Delivered on Lord's Day Morning, January 7th, 1872, by
C. H. SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
'And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right
hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I
am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore,
Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.'Revelation 1:17-18.
LOW THOUGHTS OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST are exceedingly mischievous to
believers. If you sink your estimate of him you shift everything else
in the same proportion. He who thinks lightly of the Savior thinks so
much the less of the evil of sin; and, consequently, he becomes callous
as to the past, careless as to the present, and venturesome as to the
future. He thinks little of the punishment due to sin, because he has
small notions of the atonement made for sin. Christian activity for
right is also abated; as well as holy horror of wrong. He who thinks
lightly of the Lord Jesus renders to him but small service; he does not
estimate the Redeemer's love at a rate high enough to stir his soul to
ardor; if he does not count the blood wherewith he was redeemed an
unholy thing, yet he thinks it a small matter, not at all sufficient to
claim from him life-long service. Gratitude is weak when favors are
undervalued. He serves little who loves little, and he loves little who
has no sense of having been greatly beloved. The man who thinks lightly
of Christ also has but poor comfort as to his own security. With a
little Savior I am still in danger, but if he be the mighty God, able
to save unto the uttermost, then am I safe in his protecting hand, and
my consolations are rich and abounding. In these, and a thousand other
ways, an unworthy estimate of our Lord will prove most solemnly
injurious. The Lord deliver us from this evil.
If our conceptions of the Lord Jesus are very enlarged, they will only
be his due. We cannot exaggerate here. He deserves higher praise than
we can ever render to him. As high as the heavens are above the earth,
so high is be above our loftiest conceptions. Even when the angels
strike their loudest notes, and chant his praises most exultingly on
their highest festal days, the music falls far short of his excellence.
He is higher than a seraph's most soaring thought! Rise then, my
brethren, as on eagle's wings, and let your adoring souls magnify and
extol the Lord your Savior.
When our thoughts of Jesus are expanded and elevated, we obtain right
ideas upon other matters. In the light of his love and atoning
sacrifice, we see the depth of the degradation from which such a
Redeemer has uplifted us, and we hate, with all our hearts, the sins
which pierced such an altogether lovely one, and made it needful for
the Lord of life to die. Forming some adequate estimate of what Jesus
has done for us, our gratitude grows, and with our gratitude our
love'while love compels us to consecration, and consecration suggests
heroic self-denying actions. Then are we bold to speak for him, and
ready, if needs be, to suffer for him while we feel we could give up
all we have to increase his glory, without so much as dreaming that we
had made a sacrifice.
Let your thoughts of Christ be high, and your delight in him will be
high too; your sense of security will be strong, and with that sense of
security will come the sacred joy and peace which always keep the heart
which confidently reposes in the mediator's hands. If thou wouldst
thyself be raised, let thy thoughts of Christ be raised. If thou
wouldst rise above these earthly toys, thou must have higher and more
elevated thoughts of him who is high above all things. Earth sinks as
Jesus rises. Honor the Son even as thou wouldst honor the Father, and,
in so doing, thy soul shall be sanctified and brought into closer
fellowship with the great Father of Spirits, whose delight it is to
glorify his Son.
My object, this morning, is to suggest some few truths to your
recollection which may help to set the Lord Jesus on a glorious high
throne within your hearts. My motto, this morning, will be'
'Bring forth the royal diadem
And crown him Lord of all.'
My anxiety is that he may be crowned with many crowns in all these many
hearts, and that you may now perform those exercises of faith, those
delightful acts of adoring love, which shall bring to him great glory.
I. Coming to the text, the first thing we notice in it is THE DISCIPLE
OVERPOWERED. We will meditate a little while upon that. John writes,
'And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.'
The beloved disciple was favored with an unusual vision of his
glorified Lord. In the blaze of that revelation even his eagle eye was
dimmed and his holy soul was overwhelmed. He was overpowered, but not
with ecstacy. At first sight it would have seemed certain that excess
of delight would have been John's most prominent feeling; it would
appear certain that to see his long lost Master, whom he had so dearly
loved, would have caused a rush of joy to John's soul, and that if
overpowered at all, it would have been with ecstatic bliss. That it was
not so is clear from the fact that our Lord said to him, 'Fear not.'
Fear was far more in the ascendant than holy joy. I will not say that
John was unhappy, but, certainly, it was not delight which prostrated
him at the Savior's feet; and I gather from this that if we, in our
present embodied state, were favored with an unveiled vision of Christ,
it would not make a heaven for us; we may think it would, but we know
not what spirit we are of. Such new wine, if put into these old
bottles, would cause them to burst. Not heaven but deadly faintness
would be the result of the beatific vision, if granted to these earthly
eyes. We should not say, if we could behold the King in his beauty as
we now are, 'I gazed upon him, and my heart leaped for joy,' but like
John we should have to confess, 'When I saw him I fell at his feet as
dead.' There is a time for everything, and this period of our sojourn
in flesh and blood is not the season for seeing the Redeemer face to
face: that vision will be ours when we are fully prepared for it. We
are as yet too feeble to bear the far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory. I do not say but what we are so prepared by his grace that,
if now he took us away from this body, are should be able to bear the
splendor of his face; but, I do say, that flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God, and that when, as an exception to the rule,
a mortal man is permitted to behold his Lord, his flesh and blood are
made to feel the sentence of death within themselves, and to fall as if
slain by the revelation of the Lord. We ought, therefore, to thank God
that 'he holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud
upon it.' That face which shines as the sun in its strength, manifests
its love by wearing as yet a concealing veil. Be grateful, that while
you are to be here to serve him, and to do his will in suffering for
him, he does not deprive you of your power to serve or suffer, by
overwhelming you with excessive revelations. It is an instance of the
glory of God's grace that he conceals his majesty from his people, and
wraps clouds and darkness round about him; this he does not to deny his
saints a bliss which they might covet, but to preserve them from an
unseasonable joy, which, as yet, they are not capable of bearing. We
shall see him as he is, when he shall be like him, but not till then.
That for a while we may be able to perform the duties of this mortal
life, and not lie perpetually stretched like dead men at his feet, he
doth not manifest himself to us in the clear light which shone upon the
seer of Patmos.
I beg you to notice with care this beloved disciple in his fainting
fit, and note first, the occasion of it. He says, 'I saw him.' This it
was that made him faint with fear. 'I saw HIM.' He had seen him on
earth, but not in his full glory as the first begotten from the dead,
and the prince of the kings of the earth. When our Savior dwelt among
men, in order to their redemption, he made himself of no reputation,
and took upon himself the form of a servant; for this reason he
restrained the flashings of his Deity, and the godhead shone through
the manhood with occasional and softened rays. But now, Jesus was
resplendent as the ancient of days, girt with a golden girdle, with a
countenance outshining the sun in its strength, and this even the best
beloved apostle could not endure. He could gaze with dauntless eye upon
the throne of jasper and the rainbow of emerald, he could view with
rapture the sea of glass like unto crystal, and the seven lamps of fire
burning before the throne, but the vision of the Lord himself was too
much for him. He who quailed not when the doors of both heaven and hell
were opened to him in vision, yet fell lifeless when he saw the Lord.
None either in earth or heaven can compare with Jesus in glory. Oh for
the day when we shall gaze upon his glory and partake in it. Such is
his sacred will concerning us. 'Father, I will that they also whom thou
hast given me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my
glory.' To bear that sight we shall need to be purified and
strengthened. God himself must enlarge and strengthen our faculties,
for as yet, like the disciples upon labor, we should be bewildered by
the brightness.
Here was the occasion of his faintness. But what was the reason why a
sight of Christ so overcame Him? I take it we have the reason in the
text, it was partly fear. But, why fear? Was not John beloved of the
Lord Jesus? Did he not also know the Savior's love to him? Yes, but for
all that, he was afraid, or else the Master would not have said to him,
'Fear not.' That fear originated partly in a sense of his own weakness
and insignificance in the presence of the divine strength and
greatness. How shall an insect live in the furnace of the sun? How can
mortal eye behold unquenched the light of Deity, or mortal ear hear
that voice which is as many waters? We are such infirmity, folly and
nothingness, that, if we have but a glimpse of omnipotence, awe and
reverence prostrate us to the earth. Daniel tells us that when he saw
the great vision by the river Hiddekel, there remained no strength in
him, for his comeliness was turned in on him into corruption, and he
fell into a deep sleep upon his face. John, also, at that time,
perhaps, perceived more impressively than ever the purity and
immaculate boldness of Christ: and, being conscious of his own
imperfection, he felt like Isaiah when he cried 'Woe is me, I am
undone; for I am a man of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the
Lord of Hosts.' Even his faith, though fixed upon the Lord, our
righteousness, was not able to bear him up under the first surprising
view of uncreated holiness. Methinks his feelings severe like those of
the patriarch of Uz, when he says, 'I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself, and
repent in dust and ashes.' The most spiritual and sanctified minds,
when they fully perceive the majesty and holiness of God, are so
greatly conscious of the great disproportion between themselves and the
Lord, that they are humbled and filled with holy awe, and even with
dread and alarm. The reverence which is commendable is pushed by the
infirmity of our nature into a fear which is excessive, and that which
is good in itself is made deadly unto us; so prone are we to err on the
one side or the other.
There is no doubt, too, that a part of the fear which caused John to
swoon arose from a partial ignorance or forgetfulness of his Lord.
Shall we charge this upon one who wrote one of the gospels, and three
choice epistles? Yes, it was doubtless so, because the Master went on
to instruct and teach him in order to remove his fear. He needed fresh
knowledge or old truths brought home with renewed power, in order to
cure his dread. As soon as he knew his Lord he recovered his strength.
The wonderful person who then stood before him bade him know that he
was the first and the last, the ever living and Almighty Lord. The
knowledge of Jesus is the best remedy for fears: when we are better
acquainted with our Lord we part company with half our doubts'these
bats and owls cannot bear the sun. Jesus in his person, work, offices,
and relations, is a mine of consolation; every truth which is connected
with him is an argument against fear: when our heart shall be filled
with perfect love to him fear will be cast out, as Satan was cast down
from heaven. Study then your Lord. Make it your life's object to know
him. Seek the Holy Spirit's illumination, and the choice privilege of
fellowship, and your despondency and distress will vanish as night
birds fly to hide themselves when the day breaketh. It is folly to walk
in sorrow when we might constantly rejoice. We do not read that John
was any more afraid after the Lord had discoursed lovingly upon his own
glorious person and character. That divine enlightenment which was
given to his mind, purged from it any secret mistake and misjudgment
which had created excessive fear.
But, while we thus notice the occasion and the reasons, we must not
forget the extent to which John was overpowered. He says, 'I fell at
his feet as dead;' He does not say in a partial swoon, or overcome with
amazement: he uses a very strong description, 'I fell at his feet as
dead.' He was not dead, but he was 'as dead;' that is to say, he could
see no more, the blaze of Jesus' face had blinded him; he could hear no
more, the voice like the sound of many waters had stunned his ear; no
bodily faculty retained its power. His soul, too, had lost
consciousness under the pressure put upon it; he was unable to think
much less to act. He was stripped not only of self-glory and strength,
but almost of life itself. This is by no means a desirable natural
condition, but it is much to be coveted spiritually. It is an infinite
blessing to us to be utterly emptied, stripped, spoiled, and slain
before the Lord. Our strength is our weakness, our life is our death,
and when both are entirely gone, we begin to be strong and in very deed
to live. To lie at Jesus' feet is a right experience; to lie there as
sick and wounded is better, but to lie there as dead is best of all; a
man is taught in the mysteries of the kingdom, who comes to that. Moses
with dim legal light needs to be told to put off his shoe from off his
foot in the presence of the Lord of Hosts, but John is manifestly far
in advance of him, because he lies lower, and is like a dead man before
the Infinite Majesty. How blessed a death is death in Christ! How
divine a thing is life in him. If I might see Christ at this moment
upon the terms of instant death, I would joyfully accept the offer, the
bliss would far exceed the penalty. But as for the death of all within
us, that is of the flesh and of fallen nature, it is beyond measure
desirable, and if for nothing else; my soul would pant more and more to
see Jesus. May that two-edged sword which cometh out of his mouth smite
all my besetting sins; may the brightness of his countenance scorch and
burn up in me the very roots of evil: may he mount his white horse and
ride through my soul conquering, and to conquer, casting out of me all
that is of the old dragon and his inventions, and bringing every
thought into subjection to himself. There would I lie at his dear
conquering feet, slain by his mighty grace.
Only one other reflection while we look at this fainting apostle,
observe well the place where he was overpowered. Oh, lovely thought. 'I
fell as dead;' but where? 'I fell at his feet as dead.' It matters not
what aileth us if we lie at Jesus' feet. Better be dead there than
alive anywhere else. He is ever gentle and tender, never breaking the
bruised reed or quenching the smoking flax. In proportion as he
perceives that our weakness is manifest to us, in that degree will he
display his tenderness. He carrieth the lambs in his bosom, and doth
gently lead those that are with young; feebleness wins on him. When he
sees a dear disciple prostrate at his feet, he is ready at once to
touch him with the hand of his familiar love, and to revive him by his
own strength. 'He restoreth my soul.' 'He giveth power unto the faint.'
He saith unto our pitiful weakness, 'Fear not, I am the first and the
last.' To be as dead were not desirable, but to be as dead at Jesus'
feet is safe and profitable. Well doth our poet say, when expressing
his desire to escape from all worldly bonds.
'But oh, for this, no strength have I,
My strength is at his feet to lie.'
II. And now, having seen the disciple overpowered, I shall ask your
consideration of THAT SAME DISCIPLE RESTORED. He was not long in the
condition of death, for the Master laid his right hand upon him, and
said to him, 'Fear not.' Here then, we shall notice, that when the
children of God become exceeding faint and feeble, and their own sense
of impurity and nothingness becomes painful, and even killing to them,
the Lord has ways of restoring and reviving their spirits.
And first, he does it by a condescending approach. 'He laid his hand
upon me.' It is noticeable, that in the great cures which our Savior
wrought, he almost always touched the patient. He could with a word
have healed, but to prove his fellowship with the sick, he put his hand
upon the leper, and upon the blind eye, and touched the deaf ear; thus
manifesting his condescending contact with the infirmities of our
nature. The Master could have spoken a word to John, and have revived
him; but he did not stand at a distance, or guard himself with a 'Touch
me not' but, instead of that, he commenced his care with a touch. No
other hand could have revived the apostle, but the hand which was
pierced for him had matchless power. There is mighty healing in the
royal hand of our Immanuel. When the Holy Spirit inspires us with a
sense of the relationship which Christ bears to us, of the sympathy
which Christ feels with us, of the kinship and fellowfeeling which
reign in Jesus' breast, then are we comforted. To know that he is not
ashamed to call us brethren is a wellspring of comfort to a tried child
of God; to feel his presence, to perceive the touch of his hand, and to
hear him say: 'I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God,' this
is new life to our waning spirits. Oh what bliss is this. 'In all their
afflictions he was afflicted.' He is a brother born for adversity, a
sympathetic and tender friend touched with a feeling of our
infirmities. 'He laid his hand upon me.' 'O child of God, pray for a
manifestation of the kinsman Christ to thy soul; ask that he would
instruct thee as to the fact that he enters into thy grief, having
himself endured the like. Thou art one with him, and he is one with
thee; and as surely as the head feels the pain of the members, so does
Jesus share in all the sorrows of his people. Let this be a comfort to
thee, thou who art now lying as dead before the risen Lord. He comes
near to thee, not to kill thee, but to revive thee by most intimate
intercourse, talking with thee as a man speaketh with his friend. O
man, greatly beloved, be not so overwhelmed with the greatness of thy
Lord as to forget his love, his great love, his familiar love, which at
this moment lays its hand upon thee.
The same action implies the communication of divine strength. 'He laid
his right hand upon me.' It is the hand of favor, it is also the hand
of power. God gives strength to those who have none. He puts power into
the faint. When the child of God is brought very low, it is not a mere
subject for consideration or theme for reflection that can lift him up:
sick men want more than instruction, they require cordials and
supports. There must be actual strength and energy imparted to a
swooning soul, and, glory be to God, by his own Holy Spirit, Jesus can
and does communicate energy to his people in the time of weakness. He
is come that we may have life, and that we may have it more abundantly.
The omnipotence of God is made to rest upon us, so that we even glory
in infirmities. 'My grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made
perfect in weakness,' is a blessed promise, which has been fulfilled to
the letter to many of us. Our own strength has departed, and then the
power of God has flowed in to fill up the vacuum. I cannot explain the
process: these are secrets and mysteries to be experienced rather than
expounded; but as the coming of the Spirit of God into us first of all
makes us live in regeneration, so the renewed coming of the power of
God into our soul raises us up from our weakness and our faintness into
fresh energy. Be thou encouraged, then, thou fainting spirit today.
They that trust upon the Lord shall renew their strength. All power
belongeth unto the Lord, and be will give it plenteously to those who
have none of their own. Be of good courage and wait upon him for none
shall be ashamed who make him their confidence.
Then there followed a word from the Master's own mouth. He spoke and
said, 'Fear not.' Here he applied the remedy to the disease. Christ
himself is our medicine, as well as our physician. His voice which
stilled the sea, also casts out all our fears. The word of God, as we
find it in this book, is very consoling; the word of God, as we hear it
from Christ's ministers, has great power in it; but the real and true
power of the word lies in Jesus THE WORD. When the truth falls fresh
from his own lips, then is it power. Right truly did the Master say,
'the words which I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.'
With what power did those syllables fall on the fluttered heart of
John''Fear not.' Oh that we might hear the same voice by the Spirit in
our inmost souls.
'Oh might I hear thine heavenly tongue,
But whisper 'Thou art mine.'
Those gentle words should raise my song
To notes almost divine.'
Truly there are many voices and each has its significance, but the
voice of Jesus has a heaven of bliss in its every accent. Let but my
beloved speak to me, and I will forego the angelic symphonies. Though
he should only say, 'Fear not,' and not a word beyond, it were worth
worlds to see him open his mouth unto us. But you say, can we still
hear Jesus speak to us? Ay, by his Spirit. His Spirit still hath
fellowship with the hearts of men, and he can bring the word of
Scripture right home into the soul, until it becometh no more the
letter but the living, quickening word of Christ. Do you know what I
mean by this? If you do not, it is not possible to tell you; and if you
do, you will need no explanation. Jesus speaks to the heart, the truth
comes not in word only, but in demonstration of the Spirit and with
power. O thou troubled believer, thou who art abashed by the very glory
thou hast been made to see, be assured that Jesus will draw near unto
thy soul, and touch thee, and speak with thee, so that thou shalt be
strengthened with might by his Spirit in thine inner man. Had John not
fallen as dead, he might never have heard the voice and felt the touch
of his Lord. Sweet is the fall which leads to such a rise again.
In order to complete the cure of his servant our Lord went on to give
him fuller instruction in that very matter which had overpowered him.
Sometimes like cures like. If in a certain sense it is true of divine
revelations, that 'shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,' it is
assuredly true that 'drinking largely sobers us again.' If a glimpse of
Christ makes holy men to faint, a clearer sight of him will set them on
their feet again. Our Lord went on to instruct John in the glory of his
person and power, that his fears might be removed. And truly, brethren,
John was in a right state for such celestial instruction; he who is
lowly is ready to learn mysteries. He was like wax ready for the seal;
or as paper cleansed of all other writing. Because we think we know, we
know not; but the death of the pride of knowledge is the birth of true
understanding. The Lord loves best for pupils those who lie lowest
before him. 'The meek will he guide in judgment, the meek will he teach
his way.' 'With the lowly is wisdom.' Where Jesus is the teacher, and
instructs the heart in the things concerning, himself, the soul is made
to inherit substance, and its treasures are filled. Blessed are the men
who are taught by him who is the wisdom of God, even though while they
watch at the posts of his doors they lie as dead men; they are blessed,
for they shall find life, and obtain favor of the Lord.
III. We will now advance to the third point of our discourse which
contains the pith of it. We have observed the beloved disciple
overpowered and we have seen him afterwards revived; now we shall
consider for awhile THE SAME DISCIPLE STILL FURTHER INSTRUCTED. Let me
have your attention, dear friends, to the glorious truth which is now
opening up before us in the text. John was first of all instructed as
to the Lord's person. 'Fear not, I am the first and the last; I am he
that liveth and was dead.' As to the Lord's person, Jesus revealed to
his disciple that he was most truly divine. 'I am the first and the
last.' This language can be used of none but God himself; none but he
is first; none but he is last; none but God can be first and last. Now,
our Lord Jesus Christ was evidently first. He existed before he was
born into the world. We read, 'a body hast thou prepared me.' Then
Christ was a previously existing one for whom that body was prepared;
and he it is who said, 'Lo, I come, to do thy will O God.' He came into
the world, but he had from old eternity dwelt in the bosom of the
Father. John the Baptist was born into the world before the Savior, of
whom he was the forerunner, but what does he say? His testimony is 'he,
coming after me, is preferred before me, for he was before me.' He is
first in order of honor because first in order of existence. John was
the elder as man, but as God the Lord Jesus is from everlasting. Go
back in history as far as you will; with one leap ascend to the days of
Moses, and there is Christ before you, for we read: 'Let us not tempt
Christ as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.'
There was Christ, then, in the wilderness vexed by the people. He it
was whose voice then shook the earth, but who will yet shake not the
earth only but also heaven. Go further back to Abraham, and we find the
angel of the covenant there. Our Lord expressly says, 'Before Abraham
was I am.' Mark you, not 'I was,' but 'I am;''he speaks in a God-like
manner. Ascend even to the age of Noah, the second parent of our race,
and there we discover Jesus Christ preaching to those spirits who are
now in prison, who sometime were disobedient, when the long-suffering
of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing.' It was
Christ in Noah, who by the Spirit preached to the antediluvian sinners.
We go further back to the creation of the world, and are find 'In the
beginning was the word, and the word was God;' and if we fly back to
old eternity, before the creating hand commenced its work, we find in
Proverbs, the eighth chapter, the witness of the incarnate wisdom
himself. 'I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever
the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when
there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were
settled. Before the hills was I brought forth: While as yet he had not
made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the
world.' Our Lord is thus the first: and so assuredly will he be the
last; for all things consist and subsist through the perpetual
emanations of his infinite power; and when the kings of the earth shall
sleep in the dust, and the popovers thereof shall have passed away,
when the treasures of time shall have melted, and its most enduring
memorials shall have gone like the mists of the morning, he shall be
the same, and of his years there shall be no end. Christ is the true
Melchisedec, without beginning of days or end of years, 'made a priest
not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an
endless life.' This was revealed to John for his comfort, and it stands
true to us today, and is equally fraught with consolation.
Moreover, by the words 'the first and the last' are signified, in most
languages, the sum and substance of all things. We say sometimes the
top and the bottom of it is so and so; we mean that it is the whole of
it. And the Greeks were wont to say, 'This is the prow and stern of the
business,' meaning that it is the whole. And so Jesus Christ, in being
first and last, is all in all. And, truly, it is so in the working of
redemption and salvation; he begins, carries on, completes; he asks no
creature help and will have none. To us he is the author and the
finisher of our faith, the alpha of our first comfort, and the omega of
our final bliss. We worship Christ as the sum and substance of all
good. Herein is wealth of comfort, and, therefore, did the Lord
instruct his servant, John, therein, he did as much as say, 'John, thou
needest no ear, for I am no enemy, no stranger, no avenging spirit, but
God himself, in whom thou has learned to put thy trust. Thou believest
in God, believe also in me.' To every trembling believer we would say,
Why dost thou fear? Jesus is all. Art thou afraid of him, thy brother,
thy Savior, thy friend. Then, what dost thou fear? Anything old? He is
the first. Anything to come? He is the last. Anything in all the world?
He is all in all, from the first to the last. What dost thou want? If
thou hast him thou hast all. Dost thou need more than all? Hast thou
discovered a need within thy spirit, a grievous lack which troubles
thee? How can that be when thy Lord Jesus fills all things, and all
things are yours in him. If thou hast, indeed, placed thy confidence in
him, and made him all thy salvation, to what end and for what cause
shouldst thou be troubled with any sort of fear? Having a divine person
to be thy protector and thy Savior, Why shouldst thou be afraid?
In addition, however, to rendering to John the comfort derived from his
person, our blessed Master went on to comfort him with the truth of his
self existence. 'I am he that liveth,' saith he, 'or I am the living
one.' Creatures are not living in themselves, they borrow leave to be;
to God alone it belongs to exist necessarily. He is the I AM, and such
is Christ. Why then dost thou fear? If the existence of thy Lord, thy
Savior, were precarious and dependent upon some extraneous
circumstances, thou wouldst have cause for fear, for thou wouldst be in
constant jeopardy. If he had to borrow permission to be, derived
strength from creatures, and needed to look hither and thither for
strength to sustain his own existence, thou wouldst be ever in danger,
and consequently in distress; but, since Jesus cannot possibly cease to
be, or be other than he is, or less than he is, what occasion canst
thou have for alarm? A self-existent Savior, and yet a troubled
Christian! Oh, let it not be so. 'Fear not, I am he that liveth.'
And, if these two sources of consolation should not suffice, the Lord
in the glory of his tenderness mentions a third'viz, his atoning death.
He says, 'I was dead,' the original more correctly rendered is 'was
made dead.' Here we come upon the human nature of our Redeemer. As God
and as man he had two natures, but he was not two persons. As one
person he ever lives, and yet he was made to die. He came into this
world in human form that he might be capable of death; the pure spirit
of God could not die, it was not possible that he, the I AM, could be
subject to death; but he allied himself with humanity, and in that
human form Jesus could die, and did die. In very deed, and truth, and
not in semblance; Jesus bowed his head, and gave up the ghost, and they
laid his corpse in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Here to the child
of God is a fruitful source of consolation. He died, then the atonement
is complete; without the shedding of blood there is no remission, but
the death of the Son of God brings plenteous pardon. There must be in
the death of such a one of sufficient merit to remove guilt and cleanse
transgression. Is it not written, 'He hath washed us from our sins in
his own blood?' Dost thou not hear that song in heaven? Will not its
music make thee glad? His own blood hath washed thee; if thou believest
in him thou art clean. Look to Calvary, and as thou lookest there and
perceivest that he was dead, 'fear not.'
And then the master declared his endless life, 'I am alive for
evermore.' He who offered up the atonement lives again to claim the
effect of his sacrifice. He has presented the meritorious sacrifice,
and now he has gone to heaven to plead the sacrifice before the throne
of God, and to lay claim to the place which he has prepared for them
that love him. Thou hast no dead Savior to trust to: thou reliest in
him who once died'this is comfort to thee, but he lives, the great
Redeemer lives. He has risen from the tomb; he has climbed the hills of
heaven; he sits at the right hand of the Father, prepared to defend his
people. If thou hadst a Christ in the sepulcher that were sorrow upon
sorrow; but thou hast a Christ in heaven, who can die no more. Be thou
of good cheer.
And then, to close the whole, the Master said 'Amen, and hath the keys
of hell and of death.' The mediatorial office which Christ now occupies
is one of great power. He is 'God over all, blessed for ever.' His
dominion is over land and seas and over heaven and the regions of the
dead. There is nothing hid from the energy of his power. He is Lord of
all. 'He hath the keys of hell and of death.' By the word 'hell' may be
meant here the entire invisible land, the whole realm of spirits:
Christ is Lord there, adored in heaven and feared in hell. But, if we
restrict the sense to the common meaning of the word in our language,
he is Lord of hell. The devil despite his malignity can do nothing but
what Christ permits him. He is a chained enemy; he may rave and rage,
but he cannot injure the child of God. Christ hath him ever in check,
and when he permits him to wander abroad, he makes the wrath of man and
the wrath of devils to praise him, and the remainder he doth restrain.
Why dost thou fear therefore? Thou sayest, 'I am a sinner'Satan will
prevail against me.' But Christ saith 'I am master of Satan, I am Lord
of hell, he cannot prevail against thee.' He cannot leave hell unless
Christ permits him, for Christ can turn the key and lock him in. He
could not take thee there, for Christ has locked thee out and keeps the
key. Thou art eternally and perpetually safe from all the machinations
of the powers of darkness. And dost thou tremble at death? Is it that
which alarms thee? Have the pains and groans and dying strifes sounded
in thine ear till thou art timid and afraid? Then remember Christ hath
the keys of death. Thou canst not die until he permits. If men of blood
should seek thy life, they could not smite thee till thy Lord should
allow it; and if plagues and death should fly about thee, and thousands
die at thy right hand, and ten thousands at thy left, thou canst not
die till the Lord wills it. Thou art immortal till he saith 'return.'
The iron gate of death opens not of its own accord to thee, a thousand
angels could not drag thee to the tomb; thou comest there only at his
call. Fear not, therefore, but remember that death is no longer death
to the saints of God, they fall asleep in Jesus. Since thy Lord will be
with thee, it will not be death to die; thou shalt find death to thee
an enemy muzzled and chained: the wasp shall have lost its sting, it
shall be a bee that shall bring thee honey; out of the lion, as Samson
did, shalt thou get sweetness to thyself. Death is overborne, and when
it arrives, Jesus will come with it, and make thy dying bed most soft
to thee.
Remember one thought more. He that hath the key of death will
annihilate death; for thy body shall not become the prey of the worm
for ever. At the trump of the archangel thy body shall rise again.
There shall not a bone or a piece of a bone of one of his people
perish, their very dust is precious in his sight. They sleep awhile,
and rest from their labors; but, from beds of dust and silent clay, the
Lord of life shall call them all. O death, where is thy sting! O grave,
wherein thy victory! Since Jesus who died and ever lives has the keys
of death and hell at his girdle, we will not fear to die, let the time
appointed be when it may. So that you see there was abundance of
comfort for the sinking spirit of the apostle John.
Let me close by saying, in the glory and exaltation of Christ is the
saint's cordial. Some of us have tried it when our mouths were full of
bitterness, and we have rejoiced and been exceeding glad at the
thought. A reigning Savior makes a joyful people. Run there for
comfort, ye sons of sorrow: rejoice ye in your king all ye his saints.
But this same glorious Savior will be the sinner's terror. They shall
hide their faces at the last from the brightness of his glory; they
shall ask the hills and mountains to conceal them from his face who
sits upon the throne. A glorious monarch is the rebel's horror. By so
much as he whom you have rejected is great and glorious, by so much
shall the punishment from his right hand be intolerable. Oh that you
were wise enough to cease from fighting with the Almighty Lord.
But, lastly, he is also the penitent's hope; for now, to-day, if you
would be forgiven, the exalted Savior presents himself to you most
freely. He is exalted on high, but what for? It is to give 'repentance
and remission of sins.' The greater he is the better for those who need
great mercy; the more royal and kingly he is the better for humble,
broken, bleeding hearts. 'Oh, kiss the son, lest he be angry and ye
perish from the way while his wrath is kindled but a little.' From the
highest heaven he stretches down the silver scepter; touch it by a
simple faith. May he enable you to do it, and though as yet you fall at
his feet as dead, you shall hear him say this morning, 'Fear not, I am
he that liveth, and was dead, and am alive for evermore, and am,
therefore, able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by
me, seeing I ever live to make intercession for thee.' God bless you,
dear friends, by his Spirit. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON'Proverbs 8:17-36; Revelation 1.
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A Call to Holy Living
A Sermon