Sermon: The Saviour’s Joyful Approach

Rev. Ralph Erskine

THIS Sermon, taken with some editing from Ralph Erskine’s Works, was preached on Saturday, 27th April, 1734, the preparation-day before the celebration of the sacrament of the Lord’s supper at Abenethy next day. Ralph Erskine (1685- 1752), was the son of Henry and the younger brother of Ebenezer. He was minister in Dunfermline and was said to be “one of the most popular preachers in the Church.” See Church Information in this issue for a notice about the availability of his Works.

TEXTS: “Lo, I come!” Psalm 40:7; “The voice of my Beloved! behold he cometh.” Song 2:8.

WE have a communion solemnity in view: but if the question be proposed, How shall we have communion with God at this occasion? we answer, Two things are necessary to it. First, His coming to us graciously. There is no communion with Him to be expected, unless He come. So He saith in the first text here, “Lo, I come!” Secondly, our apprehending His approach, and giving Him welcome entertainment upon His coming. Then, and not till then, have we communion with God: when we hear His voice, and see Him, as it were on the tops of the mountains, and say, “The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He cometh!”

In the words of the texts we have two things more generally. Here is intimation given to the church, by the Lord Jesus, “Lo, I come!” And here is notice taken by the church, “Behold! He cometh!”

Again, here is the joyful voice of the Son of God, “Lo, I come!” And here is the joyful echo of the church, “The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He cometh!” Mark the frame He is in when He speaks of His coming; it is a joyful frame; “Lo, I come! I delight to do thy will, O my God.” And observe the frame she is in upon the intimation of His coming; it is a joyful frame; “Behold, He cometh!” He speaks with a joyful, “Lo, I come!” and she speaks with a joyful, “Behold, He cometh!”

These two texts being all I propose to speak of at this time, I shall refer the further explication of them to the prosecution of this doctrinal observation: That Christ’s coming to His people graciously in their time of need is a joyful and delectable coming, both to Him and them.

The time wherein Christ said here, “Lo, I come!” was a time of great need, even when “sacrifice and offering” would not suffice to atone for sin; when there was no hope of salvation unless He himself had undertaken it. Then said He, “Lo, I come!” The time wherein the Church said, “Behold, He cometh!” was a time of great and felt need; for the Lord had withdrawn Himself behind mountains of sin and guilt till He paid a new visit that made her cry out with joy, “Behold, He cometh!”

That Christ’s gracious coming to His people is joyful both to Him and them, will appear in the sequel; only it is enough here to state that as He is a joyful proclaimmer of his own approach, saying, “Lo, I come!” so she is the joyful beholder thereof, saying, “Behold, He cometh!”

The method I would here endeavour to observe, as the Lord shall be pleased to assist, shall be the following; to show:

• I. What comings of Christ to His people are joyful to Him and them.
• II. What makes His coming joyful to Him.
• III. What makes His coming joyful to them.
• IV. What expressions of joy in Him are imported in His “Lo, I come!”
• V. The expressions of joy in them imported in their “Behold He cometh!”
• VI. Whence is this combination of joys; or, why it is that, like a resounding echo, His “Lo, I come!” is answered with a “Behold He cometh!”
• VII. Deduce some inferences for the application of the whole.

I. The first thing proposed was, To observe what comings of Christ to His people, are joyful to Him and them. Here I shall mention only four comings of the Lord Jesus, namely, His coming in the flesh, His coming in the clouds, His coming in the Word, and His coming in the Spirit.

1. His coming in the flesh was a joyful coming both to Him and His people. The first text, Lo, I come! is particularly applied to His coming in the flesh. “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. Then said I, Lo, I come, (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.” Heb. 10: 5,7 — which shows also that this was a joyful and delightful coming though it was upon that errand of being a sacrifice to divine justice for our sins, when no other sacrifice would do the business. And surely this coming of Christ that is a joyful coming to His people, brings ground of joy unto all people. “Behold,” said the angels to the shepherds upon Christ’s coming in the flesh, “I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people: for to you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord,” Luke 2:10. And it is probable, as many divines show, that these words of the spouse here saying, “Behold, He cometh!” have a particular reference to Christ’s coming in the flesh. The Old Testament saints saw His day afar off, and rejoiced in the view they had of it by faith. They saw Him coming, skipping on the dark mountains of shadows, and ceremonies, and typical sacrifices, to be the substance of all the shadows. In a word, His coming in the flesh is the very root and foundation of the joys of all the redeemed. If He had not thus come, according to the promise, they would never have had any ground of joy; but faith’s view of His coming, or of God in our nature, God incarnate, “God manifest in the flesh”, is a fountain-head of joy. Faith sees Him as bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh: and we having access to God through Him, who became like unto us in all things, except sin: and God in Him reconciling the world to Himself. O sirs, do you believe that there is a man in heaven called Immanuel, God-man? We read of joy and peace in believing; surely you have never believed there was such a man, the God-man, if it never afforded any joyful thoughts to you.

2. His coming in the clouds is a joyful coming, both to Him and His people; this is what is called His second coming: “Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation,” Heb. 9:28. And, indeed, this will be a joyful coming to Christ, for it is a coming to salvation. When He comes to save, He comes always joyfully. When He came first to save, by the price of his blood, he came leaping and skipping joyfully; and much more when He will come to finish the work of salvation and to perfect the salvation of all the redeemed. His coming to marry His people is joyful to Him, much more is His coming to consummate the marriage. Christ had an eye to this in His coming to suffer. He endured the cross, despising the shame, for the joy that was set before him, Heb. 12:2; even the joy of an exalted state. And you know that the last step of His exaltation is His coming to judge the world at the last day; then He will be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe. And as it will be a joyful coming to Him, so it will be to His people. It is true, it will be terrible to His enemies that slighted His coming to save, and neglected the great salvation; for “He will come in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel,” 2 Thes 1:8. His second coming will be dreadful to them that do not welcome His first coming. “Behold he cometh in the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also that pierced him, and all nations shall wail because of him,” Rev 1:7. But to His people, to His followers and servants, to all that welcome Him now, His coming will be joyful; they will welcome Him with joy saying, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” They long for His coming; and they are called to lift up their heads with joy, because the day of their redemption draweth nigh. They cry to him to hasten His coming. “Haste, my Beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart on the mountains of Bether.” No wonder, for then they enter into the joy of their Lord. Christ, who says, “Lo, I come!” will as certainly come the second time, as He came the first; and as He came the first time in order to His coming the second, so He speaks of His second coming with a “Behold!” “Behold! I come quickly,” Rev. 22:20. And the Church’s joyful echo follows, “Even so, come Lord Jesus, come quickly.”

3. His coming in the Word, to court a people for Himself, is a joyful coming for Him and for His people; for then, both the Spirit and the Bride say, “Come”, Rev 22:17. The Spirit of Christ, and the bride of Christ, joyfully invite sinners to come to Christ: hence a gospel day is called the day of the Son of man. And Christ, in the gospel dispensation, says, “Lo, I come!” He comes riding in the gospel chariot. He comes with outstretched arms, saying, “Behold me! Behold me!” And His coming thus is joyful to all His people; “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace; that bring glad tidings of good things!” Rom 10:15. His coming in the Word is joyful to them, insomuch that nothing in the world is so precious to them as the Word; it is sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. “Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.” This is their food. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” This is their comfort in their affliction. His Word quickens them; they hear His voice therein, and say, “It is the voice of my Beloved! Behold He cometh! leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.” But His coming in the Word is joyful and beneficial, as it is attended with what follows, namely, his coming in the Spirit; for,

4. His coming in the Spirit is a joyful coming: and this is that which makes all the former ways of His coming to be joyful. We have no joyful view of His coming in the flesh, nor joyful hope of His coming in the clouds, nor joyful apprehension of his coming in the Word, unless we have some share of His coming in the Spirit, as the Spirit of faith and consolation: His coming in the Spirit not only to court, but to win the heart; not only to deal, but to prevail with sinners, by his convincing and converting power. This coming is joyful to Him, for it is a day of the gladness of His heart. “Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon, with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him, in the day of his espousals, in the day of the gladness of his heart.” Then He sees of the travail of His soul and is satisfied, Isa. 53:11. O, this should encourage us to pray for the Spirit, the promised Comforter, since nothing gladdens the heart of Christ more than the giving of the Spirit to convince of sin, righteousness, and judgement, and to comfort His people. And, on the other hand, this coming of Christ in the Spirit, cannot but be a joyful coming to His people; for then they are anointed with the oil of gladness, and get the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Then they get their bands loosed, their maladies healed, their doubts resolved, and their fears dispelled. When Christ says, “Lo, I come!” let us view therein the promise of His coming in the Spirit: for why did He come in the flesh but that he might come in the Spirit? Having come in the flesh and finished His work, according to his Word, He promises the Spirit, and sends the Spirit. “He shall glorify me;” John 16:14. “When the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, he shall testify of me;” John 15: 26. His coming in the flesh was the great Old Testament promise; and His coming in the Spirit the great New Testament promise; and as the Old Testament was but a porch to the New, so His coming in the flesh was to pave the way for His coming in the Spirit. Therefore, when you hear Him say, “Lo, I come!” take up the meaning of it not only to be, “Lo, I come in the flesh;” but also, “Lo, I come in the Spirit.” And, O sirs, is this His voice? What say you to it? Is there any joyful echo in your heart welcoming Him, saying, “The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He cometh!” Surely, if He comes in the Spirit to you at this occasion, it will be a joyful coming. I might here speak of His coming in His providence; His coming at death; His coming first to begin, and his after comings to advance his work; but His joyful comings are only so by His coming in the Spirit.

II. I go on, secondly, to the next thing proposed, which is to show what makes His coming joyful to Him; and what makes Him come with a joyful “Lo, I come!”

1. He rejoiced from eternity in the thoughts of His coming and therefore cannot but rejoice in the accomplishment of His word and design. He declared: “Or ever the earth was, I was rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men,” Prov 8:23,31. It was in the council of peace he said to His Father, “Lo, I come! I delight to do thy will;” and in the fulness of time He says in our hearing, “Lo, I come!” O to give a joyful welcome to that joyful “Lo!”

2. His coming is joyful to Him; because He comes clothed with a commission from His Father, and He rejoices to run His errands. It is His Father’s will that He executes when He comes; and therefore He says, “I delight to do thy will, O my God. This commandment have I received of my Father: to lay down my life for my sheep.” And, therefore, with desire He desired this passover, even that He Himself be our passover sacrificed for us. He hath a commission to come; for He is the Sent and the Sealed of God: “God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” “Him hath God the Father sealed.” He comes in His Father’s name, and His Father’s seal is appended to his commission.

3. His coming is joyful to Him because it is on a glorious design of glorifying the Father; and therefore, when He comes He says, “Now is my Father glorified; now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him,” John 13:31. When He came and was just ready to lay down His life, He said, “I have glorified thee on earth,” and, “I have finished the work thou gavest me to do,” John 13:31. He brought in glory and honour to all the perfections of God, and full reparation to all His injured attributes.

4. His coming is joyful to Him because, as His coming was on a glorious design, with reference to His Father, God being glorified by His coming, whether in the flesh, or by the Spirit; so it is on a loving design towards His people that He comes. He comes to save them, and justify them, and sanctify them, and comfort them, and heal them, and help them; and all for love because He has loved them with an everlasting love, therefore He comes to draw with loving kindness. Love makes Him come joyfully. It was love made Him come joyfully in the flesh, and love makes Him come joyfully in the Spirit; love made Him come at first; and notwithstanding many provocations, love makes Him come again, according to His word, “I will see you again,” John 14:22. “Now you have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your hearts shall rejoice.” O the height, and depth, and length and breadth of His love! He comes joyfully because He lives cordially.

III. But I go on, thirdly, to the next thing proposed: to show what makes His coming joyful to His people; what makes them welcome Him with a joyful “Behold!” “Behold, he cometh!”

First, because His coming is their life. When He came in the flesh, He came to give life, and to give it more abundantly, John 10:10. And when He comes in the Spirit, He comes to give life, to give the well of water springing up to everlasting life, John 4:14. Whenever he comes life enters the dead and dry bones. We are like dead carcasses, our spirits sinking within us; but whenever the Spirit of life comes in the word, then we get up, as it were, to our feet; then we have life: “He that hath the Son, hath life”. Whenever He comes, and that we have Him with us, then the life of faith, the life of repentance, the life of love, the life of joy, the life of humility, the life of holiness, and the life of comfort come. We live or die as He comes or goes. If life be sweet, then His coming must be sweet; and of all lives, the life of God, a spiritual life hid with Christ in God, is the most pleasant and glorious.

1. Also, His coming must be joyful to them, because His absence is their death; yea, His absence is a hell to them who know what a heaven His presence makes: hence their many “Oh’s” when He is away. “Oh, when wilt thou come to me?” “Oh, that it were with me as in months past.” And hence their many “How longs” when He is away; “How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord?” “How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?” Psalm 13:1,2. They cannot live without Him; or, if His absence be to such a degree as that they are careless, stupid, and unconcerned, yet they, knowing what His joyful presence is, will admit that their careless times are their sad and sighing times; they are not their joyful times; they are not their life, but their death; and they never expect to have a joyful life till He come again.

When he is away from the church, then all goes to confusion: “The servants of the house begin to smite their fellow servants,” Mat. 24:46. Why? Because the Lord delays His coming. They begin to smite them with sentences of suspension or seclusion, as at this day. When He is away, then the shepherds begin to smite His people with force and violence, Ezek. 34:4. And what is the effect of that? See verse six: “My sheep wandered over all the mountains; my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.” Might not this smite the hearts of rigid rulers: to see the flock scattered here and there, upon the violent obtrusions of hirelings upon them? It does not! “None did search or seek after them.” They even slight them as an ignorant mob, a rabble, that need not be regarded; (and, indeed, if matters go on at this rate, if God do not stir up the ensuing Assembly [1734] to take course with these disorders, the ruin of the Church of Scotland is but beginning.) But whence are all these confusions? May we not say, as it is in Deuteronomy 31:17, “Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not amongst us?” When He is away from a Church, nothing but confusion and disorders take place; but when He comes back, then His work is revived, Zion is built up, and reformation restored. When he goes away from a particular believer, O what confusion till He returns! His presence gives rest, but His absence troubles: “Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.”

1. His coming is joyful to them, because the errand on which He came is merciful. What does He bring when He comes? Why, He even brings God with Him, and all the fulness of God; and so He brings the chief good with Him. God is in Christ, and all the fulness of the Godhead in Him; and therefore, when He comes, all good comes. When He comes graciously, He comes in the capacity of a friend to help, a physician to heal, a shepherd to feed: “He feedeth among the lilies.” When He comes, His presence is a reviving and refreshing presence, an enlightening, enlivening, and enlarging presence; sometimes a confirming and comforting presence; sometimes a humbling and a sweetly debasing presence; yea, it is an exalting and dignifying presence. The effects of His coming are most joyful, for when He comes to His people, then their sins are pardoned, their wants supplied, their enemies conquered, their crosses sanctified, their kingdom secured. Therefore, His coming must be joyful to them.

2. His coming is joyful to them, because His coming is all their heaven upon earth; yea, His presence is the heaven of heavens. What is heaven, but a being like Him by seeing him as He is. Now, this heaven is begun on earth when He comes; for then they behold His glory, and are changed into the same image, 2 Cor 3:18. How can they be but joyful at His coming, when they consider who He is. He is enough to make a heaven, whatever way they look to Him. If they look to Him absolutely, He is altogether lovely, the brightness of His Father’s glory.” When they look to Him comparatively, He is “fairer than the sons of men”; “more glorious than the mountains of prey”. When they look to him relatively, He is their Head and Husband; their God and guide; their righteousness and strength; their light, life, joy, and all. “O,” says the strong believer, “My beloved is mine, and I am His; He is mine, and I will not part with Him for the whole creation.” “O,” says the weak believer, the doubting believer; “O, if He were mine, I would not part with Him for a thousand worlds.” He is such a heaven to them, that nothing can make up the loss of His presence; ministers cannot do it; ordinances cannot do it; angels cannot do it. Ordinances are but the shell without the kernel when Christ is not in them; all creature comforts cannot take His place. Naturalists say that the loadstone cannot draw in presence of the diamond; surely, when Christ is present with a soul, all the pomp and pride, all the gallantry of the world, will have no influence on the soul. Offer the believer mountains of gold and silver instead of Christ; his answer will be, “Get thee behind me, Satan. Thy money perish with thee.” There are so many thousand excellencies in Christ, that might be so many thousand reasons why His coming is joyful, that they cannot but say upon the notice of it, “Behold, He cometh!”

IV. The fourth thing proposed was, to show what expression of joy in the Lord Jesus Himself is imported in His “Lo, I come.” What sort of joy does it express?

1. I think this “Lo, I come!” expresses present joy. “Lo, I come!” is something like that of John 13:32, “Now is the Son of man glorified.” There was a time when He said, “Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say?” John 12:27. But when He comes graciously, He says upon the matter, “Now is my soul satisfied, now is my heart glad.” The “Lo” is in the present time, and the “I come” is in the present tense: “Lo, I come.” And if Christ be presently saying, with reference to any company here, “Lo, I come to you,” O, it is a present joy to Him. He comes rejoicing; he comes leaping and skipping; His set time of coming is the time of the gladness of His heart.

2. It expresses active joy: “Lo, I come!” He rejoices to do good; it is His joy to do service to His Father and His friends. If He rejoiced in His work when He came to save by the price of His blood, how must He rejoice when He comes to save by the power of his Spirit! The natural sun is said to rejoice as a strong man to run his race, Psalm 19:5. It is a metaphorical saying, for the sun is not capable of joy; but without metaphor it is true of the “Sun of righteousness”, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a strong man, the man of God’s right hand whom He hath made strong for Himself; and He rejoices to run His race; He rejoices to arise with healing in His beams. “Lo, I come!” It is an active joy.

3. It expresses certain joy. The “Lo” is a note of certainty. The thing is certain and true: “Lo, I come!” And His joy is certain, true, solid joy. There is nothing more certain than that believers have sometimes joy unspeakable; but these are only streams that flow from the joy that is in Christ’s heart. His joy is the fountain of their joy. He is anointed with the oil of joy above His fellows; and the fellowship they have with Him is by some drops of that oil of joy. Can they be certain of the streams and the drops when these are allowed? How much more is it certain, that all true joy centres in Him. Believers have sometimes a fulness of joy; but their fulness is the fulness of the streams, or of the vessel. His fulness is the fulness of the ocean. If it be certain that there is a stream of joy in the believer sometimes, much more that there is the spring of joy in Christ.

4. It expresses communicative joy; designing His people should share of His joy: “Lo, I come!” The joy that Christ has, as Mediator, is a fulness of joy, designed for His people’s use, so that out of His fulness we may receive, and grace for grace, and joy for joy; grace answering grace in Jesus, and joy answering joy in Him. Christ as Mediator is anointed with the oil of joy, the Spirit above measure, that He may communicate this joy, and give to them the oil of joy for mourning. “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, for he hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; to comfort all that mourn; to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,” Isa 61:3. Christ has a commission from His Father to communicate His joy; therefore it must be communicative.

5. It expresses triumphant joy. “Lo, I come! And nothing shall hinder my coming, nor stop me in my course.” Mountains nor hills cannot hinder the sun rising: this points out His coming as a conqueror, despite principalities and powers in His way. He can easily throw them down. “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save,” Isa 63:1. “Behold, it is I. Lo, I come!”

6. It expresses solemn joy. He comes with a solemnity: “Lo, I come, according to the council of a glorious Trinity.” Now, when the purpose of heaven is come to the birth, and the decree breaks forth, and the fulness of time is come, He takes heaven and earth witness, as it were, to his solemn march on the errand. He says it with a loud “Lo”, that all the world of men and angels may notice, “Lo I come!” And, indeed, all the elect angels break forth into joyful songs of praise at this solemnity. When He came in the flesh they sang, “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and goodwill towards men.” And when He comes in the Spirit to convert a soul, there is joy in heaven over that soul that repents. It solemn joy.

7. It expresses infinite Joy. If we consider who the person is that speaks, namely, God, assuming our nature in the person of His eternal Son; the joy of an infinite God must be infinite joy. Finite creatures cannot tell what infinite joy is. Nay, the joy of saints is joy unspeakable and full of glory; what, then, must be the joy of the King of saints? It is infinitely above speech and expression, infinitely glorious. The joy of saints is unspeakably great; the joy of the man Christ, of the human nature, is unspeakably greater; but the joy of God, of God in our nature, is infinitely great above all finite apprehension. Finite thoughts are lost in this infinite depth.

8. It expresses everlasting joy, and eternal joy; joy from everlasting, before time; and to everlasting after time. It is true, that the “Lo, I come!” as I said first, imports present joy, with respect to our view of it, but with respect to God, nothing being past or future but all things eternally present to Him, this “Lo” expresses the everlasting joy He had, and will have for ever, in this work now transacted in time. It is said in Psalm 104, verse 31, “The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in His works.” Why? His glory is everlasting glory, His joy everlasting joy in all His works; especially in that work wherein all His glory shines most brightly: His saving work of which He is here speaking when he says, “Lo, I come!” Thus you see what sort of joy is expressed in this “Lo, I come!”

V. The fifth thing proposed was to show what expressions of joy are imported in the echo from the Church, “The voice of my Beloved! Behold he cometh.” What sort of joy does this express?

1. It expresses joy with surprise. O but His coming fills the believer with a sweet surprise; like that “Or ever I was aware” in Song 4:12. How abruptly does the Church here speak, like one suddenly ravished with joy. “The voice of my Beloved! Behold He cometh!”

2. It expresses joy with wonder and admiration. “Behold, He cometh! Wonder, O heavens and earth, that He should come to the like of me! And wonder that He should come back again, after I have heaped up mountains and hills of provocation in His way. ‘Is this the manner of man, O Lord? And what can David say more?’ What can I say, but sit down and wonder!”

3. It expresses joy with faith. “Behold, He cometh!” The eye of faith first sees His coming, and then the tongue of joy sings, “Behold, He cometh!” “Faith cometh by hearing.” Hearing what? Even the voice of Christ, the joyful sound of the gospel. Christ rides in the chariot of the gospel; and the believer, by faith, hearing the noise of His chariot wheels; yea, the sweet voice of him that rides in the chariot, who has grace poured into His lips, then he cries out, “The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He cometh!”

4. It expresses joy with love. And, indeed, as faith is the head, so love is the heart of the new creature: and the joy here is a loving joy; for it is in the view of Christ as her Beloved, “The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He cometh!” He is the Beloved of the Father who says, “This is my beloved son;” and the true believer is of the Father’s mind, saying, “This is my Beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.” And what but joyful love makes her here speak, with her heart at her mouth, “The voice of my Beloved!”

5. It expresses joy with praise and adoration (as well as wonder and admiration); “The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He cometh!” O blessed be the Comer, as it is in Psalm 118:26, “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.” It is a “Behold” of adoration, as well as admiration; and, indeed, they both go together; an admiring heart is an adoring heart. As the presence of Christ makes a heaven in the heart, so it stirs up the heart instantly to the work of heaven, which is to sing His praise, and to glorify His name, saying, “O glory, glory, glory to Him for coming to the like of me, who was afraid that He would never give me a visit. O let all the world praise Him with me: Behold, He cometh!”

6. It expresses joy with humility. “Behold, He cometh! and cometh even to me. ‘What am I, and what is my father’s house?’ Behold, He cometh to me! I had no power to come to Him, no heart to come, and I would have remained for ever at a distance from Him, if He had not graciously condescended to come unto me. I could do nothing but depart from Him by an evil heart of unbelief: but He comes; ‘His own arm bringeth salvation’: and He comes with all the salvation I need.” Self is sunk to nothing at the appearance of this glorious “He”; Behold, He cometh!

7. It expresses joy with contempt of the world. “Behold, He cometh, and his appearing darkens all the glory of the world, and makes it disappear, as the stars at the rising of the sun. ‘I count all but loss and dung, for the excellency of the knowledge of Him’.” O, but how little does the believer think of the world when Christ comes. “Earthly crowns, kingdoms, thrones and sceptres are but little despicable toys. Here, here is an object worth the beholding; let mine eyes be for ever turned away from beholding vanities. Behold, He cometh!”

8. It expresses joy with desire that others may see and behold Him. “Behold, He cometh! O, that all the world would come and see what I see, come and enjoy what I enjoy!” They that see the glory of Christ, though they slight a world of vanities, yet they pity a world of perishing sinners, and would gladly be instrumental in bringing others to Christ. “Come see a man, that told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?” said the woman of Samaria. Thus David, “Restore to me the joy of thy salvation: then will I teach transgressors thy way, and sinners shall be converted unto thee.”

In a word, this “Behold, He cometh!” expresses joy with all the qualities of heavenly and spiritual joy. It expresses unspeakable joy, as appears by her broken speech, “The voice of my Beloved!” It expresses glorious joy; for it flows from a view of His glory. “Behold, He cometh!” It expresses holy joy for she rejoices to see him come skipping and leaping upon the mountains and hills of sin and guilt, and levelling all the high towers of strong corruption in His way. O how glad to see Him coming down, and making the mountains to melt before Him!

So it is a holy joy: the very opposite of all carnal and sensual joys. It expresses a quickening and strengthening joy; for now her heart is open, her lips are open, whatever indisposition for duty took place before; now the joy of the Lord is her strength. Again, it expresses a solid and well-grounded joy; it is no fancy, no delusion, nor enthusiasm; no: the Word and Spirit both concur to this joy. “The voice of my Beloved!” — there is the Word. “Behold, He cometh!” — there is the Spirit. Words cannot give the believer joy without the Spirit; and the Spirit will not without the Word; the joy of the Holy Ghost is still grounded upon, or agreeable to, the Word. Finally, it expresses a welcoming joy. “Lo, I come!” says Christ. “Behold, He cometh,” says the Church, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus; come quickly; come, and welcome with a thousand good wills.” O may He be a welcome guest here!

To be continued

William Tyndale: A Biography

Rev. K.D. Macleod

This is a review article on WILLIAM TYNDALE: A BIOGRAPHY by David Daniell. Published by Yale University Press, 439 pages, £19.95.

ENGLISH-SPEAKING Christians owe an enormous debt to many of the great men of the past, but perhaps to no one more than to William Tyndale. It was he who first translated a great part of the Scriptures from the original Hebrew and Greek into English. Only his martyrdom in 1536 prevented him finishing the task he set himself — which he thus expressed to an ignorant cleric: “If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the Scripture than thou doest.”

Some 150 years before Tyndale’s day, John Wycliffe had published the Scriptures in English, but his translation was not from the original languages; he went no farther back than the Latin Vulgate, with all its imperfections. It served a useful purpose however, in the absence of anything better, and devoted scribes painstakingly wrote out copies of it by hand which were sent out throughout the length and breadth of the land. Tyndale had the enormous advantage of the invention of printing, and he used the presses of Europe to pour out copies of his English translations, which then flooded into the kingdoms of England and Scotland through the various ports on the east coast.

Daniell does not write from Tyndale’s doctrinal perspective; rather, as a Professor of English in the University of London, he focuses more on the literary achievements of his subject. Yet he is remarkably sympathetic to Tyndale’s position; though a passage beginning, “The fault of Adam hath made us heirs of the vengeance and wrath of God, and heirs of eternal damnation. And hath brought us into captivity and bondage under the devil”, is too much for him. For Daniell the Bible is an important volume with much to teach us, but unlike Tyndale he does not accept the inspiration of Scripture. Tyndale had found life for his soul in these Scriptures and it was his earnest desire that multitudes of his fellow-countrymen would find that same life also. Not surprisingly he writes thus in his To the Reader which he appended to his 1526 edition of the English New Testament: “Give diligence Reader (I exhort thee) that thou come with a pure mind, and as the scripture saith with a single eye, unto the words of health, and of eternal life: by the which (if we repent and believe them) we are born anew, created afresh, and enjoy the fruits of the blood of Christ. Which blood crieth not for vengeance, as the blood of Abel: but hath purchased life, love, favour, grace, blessing and whatever is promised in the scriptures.” (Daniell has also produced editions in modern spelling of both Tyndale’s New Testament and Tyndale’s Old Testament).

The author follows Tyndale from his birth, probably in 1494, in Gloucestershire, through his university career, his time at Little Sodbury manor as tutor to the family of Sir John Walsh — where he uttered his famous words about the ploughboy and also preached in the neighbourhood. Then on to London, where he hoped to begin translation work under the auspices of Bishop Tunstall, but, as Tyndale himself put it, he “understood at the last not only that there was no room in my lord of London’s palace to translate the New Testament, but also that there was no place to do it in all England”.

After Tyndale’s flight from London we next find him in Cologne. From there he had again to flee to escape arrest, just as the sheets of the Gospel of Matthew in English were passing through the press. From then on he had no settled dwelling place but, in spite of so many adverse circumstances during these last ten years of freedom, he completed his New Testament translation, went on to produce a revision of it (“the glory of his life’s work”, Daniell calls it) and proceeded with his translation of the Old Testament as far as Nehemiah, with Jonah besides, before he was betrayed by Henry Phillips, a spy sent by the authorities in England.

After a 15-month imprisonment Tyndale was condemned as a heretic and handed over to be burnt at the stake. Says John Foxe the martyrologist, “Such was the power of his doctrine and the sincerity of his life that during the time of his imprisonment . . . it is said he converted the keeper, the keeper’s daughter and others of his household. Also the rest that were conversant with Tyndale in the castle reported of him that, if he were not a good Christian man, they could not tell whom to trust.” So lived and so died one of England’s greatest sons. His words at the stake have often been quoted: “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”

Perhaps the most important feature of the book is Daniell’s high praise for the quality of Tyndale’s translation work. “The impact of this New Testament”, Daniell tells us, “was, and is still, so splendid in its accuracy and its clear, memorable English.” Much of Tyndale’s version survives today in our Authorised Version, such was the excellence of his work. Listen, for instance, to part of Tyndale’s version of John 10 (in modern spelling): “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. An hired servant, which is not the shepherd, neither the sheep are his own, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and flyeth, and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.” This passage illustrates Tyndale’s capacity to give rhythm to his translation, a point which Daniell makes again and again. Daniell’s tendency to criticise the changes which the AV translators made to Tyndale’s version reflects his enthusiasm for Tyndale’s use of English, but he underrates the greater accuracy of the AV. Daniell’s analysis of the literary qualities of Tyndale’s translation, and of such of his writings as The Obedience of a Christian Man may at times become somewhat tedious, but it is good to have a tribute of this kind to a man who, because he had such a single-eyed desire for the glory of God, endured so many hardships to carry out his life’s work.

It was that desire which made him attack the ecclesiastical abuses of the time. He complained about the Pope making seven years in purgatory the penalty for every deadly sin and then selling relief from it for money: “Thus is sin become the profitablest merchandise in the world”! And “all the promises of God have they either wiped clean out or thus leavened with open lies to establish their confession withal. And to keep us from the knowledge of the truth, they do all thing in latin . . . only curse they in the English tongue.” There is wit in Tyndale’s attack and it is devastating, but if he opposes abuses and false doctrines such as “that cankered heresy of justifying of works” it is so that he may direct his readers to a better way, the way of Scripture: “And when the gospel is preached unto us we believe the mercy of God, and in believing we receive the spirit of God, which is the earnest of eternal life, and we are in eternal life already, and feel already in our hearts the sweetness thereof, and are overcome with the kindness of God and Christ and therefore love the will of God, and of love are ready to work freely, and not to obtain that which is given us freely and whereof we are heirs already.”

Daniell also makes useful historical points. For instance: “Modern champions of the Catholic position like to support a view of the Reformation, that it was entirely a political imposition by a ruthless minority in power against both the traditions and the wishes of the pious lay people of England, with its claim that, if matters had not been interfered with, the Church in its reforming wisdom would have got round to issuing a vernacular Bible in its own time.” He goes on to show in detail how weak is the evidence for such a position and concludes, “Only when the whole Bible . . . was printed in English could it be seen that the Bible preceded the Church and gave it all its authority.” Which was Tyndale’s position; writing against Sir Thomas More (who became Lord Chancellor of England and was a vicious enemy of Tyndale) he declared, “Judge therefore reader whether the pope with his be the church, whether their authority be above scripture, whether all they teach without scripture be equal with the scripture, whether they have erred and not only whether they can”, for the Church must be judged by Scripture — a doctrine which made Tyndale even more dangerous to Rome.

John Frith, who himself suffered martyrdom three years before Tyndale, is quoted bearing witness to Tyndale’s learning: “For his learning and judgement in Scripture he were more worthy to be promoted than all the bishops in England.” Daniell pays special tribute to Tyndale’s Hebrew learning: “There can be no doubt at all that Tyndale was a remarkable Hebrew scholar, and, by the standards of Englishmen of the 1520s, astonishing.” It was a learning which he consecrated to the great purpose of giving the Scriptures to his countrymen in the only language which they could understand.

Daniell’s book is one more stone added to Tyndale’s memorial, but would-be readers should have a serious interest in Reformation history. Were it written from a perspective closer to Tyndale’s understanding of the Scriptures and illuminated by his faith in a living Saviour, it would be an even more worthy contribution. Yet everyone who comes to a living faith in Christ through the English Scriptures is a more lasting memorial to this godly man to whom all succeeding generations in the English-speaking world owe so much.

Charity Towards the Ignorant

From an old author

Extracted from The Alarm (No. 11, 1855), which was published for some time by the Rev. Jonathan Rankin Anderson (1803-59), minister of Kirkfield Chapel and then of John Knox Church, both in Glasgow, and author of Sermons on Sacramental Occasions.

I WOULD therefore have much charity exercised towards such persons as are going ignorantly on with a course of defection, even although they should live and die so, without making any public acknowledgement of the same; providing they are:

1. Sound in their judgement with respect to all the fundamental articles of the true Christian faith, which are necessary to be believed and practised, in order to glorify God and obtain salvation, in the way that it is offered to sinners in the gospel.
2. Of a tender conversation, and exercised unto godliness, and students of holiness.
3. Tender, careful, and honest, in holding fast such truths as they know to be truths; by opposing and refusing to comply with such things as they know to be sinful; or to give themselves away to neutrality and indifference.

And I would have this a rule to be well observed by all who are professing the name of Jesus in sincerity and in truth: to love all who, in the judgement of charity, seem to have anything of the likeness and image of God restored unto them. For to whom God shows mercy, His people should show love and charity; not by joining with such as are going on in courses of defection, in church communion, either in public congregations or private fellowship meetings, for that I hold to be sinful; but, by praying for, sympathising with, and administering comfort to them, either in their inward or outward distresses, and bearing love and affection to them.

Christian Profession in the USA

Rev. K.D. Macleod

ONE must assume that religion in the USA is in a very healthy state — if one takes at face value the professions of Americans to be born again. Yet the very extent of this profession is enough to make even the most credulous observer a little sceptical of the genuineness of such claims, especially when their religion seems to make so little impact on the lifestyle of most people. Although many American leaders — their “born-again” Presidents among them — are not ashamed of their religion and speak of prayer in a way that would, sadly, be almost unthinkable in the UK, yet religion and worldliness seem to go hand in hand throughout the USA.

One’s suspicions are confirmed by a recent survey of American adults which reveals gross ignorance of basic Christian doctrines. For instance, 15% of those who claimed to be born again did not accept the statement, “The Bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings.” Again, 29% clearly have no conception of the kind of saviour they need if they are to be saved; they accepted the survey statement, “When He lived on earth, Jesus Christ was human and committed sins, like other people.” Roughly the same proportion, 30%, denied a literal resurrection; they agreed with the statement, “Jesus Christ was a great teacher, but He did not come back to physical life after He was crucified.”

After seeing these figures no one need be surprised to find that 39% of these “born again Christians” seem to think that they do not really need a saviour; they accept that “if a person is generally good, or does enough good things for others during their life, they will earn a place in heaven.” They agree with this statement although it would seem that for the purpose of the survey, born-again Christians were defined as those who believe they will go to heaven because they “have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour”.

An even greater proportion, 80%, approved of the statement, “The Bible teaches that God helps those who help themselves.” While it may be rather ambiguous, this statement does illustrate the man-centredness of modern American religion.

Finally, 49% deny that the devil is a person; they accept the statement, “The devil, or Satan, is not a living being, but a symbol of evil.” If they know their Bibles at all these people clearly do not believe what the Word of God teaches. It is worth noting that the numbers who are on shaky ground for other doctrines are much higher than the proportion who reject the reliability of Scripture.

The world has obviously entered the Christian Church. In fact, when Americans who do not profess to be born again were surveyed, their beliefs were not wildly different; 45% (only 15% more than professed Christians) denied Christ’s resurrection, and 68% (19% more) said that Satan is no more than a symbol of evil.

One has no wish to condemn every American who makes a profession of conversion. That would be absurd. Yet the extent of false profession is vast: far beyond anything that we experience in the UK. Religious observance — of a kind — is far greater in the USA, but no one should think it harsh to question the claim of a large proportion of those who say they are born again when 43% of them had not even read their Bible in the previous week.

What need there is for a race of ministers to be raised up who would go out in the name of Christ and preach as Jonathan Edwards did in his famous awakening sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God!

Obituary

Mr Alistair McKenzie, Deacon, Dingwall and Beauly

ALISTAIR MCKENZIE was born into a Church of Scotland home in the Black Isle, Ross-shire, in 1909. His father, who was a native of Little Lochbroom in Wester Ross and had been brought up in a pious home where the Sabbath was carefully observed, instilled Christian principles into his children. Young Alistair did not rebel against that upbringing and grew up to be an upright person who continued to attend the Church of his fathers, was diligent in his business of farming near Fortrose, and was transparently honest in his dealings with others. However, he had no interest in spiritual matters: it was to his worldly business and affairs that he gave priority.

Although he went regularly to the local Church of Scotland he did not stand in the way of his wife (a daughter of the late John MacLeod, an elder in the Edinburgh Congregation of the Free Presbyterian Church) attending the services of the Free Presbyterian Church in Dingwall when she had the opportunity of being taken there by a friend. Indeed he encouraged her.

One Sabbath evening in 1959 he went, not to the Church of Scotland service, but to the Free Presbyterian service in Dingwall, and took his family with him. It was not the minister of the congregation, the Rev. D.A. MacFarlane, whom he heard that evening but the late Alick MacLennan, missionary and elder in the congregation, whose turn it was to conduct the service. So impressed was he by what he heard from Mr MacLennan that he said, “I’ve never heard a sermon like that. I’ve never heard anything like it.” He also said that he would not be attending the Church of Scotland again. He continued attending the Free Presbyterian Church services regularly, at first on Sabbath evenings only, but then on Sabbath mornings and mid-week also, as his farming duties permitted. He appreciated Mr MacFarlane’s preaching and appeared to be having some serious thoughts about eternal issues.

His continued and determined attendance at the public means of grace, his evident interest in them, and his diminished interest in worldly things made it appear to some that perhaps a saving change had taken place in him and that his affections were set on things above. On one occasion he was invited and pressed to attend a worldly social function connected with the farming community of which he was a respected and knowledgeable member. When the time came for him to prepare to go to the function he had no heart for it and decided to stay at home. When asked next day about his absence he quietly said, “Well, we just didn’t want to go, and I decided we wouldn’t go.” Never again was he troubled with such invitations. However, his conduct in that matter was not the result of a saving change but of the workings of a conscience in which the Holy Spirit was striving.

Alistair McKenzie was a man of few words when it came to speaking about his own spiritual experience, but it appears that his serious thoughts rose to a height when his sister-in-law died suddenly in hospital in Edinburgh in 1969 and when, 10 weeks later, his mother-in-law became seriously ill and died. One evening, as he was conducting family worship at home, he read these solemn words: “Be ye also ready.” They pierced his heart like a knife, convincing him of his awful lack of preparation to meet his God, and moving him to be right earnest in seeking that preparation. However, it was some considerable time before he entertained the hope that he was reconciled to God through the blood of the Cross.

It would seem that this occurred one day when, accompanied by an elder of the Church, he went to deal with some business matter. They spent much of the day engaged in spiritual conversation. He was asking many questions, for the greater business of his soul’s safety weighed upon him, and the elder was giving answers and explanations from the Word of God. As they travelled home in the evening, still talking about spiritual verities, light broke in upon his soul, and the way of salvation through Christ and Him crucified was made clear to him by the secret illumination of the Holy Spirit. So overcome was he by this gracious visitation to his soul that he could not refrain from saying, “The like of this has never happened to me before.”

He was received as a member in full communion in August 1979, ordained as a Deacon of the Dingwall and Beauly Congregation in May 1986, and proved to be a gracious, wise and practical office-bearer. In its tribute to him the Deacons’ Court stated, “He discharged the responsibilities of his office conscientiously and zealously and was accorded a warm place in the esteem and affection of his fellow-office-bearers and of the Congregation.”

In his prayers in public and in his speaking at the fellowship meeting at communion seasons there was an attractive freshness and savour which, as the above-mentioned tribute says, “was the fruit of a deep consciousness of his own utter unworthiness and of the supreme worthiness of his Saviour.” When “he spoke to the question” at the fellowship meeting, his illustrations, drawn from his farming experience, were sometimes quite striking.

The cause of Christ was exceedingly dear to him and he had a keen and prayerful interest in the work and witness of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The 1989 division in the Church grieved him to the quick, but no one had any doubt about his genuine loyalty to the Church and his whole-hearted support for the stand it had to make during those testing days.

During his last illness in 1993 he had considerable discomfort and pain, but he was upheld by the “Father of mercies and the God of all comfort” and was enabled to endure his affliction with much patience. Some who visited him in his illness came away from him feeling that it was they themselves, rather than he, who benefited from the visit. He continued coming to the house of God until near the end despite much weakness, and we could not but feel that these words of the Psalmist could most appropriately be put into his mouth:

“The habitation of thy house,
Lord, I have loved well;
Yea, in that place I do delight
where doth thine honour dwell.”

During his illness he had been looking forward to being present at the August communion season in Dingwall but that was not to be. He passed away peacefully on the Thursday following the communion, 5th August, 1993, at the age of 84, to enjoy, we believe, that perfect communion with God which is the eternal portion of the spirits of just men made perfect. While his passing away brought him “to be with Christ, which is far better”, and to the “full enjoying of God to all eternity”, it has left a great blank in his family circle, in the congregation, and in the Church.
May we heed, as he did, that call, “Be ye also ready,” and may his sorrowing widow, daughter and son, and all the members of the bereaved family, to whom we express again our sympathy, be enabled to say about his God, “This God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death.” NMR