April 23, Evening
C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling
"Lo, in the midst of the throne . . . stood a Lamb as it had been slain." — Revelation 5:6 · KJV
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 surpassingly 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 blood. Christ is lovely on Olivet and Tabor, and by the sea; but oh, there never was such a matchless Christ as He who hung upon the cross! There we beheld all His beauties in perfection, all His attributes displayed, all His love drawn out, all His character expressed. Beloved, the wounds of Jesus are far more fair in our eyes than all the splendor and pomp of kings. The thorny crown is more than an imperial diadem. It is true He does not now bear the scepter of reed, but there was a glory in it that never flashed from a scepter 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 keep the memory of His sufferings for His people, how precious should His wounds be to us! Behold how every wound of His distils a precious balm, 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.