DAILY DEVOTIONAL – January 5, 2021
“Eternity’s Sonnet”
Prayer: Gracious Father, what hope You have given us in the mystery that is the Incarnation of Your Son our Lord Jesus. We praise You and thank You that Your mercy and salvation are so wonderfully indescribable and incomprehensible to us, for You indeed are God alone. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Scripture: Matthew 1:23
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us).
Devotional – “Eternity’s Sonnet”
Tomorrow, January 6th, is the 12th Day of Christmas, but also the beginning of the next major season in the Church Year, Epiphany. The observance of Epiphany looks back and celebrates the revelation of the Christ Child to the Magi, who were not Jews, but Gentiles. It signified that the salvation of God, though entrusted to Israel and delivered first to Israel, was never intended to be a salvation for one particular group of people, but for the whole world – including you and me! So, as we close the Christmas season, today we are going to wrap up the Christmas focus we have had here over the past several weeks of devotions. Thus far in this Advent and Christmas devotional series I have been focusing on the writings of Martin Luther, but for today, I would like to share with you an extended excerpt from perhaps my most favorite Christmas sermon ever preached. It was preached by the renowned pastor and theologian Charles Spurgeon, and the text of the sermon was our devotional verse for today. The first line I ever heard of Spurgeon’s sermon was when he describes the fact that God is with us as “eternity’s sonnet.” I pray hearing or reading it is as much a blessing to you as it has been for me each and every year I read it again myself. Here is some of what Spurgeon said in his sermon.
If Jesus Christ was born in a manger in a rock, why should He not come and live in our rocky hearts? If He was born in a stable, why should not the stable of our souls be made into a house for Him? If He was born in poverty, may not the poor in spirit expect that He will be their Friend? If He thus endured degradation at the first, will He count it any dishonor to come to the very poorest and humblest of His creatures, and tabernacle in the souls of His children? Oh, no! We can gather a lesson of comfort from His humble parentage, and we can rejoice that not a queen, or an empress, but that a humble woman became the mother of the Lord of glory.
This is His name, “God with us”—God with us, by His incarnation, for the august Creator of the world did walk upon this globe; He who made ten thousand orbs, each of them more mighty and more vast than this earth, became the inhabitant of this tiny atom. He, who was from everlasting to everlasting, came to this world of time, and stood upon the narrow neck of land betwixt the two unbounded seas. “God with us:” He has not lost that name, Jesus had that name on earth, and He has it now in heaven. He is now “God with us.” Believer, He is God with you, to protect you; you are not alone, because the Savior is with you. Put me in the desert, where vegetation grows not; I can still say, “God with us.” Put me on the wild ocean, and let my ship dance madly on the waves; I would still say, “Immanuel, God with us.” Mount me on the sunbeam, and let me fly beyond the western sea; still I would say, “God with us.” Let my body dive down into the depths of the ocean, and let me hide in its caverns; still I could, as a child of God say, “God with us.” Yes, and in the grave, sleeping there in corruption, still I can see the footmarks of Jesus; He trod the path of all His people, and still His name is “God with us.”
Now ask yourselves, do you know what “God with us” means? Has it been God with you in your tribulations, by the Holy Spirit’s comforting influence? Has it been God with you in searching the Scriptures? Has the Holy Spirit shone upon the Word? Has it been God with you in conviction, bringing you to Sinai? Has it been God with you in comforting you, by bringing you again to Calvary? Do you know the full meaning of that name Immanuel, “God with us”? No; he who knows it best knows little of it. Alas, he who knows it not at all is ignorant indeed; so ignorant that his ignorance is not bliss, but will be his damnation. Oh! May God teach you the meaning of that name Immanuel, “God with us”!
“Immanuel.” It is wisdom’s mystery, “God with us.” Sages look at it, and wonder; angels desire to see it; the plumb-line of reason cannot reach half-way into its depths; the eagle wing of science cannot fly so high, and the piercing eye of the vulture of research cannot see it. “God with us.” It is hell’s terror. Satan trembles at the sound of it; his legions fly apace, the black-winged dragon of the pit quails before it. Let him come to you suddenly, and do you but whisper that word, “God with us,” back he falls, confounded and confused. Satan trembles when he hears that name, “God with us.” It is the laborer’s strength; how could he preach the gospel, how could he bend his knees in prayer, how could the missionary go into foreign lands, how could the martyr stand at the stake, how could the confessor own his Master, how could men labor if that one word were taken away? “God with us.” ’Tis the sufferer’s comfort, ’tis the balm of his woe, ’tis the alleviation of his misery, ’tis the sleep which God gives to His beloved, ’tis their rest after exertion and toil. Ah! And to finish, “God with us”—’tis eternity’s sonnet, ’tis heaven’s hallelujah, ’tis the shout of the glorified, ’tis the song of the redeemed, ’tis the chorus of angels, ’tis the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky. “God with us.”
Thanks for spending time with me in devotion today, remember, God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today, and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
