Divine Comfort!
"As a mother comforts her child - so will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem" (Isaiah 66:13).
The condescending love of God to sinners is most astonishing. Though He is the High and Lofty One - yet He knows, pities, and cares for us - sinful, frail, dying men and women.
Human language is insufficient to express the heights and depths of Divine compassion. Though the most striking metaphors have been adopted by the sacred writers, they do but imperfectly express it.
OBSERVE
1. Believers are frequently placed in circumstances in which they need the comfort of their Divine Parent. Yes, from the birth of their spiritual life, to its consummation in glory - they are never without need of Divine Comfort. They are called "babes in Christ," and that term is indicative of what they need. Babes are weak and helpless. Even as a child comes into the world, naked, helpless, and crying - so the sinner when he is born again, is naked, wretched, and mourns for sin, cries out in distress for mercy. They therefore need the arm of Omnipotence to uphold and defend them, and Infinite Love to nourish and sustain them. They are ignorant, and require to be taught of God, by His Spirit, in His school. They are liable to error. Sometimes deceived by the crafty - they go astray - they decline in spirituality, and are occasionally in spiritual darkness. They need comfort. They are subject to spiritual conflicts, arising from the flesh, and satan, and the world with its allurements, its smiles, and frowns, its cares and anxieties. They have conflict from wicked, persecuting men. They have conflict from afflictions, bereavements, and death. They need comfort.
2. God is the source of comfort to His people. "As a mother comforts her child - so will I comfort you." He is called "The Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles." (2 Cor. 1:3-4. Also, "God, who comforts the downcast" (2 Cor. 7:6). God has provided: A comforting atonement. This is a comfortable and safe refuge - a hiding place. He is a comforting advocate. He makes intercession for us. He is a comforting Spirit, to enlighten, quicken, guide, witness, sanctify, and seal. His comforting presence, "Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Matt. 28:20; Heb. 13:5).
His comforting Hope of Glory. "In my Father's house, an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - reserved in heaven for you" (1Peter 1:4). God's comfort is superior to all human comfort.
3. That Divine Comfort is most endearing and effective. "As a mother comforts her child - so will I comfort you". This is a beautiful and striking comparison. No other relationship can so expressively represent the parental kindness of God, as an affectionate mother caring for her beloved child. God will comfort His people with all the affection and solicitude of a mother. A mother watches over and defends her child. So does our heavenly Father. A mother cares for and provides. And my God will meet all you needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
God will comfort His people with all the patience and forbearance of a mother. "For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust" "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness" (Psalm 103:14; 103:8).
God will comfort His people with all the forgiveness and consolation of a mother. He will instruct and correct as a mother would. God comforts with constancy. "Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end!" (John 13:1).
4. That this comfort is specially imparted in the house of God. It is the place appointed for His people to wait for and receive comfort. It is the place where He delights to dwell and meet His people. It is there where the Holy Spirit is poured out to comfort. Praise, prayer, study of God's Word there also yields comfort.
Application
Are we the children of God? Have we sensible tokens of His comfort? How terrible must be God's frown!
~William Nicholson~
(The End)
Saturday, August 25, 2018
Saturday, August 18, 2018
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 5
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 5
Some people fancy that Paul's words to the Corinthians, "The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" (1 Cor. 10:16), are enough to prove a bodily presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper. But unfortunately for their argument, Paul does not say, "The bread is the body," but the "communion of the body." And the obvious sense of the words is this: "The bread that a worthy communicant eats in the Lord's Supper is a mean whereby his soul holds communion with the body of Christ." Nor do I believe that more than this can e go out of the words. Above all, there remains the unanswerable argument, that if our Lord was actually holding His own body in His hands, when He said of the bread, "This is My body," His body must have been a different body to that of ordinary men. Of course if His body was not a body like ours, His real and proper "humanity" is at an end. At this rate the blessed and comfortable doctrine of Christ's entire sympathy with His people arising from the fact that He is really and truly man, would be completely overthrown and fall to the ground.
Finally, if the body with which our blessed Lord ascended up into heaven can be in heaven, and on earth, and on ten thousand communion tables at one and the same time - it cannot be a real human body at all. Yet that He did ascend with a real human body, although a glorified body, is one of the prime articles of the Christian faith, and one that we ought never to let go! Once admit that a body can be present at God's right hand and on the communion table at the same moment, and it cannot be the body which was born of the Virgin Mary and crucified upon the Cross. From such a conclusion we may well draw back with horror and dismay!
Well says the Prayer book of the Church of England: "The sacramental bread and wine remain still in their very natural substances, and therefore may not be adored (for that is idolatry, to be abhorred by all faithful Christians); and the natural body and blood of our Saviour Christ are in heaven, and not here; it being against the truth of Christ's natural body to be at one time in more places than one." This is sound speech that cannot be condemned. Well would it be for the Church of England if all Churchmen would read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest what the Prayer book teaches about Christ's presence in the Lord's Supper. If we love our souls and desire their prosperity, let us be very jealous over our doctrine about the Lord's Supper. Let us stand fast on the simple teaching of Scripture, and let no one drive us from it, under the pretense of increased reverence for the ordinance of Christ.
Let us take heed, lest under confused and mystical notions of some inexplicable presence of Christ's body and blood under the form of bread and wine, we find ourselves unawares heretics about Christ's human nature. Next to the doctrine that Christ is not God - but only man, there is nothing more dangerous than the doctrine that Christ is not man - but only God. If we would not fall into that pit, we must hold firmly that there can be no literal presence of Christ's body in the Lord's Supper, because His body is in heaven, and not on earth, though as God He is everywhere. Let us now go one step further, and bring our whole subject to a conclusion.
(d) There will be a real bodily presence of Christ when He COMES AGAIN the second time to judge the world. This is a point about which the Bible speaks so plainly, that there is no room left for dispute or doubt. There can be no mistake about the meaning of these words. Visibly and bodily our Lord left the world, and visibly and bodily He will return in the day which is emphatically called the day of "His appearing" (1 Peter 1:7). The world is not yet done with Christ. Myriads talk and think of Him as of One who did His work in the world and passed on to His own place, like some statesman or philosopher, leaving nothing but His memory behind Him. The world will be fearfully undeceived one day. That same Jesus who came centuries ago in lowliness and poverty, to be despised and crucified - shall come again one day in power and glory, to raise the dead and change the living, and to reward every man according to his works.
The wicked shall see that Saviour whom they despised - but too late, and shall call on the rocks to fall on them and hide them from the face of the Lamb! The godly shall see the Saviour whom they have believed - that the half of His goodness had not been known! They shall find that sight is far better than faith, and that in Christ's actual presence is fullness of joy!
I now leave the whole subject with a parting word of APPLICATION, and commend it to serious attention.
1. What do we know of Christ for ourselves? We call ourselves Christians. But what do we know of Christ experimentally, as our own personal Saviour, Priest, Friend, Healer, Comforter, Pardoner, and the confidence of our souls?
2. Let us not rest until we feel Christ "present" in our own hearts, and know what it is to be one with Christ and Christ in us. This is real religion. To live in the habit of looking backward to Christ on the Cross, upward to Christ at God's right hand, and forward to Christ coming again - this is the only Christianity which gives comfort in life, and good hope in death. Let us remember this.
3. Let us keep continually before our minds, the second advent of Christ. and that real "presence" which is yet to come. Let our lions be girded, and our lamps burning, and ourselves like men daily waiting for their Master's return. Then, and then only, shall we have all the desires of our souls satisfied. Until then the less we expect from this world the better! Let our daily cry be: "Amen!Come Lord Jesus!"
~J. C. Ryle~
(The End)
Some people fancy that Paul's words to the Corinthians, "The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" (1 Cor. 10:16), are enough to prove a bodily presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper. But unfortunately for their argument, Paul does not say, "The bread is the body," but the "communion of the body." And the obvious sense of the words is this: "The bread that a worthy communicant eats in the Lord's Supper is a mean whereby his soul holds communion with the body of Christ." Nor do I believe that more than this can e go out of the words. Above all, there remains the unanswerable argument, that if our Lord was actually holding His own body in His hands, when He said of the bread, "This is My body," His body must have been a different body to that of ordinary men. Of course if His body was not a body like ours, His real and proper "humanity" is at an end. At this rate the blessed and comfortable doctrine of Christ's entire sympathy with His people arising from the fact that He is really and truly man, would be completely overthrown and fall to the ground.
Finally, if the body with which our blessed Lord ascended up into heaven can be in heaven, and on earth, and on ten thousand communion tables at one and the same time - it cannot be a real human body at all. Yet that He did ascend with a real human body, although a glorified body, is one of the prime articles of the Christian faith, and one that we ought never to let go! Once admit that a body can be present at God's right hand and on the communion table at the same moment, and it cannot be the body which was born of the Virgin Mary and crucified upon the Cross. From such a conclusion we may well draw back with horror and dismay!
Well says the Prayer book of the Church of England: "The sacramental bread and wine remain still in their very natural substances, and therefore may not be adored (for that is idolatry, to be abhorred by all faithful Christians); and the natural body and blood of our Saviour Christ are in heaven, and not here; it being against the truth of Christ's natural body to be at one time in more places than one." This is sound speech that cannot be condemned. Well would it be for the Church of England if all Churchmen would read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest what the Prayer book teaches about Christ's presence in the Lord's Supper. If we love our souls and desire their prosperity, let us be very jealous over our doctrine about the Lord's Supper. Let us stand fast on the simple teaching of Scripture, and let no one drive us from it, under the pretense of increased reverence for the ordinance of Christ.
Let us take heed, lest under confused and mystical notions of some inexplicable presence of Christ's body and blood under the form of bread and wine, we find ourselves unawares heretics about Christ's human nature. Next to the doctrine that Christ is not God - but only man, there is nothing more dangerous than the doctrine that Christ is not man - but only God. If we would not fall into that pit, we must hold firmly that there can be no literal presence of Christ's body in the Lord's Supper, because His body is in heaven, and not on earth, though as God He is everywhere. Let us now go one step further, and bring our whole subject to a conclusion.
(d) There will be a real bodily presence of Christ when He COMES AGAIN the second time to judge the world. This is a point about which the Bible speaks so plainly, that there is no room left for dispute or doubt. There can be no mistake about the meaning of these words. Visibly and bodily our Lord left the world, and visibly and bodily He will return in the day which is emphatically called the day of "His appearing" (1 Peter 1:7). The world is not yet done with Christ. Myriads talk and think of Him as of One who did His work in the world and passed on to His own place, like some statesman or philosopher, leaving nothing but His memory behind Him. The world will be fearfully undeceived one day. That same Jesus who came centuries ago in lowliness and poverty, to be despised and crucified - shall come again one day in power and glory, to raise the dead and change the living, and to reward every man according to his works.
The wicked shall see that Saviour whom they despised - but too late, and shall call on the rocks to fall on them and hide them from the face of the Lamb! The godly shall see the Saviour whom they have believed - that the half of His goodness had not been known! They shall find that sight is far better than faith, and that in Christ's actual presence is fullness of joy!
I now leave the whole subject with a parting word of APPLICATION, and commend it to serious attention.
1. What do we know of Christ for ourselves? We call ourselves Christians. But what do we know of Christ experimentally, as our own personal Saviour, Priest, Friend, Healer, Comforter, Pardoner, and the confidence of our souls?
2. Let us not rest until we feel Christ "present" in our own hearts, and know what it is to be one with Christ and Christ in us. This is real religion. To live in the habit of looking backward to Christ on the Cross, upward to Christ at God's right hand, and forward to Christ coming again - this is the only Christianity which gives comfort in life, and good hope in death. Let us remember this.
3. Let us keep continually before our minds, the second advent of Christ. and that real "presence" which is yet to come. Let our lions be girded, and our lamps burning, and ourselves like men daily waiting for their Master's return. Then, and then only, shall we have all the desires of our souls satisfied. Until then the less we expect from this world the better! Let our daily cry be: "Amen!Come Lord Jesus!"
~J. C. Ryle~
(The End)
Saturday, August 11, 2018
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 4
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 4
(b) There is a real bodily presence of Jesus Christ in HEAVEN at the right hand of God. This is a deep and mysterious subject, beyond question. What God the Father is, and where He dwells, what the nature of His dwelling place who is a Spirit - these are high things which we have no comprehension to take in. But where the Bible speaks plainly - it is our duty and our wisdom to believe. When our Lord rose again from the dead, He rose with a real human body - a body which could not be in two places at once - a body of which the angels said, "He is not here - but is risen" (Luke 24:6). In that body, having finished His redeeming work on earth. He ascended visibly into heaven. He took His body with Him, and did not leave it behind, like Elijah's mantle. It was not laid in the grave at last, and did not become dust and ashes in some Syrian village, like the bodies of saints and martyrs. That same body after the resurrection glorified undoubtedly - but still real and material - was taken up into heaven, and is there at this very moment.
To use the inspired words of the Acts, "While they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight" (Acts 1:9). To use the words of Luke's Gospel, "While He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven" (Luke 24:51). The fourth article of the Church of England states the whole matter fully and accurately: "Christ did truly rise again from death, and took again His body, with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature wherewith He ascended into heaven, and there sits, until He return to judge all men at the last day". And thus, to come round to the point with which we started - there is in heaven a real bodily presence of Jesus Christ.
The doctrine before us is singularly rich in comfort and consolation to all true Christians. That Divine Saviour in heaven, on whom the Gospel tells us to cast the burden of our sinful souls, is not a Being who is Spirit only - but a Being who is man - as well as God. He is One who has taken up to heaven a body
like our own; and in that body sits at the right hand of God, to be our Priest and our Advocate, our Representative and our Friend. He can be touches with the feeling of our infirmities, because He has suffered Himself in the body being tempted. He knows by experience all that the body is liable to - from pain, and weariness, and hunger, and thirst, and work; and has taken to heaven that very body which endured the contradiction of sinners and was nailed to a tree!
(c) There is NO real bodily presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, or in the consecrated elements of bread and wine. This is a point which it is peculiarly painful to discuss, because it has long divided Christians into two parties, and defiled a very solemn subject with sharp controversy. Nevertheless, it is one which cannot possibly be avoided in handling the question we are considering. Moreover, it is a point of vast importance, and demands very plain speaking.
Those amiable and well-meaning people who imagine that it signifies little, what opinion people hold about Christ's presence in the Lord's Supper - that it is a matter of indifference and that it all comes to the same thing at last - are totally and entirely mistaken. They have yet to learn that an unscriptural view of the subject may land them at length in a very dangerous heresy. Let us search and see.
My reason for saying that there is no bodily presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, or in the consecrated bread and wine, is simply this: there is no such presence taught anywhere in Holy Scripture. It is a presence that can never be honestly and fairly gotten out of the Bible. Let the three accounts of the Lord's Supper, in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and the one given by Paul to the Corinthians, be weighed and examined impartially, and I have no doubt as to the result. They teach that the Lord Jesus, in the same night that He was betrayed, took bread, and gave it to His disciples, saying, 'Take and eat it; this is My Body;" and also took the cup of wine, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood."
But there is nothing in the simple narrative, or in the verses which follow it, which shows that the disciples thought their Master's body and blood were really present in the bread and wine which they received. There is not a word in the epistles to show that after our Lord's ascension into heaven, that the Christians believed that His body and blood were present in an ordinance celebrated on earth; or that the bread in the Lord's Supper, after consecration, was not truly and literally bread, and the wine truly and literally wine.
Some people I am aware, suppose that such texts as "This is My body," and "This is My blood," are proofs that Christ's body and blood, in some mysterious manner, are locally present in the bread and wine at the Lord's Supper, and their consecration. But a man must be easily satisfied if such texts content him. The quotation of a single isolated phrase is a mode of arguing which would establish Arianism or Socinianism.
The context of these famous expressions shows clearly that those who heard the words used, and were accustomed to our Lord's mode of speaking, understood them to mean "This represents My body," and "This represents my blood." The comparison of other places proves that there is nothing unfair in this interpretation. It is certain that the words "is" and "are" frequently mean represent in Scripture.
Some people, again, regard the sixth chapter of John, where our Lord speaks of "eating His flesh and drinking His blood," as a proof that there is literal bodily presence of Christ in the bread and wine at the Lord's Supper. But there is an utter absence of conclusive proof that this chapter refers to the Lord's Supper at all! The Lord's Supper had not been instituted, and did not exist, until at least a year after these words were spoken. Enough to say, that the great majority of Protestant commentators altogether deny that the chapter refers to the Lord's Supper, and that even some Romish commentators on this point agree with them. The eat and drinking here spoken of are the eating and drinking of FAITH - and not a bodily action.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 5)
(b) There is a real bodily presence of Jesus Christ in HEAVEN at the right hand of God. This is a deep and mysterious subject, beyond question. What God the Father is, and where He dwells, what the nature of His dwelling place who is a Spirit - these are high things which we have no comprehension to take in. But where the Bible speaks plainly - it is our duty and our wisdom to believe. When our Lord rose again from the dead, He rose with a real human body - a body which could not be in two places at once - a body of which the angels said, "He is not here - but is risen" (Luke 24:6). In that body, having finished His redeeming work on earth. He ascended visibly into heaven. He took His body with Him, and did not leave it behind, like Elijah's mantle. It was not laid in the grave at last, and did not become dust and ashes in some Syrian village, like the bodies of saints and martyrs. That same body after the resurrection glorified undoubtedly - but still real and material - was taken up into heaven, and is there at this very moment.
To use the inspired words of the Acts, "While they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight" (Acts 1:9). To use the words of Luke's Gospel, "While He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven" (Luke 24:51). The fourth article of the Church of England states the whole matter fully and accurately: "Christ did truly rise again from death, and took again His body, with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature wherewith He ascended into heaven, and there sits, until He return to judge all men at the last day". And thus, to come round to the point with which we started - there is in heaven a real bodily presence of Jesus Christ.
The doctrine before us is singularly rich in comfort and consolation to all true Christians. That Divine Saviour in heaven, on whom the Gospel tells us to cast the burden of our sinful souls, is not a Being who is Spirit only - but a Being who is man - as well as God. He is One who has taken up to heaven a body
like our own; and in that body sits at the right hand of God, to be our Priest and our Advocate, our Representative and our Friend. He can be touches with the feeling of our infirmities, because He has suffered Himself in the body being tempted. He knows by experience all that the body is liable to - from pain, and weariness, and hunger, and thirst, and work; and has taken to heaven that very body which endured the contradiction of sinners and was nailed to a tree!
(c) There is NO real bodily presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, or in the consecrated elements of bread and wine. This is a point which it is peculiarly painful to discuss, because it has long divided Christians into two parties, and defiled a very solemn subject with sharp controversy. Nevertheless, it is one which cannot possibly be avoided in handling the question we are considering. Moreover, it is a point of vast importance, and demands very plain speaking.
Those amiable and well-meaning people who imagine that it signifies little, what opinion people hold about Christ's presence in the Lord's Supper - that it is a matter of indifference and that it all comes to the same thing at last - are totally and entirely mistaken. They have yet to learn that an unscriptural view of the subject may land them at length in a very dangerous heresy. Let us search and see.
My reason for saying that there is no bodily presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, or in the consecrated bread and wine, is simply this: there is no such presence taught anywhere in Holy Scripture. It is a presence that can never be honestly and fairly gotten out of the Bible. Let the three accounts of the Lord's Supper, in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and the one given by Paul to the Corinthians, be weighed and examined impartially, and I have no doubt as to the result. They teach that the Lord Jesus, in the same night that He was betrayed, took bread, and gave it to His disciples, saying, 'Take and eat it; this is My Body;" and also took the cup of wine, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood."
But there is nothing in the simple narrative, or in the verses which follow it, which shows that the disciples thought their Master's body and blood were really present in the bread and wine which they received. There is not a word in the epistles to show that after our Lord's ascension into heaven, that the Christians believed that His body and blood were present in an ordinance celebrated on earth; or that the bread in the Lord's Supper, after consecration, was not truly and literally bread, and the wine truly and literally wine.
Some people I am aware, suppose that such texts as "This is My body," and "This is My blood," are proofs that Christ's body and blood, in some mysterious manner, are locally present in the bread and wine at the Lord's Supper, and their consecration. But a man must be easily satisfied if such texts content him. The quotation of a single isolated phrase is a mode of arguing which would establish Arianism or Socinianism.
The context of these famous expressions shows clearly that those who heard the words used, and were accustomed to our Lord's mode of speaking, understood them to mean "This represents My body," and "This represents my blood." The comparison of other places proves that there is nothing unfair in this interpretation. It is certain that the words "is" and "are" frequently mean represent in Scripture.
Some people, again, regard the sixth chapter of John, where our Lord speaks of "eating His flesh and drinking His blood," as a proof that there is literal bodily presence of Christ in the bread and wine at the Lord's Supper. But there is an utter absence of conclusive proof that this chapter refers to the Lord's Supper at all! The Lord's Supper had not been instituted, and did not exist, until at least a year after these words were spoken. Enough to say, that the great majority of Protestant commentators altogether deny that the chapter refers to the Lord's Supper, and that even some Romish commentators on this point agree with them. The eat and drinking here spoken of are the eating and drinking of FAITH - and not a bodily action.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 5)
The Real Prescnce - What Is It? # 3
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 3
(c) There is a real spiritual "presence" of Christ wherever His believing people meet together in His name. This is the plain meaning of His saying, "Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name - there I am in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20). The smallest gathering of true Christians for the purposes of prayer or praise, or holy conference, or reading God's Word - is sanctified by the best of company! The great or rich or noble may not be there - but the King of kings Himself is present - and angels look on with reverence!
The grandest buildings that men have reared for religious uses, are often no better than whitened sepulchers - destitute of any holy influence - because they are given up to superstitious ceremonies, and filled to no purpose with crowds of formal worshipers, who come unfeeling, and go unfeeling away. No worship is of any use to souls - at which Christ is not present! Incense, banners, pictures, flowers, crucifixes, and long processions of richly dressed ecclesiastics - are a poor substitute for the great High Priest Himself!
The poorest room where a few penitent believers assemble in the name of Jesus - is a consecrated and most holy place in the sight of God! Those who worship God in spirit and truth - never draw near to Him in vain. Often they go home from such meetings warmed, cheered, established, strengthened, comforted, and refreshed! And what is the secret of their feelings? They have had with them the great Master of assemblies - Jesus Christ Himself!
(d) There is a real spiritual "presence" of Christ with the hearts of all true-hearted communicants in the Lord's Supper. Rejecting as I do, with all my heart, the baseless notion of any bodily presence of Christ in the Lord's table, I can never doubt that the great ordinance appointed by Christ has a special and peculiar blessing attached to it. That blessing, I believe, consists in a special and peculiar presence of Christ, given to the heart of every believing communicant. That truth appears to me to lie under those wonderful words of institution, "Take and eat it - for this is My body". Drink from it, all of you - for this is My blood." Those words were never meant to teach that the bread in the Lord's Supper was literally Christ's body, or the wine literally Christ's blood. But our Lord did mean to teach that every right-hearted believer, who ate that bread and drank that wine in remembrance of Christ, would in so doing - find a special presence of Christ in his heart, and a special revelation of Christ's sacrifice of His own body and blood to his soul.
Eating the bread with faith - he feels closer communion with the body of Christ. Drinking the wine with faith - he feels closer communion with the blood of Christ. He sees more clearly what is to him - and what he is to Christ. He understands more thoroughly what it is - to be one with Christ and Christ in him. He feels the roots of his spiritual life insensibly watered, and the work of grace within him insensibly built up and carried forward. He cannot explain it or define it. It is a matter of experience, which no one knows but he who feels it. Jesus meets with those who draw near to His table with a true heart - in a special and peculiar way!
(e) Last - but not least, there is a real spiritual "presence" of Christ, given to believers in special times of trouble and difficulty. This is the presence of which Paul received assurance on more than one occasion. At Corinth, it is written "Then the Lord said to Paul in a night vision - Don't be afraid, but keep on speaking and don't be silent. For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city" (Acts 18:9, 10). At Jerusalem, when the Apostle was in danger of his life, it is written, "The following night, the Lord stood by him and said - Have courage! For as you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome" (Acts 23:11). Paul also wrote, "At my first defense, no one came to my assistance, but everyone deserted me. May it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth" (2 Tim. 4:16, 17).
This special presence of Christ with His people - is the reason for the singular and miraculous courage which many of God's children have occasionally shown under circumstances of unusual trial, in every age of the church. When the three Hebrew children were cast into the fiery furnace and preferred to die, rather than commit idolatry, we are told that Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed; "Look! I see four men, not tied, walking around in the fire unharmed; and the fourth looks like a Son of God." (Dan. 3:25). When Stephen was beset by bloody-minded enemies on the very point of stoning him, we read that he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God!" (Acts 7:56).
Nor ought we to doubt that this special presence was the secret of the fearlessness with which many early Christian martyrs met their deaths, and the marvelous courage which the Marian martyrs, such as Bradford, Latimer, and Rogers, displayed at the stake. A peculiar sense of Christ being with them, is the right explanation of all these cases. These men died as they did - because Christ was with them. Nor ought any believer to fear that the same helping presence will be with him - whenever his own time of special need arrives.
This branch of our subject deserves to be pondered well. This spiritual presence of Christ is a real and true thing, though a thing which the children of this world neither know - nor understand. I repeat emphatically, that the spiritual presence of Christ - His presence with the hearts and spirits of His own people - is a real and true thing. Let us not doubt it. Let us seek to feel it more and more. The man who feels nothing whatever of it in his own heart's experience, may depend on it that he is not yet in a right state of soul.
3. The last point which I propose to consider is the real BODILY presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. Where is it? What ought we to think about it? What ought we to reject, and what ought we to hold fast? This is a branch of my subject on which it is most important to have clear and well-defined views. There are rocks around it on which many are making shipwreck. Whatever the Bible teaches plainly about Christ's bodily presence - it is our duty to hold and believe. To shrink from holding it - because we cannot reconcile it with some human tradition, some minister's teaching, or some early prejudice imbibed in youth - is presumption, and not humility. To the law and to the testimony! What do the Scriptures say about Christ's bodily presence? Let us examine the matter step by step.
(a) There was a bodily presence of our Lord Jesus Christ during the time when He was upon EARTH at His first advent. For thirty-three years, between His birth and His ascension, He was present in a body in this world. In infinite mercy to our souls, the eternal Son of God was pleased to take our nature on Him, and to be miraculously born of a woman, with a body just like our own. Like us He ate, and drank, and slept, and hungered, and thirsted, and wept, and felt fatigue and pain. He had a body which was subject to all the conditions of a material body. He kept the law, and fulfilled all righteousness, and in a real, true human body He bore our sins on the Cross, and made satisfaction for us by His atoning blood. He who died for us on Calvary was perfect man, while at the same time He was perfect God.
The battle was fought for us, and the victory was won by the eternal Word made flesh - by the real bodily presence among us of Jesus Christ. Forever let us praise God that Christ did not remain in heaven - but came into the world and was made flesh to save sinners; that in the body, He was born for us, lived for us, died for us, and rose again. Whether men know it or not, our whole hope of eternal life hinges on the simple fact, that nineteen hundred years ago there was a real bodily presence of the Son of God for us on the earth.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 4)
(c) There is a real spiritual "presence" of Christ wherever His believing people meet together in His name. This is the plain meaning of His saying, "Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name - there I am in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20). The smallest gathering of true Christians for the purposes of prayer or praise, or holy conference, or reading God's Word - is sanctified by the best of company! The great or rich or noble may not be there - but the King of kings Himself is present - and angels look on with reverence!
The grandest buildings that men have reared for religious uses, are often no better than whitened sepulchers - destitute of any holy influence - because they are given up to superstitious ceremonies, and filled to no purpose with crowds of formal worshipers, who come unfeeling, and go unfeeling away. No worship is of any use to souls - at which Christ is not present! Incense, banners, pictures, flowers, crucifixes, and long processions of richly dressed ecclesiastics - are a poor substitute for the great High Priest Himself!
The poorest room where a few penitent believers assemble in the name of Jesus - is a consecrated and most holy place in the sight of God! Those who worship God in spirit and truth - never draw near to Him in vain. Often they go home from such meetings warmed, cheered, established, strengthened, comforted, and refreshed! And what is the secret of their feelings? They have had with them the great Master of assemblies - Jesus Christ Himself!
(d) There is a real spiritual "presence" of Christ with the hearts of all true-hearted communicants in the Lord's Supper. Rejecting as I do, with all my heart, the baseless notion of any bodily presence of Christ in the Lord's table, I can never doubt that the great ordinance appointed by Christ has a special and peculiar blessing attached to it. That blessing, I believe, consists in a special and peculiar presence of Christ, given to the heart of every believing communicant. That truth appears to me to lie under those wonderful words of institution, "Take and eat it - for this is My body". Drink from it, all of you - for this is My blood." Those words were never meant to teach that the bread in the Lord's Supper was literally Christ's body, or the wine literally Christ's blood. But our Lord did mean to teach that every right-hearted believer, who ate that bread and drank that wine in remembrance of Christ, would in so doing - find a special presence of Christ in his heart, and a special revelation of Christ's sacrifice of His own body and blood to his soul.
Eating the bread with faith - he feels closer communion with the body of Christ. Drinking the wine with faith - he feels closer communion with the blood of Christ. He sees more clearly what is to him - and what he is to Christ. He understands more thoroughly what it is - to be one with Christ and Christ in him. He feels the roots of his spiritual life insensibly watered, and the work of grace within him insensibly built up and carried forward. He cannot explain it or define it. It is a matter of experience, which no one knows but he who feels it. Jesus meets with those who draw near to His table with a true heart - in a special and peculiar way!
(e) Last - but not least, there is a real spiritual "presence" of Christ, given to believers in special times of trouble and difficulty. This is the presence of which Paul received assurance on more than one occasion. At Corinth, it is written "Then the Lord said to Paul in a night vision - Don't be afraid, but keep on speaking and don't be silent. For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city" (Acts 18:9, 10). At Jerusalem, when the Apostle was in danger of his life, it is written, "The following night, the Lord stood by him and said - Have courage! For as you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome" (Acts 23:11). Paul also wrote, "At my first defense, no one came to my assistance, but everyone deserted me. May it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth" (2 Tim. 4:16, 17).
This special presence of Christ with His people - is the reason for the singular and miraculous courage which many of God's children have occasionally shown under circumstances of unusual trial, in every age of the church. When the three Hebrew children were cast into the fiery furnace and preferred to die, rather than commit idolatry, we are told that Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed; "Look! I see four men, not tied, walking around in the fire unharmed; and the fourth looks like a Son of God." (Dan. 3:25). When Stephen was beset by bloody-minded enemies on the very point of stoning him, we read that he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God!" (Acts 7:56).
Nor ought we to doubt that this special presence was the secret of the fearlessness with which many early Christian martyrs met their deaths, and the marvelous courage which the Marian martyrs, such as Bradford, Latimer, and Rogers, displayed at the stake. A peculiar sense of Christ being with them, is the right explanation of all these cases. These men died as they did - because Christ was with them. Nor ought any believer to fear that the same helping presence will be with him - whenever his own time of special need arrives.
This branch of our subject deserves to be pondered well. This spiritual presence of Christ is a real and true thing, though a thing which the children of this world neither know - nor understand. I repeat emphatically, that the spiritual presence of Christ - His presence with the hearts and spirits of His own people - is a real and true thing. Let us not doubt it. Let us seek to feel it more and more. The man who feels nothing whatever of it in his own heart's experience, may depend on it that he is not yet in a right state of soul.
3. The last point which I propose to consider is the real BODILY presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. Where is it? What ought we to think about it? What ought we to reject, and what ought we to hold fast? This is a branch of my subject on which it is most important to have clear and well-defined views. There are rocks around it on which many are making shipwreck. Whatever the Bible teaches plainly about Christ's bodily presence - it is our duty to hold and believe. To shrink from holding it - because we cannot reconcile it with some human tradition, some minister's teaching, or some early prejudice imbibed in youth - is presumption, and not humility. To the law and to the testimony! What do the Scriptures say about Christ's bodily presence? Let us examine the matter step by step.
(a) There was a bodily presence of our Lord Jesus Christ during the time when He was upon EARTH at His first advent. For thirty-three years, between His birth and His ascension, He was present in a body in this world. In infinite mercy to our souls, the eternal Son of God was pleased to take our nature on Him, and to be miraculously born of a woman, with a body just like our own. Like us He ate, and drank, and slept, and hungered, and thirsted, and wept, and felt fatigue and pain. He had a body which was subject to all the conditions of a material body. He kept the law, and fulfilled all righteousness, and in a real, true human body He bore our sins on the Cross, and made satisfaction for us by His atoning blood. He who died for us on Calvary was perfect man, while at the same time He was perfect God.
The battle was fought for us, and the victory was won by the eternal Word made flesh - by the real bodily presence among us of Jesus Christ. Forever let us praise God that Christ did not remain in heaven - but came into the world and was made flesh to save sinners; that in the body, He was born for us, lived for us, died for us, and rose again. Whether men know it or not, our whole hope of eternal life hinges on the simple fact, that nineteen hundred years ago there was a real bodily presence of the Son of God for us on the earth.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 4)
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 2
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 2
(c) The thought of God's presence - teaches the folly of hypocrisy in religion. What can be more silly and childish - than to wear a mere cloak of Christianity, while we inwardly cleave to sin, when God is ever looking at us and sees us through and through? It is easy to deceive ministers and fellow-Christians, because they often see us only on Sundays. But God sees us morning, noon, and night,and cannot be deceived! Oh, whatever we are in religion - let us be real and true!
(d) The thought of God's presence - is a check and curb on the inclination to sin. The recollection that there is One who is always near us and observing us, who will one day have a reckoning with all mankind - may well keep us back from evil! Happy are those sons and daughters who, when they leave the family home, and launch forth into the world, carry with them the abiding remembrance of God's eye. "My father and mother do not see me - but God does!"
(e) The thought of God's presence - is a spur to the pursuit of true holiness. The highest standard of sanctification is to "walk with God" as Enoch did, and to "walk before God" as Abraham did. Where is the man who would not strive to live so as to please God - if he realized that God was always standing at his elbow! To get away from God - is the secret aim of the sinner. To get nearer to God - is the longing desire of the saint. The real servants of the Lord are "a people near unto Him" (Psalm 148:14).
(f) The thought of God's presence - is a comfort in time of public calamity. When war and famine and pestilence break in upon a land, when the nations are torn by inward divisions, and all order seems in peril - it is cheering to reflect that God sees and knows and is close at hand - that the King of kings is near, and is not asleep.
(g) The thought of God's presence - is a strong consolation in private trial. We may be driven from home and native land - and placed at the other side of the world; we may be bereaved of wife and children and friends - and left alone in our family, lie the last tree in a forest. But we can never go to any place where God is not; and under no circumstances can we be left entirely alone.
Such thought as these, are useful and profitable for us all. Let it be a settled principle in our religion - never to forget that in every condition and place - that we are under the eye of God! It need not frighten us - if we are true believers! "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life!" (Psalm 139:23, 24). Great is the mystery of God's presence everywhere at all times, but the true man of God can look at it without fear!
2. The second thing which I propose to consider - is the real SPIRITUAL presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. In considering this branch of our subject, we must carefully remember that we are speaking of One who is both God and man in one Person. We are speaking of One who is infinite love to our souls - took man's nature, and was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, dead, and buried - to be a sacrifice for sins, and yet never ceased for a moment to be fully God. The peculiar "presence" of this blessed Person, our Lord Jesus Christ, with His church, is the point which I want to unfold in this part of my paper. I want to show that He is really and truly present with His believing people, spiritually - and that His presence is one of the grand privileges of a true Christian. What then is the real spiritual "presence" of Christ, and wherein does it consist?
(a) There is a real spiritual presence of Christ with that CHURCH which is His mystical body - the blessed company of all faithful people. This is the meaning of that parting saying of our Lord to His Apostles, "I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Matt. 27:20). To the visible Church of Christ - that saying did not strictly belong. Torn by divisions, defiled by heresies, disgraced by superstitions and corruptions, the visible Church has often given mournful proof that Christ does not always dwell in it! Many of its branches in the course of years, like the Churches of Asia, have decayed and passed away! Christ's special presence, is with the universal, invisible Church, composed of God's elect - the Church of which every member is truly sanctified, the Church of believing and penitent men and women - this is the Church to which alone, strictly speaking, the promise belongs! This is the Church in which there is always a real spiritual "presence" of Christ.
There is not a visible Church on earth, however ancient and well-ordered - which is secure against falling away. Scripture and history alike testify that, like the Jewish Church - it may become corrupt, and depart from the faith - and departing from the faith, it may die. And why is this? Simply because Christ has never promised to any visible Church that He will be with it always, even unto the end of the world. The word that He inspired Paul to write to the Roman Church - is the same word that He sends to every visible Church throughout the world. "Be not high-minded, but fear! Continue in God's goodness, otherwise you also shall be cut off!" (Romans 9:20-22).
On the other hand, the perpetual presence of Christ with that universal, invisible Church, which is His body - is the great secret of its continuance and security! It lives on, and cannot die, because Jesus Christ is in the midst of it! It is a ship tossed with storm and tempest - but it cannot sink, because Christ is on board. Its members may be persecuted, oppressed, imprisoned, robbed, beaten, beheaded, or burned - but His true Church is never extinguished. The Pharaohs, the Herods, the Neros, the Julians, the bloody Marys, have labored in vain to destroy this Church. They slay their thousands - and then they go to their own eternal destiny! The true Church outlives them all. It is a bush which is often burning, and yet is never consumed. And what is the reason of all this? It is the perpetual "presence" of Jesus Christ with His people!
(b) There is a real spiritual "presence" of Christ in the heart of every true believer. This is what Paul meant when he speaks of "Christ dwelling in the heart by faith" (Eph. 3:17). This is what our Lord meant when He says of the man who loves him and keeps His Word, that "We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him" (John 14:23). In every believer, whether high or low, or rich or poor, or young or old, or feeble or strong - the Lord Jesus dwells, and keeps up His work of grace by the power of the Holy Spirit. As He dwells in the whole Church, which is His body - keeping, guarding, preserving, and sanctifying it - so does He continually dwell in every member of that body - in the least as well as the greatest.
This "presence" is the secret of all that peace, and hope, and joy, and comfort which believers feel. All spring from their having a Divine tenant within their hearts. This "presence" is the secret of their continuance in the faith, and perseverance unto the end. In themselves, they are weak and unstable as water. But they have within them, One who is "able to save to the uttermost," and will not allow His work to be overthrown. Not one lamb of Christ's flock shall ever be plucked out of His hand! The heart in which Christ is pleased to dwell, though it is weak - is one which the devil shall never break into and make his own!
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 3)
(c) The thought of God's presence - teaches the folly of hypocrisy in religion. What can be more silly and childish - than to wear a mere cloak of Christianity, while we inwardly cleave to sin, when God is ever looking at us and sees us through and through? It is easy to deceive ministers and fellow-Christians, because they often see us only on Sundays. But God sees us morning, noon, and night,and cannot be deceived! Oh, whatever we are in religion - let us be real and true!
(d) The thought of God's presence - is a check and curb on the inclination to sin. The recollection that there is One who is always near us and observing us, who will one day have a reckoning with all mankind - may well keep us back from evil! Happy are those sons and daughters who, when they leave the family home, and launch forth into the world, carry with them the abiding remembrance of God's eye. "My father and mother do not see me - but God does!"
(e) The thought of God's presence - is a spur to the pursuit of true holiness. The highest standard of sanctification is to "walk with God" as Enoch did, and to "walk before God" as Abraham did. Where is the man who would not strive to live so as to please God - if he realized that God was always standing at his elbow! To get away from God - is the secret aim of the sinner. To get nearer to God - is the longing desire of the saint. The real servants of the Lord are "a people near unto Him" (Psalm 148:14).
(f) The thought of God's presence - is a comfort in time of public calamity. When war and famine and pestilence break in upon a land, when the nations are torn by inward divisions, and all order seems in peril - it is cheering to reflect that God sees and knows and is close at hand - that the King of kings is near, and is not asleep.
(g) The thought of God's presence - is a strong consolation in private trial. We may be driven from home and native land - and placed at the other side of the world; we may be bereaved of wife and children and friends - and left alone in our family, lie the last tree in a forest. But we can never go to any place where God is not; and under no circumstances can we be left entirely alone.
Such thought as these, are useful and profitable for us all. Let it be a settled principle in our religion - never to forget that in every condition and place - that we are under the eye of God! It need not frighten us - if we are true believers! "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life!" (Psalm 139:23, 24). Great is the mystery of God's presence everywhere at all times, but the true man of God can look at it without fear!
2. The second thing which I propose to consider - is the real SPIRITUAL presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. In considering this branch of our subject, we must carefully remember that we are speaking of One who is both God and man in one Person. We are speaking of One who is infinite love to our souls - took man's nature, and was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, dead, and buried - to be a sacrifice for sins, and yet never ceased for a moment to be fully God. The peculiar "presence" of this blessed Person, our Lord Jesus Christ, with His church, is the point which I want to unfold in this part of my paper. I want to show that He is really and truly present with His believing people, spiritually - and that His presence is one of the grand privileges of a true Christian. What then is the real spiritual "presence" of Christ, and wherein does it consist?
(a) There is a real spiritual presence of Christ with that CHURCH which is His mystical body - the blessed company of all faithful people. This is the meaning of that parting saying of our Lord to His Apostles, "I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Matt. 27:20). To the visible Church of Christ - that saying did not strictly belong. Torn by divisions, defiled by heresies, disgraced by superstitions and corruptions, the visible Church has often given mournful proof that Christ does not always dwell in it! Many of its branches in the course of years, like the Churches of Asia, have decayed and passed away! Christ's special presence, is with the universal, invisible Church, composed of God's elect - the Church of which every member is truly sanctified, the Church of believing and penitent men and women - this is the Church to which alone, strictly speaking, the promise belongs! This is the Church in which there is always a real spiritual "presence" of Christ.
There is not a visible Church on earth, however ancient and well-ordered - which is secure against falling away. Scripture and history alike testify that, like the Jewish Church - it may become corrupt, and depart from the faith - and departing from the faith, it may die. And why is this? Simply because Christ has never promised to any visible Church that He will be with it always, even unto the end of the world. The word that He inspired Paul to write to the Roman Church - is the same word that He sends to every visible Church throughout the world. "Be not high-minded, but fear! Continue in God's goodness, otherwise you also shall be cut off!" (Romans 9:20-22).
On the other hand, the perpetual presence of Christ with that universal, invisible Church, which is His body - is the great secret of its continuance and security! It lives on, and cannot die, because Jesus Christ is in the midst of it! It is a ship tossed with storm and tempest - but it cannot sink, because Christ is on board. Its members may be persecuted, oppressed, imprisoned, robbed, beaten, beheaded, or burned - but His true Church is never extinguished. The Pharaohs, the Herods, the Neros, the Julians, the bloody Marys, have labored in vain to destroy this Church. They slay their thousands - and then they go to their own eternal destiny! The true Church outlives them all. It is a bush which is often burning, and yet is never consumed. And what is the reason of all this? It is the perpetual "presence" of Jesus Christ with His people!
(b) There is a real spiritual "presence" of Christ in the heart of every true believer. This is what Paul meant when he speaks of "Christ dwelling in the heart by faith" (Eph. 3:17). This is what our Lord meant when He says of the man who loves him and keeps His Word, that "We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him" (John 14:23). In every believer, whether high or low, or rich or poor, or young or old, or feeble or strong - the Lord Jesus dwells, and keeps up His work of grace by the power of the Holy Spirit. As He dwells in the whole Church, which is His body - keeping, guarding, preserving, and sanctifying it - so does He continually dwell in every member of that body - in the least as well as the greatest.
This "presence" is the secret of all that peace, and hope, and joy, and comfort which believers feel. All spring from their having a Divine tenant within their hearts. This "presence" is the secret of their continuance in the faith, and perseverance unto the end. In themselves, they are weak and unstable as water. But they have within them, One who is "able to save to the uttermost," and will not allow His work to be overthrown. Not one lamb of Christ's flock shall ever be plucked out of His hand! The heart in which Christ is pleased to dwell, though it is weak - is one which the devil shall never break into and make his own!
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 3)
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 1
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 1
"If Your Presence does not go with us - do not send us up from here!" (Exodus 33:15).
There is a word in the text which heads this page which demands the attention of all Christians in this day. That word is "presence". There is a religious subject bound up with that word, on which it is most important to have clear, distinct, and scriptural views. That subject is the "presence of God," and specially the "presence of our Lord Jesus Christ" with Christian people. What is that presence? Where is that presence? What is the nature of that presence? To these questions I propose to supply answers.
1. I shall consider, firstly - the general doctrine of God's presence in the world.
2. I shall consider, secondly - the special doctrine of Christ's real spiritual presence.
3. I shall consider, thirdly - the special doctrine of Christ's real bodily presence.
The whole subject deserves serious thoughts. If we suppose that this is a mere question of controversy, which only concerns theological partisans, we have yet much to learn. It is a subject which lies at the very roots of saving religion. It is a subject which is inseparably tied up with one of the most precious articles of the Christian faith. It is a subject about which it is most dangerous to be wrong. Surely it is worth while to examine carefully the doctrine of the "presence" of God and of His Christ.
1. The first subject we have to consider is the general doctrine of GOD'S presence in the world. The teaching of the Bible on this point is clear, plain, and unmistakable. God is everywhere! There is no place in heaven or earth, where He is not! There is no place in air or land or sea, no place above ground or under ground, no place in town or country, no place in any country - where God is not present. Enter into your closet and lock the door - God is there. God is always near us - seeing, hearing, observing; knowing every action, and deed, and word, and whisper, and look and thought, and motive, and secret of everyone of us - wherever we are!
What says the Scripture? "His eyes watch over a man's ways, and He observes all his steps. There is no darkness, no deep darkness, where evildoers can hide themselves" (Job 34:21, 22). It is written in Proverbs, "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good!" (Proverbs 15:3). "Great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve" (Jeremiah 32:19).
"O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain! Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens - you are there; if I make my bed in the depths - you are there. If I rise on the wings of dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea - even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you!" (Psalm 139:1-2).
Such language as this, confounds and overwhelms us. The doctrine before us is one which we cannot fully understand. Precisely so. It is the weakness of our poor minds and intellects which we must blame. There are scores of things in the world around us, which few can understand or explain - yet no sensible man refuses to believe. And shall we, in the face of such facts, presume to doubt that God is everywhere present, for no better reason than this - that we cannot understand it? Let us never dare to say so again.
How many things there are about God Himself which we cannot possibly understand, and yet we must believe them, unless we are so senseless as to be atheists! Who can explain the eternity of God, the infinite power and wisdom of God, or the works of God in creation and providence? Who can comprehend a Being who is a Spirit, without body, parts, or passions? How can a material creature, who can only be in one place at one time, take in the idea of an immaterial Being, who existed before creation, who formed this world by His word out of nothing - and who can be everywhere and see everything at one and the same time! Where, in the word, is there a single attribute of God, which mortal man can thoroughly comprehend?
Where, then, is the common sense or wisdom of refusing to believe the doctrine of God being present everywhere, merely because our minds cannot take it in? "Can you fathom the mysteries of God: Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens - what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of hell - what can you know? (Job 11:7, 8). Let us have high and honorable thoughts of the God with whom we have to do while we live, and before whose bar we must stand when we die. Let us seek to have just notions of His power, His wisdom, His eternity, His holiness, His perfect knowledge, His presence everywhere.
One half the sin committed by mankind, arises from wrong views of their Maker and Judge. Men are reckless and wicked, because they do not think that God sees them. They do things they would never do - if they really believed they were under the eyes of the Almighty God! It is written, "You thought that I was altogether such an one as yourself" (Psalm 1:21). It is written again, "They say, 'The Lord doesn't see it! The God of Jacob doesn't pay attention!' Is the one who made your ears deaf? Is the one who formed your eyes blind? He punishes the nations - won't He also punish you? He knows everything - doesn't He also know what you are doing?" (Psalm 94:7-10).
However hard it is to comprehend this doctrine - it is one which is most useful and wholesome for our souls. To keep continually in mind - that God is always present with us; to live always as in God's sight; to act and speak and think as always under His eye - all this is eminently calculated to have a good effect upon our souls. Wide, and deep, and searching, and piercing is the influence of that one thought, "You are the God who sees me!" (Genesis 16:13).
(a) The thought of God's presence - is a loud call to humility. How much which is evil and defective must the all-seeing eye - see in everyone of us! How small a part of our character is really known by man! "Man looks on the outward appearance - but the Lord looks on the heart!" (1 Sam. 16:7). Man does not always see us - but the Lord is always looking at us - morning, noon, and night! Who has not need to say, "God be merciful to me a sinner!"
(b) The thought of God's presence - is a crushing proof of our need of Jesus Christ. What hope of salvation could we have if there was not a Mediator between God and man? Before the eye of the ever-present God - our best righteousness is filthy rags - and our best doings are full of imperfection! Where would we be - if there was not a fountain open for all sin - even the blood of Christ! Without Christ - the prospect of death, judgment, and eternity would drive us to despair!
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 2)
"If Your Presence does not go with us - do not send us up from here!" (Exodus 33:15).
There is a word in the text which heads this page which demands the attention of all Christians in this day. That word is "presence". There is a religious subject bound up with that word, on which it is most important to have clear, distinct, and scriptural views. That subject is the "presence of God," and specially the "presence of our Lord Jesus Christ" with Christian people. What is that presence? Where is that presence? What is the nature of that presence? To these questions I propose to supply answers.
1. I shall consider, firstly - the general doctrine of God's presence in the world.
2. I shall consider, secondly - the special doctrine of Christ's real spiritual presence.
3. I shall consider, thirdly - the special doctrine of Christ's real bodily presence.
The whole subject deserves serious thoughts. If we suppose that this is a mere question of controversy, which only concerns theological partisans, we have yet much to learn. It is a subject which lies at the very roots of saving religion. It is a subject which is inseparably tied up with one of the most precious articles of the Christian faith. It is a subject about which it is most dangerous to be wrong. Surely it is worth while to examine carefully the doctrine of the "presence" of God and of His Christ.
1. The first subject we have to consider is the general doctrine of GOD'S presence in the world. The teaching of the Bible on this point is clear, plain, and unmistakable. God is everywhere! There is no place in heaven or earth, where He is not! There is no place in air or land or sea, no place above ground or under ground, no place in town or country, no place in any country - where God is not present. Enter into your closet and lock the door - God is there. God is always near us - seeing, hearing, observing; knowing every action, and deed, and word, and whisper, and look and thought, and motive, and secret of everyone of us - wherever we are!
What says the Scripture? "His eyes watch over a man's ways, and He observes all his steps. There is no darkness, no deep darkness, where evildoers can hide themselves" (Job 34:21, 22). It is written in Proverbs, "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good!" (Proverbs 15:3). "Great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve" (Jeremiah 32:19).
"O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain! Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens - you are there; if I make my bed in the depths - you are there. If I rise on the wings of dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea - even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you!" (Psalm 139:1-2).
Such language as this, confounds and overwhelms us. The doctrine before us is one which we cannot fully understand. Precisely so. It is the weakness of our poor minds and intellects which we must blame. There are scores of things in the world around us, which few can understand or explain - yet no sensible man refuses to believe. And shall we, in the face of such facts, presume to doubt that God is everywhere present, for no better reason than this - that we cannot understand it? Let us never dare to say so again.
How many things there are about God Himself which we cannot possibly understand, and yet we must believe them, unless we are so senseless as to be atheists! Who can explain the eternity of God, the infinite power and wisdom of God, or the works of God in creation and providence? Who can comprehend a Being who is a Spirit, without body, parts, or passions? How can a material creature, who can only be in one place at one time, take in the idea of an immaterial Being, who existed before creation, who formed this world by His word out of nothing - and who can be everywhere and see everything at one and the same time! Where, in the word, is there a single attribute of God, which mortal man can thoroughly comprehend?
Where, then, is the common sense or wisdom of refusing to believe the doctrine of God being present everywhere, merely because our minds cannot take it in? "Can you fathom the mysteries of God: Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens - what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of hell - what can you know? (Job 11:7, 8). Let us have high and honorable thoughts of the God with whom we have to do while we live, and before whose bar we must stand when we die. Let us seek to have just notions of His power, His wisdom, His eternity, His holiness, His perfect knowledge, His presence everywhere.
One half the sin committed by mankind, arises from wrong views of their Maker and Judge. Men are reckless and wicked, because they do not think that God sees them. They do things they would never do - if they really believed they were under the eyes of the Almighty God! It is written, "You thought that I was altogether such an one as yourself" (Psalm 1:21). It is written again, "They say, 'The Lord doesn't see it! The God of Jacob doesn't pay attention!' Is the one who made your ears deaf? Is the one who formed your eyes blind? He punishes the nations - won't He also punish you? He knows everything - doesn't He also know what you are doing?" (Psalm 94:7-10).
However hard it is to comprehend this doctrine - it is one which is most useful and wholesome for our souls. To keep continually in mind - that God is always present with us; to live always as in God's sight; to act and speak and think as always under His eye - all this is eminently calculated to have a good effect upon our souls. Wide, and deep, and searching, and piercing is the influence of that one thought, "You are the God who sees me!" (Genesis 16:13).
(a) The thought of God's presence - is a loud call to humility. How much which is evil and defective must the all-seeing eye - see in everyone of us! How small a part of our character is really known by man! "Man looks on the outward appearance - but the Lord looks on the heart!" (1 Sam. 16:7). Man does not always see us - but the Lord is always looking at us - morning, noon, and night! Who has not need to say, "God be merciful to me a sinner!"
(b) The thought of God's presence - is a crushing proof of our need of Jesus Christ. What hope of salvation could we have if there was not a Mediator between God and man? Before the eye of the ever-present God - our best righteousness is filthy rags - and our best doings are full of imperfection! Where would we be - if there was not a fountain open for all sin - even the blood of Christ! Without Christ - the prospect of death, judgment, and eternity would drive us to despair!
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 2)
Saturday, August 4, 2018
Thoughts On Immortality # 4
Thoughts On Immortality # 4
And all that our Lord Jesus Christ has purchased for us He offers freely to every one who will turn from his sins, come to Him, and believe. "I am the light of the world," He says - "he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink." "Him that comes unto Me I will never cast out." And the terms are as simple as the offer is free - "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." "Whoever believes on Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 8:12; Matt. 11:28; John 7:37; 6:37; Acts 16:31; John 3:16).
He who has Christ, has life. He can look round him on the "temporary things," and see change and decay on every side without dismay. He has got treasure in heaven, which neither rust nor moth can corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal. He can look forward to the "things eternal", and feel calm and composed. His Saviour has risen, and gone to prepare a place for him. When he leaves this world he shall have a crown of glory, and be forever with his Lord. He can look down even into the grave, as the wisest Greeks and Romans could never do, and say, "Oh, death, where is our sting? oh, grave, where is your victory? oh, eternity, where are your terrors?" (1 Cor. 15:55).
Let us all settle it firmly in our minds that the only way to pass through "things seen" with comfort, and look forward to "things unseen" without fear, is to have Christ for our Saviour and Friend, to lay hold on Christ by faith, to become one with Christ and Christ in us, and while we live in the flesh to live the life of faith in the Son of God. (Gal. 2:20). How vast is the difference between the state of him who has faith in Christ, and the state of him who has none! Blessed indeed is that man or woman who can say, with truth, "I trust in Jesus - I believe." He alone is rich, independent, and beyond the reach of harm. If you and I have no comfort amid temporary things, and no hope for the things eternal, the fault is all our own. It is because we "will not come to Christ, that we may have life" (John 5:40).
I leave the subject of eternity here, and pray that God may bless it to many souls. I offer a word of friendly exhortation.
(1) First of all, how are you using your TIME? Life is short and very uncertain. And you, what are you doing for your immortal soul? Are you wasting time, or turning it to good account. Are you preparing to meet God?
(2) Secondly, where shall you be in eternity? It is coming very fast upon us. You are going very fast into it. But where will you be? On the right hand or on the left in the day of judgment? Among the lost or among the saved? Oh, rest not, rest not until your soul is insured! Make sure - leave nothing uncertain.It is a fearful thing to die unprepared,and fall into hands of the living God.
(3) Thirdly, would you be safe for time and eternity? Then seek Christ, and believe in Him. Come to Him just as you are. Seek Him while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. There is still a throne of grace. It is not too late. Christ waits to be gracious - He invites you to come to Him. Before the door is shut and the judgment begins, repent, believe, and be saved.
(4) Lastly, would you be happy? Cling to Christ, and live the life of faith in Him. Abide in Him, and live near to Him. Follow Him with heart and soul and mind and strength, and seek to know Him better every day. So doing you shall have great peace while you pass through "temporary things," and in the midst of a dying world shall "never die." (John 11:26). So doing, you shall be able to look forward to "things eternal" with unfailing confidence, and to feel and "know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." (2 Corinthians 5:1).
~J. C. Ryle~
(The End)
And all that our Lord Jesus Christ has purchased for us He offers freely to every one who will turn from his sins, come to Him, and believe. "I am the light of the world," He says - "he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink." "Him that comes unto Me I will never cast out." And the terms are as simple as the offer is free - "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." "Whoever believes on Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 8:12; Matt. 11:28; John 7:37; 6:37; Acts 16:31; John 3:16).
He who has Christ, has life. He can look round him on the "temporary things," and see change and decay on every side without dismay. He has got treasure in heaven, which neither rust nor moth can corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal. He can look forward to the "things eternal", and feel calm and composed. His Saviour has risen, and gone to prepare a place for him. When he leaves this world he shall have a crown of glory, and be forever with his Lord. He can look down even into the grave, as the wisest Greeks and Romans could never do, and say, "Oh, death, where is our sting? oh, grave, where is your victory? oh, eternity, where are your terrors?" (1 Cor. 15:55).
Let us all settle it firmly in our minds that the only way to pass through "things seen" with comfort, and look forward to "things unseen" without fear, is to have Christ for our Saviour and Friend, to lay hold on Christ by faith, to become one with Christ and Christ in us, and while we live in the flesh to live the life of faith in the Son of God. (Gal. 2:20). How vast is the difference between the state of him who has faith in Christ, and the state of him who has none! Blessed indeed is that man or woman who can say, with truth, "I trust in Jesus - I believe." He alone is rich, independent, and beyond the reach of harm. If you and I have no comfort amid temporary things, and no hope for the things eternal, the fault is all our own. It is because we "will not come to Christ, that we may have life" (John 5:40).
I leave the subject of eternity here, and pray that God may bless it to many souls. I offer a word of friendly exhortation.
(1) First of all, how are you using your TIME? Life is short and very uncertain. And you, what are you doing for your immortal soul? Are you wasting time, or turning it to good account. Are you preparing to meet God?
(2) Secondly, where shall you be in eternity? It is coming very fast upon us. You are going very fast into it. But where will you be? On the right hand or on the left in the day of judgment? Among the lost or among the saved? Oh, rest not, rest not until your soul is insured! Make sure - leave nothing uncertain.It is a fearful thing to die unprepared,and fall into hands of the living God.
(3) Thirdly, would you be safe for time and eternity? Then seek Christ, and believe in Him. Come to Him just as you are. Seek Him while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. There is still a throne of grace. It is not too late. Christ waits to be gracious - He invites you to come to Him. Before the door is shut and the judgment begins, repent, believe, and be saved.
(4) Lastly, would you be happy? Cling to Christ, and live the life of faith in Him. Abide in Him, and live near to Him. Follow Him with heart and soul and mind and strength, and seek to know Him better every day. So doing you shall have great peace while you pass through "temporary things," and in the midst of a dying world shall "never die." (John 11:26). So doing, you shall be able to look forward to "things eternal" with unfailing confidence, and to feel and "know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." (2 Corinthians 5:1).
~J. C. Ryle~
(The End)
Thoughts On Immorality # 3
Thoughts On Immortality # 3
3. Our state in the unseen world of eternity depends entirely on what we are in time. The life we live upon earth is short at the very best, and soon gone. "We spend our days as a tale that is told." What is our life? It is a vapor - so soon passes it away, and we are gone." (Psalm 90:9; James 4:14). The life that is before us when we leave this world is an endless eternity, a sea without bottom, and an ocean without a shore. "One day in Your sight," eternal God, "is a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Peter 3:8). In that world time shall be no more. But short is our life here, and endless is the hereafter. Our lot after death depends, humanly speaking, on what we are while we are alive. It is written, "God will give to each person according to what he has done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger" (Romans 2:6-8).
We ought never to forget that we are all, while we live, in a state of probation. We are constantly sowing seeds which will spring up and bear fruit, every day and hour in our lives. There are eternal consequences resulting from all our thoughts and words and actions, of which we take far too little account. "For every idle word that men speak they shall give account in the day of judgment" (Matt. 12:36). Our thoughts are all numbered, our actions are weighed. No wonder that Paul says, "He who sows to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting" (Gal. 6:8). In a word, what we sow in life we shall reap after death, and reap to all eternity.
There is no greater delusion than the common idea that it is possible to live wickedly, and yet rise again gloriously; to be without religion in this world, and yet to be a saint in the next. When the famous Whitefield revived the doctrine of conversion last century, it is reported that one of his hearers came to him after a sermon and said - "It is all quite true, sir. I hope I shall be converted and born again one day, but not until after I am dead." I fear there are many like him. I fear the false doctrine of the Romish purgatory has many secret friends even within the pale of the Church. However carelessly men may go on while they live, they secretly cling to the hope that they shall be found among the saints when they die. They seem to hug the idea that there is some cleansing, purifying effect produced by death, and that, whatever they may be in this life, they shall be found "fit for the inheritance of the saints" in the life to come. But it is all a delusion!
The Bible teaches plainly that as we die, whether converted or unconverted, whether believers or unbelievers, whether godly or ungodly, so shall we rise again when the last trumpet sounds. There is no repentance in the grave - there is no conviction after the last breath is drawn. Now is the time to turn from darkness unto light, and to make our calling and election true. If we leave this world impenitent and unbelieving, we shall rise the same in the resurrection morning, and find it had been "good for us if we had never been born" (Mark 14:21).
I charge every reader of this paper to remember this, and to make good use of time. What you sow in life that now is, you are sure to reap in a life to come.
4. The Lord Jesus Christ is the great Friend to whom we must look for help, both for time and eternity. The purpose for which the eternal Son of God came into the world can never be declared too fully, or proclaimed too loudly. He came to give us hope and peace while we live among the "things seen", which are temporary," and glory and blessedness when we go into the "things unseen, which are eternal." He saw our lost and bankrupt condition, and had compassion on us. And now, blessed be His name, a mortal man may pass through things temporal with comfort, and look forward to things eternal without fear.
These mighty privileges our Lord Jesus Christ has purchased for us at the cost of His own precious blood. He became our Substitute, and bore our sins in His own body on the Cross, and then rose again for our justification. He suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God. He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we poor sinful creatures might have pardon and justification while we live, and glory and blessedness when we die. (1 Peter 2:24; 3:18; 2 Cor. 5:21).
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 4)
3. Our state in the unseen world of eternity depends entirely on what we are in time. The life we live upon earth is short at the very best, and soon gone. "We spend our days as a tale that is told." What is our life? It is a vapor - so soon passes it away, and we are gone." (Psalm 90:9; James 4:14). The life that is before us when we leave this world is an endless eternity, a sea without bottom, and an ocean without a shore. "One day in Your sight," eternal God, "is a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Peter 3:8). In that world time shall be no more. But short is our life here, and endless is the hereafter. Our lot after death depends, humanly speaking, on what we are while we are alive. It is written, "God will give to each person according to what he has done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger" (Romans 2:6-8).
We ought never to forget that we are all, while we live, in a state of probation. We are constantly sowing seeds which will spring up and bear fruit, every day and hour in our lives. There are eternal consequences resulting from all our thoughts and words and actions, of which we take far too little account. "For every idle word that men speak they shall give account in the day of judgment" (Matt. 12:36). Our thoughts are all numbered, our actions are weighed. No wonder that Paul says, "He who sows to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting" (Gal. 6:8). In a word, what we sow in life we shall reap after death, and reap to all eternity.
There is no greater delusion than the common idea that it is possible to live wickedly, and yet rise again gloriously; to be without religion in this world, and yet to be a saint in the next. When the famous Whitefield revived the doctrine of conversion last century, it is reported that one of his hearers came to him after a sermon and said - "It is all quite true, sir. I hope I shall be converted and born again one day, but not until after I am dead." I fear there are many like him. I fear the false doctrine of the Romish purgatory has many secret friends even within the pale of the Church. However carelessly men may go on while they live, they secretly cling to the hope that they shall be found among the saints when they die. They seem to hug the idea that there is some cleansing, purifying effect produced by death, and that, whatever they may be in this life, they shall be found "fit for the inheritance of the saints" in the life to come. But it is all a delusion!
The Bible teaches plainly that as we die, whether converted or unconverted, whether believers or unbelievers, whether godly or ungodly, so shall we rise again when the last trumpet sounds. There is no repentance in the grave - there is no conviction after the last breath is drawn. Now is the time to turn from darkness unto light, and to make our calling and election true. If we leave this world impenitent and unbelieving, we shall rise the same in the resurrection morning, and find it had been "good for us if we had never been born" (Mark 14:21).
I charge every reader of this paper to remember this, and to make good use of time. What you sow in life that now is, you are sure to reap in a life to come.
4. The Lord Jesus Christ is the great Friend to whom we must look for help, both for time and eternity. The purpose for which the eternal Son of God came into the world can never be declared too fully, or proclaimed too loudly. He came to give us hope and peace while we live among the "things seen", which are temporary," and glory and blessedness when we go into the "things unseen, which are eternal." He saw our lost and bankrupt condition, and had compassion on us. And now, blessed be His name, a mortal man may pass through things temporal with comfort, and look forward to things eternal without fear.
These mighty privileges our Lord Jesus Christ has purchased for us at the cost of His own precious blood. He became our Substitute, and bore our sins in His own body on the Cross, and then rose again for our justification. He suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God. He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we poor sinful creatures might have pardon and justification while we live, and glory and blessedness when we die. (1 Peter 2:24; 3:18; 2 Cor. 5:21).
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 4)
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