“And the angel answered, and said unto the women, Fear not YE: for I know that YE seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here; for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” ―Matthew 28:55And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. (Matthew 28:5).
THERE are many precious souls who really love Christ and are trusting Him for salvation, yet they are never really happy. Now it is such that I have specially on my heart at the present moment, and would for their sakes write this paper. For I feel deeply what a dishonor this state is to the name and the work of Christ; and I would ask every Christian who reads this paper to consider well, how it is that there are these souls at our very doors, who are going about in a wretched state―one day happy, the next day miserable―a practical denial of the fact that there is joy and liberty in knowing Christ; and to consider how it is that we have visited such cases, and have been so little in prayer, and so little guided in our words by the Spirit, that we have not been able to give them just that word which, with His power, would set them free at once; for it surely cannot be of the Lord that souls should go on for months, and even years, in this state. Ought we not to be humbled by such thoughts?
As to details, there are scarce two doubters alike; certain features mark them all. Generally, all say they have a true and sincere desire to be happy in the Lord; all say they know they are lost; all say they are sometimes really happy, and then doubts and fears come in and ruin their happiness; they listen with gladness to the Gospel, and perhaps greatly enjoy the beginning of the preaching, and then suddenly, as the preacher is pressing the truth that they must know that they are lost and ruined, there comes in the doubt, “Ah, that is just where I am wrong! I never have realized that lost state in all its depth; and so what he is saying as to the blood washing whiter than snow all those who own their lost state cannot be for me;” and so they go away again, as sorrowful as ever, because they don’t see that it is not at all a question of realizing that truth, but of believing it and owning it.
Satan leads these souls in one way or another to look in upon themselves, instead of looking out at Christ; but I would pray any anxious one to consider the beauty of the Scripture heading this article. Here are these dear women in doubt, distress, and despair, not knowing whether their Lord, who was precious to them, was still in the sepulcher: an earthquake had taken place, and an angel sits at the mouth of the sepulcher; and for fear of him, the keepers shake and become as dead men.
Hardened sinner, what a terrible warning to you; these brave soldiers, where is their bravery now? In the face of the earthquake, in the face of the angel, all their bravery vanishes; so will all your falsely assumed bravery vanish in that day when you shall hear His voice in judgment, who says, “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven” (Heb. 12:2626Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. (Hebrews 12:26)). Where will you find yourself in that day? Far, far better that you should lay aside all your assumed bravery, and take your place now, at once, today, as a lost one, at the feet of a Savior who loves to receive and welcome the lost.
The angel addresses no word of comfort to the keepers, but how different the word of comfort he gives to the women! “Fear not ye,” he says, as it were in marked distinction to the fear shown by the keepers. And why were they not to fear? The reason is plain: “for I know that ye seek Jesus.” This was the point. God looks at the heart, and He knew the difference between the hearts of the keepers and the hearts of those anxious seekers, and so the angel could tell them, with the greatest simplicity, “Don’t fear.” So would I say to you, dear anxious soul; for if you from the heart are one who seeks Jesus, there is a blessed truth for you to enter into, and that is that He is seeking you; and when He seeks, He seeks until He finds. (See Luke 15:44What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? (Luke 15:4).) If you are anxious as to your really being saved, much more is He anxious that you should enter into all the joys of that salvation, purchased at the cost of His precious blood.
Take comfort, then, from this, and since He says to you today, “Fear not,” believe His word, and rest in it. That Savior whom you seek has been to the cross, and now is risen triumphant over the grave. That is the truth which marks the present time and God’s present dealings with souls. If you wad peace, you must see the blessed truth contained in these words, “He is not here: he is risen. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” You must enter into the fact that Jesus, who once died for sinners, is now risen from the tomb, God’s claims of holiness and justice having been so fully met, that He could raise that Savior out of the tomb and set Him at His own right hand. God has thus been perfectly satisfied. The question now is, Are you satisfied too? Mark, it is not in any way a question of feelings. What feelings of yours can after this grand fact? The question is, Do you believe that fact, and can you accept the gracious invitation of the angel, when, as if to quell every doubt in your soul, he says, “Come, see the place where the Lord lay”?
Go back in thought over the whole scene of Calvary’s cross―the blood-shedding, the cry of anguish, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” the placing His body in the tomb, the stone rolled in front of the sepulcher, the watch set, the angel descending from heaven and rolling away the stone, God having come in power and raised Him from the dead.
Now, what does all this mean, unless it be that He who bruised that Savior on the tree (for “it pleased Jehovah to bruise him” in our stead, and for our sakes) wishes now to show His perfect satisfaction with Him, and in order that you may fully enjoy the liberty of His great salvation, gives you a loving invitation to inspect the empty tomb of that Savior, and thus for over to put an end to all your doubts and fears?
Oh, take this word home to yourself: “Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” Look at Jesus, now risen from the dead, and raised to the right hand of God; and when Satan comes with distressing doubts, instead of looking inside at feelings of your own, look straight out at Christ, the accepted One, in glory; Christ, the One who went down into death for you, and who is now risen. Instead of troubling yourself as to frames and feelings, accept at once the invitation here given by the angel, “COME, SEE the place where the Lord lay,” and, like these dear women, you will then be able to go and tell forth these
glad tidings to others with fear and great joy. Not fear as to your acceptance with God. Oh no; how could there be that fear now? The fear in this passage is one that goes with great joy, and you never can have great joy if you are doubting in any way your acceptance with God. This is the fear which all the Lord's people ought to have—the fear of offending this God of love, of grieving Him; and it is coupled with the great joy which ought surely also to characterize the Lord's people.
And now a word more to any fully delivered soul. The question I would put to you is, How far does this word, “He is not here,” act upon you in your walk? He is not here. Do you miss that loving Savior, who bung on the cross for you, and who now lives to plead for you? Do you really miss Him? Test your heart with this question; for it is in proportion as you miss Him down here that you will be seeking His interests, and not your own, and will be looking out for His return, so fulfilling the desire of His heart who said, “Ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord.”
A. F. R.