Morning
Time: 9:11 AM PST
"Thou shalt call his name Jesus." --Matthew 1:21
When a person is dear, everything connected with him becomes dear for his
sake. Thus, so precious is the person of the Lord Jesus in the estimation of all
true believers, that everything about Him they consider to be inestimable beyond
all price. "All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia," said David,
as if the very vestments of the Saviour were so sweetened by His person that he
could not but love them. Certain it is, that there is not a spot where that
hallowed foot hath trodden--there is not a word which those blessed lips have
uttered--nor a thought which His loving Word has revealed--which is not to us
precious beyond all price. And this is true of the names of Christ--they
are all sweet in the believer's ear. Whether He be called the Husband of the
Church, her Bridegroom, her Friend; whether He be styled the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world--the King, the Prophet, or the Priest--every title of
our Master--Shiloh, Emmanuel, Wonderful, the Mighty Counsellor-- every name is
like the honeycomb dropping with honey, and luscious are the drops that distil
from it. But if there be one name sweeter than another in the believer's ear, it
is the name of Jesus. Jesus! it is the name which moves the harps of
heaven to melody. Jesus! the life of all our joys. If there be one name more
charming, more precious than another, it is this name. It is woven into the very
warp and woof of our psalmody. Many of our hymns begin with it, and scarcely
any, that are good for anything, end without it. It is the sum total of all
delights. It is the music with which the bells of heaven ring; a song in a word;
an ocean for comprehension, although a drop for brevity; a matchless oratorio in
two syllables; a gathering up of the hallelujahs of eternity in five letters.
"Jesus, I love Thy charming name,
'Tis music to mine ear."