一月四日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/01/0104.mp3″]
经文: 约瑟认得他哥哥们，他们却不认得他。（创世记四十二：8）
我们都期望与主耶稣的关系能增长，也期望能更明白祂的旨意。今晚，让我们来思考祂认识我们这一题目。远在我们对祂有丝毫认识以前，祂就完完全全认识了我们。“我未成形的体质，祢的眼早已看见了。……我被造的肢体尚未有其一，祢都写在祢的册上了。”（诗一三九：16）我们存于世上以前，已经存于祂的心中。当我们尚与祂为敌的时候，祂已经认识我们，知道我们的愁烦、我们的狂妄和我们的邪恶。当我们还在悔罪中痛哭流涕，视祂为审判者、执政者时，祂就视我们为祂心爱的弟兄，并从祂心中向我们发出怜悯了。祂永不忘记祂所拣选的人，并视祂们为祂无限之爱的对象。“主认识谁是祂的人”（提后二：19），对在祂家中的儿女，这话是真实的，对喂醏的浪子而言，这话也是真实的。但是我们却不认识这位作王的长兄，由于如此无知，便生出许多罪孽来。我们不将自己的心交给祂，不让祂进入我们的爱中。我们不信任祂，不尊重祂的话。我们背叛祂，不以爱向祂效忠。祂如公义的太阳照亮，我们却看不到祂。天国降临在地上，世人却不认识。愿上帝得颂赞，那些日子对我们而言，已经成为过去！然而即使是现在，我们对耶稣的认识，较之祂认识我们，仍是何等地不足。我们只是开始去研究祂，祂却已完全认识了我们。当祂再来要审判世界时，祂不会对我们说：“我不认识你们”，反要在父面前承认我们。
Evening, January 4
Scripture: “And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.”(Genesis 42:8)
This morning our desires went forth for growth in our acquaintance with the Lord Jesus; it may be well to-night to consider a kindred topic, namely, our heavenly Joseph’s knowledge of us. This was most blessedly perfect long before we had the slightest knowledge of him. “His eyes beheld our substance, yet being imperfect, and in his book all our members were written, when as yet there was none of them.” Before we had a being in the world we had a being in his heart. When we were enemies to him, he knew us, our misery, our madness, and our wickedness. When we wept bitterly in despairing repentance, and viewed him only as a judge and a ruler, he viewed us as his brethren well beloved, and his bowels yearned towards us. He never mistook his chosen, but always beheld them as objects of his infinite affection. “The Lord knoweth them that are his,” is as true of the prodigals who are feeding swine as of the children who sit at the table.
But, alas! we knew not our royal Brother, and out of this ignorance grew a host of sins. We withheld our hearts from him, and allowed him no entrance to our love. We mistrusted him, and gave no credit to his words. We rebelled against him, and paid him no loving homage. The Sun of Righteousness shone forth, and we could not see him. Heaven came down to earth, and earth perceived it not. Let God be praised, those days are over with us; yet even now it is but little that we know of Jesus compared with what he knows of us. We have but begun to study him, but he knoweth us altogether. It is a blessed circumstance that the ignorance is not on his side, for then it would be a hopeless case for us. He will not say to us, “I never knew you,” but he will confess our names in the day of his appearing, and meanwhile will manifest himself to us as he doth not unto the world.