view and interpret the Old Testament. Through that lens we see Christ on every page, not simply in the passages Spurgeon mentions today. For example, Genesis says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1), and the New Testament tells us Jesus Himself is the Creator. Think of our sweet Savior as your Creator as you consider these verses:

By him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

Colossians 1:16

In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

Hebrews 1:2