WHILE God may save a thousand souls at once, yet each one is saved individually, and has a history, experiences, and joys peculiarly its own. It is important to see this. Each one stands before God in his own individuality, with individual sins and guilt, with the need of individual conviction, of repentance toward God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
Conversion to God is intensely individual. Conversion is the sinner turning to God in the spirit of repentance, with the confession of sin upon his lips. “I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son," is the repentant cry of a converted sinner. What meets the converted one is this: " When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him; " and the confession of the son is answered by the father's command to the servants: “Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry" (Luke 15:18-2418I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. 20And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 22But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 23And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. (Luke 15:18‑24)).
It was all intensely individual. He had sinned, and turned away from the father (a picture of man); he had dishonored the father, and disgraced his name. He was convicted, converted, brought to repentance, and returned with a full, honest, guileless confession of his sin. He was received, pardoned, embraced, kissed, clothed, and brought into the house, and seated by the father. All was most thoroughly individual. And thus he sat by the father's side, feeding upon the fatted calf, participating in the joy of the blessed occasion, an individual monument of the father's love, a trophy of the father's grace.
With what power this speaks to us of God's goodness to a returning sinner. Let one return in his individual condition as a sinner, in his solitary misery, and this divinely-drawn picture assures him of the reception he will get, and how gladly God will receive him, pardon him, and with the robe of spotless righteousness fit him for His presence forever. Thus received and clothed, he will be able to say, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness" (Isa. 61:1010I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)).
In Luke 1:46, 47,46And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. (Luke 1:46‑47) we have a very lovely instance of individual salvation. The Virgin Mary said, "My soul Both magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”
Mary was a sinner, like the rest of us, and needed a Saviour, as her own words show. The announcement of the coming Saviour is made to her, and that she was to be the honored vessel to bring forth the incarnate Word into this world, and she is the first to rejoice: "My soul loth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." "My Saviour." What blessedness for her, as indeed for us all.
But notice the individual application of the truth,—"My Saviour.”
So also the aged Simeon. " Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: FOR MINE EYES HAVE SEEN THY SALVATION, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel " (Luke 2:28-3228Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, 29Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: 30For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 31Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; 32A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. (Luke 2:28‑32)). How blessed! "Mine eyes have seen thy salvation." There was divine teaching, individual faith, and the joy of God's salvation, — peace and joy in believing.
Beloved reader, do you know anything of all this? this individual application of the truth of God about your sins, and the glorious salvation found in a once crucified, but now risen and glorified Christ? Can you look at the cross, and say with Paul, "He loved me, and gave himself for me;" and up to where He now is on the throne of heaven, and say, "My Saviour,"—"My own precious and everlasting Saviour"? If so, what blessedness is yours; if not, alas, what darkness is yours!
There are three more passages, and I close. "My beloved is mine, and I am his;" "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine;" "I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me" (SoS. 2:16; 6:3; 7:10). Thus we find in these three scriptures, the individual appropriation of Christ, the Beloved; the mutual possession, on the part of Christ and the sinner saved, of one another; and the desire of Christ ever towards those whom He saves,— "His desire is toward me.”
Dear reader, may you know this glorified Christ, the beloved of God and His people, as your own precious Saviour, and, with the Virgin Mary, be able to say, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,”
E. A.