Sweet Meditations on Christ

Charles Spurgeon, 1858

"My meditation on Him shall be sweet!" Psalm 104:34

Christian! You need no greater inducement to excite you, than the subject here proposed: "My meditation on Him shall be sweet!"

To whom does that word Him refer? I suppose it may refer to all the three persons of the glorious Trinity:

"My meditation upon JEHOVAH shall be sweet." And, truly, if you sit down to meditate upon God the Father and muse upon His sovereign, immutable, unchangeable love toward His elect people; if you think of God the Father as the great author and originator of the plan of salvation; if you think of Him as the mighty being Who, by two immutable things, wherein it is impossible for Him to lie (Heb 6:18), has given us strong consolation who have fled for refuge to Christ Jesus; if you look to Him as the giver of His only begotten Son and Who, for the sake of that Son, His best gift, will with Him also freely give us all things; if you consider Him as having ratified the covenant and pledged Himself ultimately to complete all His stipulations in the ingathering of every chosen, ransomed soul—then you will perceive that there is enough to engross your meditation forever, even were your attention limited to the manifestation of the Father's love.

Or, if you choose to do so, you may meditate upon God the HOLY SPIRIT. Consider His marvelous operations on your own heart—how He quickened it when you were dead in trespasses and sins; how He brought you near to Jesus when you were a lost sheep, wandering far from the fold; how He called you with such a mighty efficacy that you could not resist His voice; how He drew you with the bands of love and would not let you go.

If you think how often He has helped you in the hour of peril; how frequently He has comforted you with His promises in times of distress and trouble; and if you remember that, like holy oil, He will always supply your lamp and until life's last hour; He will always replenish you with His influences, proving Himself still your teacher and your guide until you get up yonder, where you shall see your Savior face to face in the blessed presence of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit—in such great truth you may well find a vast and, indeed, an infinite subject for your meditation.

But I prefer rather to confine this word Him to the person of our adorable SAVIOR. "My meditation of Him shall be sweet." Ah! If it be possible that the meditation upon one person of the Trinity can excel the meditation upon another, it is meditation upon Jesus Christ.

O precious Jesus! What can be a sweeter theme for me to think of than Your exalted being; to conceive of You as the Son of God Who fashioned this round world? To think of You as the God Who holds this mighty orb upon Your shoulders, Who is the King of glory, before Whom angels bow in lowliest homage. And yet to consider You as likewise bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh—to conceive of You as the Son of Mary, born of a virgin, made flesh like ordinary men, clothed in garments of humanity like mortals of our feeble race; to picture You in all Your suffering life, to trace You in all Your passion, to view You in the agony of Gethsemane, enduring the bloody sweat, the sore amazement; and then to follow You to Gabbatha, and thence up the steep side of Calvary, bearing the cross, braving the shame; when Your soul was made an offering for my sins, when You died the reconciling death amidst horrors, still to all but God unknown. Truly, here is a meditation for my soul that must be sweet forever!

I might, like the psalmist, say, "My heart is stirred with a good matter"—the marginal reading is, "it boils or bubbles up"—"I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer" (Psalm 45:1)

Ah! Take Jesus for the theme of your meditation, sit down and consider Him, think of His relation to your own soul, and you will never get to the end of that one subject. Think of His eternal relationship to you—recollect that the saints are free from all condemnation, in union with the Lamb, before the world was made. Think of your everlasting union with the person of Jehovah-Jesus, before this planet was sent rolling through space, and recollect how your guilty soul was accounted spotless and clean even before you fell. And after that dire lapse, before you were restored—justification was imputed to you in the person of Jesus Christ. Think of your known and manifest relationship to Him since you have been called by His grace. Think how He has become your brother, how His heart has beaten in sympathy with yours, how He has kissed you with the kisses of His mouth, and His love has been to you sweeter than wine. Look back upon some happy, sunny spots in your history, where Jesus has whispered, "I am yours," and you have said, "My beloved is mine!" (Song 6:3).

Think of some pensive moments, when you have had what Paul sets so much store by—fellowship with Christ in His sufferings (Phi 3:10). Think of seasons when the sweat has rolled from your brow, almost as it did from that of Jesus—yet not the sweat of blood (Luke 2:44)—when you have knelt down and felt that you could die with Christ, even as you had risen with Him.

And then, when you have exhausted that portion of the subject, think of your relationship to Christ that is to be developed in Heaven. Picture to your mind that moment when Jesus Christ shall greet you as "more than a conqueror" and put a golden crown upon your head, more glittering than the stars! And think of that transporting hour when you will take that crown from off your brow; and climbing the steps of Jesus' throne, you shall put it on His head and crown Him once more Lord of your soul, as well as "Lord of all."

Ah! If you come and tell me you have no subjects for meditation, I will answer, "Surely, you have not tried to meditate, or you would say with the psalmist, My meditation of Him shall be sweet."

Jesus Christ shall come again in glory! Christians, be ever watching and waiting for the second coming of your Lord Jesus Christ; and while you wait, meditate upon that coming. Think, O my soul, of that magnificent day, when you shall see Him with all His glorious train, coming to call the world to judgment, and to avenge Himself upon His enemies! Think of all His triumphs when Satan shall be bound, death shall be crushed, and Hell shall be conquered, and when He shall be greeted as the universal Monarch, "who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen" (Rom 9:5).

"My meditation of Him shall be sweet." I believe that, even when we get to Heaven, we shall want no subject for meditation there except Jesus Christ. There will be little else we shall want of Heaven, besides Jesus Christ. He will be our bread, our food, our beauty, and our glorious dress. The atmosphere of Heaven will be Christ—everything in Heaven will be Christ-like. Yes, Christ is the Heaven of His people! To be in Christ and to be with Christ—is the essence of Heaven!