Spurgeon: August PM
* 08/13/PM
"And I will remember My covenant."
--Genesis 9:15
Mark the form of the promise. God does not say, "And when ye
shall look upon the bow, and ye shall remember My covenant,
then I will not destroy the earth," but it is gloriously put,
not upon our memory, which is fickle and frail, but upon
God's memory, which is infinite and immutable. "The bow shall
be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember
the everlasting covenant." Oh! it is not my remembering God, it
is God's remembering me which is the ground of my safety; it
is not my laying hold of His covenant, but His covenant's laying
hold on me. Glory be to God! the whole of the bulwarks of
salvation are secured by divine power, and even the minor
towers, which we may imagine might have been left to man, are
guarded by almighty strength. Even the remembrance of the
covenant is not left to our memories, for we might forget, but
our Lord cannot forget the saints whom He has graven on the
palms of His hands. It is with us as with Israel in Egypt; the
blood was upon the lintel and the two side-posts, but the Lord
did not say, "When you see the blood I will pass over you,"
but "When I see the blood I will pass over you." My looking to
Jesus brings me joy and peace, but it is God's looking to Jesus
which secures my salvation and that of all His elect, since it
is impossible for our God to look at Christ, our bleeding
Surety, and then to be angry with us for sins already punished
in Him. No, it is not left with us even to be saved by
remembering the covenant. There is no linsey-wolsey here--not a
single thread of the creature mars the fabric. It is not of
man, neither by man, but of the Lord alone. We should
remember the covenant, and we shall do it, through divine
grace; but the hinge of our safety does not hang there--it is
God's remembering us , not our remembering Him ; and hence the
covenant is an everlasting covenant .