July 21

Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. - Isaiah 45:24.

THIS is not only a prediction, but a promise also. God foresees and foretells evil, without being the author of it. But if he foretells good he must determine to produce it, or it would never be found; for “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights;” and to him be all the glory. But what a blessed acknowledgment is this!-“In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.” We talk of happiness. Ah, he is the happy man,-not he who strides along from victory to victory; not he who joins house to house and adds field to field; not he who ingratiates himself in the esteem and friendship of the world;-but he who is a partaker of grace and an heir of glory; he who is sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and in whom the promises are accomplished. Whose language is this? “Surely shall one say;” not one exclusively, or only: though the people of God are comparatively few, they are really many, and much more numerous than our ignorance and prejudices and fears often lead us to imagine. Elias said, “I am left alone, and they seek my life;” but God said, “I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal, and whose lips have not kissed him.” The “one,” therefore, here spoken of, is “one” specially “one,” so to speak, as a sample of others. Any “one,” every “one” of a certain class.

Of this class are they who are taught of God, who are born from above, and who are bound for glory; for here they are all agreed, under the law, and under the gospel dispensation in every country and in every age. There are some persons who seem to think that there are various ways to heaven, and that we may all choose our own; but the way of life from the beginning has always been the same. All who have been washed from their sins have been washed in the same fountain, opened for sin and uncleanness; all who have been healed have been healed by the same “balm and by the same Physician.” Though David lived under a very inferior economy, he expressed himself in the same language as the most enlightened believer would under a more glorious dispensation. Yea, he not only says, “In the Lord have I righteousness and strength,” but, “I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.” This includes more than possession; it includes use also: this comprehends more than acknowledgment; it includes also improvement. These are not always connected, but, alas, how often are they at variance!

And how often do we fall short of our duties and of our privileges! or we should much more “adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things” than we do. How interesting, how delightful, are these representations of the principles, the experience, and the resolutions of the true Israel of God! Hence, as we have already stated, the man after God’s own heart said, “I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.”

His resolution, we see, contains two things. First, That he will avail himself of God’s strength. Secondly, That he will glory in his righteousness. Oh that we may make these resolutions our own!