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"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."
"Romans 5:21.
Devotional
There is much revealed in Holy Scripture which the mind of man cannot fathom. He who is truly devout receives all that God has revealed with humility. Like Abraham he believes where he cannot see. God, however, never asks man to believe what is ridiculous. Such belief is not faith at all, hut it is faith to believe what God has revealed even though it may be beyond human comprehension.
One of those revealed mysteries is the Divine Being Himself. There is only one God to whom all the attributes of divinity belong. Yet in the Godhead there are three persons, the same in substance, and equal in power and glory.
As the Divine Being is a mystery, so is the redemption of mankind a mystery, for there is involved in it the activity of the three persons in the Godhead. Salvation is a divine plan formed in eternity and is revealed to be of the nature of a covenant.
What was in the mind of God before the foundation of the world, Christ came into the world to carry out. He came to fulfill a work which had been assigned Him (Heb. 10:9, 10). At the beginning of His earthly course, when yet a child, He said to his parents, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" (Luke 2:49). At the close of His ministry, He said, to His Father in heaven, "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do" (John 17: 4).
The whole Divine Being was exercised in our salvation. Who can measure its depths? A wisdom and economy is revealed between the persons of the adorable Trinity which enables us rightly to understand God's way of redeeming sinners. The Father gave the Son a work to do and promised Him a reward upon its accomplishment. The Son assumed the obligation upon which the Father undertook to grant Him a reward. Does some one say, "How can this be?" It is not ours to question what God has revealed.
God brought to light, in the fullness of time, in this our sinful world, the plan His infinite wisdom conceived from all eternity (Gal. 4:4). He sent forth His Son into the world, who assumed our nature, was born of a woman, and was .found in fashion as a man. Made in all things like unto His brethren, He was yet without sin. His whole life was one of humiliation, sorrow, and suffering, for He came to bear our sins, to be a curse for us, and to offer Himself as a sacrifice in expiation of the sins of men.
On the basis of this plan of salvation, in which is exhibited the grace of God, there is offered to all men salvation on the condition of faith in Christ. A new and better covenant than the one made with Adam is thus revealed. In it is grace, mercy, and pardon, free from the dead works of the flesh. All who come to Christ truly believing in His finished work shall he saved, and all who do come to God in this manner have been given to the Son by the Father from all eternity.
(to be continued)
"Lift Up Your Heart" is a series of devotionals by the late Rev. David Freeman, an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church for most of his life. These devotionals, in fact, are part of the early history of our denomination. The first of them was published in The Presbyterian Guardian in 1935; the denomination now known as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church was officially formed in 1936. We believe that "the Word of our God stands forever" (Isaiah 40:8; see 1 Peter 1:25). Thus it is no surprise that meditations based on that Word have continued relevance today. Dr. Freeman's devotionals are proof of that fact.
David Freeman was a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary (Th.B., 1928; Th.M. , 1930) and of Dropsie Univiersity (Ph.D., 1951). He served as pastor at Grace (later New Covenant) Presbyterian Church (OPC), Philadelphia, PA (1936-1946), Knox Presbyterian Church (OPC), Philadelphia, PA (1949-1962), and Grace Presbyterian Church (OPC), Fall River, MA (1962-1967). He authored many articles and (along with his son, David H. Freeman) is the author of the book A Philosophical Study of Religion, which appeared in 1964. He went to be with the Lord in 1984.
There is one change from the way the daily devotional was handled in the past with John Skilton's Think On These Things: New devotionals for the new series appear on weekdays only (Monday through Saturday. It is suggested that you use your pastor's sermon text(s) as the basis for your mediations on the Lord's Day.
We trust that you will find these devotionals, once again made available seventy years after they first appeared, to be a personal help in your own Christian walk today!
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