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Volume. XXXIX, No. 30 The Real Presence - What Is It? (Part 2) It is not easy to comprehend the doctrine of God’s presence everywhere. However, believing it comforts us and strengthens our faith. To keep continually in mind that God is always present with us, to live always as in God’s sight, to act and speak and think as under His eye – all this is eminently calculated to have a good effect upon our souls. Wide, and deep, and searching, and piercing is the influence of that one thought, “Thou God seest me.”
Second, the thought of the presence of God enhances our spiritual life and strengthens our confidence in Him. (1) The thought of God’s presence is a loud call to humility. Men and women surrounding us see and observe us, and thus, they know of us. However, what they can see is only our outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Man does not always see us, but the Lord is always looking at us, every moment, every hour, and every day, morning and evening. If we truly recognise this truth, then we will bow down before Him and say, “God be merciful to me a sinner!”
(2) The thought of God’s presence is a crushing proof of our need of Jesus Christ. If there were not a Mediator between God and man, what hope of salvation can we have? Our best righteousness is only filthy rags, and our best work only shows our imperfection before the eye of an ever-present God. The blood of Jesus Christ is the fountain of life open for all sin.
(3) The thought of God’s presence teaches us the folly of hypocrisy in religion. Though God is ever looking at us and sees us through and through, if we wear a mere cloak of Christianity while we inwardly cleave to sin, what can be more silly and childish than this? It is not hard to deceive fellow worshipers in church and pastors, because they see us only on Sundays. But God sees us morning, noon, and night, and cannot be deceived.
(4) The thought of God’s presence is a check and curb on the inclination to sin. When we are reminded that there is God who is always near us and observes us, and who will reckon all our words, deeds, and thoughts someday, we may well keep us from evil. This was the feeling that kept Joseph from sinning against God. He says, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9).
(5) The thought of God’s presence is a spur to the pursuit of true holiness. The highest standard of sanctification is to “walk with God” as Enoch did, and to “walk before God” as Abraham did. To get away from God is the secret aim of the saint. The real servants of the Lord are a “people near unto Him.” Psalm 148:14, “He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the LORD.”
(6) The thought of God’s presence is a comfort in time of public trouble. When war, famine and pestilence break in upon a land, when the nations are rent and torn by inward divisions, and all order seems in peril, it is cheering to reflect that God sees and knows and is close at hand, - that the King is near and not asleep. The world we are living in today appears to be abnormal, extraordinary, and war is common in Ukraine, Syria, Iran, Israel, and many other troubled regions. Domestically, we have witnessed changes of the concepts of marriage and love. All these upheavals may dishearten us, and our worldview may be very bleak. However, the notion of the presence of God provides stability, security, and comforts even in this world.
(7) The thought of God’s presence is a strong consolation in private trial. We may be hit by personal tragedies, experience bereavements of our loved ones, and suffer great financial losses. Even in the midst of these trials, we can never go to any place where God is not, and under no circumstances can we be left entirely alone. Such thoughts as these are useful and profitable for us all. In every condition and place we are under the eye of God. Nothing should frighten us if we are true believers. Great is the mystery of God’s presence everywhere, but the true man of God can look at it without fear.
II. Now we are moving from the general understanding of the presence of God to the real spiritual presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. He, in His infinite love, took man’s nature and was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, dead, and buried, to be a sacrifice for sins, and yet never ceased for a moment to be very God. The peculiar “presence” of Jesus Christ with His church is the point which we will consider now. What is the real spiritual “presence” of Christ, and wherein does it consist?
First, there is a real spiritual presence of Christ within that Church which is His mystical body – the blessed company of all faithful people. This is the meaning of that parting saying of our Lord to His Apostles, “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). There is not a visible Church on earth, which is secure against falling away. Rent by divisions, defiled by heresies, disgraced by superstitions and corruptions, the visible Church has often given mournful proof that Christ does not always dwell in it. On the other hand, the perpetual presence of Christ with His Holy Church, which is His body, is the great secret of its continuance and security. It lives on, and cannot die, because Jesus Christ is in the midst of it. It is a ship tossed with storm and tempest, but it cannot sink because Christ is on board. Its members may be persecuted, oppressed, imprisoned, robbed, beaten, beheaded, or burned, but His true church is never extinguished. It lives on through fire and water. The reason of it is the perpetual “presence” of Jesus Christ.
Second, there is a real spiritual “presence” of Christ in the heart of every true believer. This is what Paul meant when he speaks of “Christ dwelling in the heart by faith” (Ephesians 3:17). This is what our Lord meant when he says of the man that loves Him and keeps His Word, “We will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). As Christ dwells in the whole Church, which is His body, keeping, guarding, preserving, and sanctifying it, so does He continually dwell in every member of that body, - in the least as well as in the greatest. In themselves they are weak and unstable as water. But they have within them One who is “able to save to the uttermost,” and will not allow His work to be overthrown. Not one lamb of Christ’s flock shall ever be flocked out of His hand.
Lovingly, Your Pastor |
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