Zechariah 4:7. He shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
Taken, with editing, from Tweedie’s volume, Glad Tidings of the Gospel of Peace.
Grace, the free favour of God, lays the foundation of hope to man. Grace rears the structure and watches over it at every stage of its progress. Were it not so, it would speedily crumble into premature decay, like some of the structures reared by man. And when the fabric shall be completed – when the copestone has been put on and all made perfect according to the will of God – the acclamations will still be: Grace, grace. The wise Master Builder thus presides over the whole spiritual temple, and the beauty of holiness is, in consequence, the ornament which signalises the structure.
The sure foundation laid in Zion is then laid by grace. All who build on it are guided by grace; and when the house not made with hands becomes the home of the ransomed, grace will admit them there, and hand them over to glory.
Now are you, my soul, in preparation for that dwelling place of glory? Have you been rescued by grace from the grasp of sin? Are your hopes built on the exclusive foundation – that which God has laid, that rock which is Christ? Then “rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice”. To His people He will speak peace, but let them not return again to foolishness.
Clothed in His righteousness and upheld by His right arm, they need not fear though ten thousand were set round about against them. The Lord will help, “and that right early”.
Right early, not tomorrow – before tomorrow I may be laid out for the grave. Not after I have repented – before I can repent, I must come to Him who grants repentance. Not after I have reformed what is wrong and rectified what God condemns in my conduct. That reformation will never be effectual; it will reach only to the hand and never touch the heart, until I return to my God as He invites. Right early then – now, and without one hour’s delay, I will wait on God that He may renew my strength.