January 01

Morning

“They did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.”

Joshua 5:12

Israel’s weary wanderings were all over, and the promised rest was attained. No

more moving tents, fiery serpents, fierce Amalekites, and howling wildernesses:

they came to the land which flowed with milk and honey, and they ate the old

corn of the land. Perhaps this year, beloved Christian reader, this may be thy

case or mine. Joyful is the prospect, and if faith be in active exercise, it

will yield unalloyed delight. To be with Jesus in the rest which remaineth for

the people of God, is a cheering hope indeed, and to expect this glory so soon

is a double bliss. Unbelief shudders at the Jordan which still rolls between us

and the goodly land, but let us rest assured that we have already

experienced more ills than death at its worst can cause us. Let us banish every

fearful thought, and rejoice with exceeding great joy, in the prospect that this

year we shall begin to be “forever with the Lord.”

 

A part of the host will this year tarry on earth, to do service for their Lord.

If this should fall to our lot, there is no reason why the New Year’s text

should not still be true. “We who have believed do enter into rest.” The Holy

Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance; he gives us “glory begun below.” In

heaven they are secure, and so are we preserved in Christ Jesus; there they

triumph over their enemies, and we have victories too. Celestial spirits enjoy

communion with their Lord, and this is not denied to us; they rest in his love,

and we have perfect peace in him: they hymn his praise, and it is our privilege

to bless him too. We will this year gather celestial fruits on earthly

ground, where faith and hope have made the desert like the garden of the Lord.

Man did eat angels’ food of old, and why not now? O for grace to feed on Jesus,

and so to eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan this year!

 

Evening

“We will be glad and rejoice in thee.”

Song of Solomon 1:4

We will be glad and rejoice in thee. We will not open the gates of the year to

the dolorous notes of the sackbut, but to the sweet strains of the harp of joy,

and the high sounding cymbals of gladness. “O come, let us sing unto the Lord:

let us make a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation.” We, the called and

faithful and chosen, we will drive away our griefs, and set up our banners of

confidence in the name of God. Let others lament over their troubles, we who

have the sweetening tree to cast into Marah’s bitter pool, with joy will magnify

the Lord. Eternal Spirit, our effectual Comforter, we who are the temples in

which thou dwellest, will never cease from adoring and blessing the

name of Jesus. We will, we are resolved about it, Jesus must have the crown of

our heart’s delight; we will not dishonour our Bridegroom by mourning in his

presence. We are ordained to be the minstrels of the skies, let us rehearse our

everlasting anthem before we sing it in the halls of the New Jerusalem. We will

be glad and rejoice: two words with one sense, double joy, blessedness upon

blessedness. Need there be any limit to our rejoicing in the Lord even now? Do

not men of grace find their Lord to be camphire and spikenard, calamus and

cinnamon even now, and what better fragrance have they in heaven itself? We will

be glad and rejoice in Thee. That last word is the meat in the dish,

the kernel of the nut, the soul of the text. What heavens are laid up in Jesus!

What rivers of infinite bliss have their source, aye, and every drop of their

fulness in him! Since, O sweet Lord Jesus, thou art the present portion of thy

people, favour us this year with such a sense of thy preciousness, that from its

first to its last day we may be glad and rejoice in thee. Let January open with

joy in the Lord, and December close with gladness in Jesus.