Elijah the Tishbite. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. VMackintosh, Charles Henry
Religion
Elijah the Tishbite. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. V
Mackintosh, Charles Henry
Theology
What a comfort to know that we have One in the presence of God to
present our sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving! How sweetly it
encourages us to bring such sacrifices at all times! True, they may
seem very poor, very meagre, very imperfect; but our great High Priest
knows how to separate the precious from the vile; He takes our
sacrifices, and presents them to God in all the perfect fragrance of
His own person and ministry. Every little breathing of the heart,
every utterance, every little act of service, goes up to God, not only
divested of all our infirmity and imperfection, but adorned with all
the excellency of the One who ever liveth in the presence of God, not
only to sympathize and intercede, but also to present our sacrifices
of thanksgiving and praise.
All this is full of comfort and encouragement. How often have we to
mourn over our coldness, barrenness, and deadness, both in private and
in public! We seem unable to do more than utter a groan or a sigh.
Well, Jesus--it is the fruit of His grace--takes that groan or that
sigh, and presents it to God in all His own preciousness. This is part
of His present ministry for us in the presence of our God, a ministry
which He delights to discharge--blessed be His name! It is His joy to
bear us upon His heart before the Throne. He thinks of each one in
particular, as if He had but that one to think of.
It is wonderful; but so it is. He enters into all our little trials
and sorrows, conflicts and exercises, as though He had nothing else to
think of. Each one has the undivided attention and sympathy of that
large, loving heart, in all that may rise in our passage through this
scene of trial and sorrow. He has gone through it all. He knows, as
we say, every step of the road. We can discern His blessed footprints
all across the desert; and look up through the opened heavens and see
Him on the throne, a glorified Man, but the same Jesus who was down
here upon earth--His circumstances changed, but not His tender,
loving, sympathizing heart: "The same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever."
Such then, beloved Christian reader, is the great High Priest, whom we
are exhorted to "consider." Truly we have all we want in Him. His
sympathy, perfect; His intercession, all-prevailing; His presentation
of our sacrifices, ever acceptable. Well may we say, "We have all, and
abound."
And now, in conclusion, let us glance for a moment at the precious
exhortation in Hebrews x. 24: "Let us _consider_ one another, to
provoke unto love and good works."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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