Joy Upon Joy, with Charles SpurgeonSample

The King of the Jews was born, but Herod did not ask, “Where is He?” until his jealousy was excited, and then he asked the question in a malicious spirit. Christ was born at Bethlehem, near Jerusalem, yet throughout all the streets of the holy city, there were no inquirers, “Where is He?” He was to be the glory of Israel, and yet in Israel, there were few indeed, who, like these wise men, asked the question, “Where is He?” 

He is despised and rejected of men; men see in Him no beauty that they should desire Him, but there are a chosen number who inquire diligently, and who come to receive Him; to these, He gives power to become the sons of God! A happy circumstance it is, therefore, when there is interest shown; interest is not always demonstrated in the things of Christ, even by our regular hearers; it gets to be a mere mechanical habit to attend public worship; you become accustomed to sit through such a part of the service, to stand and sing at such another time, and to listen to the preacher with an apparent attention during the sermon, but to be really interested, to long to know what it is all about—to know especially whether you have a part in it, whether Jesus came from heaven to save you; whether for you He was born of the virgin—to make such personal inquiries with deep anxiety is far from being a general practice. 

Would God that all who have ears to hear would hear in truth! Wherever the Word is heard with solemn interest, it is a very encouraging sign; it was said of old, “They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces toward it.” (See Jeremiah 50:5.) When one listens with deep attention to the Word of God, searches God’s book, and engages in thoughtful meditation with the view of understanding the gospel, we have much hope for him!