The Inheritance "Reserved"; The Heirs "Kept."

TO the believer in Jesus, nothing is more sweet than the truth above contained, viz. that the inheritance is reserved for him and he is kept for it. Oh, how faithful God is, in keeping both the property and the persons of His children!
The Keeper—who is He? The mighty God, the everlasting Jehovah, omnipotent and omniscient. Who can bind Him, beloved, to injure either our interests or our persons?—who can enter to spoil or rob where He rules? The Lord knows that His poor weak children can do nothing for themselves, much less keep themselves. There is no time in the history of the Church of God, when one feels the exceeding preciousness of this fact, more than when all seems secure. Strange contradiction!—We are strongest when we are weak, and weakest when we are strong. History and experience fully verify this fact, that believers individually, or the Church collectively, cannot be trusted with the truth in sunshine. Oh, blessed faithful God, who keeps in His own mighty power, the word of truth by which we are made heirs—the inheritance to which we are begotten and the inheritors themselves, whom the truth begets, and to whom the inheritance is secured. On this subject there is an apt illustration in 1 Sam. ii. 8, 9, where God's power and faithfulness are brought out in connection with the state from which, we are raised,—"He raised up the poor out of the dust, and lifted up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory. He will keep the feet of His saints." And what a perfect description of the state the heirs are found in—"poor" and "in the dust"—needy and grovelling in their state and walk; also "beggars" in the "dunghill." Oh! for the tongue of an angel or archangel, to extol with something of adequate praise, the grace that stooped so low! Everlasting praise be to His love which condescended to touch one so vile. Great God, we wonder; we are lost in wonder at Thy love!
But we have here also the "inheritance." What is it? "The throne of glory." Beloved, one does not know whether to wonder most at the state out of which we are taken, or the inheritance to which we are born—"the throne of glory." Like poor old Jacob, when we hear what our heavenly Joseph has secured for us, our hearts faint for joy. We hardly believe it. In the exceeding greatness of the prospect, the soul says, 'Lord, is it I who am to "inherit the throne of glory?" Surely, it is enough to sit at Thy footstool; enough to be allowed to touch the string of a harp in glory; enough for a "poor dunghill" beggar to be permitted to stand in Thy presence, Lord; but to inherit Thy throne, to be a partner with Thee in the glory—is IT true? How can I doubt it? for Jesus says, "Thou shalt sit with me on my throne, even as I am set down with my Father on His throne."
Again, you see how God's faithfulness manifests itself in every step. He is faithful in calling; He is faithful in keeping. The world, reasoning from the examples it has had of the consequences of its elevation, is ever ready to prophesy that such an advancement, from such a low depth to such an exalted height, will ensure a speedy fall. But here comes in the faithfulness to which the world is a stranger—He will keep the feet of His saints." Oh, beloved, how tender and compassionate!—the feet—why not the head? Ah, the head needs not keeping; the head is Christ, the mighty God. But the feet are here in the wilderness; there are briars, and thorns, and scorpions in the path. The feet have to walk over its enchanted ground. How sweet, then, God's sovereign care is directed towards, and His sovereign promise made to, that which is weak and exposed—"He will keep the feet!" It has been well said that one word would write the entire history of the heirs of promise, viz., "kept." Oh, beloved, the reason this promise fails with so many of God's children is, because of the way in which they bind and clog it with conditions connected with them, forgetting, or else, in the pride of the old nature, not wishing to see, it is a blessed "will" of the faithful covenant-keeping Jehovah, unconditional and irrespective of them. The heirs are the subjects of sovereign keeping, and not the helpers of it. Oh, how happy this should make believers! My inheritance, which, unlike any on earth, is "incorruptible"  "undefiled," and "that fadeth not away" is reserved for me—yes, for me personally—for me as if I were the only one, and I am kept for it. It cannot pass away, nor can another take it, for it is "reserved" for me. I cannot fall so as not to attain to it, or injure myself so as not to possess it, for I am "kept" for it. Oh, beloved, rise to the enjoyment of this precious truth, plant your feet on the immoveable rock of God's faithfulness. Remember,
"His honour is engaged to keep
The meanest of His sheep."
Remember that your security for standing in His promise to keep, and your security that He will keep His promise is just Himself; His truth would be damaged—His oath would be unintelligible; in a word, and with reverence, we say that God would not be Himself if His promise failed. Oh, then, trust Him, He will keep the inheritance for you; He will keep you for it, and the glory shall be His, while the comfort is ours. Thanks be unto God for His "unspeakable gift."
Walter T. Turpin, M.A., Minister of St Silus, Glasgow. March 1865.
"The British Herald" April 1865