Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–
June 4– Evening
by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff
“[Jesus was] received up into glory.”
—1 Timothy 3:16
We have seen our precious Lord in the days of his flesh, humiliated and sorely vexed. He was indeed “despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” He whose brightness is as the morning wore the sackcloth of sorrow as his daily dress. Shame was his clothing, reproach his garment.
Yet now, since he has triumphed over all the powers of darkness upon the bloody cross, our faith beholds our King returning with royal garments, being robed in the splendor of victory. How glorious must he have been in the eyes of the angels who flame with fire around God’s throne when a cloud received him out of mortal sight and he ascended to heaven!
Now he wears the glory which he had with God before the earth ever existed and yet another glory above all: that which he has well earned in the fight against sin, death, and hell. As victor he wears the illustrious crown. Listen as the song swells high! It is a new and sweeter song: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, for he hath redeemed us unto God by his blood!”
He wears the glory of an Intercessor who can never fail, of a Prince who can never be defeated, of a Conqueror who has vanquished every foe, of a King who has the heart’s allegiance of every subject. Jesus wears all the glory which the pomp of heaven can bestow upon him which ten thousand times ten thousand angels can minister to him. You cannot with your wildest imagination fathom his exceeding greatness, yet there will be a further revelation of it when he shall descend from heaven in great power with all the holy angels: “Then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.” Oh, the splendor of that glory! It will ravish his people’s hearts. Nor is this the close, for eternity shall sound his praise, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever!”
Reader, if you would joy in Christ’s glory hereafter, he must be glorious in your sight now. Is he? [M&E]
