四月二十三日 [mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/04/0423.mp3″]
经文: 我又看见宝座……之中，有羔羊站立，像是被杀过的。（启示录五：6）
何以我们升天的主在荣耀中带伤出现？耶稣所受的伤是祂的荣耀，是祂的珠宝，是祂圣洁的装饰。在信徒的眼里，耶稣比美丽更美，因为祂是“白而且红”（参阅歌五：10）。耶稣洁白，因为祂无罪，祂也是朱红，因祂亲自流血。我们见祂如同无比纯洁的百合花，又因祂自己宝血而如玻瑰的深红。当基督在橄榄山上，在海边教训人时，祂是可敬爱的；但是当祂被悬挂于十字架上时，却是独一无二的基督。当祂在十字架上，我们看到了祂美丽的完全，祂所有的属性完全展现，祂所有的爱完全流露，祂所有的品格完全表达。耶稣伤痕之美远远超越君王的一切辉煌壮丽。荆棘冠冕远远超过国王的王冠。祂手中之仗不再是一根苇子，其中之光辉超越以金制成的权杖之光芒。那稣出现的形像如同被杀羔羊，祂来寻找我们的灵魂，并以祂的完全救赎来拯救我们。祂的伤是祂的大爱、祂得胜之战利品。祂使无用的变为刚强。祂为自己拯救了许多人，是没有人能数过来。祂的伤痕是战争所留下的记号。基督若喜欢纪念祂为百姓所受的伤害，我们更当如何珍视祂的伤痕呢！
Evening, April 23
Scripture: “Lo, in the midst of the throne … stood a Lamb as it had been slain.”(Revelation 5:6)
Why should our exalted Lord appear in his wounds in glory? The wounds of Jesus are his glories, his jewels, his sacred ornaments. To the eye of the believer, Jesus is passing fair because he is “white and ruddy;” white with innocence, and ruddy with his own blood. We see him as the lily of matchless purity, and as the rose crimsoned with his own gore. Christ is lovely upon Olivet and Tabor, and by the sea, but oh! there never was such a matchless Christ as he that did hang upon the cross. There we beheld all his beauties in perfection, all his attributes developed, all his love drawn out, all his character expressed. Beloved, the wounds of Jesus are far more fair in our eyes than all the splendour and pomp of kings. The thorny crown is more than an imperial diadem. It is true that he bears not now the sceptre of reed, but there was a glory in it that never flashed from sceptre of gold. Jesus wears the appearance of a slain Lamb as his court dress in which he wooed our souls, and redeemed them by his complete atonement. Nor are these only the ornaments of Christ: they are the trophies of his love and of his victory. He has divided the spoil with the strong. He has redeemed for himself a great multitude whom no man can number, and these scars are the memorials of the fight. Ah! if Christ thus loves to retain the thought of his sufferings for his people, how precious should his wounds be to us!
“Behold how every wound of his
A precious balm distils,
Which heals the scars that sin had made,
And cures all mortal ills.
“Those wounds are mouths that preach his grace;
The ensigns of his love;
The seals of our expected bliss
In paradise above.”
