Blessed Is The Man Whom You Choose

“Blessed is the man whom You choose, and cause to approach unto You, that he may dwell in Your courts - we shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, even of Your holy temple” (Psalm 65:4).

The men of the world think they are blessed or happy who are illustrious or great; they are greatly mistaken. God pronounces blessings, not on outward appearances, but invariably on inward character. He gives the blessing according to what the heart is; man very often gives it to what the man wears or the position he occupies.

The characteristic features of the blessed are these: “the man whom You choose” -- not the man who first chose God. We are sinful and ruined. If rewarded according to our works we should perish forever. Grace in its sovereignty fastens upon us in our lost estate, selects us, and draws us for glory. An eye we did not see saw us, and we are therefore, chosen and blessed of God. This doctrine is stated frequently in the Bible. Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father who has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44). Paul also taught: “as He (God) has chosen us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians1:4).

When we are chosen of God, and come under His attraction, we delight to approach His glorious presence; we feel ourselves borne upward under an irresistible, yet joyous and welcome attraction. Duty and delight become one. Blessed is the one who is thus drawn; for the nearer we approximate the likeness to God, the happier we feel. This blessedness is not a mere vague feeling of happiness. There accompanies it a sweet sense of pardon, based on the surest grounds. “Blessed is the man whose sin is forgiven.” This is our portion also. It is a delightful thing to know that the Great Sovereign of the universe has pardoned us; that sin shall not be our ruin. Our resting on Christ’s finished work for us, and our inward and just belief that God has chosen us, is the witness of the Holy Spirit with our spirit that we are in Christ Jesus, sons of God, and therefore subject to no condemnation here or hereafter.

Another great element of this blessedness is the conscious fact that we are regenerated; one proof of which is that we love those things which our heavenly Father approves, though formerly, when in sin, we hated them. This feeling deepens as we draw near to God. Our joy increases as a river. We feel blessed when God causes us thus to approach unto Him.

Some of the sources, which God employs to draw us to Himself, are: First, the light and source of truth, which penetrates our minds and sanctifies our hearts. Secondly, the hope and joy in the kingdom of heaven, and the fear of offending Him. These truths, lodged like seeds in the heart, grow under the power of the Holy Spirit and exercise the mighty force and permanent spring of living principles. Especially does God cause us to approach Him by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which takes the things of Christ, and so illuminates our minds and stirs the affections of the heart, that the great truths of the Gospel rise before us beautiful and true as they never rose before, filling our hearts with the pure light of wisdom, and creating therein the warmth of celestial love, the very atmosphere of heaven.

The promise to the man thus blessed is that he shall dwell in God’s courts. This does not mean always dwelling in a building called a church. This is impossible, even if it were desirable. It means having a Sabbath spirit, a worshipping heart; living near to God; finding everywhere an altar, and all space a Divine consecration. What a man does is as expressive of gratitude as what he says. Love is worship as pure and earnest as the words of the lips; and wherever and by whomsoever anything is done to the glory of God, there is worship that ascends into the presence of the Eternal. Deeds are songs, life is praise, and obedience is a heavenly anthem. When we experience the joys of the first resurrection, we shall enter the heavenly temple itself, without veil or obstruction, dwell in the Lord’s house, and serve Him without ceasing throughout eternity.

We shall be satisfied with God’s goodness. There is no satisfaction that can be drawn from any object upon earth, or drawn from its deepest and fullest cisterns. The more man has, the more he desires, and the less he is satisfied. On earth there are but empty joys that collapse like bubbles the instant they are touched; but in the realms above there is fullness of joy. Here on earth there are pleasures, like the snowflakes, which no sooner touch life’s current than they are dissolved; but in the presence of the Creator, there are pleasures that last and blossom eternally. In the presence of God, there is joy that grows in fervor and dilates the heart in proportion to its expanding greatness. Blessedness is intense in the ratio of our nearness to God, likewise to Christ, and the possession of the Holy Spirit. In our future inheritance in the heavenly realms these will be realized in all their glory; all interruptions removed; clouds impossible. Decay and disease, sickness and death unknown. The brightest things last longest; eternity unlike time increases, and brightens every element in its capacious bosom. - From Bible Student Magazine