August 25—Morning Devotion
“His servants shall serve him. And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.”—Revelation 22:3, 4
Mark these characters, my soul. Jesus hath servants, and they are distinguished from the world. They “serve him.” What is it to serve Christ? The prophet hath described. Free grace hath made them servants, in bringing them from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God; and therefore he saith, in the Lord’s name,” My servants shah eat, but ye shall be hungry; my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty; my servants shah rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed; my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart.” How distinguishing these characters! God’s servants have the table of Jesus to sit down to; the bread of life, the bread of God, the living bread, which is Jesus himself, to feed upon. They shall drink also; for he that is their living bread is their living water also— even the water of life, of which whosoever drinketh shall thirst no more; “but it shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.” The servants of the Lord shall rejoice, and sing for joy of heart also. Yes, “the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Neither is this all. The servants of the Lord shall “see his face.” They do now, by faith in his word, in his ordinances, in his manifestations, visits, grace, providences. And, by and by, when this vail of covering, cast over all people, is totally taken down and removed at death, they shall have a glorious view of the King in his beauty by sight. Moreover, his name is said to be” in their foreheads.” Yes, it is so; the image of Christ is impressed upon them, as” Holiness to the Lord” was engraven on the mitre of Aaron. “Beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, they are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” My soul, what sayest thou to these evidences? Are they thine? Canst thou take the comfort of them to thyself.
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
