Morning, February 8
Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings
Matthew 1:21
"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."