February 5—Morning Devotion
“In the hand of a Mediator.”—Galatians 3:196
The hand of a Mediator was the great blessing every, enlightened son of Adam, from the fall, sighed after, and looked for, in every approach to God. Hence the first transgressor, for the want of it, bid himself from the presence of God, amidst the trees of the garden. Hence Israel cried out to Moses, “Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” And Job longed for a day’s man, that is, a Mediator, that might lay his hand upon both parties. See then, my soul, thy privileges; for thou hast a Mediator, and a glorious one indeed, in whose almighty hand all thy concerns are eternally secured. “Ye are come,” saith the apostle; he doth not say, ye are coming. but, ye are come, to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling.” Oh then, in all thy approaches, have an eye to Jesus. Put all thine affairs into this glorious, Mediator’s hand. Remember, he wears thy nature, pleads thy cause, takes up all thy concerns, and ever liveth to make intercession for sinners; and therefore, cast all thy care upon him, for he careth for thee. And look to this one grand thing that all thy confidence, and all thy joy, ariseth wholly from Jesus’ person and righteousness; not from any supposed graces, tears, repentance—nor even from faith itself, if viewed as an act of thine. Cast aside, as filthy rags, all that is thine; and never, no not for a moment, look at any thing as a procuring cause; but let Jesus have all thy confidence, all the glory, and thou wilt have all the comfort. Though Satan accuse, though conscience pleads guilty, God’s broken law pronounceth condemnation, and justice demands the penalty, Jesus hath answered all, and is on the throne to see the issue. Oh, the blessedness of having all in the bands of a Mediator!
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
