BEHOLD THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!

"Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." —Acts 7:5 [KJV]

'Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof.' As the trial and exercise of our day is, so shall our strength be. Saints shall have suffering grace for suffering times. Hours of great outward calamities often prove seasons of the greatest abounding of inward consolation. It is said, "Stephen fell asleep." What! fall asleep under a shower of stones? Yes: the sweetest sleep he ever experienced. It was preceded by a supernatural sight of glory; he awoke in the full enjoyment of glory; he suffered first for Jesus, he is the first who is favored with a view of the glorified Jesus in His kingdom. How faithful is the Lord we serve! how great are His compassions! how reviving to the soul is the spiritual sight of Him! Whether patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, and confessors, as believers in all ages, the same Lord was the object of their faith; they were comforted by the same Spirit, Whose blessed office is to glorify Jesus in the views of believing souls. True, "no man shall see Me and live, saith the LORD."—Exodus 33:20. Even highly favored Stephen saw not the essential glory of Jehovah but through the medium of the man Jesus. Whether with his bodily sight, or in the full visions of faith and the Holy Ghost, he saw the glory of God in the person of the glorified, exalted Son of man, Jesus, this discovery fired his soul with heavenly joy, and inflamed his heart with holy transport.

Faith's views of Jesus have a transforming influence upon the soul. While He is beheld, love is communicated. Ascending hearts to Jesus are favored with descending love from Jesus. Love, received in the heart, cheerfully diffuseth its sweet savour around us; it enlarges the bowels of compassion, and opens the mouth in prayer even for its worst enemies. Thus Stephen prays for his very murderers. When for himself he stands; when for them he kneeled down, as though more importunate for them than for himself. What hath Jesus done for sinners! What doth He in them! How precious is He to those who believe! How should our hearts long for clearer views of Him by the Spirit! As in His love, so in His person He is WONDERFUL; He is ever the same, a MAN; He appears in His human form before the throne, interceding for sinners. The same suffering, crucified man, Who loved our persons and bore our sins, still lives and pleads our cause as our triumphant conqueror in our nature over all our enemies. Thus daily conceive of, look to, and embrace in the arms of faith, thy Lord and thy God, O soul, as Man and Mediator, as having once atoned and is now interceding for thee; so mayest thou ever comfortably say, "Into Thine hand I commit my spirit; Thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth."— Psalm 31:5.

-William Mason (1724-1797 A.D.)

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