Morning and Evening: Daily Readings
by C. H. Spurgeon
Morning, December 26
The last Adam.
1 Corinthians 15:45
Jesus is the federal head of his elect. As in Adam, every heir of flesh and blood has a personal interest, because he is the covenant head and representative of the race as considered under the law of works; so under the law of grace, every redeemed soul is one with the Lord from heaven, since he is the Second Adam, the Sponsor and Substitute of the elect in the new covenant of love. The apostle Paul declares that Levi was in the loins of Abraham when Melchizedek met him: it is a certain truth that the believer was in the loins of Jesus Christ, the Mediator, when in old eternity the covenant settlements of grace were decreed, ratified, and made sure for ever. Thus, whatever Christ hath done, he hath wrought for the whole body of his Church. We were crucified in him and buried with him (read Col. 2:10-13), and to make it still more wonderful, we are risen with him and even ascended with him to the seats on high (Eph. 2:6). It is thus that the Church has fulfilled the law, and is accepted in the beloved. It is thus that she is regarded with complacency by the just Jehovah, for he views her in Jesus, and does not look upon her as separate from her covenant head. As the Anointed Redeemer of Israel, Christ Jesus has nothing distinct from his Church, but all that he has he holds for her. Adam's righteousness was ours so long as he maintained it, and his sin was ours the moment that he committed it; and in the same manner, all that the Second Adam is or does, is ours as well as his, seeing that he is our representative. Here is the foundation of the covenant of grace. This gracious system of representation and substitution, which moved Justin Martyr to cry out, O blessed change, O sweet permutation! this is the very groundwork of the gospel of our salvation, and is to be received with strong faith and rapturous joy.
Evening, December 26
Lo, I am with you alway.
Matthew 28:20
The Lord Jesus is in the midst of his church; he walketh among the golden candlesticks; his promise is, Lo, I am with you alway. He is as surely with us now as he was with the disciples at the lake, when they saw coals of fire, and fish laid thereon and bread. Not carnally, but still in real truth, Jesus is with us. And a blessed truth it is, for where Jesus is, love becomes inflamed. Of all the things in the world that can set the heart burning, there is nothing like the presence of Jesus! A glimpse of him so overcomes us, that we are ready to say, Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Even the smell of the aloes, and the myrrh, and the cassia, which drop from his perfumed garments, causes the sick and the faint to grow strong. Let there be but a moment's leaning of the head upon that gracious bosom, and a reception of his divine love into our poor cold hearts, and we are cold no longer, but glow like seraphs, equal to every labour, and capable of every suffering. If we know that Jesus is with us, every power will be developed, and every grace will be strengthened, and we shall cast ourselves into the Lord's service with heart, and soul, and strength; therefore is the presence of Christ to be desired above all things. His presence will be most realized by those who are most like him. If you desire to see Christ, you must grow in conformity to him. Bring yourself, by the power of the Spirit, into union with Christ's desires, and motives, and plans of action, and you are likely to be favoured with his company. Remember his presence may be had. His promise is as true as ever. He delights to be with us. If he doth not come, it is because we hinder him by our indifference. He will reveal himself to our earnest prayers, and graciously suffer himself to be detained by our entreaties, and by our tears, for these are the golden chains which bind Jesus to his people.
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The Boy Who Rode His Bicycle to Eternal Life
The missionary did not want to leave, but to stay would have meant risking not only his own life, but also the lives of his people.
Mao Tse-Tung, the communist leader of China, had ordered that all missionaries (or "spiritual aggressors," as he called them) must leave the country immediately or forfeit their lives. Anyone who helped them would be punished—beaten, jailed or executed. Christianity had been outlawed. The Cultural Revolution had begun.
And so with a heavy heart and a few final words of comfort and exhortation, the missionary handed over his Bible to the village leaders and left the people he loved in the village by the Yellow river.
The village suffered terribly over the next forty years. There were droughts, famines and an oppressive, corrupt government. A whole generation died, and many of the young people moved away. But those that remained were faithful, even under persecution. The oldest villagers remembered the missionary and the words he taught, though they were just children when he left.
Every week the villagers would meet in secret to worship. They prayed together and sang hymns. At the end of the meeting they carefully brought the Scriptures out of their hiding place, unwrapping the layers of coverings over the Bible. Each one touched the book, but no one opened it.
None of the villagers could read.
Over and over, they prayed for God to send someone to read to them.
A few hundred miles away in the crowded city of Beijing, China, it was summer break at Beida University. Wang had three whole months to do just as he pleased, and he longed for an adventure. He decided to spend his vacation bicycling along the Yellow river into inland China, so that he might observe the culture of this remote part of the world.
Wang peddled his way through six provinces, finally coming to a small village that was so very poor—even compared to the other poor villages that Wang had seen on his trip—that he was shocked. The people dressed in rags, but were friendly and willing to talk with a stranger.
When the elders learned that a college student had wandered into the village, they rejoiced. Finally, their prayers had been answered. They begged Wang to read to them, and he agreed. He had no idea what book could possibly be so important to these poor peasants, but he was happy to oblige and flattered by the attention of the people.
The entire village gathered. The elder carefully unwrapped the Bible that the missionary had entrusted to them 40 years ago. Wang began to read the yellowed pages.
Night after night, as soon as the people came in from the fields, they gathered to listen. Wang read far into the night, but each time he tried to stop, the people begged him to continue. At dawn the people returned to the fields and Wang slept, only to repeat the performance again that evening.
Wang read that God created the world. He read that mankind sinned, and lost fellowship with God. He read about God's perfect law, and man's inability to keep it. He read about the need for a sacrifice, and about the promise of a perfect sacrifice for sin. Wang read how that promise was fulfilled in the birth of God's own Son, Jesus, and about His perfect atoning sacrifice on the cross. Wang read about the resurrection, and about appropriating eternal life through faith.
Wang believed what he read, and he was never the same. As he bicycled back to Beijing at the end of his break, he knew that these poor villagers who had nothing had given him everything.
Story adapted from an account in A Heart for Freedom, by Chai Ling, pages 40-41
Permission granted for reproduction in exact form. All other uses require written permission.
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