It is very solemn to reflect upon a fact to which attention has been very pointedly directed long ere this, namely, that the more the truth comes out in its clearness and fulness, and the more developed becomes the state of the external professing church, it is only too evident that in the dark ages, prior to the time of the Reformation, the full truth of the gospel, the Holy Ghost as the present power of the church of God, and the present standing and calling before God of the Christian individually, was not possessed or known.
After the long dark reign of Popery, with its records of monstrosity and iniquity, the blessed God in His grace wrought by the Reformation, which was indeed as daybreak after a weary night of darkness. Then it was that a partial recovery was reached, as regards the gospel of his grace; and the value of Christ’s blessed work was brought to light; yet how much it was vitiated by what has been termed the “suckers” of Popery, those who have weighed the history must know. It is well known that the theology of justification, at the time of the Reformation, set forth God as an appeased Judge, and Christ as a Savior, in whose heart the love was. This was the extent to which it went, there was no thought of the presence on earth in person of God the Holy Ghost, consequent upon full and accomplished redemption, and Christ glorified as Man at the right hand of God.
In these latter times, God has, in infinite grace, again wrought, and the result of his sovereign goodness is the truth now clearly and plainly set forth, namely, that God the Holy Ghost, a divine Person, now has come down to dwell, whether in the believer’s body individually, or in the whole house of God on earth; so that Christianity is characterized by His presence and indwelling. The scripture is plain and distinct as to this, so much so that it is written, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his” (Rom. 8:99But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9)). In setting this forth it is thus described: “It is not a question of what he a may be afterwards, or whether he is a sheep, or, so to speak, "ÛJä; but even if God be working in him to lead him to Christ, he is not yet His in fact until he has His Spirit.”
. . . “All men are Christ’s in a certain sense; all His sheep are His own in another: but none can be said to be His when they have not His Spirit” (Letters of J. N. D.).
Now the first great truth which is presented by the blessed Lord in connection with the promised sending of the Comforter, is his own departure out of this world. What a thought for the heart—the absence of Christ! The manner in which the blessed One speaks of it and refers to it, is worthy of our adoring contemplation. He was about to “depart out of this world to the Father”; again, “I go my way to him that sent me”; “I go away and come again unto you. If ye loved me ye would rejoice because I said I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.” Think of all that these precious words bring before the soul as to the Father and the Son; and the infinite grace that gives us to be interested in His own glory, in His happiness, and in it, to find our own.
Alas, beloved reader, how little is it so! What a small thing it seems to say, “He is not here,” and how well we all seem to get on without Him here, save, indeed, when some stormy wind or wild commotion shakes our earth-bound nest; then it may be in some poor sense, selfishness asserts itself in an expressed distress, not because He is not here, but because of the contrary winds and waves. But oh, that we might be conscious of the blank for His own sake! Then, and not till then, shall we enter into the greatness of His gift, sent by Himself as the ascended, glorified Man.
Further, it is the sense of His absence here that induces in the heart the affectionate desire to know Him where He is, in His own proper glory, which can only be by the Holy Ghost sent by Him from the Father, as well the longing to be with Him, which may be at any moment by His coming again to take us to Himself, or by our departing and being with Christ, which is far better. In this longing, which has Christ for its motive and object, we see the reflection of that desire of His own heart, thus so tenderly expressed, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:2424Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24)). Thus then we see how that the absence of our blessed Lord from this world is presented in the forefront of our subject. There are three points in which this expediency of His going away will appear to us.
First: It was only by the Holy Ghost they could know about, and have communion with Him in the heavenly glory He was going into. I need not say that it was only by the Holy Ghost they could be united to Him in heaven; but that I do not treat of here, as it does not form the subject of John’s writings; it is, as we know, fully unfolded and applied in those of Paul.
Now this is a truth of the deepest moment for the heart sensible of the absence here of its beloved Lord. Its path here is one of increasing retirement and isolation because He is not here, not that it would be inactive in His interests, for they, in truth, now constitute the one object of the life of strangership where He is not; Himself in heaven, His interests on earth.
Next, the expediency of His departing is set forth in the fact that they should have on earth God the Holy Ghost, both in and with them; thereby the testimony of Christ’s deep affection and love for His own would be maintained, and by the Holy Ghost all this would be both entered into and enjoyed. Moreover, the blessed Spirit dwelling in them would be the source and power of those divine and heavenly affections of which Christ Himself is the object.
Thirdly, by the Holy Ghost alone as the divine power, suited testimony would be given here on earth. This we know on the authority of the risen Lord Himself in these words, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:88But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)).
Let us note this well, that a new power was to fill and energize the vessels of testimony, whether the testimony related to the earthly side of Christ’s glory, or whether it pertained to the heavenly glory, in which He, the blessed One, now is; of whatever character or nature the witness was, the power for rendering it should be the Holy Ghost in and with the vessel. The twelve were to testify of what they had seen of Jesus on earth, Paul was to witness of Him whom He had seen in heavenly glory. We may here well ask how far have we divinely taken in the immensity of this grace? The heavenly Savior and Lord is, alas, but little known as such. The drift of the present tide is this side of the cross and death of our precious Lord and Master; the Lord knows how little prepared any of us are for such words as these, “Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more” (2 Cor. 5:1616Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. (2 Corinthians 5:16)). Oh that His own voice, in its mighty power by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, might be heard clearly in all our souls, saying as it were to all of us, “Let us go over to the other side,” and then assuredly, like the people in John 6, we shall find Him in true heavenly order, “on the other side.”
There is one other point of real comfort in connection with the presence of the Comforter consequent upon the absence of Christ. It is striking how, in the Gospel of John, the personality of the blessed Spirit is brought out, when the absence of Jesus is fully announced by the blessed Lord Himself. He is set forth rather as power in the early chapters, but in the last chapters He is spoken of as a divine Person throughout, He is the Paraclete (A"D"680J@H), the Comforter.
This term, Paraclete, occurs five times in the New Testament; four of these are in the Gospel of John, and applied to the blessed Spirit; once we find it in the Epistle of John (1 John 2), and there it is applied to Christ, as we know Advocate there is Paraclete.
All this is most interesting to the heart, as bringing before us in a very distinct and striking way, His personality. Oh that our hearts may more sensibly appreciate the companionship of such a heavenly Guide, and rejoice in such comfort as He brings! Further, this blessed Person is found abundantly set forth as such in the Acts, called those of the apostles, but in reality of the Holy Ghost; there we see Him ever in personality, supernatural, supreme, directing, controlling the servants of Christ in everything, thus establishing, in part, the words of the Lord Jesus Himself in John 14, “When he the Spirit of truth is come.” Some at least, who read this, will note what force His personality derives from the expression “he” not it: in the language of revelation z,6,\<@l (he).
It is not possible to over-rate, at the present moment the value and importance of this great truth; the presence here on earth of a divine Person, sent from Christ in His own proper glory in heaven; this, along with accomplished redemption and the coming of the Lord, form the great distinguishing present characteristic of Christianity, and its specific future as well. It is no question of acquirement of knowledge in any sense, but the heavenly position and power of the Christian; and Christianity cannot be apprehended, or entered into in faith where this great truth has not its place; and I judge that, at the present moment, there is a tendency to let it slip, and thus to drop down to an order other than what is heavenly, an order which does not “go beyond earthly things, though earthly things with God—the desert now [not Canaan], and the desert to blossom as a rose, but not Canaan.” Surely the Lord would have all our hearts exercised before Him as to this, that the heavenly Comforter might conduct our souls in faith to that blest place where Jesus is, fill and satisfy them with Him who is there, so as to detain our affections in that scene itself, and enable us in this world where Jesus is not, without effort of any kind, without a gloomy or sad face, but simply and naturally, in heavenly brightness, to reflect its light on all the darkness and dreariness around.