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"They go from
strength to strength."
- Psalm 84:7 |
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They go from strength to strength.
There are various renderings of these words, but all of them
contain the idea of progress.
Our own good translation
of the authorized version is enough for us this morning. "They
go from strength to strength." That is, they grow stronger and
stronger.
Usually, if we are walking, we go from
strength to weakness; we start fresh and in good order for our
journey, but by-and-by the road is rough, and the sun is hot,
we sit down by the wayside, and then again painfully pursue
our weary way. But the Christian pilgrim having obtained fresh
supplies of grace, is as vigorous after years of toilsome
travel and struggle as when he first set out. He may not be
quite so elate and buoyant, nor perhaps quite so hot and hasty
in his zeal as he once was, but he is much stronger in all
that constitutes real power, and travels, if more slowly, far
more surely.
Some gray-haired veterans have been as
firm in their grasp o f truth, and as zealous in diffusing it,
as they were in their younger days; but, alas, it must be
confessed it is often otherwise, for the love of many waxes
cold and iniquity abounds, but this is their own sin and not
the fault of the promise which still holds good: "The youths
shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly
fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall
run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint."
Fretful spirits sit down and trouble themselves about the
future. "Alas!" say they, "we go from affliction to
affliction."
Very true, O thou of little faith, but
then thou goest from strength to strength also. Thou shalt
never find a bundle of affliction which has not bound up in
the midst of it sufficient grace. God will give the strength
of ripe manhood with the burden allotted to full-grown
shoulders.
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"I am
crucified with Christ."
- Galatians 2:20 |
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The Lord Jesus Christ acted in what
he did as a great public representative person, and his dying
upon the cross was the virtual dying of all his people. Then
all his saints rendered unto justice what was due, and made an
expiation to divine vengeance for all their sins. The apostle
of the Gentiles delighted to think that as one of Christ's
chosen people, he died upon the cross in Christ.
He
did more than believe this doctrinally, he accepted it
confidently, resting his hope upon it. He believed that by
virtue of Christ's death, he had satisfied divine justice, and
found reconciliation with God. Beloved, what a blessed thing
it is when the soul can, as it were, stretch itself upon the
cross of Christ, and feel, "I am dead; the law has slain me,
and I am therefore free from its power, because in my Surety I
have borne the curse, and in the person of my Substitute the
whole that the law could do, by way of condemnation, has been
executed upon me, for I am crucified with Christ. "
But Paul meant even more than this. He not only
believed in Christ's death, and trusted in it, but he actually
felt its power in himself in causing the crucifixion of his
old corrupt nature. When he saw the pleasures of sin, he said,
"I cannot enjoy these: I am dead to them."
Such is the
experience of every true Christian. Having received Christ, he
is to this world as one who is utterly dead. Yet, while
conscious of death to the world, he can, at the same time,
exclaim with the apostle, "Nevertheless I live."
He is
fully alive unto God. The Christian's life is a matchless
riddle. No worldling can comprehend it; even the believer
himself cannot understand it. Dead, yet alive! crucified with
Christ, and yet at the same time risen with Christ in newness
of life! Union with the suffering, bleeding Saviour, and death
to the world and sin, are soul-cheering things. O for more
enjoyment of them!
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