August 26—Morning Devotion
“The God of our fathers hath glorified his Son Jesus.”—Acts 3:13
See, my soul, how every part and portion of scripture is directed to this one subject—to glorify the Lord Jesus. What is the very design of redemption but to glorify the Lord Jesus? What hath God constituted a church for, but to glorify the Lord Jesus? To what do all the precepts, promises, ordinances, sacrifices under the law, and institutions under the gospel, minister, but to this one end—to glorify the Lord Jesus? Talk they of promises? Why, all the promises of God are “in Christ Jesus, yea and amen, to the glory of God the. Father by us.” Talk they of the law? “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Talk they of commandments? “This is the commandment, that ye believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God; and that believing, ye might have life through his name.” And how hath the God of our fathers glorified his Son Jesus, in giving him as a covenant to the people. Hath he not constituted him the glorious Head, the Mediator, the Husband, the Lord, the Prophet, the Priest, the King of his people? How hath he glorified him in his person, offices, characters, relations! How hath he carried him through all the parts of redemption, in his incarnation, ministry, miracles, obedience, life, death, resurrection, ascension; and in all his triumphs over sin and Satan, death, hell, and the grave. And having constituted him the universal and eternal Lord of all, commands that “every knee should bow before him, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father ]” And is there any thing left, by which the God of our fathers might manifest that he hath glorified his Son Jesus? Yes, there is one thing more, my soul, by which the wonderful grace is shewn; and that is, when the God of our fathers hath glorified his Son Jesus in the heart of every poor sinner, who gives the glory of his salvation fully, heartily, completely to him, and puts the crown of redemption upon the head of Jesus. My soul, hast thou done this? Hast thou glorified Jesus in this way, the only way in which thou canst glorify him, and the Father in him? Then, if so, what a sweet thought is it, that the God of our fathers, and thou, a poor sinner, are both agreed in this one blessed work, to glorify Jesus. And here both meet in the only possible meeting-place for an holy God and unholy men to meet; and both are engaged in one and the same deed—to glorify Jesus! Oh thou Lamb of God, be thou eternally glorified in my salvation!
Robert Hawker (1753-1827) was an Anglican (High-Calvinist) preacher who served as Vicar of Charles Church, Plymouth. John Hazelton wrote of him:
“The prominent features…in Robert Hawker's testimony…was the Person of Christ….Dr. Hawker delighted to speak of his Lord as "My most glorious Christ.” What anxious heart but finds at times in the perusal of the doctor's writings a measure of relief, a softening, and a mellowing? an almost imperceptible yet secret and constraining power in leading out of self and off from the misery and bondage of the flesh into a contemplation of the Person and preciousness of Christ as "the chiefest among ten thousand and the altogether lovely." Christ and Him crucified was emphatically the burden of his song and the keynote of his ministry. He preached his last sermon in Charles Church on March 18th, 1827, and on April 6th he died, after being six years curate and forty-three years vicar of the parish. On the last day of his life he repeated a part of Ephesians 1, from the 6th to the 12th verses, and as he proceeded he enlarged on the verses, but dwelt more fully on these words: "To the praise of His glory Who first trusted in Christ." He paused and asked, "Who first trusted in Christ?" And then made this answer: "It was God the Father Who first trusted in Christ."
Robert Hawker on the Biblical Covenants (Complete)
Robert Hawker's Poor Man's Morning Portions
