_THE EVER-LIVING LORD_
REVELATION i. 9-18.
Let me take the simple words, and quietly gaze into the wonderful depths
of their fathomless simplicity. An old villager used to tell me it would
strengthen my eyes if I looked long into deep wells. And it will assuredly
strengthen the eyes of my soul to gaze into wells like these.
"_I am He that liveth._" What a marvellous transformation it worked upon
Dr. Dale, when one day, in his study, it flashed upon him, as never
before, that Jesus Christ is alive! "Christ is alive!" he repeated again
and again, until the clarion music filled all the rooms in his soul.
"Christ is alive!"
"_And was dead._" Yes, the Lord has gone right through that dark place.
There are footprints, and they are the footprints of the Conqueror, all
along the road. "Christ leads me through no darker room than He went
through before."
"_And, behold, I am alive for ever more._" "Jesus has conquered death and
all its powers." Never more will it sit on a transient throne. Its power
is broken, its "sting" has lost its poison, there isn't a boast left in
its apparently omnivorous mouth! "Where's thy victory, O grave?" And here
is the gospel for me--"Because I live ye shall live also."