May 5—Morning Devotion
“Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?”—John 14:10
My soul, thou wilt never sufficiently contemplate this blessed oneness between the Father and the Son, in the great work and glory of redemption. Pause this morning, and observe for the confirmation of thy faith, that as Jesus is one with the Father in all the essence and attributes of the Godhead, so God the Father is one with Jesus. in all the offices of redemption. God was in Christ’s human nature; for he is said to have been “God manifest in the flesh.” God was in every name of Christ, every work of Christ, every word of Christ, every office of Christ, every attribute of Christ. And hence, in seeing Christ, we truly see God; in all his grace, mercy, love, salvation, and every blessing connected with our present, future, eternal happiness. And what a sweet thought is that, my soul, for thee to dwell upon; that as the Father is in Jesus, and in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, so, in consequence, there is a fulness of grace and a fulness of glory in Jesus to give out a supply here of the one, and hereafter of the other, to satisfy the most capacious desires of the souls of his redeemed to all eternity. For the human nature being personally united to the God-head in the person of the Lord Jesus, there must be this fulness everlastingly dwelling. There may be, and for certain purposes sometimes there are, great gifts and graces of the Spirit poured out upon the Lord’s servants; but never could the Godhead be found in any but Jesus. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.” Pause once more, my soul, and ask thyself, hast thou Christ? Then hast thou God the Father in him. Where Christ is, God the Father is; and where Christ is not, there God is not. See then, my soul, that? this is the standard to ascertain the reality of thy case as it appears before God. Hast thou Jesus for thy portion? Then the Father is in him. Dost thou love Jesus? Then must thou love the Father in him. Dost thou seek Jesus? Then art thou seeking the Father in him. Oh for grace to discover our true interest in all the Father’s covenant engagements, and promises, from this very source: that this everlasting oneness between the Father and Son infallibly secures to his people all the blessings of redemption, for in seeing the Son, we literally and truly see the Father, and glorify the Father in Jesus. Amen.
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
