December 26

I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.— John 17:4.

THIS forms a part of Christ's sacerdotal prayer. Never was such a prayer presented to Jehovah, from the foundation of the world. How sublime is the style which he adopts: how holy and fervent is the spirit it breathes throughout; and how comprehensive and eternally momentous the blessings for which he intercedes. He could say when addressing his heavenly Father, "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." Not that every part of his undertaking was accomplished, for he had to perform the most arduous portion of it, in drinking the cup of the Divine displeasure, and enduring the painful and ignominious death of the cross. And after death, he had to spoil the king of terrors, and burst the gloomy barriers of the tomb. To heaven too, he was exalted, not to repose in inglorious ease, but to govern his spiritual empire and extend his reign to the ends of the earth. But he had finished all that active course which had been allotted him up to the period of his death. He could look back, and behold every engagement fulfilled, and every duty performed. He had given a full and perfect revelation of the way to eternal life: he had given the gospel to the world, and a perfect digest of rules for his church. He had fully proved his own Messiahship, by his astounding miracles, he had healed all sorts of diseases, he had expelled demons, he had forgiven sins, and raised the dead: and now he was ready to be offered up, and cease his labour and his life together