"A little while, and ye shall not see
Me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to the
Father." John xvi. 16.
VERY opposite lessons are drawn in different parts
of Scripture from the doctrine of Christ's leaving the world and returning
to His Father; lessons so opposite the one to the other, that at first
sight a reader might even find a difficulty in reconciling them together.
In an earlier season of His ministry, our Lord intimates that when He was
removed, His disciples should sorrow, that then was to be the special
time for humiliation. "Can the children of the Bride-chamber mourn," He
asks, "as long as the Bridegroom is with them? but the days will come,
when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast."
[Matt. ix. 15.] Yet in the words following the text, spoken by Him when
He was going away, He says; "I will see you again, and your heart shall
rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." And He says shortly before
it, "It is expedient for you that I go away." And again: "I will not leave
you comfortless, I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world
seeth Me no more: but ye see Me." Thus Christ's going to the Father is
at once a source of sorrow, because it involves His absence; and of joy,
because it involves His presence. And out of the doctrine of His resurrection
and ascension, spring those Christian paradoxes, often spoken of in Scripture,
that we are sorrowing, yet always rejoicing; as having nothing, yet possessing
all things.
This, indeed, is our state at present; we have
lost Christ and we have found Him; we see Him not, yet we discern Him.
We embrace His feet, yet He says, "Touch Me not." How is this? it is thus:
we have lost the sensible and conscious perception of Him; we cannot look
on Him, hear Him, converse with Him, follow Him from place to place; but
we enjoy the spiritual, immaterial, inward, mental, real sight and possession
of Him; a possession more real and more present than that which the Apostles
had in the days of His flesh, because it is spiritual, because it is invisible.
We know that the closer any object of this world comes to us, the less
we can contemplate it and comprehend it. Christ has come so close to us
in the Christian Church (if I may so speak), that we cannot gaze on Him
or discern Him. He enters into us, He claims and takes possession of His
purchased inheritance; He does not present Himself to us, but He takes
us to Him. He makes us His members. Our faces are, as it were, turned from
Him; we see Him not, and know not of His presence, except by faith, because
He is over us and within us. And thus we may at the same time lament because
we are not conscious of His presence, as the Apostles enjoyed it before
His death; and may rejoice because we know we do possess it even more than
they, according to the text, "whom having not seen (that is, with the bodily
eyes) ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of your souls." [1 Pet. i. 8, 9.]
Concerning this great and mysterious gift, the
presence of Christ, invisible to sense, apprehended by faith, which seems
to be spoken of in the text, and is suggested by this season of the year,
I purpose now to say some few words.
Now observe what the promise is, in the text and
the verses following a new era was to commence, or what is called
in Scripture "a day of the Lord." We know how much is said in Scripture
about the awfulness and graciousness of a day of the Lord, which seems
to be some special time of visitation, grace, judgment, restoration, righteousness,
and glory. Much is said concerning days of the Lord in the Old Testament.
In the beginning we read of those august days, seven in number, each perfect,
perfect all together, in which all things were created, finished, blessed,
acknowledged, approved by Almighty God. And all things will end with a
day greater still, which will open with the coming of Christ from heaven,
and the judgment; this is especially the Day of the Lord, and will introduce
an eternity of blessedness in God's presence for all believers. And another
special day predicted and fulfilled, is that long season which precedes
and prepares for the day of heaven, viz. the Day of the Christian Church,
the Day of the gospel, the Day of grace. This is a day much spoken of in
the Prophets, and it is the day of which our Saviour speaks in the passage
before us. Observe how solemn, how high a day it is: this is His account
of it, "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; your joy no
man taketh from you. And in that Day ye shall ask Me nothing. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My Name, He will
give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name; ask, and ye shall
receive, that your joy may be full ... At that Day ye shall ask in my Name,
and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father
Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me, and have believed that I
came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world;
again I leave the world, and go to the Father." The Day, then, that dawned
upon the Church at the Resurrection, and beamed forth in full splendour
at the Ascension, that Day which has no setting, which will be, not ended,
but absorbed in Christ's glorious appearance from heaven to destroy sin
and death; that Day in which we now are, is described in these words of
Christ as a state of special Divine manifestation, of special introduction
into the presence of God. By Christ, says the Apostle, "we have the access
by faith into this grace wherein we stand." He "hath raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." "Your life
is hid with Christ in God." "Our conversation is in heaven, from whence
also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ." "God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
"As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." And our
Lord says; "I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him ... We will
come unto him, and make Our abode with him." Thus we Christians stand in
the courts of God Most High, and, in one sense, see His face; for He who
once was on earth, has now departed from this visible scene of things in
a mysterious, twofold way, both to His Father and into our hearts, thus
making the Creator and His creatures one; according to His own words, "I
will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while,
and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me: because I live, ye shall
live also. At that Day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in
Me, and I in you." [Rom. v. 2. Eph. ii. 6. Col. iii. 3. Phil. iii. 20.
2 Cor. iv. 6. Gal. iii. 27. John xiv. 21-23, 18-20.]
Now, in behalf of this mystery, I observe:
First, that Christ really is with us now, whatever
be the mode of it. This He says expressly Himself; "Lo, I am with you alway,
even unto the end of the world!" He even says, "Where two or three are
gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them." [Matt.
xxviii. 20; xviii. 20.] And in a passage already quoted more than once,
"I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." Christ's presence,
then, is promised to us still, though He is on the right hand of the Father.
You will say, "Yes; He is present as God." Nay, I answer; more than this,
He is the Christ, and the Christ is promised, and Christ is man as well
as God. This surely is plain even from the words of the text. He said He
was going away. Did He go away as God or as man? "A little while, and ye
shall not see Me;" this was on His death. He went away as man, He died
as man; if, then, He promises to come again, surely He must mean that He
would return as man, in the only sense, that is, in which He could return.
As God He is ever present, never was otherwise than present, never went
away when His body died on the Cross and was buried, when His soul departed
to the place of spirits, still He was with His disciples in His Divine
ubiquity. The separation of soul and body could not touch His impassible
everlasting Godhead. When then He says He should go away, and come again
and abide for ever, He is speaking, not merely of His omnipresent Divine
nature, but of His human nature. As being Christ, He says that He, the
Incarnate Mediator, shall be with His Church for ever.
But again: you may be led to explain His declaration
thus; "He has come again, but in His Spirit; that is, His Spirit has come
instead of Him; and when it is said that He is with us, this only means
that His Spirit is with us." No one, doubtless, can deny this most gracious
and consolatory truth, that the Holy Ghost is come; but why has He come?
to supply Christ's absence, or to accomplish His presence? Surely to make
Him present. Let us not for a moment suppose that God the Holy Ghost comes
in such sense that God the Son remains away. No; He has not so come that
Christ does not come, but rather He comes that Christ may come in His coming.
Through the Holy Ghost we have communion with Father and Son. "In Christ
we are builded together," says St. Paul, "for an habitation of God through
the Spirit." "Ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth
in you." "Strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." The Holy Spirit causes, faith
welcomes, the indwelling of Christ in the heart. Thus the Spirit does not
take the place of Christ in the soul, but secures that place to Christ.
St. Paul insists much on this presence of Christ in those who have His
Spirit. "Know ye not," he says, "that your bodies are the members of Christ?"
"By one Spirit are we all baptized into one Body Ö ye are the body
of Christ, and members in particular." "Know ye not your own selves, how
that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" "Christ in you,
the hope of glory." And St. John: "He that hath the Son, hath Life; and
he that hath not the Son of God, hath not Life." And our Lord Himself,
"Abide in Me and I in you: I am the Vine, ye are the branches. He that
abideth in Me, and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." The Holy
Spirit, then, vouchsafes to come to us, that by His coming Christ may come
to us, not carnally or visibly, but may enter into us. And thus He is both
present and absent; absent in that He has left the earth, present in that
He has not left the faithful soul; or, as He says Himself, "The world seeth
Me no more, but ye see Me." [Eph. ii. 22. 1 Cor. iii. 16. Eph. iii. 17.
1 Cor. vi. 15, xii. 13, 27. 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Col. i. 27. 1 John v. 12. John
xv. 4, 5; xiv. 19.]
You will say, How can He be present to the Christian
and in the Church, yet not be on earth, but on the right hand of God? I
answer, that the Christian Church is made up of faithful souls, and how
can any of us say where the soul is, simply and really? The soul indeed
acts through the body, and perceives through the body; but where is it?
or what has it to do with place? or why should it be a thing incredible
that the power of the Spirit should so visit the soul as to open upon it
a Divine manifestation, which yet it perceives not, because its present
perceptions are only through the body? Who shall limit the power of the
gracious Spirit of God? How know we, for instance, but that He makes Christ
present with us, by making us present with Christ? As the earth goes round
the sun, yet the sun is said to move, so our souls, in fact, may be taken
up to Christ, when He is said to come to us. But no need to insist on one
mode in which the mystery may be conceived, when ten thousand ways are
possible with God, of which we know nothing. Scripture says enough to show
us that influences may be exerted upon the soul so marvellous, that we
cannot decide whether the soul remains in the body or not, while subjected
to them. St. Paul, speaking of himself, says, "Whether in the body, I cannot
tell, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth: ... caught
up to the third heaven." And he repeats his statement: "I knew such a man,"
meaning himself, "whether in the body I cannot tell, or out of the body
I cannot tell, God knoweth: how that he was caught up into Paradise, and
heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter." St.
Paul was brought into Paradise, yet his body remained where it was; and
whether his soul was separated from it, was a question which he could not
decide. How can we pretend to decide what the Holy Spirit may or may not
do towards faithful souls now, and whether He does not manifest Christ
to and in them, by bringing them to Christ? Again; consider Satan's power
in showing our Lord all the kingdoms of the world "in a moment of time;"
may not the Almighty Spirit much more do with us, what the evil one did
with our Lord? May He not in less than a moment bring our souls into God's
presence, while our bodies are on earth?
And again; while we know so little about our own
souls, on the other hand, we are utterly ignorant of the state in which
our Blessed Lord exists at present, and the relation of this visible world
to Him; or whether it may not be possible for Him, in some mysterious way,
to come to us, though He is set down on the right hand of God. Did He not,
after His resurrection, come into a room, of which the doors were shut,
yet suffer Himself to be handled, to prove that He was not a spirit? Certainly
then, though He is clothed in our nature, and is perfect man, yet His glorified
body is not confined by those laws under which our mortal bodies lie.
But further; whether it is difficult to conceive
or no, Scripture actually gives us at least one instance of His appearing
after His ascension, as if to satisfy us that his presence is possible,
though it be mysterious. We all know that He has often vouchsafed to appear
to His saints in visions. Thus He appeared to St. John, as related in the
Book of Revelation; and to St. Paul, when he was at Corinth, at Jerusalem
several times, and in the ship. These appearances were not an actual presence
of Christ, as we may conjecture, but impressions divinely made, and shadows
cast upon the mind. And in the same way we may explain His appearing to
St. Stephen. When that blessed Martyr said, "Behold I see the heavens open,
and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God," we may suppose he
did not see this great sight really, but only had a vision of it. These,
I repeat, may be visions; but what shall we say to Christ's appearance
to St. Paul on his conversion, while he was on the way to Damascus? For
then the Lord Jesus plainly was seen and heard by him close at hand. "He
fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou Me? And he said, Who art Thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest." [Acts ix. 4, 5.] How was this? We do not know.
Can a body be in two places at once? I do not say so; I only say, Here
is a mystery. By way of contrast with this real sight of the Lord, we are
presently told that to Ananias the Lord appeared "in a vision." And hence,
moreover, when Ananias came to Saul, he said that God had chosen him that
he should "see that Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth." [Acts xxii.
14.] And hence, too, he says himself in his Epistle to the Corinthians,
"Am I not an Apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?"
[1 Cor. ix. 1.] Would he have said this, if he had had but a vision of
Him? Had he not many more visions of Him, not one only? And again, after
mentioning our Lord's appearance to St. Peter, the Eleven, and five hundred
brethren at once, and St. James, he adds, "last of all, He was seen of
me also, as of one born out of due time." [1 Cor. xv. 8.] That is, he speaks
of his having been favoured with a sight of Christ in as real, true, and
literal a sense, as that in which the other Apostles had seen Him. St.
Paul then saw Him, and heard Him speak, who was on the right hand of God.
And this literal sight seems to have been, for some unknown reason, necessary
for the office of an Apostle; for, in accordance with St. Paul's words,
just now cited, St. Peter says, when an Apostle was to be chosen in the
place of Judas, "Of these men which have companied with us ... from the
baptism of John unto that same day when He was taken up from us, must one
be ordained to be a witness with us of His resurrection." And again, to
Cornelius, "Him God raised up the third day, and showed Him openly, not
to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us."
[Acts i. 21, 22; x. 40, 41.] If St. Paul saw only a vision of Christ, and
not Christ "verily and indeed," in that case he was not a witness of His
resurrection. But if he did see Him, it is possible for Christ to be present
with us also, as with him.
Once more: it may be said that "St. Paul was conscious
of the presence of Christ on his conversion, and that he actually saw the
sights and heard the sounds of Paradise, but that we see and hear nothing.
We, then, are not in Christ's presence, else we should be conscious of
it." Now, with a view of meeting this objection, let us turn to the account
of His appearances to His disciples after the Resurrection, which are most
important, first, as showing that such an unconscious communion with Christ
is possible; next, that it is likely to be the sort of communion now granted
to us, from the circumstance that in that period of forty days after the
Resurrection, He began to be in that relation towards His Church, in which
He is still, and probably intended to intimate to us thereby what His presence
with us is now.
Now observe what was the nature of His presence
in the Church after His Resurrection. It was this, that He came and went
as He pleased; that material substances, such as the fastened doors, were
no impediments to His coming; and that when He was present His disciples
did not, as a matter of course, know Him. St. Mark says He appeared to
the two disciples who were going into the country, to Emmaus, "in another
form." St. Luke, who gives the account more at length, says, that while
He talked with them their heart burned within them. And it is worth remarking,
that the two disciples do not seem to have been conscious of this at the
time, but on looking back, they recollected that as having been, which
did not strike them while it was. "Did not," they say, "did not our heart
burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened
to us the Scriptures?" but at the time, their hearts seem to have been
holden (if we may use the expression) as well as their eyes. They were
receiving impressions, but could not realize to themselves that they were
receiving them; afterwards, however, they became aware of what had been.
Let us observe, too, when it was that their eyes were opened; here we are
suddenly introduced to the highest and most solemn Ordinance of the Gospel,
for it was when He consecrated and brake the Bread that their eyes were
opened. There is evidently a stress laid on this, for presently St. Luke
sums up his account of the gracious occurrence with an allusion to it in
particular; "They told what things were done in the way, and how He was
known of them in breaking of bread." For so it was ordained, that Christ
should not be both seen and known at once; first He was seen, then He was
known. Only by faith is He known to be present; He is not recognized by
sight. When He opened His disciples' eyes, He at once vanished. He removed
His visible presence, and left but a memorial of Himself. He vanished from
sight that He might be present in a sacrament; and in order to connect
His visible presence with His presence invisible, He for one instant manifested
Himself to their open eyes; manifested Himself; if I may so speak, while
He passed from His hiding-place of sight without knowledge, to that of
knowledge without sight.
Or again: consider the account of His appearing
to St. Mary Magdalene. While she stood at the sepulchre weeping He appeared,
but she knew Him not. When He revealed Himself, He did not, indeed, at
once vanish away, but He would not let her touch Him; as if, in another
way, to show that His presence in His new kingdom was not to be one of
sense. The two disciples were not allowed to see Him after recognizing
Him, St Mary Magdalene was not allowed to touch Him. But afterwards, St.
Thomas was allowed both to see and touch; he had the full evidence of sense:
but observe what our Lord says to him, "Thomas, because thou hast seen
Me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have
believed." Faith is better than sight or touch.
Let so much suffice, by way of suggesting thoughts
upon this most Solemn and elevating subject. Christ has promised He will
be with us to the end, with us, not only as He is in the unity of
the Father and the Son, not in the Omnipresence of the Divine Nature, but
personally, as the Christ, as God and man; not present with us locally
and sensibly, but still really, in our hearts and to our faith. And it
is by the Holy Ghost that this gracious communion is effected. How He effects
it we know not; in what precisely it consists we know not. We see Him not;
but we are to believe that we possess Him, that we have been brought
under the virtue of His healing hand, of His life-giving breath, of the
manna flowing from His lips, and of the blood issuing from His side. And
hereafter, on looking back, we shall be conscious that we have been thus
favoured. Such is the Day of the Lord in which we find ourselves, as if
in fulfilment of the words of the prophet, "The Lord my God shall come,
and all the saints with Thee. And it shall come to pass in that Day, that
the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall
be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that
at evening time it shall be light." [Zech. xiv. 5-7.] Nay, even before
the end comes, Christians, on looking back on years past, will feel, at
least in a degree, that Christ has been with them, though they knew it
not, only believed it, at the time. They will even recollect then the burning
of their hearts. Nay, though they seemed not even to believe any thing
at the time, yet afterwards, if they have come to Him in sincerity, they
will experience a sort of heavenly fragrance and savour of immortality,
when they least expect it, rising upon their minds, as if in token that
God has been with them, and investing all that has taken place, which before
seemed to them but earthly, with beams of glory. And this is true, in one
sense, of all the rites and ordinances of the Church, of all providences
that happen to us; that, on looking back on them, though they seemed without
meaning at the time, elicited no strong feeling, or were even painful and
distasteful, yet if we come to them and submit to them in faith, they are
afterwards transfigured, and we feel that it has been good for us to be
there; and we have a testimony, as a reward of our obedience, that Christ
has fulfilled His promise, and, as He said, is here through the Spirit,
though He be with the Father.
May He enable us to make full trial of His bounty,
and to obtain a full measure of blessing. "There is a river, the streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles
of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God
shall help her and that right early ... Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The
Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." [Ps. xlvi. 4,
5, 10, 11.]
Copyright © 2000 by Bob Elder. All rights reserved.
Used with permission. See the Newman website:
http://www.newmanreader.org/index.html
