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Octavius Winslow, 1856 (edited for
today's reader by Larry E. Wilson, 2010)
Bible Verse
"...the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (Rom. 8:21).
Devotional
The redeemed children of God already possess a most costly and precious freedom. Is it no true freedom to stand before God accepted in the Beloved? Is it no true liberty to draw near to him with all the confidence of a child reposing in the boundless affection of a loving father? Is it no liberty to travel day by day to Jesus, always finding him an open door of sympathy the most exquisite, of love the most tender, and of grace the most overflowing? Is it, in a word, no real freedom to be able to lay faith's hand upon the everlasting covenant, and exclaim, "There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1)? Oh, yes! This is the freedom with which Christ has made us free (Gal. 5:1).
But the freedom of the glory of the children of God is yet to come. It will be glorious because it will be more evident and complete. It will include all the elements of our present freedom, but it will also embrace others not yet enjoyed. We shall be emancipated from the body of sin and of death. Every fetter of corruption will be broken, and every tie of sense will be dissolved. All sadness will be chased from our spirit, all sorrow from our heart, and all foolishness from our mind. Delivered from all sin, and freed from all suffering, we will wander through the many rooms of our Father's house. We will tread the star-paved streets of the celestial city. We will repose beneath the wooded arbors of the upper Paradise. We will drink of the waters, clear as crystal, that flow from beneath the throne—our pure, and blissful, and eternal home. In a word, we will exult the in the "freedom of the glory of the children of God."
How striking and solemn is the contrast between the present and the future states of the believer and the unbeliever!
O reader, if you are unsaved, then yours, too, is a state of vanity. But, alas, it is a most willing subjection, and the bondage of corruption that holds you is not cheered by a single hope of final deliverance. What a terrible and humiliating bondage—a willing slave to sin and Satan! All is vanity which you so eagerly pursue. "The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile" (Ps. 94:11). If it were possible for you to realize all the schemes of wealth and distinction, of pleasure and happiness, which now float in gorgeous visions before your fevered imagination, your heart would still utter its mournful and bitter complaint, "all is vanity and a striving after wind" (Eccl. 1:14).
Oh, turn from these vain shadows to Jesus! He is the substance of all true wealth and happiness and honor. That yearning heart will never find rest until it rests in him. That craving soul will never be satisfied until it is satisfied with Christ. Cast yourself down at his feet then, and with the tears of penitence, the reliance of faith, and the expectation of hope, ask to be numbered among the adopted, who before long will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
The sands of time are sinking, the dawn of Heaven breaks;
the summer morn I've sighed for—the fair, sweet morn awakes;
dark, dark hath been the midnight, but Dayspring is at hand,
and glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel's land.
O Christ, he is the Fountain, the deep, sweet well of love!
The streams of earth I've tasted more deep I'll drink above;
there to an ocean fullness his mercy doth expand,
and glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel's land.
The King there in his beauty without a veil is seen;
It were a well spent journey, though seven deaths lay between:
the Lamb with his fair army, doth on Mount Zion stand,
and glory—glory dwelleth in Immanuel's land.
The Bride eyes not her garment, but her dear Bridegroom's face;
I will not gaze at glory but on my King of grace.
Not at the crown he giveth but on his pierced hand;
the Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel's land.
O I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved's mine!
He brings this poor vile sinner into his "house of wine."
I stand upon his merit—I know no other stand,
not e'en where glory dwelleth in Immanuel's land.
(Anne R. Cousin, 1857, from Samuel Rutherford, ca. 1600–1661)
Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.
Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2011.
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