MANY souls truly awakened to a sense of their need have not peace, because, instead of looking at the true object set before them, they are looking within, trying to find something there that will give them rest. We know it ends in the saddest disappointment. Nothing within, or that flows from self, can give peace to the guilty conscience, or rest to the weary breast.
The object for faith lies outside the range of self, and self’s-doings, altogether. We are, in ourselves, hopelessly ruined. Satan seeks to hide this, and man to disbelieve it, but there stands the fact, that man, in himself, is guilty, and under God’s just sentence of death and judgment, and utterly helpless to remedy that condition.
It is the object of this paper to set before the reader the one only true object for the faith of the soul.
I call the reader’s attention to one short verse. It is as follows: ― “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on ME hath everlasting life” (John 6:4747Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47)). Now don’t turn away from this verse, and say, “I am familiar with that verse, I have known it for years, and yet I have no peace.”
My friend, if you have known it for years, you as yet have not believed it, or else you would talk differently.
There is one word I want to call your attention to. It is the little word, Me, ME, ME. Look at it, dear friend, and ask yourself who the “me” is of that short passage of Scripture. It is not yourself. Who is it? It is the true object for the faith of your soul, which lies outside the range of self altogether, and yet, when the soul ceases to look at self, to trust self, and looks to that object, that divine object, it gets salvation. “Look unto ME, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else” (Isa. 45:2222Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:22)).
Who, then, is the “me” of John 6:4747Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47)? In the first place, it is the eternal Son of the ever-blessed God, He who was co-existent, and co-eternal with God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1, 21In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. (John 1:1‑2)). Beloved reader, what an object for your faith is here! One who was with God, yea, who was God from all eternity. Can you trust Him—trust Him who was eternally Divine? How worthy is He of your trust!
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth” (John 1:1414And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)). The “me” then of John 6:4747Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47) is the “Word become flesh,” and dwelling here as a man below. Marvelous fact! For us blessed reality! See Him the lowly babe; mark His every footstep as the perfect man, lowly, dependent, obedient, and subject to God; the Man of sorrows too, an outcast in the world His own har ds had made, and at the same time, “God over all, blessed for evermore.” He was “Immanuel,” “God with us,” “God manifest in flesh,” “the brightness of God’s glory, the express image of his person” (Heb. 1:33Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:3)). He was very God and very man, the “me” of John 6:4747Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47), the perfect glorious object for faith! Oh, my reader, how worthy of your trust is He!
But see Him in Gethsemane’s garden. He bows in agonizing prayer. “Father, if thou be willing remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done,” breaks upon the ear. The holy Sufferer bows again, and prays more earnestly, and His sweat is, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. What cup is this He is talking to the Father about, the anticipation of which brings His soul into such unutterable anguish? The cross, with all its suffering at the hands of man and Satan, and, lastly, at the hand of a holy God, where He, in infinite love, took our sins, bore them, made them His own, confessed them, and endured the judgment and wrath of God due to us because of them, ―the cross, the accursed tree, is the only answer. Look at the cross, dear reader, and you will see what the “cup” was that He was speaking to the Father about in Gethsemane.
But hark! “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me,” breaks upon the ear. Thank God soon it is followed by “It is finished,” after which He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.
Who is this? It is the “me” of John 6:4747Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47)―the One you are called upon to trust. Won’t you trust Him? Can you say, “Thank God, He died for me―me, the sinner; me, the guilty one; me the unjust one; me, the helpless one―He loved me, and gave Himself for me?” Can you look at Him by faith, and say, “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all?” If you can, I know the happy result. Salvation is yours. If you see that your sins were transferred to Him, then there is an end of them; they are gone, and gone forever.
But He is risen from the dead, and has gone back to glory. There now is the enthroned One. The man of Gethsemane, the man of Calvary, the man of the tomb, is now enthroned in glory. God put Him there, showing to the universe His acceptance of the work of the cross, and His delight in the One who, in accomplishing that work, glorified Him about sin, and laid the imperishable ground of the believer’s justification.
Christ, then, is in glory, the crown of glory rests upon His brow, the glory of God shines in His face; there He is exalted as man to the highest place, the object of heaven’s worship, and, thank God, the object of the poor needy sinner’s faith too, From those heights of glory He is saying today to every troubled soul, “Look unto me―me,”―the “me” of John 6:4747Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47),― “unto me, and be ye saved all the ends of the earth.”
Mark it well, beloved reader, who the “me” is, and then mark what the believer has. What is it that he has? “Everlasting life.”
Marvelous verses these, dear reader, and we would commend them to you to ponder, and weigh well in the presence of God, remembering at the same time that, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.”
In conclusion we would ask, Is not the “me” of John 6:4747Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47) enough for your heart, and the mighty work of the cross―the blood of the cross―enough to speak peace to your conscience, and the imperishable Word of God enough to fill your soul with sweetest assurance that you, if you believe on Him, are saved, and that you have eternal life?
Yes, thank God, it is enough for time, and it is enough for eternity! Believe then and be saved.
“Faith is up what we see or feel,
It is a simple trust
In what the God of Love has said
Of Jesus as the just.”
E. A.