The Light of Heaven Down Here in Jesus

How the light of heaven begins to break upon us here! How we begin to learn what the mind, the heart, of heaven is! First, the Blessed One Himself is from heaven; and in Him we see the perfect moral display of what heaven is. Man — and earth has hitherto taken its character from man — seeks to exalt himself. Here is One Who so deeply humbles Himself, that, sinless and holy as He is, He condescends to take His place amid those who were confessing their sins. He had no sin; and, in the still more emphatic language of Scripture, "knew no sin;" yet does He identify Himself with the repenting remnant m this first movement of their hearts towards God; and to all that the Baptist urges to deter Him, He meekly replies, "Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." What a contrast between heaven and earth! The only persons on earth in whom the Spirit of God was then working, took the place not of justifying or exalting themselves, but of confessing their sins and justifying God. Here was One from heaven, Who, I need not repeat, had no sins of His own to confess; but whither do the instincts, the mind, the heart of heaven lead Him? To this broken-hearted, contrite, confessing company. Amid them He takes His lowly place of self-emptying, self-renunciation; and heaven — responsive to this perfect exhibition of the mind and ways of heaven in Him Who came from heaven — opens, to declare its approbation and delight; while a voice from heaven proclaims, "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased." Jesus is heaven's delight, as well as heaven's perfect moral manifestation and display. Blessed Jesus, draw us towards and after Thyself! From an old magazine.