Scripture: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."—ROM. i. 7.
It is remarkable that the Apostle Paul in each of his thirteen Epistles writes: "Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ." He had such a deep sense of the inseparable oneness of the Father and the Son in the work of grace, that in each opening benediction he refers to both.
This is a lesson for us of the utmost importance. There may be times in the Christian life when one thinks chiefly of God the Father, and prays to Him. But later on we realize that it may cause spiritual loss if we do not grasp the truth that each day and each hour it is only through faith in Christ and in living union with Him, that we can enjoy a full and abiding fellowship with God.
Remember what we read of the Lamb in the midst of the throne. John had seen One sitting on a throne. "And the four living creatures rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come" (Rev. iv. 3,8).
Later (Rev. v. 6) he sees "in the midst of the throne a Lamb as it had been slain:" Of all the worshipping multitude none could see God, but he first saw Christ the Lamb of God. And none could see Christ without seeing the glory of God, the Father and Son inseparably One.
O Christian, if you would know and worship God aright, seek Him and worship Him in Christ. And if you seek Christ, seek Him and worship Him in God. Then you will understand what it is to have "your life hid with Christ in God," and you will experience that the fellowship and adoration of Christ is indispensable to the full knowledge of the love and holiness of God.
Be still, O soul, and speak these words in deepest reverence: "Grace and peace"—all I can desire—"from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Take time to meditate, and believe, to expect all from God the Father who sits upon the throne, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb in the midst of the throne. Then you will learn truly to worship God. Return frequently to this sacred scene, to give "Glory to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb" (Rev. v. 13).
