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)