There are certain great principles of life in which the Christian is led to walk to the glory of God. One of these is, "We walk by faith, not by sight." In this we are at once brought to the sacred Scriptures, and to Christ of whom they testify. We have the Holy Spirit by whom the holy men of God were moved of old, by whom testimony is given to Christ who dwells in us forever. It does not say, we walk by faith, and by sight, but, we walk by faith, and not by sight.
When the rich man in hell entreated that one might be sent from the dead to his five brethren, that they might be kept from coming to that place of torment, he was refused his request. He was told, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.... If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Luke 16:29, 3129Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. (Luke 16:29)
31And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. (Luke 16:31). The sight of one rising from the dead would do them no good if they would not hear Moses and the prophets, for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. (Rom. 10:1717So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17).)
While Christ walked with His disciples in the flesh, they had much of the sight of Christ, and so did the people of the world. But the disciples were blessed by the word of Christ and those who were not blessed by His word, were not blessed at all. In this we see the ignorance of Christ's disciples drawing out much of His compassion to them. They were willing to walk by sight, but He could not allow them to do so. They were very slow to walk by faith, but He could not conduct them in any other course.
The Empty Sepulcher
Why did the women carry spices with them to the sepulcher on the first day of the week, the third day after Christ was crucified? Was it what He said that made them do so? Or was it what they saw, together with their own thoughts about it, without any reference to a word that came out of His mouth on the matter? This was it! They saw the sepulcher and how His body was laid, and then they went to prepare the spices and ointments. But they did not remember His words. If they had remembered His words, they would have gone on this third day to see the empty sepulcher and to look for their risen Lord. The very sight of the stone rolled away would have been a joyous sight, and not to have found the body of the Lord Jesus would have been a sight more joyous still.
The very acts by which the purposes of God are accomplished will perplex those who have not communion with the mind of God in those acts. Those who saw His works for forty years, but did not learn His ways, could not enter into His rest, and therefore the word of warning is, "To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Heb. 3:1515While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. (Hebrews 3:15).
But God was merciful to those poor women who, though ignorant, were full of love to Jesus, so He sent the two men in shining garments to say to them:
“Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered His words." Luke 24:5-85And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? 6He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 7Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. 8And they remembered his words, (Luke 24:5‑8).
Even the very apostles themselves were in a worse state than those women. God would warn us through them that the very chief of Christ's disciples, even His chosen apostles, could not walk by sight.
There are the two disciples going to Emmaus the day on which they should have known that Christ was to rise from the dead.
“And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them." vv. 13-15.
The subject of their conversation was "the things that had happened." The nature of the conversation was that they "reasoned" together. They told what one person did and what another person said, and then they puzzled themselves to know why all this was so. Oh, poor disciples! Did they speak one word of what God had said in all this matter, and what God had done, and of all the glory that was now awaiting them? No, they did not! Now if walking by sight has gotten them into their trouble, God will show them, and through them show us, that it is not by sight that He will get them out of it. Objects of sight may draw out one's own thoughts, but it is by the Word of God that He communicates His thoughts.
“a Stranger in Jerusalem”
As these two disciples communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know Him and yet they were about to learn more of Him. But first Christ had to cast down their reasoning.
“He said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto Him, Art Thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?" vv. 17,18.
Jesus was indeed only a Stranger in Jerusalem, and He would make those disciples to know themselves strangers with Him there. His Father had given Him a cup, and He drank it. He laid down His life for the sheep. But Jesus drew out those two disciples by asking them, "What things?”
“And they said unto Him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and have crucified Him. But we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulcher; and when they found not His body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that He was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher, and found it even so as the women had said: but Him they saw not." vv. 19-24.
“Slow of Heart to Believe”
Such was their account of the things that had happened in Jerusalem, and their own thoughts about them. Jesus heard them and said, "O fools!" They saw what the chief priests had done, but they did not see what God had done. They were not walking by faith; they were slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken. It was there they were to learn Christ and the purposes of God about Him, and so "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”
The things concerning Christ can only be learned in the Scriptures, not in the things happening in any place, for we walk by faith, not by sight. You may truly see an important act in the workings of God, and yet be quite ignorant of the purpose of God in that act, or what further result will follow. All these must be learned of God and He has set them, so far as He sees we need to know them, in His Scriptures. He has given His Spirit to show Christ and the connection of these things with the glory of Christ, and this without the aid of the things of sight.
“Their eyes were holden that they should not know Him," because their walk was to be by faith, and not by sight. There must be the exclusion of sight in our walk of faith. It is in the Scriptures that the things concerning Him are to be learned, and "The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart." Rom. 10:88But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; (Romans 10:8).
The Same Communion
Those who know the truth can have the same communion with the Father and the Son as those who saw with their eyes and handled with their hands what they have declared unto us of the Word of life.
“That 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; (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;) that 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." 1 John 1:1-31That 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. (1 John 1:1‑3).
After Christ had reproved and corrected and instructed those two disciples on their way to Emmaus, He then tested their affection for Him and their desire to have Him with them. When they drew near to the village, He made as though He would have gone further. But they loved His presence; they wished Him to stay with them.
“But they constrained Him, saying, Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And He went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as He sat at meat with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him; and He vanished out of their sight." Luke 24:29-3129But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. 30And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. 31And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. (Luke 24:29‑31).
In this there was further witness of "not by sight" for when their eyes were opened that they knew Him, instead of His adding something to what He had already taught them, He vanished out of their sight. He left them in happy meditation on the words He had spoken instead of sadness in reasoning on the things that had happened. "And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?”
May we thus have communion with Christ, according to that which is written, and according to the power of His Spirit. May we be kept from the sadness of our own reasoning on the things that happen, that we may not be as fools but as wise. "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." Rom. 15:44For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. (Romans 15:4).
The Remembrance