John the Baptist and the Fire of God # 1
Luke 3:16
We are going to look into the Gospel as recorded by Luke and the third chapter.
I suppose most of us can quote John 3:16 without looking at it. How many of us can quote Luke 3:16? It's the other side of the coin, it should be as well known. Well, here it is in the good King James version.
Luke 3 verse 16: "John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit" and in this version, "and with fire:" but the original says: "Holy Spirit fire." Because God is a consuming fire. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of fire. And Jesus said, "I've come to bring fire on earth." There is no escaping fire. This is a kind of a cliche of mine, but I still get a lift out of saying it, I believe that tonight the world is going to hell fire because the church has lost Holy Spirit fire. It's as simple as that.
Between Malachi and Matthew you've got four hundred years of blackness without any prophetic light. Four hundred years of stillness without any prophetic voice. And then suddenly, dramatically, unexpectedly this strange man, John the Baptist, came streaking across a sky that was totally black. The Word says he was a "burning and shining light." Jesus, the greatest character in history, says, "There was no man comparable to John the Baptist." Not Isaiah not Jeremiah not any of those towering saints. He is a very, very remarkable character.
John the Baptist appears in the wilderness. It was not only a wilderness geographically, it was a wilderness morally, it was a wilderness politically, it was a wilderness religiously. You see, you go back in the Scripture and you read about Ezrah and Nehemiah. They established a government over Israel made of a hundred and twenty priests and rulers. These priests and elders ruled over Israel. Four hundred and fifty years they dominated that nation. I say: this was a jungle, theologically.
In 170 BC there was a man with the strange name of Anticohus Epiphanes. You need to look up his name and his relatives. He took over Jerusalem, he polluted the temple, he made the Jews sacrifice to idols, he built a statue of Jupiter where the altar of the burnt offering should have been. He burnt the Scriptures publicly. He prohibited the worship of Jehovah. And all this horrendous stuff went on. In 37 BC came Herod the Great. He betrayed the nation to the Romans, he fostered immorality, he massacred the noble people, he built that magnificent temple that was standing.
Now with this horrendous background of murder and rape and debauchery and suffering and agony, John the Baptist steps on the stage. A remarkable character.
You see, today we try to organize. We try to get a bunch of people together. God never did that. God takes individual men. He takes Moses to the backside of the desert. John the Baptist was in the wilderness until the day of his showing forth.
Jesus, the Son of God who had left the glory, spent thirty years in training to minister! John the Baptist thirty years in training. The apostle Paul at least thirty years. Moses at least forty years; and we want to go to Bible school six months and come out like a super prophet! It's the time factor that kills most of us. Tell me how much time you spend alone with God and I will tell you how spiritual you are. Not how many meetings you go to. Not how many gifts you have. Not how many sermons you preach. Not how many records you've made.
Tell me what time you spend alone with God...and I'll tell you how spiritual you are.
The Word here tells me about this remarkable man, John the Baptist, that he was in the wilderness until the day of his showing forth. Going forth at the command of God Himself, of course.
He was in the wilderness, of all places. It says he had his dwelling among wild beasts, ferocious things. The remarkable thing to me, as I read this again today, is this: he had no role model. Elisha had Elijah, Joshua had Moses as a role model. Timothy had Paul as a super model in front of him. And right though the Scripture you find these men that have lived with some giant and they've become like him. But this man has no model before him. What did he do wandering on the rocks? "He ate wild honey," it says. And he was with wild beasts and he was a wild man.
Luke chapter 3 gives you a kind of run down on the awesomness of this man's ministry. Look at this first verse:
"the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Ceasar, Pontius Plate being governor of Judea and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip the tetrarch of Iturea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests,"
That's about as refreshing as a mouth full of sand, isn't it? What in the world do you do with it? Except it gives you a framework.
"Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests," that's illegal. They could only have one high priest and they got two. Then came "John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." Boy, that's a dirty thing to preach these days! Who preaches repentance? There is an old hymn that says, Repentance is "to leave the sins I've done before, and show that I in earnest grieve, by doing them no more."
~Leonard Ravenhill~
(continued with # 2)
Copyright/Reproduction Limitations: this file is the sole property of Leonard Ravenhill. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety as "freeware", without charge. (c) 1995 by Leonard Ravenhill, Lindale, Texas.
Saturday, December 29, 2018
The Philtrum
[this is something I have never done before but I thought was inspiring. I pray that you are blessed too!]
The Philtrum
What is the flat thing below the middle of the nose down to the middle of the upper lip? It's called the "philtrum." It apparently has no use at all according to scientists but according to mythology the reason most of us have it is explained below.
In Jewish mythology, each embryo has an angel while they are in utero. The angel lightly taps an infant's upper lip before birth, to silence the infant from telling all the secrets in the universe to the humans who reside in it. The infant then somewhat forgets what they have been taught. Some believers of the myth speculate that this is the cause of the philtrum, but it does not have a basis in traditional Jewish texts.
In the movie, Key Largo, Humphrey Bogart tells a fairy tale to a child, saying that, before birth, the soul knows the secrets of heaven, but at birth an angel presses a fingertip just above one's upper lip, which seals us to silence.
In the movie, Mr. Nobody," unborn infants are said to have knowledge of all past and future events. As an unborn infant is about to be born, the angels lightly tap its upper lip, whereupon the unborn infant forgets everything it knows. The movie follows the life story of one infant, whose lip hadn't been tapped.
In the movie "The Prophecy," Archangel Gabriel asks Thomas Dagget, "Do you know how you got that dent above your upper lip? Way back, before you were born, I told you a secret, then I put my finger there and said "Shhhh!"
In the book, "Prince Ombra," the cleft on our upper lip is attributed to being hushed by a "cavern angel" just before we are born.
MY THOUGHTS
Well, this is just trivia, but I found it very interesting. My first thought is that this myth tells me that babies who die at a very young age, go straight to heaven - which is what Christians believe, and what is biblically true also.
My second thought is that this myth may tell us that when born, children are innocent but, at the age of speaking (or the age of maturity), we revert to the unholy, defiled, sinful, rebellious humans that Adam and Eve became after they sinned. We inherit their sin. That is why the Bible calls our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the SECOND ADAM.
Do you know why it took the holy, undefiled, blood of Christ to usher in salvation for all? Do you know why the Holy Spirit mysteriously placed the embryo into Mary's womb before she married Joseph? Christ had no earthly father, and therefore, His blood remained pure, holy and undefiled. To have an earthly father would have meant that Christ's blood could not be the holy, undefiled, innocent blood of a Saviour. If He had had an earthly father, He would be born rebellious, a sinner, a hater of God! I could never work in our salvation. God didn't create a new being (He completed original creation in seven days in the beginning.) Christ was before the foundation of creation and therefore came, died, rose, and ascended back to the right hand of God, His heavenly Father. Of necessity, it took the precious Christ Jesus to overcome the sin and hatred of the world caused by Adam and Eve. When we accept Christ, and go on to become true followers of Christ, our nature changes back to the original purpose of God - we are cleansed, washed, loose our rebellion towards God, our Father, and become new creatures through Christ and the Holy Spirit working in us!!
Well, I'm just rambling this morning!! I don't really believe myths and yet, there was so much of this trivia that could be believed - or at least, could be a blessing - I felt an urge to share it with everyone!! I hope you have enjoyed and I pray that whatever is in this rambling, you are blessed, smiling and enlightened!!
Katherine Sewell
The Philtrum
What is the flat thing below the middle of the nose down to the middle of the upper lip? It's called the "philtrum." It apparently has no use at all according to scientists but according to mythology the reason most of us have it is explained below.
In Jewish mythology, each embryo has an angel while they are in utero. The angel lightly taps an infant's upper lip before birth, to silence the infant from telling all the secrets in the universe to the humans who reside in it. The infant then somewhat forgets what they have been taught. Some believers of the myth speculate that this is the cause of the philtrum, but it does not have a basis in traditional Jewish texts.
In the movie, Key Largo, Humphrey Bogart tells a fairy tale to a child, saying that, before birth, the soul knows the secrets of heaven, but at birth an angel presses a fingertip just above one's upper lip, which seals us to silence.
In the movie, Mr. Nobody," unborn infants are said to have knowledge of all past and future events. As an unborn infant is about to be born, the angels lightly tap its upper lip, whereupon the unborn infant forgets everything it knows. The movie follows the life story of one infant, whose lip hadn't been tapped.
In the movie "The Prophecy," Archangel Gabriel asks Thomas Dagget, "Do you know how you got that dent above your upper lip? Way back, before you were born, I told you a secret, then I put my finger there and said "Shhhh!"
In the book, "Prince Ombra," the cleft on our upper lip is attributed to being hushed by a "cavern angel" just before we are born.
MY THOUGHTS
Well, this is just trivia, but I found it very interesting. My first thought is that this myth tells me that babies who die at a very young age, go straight to heaven - which is what Christians believe, and what is biblically true also.
My second thought is that this myth may tell us that when born, children are innocent but, at the age of speaking (or the age of maturity), we revert to the unholy, defiled, sinful, rebellious humans that Adam and Eve became after they sinned. We inherit their sin. That is why the Bible calls our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the SECOND ADAM.
Do you know why it took the holy, undefiled, blood of Christ to usher in salvation for all? Do you know why the Holy Spirit mysteriously placed the embryo into Mary's womb before she married Joseph? Christ had no earthly father, and therefore, His blood remained pure, holy and undefiled. To have an earthly father would have meant that Christ's blood could not be the holy, undefiled, innocent blood of a Saviour. If He had had an earthly father, He would be born rebellious, a sinner, a hater of God! I could never work in our salvation. God didn't create a new being (He completed original creation in seven days in the beginning.) Christ was before the foundation of creation and therefore came, died, rose, and ascended back to the right hand of God, His heavenly Father. Of necessity, it took the precious Christ Jesus to overcome the sin and hatred of the world caused by Adam and Eve. When we accept Christ, and go on to become true followers of Christ, our nature changes back to the original purpose of God - we are cleansed, washed, loose our rebellion towards God, our Father, and become new creatures through Christ and the Holy Spirit working in us!!
Well, I'm just rambling this morning!! I don't really believe myths and yet, there was so much of this trivia that could be believed - or at least, could be a blessing - I felt an urge to share it with everyone!! I hope you have enjoyed and I pray that whatever is in this rambling, you are blessed, smiling and enlightened!!
Katherine Sewell
Saturday, December 22, 2018
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 7
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 7
(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. When our Lord had ascended up before the eyes of His disciples, the angels said to them, "This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven - shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11).
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 nineteen 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! Those solemn words which Jesus addressed to the High Priest the night before His crucifixion shall at length be fulfilled: "You shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven" (Matt. 26:64).
The godly shall see the Saviour whom they have read of, heard of, and believed, and find, like the Queen of Sheba - that the half of His goodness had not been known! They shall find that sight is far better than faith, in that in Christ's actual presence is fullness of joy. This is the real bodily presence of Christ, for which every true-hearted Christian ought daily to long and pray.
Happy are those who make it an article of their faith, and live in the constant expectation of a second personal advent of Christ. Then, and then only - will the devil be bound, the curse taken off the earth, the world be restored to its original purity, sickness and death be taken away, tears be wiped from all eyes, and the redemption of the saint, in body as well as soul, be completed. "It does not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is!" (1 John 3:2). The highest style of Christian is the man who desires the real presence of His Master, and "loves His appearing" (2 Tim. 4:8).
I now leave the whole subject with a parting word of APPLICATION, and commend it to serious attention. In an age of hurry and bustle about secular things, in an age of wretched strife and controversy about religion - I entreat men not to neglect the great truths which these pages contain.
(1) What do we know of Christ, for ourselves? We have heard of Him thousands of times. We call ourselves Christians. But what do we know of Christ experimentally, as our own personal Saviour, our own Priest, our own Friend, the Healer of our conscience, the Comforter of our heart, the Pardoner of our sins, the Foundation of our hope, the confidence of our souls? How is it?
(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 beware of holding erroneous views about the Lord's Supper, and especially about the real nature of Christ's "presence" in it. Let us not so mistake that blessed ordinance, which was meant to be our soul's food - as to turn it into our sou's poison! There is no sacrifice in the Lord's Supper, no sacrificing priest, no altar, no bodily "presence" of Christ in the bread and wine. These things are not in the Bible, and are dangerous inventions of man, leading on to superstition! Let us take care.
(4) Let us keep continually before our minds, the second advent of Christ, and that real "presence" which is yet to come. Let our loins 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 he, "Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!"
~J. C. Ryle~
(The End)
(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. When our Lord had ascended up before the eyes of His disciples, the angels said to them, "This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven - shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11).
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 nineteen 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! Those solemn words which Jesus addressed to the High Priest the night before His crucifixion shall at length be fulfilled: "You shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven" (Matt. 26:64).
The godly shall see the Saviour whom they have read of, heard of, and believed, and find, like the Queen of Sheba - that the half of His goodness had not been known! They shall find that sight is far better than faith, in that in Christ's actual presence is fullness of joy. This is the real bodily presence of Christ, for which every true-hearted Christian ought daily to long and pray.
Happy are those who make it an article of their faith, and live in the constant expectation of a second personal advent of Christ. Then, and then only - will the devil be bound, the curse taken off the earth, the world be restored to its original purity, sickness and death be taken away, tears be wiped from all eyes, and the redemption of the saint, in body as well as soul, be completed. "It does not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is!" (1 John 3:2). The highest style of Christian is the man who desires the real presence of His Master, and "loves His appearing" (2 Tim. 4:8).
I now leave the whole subject with a parting word of APPLICATION, and commend it to serious attention. In an age of hurry and bustle about secular things, in an age of wretched strife and controversy about religion - I entreat men not to neglect the great truths which these pages contain.
(1) What do we know of Christ, for ourselves? We have heard of Him thousands of times. We call ourselves Christians. But what do we know of Christ experimentally, as our own personal Saviour, our own Priest, our own Friend, the Healer of our conscience, the Comforter of our heart, the Pardoner of our sins, the Foundation of our hope, the confidence of our souls? How is it?
(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 beware of holding erroneous views about the Lord's Supper, and especially about the real nature of Christ's "presence" in it. Let us not so mistake that blessed ordinance, which was meant to be our soul's food - as to turn it into our sou's poison! There is no sacrifice in the Lord's Supper, no sacrificing priest, no altar, no bodily "presence" of Christ in the bread and wine. These things are not in the Bible, and are dangerous inventions of man, leading on to superstition! Let us take care.
(4) Let us keep continually before our minds, the second advent of Christ, and that real "presence" which is yet to come. Let our loins 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 he, "Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!"
~J. C. Ryle~
(The End)
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 6
The Real Presence+ - What Is It? # 6
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 of the Lord's Supper, after 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 those famous expressions shows clearly that those who heard the words used, and wee 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. The disciples, no doubt, remembered their Master saying such things as "The field" is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom" (Matt. 13:38). Paul, in writing on the Sacrament, confirms this interpretation by expressly calling the consecrated bread, "bread", and not the body of Christ, no less than three times (1 Cor. 11:26-28).
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 a literal 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 eating and drinking here spoken of are the eating and drinking of faith - and not a bodily action.
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 means whereby his soul holds communion with the body of Christ." Nor do I believe that more than this can be got 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 in two places at once, and you cannot prove that it is a body at all. Once admit that Christ's 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!
Let us take heed, lest under confused 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.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 7)
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 of the Lord's Supper, after 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 those famous expressions shows clearly that those who heard the words used, and wee 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. The disciples, no doubt, remembered their Master saying such things as "The field" is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom" (Matt. 13:38). Paul, in writing on the Sacrament, confirms this interpretation by expressly calling the consecrated bread, "bread", and not the body of Christ, no less than three times (1 Cor. 11:26-28).
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 a literal 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 eating and drinking here spoken of are the eating and drinking of faith - and not a bodily action.
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 means whereby his soul holds communion with the body of Christ." Nor do I believe that more than this can be got 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 in two places at once, and you cannot prove that it is a body at all. Once admit that Christ's 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!
Let us take heed, lest under confused 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.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 7)
Saturday, December 15, 2018
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 5
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 5
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 of the marvelous courage which the Mrian 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 times 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. It is precisely one of those matters of which Paul writes, "The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God - for they are foolishness unto him? (1 Cor. 2:14). But for all that, I repeat emphatically, that the spiritual presence of Christ 0 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.
III. 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. Whatever the Bible teaches plainly about Christ's bodily presence - it is our duty to hold and believe. 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. He was made like unto us in all things, sin only excepted. Like us He grew from infancy to boyhood, and from boyhood to youth, and from youth to manhood. 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. While, as God, He was in heaven and earth at the same time; as man, His body was only in one place at one time. When He was in Galilee He was not in Judea, and when He was in Capernaum He was not in Jerusalem. In a real, true human body He lived; in a real, true human body He kept the law, and fulfilled all righteousness; and in a real human body He kept 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.
This was the first real bodily presence of Jesus Christ. The truth before us is full of unspeakable comfort to all who have in awakened conscience, and know the value of their souls. It is a heart-cheering thought that the "one Mediator between God and man is the man Jesus Christ." He was real man - and so able to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He was Almighty God - and so able to save to the uttermost, all who come to the Father by Him. The Saviour in whom the laboring and heavy-leaden are invited to trust, is One who had a real body when He was working out our redemption on earth. "By man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead" (1 Cor. 15:21).
(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. The same body which walked in the streets of Capernaum, and sat in the house of Mary and Martha, and was crucified on Golgotha, and was laid in Joseph's tomb - 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.
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 touched 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 the 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 is a 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 questions 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 honestly and fairly gotten out of the Bible. Let the three accounts of the institution 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."
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 6)
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 of the marvelous courage which the Mrian 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 times 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. It is precisely one of those matters of which Paul writes, "The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God - for they are foolishness unto him? (1 Cor. 2:14). But for all that, I repeat emphatically, that the spiritual presence of Christ 0 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.
III. 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. Whatever the Bible teaches plainly about Christ's bodily presence - it is our duty to hold and believe. 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. He was made like unto us in all things, sin only excepted. Like us He grew from infancy to boyhood, and from boyhood to youth, and from youth to manhood. 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. While, as God, He was in heaven and earth at the same time; as man, His body was only in one place at one time. When He was in Galilee He was not in Judea, and when He was in Capernaum He was not in Jerusalem. In a real, true human body He lived; in a real, true human body He kept the law, and fulfilled all righteousness; and in a real human body He kept 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.
This was the first real bodily presence of Jesus Christ. The truth before us is full of unspeakable comfort to all who have in awakened conscience, and know the value of their souls. It is a heart-cheering thought that the "one Mediator between God and man is the man Jesus Christ." He was real man - and so able to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He was Almighty God - and so able to save to the uttermost, all who come to the Father by Him. The Saviour in whom the laboring and heavy-leaden are invited to trust, is One who had a real body when He was working out our redemption on earth. "By man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead" (1 Cor. 15:21).
(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. The same body which walked in the streets of Capernaum, and sat in the house of Mary and Martha, and was crucified on Golgotha, and was laid in Joseph's tomb - 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.
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 touched 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 the 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 is a 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 questions 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 honestly and fairly gotten out of the Bible. Let the three accounts of the institution 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."
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 6)
Saturday, December 8, 2018
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 4
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 4
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 bone of Christ's mystical body shall ever be broken. 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 but very weak - is one which the devil shall never break into and make his own!
(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 famous 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!
(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 appointed by Christ has a special and peculiar blessing attached to it. That blessing, I believe, consists of 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.
In a word, there is a special "presence" of Christ in the Lord's supper, which they only know - who are faithful communicants, and which those who are not communicants miss altogether. After all, the experience of all the best servants of Christ is the best proof that there is a special blessing attached to the Lord's Supper. You will rarely find a true believer, who will not say that he reckons this ordinance to be one of his greatest helps and highest privileges. He will tell you that if he was deprived of it, he would find the loss of it a great drawback to his soul. He will tell you that in eating that bread, and drinking that cup, he realizes something of Christ dwelling in him; and finds his repentance deepened, his faith increased, his knowledge enlarged, his graces strengthened.
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 Christ 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 or define it. It is a matter of experience, which no one knows but he who feels it. And the true explanation of the whole matter is this - there is a special and spiritual "presence" of Christ in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. Jesus meets 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, for instance, 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, again, where 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). Again, in the last epistle Paul wrote, we find him saying, "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 may 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).
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 5)
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 bone of Christ's mystical body shall ever be broken. 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 but very weak - is one which the devil shall never break into and make his own!
(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 famous 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!
(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 appointed by Christ has a special and peculiar blessing attached to it. That blessing, I believe, consists of 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.
In a word, there is a special "presence" of Christ in the Lord's supper, which they only know - who are faithful communicants, and which those who are not communicants miss altogether. After all, the experience of all the best servants of Christ is the best proof that there is a special blessing attached to the Lord's Supper. You will rarely find a true believer, who will not say that he reckons this ordinance to be one of his greatest helps and highest privileges. He will tell you that if he was deprived of it, he would find the loss of it a great drawback to his soul. He will tell you that in eating that bread, and drinking that cup, he realizes something of Christ dwelling in him; and finds his repentance deepened, his faith increased, his knowledge enlarged, his graces strengthened.
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 Christ 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 or define it. It is a matter of experience, which no one knows but he who feels it. And the true explanation of the whole matter is this - there is a special and spiritual "presence" of Christ in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. Jesus meets 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, for instance, 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, again, where 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). Again, in the last epistle Paul wrote, we find him saying, "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 may 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).
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 5)
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 3
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 3
(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 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, like 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 thoughts as these, are useful and profitable for us all. That man must be in a poor state of mind, who does not feel them to be so. 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. It ought to cheer us if our Christianity is genuine and sincere. We can then appeal to God with confidence, like David, and say, "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, but the true man of God can look at it without fear.
II. 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 in 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? Let us see!
(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 division, 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, in 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, whether Episcopal, Presbyterian, or Congregational: "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. It lives on through fire and flood! When crushed in one land - it springs up in another. 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" (Ephes. 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.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 4)
(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 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, like 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 thoughts as these, are useful and profitable for us all. That man must be in a poor state of mind, who does not feel them to be so. 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. It ought to cheer us if our Christianity is genuine and sincere. We can then appeal to God with confidence, like David, and say, "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, but the true man of God can look at it without fear.
II. 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 in 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? Let us see!
(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 division, 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, in 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, whether Episcopal, Presbyterian, or Congregational: "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. It lives on through fire and flood! When crushed in one land - it springs up in another. 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" (Ephes. 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.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 4)
Saturday, December 1, 2018
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 2
The Real Presence - What Is It? # 2
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 a 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? Well says the Book of Job, "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 view 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).
No wonder that Job said in his best moments, "When I consider, I am afraid of Him" (Job 23:15). "What is your God like?" said a sneering infidel one day to a poor Christian. What is this God of yours like - this God about whom you make such ado? Is He great or is He small?" "My God," was the wise reply, "is a great and a small God at the same time - so great that the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him - and yet so small that He can dwell in the heart of a poor sinner like me."
"Where is your God, my boy?" said an infidel to a child whom he saw coming out of a church. "Where is you God about whom you have been reading?" Show Him to me, and I will give you a treat." "Show me where He is not," was the answer, "and I will give you two! My God is everywhere!" Well is it said that, "God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty." "Out of the mouth of babes. You have perfected praise" (1 Cor. 1:27; Matt. 21:16).
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!
(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 upon 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!" This was the feeling which preserved Joseph when tempted in a foreign land: "How can I do this great wickedness - and sin against God?" (Gen. 39:9).
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 3)
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 a 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? Well says the Book of Job, "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 view 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).
No wonder that Job said in his best moments, "When I consider, I am afraid of Him" (Job 23:15). "What is your God like?" said a sneering infidel one day to a poor Christian. What is this God of yours like - this God about whom you make such ado? Is He great or is He small?" "My God," was the wise reply, "is a great and a small God at the same time - so great that the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him - and yet so small that He can dwell in the heart of a poor sinner like me."
"Where is your God, my boy?" said an infidel to a child whom he saw coming out of a church. "Where is you God about whom you have been reading?" Show Him to me, and I will give you a treat." "Show me where He is not," was the answer, "and I will give you two! My God is everywhere!" Well is it said that, "God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty." "Out of the mouth of babes. You have perfected praise" (1 Cor. 1:27; Matt. 21:16).
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!
(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 upon 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!" This was the feeling which preserved Joseph when tempted in a foreign land: "How can I do this great wickedness - and sin against God?" (Gen. 39:9).
~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 today. 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 the general doctrine of God's presence in the world.
2. I shall consider the special doctrine of Christ's real spiritual presence.
3. I shall consider 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. An error here may first lead a man to the Church of Rome, and then land him finally in the gulf of infidelity. 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 in Europe, Asia, Africa, or America - where God is not always present. Enter into your closet and lock the door - God is there. Climb to the top of the highest mountain, where not even an insect moves - God is there. Sail to the most remote island in the Pacific Ocean, where the foot of man never trod - God is there. He 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? It is written in Job, "His eyes watch over a man's ways, and He observes all his steps. There is no darkness, no deep darkness, where evildoers can hid 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). It is written in Jeremiah, "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).
It is written in the Psalms, "O Lord, you have searched me and You know me. You know when I sit down 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 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 the 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 139:1-12).
Such language as this, confounds and overwhelms us. The doctrine before us is one which we cannot fully understand. Precisely so. David said the same thing about it almost three thousand years ago. "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain!" (Psalm 139:6). But it does not follow that the doctrine is not true - because we cannot understand it. It is the weakness of our poor minds and intellects which we must blame - and not the doctrine. There are scores of things in the world around us, which few can understand or explain - yet not sensible man refuses to believe. How this earth is ever rolling round the sun with enormous swiftness, while we feel no motion - how the moon affects the tides, and makes them rise and fall twice every twenty-four hours - how millions of perfectly organized living creatures exist in every drop of pond-water, which our naked eye cannot see - all these are things well known to men of science, while most of us could not explain them for our lives. 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.
~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 today. 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 the general doctrine of God's presence in the world.
2. I shall consider the special doctrine of Christ's real spiritual presence.
3. I shall consider 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. An error here may first lead a man to the Church of Rome, and then land him finally in the gulf of infidelity. 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 in Europe, Asia, Africa, or America - where God is not always present. Enter into your closet and lock the door - God is there. Climb to the top of the highest mountain, where not even an insect moves - God is there. Sail to the most remote island in the Pacific Ocean, where the foot of man never trod - God is there. He 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? It is written in Job, "His eyes watch over a man's ways, and He observes all his steps. There is no darkness, no deep darkness, where evildoers can hid 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). It is written in Jeremiah, "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).
It is written in the Psalms, "O Lord, you have searched me and You know me. You know when I sit down 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 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 the 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 139:1-12).
Such language as this, confounds and overwhelms us. The doctrine before us is one which we cannot fully understand. Precisely so. David said the same thing about it almost three thousand years ago. "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain!" (Psalm 139:6). But it does not follow that the doctrine is not true - because we cannot understand it. It is the weakness of our poor minds and intellects which we must blame - and not the doctrine. There are scores of things in the world around us, which few can understand or explain - yet not sensible man refuses to believe. How this earth is ever rolling round the sun with enormous swiftness, while we feel no motion - how the moon affects the tides, and makes them rise and fall twice every twenty-four hours - how millions of perfectly organized living creatures exist in every drop of pond-water, which our naked eye cannot see - all these are things well known to men of science, while most of us could not explain them for our lives. 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.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 2)
All To Save You From The Wrath To Come! (and others)
All To Save You From the Wrath to Come! (and others)
Christians, spend your days in admiring the transcendent love of Christ - in undergoing hellish punishments in your stead! Oh pray, pray hard that you "may be able to comprehend what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of that love of Christ, which passes knowledge!" (Ephesians 3: 18-19).
The love of Christ put Him upon these bodily and spiritual sufferings - which were so exceeding great, acute, extreme, and universal - and all to save you from wrath to come! His miseries, sorrows, and sufferings are unparalleled, and therefore Christians have the more cause to lose themselves in the contemplation of His matchless love. Oh, bless Christ! Oh, kiss Christ! Oh, embrace Christ! Oh, cleave to Christ! Oh, follow Christ! Oh, walk with Christ! Oh, long for Christ - who for your sakes has undergone insupportable wrath and most hellish torments!
Oh, look up to dear Jesus, and say, "O blessed Jesus, You were accursed - that I might be blessed! You were condemned - that I might be justified! You underwent the very torments of hell - that I might forever enjoy the pleasures of heaven! Therefore I cannot but dearly love You, and highly esteem You, and greatly honor You, and earnestly long after You!"
~Thomas Brooks~
__________________________
They Will Not Believe It Until They Feel It!
"Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?" (Luke 3:7).
"Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath" (1 Thess. 1:10)
1. The coming wrath is the greatest wrath. It is the greatest evil which can befall a soul. "Who knows the power of Your wrath?" (Psalm 19:11). The coming wrath is such wrath as no unsaved man can either avoid or abide. And yet such is most men's stupidity, that they will not believe it until they feel it!
As God is a great God - so His wrath is a great wrath. If the wrath of an earthly king is so terrible - oh how dreadful must the wrath of the King of kings then be!
The greater the evil is, the more cause w have to flee from it. Now the coming wrath is the greatest evil, and therefore the more it concerns us to flee from it!
2. The coming wrath is treasured up wrath. Sinners are still treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath" (Romans 2:5). While wicked men are following their own lusts, they think that they are still adding to their own happiness. But alas, they do but add wrath to wrath! They do but heap up judgment upon judgment, and punishment upon punishment! Look! as men are daily adding to their treasure more and more, so impenitent sinners are daily increasing the treasury of wrath against their own souls.
3. The coming wrath is pure wrath. It is judgment without mercy." The cup of wrath which God will put into sinners' hands at last, will be a cup of pure wrath - all wrath - nothing but wrath. It is poured out undiluted into God's cup of wrath. And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb" (Rev. 14:10).
Look! as there is nothing but the pure glory of God - which can make a man perfectly and fully happy; just so, there is nothing but the pure wrath of God - which can make a man fully and perfectly miserable. Reprobates shall not only sip of the top of God's cup - but they shall drink the dregs of His cup! They shall not have one drop of mercy, nor one crumb of comfort! They have filled up their lifetime with sin - and God will fill up their eternity with torments!
4. The coming wrath is everlasting wrath. "And the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever" (Rev. 14:11). They shall have punishment without pity, misery without mercy, sorrow without support, crying without comfort, mischief without measure, torment without ease - where the worm dies not, and the fire is never quenched" The torments of the damned shall continue as many eternities as there are stars in the skies, as there are grains of sand, as there are drops of water in the sea! When the present worlds are ended, the pains and torments of hell shall not cease - but begin afresh.
Oh the folly and vanity, the madness and baseness of poor wretched sinners - who expose themselves to everlasting torments - for a few fleshly momentary pleasures!
Oh! who can stand before His fierce anger? Who can survive His burning fury? His rage blazes forth like fire, and the mountains crumble to dust in His presence! (Nahum 1:6).
How should these things work poor sinners to flee to Christ, who alone is able to save them from the coming wrath. (1 Thess. 1:10).
~Thomas Brooks~
Christians, spend your days in admiring the transcendent love of Christ - in undergoing hellish punishments in your stead! Oh pray, pray hard that you "may be able to comprehend what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of that love of Christ, which passes knowledge!" (Ephesians 3: 18-19).
The love of Christ put Him upon these bodily and spiritual sufferings - which were so exceeding great, acute, extreme, and universal - and all to save you from wrath to come! His miseries, sorrows, and sufferings are unparalleled, and therefore Christians have the more cause to lose themselves in the contemplation of His matchless love. Oh, bless Christ! Oh, kiss Christ! Oh, embrace Christ! Oh, cleave to Christ! Oh, follow Christ! Oh, walk with Christ! Oh, long for Christ - who for your sakes has undergone insupportable wrath and most hellish torments!
Oh, look up to dear Jesus, and say, "O blessed Jesus, You were accursed - that I might be blessed! You were condemned - that I might be justified! You underwent the very torments of hell - that I might forever enjoy the pleasures of heaven! Therefore I cannot but dearly love You, and highly esteem You, and greatly honor You, and earnestly long after You!"
~Thomas Brooks~
__________________________
They Will Not Believe It Until They Feel It!
"Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?" (Luke 3:7).
"Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath" (1 Thess. 1:10)
1. The coming wrath is the greatest wrath. It is the greatest evil which can befall a soul. "Who knows the power of Your wrath?" (Psalm 19:11). The coming wrath is such wrath as no unsaved man can either avoid or abide. And yet such is most men's stupidity, that they will not believe it until they feel it!
As God is a great God - so His wrath is a great wrath. If the wrath of an earthly king is so terrible - oh how dreadful must the wrath of the King of kings then be!
The greater the evil is, the more cause w have to flee from it. Now the coming wrath is the greatest evil, and therefore the more it concerns us to flee from it!
2. The coming wrath is treasured up wrath. Sinners are still treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath" (Romans 2:5). While wicked men are following their own lusts, they think that they are still adding to their own happiness. But alas, they do but add wrath to wrath! They do but heap up judgment upon judgment, and punishment upon punishment! Look! as men are daily adding to their treasure more and more, so impenitent sinners are daily increasing the treasury of wrath against their own souls.
3. The coming wrath is pure wrath. It is judgment without mercy." The cup of wrath which God will put into sinners' hands at last, will be a cup of pure wrath - all wrath - nothing but wrath. It is poured out undiluted into God's cup of wrath. And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb" (Rev. 14:10).
Look! as there is nothing but the pure glory of God - which can make a man perfectly and fully happy; just so, there is nothing but the pure wrath of God - which can make a man fully and perfectly miserable. Reprobates shall not only sip of the top of God's cup - but they shall drink the dregs of His cup! They shall not have one drop of mercy, nor one crumb of comfort! They have filled up their lifetime with sin - and God will fill up their eternity with torments!
4. The coming wrath is everlasting wrath. "And the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever" (Rev. 14:11). They shall have punishment without pity, misery without mercy, sorrow without support, crying without comfort, mischief without measure, torment without ease - where the worm dies not, and the fire is never quenched" The torments of the damned shall continue as many eternities as there are stars in the skies, as there are grains of sand, as there are drops of water in the sea! When the present worlds are ended, the pains and torments of hell shall not cease - but begin afresh.
Oh the folly and vanity, the madness and baseness of poor wretched sinners - who expose themselves to everlasting torments - for a few fleshly momentary pleasures!
Oh! who can stand before His fierce anger? Who can survive His burning fury? His rage blazes forth like fire, and the mountains crumble to dust in His presence! (Nahum 1:6).
How should these things work poor sinners to flee to Christ, who alone is able to save them from the coming wrath. (1 Thess. 1:10).
~Thomas Brooks~
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