Him, in thought, from His concluding visit in Jerusalem to the scene of
Ascension. We may imagine it, in all likelihood, the early dawn of day.
The grey mists of morning were still hovering over the Jehoshaphat
valley, as for the last time he descended the well-known path. He must
have crossed the brook KEDRON--that brook which had so oft before
murmured in His ear during night-seasons of deep sorrow--He must have
passed by GETHSEMANE--the thick Olives pendant with dew, the shadows of
early day still brooding over them. Their gloomy vistas must have
recalled terrible hours, when the sod underneath was moistened with
"great drops of blood." Can we dare to imagine His sensations and
feelings when passing _now_? Would they not be the same as that of every
Christian still, while passing through memories of trial, "It was good
for me to be here?" Had He dashed untasted to the ground, the cup which
in the depths of that awful solitude He had grasped six weeks before,
His work would have been undone--a world yet unsaved! But He shrunk not
from that baptism of blood and suffering. Gethsemane can now be gazed
upon as a place of triumph. His Omniscient eye, as He now skirts its
precincts, connects its awful struggles with the Redemption and joy of
ransomed myriads through all eternity. He has the first realising
earnest of the prophet's words,--Seeing of the fruit of "the travail of
His soul," He is "satisfied."
But vain is it to conjecture feelings and emotions unrecorded. It would,
doubtless, not be on Himself the Great Redeemer would, in these waning
hours of earthly communion, chiefly dwell. They would rather be occupied
in preparing the hearts of the sorrowful band around Him for His
approaching departure. He would unfold to them the glorious conquests
which, in His name, they were on earth to achieve, as His
standard-bearers and apostles, and the ineffable bliss awaiting
them in that Heaven whither He was about to ascend as their
Forerunner and Precursor. It must indeed have been to them a season
of severe and bitter trial! They had in their hearts a full and tender
impression--a gushing recollection of three years' unvarying
kindness and affection--sorrows soothed--burdens eased--ingratitude
overlooked--treachery forgiven. Many others they could only think of in
connexion with altered tones and changed affection. _He_ was _ever the
same_! But the sad day _has_ really come when they are to be parted for
_time_! No more tender counsels in difficulty,--no more gentle rebukes
in waywardness,--no more joyous surprises, as on the shores of Tiberias,
or the road to Emmaus, when, with joyful lips, they would exclaim,--"It
is the Lord!" This dream of blissful intercourse, like a meteor-flash,
was about to be quenched in darkness. Their Lord was to depart, and
long, long centuries were to elapse ere His gracious face was to be seen
again!
Whether, in this ever-memorable walk to the place of Ascension, the
Adorable Redeemer visited the village of Bethany, we cannot tell. It is
possible--it is _more_ than possible--He may have honoured the home of
Lazarus with a farewell benediction; but this we can only conjecture.
All the notice we have regarding it is: that "He led them out as far as
to Bethany;" that He there lifted up His hands and blessed them; and was
from thence taken up to Heaven.[38] Honoured hamlet! thus to be alone
mentioned in connexion with the closing scene in this mighty drama! He
selected not _Bethlehem_, where angel hosts had chanted His praise; nor
_Tabor_, where celestial beings had hovered around Him in homage; nor
_Calvary_, where riven rocks and bursting grave-stones had proclaimed
His deity; nor the _Temple-court_, in all its sumptuous glory, where for
ages His own Shekinah had blazed in mystic splendour; but He hallows
afresh the name of a lowly _Village_; He consecrates a Home of love.
BETHANY is the last spot which lingers on His view, as the cloud comes
down and receives Him out of sight.
Let us gather for a little in imagination on this sacred ground. Let us
note a few of the interesting thoughts which cluster around it, and
listen to the Saviour's farewell themes of converse there with His
beloved disciples.
(1.) He cheers their hearts with the promised baptism of the Holy
Ghost.--"John," He had said, a few hours before, at His last meeting
with them in Jerusalem, "truly baptized with water; but ye shall be
baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence."[39] He, moreover,
enjoined them to linger in the Holy City, and wait this "promise of the
Father" which "they had heard of Him;" and now, once more, when on the
eve of Ascension, He speaks of the coming of the same Holy Ghost to
qualify them for their future work.[40]
This, we know, was the great topic of consolation with which He had
often before soothed their hearts at the thought of parting. _He_ was to
leave them;--but an Almighty _Paraclete_ or _Comforter_ was to take His
place, whose gracious presence would more than compensate for the
withdrawal of His own. For when, on the intimation of His coming
departure, He observed that sorrow was filling their hearts--"It is
expedient," said He, "for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the
Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto
you."[41]
Now that the anticipated hour is come, He reverts to the same omnipotent
ground of comfort;--that this Divine Enlightener, Cheerer, Sanctifier,
would fill up the gap His own withdrawal would make. They were about to
enter on a new dispensation--the dispensation of the SPIRIT--and the
approaching Pentecost was to give them a pledge and earnest of His
mighty agency in the conversion of souls.
Jesus, our adorable Lord, has ascended to "His Father and our Father--to
His God and our God!" We, like the disciples, have to mourn the denial
of His personal presence. His Church is left widowed and lonely by
reason of His departure. But have we known, in our experience, the
value of the great compensating boon here spoken of? Have we known, in
the midst of our weakness and wants, our griefs and sorrows, the power
and grace of the promised Paraclete? It is to be feared we do not
realise or value His blessed agency as we ought. To what is much of the
deadness, and dullness, and languor of our frames to be traced--the
poverty of our faith, the lukewarmness of our love, the coldness of our
Sabbath services, the little hold and influence of divine things upon
us? Is it not to the feeble realisation of the quickening, life-giving
power of this Divine Agent? "It is the Spirit that quickeneth." Church
of the living God! if you would awake from your slumber and apathy; if
you would exhibit among your members more faithfulness, more zeal, more
love, more unselfishness, more union--if you would buckle on your armour
for fresh conquests in the outlying wastes of heathenism, it will be by
a fresh baptism of the Holy Ghost! Another Pentecost will usher in the
Millennial morning. The showers of His benign influences will form the
prelude to the world's great Spiritual Harvest. "Pray ye, then, the Lord
of the Harvest," that His Spirit may "come down like rain upon the mown
grass, and as showers that water the earth," and that the promise
regarding the latter-day glory may be fulfilled--"I will pour down My
Spirit upon all flesh." Or would you have Jesus made more precious to
your _own_ soul? Would you see more of His matchless excellences,--the
glories of His person and work,--His suitableness and adaptation to all
the wants and weaknesses, the sorrows and temptations, of your tried and
tempted natures. Pray for this gracious Unfolder of the Saviour's
character. This is one of His most precious offices--as the _Revealer_
of Jesus. "He shall glorify _Me_; for He shall receive of _Mine_, and
shall shew it unto you!"[42]
(2.) Another theme of Christ's converse, when within sight of Bethany,
was _the nature of His Kingdom_--"Lord, wilt thou at this time restore
again the kingdom of Israel?" was the inquiry of the disciples. "And he
said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which
the Father hath put in His own power."[43]
The thoughts of His followers were clinging to the last to the dream of
earthly sovereignty. How difficult it is to get even the renewed and
regenerated mind to understand and realise Heavenly things, and to wean
it from what is of the earth earthy! He checks their presumption--He
tells them these are questions which they may not pry into. There is to
be no present fulfilment of these visions of millennial glory. That day
and that hour are to be wrapt in unrevealed and impenetrable secrecy.
The Church may not attempt rashly and inquisitively to lift the veil.
She is not to know the _time_ of the Saviour's appearing, that she may
live every day in the frame she would wish to be found in when the cry
shall be heard, "Behold the Bridegroom cometh." The apostolic band are,
in the first instance, to be cross-bearers, as He their Master
was,--witnesses to His sufferings, earthen vessels, defamed, persecuted,
reviled,--before they become partakers of His purchased happiness and
bliss!
Nevertheless, it was a grand and glorious mission He sketched out for
them. How worthy of HIMSELF--of his loving, forgiving, unselfish
Spirit--was the opening clause in that wondrous Missionary Charter He
then put into their hands. Even at the moment when all the memory of
Jewish ingratitude was fresh on His heart, He inserts a wondrous
provision of mercy and grace. They were to proclaim His name through the
wide world; but was JERUSALEM (the scene of His ignominy) to form an
exception? Nay, rather they were to _begin there_! The Gospel-Trumpet
was to be sounded in its streets. The assassins of Gethsemane, the
murderers of Calvary were to listen to the first offers of pardon and
reconciliation--"And He said unto them ... that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, _beginning_ at
_Jerusalem_!" Precious warrant, surely, are these words to "the chief of
sinners" to repair to this gracious Saviour. If even for "_the Jerusalem
sinner_" there is mercy, can there be ground for one human being to
despair?
But "_beginning_" at Jerusalem, the Gospel Commission did not _end_
there? It was to embrace, first, "Judea," then "Samaria," then "the
uttermost parts of the earth."[44] The ascending Redeemer's expansive
heart took in with a vast sweep the wide circle of humanity. From the
elevated ridge of Olivet, on which He now stood with the arrested group
around Him, He might tell them to gaze, in thought at least, far north
beyond the Cedar Heights of Lebanon and Hermon;--Southward to the desert
and the Isles of the Ocean;--Westward to the fair lands washed by the
Great Sea;--Eastward across the palm-trees of Bethany and the chain of
Moabite mountains on unexplored continents, where heathenism still
revelled in its rites and orgies of impurity and blood. With Palestine
as their centre and starting-point, the vast World was to be their
circumference. The Gospel was to be preached "as a witness to all
nations." The Great Mission-Angel was to "fly through the midst of
Heaven," having its everlasting truths to "preach to every nation, and
kindred, and tongue, and people."
Are _we_ faithfully fulfilling our Lord's farewell Apostolic Commission?
As members of the Church of God, component parts of the Royal
Priesthood, are we doing what lies in our power, that His name, and
doctrine, and salvation, be proclaimed to the uttermost parts of the
earth? Or is it so, that we are looking coldly, suspiciously,
indifferently on the Church's efforts in the cause of Missions,
suffering her funds to fail, and her schemes to languish, and her
devoted servants to sink in discouragement? Or rather, are we prepared
to incur the responsibility of heathen souls, through our neglect,
passing hour by hour into eternity, with a Saviour's name unheard of,
and a Saviour's love unknown? Go to the Rocky ridge above BETHANY, and
listen to the parting injunction of our Great Master. His last words,
ere the cloud received Him to glory, were _Missionary_ words, a
_Missionary_ appeal, a pleading for the Gospel being sent to heathen
shores. Ah! _our own Britain_ was then among the number! If the
Apostolic Company had in these days, like many among ourselves, refused,
on the ground of the _home-heathen_ in Judea, to send any of their band
abroad, where would _we_ have been at this hour? With our Druids'
altars, our bloody sacrifices, our cruel rites! But their best and
noblest were commissioned to speed from port to port in the
Mediterranean and the Isles of the Gentiles, with the Gospel errand on
their lips, and the blessing of God on their labours! All honour to
these leal-hearted men, who, in spite of national and hereditary
prejudices, implicitly followed the will of their Lord and Master, who
had given to them, as He has given to us, a great Missionary motto--"THE
FIELD IS THE WORLD!"
* * * * *
And now His themes of instruction and comfort are over--He is about to
Ascend! The symbolic cloud--(invariable emblem of Deity)--comes down to
conduct Him to His throne. What a moment was that! Glory in view--the
hallelujahs of angels floating in His ear--the air thronged with
celestial hosts waiting as His retinue to bear Him upwards;--all heaven
in eager expectancy for her returning Lord. And yet--how is He employed?
Is the world, that had so disowned Him, disowned now in return? Are the
disciples, who have so oft deserted Him, now deserted in return?--their
name forgotten in the thought of the loftier spirits who are to gather
around Him in the skies? Nay, His every thought is centered on the
weeping band of earth. "He lifted up his hands and blessed them!"[45]
His last words are those of mercy--His last act is outstretching His
arms to bless! It was an act replete with meaning to the Church of God
in every age. Jesus, when He was last seen on earth, wore no terror on
His lips--but He left our world pouring a benediction on His redeemed
people.
There is something, moreover, significant in the recorded fact that
"WHILE He blessed them, He was parted from them!" The Benediction was
unfinished when the cloud bore Him away! As they gazed upwards and
upwards till that glorious form was diminishing in the blue sky above,
still His hands were extended;--the last dim vision which lingered on
their memories was the True High Priest blessing the representative
Israel of God! It would seem as if He wished to indicate that the act
begun on earth was to be carried on and perpetuated in heaven--that
though parted from them, His outstretched arms would still plead for
them on the Throne. His _voice_ could no longer be heard--but His
blessing still would continue to descend till He came again!
Wondrous close to a wondrous life! We have traversed in thought many
other memorials of Bethany. We have stood by the gate where Martha met
her Lord--the silent sepulchre which listened to the voice of
Omnipotence--the holy home where friendship was realised such as earth
never before or since beheld. But surely not less sacred or hallowed
than any of these is the scene presented on the green ridge rising to
the west of the village, overlooking its groves of palm. Before
superstition ventured to raise its cumbrous monument on the heights of
Olivet, may we not think of the scene of the Ascension, rather in
connexion with three _living_ Temples? May we not think of it as oft and
again visited by Martha, and Mary, and Lazarus? May we not well imagine
it would form a hallowed retirement for solemn meditation! Amid more
sorrowful thoughts, connected with their Lord's absence from them, would
they not there often muse in holy joy over the now fulfilled prophetic
strains of their minstrel King?--"Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast
led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, _for_ the
rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among _them_."[46]
Do _we_ love also to linger in spirit on that spot, and listen to that
benediction?--"Blessed," we read, "are they that know the joyful sound."
In these words there is a beautiful allusion to the sound of the pendant
bells on the vestment of the High Priest in the Jewish temple of old.
When the assembled multitudes in the outer court heard their music
within the holiest of all, it conveyed the assurance that the High
Priest was there, actively engaged in his official duties--sprinkling
the Mercy Seat with blood, and pleading for the nation. They felt
"blessedness" in hearing and _knowing_ "that joyful sound." Beautiful
type of JESUS the Great High Priest within the veil! We seem, as we
behold Him standing on the crest of Olivet, to listen to the first note
of these gladsome chimes. He leaves His Church proclaiming nothing but
blessings. As He rises upwards, and the diminishing cloud recedes from
sight, still the music of benediction seems to float on the calm
morning air. The Golden Bells are sounding--and though the celestial
notes cease, it is only distance which renders them inaudible. They are
still pendant at His Royal Priestly robes, telling us that still He
intercedes! Oh, let us now hear His benediction! Let the comforting
thought follow us wherever we go--"_Jesus is pleading for me within the
Veil._" He left this world _blessing_--He is engaged in _blessing_
still. "HE EVER LIVETH TO MAKE INTERCESSION FOR US."
XXII.
ANGELIC COMFORTERS.
The Lord has ascended. The disciples are left alone in wondering
amazement. The bright cloud which formed His chariot had swept
majestically upwards--till (dimming on their view) the gates of heaven
closed on Him, who, a moment before, had been breathing upon them
farewell benedictions of peace and love. Are they to be left alone?
Terrible must have been the feeling of solitude on that lone
mountain-ridge, as the voice of mingled Omnipotence and Love was hushed
for all time. "Alone, but yet _not_ alone!" While their eyes are still
directed up to the spot where they got the last glimpse of the vanishing
cloud--transfixed there in speechless Sorrow, lo! "two men stood by them
in shining vestures!" The Saviour has departed; the sunshine of His own
loving presence is gone--but He leaves them not unsolaced. The vision
of the patriarch is again realised. When, like that weary pilgrim,
dejected, disconsolate, and sad--a ladder of comfort is stretched down
from the heaven on which they gaze, and "the Angels of God are ascending
and descending on it!"
Ah! whenever the Lord removes one comfort, He is ready to supply
another. He Himself leaves His disciples--but no sooner _does_ He leave,
than Angels come and minister to them; and this is immediately followed
by a mightier than Angelic Comforter--even the fulfilled promise of the
Holy Spirit. "If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you,
but if I depart, I will send Him unto you." How graciously does Jesus
thus adapt Himself to the character and trials of His people! What
compensations He gives when they are suffering tribulation! One blessing
is taken away--it is only that they may be brought more fully to value
others which remain. A beloved friend is removed by death--the household
is saddened at the stroke--its aching hearts are smitten and withered
like the grass--but new spiritual consolations are imparted, unknown
before--brighter manifestations of the Saviour's grace and mercy are
vouchsafed--the Promises of God, like the ministering angels on Mount
Olivet, are sent to hover around these stricken spirits. They are made
to sing of "mercy" in the midst of "judgment!"
Is Hagar in the desert? There is a fountain (though at first unseen) at
her side! Is Elijah trembling in the dark cave of Horeb? There is a
"still small voice" amid the long-drawn breath of the tempest, and
earthquake, and storm;--"The Lord is _there_!" Be assured He will never
leave nor forsake any that truly seek Him. To all desolate ones, who,
like the Olivet disciples, lift the steadfast eye of faith heavenwards,
bending like them in the silent attitude of resignation and faith--God
will send comfort. He will have his angels ready to wipe weeping eyes
and soothe sorrowful hearts.
We cannot grapple with this doctrine. We who are creatures of sense, who
are cognisant through a corporeal organism only of what is tangible and
material, cannot grasp what relates to the immaterial, invisible,
spiritual. We strive in vain to realise the truth of Angelic Beings
compassing our earthly path, joying with us in our joys--aiding us in
our perplexities, and mingling their accents of comfort with us in our
seasons of sorrow. But though mysteriously invisible, we believe there
are hosts of these blessed messengers thronging around, profoundly
interested in all that concerns us--"bearing us up in all our
ways"--following us, as Jacob saw them, step by step up the ladder of
salvation, till we reach our thrones and our crowns! Angelic agency is
no mere gorgeous dream of inspired poetry--no mere symbolic way of
stating the doctrine of Divine Providence, and the peculiar care which
God takes of His Church and people. The Bible gives us too many positive
statements on the subject to permit a figurative interpretation. These
bright and holy Beings are there represented as having witnessed all
along with profound interest the gradual unfolding of the plan of
salvation--from the hour when, at creation's birth, the morning stars
sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted for joy--onwards to the
eventful night when they met over the plains of Bethlehem and chanted a
responsive anthem at the advent of the Prince of Peace! Now that
Redemption is completed--they have gathered once more on Olivet to form
a royal retinue to conduct their Lord to His crown--to summon the gates
of Heaven to "lift up their heads" that "the King of Glory may enter
in." If God, in bringing in His first-begotten into the world, said,
"Let all the angels of God worship Him;" much more, when His work is
done, and the moral Conqueror, laden with the spoils of victory, is
about to return to His throne, may we expect that "the chariots of God"
("twenty thousand, even thousands of angels") are waiting to grace His
triumph.
Nor were they merely employed on earth as His servants and attendants
during the period of His incarnation--leaving our world, when _He_ left
it, to "serve him day and night in His heavenly temple." A portion of
this glorious bodyguard we find now, at the hour of Ascension, left
behind to certify to the disciples and the Church in every age, that
Angels were still to continue their loving watchfulness and interest
over the Pilgrims in a Pilgrim world--still to be sent forth on errands
of mercy to "minister to them who are heirs of salvation!"
Is it the House of God--the gates of Zion--the Holy place of
Solemnities? The scene now before us on Mount Olivet forms a miniature
picture of what takes place Sabbath after Sabbath in every meeting of
Christian disciples. As we are assembled like the apostles in our
Sanctuary--looking upwards to Heaven, there are glorious Spirits, we may
well believe, clustering around us--hovering in silence over our
assembly--engaged, it may be, in unseen conflict with the emissaries of
evil--assisting us in our prayers--joining with us in our
praises--waiting to waft these upwards, and get them perfumed with the
incense of the Saviour's merits.
Nor is it the Sanctuary alone they overshadow with their wings of light.
The lowliest homestead of the believer is oftentimes made a MAHANAIM ("a
Host"). The dwellers in the world's thousand Bethany-homes of simple
faith and lowly love are "entertaining angels unawares." In the hour of
sickness they are there unseen to smooth our pillow. In the hour of
danger they are at hand to "shut the lions' mouths." In the hour of
bereavement they are employed bringing messages of solace from the
Intercessor within the veil, and enabling us to "glorify God in the
fires." In the hour of death they are waiting to lend their wings to the
Immortal tenant as it bursts its earthly coil. Oh, if the _return_ of
the Repentant Sinner be to them an hour of joyous jubilee;--if their
songs of triumph greet the Believer _justified_;--what must it be to
exult over the gladsome consummation--the Believer _glorified_; to be
engaged on the Great Day as Reapers at the ingathering of the sheaves
into the heavenly garner--throwing open, at the bidding of their Great
Lord, the Golden Portals that the ransomed millions may enter in!
"Oh never, till the clouds of time
Have vanish'd from the ken of man,
And he from yonder heaven sublime
Look back where mystic life began,
Will gather'd saints in glory know
What blessings men to angels owe.
"This earth is but a thorny wild,
A tangled maze where griefs abound,
By sorrow vex'd, by sin defiled,
Where foes and friends our walk surround;
But does not God in mercy say,
Angelic guardians line the way?
"Sickness and woe perchance may have
Ethereal hosts whom none perceive,
Whose golden wings around us wave
When all alone men seem to grieve;
But while we sigh or shed the tear,
Their sympathies may linger near.