THINGS PRECIOUS
‘Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.’
‘Precious’ is a very favourable word with the writers of the Bible, especially with St. Peter. He speaks of many things as precious.
I. Christ.—‘Unto you therefore which believe He is precious’ (1 Peter 2:7). Precious as a Saviour from sin, a present friend, and a final deliverer.
II. Faith.—‘To them that have obtained like precious faith with us’ (2 Peter 1:1). Now faith depends for its value upon that which calls it forth. Faith in man, in ordinances, in sacraments, in the Church cannot benefit us by giving us salvation. Faith is precious only as it embraces Christ and enables us to say, ‘He is mine, and I am His.’
III. The Precious Blood.—‘The precious blood of Christ’ (1 Peter 1:18-19). ‘Blood of Christ’ refers to His life taken away and signifies His death, and is precious because it points to the central doctrine of the gospel—the atonement, which stands to all other doctrines in the Bible as the keystone of an arch to all the other stones which are built up upon it; or as the sun to the earth and all the other planets which revolve around it.
IV. The promises.—‘Great and precious promises.’ In old time the Psalmist sang, ‘How precious are Thy thoughts to me, O God!’ The promises are but the thoughts of God put into words, that we might be more able to grasp and understand them.