The Summons Samuel Rutherford Already Had
The men who came to Samuel Rutherford’s door carried a death warrant in everything but name. The charge was treason. But the old pastor was already dying, and what he said next has outlived every judge in that room.
The Pulpit They Took
In 1627 Rutherford pastored a small country church at Anwoth, in the green hills of Scotland. He rose before dawn to pray for his people by name. Then he refused to bow to the king’s rules for the church, because he believed Christ alone was its head. So they took his pulpit and banished him to the cold city of Aberdeen. They thought they had silenced him. They had only handed him a pen. From exile he wrote letters that overflowed with love for Jesus. “Whom have I in heaven but You?” (Psalm 73:25).
The Book They Burned
Rutherford came home and wrote a daring book called Lex Rex, the law is king. He said that even a king must answer to the law, and the law to God. When a new king took the throne, they burned that book in the public square and charged its author with treason. Rutherford had already counted the cost. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). A man anchored to Christ does not flinch when the world lights a fire.
The Summons He Already Had
The treason summons reached Rutherford on his deathbed. His reply has echoed for more than three hundred years. He had a summons already, he said, before a higher Judge, and he would answer that one first. Then his last breath carried these words: “Glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.” He was seeing the country Jesus promised. “In My Father’s house are many mansions” (John 14:2). The court never got its day. Rutherford was already home.
You and I stand before that same higher court. The praise of people will rise and fall. But the verdict that holds is the one already settled in the blood of His Son. Live for that audience. And when your own midnight feels long, remember that glory dwells in Immanuel’s land, and morning is coming.
Keep Looking Up!
Heaven is closer than you think.
May God bless your day.
Pastor Rodney
Related devotionals: Dietrich Bonhoeffer · Horatio Spafford · Where Heaven Came Down
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