Isaiah 45:25

REFLECTIONS

PONDER over this lovely Chapter, my soul, again and again, not dismiss the sweet meditation, until the Holy Ghost hath written the blessed contents of it in thine inmost affection. Behold the Lord's love to Israel, in preparing the Church, during so many years, for their temporal deliverer; and calling him by his name, Cyrus, before Cyrus was even born. Then turn thy thoughts to the Lord Jesus Christ, and contemplate the grace of God the Father, in the appointment and proclamation of him, the glorious spiritual deliverer of his redeemed, from all eternity. Thou, O blessed Jesus, hast indeed opened the two-leaved gates; yea, the everlasting gates of heaven and salvation, and made thy people joyful, and the loins of thine enemies to be smitten asunder! Thou hast made known thy sovereignty and power, and manifested that thou art God, and that there is none else beside thee, a just God and a Saviour!

And now, thou blessed Lord! having made peace by the blood of thy cross, to reconcile all things to thyself, dost thou open a new and living way by thy blood, and ever livest to keep it open by thine intercession? Yea, precious Jesus! dost thou so endear a throne of grace to thy people, as to assure us, that the works of thine hands are subject to the prayers of thy saints: that whatsoever shall be for thy glory and their good, they may command, and it shall be done! Oh! for grace to lie lower and lower in the dust before God, in proportion as the riches of thy grace are made manifest to the soul, that while the Lord exalts his people, they may humble themselves.

I dare not, Lord! dismiss this precious chapter, without first seeking for grace to convert thy command into a prayer, that while thou biddest me to look unto thee, my soul may feel the grace going forth into lively exercise, so to look to Jesus, as to have mine eyes enlightened, and to rest by faith upon Jesus, until my whole soul be warmed into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Jesus Christ! Blessed Lord! I do pray, that mine eyes, mine heart, my whole soul and body and spirit, yea, all the faculties thou hast given me, may bow in love, and grace, and praise, and prayer, before thee. Let all the earth witness for me; yea, all the powers of heaven, that to thee my knee bows; before thee my whole nature joyfully bends. Surely in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. In the Lord do all my powers find justification, and glory, in Christ here, and in Christ to all eternity. Amen.