"Then were there two thieves crucified with Him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. And they that passed by reviled Him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save Thyself. If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking Him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others, Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him: for He said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with Him, cast the same in His teeth."-Matt. 27:38-4438Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. 39And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, 40And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. 41Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, 42He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. 43He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. 44The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. (Matthew 27:38‑44).
"And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on Him, saying, If thou be Christ, save Thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Host not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise." -Luke 23:39-4339And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:39‑43).
The Savior, the Son of Man, was dying; the just One in place of the many unjust; bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. This was His great work for us. But of the two malefactors between whom He was crucified, both of whom had reviled Him-one became converted, and showed a work of grace wrought in him.
The work of grace for us, and the work of grace in us, are not one and the same thing, any more than the death of Christ for the thief, and the change inside the thief (by the means of which he ceased to be a blasphemer and owned Jesus) were one and the self-same thing. The former is outside of us, and was wrought by CHRIST; the second is in ourselves, though wrought there by grace.
I desire to present a few thoughts which are connected with this most important subject.
And first, What is it which hinders God and a sinner meeting and being together? True, the sinner's will is opposed to God; his heart's affections, too, are alienated from God; and doubtless if he, a sinner, were in the light of God's presence, he would find, soon enough, that the light of God's presence discovers all the sin of the creature. But the difficulty was not in the creature, however sunk, alienated, and deluded he may be, and however unsuited for such an one the holiness and majesty of God's presence may be. There was another question, one of far higher and deeper import, viz., How could God, in His holiness and righteousness, meet a sinner who has by sin done dishonor to God? Sin is an insult to God-to God in His majesty and being-and the soul that gets into the light knows this to be so.
So far as God is concerned, the work of grace in us is never separated from the work of grace for us. From the day of the fall and of man's exclusion from Eden, God wrought in man, but always upon the ground of the work which He meant to do for man. And in working thus in man He has constantly presented some object to the mind in which the work for man was shadowed, forth.
The sacrifice offered by Abel, the victims of the patriarchal worship, the sacrifices of the sanctuary, &c., all pointed onward to the work which Christ was to do for man-a work by which alone God could be just while justifying a sinner, and which alone can ever satisfy the conscience of a sinner in the presence of God about sin. But the work in man preceded the work for man in all these cases. At Calvary the Son of Man gave Himself a ransom for us. From that day onward the work of grace for man has had nothing added to it, nothing new from the time that "by one sacrifice He perfected forever them that are sanctified." But though the work for man is finished, yet is the work of grace in man quite as needful now as ever. That it is wrought in man by the Holy Ghost, through faith in the work accomplished for man, is true; but it must be wrought in man or man is lost.
The peculiarity of the conversion of the thief upon the cross is, that it is a case in which grace was working in a man to open his heart to Christ, at the very moment that Christ was doing for man that work without which no way was opened for God to bless, nor open for man to come for blessing.
On this account the distinctness of the two things is the more easily seen, and this may help some to see how they should not confound them together, and how impossible it would be for the one to be exchanged so as to be made to take the place of the other.
Justice had brought the two thieves, for their misdeeds, to the violent death of the cross. There they were surrounded by a mass who were gathered to the spot to revile and blaspheme the dying Savior.
The thieves heard the revilings, and adopted them, for they cast the same in His teeth. But an entire change came over one of them. Light broke in upon his soul, and in his case it was the light of life-eternal life.
God had taken His rightful place in the man's soul. The effect is immediate; and, remark-he rebukes his fellow-malefactor: "Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss." When the candle of the Lord searches a man, it is sure to discover sin in him to himself. It must be so; for righteousness and holiness are inseparable from the light of God, and man is unholy. The light detects and shows the un-holiness. Yet is there in this experience of the thief also another feeling expressed. He knew sin to be inseparable from himself; he knew it, and yet he sought to put it down with an unhesitating mind. He rebukes his fellow-malefactor for doing, the very thing which he himself had done just before, and the which he had but just ceased to do.
This was, as man would count it, practically inconsistent. Quite so. Conscience, when it gets into God's presence, and has the light of life, acts in a way which is very inconsistent with human thoughts of consistency and propriety. He was inconsistent as a man, but consistent as a saint It is strange, that first dread and hatred of sin, which leads us to put our mouths in the dust and to condemn sin in ourselves-part of our being as it may have been. But it is a blessed instinct of the new life, of life divine in a soul, that sin must be condemned, for it is hateful. This true taste of what- sin is, is a very different thing from the dread of the consequences of sins. Dread of the consequences of sin and sins may alarm and terrify the soul, and drive it to seek a Savior. But the light of life shining in quickening power into a soul, separates between it and the sin itself: gives it an altogether new estimate of what sin is. "Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss."
How full, both in the general statement and in the particular detail, is his confession of sin! What an abandoning and disclaimer of all human righteousness! "We indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds."
And it was light, not vague and ill-defined, that shone in upon his soul, but clear and distinct; for it was the light of a contrast between the Christ of God and himself "But this man hath done nothing amiss." Himself and the Christ were in his conscience, contrasted the one with the other. Ills language was that of faith; and little as he knew it, he was, in the hour of the Lord's being forsaken by all, giving the description of Him which will be owned of God to be true of Christ alone. " This man hath done nothing amiss" will be loudly proclaimed as true of Christ alone in the glory; and all of us that will be there will know and own the perfectly graphic, distinctive description, as being His alone. Of Adam's race, not one, from Eden down to the placing of the great white throne-not one, save the seed of the woman, of whom it could be said in truth, "This man hath done nothing amiss."
God, sin, himself, the Man that is Jehovah's fellow-these were not only new experiences of his soul, but they marked that he had a new life, and had got into a world of light, where things are seen just as they are. But his faith went further, and he sees not only the personal peculiarity of the Sinless One at his side, but also that there was in Him a heart on which, spite of all the contrast between the Christ and himself, he might cast his every care. "Lord, remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom." The glories, and the kingdom, and the majesty of the Lord brake in upon his soul-sinner as he was. and yet he saw that in that One there was the only rest, the alone hope for him. This also is an instinct of the new nature. It will see and own the contrasts between the Christ and what we are, but it will cleave to Him in spite of our misery and His gloriousness-it will cleave to Him as being all our salvation.
If we are to be vessels filled with grace, we may be assured that there has been a somewhat similar work wrought in us-and we shall be able to record it as a work of the Lord in us-a work which puts us just where the Lord's work in the dying thief put him, viz., into the position of expecting from the Lord, into a position in which the Lord could show some of the exceeding riches of His grace, as He did in His answer to the thief. The thief asked to be remembered in the kingdom: Jesus answered, "Verily, I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise."
Christ had His rightful place in this poor sinner's soul, and no mistake about it, and this place was His from the time that the rocky heart was riven open. But what the thief experienced in his own soul-the blessed work which God was doing in the soul of the poor thief, while it fitted him to receive the grace, could not appear in heaven in place of the blood of the Lamb of God: it could neither justify God in justifying a thief, nor discover to the thief, that which, in the light, is his justification -before God. Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Christ was there and then shedding His blood, giving His life, the Just One in place of the unjust. And whether that poor thief, or any other sinner, were ever saved or not-He, risen from the dead and gone into heaven, the way is plainly set forth, in which God declares that He is free to bless the vilest of the vile-the way, too, in which the vilest of the vile that comes by it finds a way of peaceful access to God.
If no one upon earth cared for that new and living way, yet it is a new and living way; and it is open-open for man to draw nigh to God, even into the holiest of all in the heavens.
The work of grace in us cannot be substituted for, cannot be put in the place of the work of grace for us; the work of grace in me cannot vindicate God's holiness so as to justify Him in moving in favor of me, a sinner. And, clearly, so far as it is a work of grace wrought in me by God, God has moved in my favor to work it ere it ever was wrought. And, moreover, it contains in it, for just the self-same reason, no answer to my conscience if it is in the presence of God-nothing that can make for me a perfect conscience.
God has a right to act without man's leave, and in spite of man. None can say unto Him, "What doest Thou?" But then He has a character of His own, which He will not deny. And if He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and will have compassion on whom He will have compassion, He does so in a way which thoroughly vindicates His holiness and His justice, in a way which elevates conscience in man, while it gives to it perfect liberty and boldness of approach unto God in the light.
People may argue against justification by faith alone; but they may depend upon it that if they ever find themselves in the same light of life in which the poor thief found himself, they will find that they themselves appear very miserable, and that there is an attractive beauty about the Christ, who is all the salvation of the soul.
Many may turn faith into a work for themselves to work, but they will find that the Spirit convicts of unbelief; and that all their rest is in the Lord Himself, and in the work He has wrought for poor sinners.
From the day of Pentecost the testimony of God has been about that work itself, and how heaven was opened thereby for the Holy Ghost to come down, and for man to draw near by faith.
When the testimony of God is received, as, for instance, about Christ as a new and living way (see Heb. 10), the soul that receives it finds its assurance to be in the work itself so presented to it,-not in its own feelings, thoughts, or experiences about it, but in the work ITSELF. For so has God been pleased to settle it. The light shining in brings with it its own testimony: It places me in the sight of God upon His throne in heaven, where He has placed Christ, who bare sin in His own body on the tree, that He might become the new and living way of blessing from God to man, and of approach by man to God.
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed as the God who has provided Himself a lamb, that His mercy and His compassion might be evident before all-heaven opened upon them.
That the heart of man is so wicked and so deluded that it cannot, will not, believe such things of God is true; and in this is seen the awfulness of man's condition. He must meet God, and he hates Him, and loves to nourish hard thoughts of Him. But when the light of life does break in, it is its own evidence.
Its entrance may not be understood at first, but the light will be found to be evidence of the subject whence it comes, and will be found to be the light of life. J. G. B.
The Conscience in the Light of God's Presence
The knowledge of our proper relationship with our gracious God, as Father, and of our calling and standing in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ-the heavenly Son of Man at God's right hand-necessarily goes far beyond all questions of conscience and exercises of soul in the children of God. Yet because of this, and in order to the full blessing-" fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ"-the conscience of the believer must be in the light; the walk in the light; all that is individual judged there-alone with God, for there is no such thing as corporate conscience. May it not be said that the Lord's great purpose, in all His dealings in grace, is to bring the souls of His children-the individual soul-into fellowship with Himself? Does not John so present it in that precious Word, 1 John 1:1-71That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 5This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:1‑7)?
There seems to be a special need at this hour to speak as to conscience being in His presence, so that all might be judged according to God. It was always so, surely; but this present is a solemn moment. Christendom, spurious and apostate Christianity, enlarges-Satan is working mischief as an angel of light; flesh or man's nature is active; combinations between the true people of God and mere professors are weakening the former, and nullifying their testimony-the mass, indeed, are sunk down to the level of the earth, alas! Of those who are in some measure separated to God, what urgent need of self-judgment as to the will and ways! What confession may be made! What humiliation is becoming! All this demands that conscience should not only be exercised, but be in the light of the Lord's presence. In fact, this lesson may be learned, that while there may have been activity in God's service, even joy, and the Lord (for faith was there) using the strength of His servant, yet conscience not having been fully in the light, and self and nature not judged there-communion with God, and its happy, peaceful effects and power, have been unknown, or very imperfectly known in the soul.
We read those remarkable words in Eph. 5:88For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (Ephesians 5:8), " Now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light" What does the apostle mean in its practical experimental sense by "light in the Lord "? Surely if the gentle, but strong, hand of the Spirit of God leads the renewed soul-the new man-the divine nature in the believer-into immediate contact with its Source (ie., God Himself)-conscience brought there-all will be seen, all judged (according to the measure given) in that presence " where no flesh can glory." There the flesh is judged, there sin is seen in its exceeding sinfulness, there the will is detected, there it is no longer the fruit only of sin and flesh which is judged, but the roots, deep-laid roots, exposed and made bare in that light. The world is there unmasked; above all, grace, seen and learned in its proper, divine character, and the soul by faith established in it; there the blessed Source, the God of all grace, bowed to in another and deeper way; reconciliation known more truly; the living glory of the Father's name connected with the soul; and some ray of the beauty and glory of Jesus, the Son of Man, seen and appreciated through the power of the present and eternal Spirit. "Now are ye light in the Lord." The heart may make progress now in the power of its communion, yet the work in conscience goes on from time to time, whenever there is something in nature not in obedience to Christ, "casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ " (2 Cor. 10:55Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; (2 Corinthians 10:5)).
It may be further stated, that the conscience being in the light, and the affections of the soul drawn out to God, who reveals His glory in the face (Person) of Jesus Christ, the soul learns what "fear and trembling" mean in the Word. Yet that fear is in the very light of the grace, consciously possessed and in the taste of it. For sure I am, at least I believe the thought to be according to truth, that while tasting the love of God in Christ, and the joy of relationship-while the cry of Abba, Father, intelligently understood as giving a place of heavenly son-ship with and in Jesus-while such affections may be higher and deeper blessings through the Spirit, yet there is a blessed, solid, divine satisfaction and joy in discovering and knowing the holiness of God. Oh, the joy when the Spirit sanctions and enforces that truth in the light, that nothing can be suffered in the child as to will-nothing recognized by God which is contrary to His nature and being! All must be judged-the levity and folly of man, the will and way, the mixed motives-all exposed there, that God may impart deeper blessing. Hence chastisement, and the exercises of Heb. 12, "That we might be partakers of His holiness."
The Scriptures, in their rich and varied treasures, afford abundant illustrations of the action on conscience and exercises of soul when man is brought into the light of God. We see there the divine hand at work, illuminating the understanding, quickening and enlightening, as well as purging the conscience, purifying the heart by faith, and drawing out its affections, renewed by grace, to God; to us, the affections gathered round and centered in the Person of the Son. It may be profitable just to glance at a few instances of the Spirit's handiwork, to exemplify and apply what is stated above. The case of Abraham would not be adduced as showing exercise of soul and conscience. Yet as to the general question of God acting on man's soul, it is most important to observe that if Abraham, called and elected peculiarly as the Lord's witness against an idolatrous world, needed power for difficult requirement, the Holy Ghost teaches us in Acts 7 the secret, that " the God of Glory appeared unto him." The glory shone into his soul, and he " obeyed, and he went out, not knowing whither he went" (Heb. 11).
In the account we have of Moses, in Ex. 2 and 3, seen in the light of Acts 7, where we get some comment on these chapters, we find exercise of soul. We see his conscience brought into the light, and its effect in power and communion. There is activity in him (Ex. 2:11-1411And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. 13And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? 14And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. (Exodus 2:11‑14)), and love or his brethren, though expressed with carnal power and wisdom; "he looked this way and that way;" "he supposed his brethren would have understood; "marking the want of calmness and guidance, and he has to flee from the consequences of his act. But when he beholds the glory from the burning bush; when he has to put off his shoes from off his feet (the rough shoe of nature must come off), for it was holy ground; when sent by Him who calls Himself "I am that I am," what a contrast do we find! Unable to move or speak at first, yet, when the heart of Moses is assured, and faith is there, the rod of power is taken instead of the carnal weapon; boldness now in the presence of Pharaoh, endurance in difficult service " he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible," and of this exercised servant the Holy Ghost deigns to say, " Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth " (Num. 12:33(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.) (Numbers 12:3)).
In the history of Job, we have a still more apt illustration of our subject. We see there, in a pointed way, the difference wrought in a man, and he a child of God, when conscience is brought into the light of His presence. It will suffice here (without entering into the details of God's wondrous dealings with His servant Job) to notice the case generally, and it is happy to remember the Holy Ghost's own comment on the cause of Job's trial and great afflictions " Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy " (James 5:1111Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. (James 5:11)). The end of the Lord was to give His servant and precious child, Job, deeper blessing, true communion with Him-self, and this He did by bringing his conscience into the light of His presence. No one would suppose it was mere natural uprightness which Job exhibits at first-that he was religious or pious according to the flesh. God's own words to the Adversary of Job and man (chaps. 1:8, 2:3) would show the contrary. But Job's nature rejected grace, and exalted itself.. He was occupied with himself, his good works, his prayers, his righteousness (the history of many a soul, and quickened soul too, at the present hour); and God would have all judged according to the light, hence His dealings with Job. We see the terrible process. We hear fearful language before God in the bitterness and trial of his soul; he is sifted, his heart is wrung out. Ah! to those who in their measure have known something of this process-the Spirit of God carrying conscience into the light, when the heart must be wrung out; "the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts," judged; all passing under His eye, who has judged, and has brought this judgment into conscience.
The process continues, as we know, till poor (but rich!) Job utters the memorable words: "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" (42:5, 6). Grace now understood in the light, produces self-abhorrence, self-loathing. Grace gives the broken spirit, which we so essentially need at this hour. Grace teaches us. May the reader of this remember (and if the point be urgently pressed, let him bear with the writer a little), that it is only in the Lord's presence that grace can be appreciated in its proper or divine character. Hence the importance of this subject. Let this thought be well weighed, that communion is before walk, or service, or exercise, or gift. Oh! for the power of true communion! One drop of the love of Jesus in a broken heart and softened spirit!
Look for a moment at that word in Titus 2:11-1411For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2:11‑14), and connect it with the Lord's presence. "Grace," the apostle tells us, " teaches us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts (in fact, ourselves), we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." The soul, being true, covets to learn thus. It is to be learned of grace. Where? In the Lord's presence, for outside that we cannot really know grace. But, further, this precious grace teaches us to look for that blessed hope (the return of Jesus to take us up into the air to Himself), and the appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ (the Epiphany or public manifestation of the Glory of Jesus, when the saints will be manifested with Him). Blessed be His holy name, for such a hope!
Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, and other prophets, in their day and history, would witness something of the same. We may take a passing notice of Isaiah, and the rather as it furnishes so lovely a picture of grace and light acting on conscience. What cry burst from his lips, as narrated in chapter 6, when he saw the glory of Jehovah Jesus filling the temple (consult John 12:4141These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. (John 12:41), where the Holy Ghost shows us it was Jesus)? "Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips." And when the grace reaches him-for we see three virtues or powers flowing
to him from the throne and person of the Lord; first, full conviction of what he was; secondly, full forgiveness and purging of conscience; thirdly, the heart won, and the dependence of true affection-" Here am I, send me": the servant and prophet formed, and that for difficult service, the message of judgment. These illustrations might suffice, but I would yet briefly notice one or two in the New Testament.
Then, when the mighty instruments for God's work were prepared, the Holy Ghost being down here, consequent on the work of the Lord Jesus, there is necessarily a deeper action on conscience -a deeper and brighter glory visits the soul. Not that the deep and bright glory of God did not visit Abraham, but Abraham never could have known the communion which Paul and John enjoyed. The question of righteousness had not been raised-which we know the law did-and instead of promises, to which Abraham. in his wondrous faith, looked, Paul and John (the Church's portion) possessed the Accomplisher of the promises, the Lord of Glory, the heavenly Son of Man-all was deeper-" The true Light now " shone. It was "fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ."
With what wondrous grace, then, divine tenderness and power, the Lord Jesus dealt with Peter's conscience after his fall, restoring his soul and putting honor upon His servant (John 21)! The Lord had accomplished redemption, and in resurrection light and power, stands before His poor trembling servant, conscious of having accomplished sin and a terrible fall. The Lord does not take up his sin-the fruit or expression of the sin within-but He deals with the root-the deep-laid evil in his nature, the immense self-confidence in Peter, the carnal energy which characterized him. Alas! if one may speak for others, how much of this have we found in ourselves, and the bitter fruits; how far has it been judged in His presence! "Peter was grieved, because He said unto him the third time, Lovest thou Me?" Here was conviction of conscience. There is nothing but grace from the Lord, winning the affections of the soul of His servant, but showing him it could no longer be Peter for power of walk, but Christ in Peter. When filled with the Holy Ghost, we have the mighty Apostle of the Circumcision.
In Saul of Tarsus we have that which exceeds; he meets, he sees, in his mad career (the very expression of the Jews' hatred to Messiah), the Lord of Glory, who has accomplished redemption. Saul beholds the heavenly Man, from whose face streamed down the glory of God-a glory too effulgent for man: he is blind for a season. Saul utters these strange words (conscience-struck and' confounded), " Who art Thou, Lord? "He finds that Jesus the Head in heaven speaks of all the saints as Himself. " I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest." He preaches the gospel of the
glory, that Jesus is the Son of God. Peter's testimony was that He was Lord and Christ; but rais (servant) rather than this full divine title; the Son of God. How sweetly this honored servant afterward learns the secret of power, as recorded in 2 Cor. 12:99And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9), when the Lord shows him that it is dependence in conscious weakness which was the condition of power. " My grace sufficeth for thee, for (the condition) My power is made perfect in weakness." It may be observed here, that revelation itself, blessed and glorious as it is, is not power, but communion with God in the revelation. It produces for Paul here, the thorn in his flesh, lest he should be exalted above measure. "All power is of God." The creatures-even the angels who have kept their first estate—only have strength as communicated to them; hence the secret of the blessings of dependence,—"dependent supplicants alone prevail."
Further, do we not find, in Rev. 1, the secret of that power which enabled John, the beloved apostle, to have communion with the heavenly scene opened to him, as recorded in chapter iv.-he has title and power to look within the door opened in heaven. He has communion there with the crowned elders, as secure as they are; yea, as the throne itself. When John's conscience was brought into that living blaze of glory -judicial glory, no doubt, around the Person of the Son of Man (chap. 1, when he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day), he "fell at his feet as dead." The glory was exceeding bright and overpowering. Yet in fullness of grace and divine tenderness, Jesus said, "Fear not." John never feared anything after that. Seals, trumpets, vials, judgments, all pass before him; he is unmoved in their midst. John is witness to the end (compare John 21:22, 2322Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. 23Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? (John 21:22‑23)), not only of the coming of the Lord Jesus, but of the kingdom and glory, of the New Heavens and the New Earth. May each of our hearts taste, in sweet communion, the love of our Father; and, in personal love to Jesus, our Lord, bow head and heart in worship, saying, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Amen.
J. G. B.
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