THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST
THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST
The presence of Christ is different (from that of the Holy Spirit, of which he had been speaking). It is conditional; and therefore instead of being continual, it is, with regard to the assembly, occasional. His presence is not continual, as is the presence of the Holy Spirit, but occasional. I do not say it may not be continually repeated, but though it can only be [p. 440] known through the Holy Spirit, it is not the same as the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in the church.
“Light is ... pleasant ... for the eyes” (Ecclesiastes 11: 7); and what I find is that the smallest trace of that which is pleasant - the mere remnant of beauty - engages it. But this trace - this shred of the beautiful - has a very strange effect on us: it awakens us to an existence here - to a set of hopes here. We are like birds aroused at night from their nests by the blazing flambeau. Alas for the birds who see not the captor’s hand holding the dazzling, attractive, but deadly torch! They are delighted with the light, and rush into it; but it is a mere net for their destruction.
How readily we are attracted by any flash that crosses our path! But the way to be proof against these delusions is to walk in the light. “In thy light shall we see light”. (Psalm 36: 9) In these flashes we do not see, but we are seen by our enemies. We are dazzled, but not enlightened. It is a deception - an ignis fatuus which bewitches.
We know little of ourselves if we do not see that we are in danger to be a prey to these flashes. How often has the heart, like a bird, returned to its roost, prepared to remain and rest through a livelong stormy night. The wind howled, the rain pattered, but on its roost the lonely bird quietly and fearlessly braved all, until, when the darkness was deepest, and there was a lull in the storm, the enemy came with his torch. The bird is attracted - seized And the one who could have quietly sat out the force of the storm which shook the earth, sinks into the hand bearing a false light.
God will not allow nature to come out; He will not use it. It is not a question of who is the strong man in mind or body; the moment you attempt to do God’s work with either you fail.
[p. 441] Saints ought to be known as great peculiarities: “Thy... body ... full of light” (Matthew 6: 22); like an apparition; something seen in the darkness; something so distinct that, though people might not be attracted by it, they should not be able to help noticing it. The world should see the saint walking in the power of Christ; knowing what Christ has done for him, he ought to be all brightness, and joy, and rest of heart, here upon earth showing forth the beauty and grace of Him who has set him in all the brightness and perfection of Himself before God.
A mouse entered a barrel of meal and had his fill, but found he could not get out by the only way, the hole he got in. He had to starve himself to escape.
Moral: ‘If I myself deny, where I could gratify, I suffer bitterly, but sweet is liberty’.
When you accept that you are in Christ (Romans 8), and have changed your ground from Adam to Christ, you first know that you are in the power of the Spirit.