Deliverance

 The memory of a great deliverance. The Christian, awakened to the ruin of his state through sin, has stood as on the brink of a Red Sea of guilt, formed by the swelling of his own trespasses, with the avenger behind, and no possible escape before. But behold, the Cross of Christ, stretched out with a mightier power than the rod of Moses, has opened a way through the depths, and he has passed safely over into the land where the ransomed and pardoned dwell, and shall never come into condemnation. He sees his grand enemy and all his host defeated and destroyed, while the prey is taken from the mighty, and the lawful captive delivered. It is a rescue not for time only, but for eternity; and, with unutterable joy mingled with trembling, he sings, not the song of Moses, but of the Lamb: “O Lord, I will praise Thee with all my heart, and I will glorify Thy name forever, for great is Thy mercy towards me, and Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell!” The rescue is once for all; but as Israel by disobedience entailed repeated enslavement, so do Christians, alas! by renewed sin, incur once and again the painful sense of loss and danger; and as deliverance again comes, with the assurance of pardon:” “I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins; return unto Me, for I have redeemed thee!” the voice of penitent Israel renews the grateful strain: “Sing, O ye heavens,” etc. (Isaiah 44:23).