BY WILLIAM LUFF.
HOW interested everybody has been in the new stamps! How important, too, is a stamp to a letter! But where can I find a text suitable to this subject? In Rom. 13:14, “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The stamp has to be put on where it can be seen, at the top right-hand corner. At the Winchester Soldiers’ Home Tent, on Salisbury Plain, when sorting some of the men’s letters, I found one which appeared not to have a stamp: but on turning it over, I found the head stuck on as a seal. Can people see the King’s image upon us? Or are we doubtful?
In the new stamp we see the glory of the British Isles in the face of the king: and what do we see in the Gospel stamp? “The Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).
“Have you noticed that the king is represented as uncrowned?” asked one.
I had not thought of it, but it taught me a lesson: our King is not yet crowned, but
“The crowning day is coming by-and-by.”
How is the stamp affixed? By taking hold of it and touching it with the mouth. And this reminds us that “with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom. 10:10).
A little stamp will carry a large letter, and a little letter cannot be carried without it. Children are little letters, but they need Jesus as their stamp. Men and women are large letters, but Jesus will pass them on to heaven. Each must have a stamp for themselves: two stamps on one letter will not pass another letter without a stamp. Mother’s grace will not do for her son or daughter (Ezek. 14:14; Matt. 25:9).
A young man of beautiful life came to Jesus, and Jesus, beholding him, loved him: but He had to say, “One thing thou lackest” (Mark 10:21). He was a clean letter, beautifully written, and without a blot: but he was unstamped. What a lesson for lovely children, and others who have not put on the Lord Jesus!
An Irishman once wrote upon his envelope, “This letter has a stamp on it, if it does not come off.” Jesus is a stamp that never comes off; not because we stick to Him, but because He sticks to us. The adhesiveness is all on the side of the stamp: we love Jesus because He first loved us, and having loved His own He loves them “unto the end.”
The design on the new stamp has been passed by the king: and the design and plan of our salvation have been approved by the authority divine. No private crest, or original work of our own art will do.
Where are the stamps to be procured? Where the King reigns. I must come under the scepter of Christ Jesus if I would have His saving mark.
Before the stamp can do its work its beauty must be defaced. This makes us think of Isa. 14, “His visage was so marred!” Men spat in His face, and struck Him on the face: the black marks of our sins were upon Him, and even God allowed His own righteous hand to fall heavily upon Him. And all this that as our stamp He might pass us.
When the letter is stamped, it is committed to the letter box. So, by faith, I trust my soul to God through Jesus, and say, “I am persuaded He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (2 Tim. 1:12).
After a letter is thus posted, it becomes the king’s property. I cannot have it back. If I am one of God’s stamped letters, I sing
“Not my own, the Lord accepts me,
One among the ransomed throng,
Who in Heaven shall see His glory,
And to Jesus Christ belong.”
The letter is next Sorted and Sealed. Sorted for the road it is to go, and sealed in the mail bag. God sorts His people for different ways through life, and seals them by His Spirit (Eph. 1:13).
Then they are Cared for and Carried. Lest letters should get lost they are tied in bundles, illustrating churches and missions. Angels are the postmen. “He shall give His angels charge over thee” (Ps. 91:11).
At last they are Delivered at their Destination (Luke 6:22).
“Carried by the angels to the Land of Rest.”
And what of those who have no stamp? The stamp means “paid for.” All who put on the Lord Jesus Christ are paid for by His precious blood. Others may pass on with the stamped ones: we dare not stop them, or send them back: but they will be stopped at the Mansion Gates: already they are marked to pay double; and as there is no paying at the end, all unstamped letters must at last go into the fire. Have you therefore, dear reader, thus put on the Lord Jesus Christ?