WE read in the New Testament of a woman whose heart the Lord opened, and who attended to the words spoken by God’s servants. The women of which we now write were not sellers of purple like Lydia, but women so secluded and reserved that those who knew them best looked upon them as almost miserly in their manner and mode of life. ‘Tis true their house was situated in a lovely spot with a good thick set hedge around the garden. But even then, what took place was unexpected, for on the other side of the hedge, at the end of their garden, week after week, those noisy preachers were there telling of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, showing the people as best they could what Satan by sin had done for the destruction of man, and what a helpless state sin had brought us all into. Yet that into this ruin the love of God had come down to us in Jesus, that God had loved us, sending His own Son into this world to be our Saviour.
And they went on to show that this only could be done by the very Son of God Himself taking our place and dying for us, actually sacrificing His own life to save us, giving Himself a ransom for us all. If Jesus had not come into the world, as the light of the world, we should all have remained in darkness and have died in our ignorance and perished in our sins.
But while these things claimed their attention, it was as the Lord Jesus was presented as Saviour, not only to give us light and life, but to suffer for our sins, that hearts seemed affected. And no wonder, for the Holy Spirit is ever delighting to show us more and more the value of the precious blood of Jesus, which cleanseth from all sin and can bring even the sinner, as one now saved by faith in Jesus, into God’s presence, clear from every stain of sin. Those who had traveled so far to convey the glad tidings were gladdened to see many interested, week after week, in the word spoken, but there were two sisters behind that garden hedge whom the preachers could not see, yet in whom the Spirit of God had been working, and as of old, had opened their hearts. How long God had been working in them we cannot tell, but with full hearts they came forth to confess Jesus as their Saviour.
What a change in them now! One of their first acts, after the heart was opened, was to open their purse. This the preachers at first refused, but it was of no avail. Having found Jesus so precious to their own souls, the money must be spent to purchase tracts and books that others might enjoy the blessing they now enjoyed with such real sweetness. Here were these women now in the possession of a new life through faith in Christ Jesus. How sweet, and yet how simple. As their souls found rest and peace in relying on what had been done by Jesus for them, they began to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord whom they now loved by drinking in the sincere milk of God’s word.
As I write, the vision of these two newly-born ones rises up before me. I see them wending their way to the place where those who had been brought to the Lord on the village green before them were gathering together to show forth the Lord’s death in the breaking of bread, as the Lord desired that those who found salvation through His death should do. What a remembrance it was in their souls of Him whom they now loved, because they had been so loved.
And now, dear reader, are you among the saved ones? Are you a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ?
If not, how is it? There must be some cause for your present state. In the case of these two, sisters we see how clear the truth of God is—that Faith comes by hearing the word of God. They heard it behind their garden hedge. They believed in the blessed Saviour of whom it speaks, and were saved. New life was evident, as their afterlife clearly proved. People do not like to be told that they cannot see. But Christ has come, the Rock of Ages has been smitten, the waters of life are flowing freely, sinners are brought out of darkness into God’s own marvelous light. The true light is shining, sinners saved are standing in the true grace of God. Surely it must be the truth, that the enemy of our souls is blinding the minds of those who believe not lest the truth should be seen and Christ received, and the soul saved.
After this, can you still remain among that class—who have no place in their hearts for Christ?
We would not put before you anything that our own souls have not felt. By the working of God’s own Spirit in our souls, we have known and believed the love that God hath to us, and as one who has been in the enjoyment of it for so many years, I can only truly give expression to my own feelings by saying, How I long that others should really know the truth as it is in Jesus. What unsearchable riches God has treasured up for us in Christ, and oh! how freely are they all dealt out to needy souls—all in contrast with the vanity on which Satan is ever seeking to feed the human mind. Those who trust in God will ever find comfort for their life here in His own presence with them, in all through which they may have to pass in this world, now so opposed through Satan by sin to the goodwill of God to His creatures. Still, with Christ their Saviour, God as their Father, the Holy Spirit guiding by the word, the children of God may move safely on as our little hymn describes it:
Our Heavenly Father knoweth the throbbing of each heart,
Though all may seem against us, He takes a Father’s part;
Whatever now seems changing, His love remains the same,
How blessed are the people who trust in Jesus’ Name!
In Jesus God has given a solace for the soul,
Whatever opposition across our path may roll;
The blessed work Christ finished brings everlasting fame,
And, oh, how blest the people who trust in Jesus’ name!
Not all man’s sad confession, not all our fears or doubt,
Can stay His loving kindness, or shut His goodness out;
Far, far above all darkness, our God remains the same,
Still blessed are the people who trust in Jesus’ Name.
Nothing their hope can wither, nothing their life destroy,
A living Friend in glory, oh, what should touch their joy?
Grace ever leading onward, through scorn, contempt and shame,
But what should stay their boasting of Jesus’ blessed Name?
E. T.