February 21

He was rich. - 2 Corinthians 8:9.

LET us notice the Saviour’s greatness-“He was rich.” Then he existed before his incarnation. Discarding his pre-existence, what sufferable meaning can be assigned to the Apostle’s language? A man cannot pass from one situation or condition to another before he exists; and where there is no previous dignity there can be no condescension. Hear what he saith himself: “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world.” “Before Abraham was, I am.” John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” Thus, we not only find him existing, but existing divinely too. How rich was he in the nature and claims of Deity!

How we are lost in the thought of eternity, omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience! How rich must he be who possessed all these attributes of Deity! And he possessed them. “In him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” How rich was he whose dominion was universal, and whose possessions were boundless! He could say, “Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills; the world is mine and the fulness thereof.”

How rich must he be who could produce all these, and uphold them by the word of his power! “The eyes of all wait upon him, and he giveth them their meat in due season.” “He openeth his hand and satisfieth the desire of every living thing.” Then in him were “hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” What accomplished beings have we had in our world! How wealthy are some in mind! We think of Newton, Bacon, Boyle, Locke, Sir William Jones, &e. But if we take all the wisdom of all the men who ever lived on earth, and add to this all the intelligence of all the angels in heaven, still we should bear in mind the fact, that all these in their aggregate are no more to his infinite understanding than the drop to the ocean, or a beam to the sun, and that all had been derived from him. He was rich in all communicable blessings-blessings of grace and of glory, providential and spiritual, of time and of eternity.