It is one thing to know Jesus as a Savior, and another thing to enjoy Him whom God has glorified as the satisfying Object of our hearts. The difference in the two states of soul is immense. For a sin-burdened conscience to have to do with Him whom God gave to bear our sins in His own body on the tree, gives unutterable relief; but to have to do with Him, after this, at the right hand of God, as our satisfying portion, is most blessed Not only does it lift our hearts to where He is, but delights us with what He is. We know Him as the One who has attracted us to Himself, won our hearts, and brought us to God. He is to us the Object which outweighs every other; and we find that God in Christ is our resource as well as relief. Precious discovery indeed! He becomes known as our Brightness in the darkest path, our Strength in weakness, our Joy in adversity, our Consolation in affliction. So long as believers think that Christ is revealed only to give relief they will not be likely to know God in Christ as a resource; they will be tossed about by circumstances, instead of rising above them all, and being occupied with Him as He is, who can temper all our joys, sweeten every bitter cup, and reveal Himself to us as the Fountain of eternal and unchanging joy. Such will sing praises at midnight, and find springs of richest consolation when circumstances are affecting them with pain and sorrow.
It was so with Paul and Silas. They were in the path of obedience. Having been forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word of God in Asia, after being exercised before the Lord as to the way He would have them go, they assuredly gathered that it was His will they should visit Europe. Being at Philippi, they were called to suffer for the gospel’s sake. After having been beaten with many stripes, they were sent by the magistrates to the common prison, with the express command that the jailor should keep them safely. He consequently thrust them into the inner prison—no doubt the most loathsome compartment—and made their feet fast in the stocks. But they were men of faith. They were servants and followers of the Lord Jesus. They knew that it was given unto them, in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe, but also to suffer for His sake. Though their backs were deeply lacerated with the scourging they had received, and their way-worn feet keenly felt the pressure of the rude stocks, to say nothing of the dark and unwholesome character of the dungeon, yet they were fully assured that all was well. They had not a doubt that God was leading them by the right way, that, however inscrutable to man the path might appear, He could make no mistake. They could confidently pray that all might be turned to account for His own glory, and for the furtherance of the gospel. They could consider Him who had endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, and had perfectly trodden the path of rejection and suffering for righteousness sake, but is now crowned with glory and honor. Their surroundings in the house of malefactors were gloomy indeed, and personally they were suffering affliction, but they looked up, and saw by faith the glory of God in the face of their glorified Savior, an Object that could more than fill their hearts.
Like the bright rising of the sun after a dark and stormy night, they contemplated, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, the glory and perfections of that Man on the throne of God in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; who is the Head of all principality and power, and in whom they were accepted and forever blessed. His moral excellencies and infinitely accomplished work, His various offices, passed before their souls; what He is to God, what He is in Himself—His past humiliation, His righteous exaltation, the rightful place He now has where angels, authorities, and powers are made subject to Him, and much more—filled their hearts with such joy, that they sang praises to God at midnight. Thus captivated and cheered by being occupied with Him in the glory, they rose superior to their circumstances, and prayed and sang praises to God at midnight. To joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation, is the climax of delight. Happy indeed are those who thus know God. While abounding with thanksgivings for blessings by the way, such have done with creatures and circumstances as springs. They know that God in Christ is the alone Fountain of living waters, and that permanent and satisfying blessings flow only from Him, and they can sing with melody of heart—
“My God, the spring of all my joys,
The life of my delights;
The glory of my brightest days,
The comfort of my nights.”