THE gentle and loving John, who had so long and so often lain on the bosom of Love incarnate, and to whom had been vouchsafed, by the condescension of Jesus, such familiarity with him in the days when he tabernacled amongst us in the likeness of sinful flesh,—was now, in his old age and in banishment for the cause of Christ, favoured with a visit of his exalted Lord, manifesting himself in those symbols of his resurrection-glory and ascension-majesty, which weighed down the powers even of this the beloved and beloved disciple, and made him fall down at the feet of Jesus as one dead. It was one thing to have known the Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief,—one thing to have seen, by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, the glory of the Godhead shining forth in that condescension,—and another to behold the marks of effulgent glory, that dignity inconceivable, to which Jesus is now exalted. And we should be taught by this, that though we should have faith in Christ and love to Christ, ardent as John’s, we are yet unfitted to bear that weight of glory which is about to be revealed; that without supports to us inconceivable, we should be crushed under the weight of the Redeemer’s glory. We should learn to reverence, adore, and love the Saviour; we should cultivate a love, deeper than the deepest human love, but removed from all that is incompatible with the prostration and reverence due to the dignity and glory of the Saviour. If John fell at his feet as one dead, how little are we prepared for such displays as he could easily make, but which we could by no means endure! Jesus loved his servant; he came not to trouble and to destroy his servant, but to show him, as a mark of honour to his apostle, and for the permanent benefit of his church, things that must shortly come to pass. The merciful Saviour laid his right hand upon him, and spake to him, in words full of cheering and consolation, to revive him, making known to him that all this splendour of unsupportable brightness and glory, encircled One who was still his Ancient Friend,—Jesus, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.
We have set before us the sources of support which Christ administered to his servant, the causes why John should not fear; and as we ourselves, though, not called to see Christ as John saw him, in prophetic vision, are called to behold him, and may soon be called to behold him as we never have, in stately steps and majestic goings in providence, calculated to inspire, if not the same degree, the same kind of fear,—it may be well for us to ponder over those supports which Jesus gives as adequate. They are taken from his own character, “I am the first and the last.” Jesus is the Eternal One. This is the first ground of support, the first dispelment of our alarm.
The Eternity of Christ.
When we look at the multiplicity of things that exist and of events that take place, at their magnitude and importance, and the apparent disorder and conflict that often takes place in them, our minds are apt to be thrown off their balance, and reduced to trepidation and alarm. But Jesus here directs our view to his unchangeableness: “The First,”—Jehovah, the self-existent God, the same in nature and perfections with the Eternal Father and the Blessed Spirit,—Jehovah, before all, and by whose commanding word all things came into being: “The Last,”—the great final end of all, for whom all things were made, as well as by whom and in whose glory all will terminate. This is a consideration which may well establish the soul. Jesus is the same through the whole course of time and of events. Ten thousand changes may occur, and some of these we hail with joy, and call them glad and prosperous; others we quail before, and view them as bitter, blasting adversities. But, change what may, He is unchangeable. “His throne is fixed of old.” “From everlasting to everlasting, he is God.” We are in the midst of a changing world, we are changing creatures ourselves, but our God, our Saviour is unchangeable,—“With him there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” “A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of his people’s sanctuary;” and from first to last, his unity of being and of character gives unity and consistency which we are unable to read in itself; nor need we care much; we cannot tell what all things are, and what all things may be, but we know what he is,—that he is unchangeably good, wise, holy, gracious, just,—and that suffices.
Christ as Mediator.
The next ground for confidence is taken from the consideration of Christ as Mediator: “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.” The words in the Greek are very emphatic, “I am the Living One, and I became dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.” In this, we may say, is summed up the whole faith, the whole hope, the whole stability of the Church of God. Jesus directs our attention to himself as true and proper God: “I am the living One.” As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. No eye of man, no eye of seraphim can penetrate, indeed, the mystery of the eternal generation, of the paternal and filial relation of the Godhead; but this we know, that the very life itself which distinguisheth the Father from all that is not God by nature, distinguisheth the Son from all that is not God by nature,—that he is the Eternal Life, who was with the Father and was manifested unto us,—the Word that in the beginning was with God, and was God, in whom is life—that life the light of men. Jesus is the Living One. He hath life in himself underived. He is the well-spring of all derived life. Life is natural, essentially natural to him. Even in death he lived. He was the Living God, and to him as God, death could never make an approach. He was the Living One when he expired, and all the living beings, living with whatever kind of life, were upheld in life by him, even at that very moment, when, committing his spirit into the hands of the Father, he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. “Jehovah is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King.” It is the glory of the church that she can now avow, that God hath died and bought the church with his own blood. It is so a new blessedness to know that “the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary, there is no searching of his understanding;” that “God over all is blessed for ever;” and that to Eternal Divinity death can never draw nigh. “I am the Living One, and I became dead.” The Eternal Life who was with the Father was manifested to us. He who hath life in himself took to himself a nature, in which he was capable of bodily pain and mental anguish, capable of weariness, and sickness, and death. He became dead; the Living One became dead. He who then lived and could not die, as regarded his Godhead, he, he, as regarded his manhood, died; he himself, the Son of God, when he himself “bare our sins on his own body on the tree.” It was thus that God bought the church with his own blood. He became dead. This, then, is the second basis of the church’s faith and hope. The first being Christ’s essential Godhead, the second his death as Mediator, the third is his resurrection life, never to be followed by any death. “And, behold, I am alive for evermore.” Death had an apparent, Jesus had the real victory. “Through death he destroyed him that had the power of death.” He entered into the domains of death, but it was to grapple and to slay. Death had reigned hitherto, from Adam to Moses, and downward; death assaulted Christ, for death was permitted, because justice found Christ standing in the room of sinners; and death did for a little gnaw through the bands which united the soul and the body of our Lord to one another. But death was unable to effect his real work. Death’s work is to separate,—to separate entirely, not only man’s body from his soul, but to separate man from God. But here death could effect nothing, on the hypostatical union which bound the soul of Christ to the Godhead, and the body of Christ to the Godhead. It was our Lord and our God who was with the pardoned thief that day in paradise. It was our Lord and God who lay in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb. Our Lord and God,—that blessed soul, not separated from the Eternal Deity,—that blessed body, not separated from the Eternal Godhead,—this union remained entire, and death was vanquished. It was impossible that he should be holden by the bands of death. Justice was satisfied when he poured out his soul unto the death, and soon that body and that soul which, each united hypostatically, still subsisted in the person of the Son of God, came together, and he rose again. He rose victorious: death could not hold him. Thus the church, findeth the last enemy already subdued. We have, in a risen Saviour, the proofs of a power beyond the most dreaded of all hostile powers,—the power of death. “He is alive for evermore.” In that he was crucified, he was crucified in weakness; in that he liveth, he liveth by the power of God; in that he died once, he died for sin; death hath no more dominion over him. “He is therefore able to save unto the uttermost all who come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” He then, who is the First and the Last, is also the Living One who became dead, and is alive again for evermore. We are not called to contemplate abstractly his eternal and unchangeable Godhead, but to consider it as possessed by Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us,—the only mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And then, connectedly with this, Jesus hath “the keys of hell and of death.” He hath the keys of the unseen state, for the word involves not only what we call hell, the state of those dying unbelieving and impenitent, but the state of men, of disembodied spirits, both of those who are reserved in chains of darkness and of those who have departed and have gone to be with Christ. He hath the disposal of soul and of body; the disposal of the soul and its state, the disposal of soul and body both at the time of the resurrection. He hath the keys of the unseen state, and thus hath power to dispose of souls,—power to shut the gate of hell, and to open the gate of glory,—power to repel, and to cast from him, and to refuse a place—to cast from his tribunal down to everlasting destruction. “He is the one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.” He hath power to keep in the grave whilst it pleases him; power to bring from this prison-house into glory, to the everlasting mansions; power to raise to dishonour and send back into eternal fire. He is the universal disposer of man’s state —of man’s state here, of man’s state at death and throughout eternity. This then, is another cause why we should not fear. There is One who hath more power than hell, more power than death. What is stronger than death—than the grave—than the pit with her devouring mouth? The most terrible thing about man’s power is, that he hath power to kill the body, but after this he hath no more that he can do. But it is because Jesus hath a power beyond this,—it is because he both died, and revived, and rose again, that he might be Lord both of the quick and dead, —that, trusting in him, there is no cause for fear.
Intimate Knowledge and Government in Divine Providence.
Another reason for confidence is, that Jesus hath intimate knowledge of, and right of direction and government in all the proceedings of divine providence. We have no cause to be alarmed because the feebleness of our understandings cannot penetrate very far into the relations of existing events, or at all into the obscurity of coming events; for the whole chain of things, from the beginning to the end, is known to the Lord Jesus. Many and awful are the events which are written down in this book, which is an epitome of the providence of God, from the time of the vision till the time of the consummation of all things,—a dark and mysterious, and originally a sealed book. John did weep much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon; but he was comforted by the announcement, that “the Lion of the tribe of Judah had prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.” Jesus knows all events,—manages all events. Were there ought beyond his cognizance, or inspection, or control,—were it but the least thing possible,—then, indeed, had we cause of trepidation and alarm. But all things that are, and all things that shall be hereafter, all are well known to Christ,—all managed by Christ, and managed in a way which, though his poor, silly people do not always sufficiently see, is yet working by his administration, working for his glory, and for their good. The devil and the wicked world are doing, and will do, all in their power against the church; such is their intention, and such the direct nature of their operations, conducted with great cunning, and carried on with awful strength. Yet the operations of devils and wicked men are but part and parcel of that one mystery of “Him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,” by which his intentions for the highest advancement of his own glory, and the greatest good of his believing people, shall be promoted. It matters not to me, then, that I know not how to trace events, or scan what is likely to take place, in case of this event, or that event. Had I the care of myself, did I take care of myself, these things might be my care. But fruitless is it all, and needless; enough to know, that He knows all,—that he governs all,—and that his very purposes are in all things being accomplished.
The Presence of Christ in His Church.
The last source of support and consolation, to which our attention is here directed, is the presence of Christ in his church: “The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.”—(Chap. i. 20, compared with chap. ii. 1.) He who is the Eternal God,—the Living One,—the Mediator,—who was dead, and is alive again, and who hath at his girdle suspended the keys of hell and of death, opening, and none shutting, and shutting, and none opening,—He who knows all events, and, as Mediator, conducts and manages all events, having the universe at his disposal,—hath his walking place in the midst of the seven candlesticks, supporting the seven stars in his right hand. Christ is universal Lord. He is so as Head of his church, and for his church’s benefit. Would we know why the world is governed? It is for the glory of God in his church. “God hath made him head over all things for his body, the church.” Jesus is present,—present in his church, as he is not in the world. As eternal God, he filleth immensity with his presence; but as Mediator,—the living head of influences to his people,—he is peculiarly, mystically, but really, with his church. According to his word, he hath not left his people orphans; he hath come to us. “He is with us alway, even unto the end of the world.” His candlesticks he hath placed, with the light which is from heaven. With the light of his Spirit and gospel hath he kindled up these to give light unto the world. He who is the Light hath kindled that light, and put it in the candlesticks; and he walks among them. He who is the bright and morning Star, yea, the Sun of righteousness, hath, in the heaven of his church, placed the stars, and his hand upholds them. He who counteth the number of the stars, upholds them by the greatness of his strength—not one faileth—having imparted and maintaining the simple law of gravitation, by which they keep and move in their places. But his own immediate supernatural agency hath placed the evangelic stars in the celestial firmament of his church. It is so that it hath pleased him to communicate light to a dark world,—to shine in their hearts, giving by them, as well as to them, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus, then, the light of the world, walks in the midst of these luminaries,—the seven stars which his right hand upholds,—the seven candlesticks among which he walks. Therefore we are called not to fear.
There are various lessons to be learned from this presence and inspection of Christ. In one point of view arises the inference, that we should fear, for Jesus is present, walking amidst the candlesticks to inspect; and he is displeased when any of these begin to shine dimly, when the light is obscured, and when it is in danger of becoming extinct. Even then he will not put out the candle; but there is still cause of fear, lest he remove the candlestick out of its place. The heavenly Light shall never be extinguished, but its place and position may be changed. And we therefore have cause to fear, not that the kingdom of God should become extinct, but lest it should be taken from us, and given to a nation that would bring forth the fruits of it. But whilst we have thus cause of holy jealousy, we have in his presence cause of confidence against all hostile attacks,—all other sources of fear. He who is in the midst of the candlesticks may remove a candlestick where it is not giving light; but he will not suffer Satan, or all the power of hell, to extinguish a candle which is answering its purpose, and giving light to those around. Sooner may the arm of human violence stretch itself out, and pluck the material stars from the high spheres in which they revolve, than they shall be able to pluck these stars out of heaven ecclesiastical in which Messiah hath set them. Who shall pluck his stars out of his hand? There is no fear of them, then,—no fear, in this respect, of the humblest and meanest of the people of God. Not merely of the stars, which are the angels of the seven churches, but of each disciple, Christ says, “None is able to pluck them out of my hand.” Let us therefore beware of base timidity. Let us not fear; the fear of man worketh a snare. Let us hear Christ’s encouragement to one of these churches,—“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Fear, believer! what have we to do with fear? “Let us sanctify the Lord God of Israel in our hearts, and let him be our fear, and our dread; and he will be a little sanctuary unto us.” Fear the devil!—fear the world!—I would hold it base scorn to fear. Fear the devil when Christ hath conquered him! Ah, he is much to be feared if we depart in aught from Christ. Let us then be afraid. And much is the world, ay, and the weakest thing that is in it, to be feared then. But humbly believing in, and faithfully following that One mighty to save, “who hath conquered principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them,” let us never fear. We are called to be soldiers,—good soldiers of Jesus Christ. We may fear rebellion,—fear mutiny,—fear provoking the Captain of our salvation, but under his guidance, following him, whom shall we fear? What is our calling? Is it not wrestling, “not with flesh and blood, but with principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places?” Let us not fear: Jesus hath taught us “in patience to possess our souls.” Let us not be foolish. Let us not say, “There will be no evil days,—no tribulation.” There will be tribulation. There will be evil days. The days are yet coming, of which Christ hath warned us, come they soon, come they late, that there have not been such from the foundation of the world. These things are to be counted upon; our minds are to be made up; thus are we in patience to possess our souls. Let us not fear—why should we? What can men do to us? They can kill us; after that they have no more that they can do. We know their worst, and it is not very bad. They cannot touch the “life that is hid with Christ in God.” They cannot send soul and body to hell. They cannot keep us in the grave. They can kill us, but “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Only let us be humble,—let us seek to abound in that fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom, and in diffidence in our own resolutions, and our own strength; yea, diffident of going to future trials and duties in the strength of grace already imparted, “Let us be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might;” strong in the strength not yet communicated, but wrapt up in the promise, “My grace is sufficient for thee; my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Let us at all times seek to have Jesus much in view; and let us seek in times of difficulty and perplexity to gather this from them, that we do the more simply look unto him. Then “out of the eater shall come sweetness;” our afflictions shall be real and exalted blessings, and we shall have to say, “It is good for us that we have been afflicted.”