Great Encouragement in Christ JESUS ~ 11 March, 2026 A.D.

"Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah; comely as Jerusalem." -Song of Solomon 6:4 [KJV]


And what was Tirzah? One of the cities in the lot of Manasseh, (Joshua 12:6, 24.) And no doubt, as Judea was the glory of all lands, Tirzah, which was a part of it, was lovely. And the comeliness of that highly favoured spot, Jerusalem, is celebrated in the sacred Song; "In the mountain of His holiness," saith the Psalmist, "beautiful for situation, and the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion," (Psalm 48:1, 2.) And is Christ's church, in her Lord's eye, thus beautiful? Yes! He Himself saith she is: and, by consequence, every individual member of her is so, which constitutes her one body.


Pause, my soul, over this account, and let thine everlasting meditation dwell upon the pleasing subject. Thou art mourning continually over thine infirmities; thou feelest what Paul felt, and thou groanest under the same burden as he groaned under: and, indeed, the consciousness of the remains of indwelling sin is enough to make the souls of the redeemed go softly all their days. But while thus conscious that thyself thou hast nothing that is lovely, do not overlook the loveliness which the righteousness of Christ, justifying His people, imparts to all their persons. Zion is said to be the perfection of beauty; and so she is in the eyes of God our Father, being the body of Christ, and made so in His beauty. What Jesus is in God's sight, such must be His people. For Christ, as Head of His church, is the fulness that filleth all in all.

If, in my soul, thou wert looking for any thing in thyself that was amiable or beautiful to recommend thee to Jesus, or to justify thee before God; then, indeed, thou mightest exclaim with the prophet: "Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips," (Isaiah 6:5.) But if Jesus hath touched thy lips, and taken away thine iniquity, and thy sin is purged; then art thou all fair in Him, and accepted by God the Father in Him, the beloved: and Jesus saith to thee, and of thee, "Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem."


See to it henceforth, that thou art never losing sight of thy oneness with Christ, thy acceptance in Christ, and the loveliness that thou art deriving from Christ. And while thou art daily lamenting that a soul united to Jesus should still carry about such a body of sin and death as thou dost, which harrasseth and afflicteth thy soul; yet never, never forget that thou art now looking up to the throne of grace for acceptance as thou art in Jesus, and not as thou art in thyself; and comfort thyself with this pleasing consideration, that ere long thou wilt be openly presented before a throne of glory, "not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and without blemish before Him in love."


-preacher Robert Hawker (1753-1827 A.D.) 

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