Nothing can be more solemn, beloved friends, than the Lord's testimony here to His disciples (and it applies to us). If I look for the will of God being carried out anywhere, I must go, of course, where Christianity is. They are those who will be " beaten with many stripes; " that is, the professing church-Christendom, if you will.
The warning is not against saying that Christ will not come (every one says that He will but the infidel) but against saying, the Lord delays His coming. Now I desire to speak a little of the condition of soul of one who is manifestly waiting for Him, as to whether it characterizes those who read this; whether, if He come at midnight, or in the cock-crowing, or in the morning, He would find us watching; and I speak of it, not as an interesting topic, which those who have studied much perhaps may receive some light about, but as a subject for our hearts.
Christ is waiting, and, so far as His people are right here, they are waiting. He is not sitting on His throne yet. The blessed work of Jesus on the cross being done, He sits at the right hand of God, on His Father's throne, until His enemies are made His footstool. From thence He sent the Holy Ghost down to fill our hearts, and make us abound in hope whilst waiting for Him. He is sitting down (He has no more to do as to His atoning work) and He has sent the Holy Ghost to gather out His joint heirs, to wait here, or to wait there—which is better, of course.
Christ has appeared and brought salvation; but, beloved friends, we cannot have too fast hold of the fact that the heart and intention of Christ is not merely to clear us from judgment, but to have us with Himself and that is what He is waiting for. I speak of this hope now, not as a little Christian knowledge, but as the only and proper hope of the church.
Now, for instance, when the Lord was comforting His disciples when He was going away, what did He say to them?—" I will come again, and receive you unto myself." And He shows what will be their hope meanwhile; not the knowledge of the Father, nor the coining of the Holy Ghost, but the coming of Himself. What is it that the angels say in the first chapter of Acts? " This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." And so we should find in every respect that what God has set before us in His word all sinks down when this hope is lost. It is this hope which characterizes the church, in the mind of Christ and in Scripture, and the Lord is now awaking and calling us back to this expectation. Paul tells us, in Phil. 3, that " our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." I find that as characteristic of the Christian. It is not to doubt the fact of our dying and departing to be with Christ, precious as it is and useful as it is for us to think of it, but this is His coining to take us to Himself.
There are nothing but troubles here for us in the world. We belong to it until we are converted, and then it belongs to us " Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours "—even the trials through which we pass. The poor thief says, " Lord, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom." How little they thought, when they sent the soldiers to break his knees, that they were sending him off to heaven.
Another point—if the saint dies, he is just " absent from the body and present with the Lord." But we are to be " conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom. 8:2929For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29)). Now I do not want to be conformed to Christ in the grave. The poor thief was, of course; he saw corruption. Of course Christ did not " see corruption." But we are not to be conformed to him in the grave, but in the glory. That is the full, blessed result of the hope that is before us -to be with Christ and like Christ. The reason why I have found the Lord's coining so precious is that it brings so definitely the Lord Himself before me. He is coming to take me; it is not that I am going to be happy in heaven, but that Christ Himself is corning to fetch me.
Now it is delaying the Lord's coming that brings such deadness into the church. Take the first chapter of 1st Thessalonians: you will see it is the Lord s coming which gives the character to the people. What were they converted for? " To serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven." Here were a number of people who had turned away from all their idols to serve the only true God, instead of all the gods they had before; and Paul says to them, I am looking for the Lord to come, and then you will be my joy and crown ' (see chap. 2:19). Then, if you look at holiness, it is " That he may stablish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Then in the fourth chapter he gives full expression to it, and in the second Epistle you find the coming of the Lord with respect to judgment. It was the object that was perpetually before them, as that which formed and fixed their character.
If you take the virgins (Matt. 25):They went forth to meet the Bridegroom. Well, the Bridegroom tarried; He delayed His coming (we know He has tarried); and they all slumbered and slept. People say, " Why did not all these good and holy people find it out long since?" Why? Because they all slept! They had all gone out to meet the Bridegroom; but, as people say, it is not very comfortable to bivouac out, and so they all turned in somewhere-turned into the world in fact; and there they all slumbered together, for people can very well sleep together. But at midnight the cry was made: and then, when they began to awake, they found they had not all got oil; and the effect of the cry was to separate the professors from the true ones. The professors go to buy, and whilst they are gone the Bridegroom comes, and those that are ready go in with Him to the wedding.
You will see that you never find the Lord's coming delayed beyond the life of the people to whom it was being written of, and you find the same thought in the Lord's teachings on the subject. What I mean is this—we know the servants who received the talents are the same ones who are judged for their use of them; and it is the same virgins who went to sleep that wake up again. We find in Rev. 2, and 3., the history of the whole time of Christendom. Is He going to make a long tale of it? No. He takes seven churches then existing to tell it all out. So there is no excuse for a single soul to say, " He delays His coming." It is a present thing. As James says, " The Judge stands before the door."
But the hope of the coming of the Lord has been lost, and the church has gone quite into the world. Do not you think that, if it were believed in the place in which you are living that the Lord was coming, it would not alter every detail of people's lives? Paul says, that after his decease there would be a complete turning aside; men speaking perverse things, and drawing disciples after them. And then in the midst of this darkness there is to be the cry at midnight. How can I resist such a testimony?
People say, Well, though I am occupied with what is here, my heart is not in it, so it is not my treasure. They always say, Where my heart is, there is my treasure. Now, that is not at all what the Lord says. He says, " Where your treasure is, there will your heart be." If you have a great treasure in heaven, you may be sure your heart will be there. It is no use talking; an unconverted man knows very well that if he were looking for Christ it would alter all his life-converted people too. Do not you believe that it would separate professors off in a very short time, if we were all walking like men who are waiting for their Lord? It is the delay between the cry and the coming that separates them off. And they were to have the character, and tone, and ways of men that were waiting: and these were to be " blessed "— blessed.
You 'find two parables (Matt,. 25.) that treat this quite in a different way—the Virgins and the Talents: one, the state of affections; the other, the activities of service. Any one can understand this. The Lord gives us Himself the character that He looks for and likes. We are to be watching. He says, You must be all alive! You must have your loins girded! You must be watching while I am away, and when I do come, then I will have things my own way.
I will make those watching servants sit down to meat, and I will serve them. The Lord has made Himself a servant forever.
When a mother is nursing her sick son, her delight will be to do all sorts of unpleasant, disagreeable things for him sooner than let anyone else do them, because it is love that makes her.
When He made Himself a servant, He came down to do it. Well, His coming down was glory. But we should have all said naturally, when He was going away, Well, there is an end of service now He is going to glory. No! When He is going out of the world He says, as it were, Do you think I am going to leave off serving you? Not at all! I am not going to give you up, if I cannot stay down here to have a part with you; you must have a part with me where I am going, and so I must wash your feet.
This was not blood; this was water. A soul, though really born again, wants to be kept clean by the way. When He goes away into glory He becomes the Advocate, as it is expressed. If one of His people sin, He sets about to restore him. We do want our feet washed' with water. " Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail nut." Peter has learned his own weakness, and the Lord has prayed for him. That is what He was going to do in heaven.
He says, when I have things in my way I shall not expect you to serve me any longer; I shall come out and serve you then. And that is what was meant figuratively, when in Ex. 21, He said, "I love my wife and I love my children; I will not go out free." He had served perfectly down here, and then He says, I love them right on to the end; He girds Himself and becomes a servant forever. It is His glory, really, but it is put as a figure in that way. He is Himself the loving, blessed Minister of all the happiness that is in heaven. What hearts, we have, compared to the love that Christ has to us! The consciousness of our wretchedness makes it hard for us to believe that it can be Christ's delight to serve us forever! But, as I have often said, love delights to serve, selfishness to be served. Christ delights to show us that " God is love." If I want to know what the Father is, the answer is " Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." It is the Son coming and bringing perfect, blessed, divine love to our hearts, that we may be done with ourselves and know God! It is a great thing when we can say, " We have known God, or, rather, are known of him." As I have often said to infidels, Though I am a poor creature, yet I know God. I have met Him, and found Him all love, and I know Him a great deal better than I know myself. I am never sure of myself, such a poor creature as this. Though I love your souls to-day, to-morrow I may not care a bit about them. Who put it into God's heart to love, the world? There are two kinds of affection in the world, love up, and love down. Of course God's love is love down. If I love a noble thing it has a noble affection; if I love God, so far as it goes, it is a perfect affection. I learn what is good in loving Him.
It is His delight and joy to minister to our necessities. I will take a very common illustration known to you all, in Luke 15 Who was happy in finding the sheep? Was it the sheep or was it the shepherd? Of course it was a good thing for the sheep. And who was happy that the piece of money was found? Was it the piece of money or the woman who found it? And when the prodigal son came back to his Father, who was the happy one—the Father or the prodigal? Of course it was a good thing for the prodigal to have the calf in stead of the husks, but the happiness is described as being the Father's.
Peter says to Him, " Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even 'to all?" I have had a man watching, and now I find a man serving, giving a portion of meat in due season. The one has the affections going out to Him; the other is serving: it may be the apostle, or it may be the smallest work of any Christian now-it may be even the giving of a cup of cold water. It is to be " holy, without blame before him in love," always before God; that is what Christ was. Oh! you say, He was God! Well, and you? You are in Him. Now I am an heir—I am a child in the house, and if I am a son, I am an heir. Of course the greatest blessing is to be an heir, and in heaven it will be all positive enjoyment. If I have a right Christian heart, what will be my next joy to seeing Himself? It will be to see you all like Him. My next joy to seeing Christ Himself will be the seeing that He has the travail of His soul and is satisfied; not His own personal glory that He had before the foundation of the world, but the seeing every one of us—what a thought!—not one single saint but 'will satisfy the heart of Christ!
Now, beloved friends, let me 'ask, does all this awaken desires in your hearts? Or, are you still under the power of the world, and saying (not openly, perhaps, but in your-heart), My Lord delays His coming? I do not doubt a moment that that coming is hastening on. What a comfort it is to have one single object before you; to have your eyes looking right on, and your eyelids straight before you! There is this kingdom that cannot be moved, and there is the promise that everything shall be shaken. I find that word, " Yet once more," because the things that are shaken are what cannot stand God's presence. Now, have you what cannot be moved? Has Christ such hold on your heart that you can say, Let everything else go, I have got Christ? Have you first, simple, full, distinct, clear persuasion by faith that the first coming of Christ has wrought perfect, full salvation for you? And, that being settled, have you care enough for Him to wish for His coming again? If I were to hear that a great Russian prince was coming here, do you think I would trouble myself about it? But supposing I knew that my mother was coming —why, I would go down to the pier at once to meet her.
The heart must be set upon Christ Him-,self, and then the longing of the Spirit and of the Bride says, " Come." What kind of a bride would that be who did not look for the bridegroom's coming? If your heart is not properly fixed, looking for the Bridegroom, your heart is not right with Christ. It is not merely a feeling, it is the Spirit who is down here: it is " the Spirit and the Bride say, Come; and let him that heareth say, Come; and let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will, let himtake the water of life freely." Christ is the first object; then the saints who have the desire awakened; then it goes out to all the world.
Now, can your hearts say, Come? May our hearts be so set upon Him, that we may be amongst those to whom the Lord, when He comes, will bring the blessing promised to those who are found " watching."