"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."--Matt.
xxviii. 20.
The Abiding Presence.
Such were "the words of Jesus" when He was just about to ascend to
Heaven. The mediatorial throne was in view--the harps of glory were
sounding in His ears; but all His thoughts are on the pilgrim Church He
is to leave behind. His last words and benedictions are for _them_. "I
go," He seems to say, "to Heaven, to my purchased crown--to the
fellowship of angels--to the presence of my Father; _but_, nevertheless,
'Lo! I am with _you_ alway, even unto the end of the world.'"
How faithfully did the Apostles, to whom this promise was first
addressed, experience its reality! Hear the testimony of the beloved
disciple who had once leant on his Divine Master's bosom--who "had
heard, and seen, and looked upon Him." That glorified bosom was now hid
from his sight; but does he speak of an absent Lord, and of His
fellowship only as among the holy memories of the past? No! with
rejoicing emphasis he can exclaim--"Truly our fellowship IS with ...
_Jesus Christ_."
Amid so much that is fugitive here, how the heart clings to this
assurance of the abiding presence of the Saviour! Our best earthly
friends--a few weeks may estrange them;--centuries have rolled
on--Christ is still the same. How blessed to think, that if I am indeed
a child of God, there is not the lonely instant I am without His
guardianship! When the beams of the morning visit my chamber, the
brighter beams of a brighter Sun are shining upon me. When the shadows
of evening are gathering around, "it is not night, if He, the unsetting
'Sun of my soul,' is near." His is no fitful companionship--present in
prosperity, gone in adversity. He never changes. He is always the
same,--in sickness and solitude, in joy and in sorrow, in life and in
death. Not more faithfully did the pillar-cloud and column of fire of
old precede Israel, till the last murmuring ripple of Jordan fell on
their ears on the shores of Canaan, than does the presence and love of
Jesus abide with His people. Has His word of promise ever proved false?
Let the great cloud of witnesses now in glory testify. "Not one thing
hath failed of all that the Lord our God hath spoken." _This_ "word of
the Lord is tried"--"having loved His own, which were in the world, He
loved them _unto the end_."
Believer! art thou troubled and tempted? Do dark providences and severe
afflictions seem to belie the truth and reality of this gracious
assurance? Art thou ready, with Gideon, to say, "If the Lord be indeed
with us, why has all this befallen us?" Be assured He has some faithful
end in view. By the removal of prized and cherished earthly props and
refuges, He would unfold more of his own tenderness. Amid the wreck and
ruin of earthly joys, which, it may be, the grave has hidden from your
sight, One nearer, dearer, tenderer still, would have you say of
Himself, "_The Lord liveth_; and blessed be my Rock; and let the God of
my salvation be exalted." "Thanks be to God, who _always_ maketh us to
triumph in Christ." Yes! and never more so than when, stripped of all
competing objects of creature affection, we are left, like the disciples
on the mount, with "_Jesus only_!"
"THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU, THAT IN ME YE MIGHT HAVE PEACE."