The last words of my text may be connected with the preceding, as the
marginal rendering of the Revised Version shows. But it is probably
better to take them as standing independently, and presenting another
and co-ordinate element of the blessedness arising from the coming of
the Christ. Because He comes, His life passes into the hearts of the
men to whom He comes, and who gaze upon Him.
Time forbids me to dwell upon that majestic proclamation of His own
absolute and divine life, from lips that were so soon to be paled with
death. Mark the grand 'I live'—the timeless present tense, which
expresses unbroken, underived, undying, and, as I believe, divine life.
It is all but a quotation of the great Old Testament name 'Jehovah.'
The depth and sweep of its meaning are given to us in this Apostle's
Apocalypse, where Christ is called 'the living One,' who lived whilst
He died, and having died 'is alive for evermore.'
And this Christ, coming to all His friends, possessor of the fullness
of life in Himself, and proclaiming His absolute possession of that
life, even whilst He stands within arm's-length of Calvary, is
Life-giver to all that love Him and trust Him.
We live _because_ He lives. In all senses of the word 'life,' as I
believe, the life of men is derived from the Christ who is the Agent of
creation, the channel from whom life passes from the Godhead into the
creatures, and who is also the one means by whom any of us can ever
hope to live the better life which is the only true one, and consists
in fellowship with God and union to Him.
We shall live _as long as_ He lives, and His being is the pledge and
the guarantee of the immortal being of all who love Him. Anything is
possible, rather than that it should be credible that a soul, which has
drawn spiritual life from Jesus Christ here upon earth, should ever be
rent apart from Him by such a miserable and external trifle as the mere
dissolution of the bodily frame. As long as Christ lives our life is
secure. If the Head has life, the members 'cannot see corruption,'
'Take _me_ not away in the midst of my days: _Thy_ years are throughout
all generations' was the prayer of a saint of old, deeply feeling the
contrast of the worshipper's transiency and God's eternity, and dimly
hoping that the contrast might be changed into likeness. The great
promise of our text answers the prayer, and assures us that the
worshipper is to live as long as does He whom He adores.
We shall live as He lives, nor ever cease the appropriation of His
being until all His life we know, and all its fullness has expanded our
natures—and that will be never. Therefore we shall not die.
Men's lives have been prolonged by the transfusion of blood from
vigorous frames. Jesus Christ passes His own blood into our veins and
makes us immortal. The Church chose for one of its ancient emblems of
the Saviour the pelican, which fed its young, according to the fable,
with blood from its own breast. So Christ vitalises us. He in us is our
Life.
Brethren, without Jesus Christ we are orphans in a fatherless world.
Without Him, our wearied and yet unsatisfied eyes have only trifles and
trials and trash to look at. Without Him, we are 'dead whilst we live.'
He and He only can give us back a Father, and renew in us the spirit of
sons. He and only He can satisfy our eyes with the sight which is
purity and restfulness and joy. He and He only can breathe life into
our death. Oh! let Him do it for you. He comes to us with all these
gifts in His hands, for He comes to give us Himself, and in Himself, as
'in a box where sweets compacted lie,' are all that lonely hearts and
wearied eyes and dead souls can ever need. All are yours if you are
Christ's. All are yours if He is yours. And He is yours if by faith and
love you make yourself His and Him your own.