(From “Waiting At Wisdom’s Gates”, 1843)
“Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.” Proverbs 8:34
The first thing to be attended to in endeavoring to enter into these words, is to understand who is the speaker. by the context we find that it is one whose name is “Wisdom,” one who is holy, omniscient, omnipotent, and eternal; one who was “before all things, and by whom all things consist”; who, from everlasting, “from the beginning, before the earth was, was with the Lord, as one brought up by Him; who was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in the habitable parts of His earth, and having His delights with, or His affections set upon, the sons of men.” In short, the speaker in my text is clearly the same with Him of whom it is written, “Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6): “Christ, the power of God and the Wisdom of God unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks” (1 Cor. 1:24).
Now this Divine, almighty, and all-wise Person is the promised Prophet of whom Moses wrote—Jehovah the Redeemer, who teaches those whom He calls to profit, and leads them in the way wherein they should go. He is here exhibited to us as a wise and affectionate mother, in which character He was well known to His people (Isaiah 49:15; 66:13), giving instruction to her children, and encouraging them to be “patient continuance in well-doing.” Immanuel Jesus, says to all the elect family, “Hearken unto Me, you children; for blessed are those who keep My ways, Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that hears Me, watching daily at My gates, waiting at the posts of My doors.”